Time’s burning red cover has a London looter staring at us in depicting “the decline and fall of Europe (and maybe the West).” Inside, Fareed Zakaria explains why liberals are wrong about Obama; another feature asks, Does the GOP need Perry? Newsweek pictures five surgical hands ready to scalpel open an anxious patient in illustrating the “one word that will save your life,” that is, “No!”—the point being that some common tests and procedures “aren’t just expensive, but can do more harm than good.” Inside Obama apparently has a “black problem,” and Jane Fonda assures us that there is joy in sex after 70.
Entertainment Weekly has a double-issue fall movie preview featuring Breaking Dawn, Sherlock Holmes 2 and “all the buzz” on 98 new films.
Billboard brings us the return of Coldplay (“finally”), but also has a report on the destruction of London’s Sony distribution warehouse during the rioting. On the other hand, it offers a special feature on the surprising recovery of Japan’s music industry in the wake of that country’s disasters this year.
Hollywood Reporter takes on “The Business of Fantasy Football” with San Diego Charger Antonio Gates and obsessed player Paul Rudd. Inside’s a feature on what men watch when they’re not playng fantasy football, with American Idol leading the broacast TV shows, WWE Raw on cable (ESPN’s their fave network).
Finally, we dig the Bloomberg Businessweek cover for its Popularity Issue, which covers a model with 34 popular items, including Tide detergent, French’s mustard and Oreo cookies. Same with The Economist, whose “Reviving the world economy” cover plays on Dutch masters group portraits, here a group of doctors—and one central banker—about to administer electric shock to bring an economic stiff back to life.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
That was our big sigh of relief you just heard, as we saw People’s cover: “How Sandra [Bullock] got her groove back!” We weren’t sure if she ever would! And how about the class juxtaposition with the top story on the right-side strip: “Navy Seal Tragedy—portraits of courage.”
But maybe Us wins with Jen Aniston “trying for a baby!” That’s a shocker! Us matches Peeps with its George Clooney summer romance bit on the strip.
In Touch wonders if Jen isn’t preggers already with its cover insert pic to go with her “Shotgun Wedding!” glam shot. Star says she’s even made it official—the baby, that is. But back to Kim’s wedding at OK! USA, with her untrustworthy sisters Kourtney and Khloe revealing “secrets” like her “obsessing over everything from the gown to the guest list.”
Life & Style also has a “secret” Kardashian wedding photo album, plus Jen wedding/baby news. But the cover trumpets the alarming news that Kate is refusing to eat—and has dropped “another five pounds.”
Bazaar’s fall fashion issue fronts Glee’s Lea Michele; Elle’s fall fashion special goes with Gwyneth, who’s “smart, hilarious, and the girl can sing”—at least that’s what the cover says. Details also has a fall fashion theme, but with Ashton Kutcher on the cover. Seventeen’s “ultimate back-to-school issue” has Pretty Little Liars pretty Ashley Benson on top.
Cosmo also goes Glee with its Dianna Agron cover—actually, three covers in succession (we prefer the “elegant sexy” one). Marie Claire has Sarah Jessica Parker “on the things she doesn’t talk about in her marriage” (which, incidentally, we don’t really need to hear about).
“There’s something about Zoe Black,” says Ebony’s cover, said something being “black, Latina, fierce,” etc. Essence competes with a Tracee Ellis Ross “exclusive” on being back on BET’s new Reed Between The Lines.
Dr. Oz shows you how to live to 100 (and live well) over at Men’s Fitness. Maxim’s got Sandra Vergara, “Sofia’s smokin’ little sis,” beating out Nylon’s Paul Rudd cover by a longshot. But we do like Ny’s feature on Jeff Bridges, definitely “our kind of guitar hero.”
Finally, Time Out New York closes out the summer with “60 things to do before summer ends.”
But maybe Us wins with Jen Aniston “trying for a baby!” That’s a shocker! Us matches Peeps with its George Clooney summer romance bit on the strip.
In Touch wonders if Jen isn’t preggers already with its cover insert pic to go with her “Shotgun Wedding!” glam shot. Star says she’s even made it official—the baby, that is. But back to Kim’s wedding at OK! USA, with her untrustworthy sisters Kourtney and Khloe revealing “secrets” like her “obsessing over everything from the gown to the guest list.”
Life & Style also has a “secret” Kardashian wedding photo album, plus Jen wedding/baby news. But the cover trumpets the alarming news that Kate is refusing to eat—and has dropped “another five pounds.”
Bazaar’s fall fashion issue fronts Glee’s Lea Michele; Elle’s fall fashion special goes with Gwyneth, who’s “smart, hilarious, and the girl can sing”—at least that’s what the cover says. Details also has a fall fashion theme, but with Ashton Kutcher on the cover. Seventeen’s “ultimate back-to-school issue” has Pretty Little Liars pretty Ashley Benson on top.
Cosmo also goes Glee with its Dianna Agron cover—actually, three covers in succession (we prefer the “elegant sexy” one). Marie Claire has Sarah Jessica Parker “on the things she doesn’t talk about in her marriage” (which, incidentally, we don’t really need to hear about).
“There’s something about Zoe Black,” says Ebony’s cover, said something being “black, Latina, fierce,” etc. Essence competes with a Tracee Ellis Ross “exclusive” on being back on BET’s new Reed Between The Lines.
Dr. Oz shows you how to live to 100 (and live well) over at Men’s Fitness. Maxim’s got Sandra Vergara, “Sofia’s smokin’ little sis,” beating out Nylon’s Paul Rudd cover by a longshot. But we do like Ny’s feature on Jeff Bridges, definitely “our kind of guitar hero.”
Finally, Time Out New York closes out the summer with “60 things to do before summer ends.”
Monday, August 8, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Stark contrast between Time and Newsweek: Time’s got a black-eyed George Washington dollar-bill illustration to go with “The great American downgrade” cover story (related features include “How the Tea Party hijacked Ameirca,” “The wealth gap widens” and “Lessons from the debt debacle”), while Newsweek offers a presidential portrait of Michele Bachmann, “the queen of rage,” on “God, the Tea Party, and the evils of government.”
Bachmann is big at The New Yorker this week, too. With a telling cover illustration of a trio of tuxedoed gents living it up in a lifeboat while the Titanic sinks in the background, the big story is “Leap of faith: The making of Michele Bachmann.” More delectable, perhaps, is “Grub: Eating bugs to save the planet,” about the apparent “final culinary frontier.”
Billboard has “cream of the global hip-hop party scene” LMFAO on the cover and has an excerpt from the book Def Jam: The First 25 Years Of The Last Great Record Label. The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, goes full hype forward on “The inside story on Terra Nova,” said to be “fall’s most anticipated new show” and “TV’s most ambitious project,” with the cast pictured on the cover in a woodsy outdoors setting.
Bloomberg Businessweek gets noticed for its striking aerial cover photo high above the subject of “The saving of Ground Zero.” And finally, we note, too, The Economist’s cover illustration of a hungry shark lurking beneath a forlorn female testing the water alongside the “Time for a double dip?” heading—if only because it goes so well with today’s stories about 61-year-old Diana Nyad’s start of her 103-mile swim between Cuba and Florida in hopes of setting a record for open-water swims without a shark cage, and the discovery of a large shark discarded in the woods of New Hampshire.
Oh. Yes, we did miss Wednesday’s magazines, as we were in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for the inaugural Johnny Cash Music Festival. If you're interested, go to the Jim Bessman page at examiner.com for extensive coverage.
Bachmann is big at The New Yorker this week, too. With a telling cover illustration of a trio of tuxedoed gents living it up in a lifeboat while the Titanic sinks in the background, the big story is “Leap of faith: The making of Michele Bachmann.” More delectable, perhaps, is “Grub: Eating bugs to save the planet,” about the apparent “final culinary frontier.”
Billboard has “cream of the global hip-hop party scene” LMFAO on the cover and has an excerpt from the book Def Jam: The First 25 Years Of The Last Great Record Label. The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, goes full hype forward on “The inside story on Terra Nova,” said to be “fall’s most anticipated new show” and “TV’s most ambitious project,” with the cast pictured on the cover in a woodsy outdoors setting.
Bloomberg Businessweek gets noticed for its striking aerial cover photo high above the subject of “The saving of Ground Zero.” And finally, we note, too, The Economist’s cover illustration of a hungry shark lurking beneath a forlorn female testing the water alongside the “Time for a double dip?” heading—if only because it goes so well with today’s stories about 61-year-old Diana Nyad’s start of her 103-mile swim between Cuba and Florida in hopes of setting a record for open-water swims without a shark cage, and the discovery of a large shark discarded in the woods of New Hampshire.
Oh. Yes, we did miss Wednesday’s magazines, as we were in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for the inaugural Johnny Cash Music Festival. If you're interested, go to the Jim Bessman page at examiner.com for extensive coverage.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Small shipment of magazines to start off the August summer doldrums. But Billboard thinks big with its 2011 D.I.Y. Manual, as in, “do it yourself”, as in, specifically, “Win big in the music biz—100-plus tips for doing it your damn self.” Among the many ideas aned suggestions pictured in the colorful cover illustration, the one that caught our eye is “Bands Kickstarter is making happen,” Kickstarter being the suddenly popular time-sensitive Internet funding platform for supporting creative projects. Indeed, we’re seeing all kinds of artists using Kickstarter via Facebook to try to raise money for future projects.
Hollywood Reporter’s Philanthropy Issue offers “a photographic tribute to the angels of L.A. who help support the arts, environment, education and children.” Disney president/CEO Robert Iger and his journalist wife Willow Bay take the cover for supporting such causes as pediatric AIDS. Inside stories include the 25 best film school rankings and the winners and losers of this year’s Comic-Con.
The New Yorker’s cover illustration of a woman pushing a buggy into Central Park doesn’t really cut it. The big story inside is “Inside the raid on Bin Laden,” with “Obama in default” highlighted in a corner strip.
Finally, New York pictures Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman as the “Cain & Abel of American politics,” and suggests that either of the two rich Mormon ex-governors, who can’t stand each other, might beat Obama—if they don’t kill each other first. Inside, Frank Rich describes how Murdoch hacked the USA.
Hollywood Reporter’s Philanthropy Issue offers “a photographic tribute to the angels of L.A. who help support the arts, environment, education and children.” Disney president/CEO Robert Iger and his journalist wife Willow Bay take the cover for supporting such causes as pediatric AIDS. Inside stories include the 25 best film school rankings and the winners and losers of this year’s Comic-Con.
The New Yorker’s cover illustration of a woman pushing a buggy into Central Park doesn’t really cut it. The big story inside is “Inside the raid on Bin Laden,” with “Obama in default” highlighted in a corner strip.
Finally, New York pictures Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman as the “Cain & Abel of American politics,” and suggests that either of the two rich Mormon ex-governors, who can’t stand each other, might beat Obama—if they don’t kill each other first. Inside, Frank Rich describes how Murdoch hacked the USA.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
We knew it was coming, but People’s “Amy Winehouse Dead at 27” is still one of the saddest covers in memory. At least they gave her a great photo. Angie and the kids top the margin, above “J.Lo solo” and –in a horrible juxtaposition—“Horror in Norway.”
Us decided that Denise breaking her silence was more significant than Winehouse’s “lonely last days,” which even places below their “Bachelorette exclusive” (Amy says yes!) but above J.Lo’s post-split parties. Then again, maybe why Denise regrets her boob jobs is more important than one of pop music’s biggest tragedies ever.
OK! USA actually placed Winehouse atop its margin, above the Bachelorette and Kim’s wild Vegas party, but next to its “plan to get Ben & J.Lo back together” cover. Same with In Touch, where she topped Angelina and Jen & Justin next to an “Ashley fooled again!” Bachelorette cover. But she’s at the bottom of Star’s margin, below Jen & Justin and “Khloe & Lamar’s anguish” (“a murder in the family”), but next to its Michael Douglas “new cancer shocker!” cover.
For the record, Katie is “desperate to be skinny” on Life & Style’s cover—and Tom is worried.
Spin’s got a special 20th anni ish of “the album that changed everything,” Nirvana’s Nevermind. Clever cover of Cobain swimming from below, matching the album’s kid-in-the-pool cover shot.
Finally, Time Out New York has a kids-oriented “Back to school!” issue on the stands.
Us decided that Denise breaking her silence was more significant than Winehouse’s “lonely last days,” which even places below their “Bachelorette exclusive” (Amy says yes!) but above J.Lo’s post-split parties. Then again, maybe why Denise regrets her boob jobs is more important than one of pop music’s biggest tragedies ever.
OK! USA actually placed Winehouse atop its margin, above the Bachelorette and Kim’s wild Vegas party, but next to its “plan to get Ben & J.Lo back together” cover. Same with In Touch, where she topped Angelina and Jen & Justin next to an “Ashley fooled again!” Bachelorette cover. But she’s at the bottom of Star’s margin, below Jen & Justin and “Khloe & Lamar’s anguish” (“a murder in the family”), but next to its Michael Douglas “new cancer shocker!” cover.
For the record, Katie is “desperate to be skinny” on Life & Style’s cover—and Tom is worried.
Spin’s got a special 20th anni ish of “the album that changed everything,” Nirvana’s Nevermind. Clever cover of Cobain swimming from below, matching the album’s kid-in-the-pool cover shot.
Finally, Time Out New York has a kids-oriented “Back to school!” issue on the stands.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Slow news week for Time, which cooks up a “Chore Wars” cover pitting men and women against each other when it comes to housework, then declaring a truce (“Men and women, it turns out, work the same amount”). Inside Rana Foroohar suggests we don’t need to balance the budget, and Richard Haas declares “it’s time for nation building at home.”
Newsweek goes sensational—as usual—with its “exlcusive,” “The DSK maid speaks” cover, with “The Murdoch mayhem” hyped on a bottom strip.
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford—“When Bond met Indy”--grace Entertainment Weekly’s cover, on account of their teaming in Cowboys & Aliens.
Once you get past Billboard’s Mayra Veronica false cover ad, the real one promotes its “Fall Preview 2011” with 24 “most-anticipated releases” (including Lady Antebellum, Tony Bennett, Mary J. Blige, Drake, and Evanescence) and five “hot fall tours.” Oh, yeah: It’s Bjork on the true cover, with the question whether her all-app album is the future of music--though they might also ask whether her immense red mane is the future of hairstyling, and her giant handful of what looks to be congealed rice is the future of food.
Over at The Hollywood Reporter, the Entourage entourage is pictured, with “the untold stories behind” it featured. Scientology’s Hollywood real estate empire and “Murdoch’s disaster” are also spotlighted.
The Murdoch disaster is The New Yorker’s lead story, its cover a nice illustration of a man marooned on a tiny tropical ocean island—and sitting up against a windmill. Top stories also include “What happened to the [Egyptian] revolution?” and Sasha Frere-Jones’ take on “hippie band” My Morning Jacket.
Finally, New York proclaims The New York Times “the last great paper standing” on its cover, the story revealing how the Grey Lady brought itself “back from the brink.”
End note: Obviously, deadlines prevented any mention anywhere of the week’s two biggest stories—both horrible: the Norway massacre, and Amy Winehouse.
Newsweek goes sensational—as usual—with its “exlcusive,” “The DSK maid speaks” cover, with “The Murdoch mayhem” hyped on a bottom strip.
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford—“When Bond met Indy”--grace Entertainment Weekly’s cover, on account of their teaming in Cowboys & Aliens.
Once you get past Billboard’s Mayra Veronica false cover ad, the real one promotes its “Fall Preview 2011” with 24 “most-anticipated releases” (including Lady Antebellum, Tony Bennett, Mary J. Blige, Drake, and Evanescence) and five “hot fall tours.” Oh, yeah: It’s Bjork on the true cover, with the question whether her all-app album is the future of music--though they might also ask whether her immense red mane is the future of hairstyling, and her giant handful of what looks to be congealed rice is the future of food.
Over at The Hollywood Reporter, the Entourage entourage is pictured, with “the untold stories behind” it featured. Scientology’s Hollywood real estate empire and “Murdoch’s disaster” are also spotlighted.
The Murdoch disaster is The New Yorker’s lead story, its cover a nice illustration of a man marooned on a tiny tropical ocean island—and sitting up against a windmill. Top stories also include “What happened to the [Egyptian] revolution?” and Sasha Frere-Jones’ take on “hippie band” My Morning Jacket.
Finally, New York proclaims The New York Times “the last great paper standing” on its cover, the story revealing how the Grey Lady brought itself “back from the brink.”
End note: Obviously, deadlines prevented any mention anywhere of the week’s two biggest stories—both horrible: the Norway massacre, and Amy Winehouse.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
People really puts the world in perspective. As it proclaims, “The Real Story” belongs, of course, to J.Lo and Marc Anthony’s “marriage explosion,” and if that ain’t enough, there’s Nick and Vanessa’s wedding photos and Elin Nordegren's re-emergence on the dating scene. But it’s got nothing on Us, which chimes in with J.Lo’s “side of the story" (Marc caught with stewardess, screaming fights about flirting with costars, a secret email to Ben Affleck--you know, the usual) plus Denise Richards' baby pics and, yes, Nick and Vanessa’s private island wedding.
The J.Lo/Marc “divorce shocker” is also on the cover of OK! USA (which also depicts Kim’s wedding and Angie’s inability to take Brad’s mystery woman), Life & Style (also with “secrets of the [Bachelorette] proposal” and baby girl Beckham’s first pics), In Touch (its big story goes to Teresa’s terror of being poor) and Star—which also provides 63 “shocking photos and interviews” of “plastic surgery confessions” from the likes of Madonna, Suzanne Somers, Lisa Rinna, and…Jennifer Aniston.
Rolling Stone gives us “The neurotic Zen of Larry David,” beating out “A conversation with the Dalai Lama” for the cover. Along the top, Mumford & Sons and “Clarence Clemons remembered” are promoted. At Interview its “Freida Pinto vs. The World” on the cover, with Maria Shriver’s feature on Gloria Steinem also highlighted.
Tilda Swinton’s on the cover of W’s “Fall Fashion Hits—exclusive preview” issue, while Out’s sports issue presents Michael Irvin on the cover, the story being how the NFL legend loved and lost a gay brother. Over at Men’s Fitness Hawaii Five-0’s Alex O’Loughlin is clearly “fit for prime time,” same with Rosario Dawson on the cover of Shape.
We’ll give Brides a mention for its “The Kate Effect” cover, same with National Geographic for its “Land of the Spirit Bear” portrait corresponding to its “The wildest place in America” story.
Finally, Time Out New York’s double issue presents its “Insider’s Guide to NYC,” with 60 "essential" tips on everything from catching a cab to hanging with celebs.
The J.Lo/Marc “divorce shocker” is also on the cover of OK! USA (which also depicts Kim’s wedding and Angie’s inability to take Brad’s mystery woman), Life & Style (also with “secrets of the [Bachelorette] proposal” and baby girl Beckham’s first pics), In Touch (its big story goes to Teresa’s terror of being poor) and Star—which also provides 63 “shocking photos and interviews” of “plastic surgery confessions” from the likes of Madonna, Suzanne Somers, Lisa Rinna, and…Jennifer Aniston.
Rolling Stone gives us “The neurotic Zen of Larry David,” beating out “A conversation with the Dalai Lama” for the cover. Along the top, Mumford & Sons and “Clarence Clemons remembered” are promoted. At Interview its “Freida Pinto vs. The World” on the cover, with Maria Shriver’s feature on Gloria Steinem also highlighted.
Tilda Swinton’s on the cover of W’s “Fall Fashion Hits—exclusive preview” issue, while Out’s sports issue presents Michael Irvin on the cover, the story being how the NFL legend loved and lost a gay brother. Over at Men’s Fitness Hawaii Five-0’s Alex O’Loughlin is clearly “fit for prime time,” same with Rosario Dawson on the cover of Shape.
We’ll give Brides a mention for its “The Kate Effect” cover, same with National Geographic for its “Land of the Spirit Bear” portrait corresponding to its “The wildest place in America” story.
Finally, Time Out New York’s double issue presents its “Insider’s Guide to NYC,” with 60 "essential" tips on everything from catching a cab to hanging with celebs.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Clever “End Of The World” mock tabloid on the cover of Time to go with its “Scandal! How a tabloid meltdown threatens Rupert Murdoch and his media empire” story. Inside is “Obama & Boehner: The secret talks,” “Arab Summer: The softening of Islam’s hard-liners” and “A fond farewell to Hogwarts.”
Newsweek has “How We Nailed Murdoch” by the editor of The Guardian, but the cover goes to “The General’s Next War—Petraeus comes home.” Also, Paul Begala misses Bob Dole and Andrew Sullivan writes about “my country, my husband.”
Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart celebrates its 50th anni on the venerable music trade mag’s cover, and features the likes of Elton John, Mariah Carey, Johnny Mathis, Debby Boone, Michael Bolton, Kenny Rogers, Whitney Houston and more. “Bruno Mars is Big Business” is the cover story—though why they chose the pull quote “Don’t be a slut. Remember your dream” is beyond us. Still, his “Just The Way You Are” is the most successful debut in the AC chart’s history. Also of note, though, is the inside story on the suddenly hot new Turntable.fm, and whether or not it’s legal.
But The Hollywood Reporter goes slumming with “Three Days on the Jersey Shore” (“chaos, fights, tears!”), and more sensationalism with its “Confessions of a Murdoch Employee” tease along with “Barbara Streisand—The heated talks to keep her happy.”
Nice blue Entertainment Weekly cover fronts “The New Spider-man” Andrew Garfield (“First look!”), and also offers a “Comic-con preview and an "A-minus" Harry Potter movie review.
Finally, The New Yorker goes with a female same sex marriage cover illustration, playing up its “The trap of motherhood” story on influential French feminist Elisabeth Badinter’s contention that our obsession with natural parenting and materinity is destroying all of women’s most important gains. It follows suit otherwise with coverage of Murdoch and Potter.
Newsweek has “How We Nailed Murdoch” by the editor of The Guardian, but the cover goes to “The General’s Next War—Petraeus comes home.” Also, Paul Begala misses Bob Dole and Andrew Sullivan writes about “my country, my husband.”
Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart celebrates its 50th anni on the venerable music trade mag’s cover, and features the likes of Elton John, Mariah Carey, Johnny Mathis, Debby Boone, Michael Bolton, Kenny Rogers, Whitney Houston and more. “Bruno Mars is Big Business” is the cover story—though why they chose the pull quote “Don’t be a slut. Remember your dream” is beyond us. Still, his “Just The Way You Are” is the most successful debut in the AC chart’s history. Also of note, though, is the inside story on the suddenly hot new Turntable.fm, and whether or not it’s legal.
But The Hollywood Reporter goes slumming with “Three Days on the Jersey Shore” (“chaos, fights, tears!”), and more sensationalism with its “Confessions of a Murdoch Employee” tease along with “Barbara Streisand—The heated talks to keep her happy.”
Nice blue Entertainment Weekly cover fronts “The New Spider-man” Andrew Garfield (“First look!”), and also offers a “Comic-con preview and an "A-minus" Harry Potter movie review.
Finally, The New Yorker goes with a female same sex marriage cover illustration, playing up its “The trap of motherhood” story on influential French feminist Elisabeth Badinter’s contention that our obsession with natural parenting and materinity is destroying all of women’s most important gains. It follows suit otherwise with coverage of Murdoch and Potter.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
In case you didn’t know, Will and Kate conquered America, as People documents in its 14 pages of royal tour photos—and a lovely cover shot of Kate. But we give it up for the upper corner picture of another lovely, Betty Ford, whose “life of courage” is deservedly fronted, too. Jennifer Lopez, meanwhile, “works her curves” on the cover of People Style Watch.
Us puts its photo spread of the royal visit off to the side on its cover, which goes to our own royal couple, Angelina and Brad, and their upcoming wedding. Star claims that Kate is down to 95 pounds due to anorexia—and that she’s pregnant. More—or less—shocking: Jen’s been betrayed by Justin.
Life & Style’s also on to Kate’s supposed starvation diet, putting her in the company of Katie, Leann, Heidi and Audrina. It’s the Teen Moms’ dating disasters over at InTouch, and Reese looking pregnant at OK USA.
Speaking of Katie Holmes, she's on the cover of InStyle. Sarah Jessica Parker is the face of Vogue’s “Age Issue,” while Elle goes for youth with Mila and Justin “and the secrets of sexual attraction” on its front.
Hard to fathom, but Olivia Wilde says she’s “hopeless” at dating on the cover of Marie Claire. Conan The Barbarian’s Rachel Nichols is identifried as “the ultimate fantasy girl” on the cover of Maxim, and they may have a point. But we prefer the beautiful Jessica Alba, who sure knows how to carry a baby, on the cover of Latina—and the cover of Allure (which politely asks to “stop YouTubing her butt”).
But back to Mila Kunis. She’s on the cover of GQ, which makes her laugh in its “sexier than usual,” it says, comedy issue (also spotlighting Jimmy Fallon, Louis C.K., Steve Carell and Jerry Lewis). Esquire goes with a mock-up cover gimmick, with a relaxed Daniel Craig on the cover, whiskey glass in hand.
Ebony’s “Black Wealth Issue” fronts “the $350 million dollar man” Tyler Perry and offers his take on anger, business and babies, while Wired has a man’s shaved head showing some wicked kind of brain surgery/implant to illustrate its “Extreme Science” cover story counting seven “shocking experiments that would teach us so much (if they weren’t so wrong),” i.e., brain biopsies, womb swapping and twin separating. “Ethics, shmethics” is the subhead.
Finally, Time Out New York has Broadway star Daniel Radcliffe on the Highline in demonstrating its “Great Walks” cover. And by the way, we saw Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 last night. It’s wonderful.
Us puts its photo spread of the royal visit off to the side on its cover, which goes to our own royal couple, Angelina and Brad, and their upcoming wedding. Star claims that Kate is down to 95 pounds due to anorexia—and that she’s pregnant. More—or less—shocking: Jen’s been betrayed by Justin.
Life & Style’s also on to Kate’s supposed starvation diet, putting her in the company of Katie, Leann, Heidi and Audrina. It’s the Teen Moms’ dating disasters over at InTouch, and Reese looking pregnant at OK USA.
Speaking of Katie Holmes, she's on the cover of InStyle. Sarah Jessica Parker is the face of Vogue’s “Age Issue,” while Elle goes for youth with Mila and Justin “and the secrets of sexual attraction” on its front.
Hard to fathom, but Olivia Wilde says she’s “hopeless” at dating on the cover of Marie Claire. Conan The Barbarian’s Rachel Nichols is identifried as “the ultimate fantasy girl” on the cover of Maxim, and they may have a point. But we prefer the beautiful Jessica Alba, who sure knows how to carry a baby, on the cover of Latina—and the cover of Allure (which politely asks to “stop YouTubing her butt”).
But back to Mila Kunis. She’s on the cover of GQ, which makes her laugh in its “sexier than usual,” it says, comedy issue (also spotlighting Jimmy Fallon, Louis C.K., Steve Carell and Jerry Lewis). Esquire goes with a mock-up cover gimmick, with a relaxed Daniel Craig on the cover, whiskey glass in hand.
Ebony’s “Black Wealth Issue” fronts “the $350 million dollar man” Tyler Perry and offers his take on anger, business and babies, while Wired has a man’s shaved head showing some wicked kind of brain surgery/implant to illustrate its “Extreme Science” cover story counting seven “shocking experiments that would teach us so much (if they weren’t so wrong),” i.e., brain biopsies, womb swapping and twin separating. “Ethics, shmethics” is the subhead.
Finally, Time Out New York has Broadway star Daniel Radcliffe on the Highline in demonstrating its “Great Walks” cover. And by the way, we saw Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 last night. It’s wonderful.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
It’s “the future of fish” on the cover of Time this week, picturing one poor specimen definitely out of water below the question, "Can farming save the last wild food?" Otherwise, Joe Klein suggests it’s time to revamp Head Start, and with the final Harry Potter movie premiering in New York tonight, there’s a piece on “the alternate universe of fan fiction,” i.e., fans of the books who write and post stories and even novels based on them.
Newsweek beats what would seem to have been a dead horse in its “I can win” “exclusive” Sarah Palin cover, especially since there's still no decision yet from Palin, so it’s just more idle conjecture. Meanwhile, Watergate exposer Carl Bernstein gives us his take on “Murdoch’s Watergate,” and Ralph Fiennes offers up his Harry Potter two cents in “My life as Voldemort.”
Fortune’s “Global 500” issue fronts “Tech Bubble 2.0—Sky-high valuations for companies like Facebook, Zynga, and Linkedin have Silicon Valley feeling déjà vu all over again,” illustrated by a kid’s gum bubble exploding all over his face. For its “Back to the coffee house” special report on the future of news, The Economist goes with a funny fantasy illustration of an old-time news room, circa 1776, but with the staffers pounding away at laptops.
Finally, New York’s “Eat Cheap” double issue brings us back to Square One, what with its “Who’s killing all the fish? The Fishermen?” inside story.
Newsweek beats what would seem to have been a dead horse in its “I can win” “exclusive” Sarah Palin cover, especially since there's still no decision yet from Palin, so it’s just more idle conjecture. Meanwhile, Watergate exposer Carl Bernstein gives us his take on “Murdoch’s Watergate,” and Ralph Fiennes offers up his Harry Potter two cents in “My life as Voldemort.”
Fortune’s “Global 500” issue fronts “Tech Bubble 2.0—Sky-high valuations for companies like Facebook, Zynga, and Linkedin have Silicon Valley feeling déjà vu all over again,” illustrated by a kid’s gum bubble exploding all over his face. For its “Back to the coffee house” special report on the future of news, The Economist goes with a funny fantasy illustration of an old-time news room, circa 1776, but with the staffers pounding away at laptops.
Finally, New York’s “Eat Cheap” double issue brings us back to Square One, what with its “Who’s killing all the fish? The Fishermen?” inside story.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
People didn’t miss a beat in getting word out of yesterday’s stunning Casey Anthony acquittal, though it didn’t have enough material to knock off kidnap survivor Jaycee Dugard’s A Stolen Life book excerpt from the cover. To give its front at least one upbeat touch, it falls back on “Kate in Canada.”
Us goes with Kate—and Will—on its cover, revealing “Secrets of the Royal Visit” (Kate brought 40 outfits—and is talking about a baby). Teen Mom, on the other hand, want’s Kyle’s baby, while Justin and Jessica are dating again.
But Teen Mom “ruined our lives,” says the cover of In Touch, by way, that is, of her Triple A “anorexia, addiction and abuse.” Elsewhere there’s more on Angelina targeting Jen’s man. Life & Style, in addition to Kate and Williams’ “American vacation album,” has more on Kim’s wedding, specifically, her wedding “panic.”
Meanwhile, “Marriages explode!”—screams the cover of Star, reporting Katy Perry’s “pain,” Demi’s “shock” and Ben Affleck’s “bust.” And where it also tells of Justin and Selena’s “pregnancy scare,” OK! USA goes with “even more babies” from reality TV moms
Not enough Kim? She’s on the cover of Cosmpolitan’s “Hot Issue.” Bazaar has Anne Hathaway fronting its “Fall Fashion Ultimate Shopping Guide," with Redbook fronting Jada and “the excruciating sacrifice she made for her family.”
Shia LaBeouf is on the cover of Details, and he’s already been living up to his “Hollywood’s last bad boy” subtitle with his recent kiss-and-tell interviews. Quite the opposite is the adorable Emma Watson on the cover of Seventeen, revealing “her secret crush on a Harry Potter costar” (Tom Felton, who plays the treacherous Draco Malfoy).
And finally, Time Out New York offers 70 ways to cool off with great pools and beaches, cold drinks, amazing park views, breezy and shady spaces, arctic AC and fun on the water—and not a day too soon.
Us goes with Kate—and Will—on its cover, revealing “Secrets of the Royal Visit” (Kate brought 40 outfits—and is talking about a baby). Teen Mom, on the other hand, want’s Kyle’s baby, while Justin and Jessica are dating again.
But Teen Mom “ruined our lives,” says the cover of In Touch, by way, that is, of her Triple A “anorexia, addiction and abuse.” Elsewhere there’s more on Angelina targeting Jen’s man. Life & Style, in addition to Kate and Williams’ “American vacation album,” has more on Kim’s wedding, specifically, her wedding “panic.”
Meanwhile, “Marriages explode!”—screams the cover of Star, reporting Katy Perry’s “pain,” Demi’s “shock” and Ben Affleck’s “bust.” And where it also tells of Justin and Selena’s “pregnancy scare,” OK! USA goes with “even more babies” from reality TV moms
Not enough Kim? She’s on the cover of Cosmpolitan’s “Hot Issue.” Bazaar has Anne Hathaway fronting its “Fall Fashion Ultimate Shopping Guide," with Redbook fronting Jada and “the excruciating sacrifice she made for her family.”
Shia LaBeouf is on the cover of Details, and he’s already been living up to his “Hollywood’s last bad boy” subtitle with his recent kiss-and-tell interviews. Quite the opposite is the adorable Emma Watson on the cover of Seventeen, revealing “her secret crush on a Harry Potter costar” (Tom Felton, who plays the treacherous Draco Malfoy).
And finally, Time Out New York offers 70 ways to cool off with great pools and beaches, cold drinks, amazing park views, breezy and shady spaces, arctic AC and fun on the water—and not a day too soon.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
It’s Tuesday morning's post July 4th fireworks of a menacing sort on Time’s “The War Next Door” cover, which shows a pair of wooden grave markers outside the Mexican border city of Juarez—murder capital of the world. The story explains why Mexico’s drug violence is America’s problem, too. Inside, Fareed Zakaria suggests how to avoid a Greek-style economic meltdown.
Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly has a special “Thank You, Harry” collector’s double issue, with an 11-year-old Daniel Radcliffe on the cover and 50 pages recapping 10 years of Harry Potter magic--as well as a sneak peek at the final movie.
Billboard also has a special double issue (inside a “Luis Fonsi--The Leader of Latin Music’s New Generation is Back!” false cover ad) examining “States of Independence,” i.e., “how college radio, bloggers, a bidding war and a lost phone brought together [Seattle indie label] Sub Pop and the slow-burning, red hot [folk band] the Head and the Heart.” Inside features include Dolly Parton and “Myspace Music: the Fallout.”
Nice beach cover illustration on The New Yorker with a fence separating a cluster of beachcombers and a similar one of sea birds. The big story inside is Ken Auletta’s profile of “the woman behind Facebook” Sheryl Sandberg, which wonders if she can change the notorious boys’ club culture of Silicon Valley. There’s also David Remnick’s take on “The Future of Marriage.”
Finally, New York has Frank Rich’s big “Something Rotten: Obama’s failure to right the wrongs of the crash has haunted his presidency, and could undo it” piece, which is already getting played up this morning at Huffington Post.
Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly has a special “Thank You, Harry” collector’s double issue, with an 11-year-old Daniel Radcliffe on the cover and 50 pages recapping 10 years of Harry Potter magic--as well as a sneak peek at the final movie.
Billboard also has a special double issue (inside a “Luis Fonsi--The Leader of Latin Music’s New Generation is Back!” false cover ad) examining “States of Independence,” i.e., “how college radio, bloggers, a bidding war and a lost phone brought together [Seattle indie label] Sub Pop and the slow-burning, red hot [folk band] the Head and the Heart.” Inside features include Dolly Parton and “Myspace Music: the Fallout.”
Nice beach cover illustration on The New Yorker with a fence separating a cluster of beachcombers and a similar one of sea birds. The big story inside is Ken Auletta’s profile of “the woman behind Facebook” Sheryl Sandberg, which wonders if she can change the notorious boys’ club culture of Silicon Valley. There’s also David Remnick’s take on “The Future of Marriage.”
Finally, New York has Frank Rich’s big “Something Rotten: Obama’s failure to right the wrongs of the crash has haunted his presidency, and could undo it” piece, which is already getting played up this morning at Huffington Post.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Remembering Steve Popovich
I should be in Nashville today for Steve Popovich’s memorial, but I couldn’t afford the trip—and Steve would understand. But I write about him now because I couldn’t say everything, of course, in the appreciation piece I wrote for examiner.com on June 8 the day after he died in Murfreesboro at 68.
Examiner.com’s not really a blog, so I wrote it in third person—and it was quite good. But it could never be good enough. Steve was too big a figure in my life and so many others—and if he didn’t know it, I know they did and I’m sure many of them are there right now testifying.
As I wrote in Examiner, Steve was the one guy who lived up to the cliché, "he would give you the shirt off his back.” And no, I don’t have a closet full of Steve’s shirts like I said in Examiner, but he gave me plenty more than clothes.
For there was no truer friend than Steve Popovich. And there was no greater music man. As my friend and genius Nashville music historian Robert K. Oermann wrote in Musicrow.com, Steve was "one of the most colorful record executives in the history of Music Row”—having signed such legendary artists as Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, polka king Frank Yankovic, Lynn Anderson, Billy Swan and Johnny Paycheck to Mercury Records when he ran its Nashville operations from 1986 to 1988.
But this was long after he helped establish the likes of Santana, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Mac Davis and Chicago during a stint at CBS Records in the 1960s and '70s, then became vice president of A&R at Epic Records, where he signed or helped guide the careers Michael Jackson, The Jacksons, Cheap Trick, The Charlie Daniels Band, Ted Nugent, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones and Boston.
Still, he was probably best known for his own label Cleveland International Records, home of Meat Loaf's 1977 album debut Bat Out Of Hell, one of the biggest selling albums ever. After his stint at Mercury he returned to Cleveland and restarted Cleveland International in 1995, releasing albums representing his typically wide musical interests with titles from Grammy-winning polka acts Brave Combo and Eddie Blazonczyk & The Versatones, as well as country music great David Allan Coe. I wrote CD liner notes on many of these discs.
I first met Steve, I don’t know, soon after I moved to New York, probably around 1985 in Nashville. I know it was in March, at a Country Radio Seminar hospitality suite at the Opryland Hotel.
I knew who he was, of course, and was suitably awestruck. What I didn’t know, and never would have imagined, was how down-to-earth this record business legend was, and that he would become one of my dearest friends and supporters. Then again, he was born the son of a coal miner in Nemacolin, Pennsylvania, and began in the music industry by unloading trucks at a Columbia Records warehouse in 1962. I was a kid from Wisconsin, 10 years younger, who knew his name first from the records he was thanked on.
It was only fitting, I guess, that I first learned of Steve’s death while waiting for Eric Burdon to go on at B.B. King’s. Eric Burdon & The Animals, the most working class of the British Invasion, and Steve Popovich was nothing if not working class as a record executive.
Fitting, too, that Eric’s first song was his autobiographical “When I Was Young.” Eric had just turned 70, though you wouldn’t know it by how young he still sounds. And Steve the last few years was finally turning the corner in diligently exercising and losing weight, while doting on his grandchildren. Pictures I saw in the various Internet obits and tributes all showed him to have kept that boyish quality of being forever a young man in love with music.
And it was a love of all music. It was Steve who gave me a full appreciation of polka music and its many styles, who brought me to Cleveland to be part of it and eventually convince my editor and friend Tim White to put polka on the cover of Billboard. Not everyone got it, of course, but I’ll never forget another late friend and great record man, Dave Nives, joining me in Central Park to seen Eddie Blazonczyk & The Versatones—the great Chicago “push” Polish polka band—shaking his head in amazement and declaring, “This is rock ‘n’ roll.”
And to top it off, out of nowhere, Steve decided to offer $50 to the best polka dancers (I was one of the judges).
I'd see Steve whenever he came to New York, of course. "Bruth-uh!" he'd call a day in advance, then instruct me to meet him at the Warwick Hotel, or at a gig the next night. The last time was last year, when he brought his son Steve, Jr., to attend a charity dinner honoring his friend Steve (Little Steven) Van Zandt. He would have bought me a ticket but I told him I'd meet him after at City Winery, where his former Cleveland International artist Ian Hunter was playing. He was always loyal to his friends--especially if they were his artists.
But most of the time I'd see Steve in Nashville. It's been many years, now, but there was a place I'd always meet him at on weekend nights after I left the Grand Ole Opry, usually around 11, 11: 30. I'd head down to the Stockyard's Bullpen Lounge, the famed lounge downtown that no one I knew really went to but me and Steve, who held court at the center table. We'd be there to see Tommy Riggs, the great Nashville lounge singer, who at 450-plus was even fatter than Steve, and who died in 2000 at 57. No one sang "If You Don't Know Me By Now" like Tommy, and none other than Jimmy Webb was a devoted fan.
"You almost have to go back to Brook Benton or Billy Eckstine to find a true baritone singer like Tommy," a grieving Webb told me after Riggs died. "He was of that school: a tremendously gifted guy who never strained a note—and the greatest friend a guy could ever have."
The greatest friend a guy could ever have. He said it about Tommy--and Tommy was indeed that--but I'll borrow the great songwriter's words for my friend Steve. After the legendary Columbia Records a&r executive Mitch Miller died last year, Steve recalled that he and the fellow legends--John Hammond, Goddard Lieberson--were at the label when he was starting out in the warehouse. And Steve would have none of the scorn that was later heaped on Miller for denigrating rock 'n' roll as, among other things, "musical baby food."
"Columbia had a lot of hits then," he said, speaking of the early 1960s. "Streisand was happening, Steve [Lawrence] and Eydie [Gorme], Patti Page, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash--what a genius music man!" he said of Miller. "He'd have breakfast with Leonard Bernstein and lunch with Mahalia Jackson and dinner with Johnny Cash. He was all things to all people."
Steve Popovich, too, was all things to all people. Miller, he said, was "one of those guys who should be honored in Washington with a presidential award." And Steve was one of those guys who deserves a statue in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But he'll always have a place in my heart, at the very least.
Examiner.com’s not really a blog, so I wrote it in third person—and it was quite good. But it could never be good enough. Steve was too big a figure in my life and so many others—and if he didn’t know it, I know they did and I’m sure many of them are there right now testifying.
As I wrote in Examiner, Steve was the one guy who lived up to the cliché, "he would give you the shirt off his back.” And no, I don’t have a closet full of Steve’s shirts like I said in Examiner, but he gave me plenty more than clothes.
For there was no truer friend than Steve Popovich. And there was no greater music man. As my friend and genius Nashville music historian Robert K. Oermann wrote in Musicrow.com, Steve was "one of the most colorful record executives in the history of Music Row”—having signed such legendary artists as Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, polka king Frank Yankovic, Lynn Anderson, Billy Swan and Johnny Paycheck to Mercury Records when he ran its Nashville operations from 1986 to 1988.
But this was long after he helped establish the likes of Santana, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Mac Davis and Chicago during a stint at CBS Records in the 1960s and '70s, then became vice president of A&R at Epic Records, where he signed or helped guide the careers Michael Jackson, The Jacksons, Cheap Trick, The Charlie Daniels Band, Ted Nugent, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones and Boston.
Still, he was probably best known for his own label Cleveland International Records, home of Meat Loaf's 1977 album debut Bat Out Of Hell, one of the biggest selling albums ever. After his stint at Mercury he returned to Cleveland and restarted Cleveland International in 1995, releasing albums representing his typically wide musical interests with titles from Grammy-winning polka acts Brave Combo and Eddie Blazonczyk & The Versatones, as well as country music great David Allan Coe. I wrote CD liner notes on many of these discs.
I first met Steve, I don’t know, soon after I moved to New York, probably around 1985 in Nashville. I know it was in March, at a Country Radio Seminar hospitality suite at the Opryland Hotel.
I knew who he was, of course, and was suitably awestruck. What I didn’t know, and never would have imagined, was how down-to-earth this record business legend was, and that he would become one of my dearest friends and supporters. Then again, he was born the son of a coal miner in Nemacolin, Pennsylvania, and began in the music industry by unloading trucks at a Columbia Records warehouse in 1962. I was a kid from Wisconsin, 10 years younger, who knew his name first from the records he was thanked on.
It was only fitting, I guess, that I first learned of Steve’s death while waiting for Eric Burdon to go on at B.B. King’s. Eric Burdon & The Animals, the most working class of the British Invasion, and Steve Popovich was nothing if not working class as a record executive.
Fitting, too, that Eric’s first song was his autobiographical “When I Was Young.” Eric had just turned 70, though you wouldn’t know it by how young he still sounds. And Steve the last few years was finally turning the corner in diligently exercising and losing weight, while doting on his grandchildren. Pictures I saw in the various Internet obits and tributes all showed him to have kept that boyish quality of being forever a young man in love with music.
And it was a love of all music. It was Steve who gave me a full appreciation of polka music and its many styles, who brought me to Cleveland to be part of it and eventually convince my editor and friend Tim White to put polka on the cover of Billboard. Not everyone got it, of course, but I’ll never forget another late friend and great record man, Dave Nives, joining me in Central Park to seen Eddie Blazonczyk & The Versatones—the great Chicago “push” Polish polka band—shaking his head in amazement and declaring, “This is rock ‘n’ roll.”
And to top it off, out of nowhere, Steve decided to offer $50 to the best polka dancers (I was one of the judges).
I'd see Steve whenever he came to New York, of course. "Bruth-uh!" he'd call a day in advance, then instruct me to meet him at the Warwick Hotel, or at a gig the next night. The last time was last year, when he brought his son Steve, Jr., to attend a charity dinner honoring his friend Steve (Little Steven) Van Zandt. He would have bought me a ticket but I told him I'd meet him after at City Winery, where his former Cleveland International artist Ian Hunter was playing. He was always loyal to his friends--especially if they were his artists.
But most of the time I'd see Steve in Nashville. It's been many years, now, but there was a place I'd always meet him at on weekend nights after I left the Grand Ole Opry, usually around 11, 11: 30. I'd head down to the Stockyard's Bullpen Lounge, the famed lounge downtown that no one I knew really went to but me and Steve, who held court at the center table. We'd be there to see Tommy Riggs, the great Nashville lounge singer, who at 450-plus was even fatter than Steve, and who died in 2000 at 57. No one sang "If You Don't Know Me By Now" like Tommy, and none other than Jimmy Webb was a devoted fan.
"You almost have to go back to Brook Benton or Billy Eckstine to find a true baritone singer like Tommy," a grieving Webb told me after Riggs died. "He was of that school: a tremendously gifted guy who never strained a note—and the greatest friend a guy could ever have."
The greatest friend a guy could ever have. He said it about Tommy--and Tommy was indeed that--but I'll borrow the great songwriter's words for my friend Steve. After the legendary Columbia Records a&r executive Mitch Miller died last year, Steve recalled that he and the fellow legends--John Hammond, Goddard Lieberson--were at the label when he was starting out in the warehouse. And Steve would have none of the scorn that was later heaped on Miller for denigrating rock 'n' roll as, among other things, "musical baby food."
"Columbia had a lot of hits then," he said, speaking of the early 1960s. "Streisand was happening, Steve [Lawrence] and Eydie [Gorme], Patti Page, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash--what a genius music man!" he said of Miller. "He'd have breakfast with Leonard Bernstein and lunch with Mahalia Jackson and dinner with Johnny Cash. He was all things to all people."
Steve Popovich, too, was all things to all people. Miller, he said, was "one of those guys who should be honored in Washington with a presidential award." And Steve was one of those guys who deserves a statue in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But he'll always have a place in my heart, at the very least.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
If you're as shocked as Us by Lauren and Kyle's "shocking split," well, it's cover story is for you. Us? We went straight to Alicia Silverstone's baby boy. Bachelorette Ashley is "betrayed again" according to Life & Style (again, we hurried over to meet Kim Zolciak's baby boy--even though we don't even know Kim). But with Teresa's husband facing prison, we thought it best not to plan on meeting her unborn baby boy, revealed in In Touch's cover "pregnancy bombshell"--but we did feel sorry for Amber and her "my baby doesn't know me" lament. After all this, we felt almost reassured to lear that "Brad hurts Jen again" by way of OK! USA, after looking away from the "Reality TV Shockers!" cover.
Heidi Klum looks good on the cover of Glamour, but she gets progressively better as you flip the "bonus covers (the topless third one's the keeper). Curvy but clothed Christina Hendricks captures the cover of Lucky, while Taylor Swift boosts her best back-to-school style at Teen Vogue.
But let's man up for a moment with Sports Illustrated's "Where are they now?" double-issue, a young Yogi Berra behind the plate to go with "The Meaning of Yogi" cover story. Being from Cheesehead Land, we were especially pleased to see that among the "Catching up with..." inside looks is the great Green Bay Packers Glory Years' fullback Jim Taylor. As for the 40 best sports songs of all time? How Dylan's No. 1 "Who Killed Davey Moore?" beat Fogerty's "Centerfield" (No. 7) is beyond us--way beyond.
Finally, Time Out New York has a "Must-see Museums" cover story, while suggesting fun things for the July 4 weekend and listing 25 of the city's best hot dogs.
Heidi Klum looks good on the cover of Glamour, but she gets progressively better as you flip the "bonus covers (the topless third one's the keeper). Curvy but clothed Christina Hendricks captures the cover of Lucky, while Taylor Swift boosts her best back-to-school style at Teen Vogue.
But let's man up for a moment with Sports Illustrated's "Where are they now?" double-issue, a young Yogi Berra behind the plate to go with "The Meaning of Yogi" cover story. Being from Cheesehead Land, we were especially pleased to see that among the "Catching up with..." inside looks is the great Green Bay Packers Glory Years' fullback Jim Taylor. As for the 40 best sports songs of all time? How Dylan's No. 1 "Who Killed Davey Moore?" beat Fogerty's "Centerfield" (No. 7) is beyond us--way beyond.
Finally, Time Out New York has a "Must-see Museums" cover story, while suggesting fun things for the July 4 weekend and listing 25 of the city's best hot dogs.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Time’s 10th annual History Issue runs The Constitution through a paper shredder and asks “Does it still matter?” Inside Joe Klein reports that Obama’s drawdown in Afghanistan pleases no one, but worse is the revelation that a beetle is eating America.
Speaking of history, the Royal Wedding is so over that it’s time to dust off Diana, which editrix Tina Brown does in her “Diana at 50—If she were here now” cover—accompanied by an illustration projecting a now Diana with Kate. The double ish also highlights the “revolt of the Obama fan club.”
Speaking of history, the Royal Wedding is so over that it’s time to dust off Diana, which editrix Tina Brown does in her “Diana at 50—If she were here now” cover—accompanied by an illustration projecting a now Diana with Kate. The double ish also highlights the “revolt of the Obama fan club.”
Obama is the focus of The New Yorker's "Obama and Afghanistan" examination, but the big feature is “The Love Code,” i.e., the “formula” for sex and love being refined by programmers, mathematicians and psychologists at work on ever more sophisticated online dating sites. The cute July 4 cover illustration, though, shows a doggie leaning out the window and looking down at a sea of flags.
Entertainment Weekly has a “gory and gothic” True Blood preview on its three “collector’s covers” and also hypes a sneak peek at Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and Tom Hanks’ account of “surviving a global movie promo tour.” The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, identifies “late night’s unsung hero” as cover boy Jimmy Kimmel, looking smart outside his Hollywood Boulevard offices and hanging with a bunch of street performers. The summer double issue also makes note of its midyear box-office report, and more important, “who plays golf where.”
Finally, Billboard’s got Jill “I understand this industry” Scott on the cover (she’s back with major live plans, a new deal with Warner Bros. and the best album debut of her career) and wonders if Sony Music’s CEO Doug Morris will catch rival major UMG.
Entertainment Weekly has a “gory and gothic” True Blood preview on its three “collector’s covers” and also hypes a sneak peek at Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and Tom Hanks’ account of “surviving a global movie promo tour.” The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, identifies “late night’s unsung hero” as cover boy Jimmy Kimmel, looking smart outside his Hollywood Boulevard offices and hanging with a bunch of street performers. The summer double issue also makes note of its midyear box-office report, and more important, “who plays golf where.”
Finally, Billboard’s got Jill “I understand this industry” Scott on the cover (she’s back with major live plans, a new deal with Warner Bros. and the best album debut of her career) and wonders if Sony Music’s CEO Doug Morris will catch rival major UMG.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
Rolling Stone’s summer double issue has Katy Perry “turning it up on the cover,” an allusion, perhaps, to her pointed “Katy’s Kisses” silver bustier. Inside are Al Gore’s “Climate of Denial” essay on “the media and the merchants of pollution” and Matt Taibbi’s timely “Michele Bachmann’s holy war.”
Spin goes with “Kanye’s bud” Bon Iver firing one up for its “success issue” also featuring Arctic Monkeys, Black Lips, My Morning Jacket, etc., and answering the musical question, “Can porn stars rock?”
Arctic Monkeys get noted on Zink’s summer issue cover, too, but the pic goes to a snakeskinned-out Jessie J—“pop’s new rock star.” Fader’s summer issue fronts Soulja Boy and Vybz Kartel (alternately front and back), while The Source picks “F.A.M.E. Monster” Chris Brown, with Lil Wayne boasting above: “I’ve dominated the last few summers!”
The Casey Anthony Trial takes People’s cover, with the margin going to Pink’s baby girl and Jen’s romance--and more substantial for us, a farewell to Clarence Clemons. But Jen comes out on top of Us Weekly, which wonders if she “pulled an Angelina” in landing her new man. Angelina’s and Brad’s “secret wedding” in France, meanwhile, is revealed in In Touch.
But back to Jen. “I am not a home wrecker,” she tells Life & Style, where cover girl/bachelorette Ashley is said to be “tortured for her looks,” though not noticeably in its bikini shot. Star wonders whether the Kardashians’ shows will survive, now that they’re “ripped apart” by off-camera scandals (new sex tape, custody battle, secret pregnancy—the usual). But OK! USA begs to differ in suggesting that Kim and Kris are “bigger than the royals,” what with her $10 million wedding.
Beyonce is “dressed to kill” on the cover of W’s “Listen up!” issue focusing on “fashion’s new beat” with “music and style” features on Kanye West, Florence Welch, Pharrell Williams, etc., as well as Gaga’s guru and Christina Aguilera exclusively baring all.
Pretty pic of “Hollywood’s smartest ‘dumb blonde’” Lisa Kudrow on the cover of More’s “under $100 issue.” Reality star Audrina Patridge does indeed look “hot in the heat” on the top of Shape—as does Transformers’ Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, revealing her “hot-body secrets” for Women’s Health. Men’s Health, by the way, offers True Blood’s Stephen Moyer, but it just ain’t the same.
Finally, it’s cheap eats at Time Out New York (36 affordable meals at top restaurants), plus cool walking tours and a Gay Pride guide.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
It’s tip-off time according to Time’s gimmicky “Baracketology” cover, which plots the president’s Republican challengers on an NCAA Basketball Tournament-style grid--with instructions to “fill in the blanks and send us your picks” for posting in the coming weeks. Inside, Turkey is named the Middle East’s “new power player,” while Fareed Zakaria wonders “what happened to conservative thinking.”
Over at Newsweek, it’s jovial Bill Clinton tallying 14 ways to save America’s jobs (“we could put a million people to work retrofitting buildings all over America”). Highlighted on top: “The deadly hunt for Zawahiri” and “Inside John Galliano’s meltdown.”
The New Yorker has fun with dog owners who look like their dogs and vice versa on the cover, with inside features including “Busting a Billionaire,” about the biggest insider-trading case in history and what it says about the failure to hold Wall Street accountable, and “Gaga vs. Beyonce,” which concludes that Gaga offers “a firmer guiding hand” than the “quiet meritocrat” Beyonce.
New York’s summer double-issue somehow ties together beer, ice cream and voyeurism, and calls out “the stinkiest block in New York” (“the stretch of Broome Street between Allen and Eldridge”).
Finally, Billboard reports that Pitbull is “going global” on its cover, what with his “big new album, major tour, and blue chip partners.” Also showcased is XL’s Richard Russell, enjoying his best year ever with Vampire Weekend, Dizzee, The Prodigy and Adele.
Over at Newsweek, it’s jovial Bill Clinton tallying 14 ways to save America’s jobs (“we could put a million people to work retrofitting buildings all over America”). Highlighted on top: “The deadly hunt for Zawahiri” and “Inside John Galliano’s meltdown.”
The New Yorker has fun with dog owners who look like their dogs and vice versa on the cover, with inside features including “Busting a Billionaire,” about the biggest insider-trading case in history and what it says about the failure to hold Wall Street accountable, and “Gaga vs. Beyonce,” which concludes that Gaga offers “a firmer guiding hand” than the “quiet meritocrat” Beyonce.
New York’s summer double-issue somehow ties together beer, ice cream and voyeurism, and calls out “the stinkiest block in New York” (“the stretch of Broome Street between Allen and Eldridge”).
Finally, Billboard reports that Pitbull is “going global” on its cover, what with his “big new album, major tour, and blue chip partners.” Also showcased is XL’s Richard Russell, enjoying his best year ever with Vampire Weekend, Dizzee, The Prodigy and Adele.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
It’s been, what, a week since we’ve seen Princess Kate on a magazine cover? Thanks, People, we were wondering what happened to her—and your “Princess Diaries” tells us all about “her new role as duchess and wife…dazzling the world with her real-girl glamour.” Yep, real-world glamour. Otherwise, Anthony Weiner’s “marriage” makes the margin, placing below Jordin Sparks’ “amazing body” but above Gabrielle Giffords “courage and recovery.”
Us competes with a “Harry & Pippa!” cover revealing their “love secrets,” hinting at a secret date between the royal siblings. Its margin lives up to the “Hot vacation photos!” tease with Kim falling out of her bikini; she “sets the record straight” at OK USA (she DID NOT cheat on Kris), which fronts Teen Mom Maci, who’s “finally a bride!” But what about poor Amber? We’ll have to wait until next week for that train wreck.
Real Houswives Of New Jersey’s Teresa takes the cover of In Touch with a “shocking exclusive”—her “prison nightmare” about her husband being locked up for 10 years (“My life without Joe”). Angelina’s half-mill birthday gift makes the margin, but Anj does better on Star, grabbing the cover for her “secrets and lies”—at least according to the tell-all book she successfully stopped. And at Life & Style we learn that yes, Bachelorette Ashley is engaged—and more about Kim, Pippa and Will and Kate.
But what about Jen? Marie Claire gives us her new men, new hair and “a bold next move.” Vogue has a luscious Emma Watson (is she old enough for us to say that) and her “life after Harry Potter”—and illustrating the issue’s “must-have Fall looks.” Fergie’s “hot-bod secrets” should lure readers of Allure, while Elle states the obvious regarding Emma Stone: “She’s gorgeous, hilarious, and cool.” At In Style, Eva Longoria answers our questions about fashion, makeup and the single life, and at Self Zooey Deschanel shows us how to never be bored working out again.
For the men, GQ offers Chris Evans as “one very buff Captain America.” And speaking of movie stars, the mag rightly wonders why Republicans are freaking out when Barack Obama has become the new Reagan. Ebony features Tyrese and Taraji on two hot “bringing the heat” “collector’s edition” covers, and Maxim displays “the lips that saved the world!”—Victoria’s Secret “angel” turned Transformers “mega-babe” Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s, that is.
To go with its “Mental Machine” mechanical brain illustration, Wired’s cover story deals with the “feedback loops” that apparently drive our brains and behavior. Recalls Time’s recent cartoon brain cover representing “the science of optimism.” And finally, Time Out New York has a “Staycations” cover with 46 “cheap and easy ways to escape without leaving town,” No. 1, according to the fab cover, diving into a Midtown swimming pool/subway stairwell.
Us competes with a “Harry & Pippa!” cover revealing their “love secrets,” hinting at a secret date between the royal siblings. Its margin lives up to the “Hot vacation photos!” tease with Kim falling out of her bikini; she “sets the record straight” at OK USA (she DID NOT cheat on Kris), which fronts Teen Mom Maci, who’s “finally a bride!” But what about poor Amber? We’ll have to wait until next week for that train wreck.
Real Houswives Of New Jersey’s Teresa takes the cover of In Touch with a “shocking exclusive”—her “prison nightmare” about her husband being locked up for 10 years (“My life without Joe”). Angelina’s half-mill birthday gift makes the margin, but Anj does better on Star, grabbing the cover for her “secrets and lies”—at least according to the tell-all book she successfully stopped. And at Life & Style we learn that yes, Bachelorette Ashley is engaged—and more about Kim, Pippa and Will and Kate.
But what about Jen? Marie Claire gives us her new men, new hair and “a bold next move.” Vogue has a luscious Emma Watson (is she old enough for us to say that) and her “life after Harry Potter”—and illustrating the issue’s “must-have Fall looks.” Fergie’s “hot-bod secrets” should lure readers of Allure, while Elle states the obvious regarding Emma Stone: “She’s gorgeous, hilarious, and cool.” At In Style, Eva Longoria answers our questions about fashion, makeup and the single life, and at Self Zooey Deschanel shows us how to never be bored working out again.
For the men, GQ offers Chris Evans as “one very buff Captain America.” And speaking of movie stars, the mag rightly wonders why Republicans are freaking out when Barack Obama has become the new Reagan. Ebony features Tyrese and Taraji on two hot “bringing the heat” “collector’s edition” covers, and Maxim displays “the lips that saved the world!”—Victoria’s Secret “angel” turned Transformers “mega-babe” Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s, that is.
To go with its “Mental Machine” mechanical brain illustration, Wired’s cover story deals with the “feedback loops” that apparently drive our brains and behavior. Recalls Time’s recent cartoon brain cover representing “the science of optimism.” And finally, Time Out New York has a “Staycations” cover with 46 “cheap and easy ways to escape without leaving town,” No. 1, according to the fab cover, diving into a Midtown swimming pool/subway stairwell.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Light Monday with all the double-issues from last week, but Time's in with a "What recovery?" cover, a torn dollar bill depicting "the five myths about the economy," i.e., the downturn is a temporary blip, the Fed can save us, the private sector will make it all better, we can move where the jobs are and entrepreneurs are our greatest strength. Of major interest, too, may be the inside piece on E. Coli ("Is a U.S. outbreak coming?") and "Faith in the Arab Spring."
The Eonomist, meanwhile, shows a pensive Barack Obama standing tall over his squabbling Republican challengers while thinking out loud "…and yet I could still lose."
Entertainment Weekly's cover goes to the week's top-grossing Super 8, with J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg discussing "their cool retro thriller" along with "growing up geeky" and their passion for movies. The ish also presents its "summer TV preview."
The Hollywood Reporter offers an "Emmys 2011 Drama Actor Rountable" with best actor contenders Tom Selleck, Michael C. Hall, Timothy Olyphant, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi and Andre Braugher. "Emmy speech ghostwriter" Kathy Griffin is also highlighted, as is "The confessions of Keith Olbermann."
Billboard's covers may be graphically striking, but they're getting hard to read--much to our irritation. And no, it's not because we used to work there for 25 years! A Selena Gomez pinup pose on a ships steering wheel goes with the question: "Can [she] steer clear of the post-Disney curse?" But the only inside story you don't have to strain your neck to read is the "Nashville Scene: Country Summit wrap-up."
Finally, hip-hopper Lupe Fiasco takes the cover of Jet, but in light of last night's clinching of the NBA Finals by the Dallas Mavericks, the inside bit on Lebron--"Was it worth it?"--is no doubt being echoed by Miami Heat fans, much to the delight of us Knicks backers.
The Eonomist, meanwhile, shows a pensive Barack Obama standing tall over his squabbling Republican challengers while thinking out loud "…and yet I could still lose."
Entertainment Weekly's cover goes to the week's top-grossing Super 8, with J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg discussing "their cool retro thriller" along with "growing up geeky" and their passion for movies. The ish also presents its "summer TV preview."
The Hollywood Reporter offers an "Emmys 2011 Drama Actor Rountable" with best actor contenders Tom Selleck, Michael C. Hall, Timothy Olyphant, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi and Andre Braugher. "Emmy speech ghostwriter" Kathy Griffin is also highlighted, as is "The confessions of Keith Olbermann."
Billboard's covers may be graphically striking, but they're getting hard to read--much to our irritation. And no, it's not because we used to work there for 25 years! A Selena Gomez pinup pose on a ships steering wheel goes with the question: "Can [she] steer clear of the post-Disney curse?" But the only inside story you don't have to strain your neck to read is the "Nashville Scene: Country Summit wrap-up."
Finally, hip-hopper Lupe Fiasco takes the cover of Jet, but in light of last night's clinching of the NBA Finals by the Dallas Mavericks, the inside bit on Lebron--"Was it worth it?"--is no doubt being echoed by Miami Heat fans, much to the delight of us Knicks backers.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
Yes, it's Thursday. But the magazines came in too late yesterday for us to review them--and now some of the key ones are already gone. But here's a few worth noting, starting with the July issue of Mojo, which focuses on "Bob Marley--The Legend" and looks inside his "musical revolution" with contributions from Johnny Marr, Sly Dunbar, Jah Wobble, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Rita Marley. Rolling Stone, meanwhile, "gets baked" with cover boy Zach Galifianakis, inside features covering Keith Olbermann's "side of the story," True Blood's "secrets of the new season" and "backstage with U2."
People goes with Bachelorette Ashley "fighting back," having been "so betrayed by the men who were supposed to adore her." This story, of course, takes precedence over "President Obama--On being a good father," no doubt because he's not posing in his underpants while being one. Over at Us, Christina tells us how she "battled back" from a painful divorce, a drunken arrest, public humiliation, etc., etc., etc. Inside is Sean and Scarlett's split, and Kim's "greedy prenup," though Kim is "caught cheating!" on the "Stop the wedding!" cover of In Touch with "kinky texts and wild phone sex"--which to be honest, we've kind of had enough of at this point.
But Kim's "wedding slim-down" takes up cover margin space at Life & Style, which counters People with Ashley desperately taking heartbreaker Bentley back ("Is she crazy," the cover asks? No, we're crazy for caring). Star's got "Eating Disorder Confessions" on its cover (anorexia, bulimia and starvation diets abound) and pictures Jen and Justin on the top for moving in together--though Jen takes some flack back at In Touch for being a "homewrecker." And OK! returns us to poor Ashley, "stabbed in the heart" by Bentley.
Finally, Men's Fitness gives us muscle man Vin Diesel on the cover. But we're picking up Men's Health for a second look at the "political muscle" cover of "America's fittest congressman" Aaron Schock. Anthony Weiner looks pretty fit in his shirtless pics, too, but we're betting will never see his abs gracing the cover of Men's Health--or any other family magazine, for that matter.
People goes with Bachelorette Ashley "fighting back," having been "so betrayed by the men who were supposed to adore her." This story, of course, takes precedence over "President Obama--On being a good father," no doubt because he's not posing in his underpants while being one. Over at Us, Christina tells us how she "battled back" from a painful divorce, a drunken arrest, public humiliation, etc., etc., etc. Inside is Sean and Scarlett's split, and Kim's "greedy prenup," though Kim is "caught cheating!" on the "Stop the wedding!" cover of In Touch with "kinky texts and wild phone sex"--which to be honest, we've kind of had enough of at this point.
But Kim's "wedding slim-down" takes up cover margin space at Life & Style, which counters People with Ashley desperately taking heartbreaker Bentley back ("Is she crazy," the cover asks? No, we're crazy for caring). Star's got "Eating Disorder Confessions" on its cover (anorexia, bulimia and starvation diets abound) and pictures Jen and Justin on the top for moving in together--though Jen takes some flack back at In Touch for being a "homewrecker." And OK! returns us to poor Ashley, "stabbed in the heart" by Bentley.
Finally, Men's Fitness gives us muscle man Vin Diesel on the cover. But we're picking up Men's Health for a second look at the "political muscle" cover of "America's fittest congressman" Aaron Schock. Anthony Weiner looks pretty fit in his shirtless pics, too, but we're betting will never see his abs gracing the cover of Men's Health--or any other family magazine, for that matter.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
A lot of double issues this week starting with Time's "Health Special Report," which puts Dr. Oz on the cover with "Lessons from my cancer scare," and of more universal interest, "Is your cell phone safe?" Inside Joe Klein suggests that both the President and Paul Ryan misread their mandates regarding Medicare in "The politics of self-delusion." Newsweek, meanwhile, has Mitt Romney clicking his heels in its double-issue cover, "The Mormon moment--How the outsider faith creates winners."
New York gives us the "Best Doctors 2011" double-issue, naming 1,144 physicians in every specialty. Inside is a guide to where to eat, shop, and nap along the High Line's new second section. The New Yorker's "summer fiction issue" includes Jeffrey Eugenides, Vladimir Nabokov, Jhumpa Lahiri, Aleksandar Hemon, George Saunders and Laura Groff on its cover illustration of a summer reading room; also cited is Elizabeth's Kolbert's take on "the extreme-weather forecast."
The Hollywood Reporter puts "The Split Personality of Chelsea Handler" on the cover while revealing that she wants to utilize her brain more, suggesting, perhaps, that she's done with her show. Inside are Hangover Part II, "Emmy Dark Horses" and "First Look: Costumes of X-Men" features.
Finally, Billboard goes with Jason Aldean on top, the "Indie spirit, country heart, rock 'n' roll soul" story about his and his Broken Bow label's rise to the top. Also covered is the "YouTube vs. Vevo" live-streaming battle, and the trouble rock radio is in--as evidenced by "format flips."
New York gives us the "Best Doctors 2011" double-issue, naming 1,144 physicians in every specialty. Inside is a guide to where to eat, shop, and nap along the High Line's new second section. The New Yorker's "summer fiction issue" includes Jeffrey Eugenides, Vladimir Nabokov, Jhumpa Lahiri, Aleksandar Hemon, George Saunders and Laura Groff on its cover illustration of a summer reading room; also cited is Elizabeth's Kolbert's take on "the extreme-weather forecast."
The Hollywood Reporter puts "The Split Personality of Chelsea Handler" on the cover while revealing that she wants to utilize her brain more, suggesting, perhaps, that she's done with her show. Inside are Hangover Part II, "Emmy Dark Horses" and "First Look: Costumes of X-Men" features.
Finally, Billboard goes with Jason Aldean on top, the "Indie spirit, country heart, rock 'n' roll soul" story about his and his Broken Bow label's rise to the top. Also covered is the "YouTube vs. Vevo" live-streaming battle, and the trouble rock radio is in--as evidenced by "format flips."
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
The Royal Wedding seems like ages ago now, seeing newlyweds Will and Kate on the cover of Vanity Fair, which delves into their "new life." And God bless atheist Christopher Hitchens, continuing to crank out cantankerous copy while bravely fighting esophageal cancer. This month it's "Pakistan's Bin Laden betrayal."
At Cosmo, Rihanna "finally reveals her deepest feelings"--finally!--on the cover, which also fronts "Your breast myths--busted" (damn!), but we can all take heart that, yes, "the boobgasm does exist." In fact!
Blake's on the cover of Glamour talking clothes and guys, while Florence and the Machine's Florence Welch is "red hot!" on the cover of Nylon's music issue--though we're way more interested in being "at home with Stevie Nicks" than "on the tour bus with Jared Leto."
The Caylee Anthony murder case is People's cover feature, with its margin getting over-excited over its exclusive! "Meredith Vieira, Why I walked away from Today" report.
If you're just dying to know how Leo won Blake's heart, it was candlelit dinners, helicopter rides, a private yacht--all this and so, so much more according to Us. Of equal interest, surely, is "Courteney and Jen--What tore them apart?" and the answer to another life-meaning question, "Justin & Ashley: Shocking new couple?"
Speaking of Jen, her and Brad's "emotional reunion" is the cover "world exclusive" of In Touch, the margin hyping Kim's "bridezilla demands." (Gee, maybe her next "reality show" could be Bridezilla Meets Frankenstein. Just hoping....)
Star weighs Angelina in at 99 lbs.! OMG! New fears of "anorexia & heroin relapse," for sure. "Kim's Wedding Surprise"(Bridezilla's pregnancy) greets viewers of OK! USA; the three Kardash sisters grace the cover of Life & Style ("A wedding and two babies!") That's two babies, not counting the Kardash sis of your choosing.
Lucky offers Lauren Conrad's "great body, no gym needed" fit tips for the lazy (hope it's not gender-specific).
Bradley Cooper, whom "everybody wants, right now," is on the cover of Esquire's "summer double issue"--with a woman's hand sneaking down his tailored suit's slacks. Sexier for us, though, is the tiny "now with bocce!" tease in the upper right corner, leading us to a nice little Esquire endorsement of the "great summertime game," along with a how-to make your own bocce court instructional.
Details counters with "Ryan Reynolds is just like you (except for the whole sexiest-man-alive thing)" cover; flip the ish over there's a more casual Reynolds repping an "everything you need to look great--from head to toe" guide.
Finally, Time Out New York gives you "your perfect weekend"--and throws in a NYC jazz guide at its web site for good measure.
At Cosmo, Rihanna "finally reveals her deepest feelings"--finally!--on the cover, which also fronts "Your breast myths--busted" (damn!), but we can all take heart that, yes, "the boobgasm does exist." In fact!
Blake's on the cover of Glamour talking clothes and guys, while Florence and the Machine's Florence Welch is "red hot!" on the cover of Nylon's music issue--though we're way more interested in being "at home with Stevie Nicks" than "on the tour bus with Jared Leto."
The Caylee Anthony murder case is People's cover feature, with its margin getting over-excited over its exclusive! "Meredith Vieira, Why I walked away from Today" report.
If you're just dying to know how Leo won Blake's heart, it was candlelit dinners, helicopter rides, a private yacht--all this and so, so much more according to Us. Of equal interest, surely, is "Courteney and Jen--What tore them apart?" and the answer to another life-meaning question, "Justin & Ashley: Shocking new couple?"
Speaking of Jen, her and Brad's "emotional reunion" is the cover "world exclusive" of In Touch, the margin hyping Kim's "bridezilla demands." (Gee, maybe her next "reality show" could be Bridezilla Meets Frankenstein. Just hoping....)
Star weighs Angelina in at 99 lbs.! OMG! New fears of "anorexia & heroin relapse," for sure. "Kim's Wedding Surprise"(Bridezilla's pregnancy) greets viewers of OK! USA; the three Kardash sisters grace the cover of Life & Style ("A wedding and two babies!") That's two babies, not counting the Kardash sis of your choosing.
Lucky offers Lauren Conrad's "great body, no gym needed" fit tips for the lazy (hope it's not gender-specific).
Bradley Cooper, whom "everybody wants, right now," is on the cover of Esquire's "summer double issue"--with a woman's hand sneaking down his tailored suit's slacks. Sexier for us, though, is the tiny "now with bocce!" tease in the upper right corner, leading us to a nice little Esquire endorsement of the "great summertime game," along with a how-to make your own bocce court instructional.
Details counters with "Ryan Reynolds is just like you (except for the whole sexiest-man-alive thing)" cover; flip the ish over there's a more casual Reynolds repping an "everything you need to look great--from head to toe" guide.
Finally, Time Out New York gives you "your perfect weekend"--and throws in a NYC jazz guide at its web site for good measure.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Yes, it's Tuesday, but we're too lazy to change the title.
Newsweek scares us with its "Weather Panic" cover, the twister pictured suggesting that "this is the new normal (and we're hopelessly unprepared)." Scarier still is this inside story: "Is Lady Gaga the new Oprah?" And if you aren't hiding under the covers by now, this should put you down for good: "Building the perfect Republican."
Time also highlights "In the twister's path--What's behind the worst tornado season in 50 years?" on its front, with the cover going to a cartoon brain representing "The Science of Optimism" ("Hope isn't rational," it says, "so why are humans wired for it?" Clearly, they didn't talk to us.)
Entertainment Weekly's special "Best of Summer" double issue has "the irresistible" Jason Bateman buried up to his neck in sand with a seagull perched on his head. No Gaga, but they are "on tour with Katy Perry." Inside, too, is a reading list from Stephen King and "the last hurrah" of Harry Potter.
The New Yorker has a funny cover of a smoker, salt user and carb loader pilloried on a New York sidewalk, with instructions not to feed the "backsliders." "Sex in High Places" is the big story, which asks specifically if Italy has finally had enough of Berlusconi, "and the sexist culture he embodies." Seymour Hersh also gauges how real Iran's nuclear threat is--or isn't.
New York looks at the Long Island serial killer in its cover feature, inside stories including "the man who was cured of AIDS," "Andrew Cuomo, Gay-Marriage broker" and "Rahm's Chicago."
The Hollywood Reporter goes with James Cameron and Michael Bay on its "How to Build a Better Blockbuster" cover. Highlighted, too, is its "Emmy's 2011 Kickoff," and former manager and Helen Reddy ex Jeff Wald's "I was a Hollywood addict" confession--which we passed on, figuring the story's been told at least a million times before.
Finally, Billboard pats itself on the back with a "Beyonce Makes History--at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards" cover. Apparently, hers is/was "the performance of a lifetime," though whose lifetime is not revealed.
Newsweek scares us with its "Weather Panic" cover, the twister pictured suggesting that "this is the new normal (and we're hopelessly unprepared)." Scarier still is this inside story: "Is Lady Gaga the new Oprah?" And if you aren't hiding under the covers by now, this should put you down for good: "Building the perfect Republican."
Time also highlights "In the twister's path--What's behind the worst tornado season in 50 years?" on its front, with the cover going to a cartoon brain representing "The Science of Optimism" ("Hope isn't rational," it says, "so why are humans wired for it?" Clearly, they didn't talk to us.)
Entertainment Weekly's special "Best of Summer" double issue has "the irresistible" Jason Bateman buried up to his neck in sand with a seagull perched on his head. No Gaga, but they are "on tour with Katy Perry." Inside, too, is a reading list from Stephen King and "the last hurrah" of Harry Potter.
The New Yorker has a funny cover of a smoker, salt user and carb loader pilloried on a New York sidewalk, with instructions not to feed the "backsliders." "Sex in High Places" is the big story, which asks specifically if Italy has finally had enough of Berlusconi, "and the sexist culture he embodies." Seymour Hersh also gauges how real Iran's nuclear threat is--or isn't.
New York looks at the Long Island serial killer in its cover feature, inside stories including "the man who was cured of AIDS," "Andrew Cuomo, Gay-Marriage broker" and "Rahm's Chicago."
The Hollywood Reporter goes with James Cameron and Michael Bay on its "How to Build a Better Blockbuster" cover. Highlighted, too, is its "Emmy's 2011 Kickoff," and former manager and Helen Reddy ex Jeff Wald's "I was a Hollywood addict" confession--which we passed on, figuring the story's been told at least a million times before.
Finally, Billboard pats itself on the back with a "Beyonce Makes History--at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards" cover. Apparently, hers is/was "the performance of a lifetime," though whose lifetime is not revealed.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
So we just finished watching the first season of The Borgias and its dramatization of Pope Alexander VI (not as good as Showtime's preceding The Tudors), and here's Harper's with a cover of the Holy Bible ("Re-imagining, revising, and refuting The Bible--The King James Version turns 400).
The cover of Health shows True Blood's Anna Paquin, and promises to reveal the fun way she stays so sleek (we gave in and peeked: It's boxing). Bazaar has a pretty pic to go with its "Britney's back" cover proclamation, though the issue's big theme is the new fashion season, for which it features a preview and unwary report.
People's got exclusive photos to go with its "Kim's Engaged!" thriller, with "all the details of the incredible proposal." Also new details of "Maria's torment"--Shriver, that is. But it's rather jarring to see a small "Heartbreak and Hope" rescue picture form Joplin, Mo., beneath a "Blake & Leo heating up!" pic.
Us give us its timely "Hot Bodies" special issue, with Kourtney Kardashian (thanks, Ali, for the ID!) and Carrie Underwood showing off their bikini bods on the cover. Sister Khloe's readily identified in a small pic on OK! USA's cover, with Biggest Loser winner Olivia's before-and-after photos documenting her shrinkage from 261 lbs to 132 accompanying the major feature. Star's got the inside scoop on Maria and "you're a pig!" Arnold's "final showdown." In Touch goes with New Jersey Housewives Teresa's shocking split and admission that "fame destroyed my family," though her cover pic with the kids shows them looking anything but destroyed. And just when you thought there could possibly be a week with no Jen, she shares the cover with Leo's latest, Blake Lively, and looks to be basking in the warmth of her "gushing" new man.
On a more worldly plane, Out is out with "Red Hot and Blue--Summer of Adele"--though a ticket scalper I ran into Sunday night outside the Beacon for the first of three incredible Elvis Costello shows was blown away that kids were spending $500 for tickets for her recent New York show (he didn't like the show even though she has a great voice, he said; we'd love to have seen it anyway).
Rolling Stone's getting a lot of predictable play on its "Monster Goddess--A wild week with Lady Gaga" feature, though we find the cover unattractive, if relatively toned-down. Of more interest here might be Tim Dickinson's special report, "Inside the Fox News Fear Factory." Inside, too, are "American Idol vs. The Voice--TV's biggest battle" and "The return of The Cars."
Spin goes with a Summer Live Guide, but the cover focuses on "The New Americana Revolution," picturing England's Mumford & Sons and showing "how a band of Brits are leading the charge." The ish also features The Felice Brothers, The Low Anthem and The Head and The Heart. And by the way, Mumford & Sons were just nominated for New/Emerging Artist and Duo/Group of the Year by the Americana Music Association, which announced the nominees for its 2011 Honors & Awards Show Monday in New York.
Rolling Stone's getting a lot of predictable play on its "Monster Goddess--A wild week with Lady Gaga" feature, though we find the cover unattractive, if relatively toned-down. Of more interest here might be Tim Dickinson's special report, "Inside the Fox News Fear Factory." Inside, too, are "American Idol vs. The Voice--TV's biggest battle" and "The return of The Cars."
Spin goes with a Summer Live Guide, but the cover focuses on "The New Americana Revolution," picturing England's Mumford & Sons and showing "how a band of Brits are leading the charge." The ish also features The Felice Brothers, The Low Anthem and The Head and The Heart. And by the way, Mumford & Sons were just nominated for New/Emerging Artist and Duo/Group of the Year by the Americana Music Association, which announced the nominees for its 2011 Honors & Awards Show Monday in New York.
The cover of Health shows True Blood's Anna Paquin, and promises to reveal the fun way she stays so sleek (we gave in and peeked: It's boxing). Bazaar has a pretty pic to go with its "Britney's back" cover proclamation, though the issue's big theme is the new fashion season, for which it features a preview and unwary report.
People's got exclusive photos to go with its "Kim's Engaged!" thriller, with "all the details of the incredible proposal." Also new details of "Maria's torment"--Shriver, that is. But it's rather jarring to see a small "Heartbreak and Hope" rescue picture form Joplin, Mo., beneath a "Blake & Leo heating up!" pic.
Us give us its timely "Hot Bodies" special issue, with Kourtney Kardashian (thanks, Ali, for the ID!) and Carrie Underwood showing off their bikini bods on the cover. Sister Khloe's readily identified in a small pic on OK! USA's cover, with Biggest Loser winner Olivia's before-and-after photos documenting her shrinkage from 261 lbs to 132 accompanying the major feature. Star's got the inside scoop on Maria and "you're a pig!" Arnold's "final showdown." In Touch goes with New Jersey Housewives Teresa's shocking split and admission that "fame destroyed my family," though her cover pic with the kids shows them looking anything but destroyed. And just when you thought there could possibly be a week with no Jen, she shares the cover with Leo's latest, Blake Lively, and looks to be basking in the warmth of her "gushing" new man.
Finally Time Out New York offers 100-plus of our city's coolest singles, along with 100 best date places, all in time for Memorial Day weekend.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Bob Dylan at 70, Jim Bessman at 58
With today being Bob Dylan's 70th birthday, just about everyone has celebrated with major magazine features, blog tributes and Facebook video sharing. I'm no exception, except that I took a negative tack.
Sure I was influenced by Dylan growing up. Twelve years older, he was one of my biggest influences in high school, for the usual reasons. Alienated, against the war, supporting Civil Rights and doing drugs, Dylan covered all these bases and more for a troubled teen who appropriated the battle cry in "The Times They Are A-Changin'," directed at "mothers and fathers throughout the land" with a warning not to criticize "what you don't understand," whose "old road [was] rapidly agin'": "Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand…."
But after the the trilogy of great electric albums of 1965 and 1966--Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde--I gradually lost interest. There were high points on the succeeding John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning, to be sure--even his Born Again albums and beyond--but to me he'd lost his edge and lyrical relevance.
Then again, I, too, had moved on musically. Come 1970--my senior year in high school--I had begun moving away from the Top 40 and the progressive rock genre that the '60s had spawned and immersing myself in country music, via the radio, and the roots American music genres, via the public library. And this is where I, personally, still owe the most to Bob Dylan.
Those first acoustic and definitely folk Dylan albums were a product of Dylan's study of folk music, heavy on Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, famously, and the Sing Out! and Broadside magazines and Vanguard and Folkways labels types who made up the early '60s Greenwich Village scene that Dylan gravitated to from Minnesota--names like Joan Baez, Richard & Mimi Farina, Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, to name a few. But those first recordings also descended from the folk and country blues greats like Jesse Fuller, Bukka White and Blind Lemon Jefferson--all of whom were directly covered on his 1962 debut album Bob Dylan.
As I was only 10 in 1962, I had to go back and hear these albums after discovering him, probably around 1965 when he went electric and hit big on the pop singles chart with "Like A Rolling Stone," and I became aware that Peter, Paul and Mary's "Blowin' In The Wind," The Byrds' "Mr. Tamborine Man" and The Turtles' "It Ain't Me, Babe" were Dylan covers. From there it was hours and hours at the library listening to that early source material and then expanding upon it, such that the Newport Folk Festival albums on Vanguard, for instance, not only led me to blues but bluegrass, old-timey, gospel, Cajun, Sacred Harp, Georgia Sea Island and other music genres that I never knew existed; looking back, I can understand why that purist folkie 1965 Newport audience booed him when he came out with a rock band.
For sure, it wasn't any rock band that Dylan introduced his electric rock sound with, but Paul Butterfield's blues band (minus Butterfield, and with keyboard players Al Kooper and Barry Goldberg). And it was the blues that I focused on, harmonica blues, especially, thanks to Dylan's harmonica playing. I even bought a 10-hole Marine Band harp in every key and taught myself how to get a single note and bend the low draw notes--but that was about as far as I got. But to this day I know a good harp player when I hear one, and have long been friends with some of the top ones--all because of the Minnesota kid with the harmonica rack around his neck whom this Wisconsin boy admired.
I'm sure I'm not alone in any of the above, not by a long shot. But I did face criticism from a Facebook friend for a piece I wrote last week at examiner.com that reviewed the controversy over Dylan's recent trip to China: Some observers, most notably The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, slammed Dylan for not performing his 1960s protest classics "Blowin' In The Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'." I suggested, as have others, that Dylan long ago left that part of his career behind, and has pretty much dismissed it in his interviews and memoir.
Which brings me to what I've long felt about Dylan, that there's no there, there, other than what you and I project upon him from our own tastes, reactions, interpretations--as with any other artist, I know, though magnified in the context of this true cultural giant, whose work has prompted such intense reaction and interpretation for 50 years. We take from him what we bring to him, and much of what I bring to Bob Dylan, now, is what I originally got from him.
The flip side of projection, though, is expectation, and when those expectations aren't met they lead to disappointment followed inevitably by divorce. In the case of me and Dylan, I'd say the divorce is no-fault: I wanted something, unrealistically perhaps, that he would or could no longer deliver, that is, if he really did in the first place. My Facebook friend--who hasn't unfriended me yet, though maybe he will now!--felt after all he has done, Dylan is entitled to a "victory lap," meaning, presumably, his Never Ending Tour. Well, I've seen parts of that tour the last two summers, and I say parts because for me they were such boring, one-note, indecipherable affairs that I left pretty quickly.
But, hey! That's just me. I definitely do not deny Bob Dylan's huge impact on me, and while his own music hasn't retained its staying power in my life, everything else it brought me still has, and to an immeasurable degree, helped make me who I am.
Sure I was influenced by Dylan growing up. Twelve years older, he was one of my biggest influences in high school, for the usual reasons. Alienated, against the war, supporting Civil Rights and doing drugs, Dylan covered all these bases and more for a troubled teen who appropriated the battle cry in "The Times They Are A-Changin'," directed at "mothers and fathers throughout the land" with a warning not to criticize "what you don't understand," whose "old road [was] rapidly agin'": "Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand…."
But after the the trilogy of great electric albums of 1965 and 1966--Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde--I gradually lost interest. There were high points on the succeeding John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning, to be sure--even his Born Again albums and beyond--but to me he'd lost his edge and lyrical relevance.
Then again, I, too, had moved on musically. Come 1970--my senior year in high school--I had begun moving away from the Top 40 and the progressive rock genre that the '60s had spawned and immersing myself in country music, via the radio, and the roots American music genres, via the public library. And this is where I, personally, still owe the most to Bob Dylan.
Those first acoustic and definitely folk Dylan albums were a product of Dylan's study of folk music, heavy on Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, famously, and the Sing Out! and Broadside magazines and Vanguard and Folkways labels types who made up the early '60s Greenwich Village scene that Dylan gravitated to from Minnesota--names like Joan Baez, Richard & Mimi Farina, Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, to name a few. But those first recordings also descended from the folk and country blues greats like Jesse Fuller, Bukka White and Blind Lemon Jefferson--all of whom were directly covered on his 1962 debut album Bob Dylan.
As I was only 10 in 1962, I had to go back and hear these albums after discovering him, probably around 1965 when he went electric and hit big on the pop singles chart with "Like A Rolling Stone," and I became aware that Peter, Paul and Mary's "Blowin' In The Wind," The Byrds' "Mr. Tamborine Man" and The Turtles' "It Ain't Me, Babe" were Dylan covers. From there it was hours and hours at the library listening to that early source material and then expanding upon it, such that the Newport Folk Festival albums on Vanguard, for instance, not only led me to blues but bluegrass, old-timey, gospel, Cajun, Sacred Harp, Georgia Sea Island and other music genres that I never knew existed; looking back, I can understand why that purist folkie 1965 Newport audience booed him when he came out with a rock band.
For sure, it wasn't any rock band that Dylan introduced his electric rock sound with, but Paul Butterfield's blues band (minus Butterfield, and with keyboard players Al Kooper and Barry Goldberg). And it was the blues that I focused on, harmonica blues, especially, thanks to Dylan's harmonica playing. I even bought a 10-hole Marine Band harp in every key and taught myself how to get a single note and bend the low draw notes--but that was about as far as I got. But to this day I know a good harp player when I hear one, and have long been friends with some of the top ones--all because of the Minnesota kid with the harmonica rack around his neck whom this Wisconsin boy admired.
I'm sure I'm not alone in any of the above, not by a long shot. But I did face criticism from a Facebook friend for a piece I wrote last week at examiner.com that reviewed the controversy over Dylan's recent trip to China: Some observers, most notably The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, slammed Dylan for not performing his 1960s protest classics "Blowin' In The Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'." I suggested, as have others, that Dylan long ago left that part of his career behind, and has pretty much dismissed it in his interviews and memoir.
Which brings me to what I've long felt about Dylan, that there's no there, there, other than what you and I project upon him from our own tastes, reactions, interpretations--as with any other artist, I know, though magnified in the context of this true cultural giant, whose work has prompted such intense reaction and interpretation for 50 years. We take from him what we bring to him, and much of what I bring to Bob Dylan, now, is what I originally got from him.
The flip side of projection, though, is expectation, and when those expectations aren't met they lead to disappointment followed inevitably by divorce. In the case of me and Dylan, I'd say the divorce is no-fault: I wanted something, unrealistically perhaps, that he would or could no longer deliver, that is, if he really did in the first place. My Facebook friend--who hasn't unfriended me yet, though maybe he will now!--felt after all he has done, Dylan is entitled to a "victory lap," meaning, presumably, his Never Ending Tour. Well, I've seen parts of that tour the last two summers, and I say parts because for me they were such boring, one-note, indecipherable affairs that I left pretty quickly.
But, hey! That's just me. I definitely do not deny Bob Dylan's huge impact on me, and while his own music hasn't retained its staying power in my life, everything else it brought me still has, and to an immeasurable degree, helped make me who I am.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Just when we were thinking to ourselves, "Gee. Time's 'Sex. Lies. Arrogance. What makes powerful men act like pigs" cover was insulting to the piglet in the lower right corner, we saw the apologetic asterisk next to it saying, "No offense." Well, being men, we're kind of offended--but then again, we're not powerful--so they're not talking about us. Inside, Tim Pawlenty says he can win the election--though he seems to be the only one who thinks so.
Maybe Timbo should blame Fox News. According to New York's cover story, Fox News "made a circus out of the Republican Party--and boy, does Roger Ailes regret it now." Wethinks they give Fox too much credit--and wonder if Ailes knows what regret is.
Bethenny Frankel is "the It girl of reality TV" on the cover of Forbes, the story being "The new celebrity money makers--the rise of Hollywood's entrepreneurial elite." Frankel earned her cover spot for selling her line of Skinnygirl drinks for $100 million. The mag also positions her at No. 42 in "The Celebrity 100--the richest stars": The list is topped by Lady Gaga, who's not the richest, but the biggest celebrity--or so says Forbes. More substantial and admirable, though, is the list of 18 people who have donated over $1 billion, headed by Bill Gates and his $28 billion in donations--half of his net worth.
With the season of American Idol coming to a close, The Hollywood Reporter offers an "Idol players tell all" in its "How a Hit Show Was Reborn" cover story, the picture featuring the show's four on-air stars. "Hot news form Cannes" can be found inside, along with the "awards show host crisis" (the Emmys', in particular) and Todd McCarthy's review of the Cannes winner Tree of Life.
Finally, Billboard is wrapped in a "Mana Drama Y Luz" ad, with the inside cover going to "not your normal indie rock star" Bon Iver. It also features a late-night guide to the talent bookers of the Fallon, Letterman, Lopez shows, and more.
Maybe Timbo should blame Fox News. According to New York's cover story, Fox News "made a circus out of the Republican Party--and boy, does Roger Ailes regret it now." Wethinks they give Fox too much credit--and wonder if Ailes knows what regret is.
Bethenny Frankel is "the It girl of reality TV" on the cover of Forbes, the story being "The new celebrity money makers--the rise of Hollywood's entrepreneurial elite." Frankel earned her cover spot for selling her line of Skinnygirl drinks for $100 million. The mag also positions her at No. 42 in "The Celebrity 100--the richest stars": The list is topped by Lady Gaga, who's not the richest, but the biggest celebrity--or so says Forbes. More substantial and admirable, though, is the list of 18 people who have donated over $1 billion, headed by Bill Gates and his $28 billion in donations--half of his net worth.
With the season of American Idol coming to a close, The Hollywood Reporter offers an "Idol players tell all" in its "How a Hit Show Was Reborn" cover story, the picture featuring the show's four on-air stars. "Hot news form Cannes" can be found inside, along with the "awards show host crisis" (the Emmys', in particular) and Todd McCarthy's review of the Cannes winner Tree of Life.
Finally, Billboard is wrapped in a "Mana Drama Y Luz" ad, with the inside cover going to "not your normal indie rock star" Bon Iver. It also features a late-night guide to the talent bookers of the Fallon, Letterman, Lopez shows, and more.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Subway Choir
A Mennonite choir sings hymns of truth and grace at 42nd Street Subway Station, the afternoon of the Rapture.
Lego Lion
(Jim Bessman, 5/21/2011)
A lion made of 30,000 Lego bricks, by Nathan Sawaya, a.k.a. the Brick Artists. It and a companion lion were made to honor Patience and Fortitude, the iconic lions that grace the front of the New York Public Library's library, on the occasion of its 100th birthday. The two Lego statues will be moved inside after this weekend.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Harmon Killebrew and boyhood dreams
Playing centerfield and batting cleanup, Number 44, Henry Aaron…AARON.
Hank Aaron. Now there's a ballplayer's name. A real baseball player's name. Like Harmon Killebrew.
I was actually thinking of Harmon Killebrew's name when the news alert came in last week that he had died. It was only a matter of time, obviously, since he had announced just a few days before that he was ending his fight against esophageal cancer, which had been diagnosed only last December.
Killebrew's death brought forth a slew of nostalgic reminiscences from Facebook friends and tributes from sportswriters everywhere. I, too, got into the act, with an appreciation piece I wrote for examiner.com, in which I noted that as great a hitter as Killebrew was, he was apparently as great a human being.
Phil Mushnick, the great sportswriter for The New York Post, picked up on both aspects in his tribute: "Was there ever a man with a more appropriate name than Harmon Killebrew?" Mushnick wrote. "A fellow named Harmon Killebrew could not have been a spray hitter or middle reliever. He could only have been a big, bald, friendly guy from Payette, Idaho, who hit 573 home runs. And Killebrew didn't use steroids or HGH, just a bat."
But the death of Killebrew stirred deeper emotions in those of us who were kids when he was at the height of his career. The death of any boyhood hero will have an effect on the boy who still lives inside the man.
Playing first base, Number 9, Joe Adcock…ADCOCK.
Joe Adcock was first baseman for the Milwaukee Braves in 1957, the only Milwaukee Braves team to win the World Series. I was only five-years-old in Milwaukee then, but Adcock's name, Aaron's and so many other (Eddie Mathews…MATHEWS, Warren Spahn…SPAHN, Lou Burdette…BURDETTE, Andy Pafko…PAFKO, Del Crandall…CRANDALL, Billy Bruton…BRUTON) are indelibly etched in boyhood memory from hearing the Milwaukee County Stadium announcer repeat each name twice--then reading about what they all did that night in the next day's papers.
Then there was Earl Gillespie. The voice of the Braves from 1953 to 1963, Gillespie was an excitable radio sportscaster who drove my father crazy with his theatrics--which I loved. He always used to shout "Holy cow!" whenever there was a spike in the action (this carried into his broadcasts of University of Wisconsin-Madison football games, i.e., "Holy cow! What a boot!" to make vivid a long punt). His signature home run call went something like this: "Here's the pitch to Henry Aaron. [Excitedly] It's a swing and a drive way back into center field! This could be…IT IS! A home run for Henry Aaron!"
Other things I think I remember but I'm not sure. I think we had the great Braves reliever Don McMahon come visit us once at an Indian Guides meeting (the Indian Guides were a father-son YMCA program for kindergarten through third grade) but it might have been a different Brave. And I'm pretty sure I saw Sandy Koufax hit his first homer--he only hit two--off Spahn at County Stadium in 1962, beating the Braves 2-1 (he laughed as he rounded the bases, like he couldn't believe that he did it and was embarrassed, as he was a terrible hitter).
I also think I remember seeing the Chicago White Sox's Nellie Fox hit two homers in one game at Comiskey Park in Chicago, and remember seeing someone hit an inside-the-park home run (I think it was the Cubs' George Altman, maybe).
But what I really remember is fantasizing every night Earl Gillespie reading my name off a Braves' lineup card, "Jim Bessman…BESSMAN"--and feeling an awful letdown: Bessman…BESSMAN just didn't have the authentic baseball ring of Aaron…AARON, Adcock…ADCOCK or Bruton…BRUTON, say. And besides, I sucked at baseball. To this day I'm haunted by my ineptness at the plate, in the field.
I couldn't hit worth a shit. Invariably struck out. Dropped fly balls, that is, if I got anywhere near them to begin with. Grounders went through my legs. Never got any better at sports as I got older.
But now and then I can hit a fairly decent golf ball--when I don't slice it into the next fairway. Talk about finding water, I once found water playing in the desert in Scottsdale! But what always bothered me is I could never hit it very far--seeing as though I'm a good 20-30-40 pounds overweight at close to 200. God knows I'm heavy enough to hit a baseball out of the park--let alone a 250-yard drive off the tee.
It must be a wonderful thing, hitting a home run. That's why all these contemporary players just stand there and admire themselves while they watch their drive fly way back into center field and invariably hit the wall--if it goes that far--and then they're stuck with a single when if they'd run it out, like they did back in Killebrew's day, like any kid knows how to do, they'd have made second, easy.
God, I'd love to see if I could do it! Some years ago I walked the field of the Tulsa Drillers minor league ballpark when I was there for a Beach Boys concert. Tried to figure if I could hit one out. Did the same a couple summers ago at New Britain Stadium in Connecticut, when Bob Dylan did his minor league baseball stadium tour with John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson. Didn't think I could.
I mentioned this a few years ago to my old music business friend Steve in Nashville, how I wondered if I could hit a homer in a real ballpark. Steve's tall and lanky, a great athlete, who played college ball and earned a tryout with a minor league team--until he got busted for pot, cruelly ending his big league ball dreams. Now he was playing in some serious summer leagues and coaching his son's Little League team ("Shake a hand, make a friend," he instructed his kids, as they shook hands with the opposing team after every game. I'll always remember that).
"We have a game tomorrow afternoon," Steve said one day in June when I was in town on country music business. "Come on down and I'll pitch to you."
Okay. It was a just a Little League park. But it had a fence and everything. It was the chance I'd been dreaming of for some 40 years, probably.
Now Steve had long explained to me that weight has little to do with home run power. It's bat speed, really--just like in golf, it's club head speed. It's a simple matter of physics--if physics is a simple matter.
Steve also tried to explain that the way a power hitter swings the bat is that one hand pulls, the other pushes, and there's a real snap to it. Of course I had no idea what he was talking about and was going to have to just swing a bat stupidly with both hands like I always did and hope I hit more than air. At least I remembered to step into it.
But I hadn't swung a baseball bat since I started wearing glasses--and that felt odd. I also hadn't taken into account my hands blistering, and even though I train in Filipino stick fighting, my hands swelled up and tore up pretty quick. I was making solid contact, but mostly line drives and grounders. But I finally got one up and way, way back, this could have been...and IT WAS! A home run for Jim Bessman…BESSMAN! And yes, it was the thrill of this boy's lifetime.
I ended on that high note, and Steve asked me to throw a few to him. He hadn't hit in a while, and I hadn't thrown in a lot longer and could barely get it anywhere near the plate--let alone in Steve's strike zone, big as it is.
I don't know what's harder, hitting a ball or throwing one, but I finally served up one that Steve could chase down, lean over, and essentially scoop up out of the dirt and launch like a rock out of a catapult over the fence, over a building, on and on until it soared out of sight. My mouth is open now in awe just remembering it.
And that's the glory of sports. The joy of being a kid, of having heroes like Harmon Killebrew. God bless him. He didn't disappoint.
Hank Aaron. Now there's a ballplayer's name. A real baseball player's name. Like Harmon Killebrew.
I was actually thinking of Harmon Killebrew's name when the news alert came in last week that he had died. It was only a matter of time, obviously, since he had announced just a few days before that he was ending his fight against esophageal cancer, which had been diagnosed only last December.
Killebrew's death brought forth a slew of nostalgic reminiscences from Facebook friends and tributes from sportswriters everywhere. I, too, got into the act, with an appreciation piece I wrote for examiner.com, in which I noted that as great a hitter as Killebrew was, he was apparently as great a human being.
Phil Mushnick, the great sportswriter for The New York Post, picked up on both aspects in his tribute: "Was there ever a man with a more appropriate name than Harmon Killebrew?" Mushnick wrote. "A fellow named Harmon Killebrew could not have been a spray hitter or middle reliever. He could only have been a big, bald, friendly guy from Payette, Idaho, who hit 573 home runs. And Killebrew didn't use steroids or HGH, just a bat."
But the death of Killebrew stirred deeper emotions in those of us who were kids when he was at the height of his career. The death of any boyhood hero will have an effect on the boy who still lives inside the man.
Playing first base, Number 9, Joe Adcock…ADCOCK.
Joe Adcock was first baseman for the Milwaukee Braves in 1957, the only Milwaukee Braves team to win the World Series. I was only five-years-old in Milwaukee then, but Adcock's name, Aaron's and so many other (Eddie Mathews…MATHEWS, Warren Spahn…SPAHN, Lou Burdette…BURDETTE, Andy Pafko…PAFKO, Del Crandall…CRANDALL, Billy Bruton…BRUTON) are indelibly etched in boyhood memory from hearing the Milwaukee County Stadium announcer repeat each name twice--then reading about what they all did that night in the next day's papers.
Then there was Earl Gillespie. The voice of the Braves from 1953 to 1963, Gillespie was an excitable radio sportscaster who drove my father crazy with his theatrics--which I loved. He always used to shout "Holy cow!" whenever there was a spike in the action (this carried into his broadcasts of University of Wisconsin-Madison football games, i.e., "Holy cow! What a boot!" to make vivid a long punt). His signature home run call went something like this: "Here's the pitch to Henry Aaron. [Excitedly] It's a swing and a drive way back into center field! This could be…IT IS! A home run for Henry Aaron!"
Other things I think I remember but I'm not sure. I think we had the great Braves reliever Don McMahon come visit us once at an Indian Guides meeting (the Indian Guides were a father-son YMCA program for kindergarten through third grade) but it might have been a different Brave. And I'm pretty sure I saw Sandy Koufax hit his first homer--he only hit two--off Spahn at County Stadium in 1962, beating the Braves 2-1 (he laughed as he rounded the bases, like he couldn't believe that he did it and was embarrassed, as he was a terrible hitter).
I also think I remember seeing the Chicago White Sox's Nellie Fox hit two homers in one game at Comiskey Park in Chicago, and remember seeing someone hit an inside-the-park home run (I think it was the Cubs' George Altman, maybe).
But what I really remember is fantasizing every night Earl Gillespie reading my name off a Braves' lineup card, "Jim Bessman…BESSMAN"--and feeling an awful letdown: Bessman…BESSMAN just didn't have the authentic baseball ring of Aaron…AARON, Adcock…ADCOCK or Bruton…BRUTON, say. And besides, I sucked at baseball. To this day I'm haunted by my ineptness at the plate, in the field.
I couldn't hit worth a shit. Invariably struck out. Dropped fly balls, that is, if I got anywhere near them to begin with. Grounders went through my legs. Never got any better at sports as I got older.
But now and then I can hit a fairly decent golf ball--when I don't slice it into the next fairway. Talk about finding water, I once found water playing in the desert in Scottsdale! But what always bothered me is I could never hit it very far--seeing as though I'm a good 20-30-40 pounds overweight at close to 200. God knows I'm heavy enough to hit a baseball out of the park--let alone a 250-yard drive off the tee.
It must be a wonderful thing, hitting a home run. That's why all these contemporary players just stand there and admire themselves while they watch their drive fly way back into center field and invariably hit the wall--if it goes that far--and then they're stuck with a single when if they'd run it out, like they did back in Killebrew's day, like any kid knows how to do, they'd have made second, easy.
God, I'd love to see if I could do it! Some years ago I walked the field of the Tulsa Drillers minor league ballpark when I was there for a Beach Boys concert. Tried to figure if I could hit one out. Did the same a couple summers ago at New Britain Stadium in Connecticut, when Bob Dylan did his minor league baseball stadium tour with John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson. Didn't think I could.
I mentioned this a few years ago to my old music business friend Steve in Nashville, how I wondered if I could hit a homer in a real ballpark. Steve's tall and lanky, a great athlete, who played college ball and earned a tryout with a minor league team--until he got busted for pot, cruelly ending his big league ball dreams. Now he was playing in some serious summer leagues and coaching his son's Little League team ("Shake a hand, make a friend," he instructed his kids, as they shook hands with the opposing team after every game. I'll always remember that).
"We have a game tomorrow afternoon," Steve said one day in June when I was in town on country music business. "Come on down and I'll pitch to you."
Okay. It was a just a Little League park. But it had a fence and everything. It was the chance I'd been dreaming of for some 40 years, probably.
Now Steve had long explained to me that weight has little to do with home run power. It's bat speed, really--just like in golf, it's club head speed. It's a simple matter of physics--if physics is a simple matter.
Steve also tried to explain that the way a power hitter swings the bat is that one hand pulls, the other pushes, and there's a real snap to it. Of course I had no idea what he was talking about and was going to have to just swing a bat stupidly with both hands like I always did and hope I hit more than air. At least I remembered to step into it.
But I hadn't swung a baseball bat since I started wearing glasses--and that felt odd. I also hadn't taken into account my hands blistering, and even though I train in Filipino stick fighting, my hands swelled up and tore up pretty quick. I was making solid contact, but mostly line drives and grounders. But I finally got one up and way, way back, this could have been...and IT WAS! A home run for Jim Bessman…BESSMAN! And yes, it was the thrill of this boy's lifetime.
I ended on that high note, and Steve asked me to throw a few to him. He hadn't hit in a while, and I hadn't thrown in a lot longer and could barely get it anywhere near the plate--let alone in Steve's strike zone, big as it is.
I don't know what's harder, hitting a ball or throwing one, but I finally served up one that Steve could chase down, lean over, and essentially scoop up out of the dirt and launch like a rock out of a catapult over the fence, over a building, on and on until it soared out of sight. My mouth is open now in awe just remembering it.
And that's the glory of sports. The joy of being a kid, of having heroes like Harmon Killebrew. God bless him. He didn't disappoint.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
People's on top of the big Schwarzenegger split ("Maria's Broken Heart") with a cover shot of the couple in happier times. Exclusive Britney backstage photos and "Glam in Cannes" Brad Pitt are distant seconds. Us misses out completely in taking the Blake and Miranda wedding route, picking up on the Ashton vs. Charlie comparison as a secondary story.
Will and Kate take the cake on In Touch Weekly's cover via their devastating "baby heartbreak" (the mag also goes with a "Charlie threatens Ashton" report inside). "Angie Catches Brad" (with the nanny!) in Star, which also plays up the Schwarzenegger scandal in the margin. Life & Style observes "It's War" ("Housewives" Teresa and Melissa most shocking fight ever), while OK USA discovers "Another Teen Mom Baby" (Leah).
W goes with a "Fantastic Women (and Tom Hanks!)" cover with Julia Roberts paired with Hanks, and Penelope Cruz, Naomi Watts, Rachel McAdams, Alicia Keys and Scarlett Johansson listed alongside. Lynn Hirschberg reports on Woody Allen's movie muses.
Marie Claire has "badass!" Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin on the cover and discussing babies, weddings and body issues inside. The cover also highlights inside poop on summer fashion and "wicked sexy hair." Rachel McAdams is a lovely Elle cover, and Penelope Cruz looks especially pretty on the cover of Vogue (Teen Vogue has Selena Gomez, who "wants to be in love" at this point in her life).
Seventeen fronts Pretty Little Liars' Lucy Hale and "the juicy secret she's been keeping--until now." Apparently, January Jones needs "to go away…and kiss other men"--at least according to the cover of Allure (the ish also presents its Readers' Choice Awards for all your winning beauty products). And In Style has Taylor Swift embodying its "What's Sexy Now!" heading (she also dishes on fame, guys and fashion).
GQ's got True Blood's Alexander Skarsgard ("What's he got that all the ladies want?" Read it and find out). There's also a "20 years of Nirvana" inside story. Men's Health has gotten some notice already for putting "America's fittest congressman" Aaron Schock on the cover, where he shows off his "political muscle"to go with its "sculpt summer abs" feature. Glee's Heather Morris graces the cover of Women's Health, and we'll take her abs over Schock's any day.
Time Out New York gives us "the best summer concerts," with a scratch-off cover promotion offering a pair of tickets to the coolest show this summer. Paper's goes old school with Duran Duran on the cover, and Black Book has a music issue with The Kills on its "Lust for Life" cover--also containing a removable Ray-Ban water-squirter to go with an inside Gavin McInnes story about a water fight at South By Southwest.
Will and Kate take the cake on In Touch Weekly's cover via their devastating "baby heartbreak" (the mag also goes with a "Charlie threatens Ashton" report inside). "Angie Catches Brad" (with the nanny!) in Star, which also plays up the Schwarzenegger scandal in the margin. Life & Style observes "It's War" ("Housewives" Teresa and Melissa most shocking fight ever), while OK USA discovers "Another Teen Mom Baby" (Leah).
W goes with a "Fantastic Women (and Tom Hanks!)" cover with Julia Roberts paired with Hanks, and Penelope Cruz, Naomi Watts, Rachel McAdams, Alicia Keys and Scarlett Johansson listed alongside. Lynn Hirschberg reports on Woody Allen's movie muses.
Marie Claire has "badass!" Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin on the cover and discussing babies, weddings and body issues inside. The cover also highlights inside poop on summer fashion and "wicked sexy hair." Rachel McAdams is a lovely Elle cover, and Penelope Cruz looks especially pretty on the cover of Vogue (Teen Vogue has Selena Gomez, who "wants to be in love" at this point in her life).
Seventeen fronts Pretty Little Liars' Lucy Hale and "the juicy secret she's been keeping--until now." Apparently, January Jones needs "to go away…and kiss other men"--at least according to the cover of Allure (the ish also presents its Readers' Choice Awards for all your winning beauty products). And In Style has Taylor Swift embodying its "What's Sexy Now!" heading (she also dishes on fame, guys and fashion).
GQ's got True Blood's Alexander Skarsgard ("What's he got that all the ladies want?" Read it and find out). There's also a "20 years of Nirvana" inside story. Men's Health has gotten some notice already for putting "America's fittest congressman" Aaron Schock on the cover, where he shows off his "political muscle"to go with its "sculpt summer abs" feature. Glee's Heather Morris graces the cover of Women's Health, and we'll take her abs over Schock's any day.
Time Out New York gives us "the best summer concerts," with a scratch-off cover promotion offering a pair of tickets to the coolest show this summer. Paper's goes old school with Duran Duran on the cover, and Black Book has a music issue with The Kills on its "Lust for Life" cover--also containing a removable Ray-Ban water-squirter to go with an inside Gavin McInnes story about a water fight at South By Southwest.
Finally, TV Guide commemorates Oprah's farewell with a behind the scenes look at the end of a TV era.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Why are we stuck in Pakistan? Read Aryn Baker's cover story in Time to find out. The mag also asks if Jon Huntsman has what it takes to unseat the President, calling him, rightly, "a Republican Democrats fear" (unlike Obama's self-proclaimed "biggest nightmare" Trump), and reports on the Mississippi floods. And to honor Bob Dylan's 70th on May 24, they present a two-page Dylan timeline.
Newsweek, which today's New York Post slags off as a "chicks' magazine these days," illustrates why with its "The Good Wife 2012" cover concerning Republican presidential candidates' wives. With 92-year-old Billy Graham back from the hospital recuperating from pneumonia, the ish also examines the fight for his legacy; on the health tip, too, Magic Johnson reflects on his 20 years of living with HIV. Newsweek's "special double issue" also has an "exclusive report" on Pakistan's post-Bin Laden "ramp-up" of its nukes.
Glee fans take note: The Hollywood Reporter offers "Tales From A Finale" (something to do with an "exclusive" visit in NYC). The cover pic has seven of the kids at an upright piano, with the story recounting how the show pulls off its most ambitious (100 cast and crew) and expensive ($6 million) episode in its history. Other features focus on "ad buyers' private thoughts" regarding this week's "network upfronts" presentations of their Fall schedules, and "Oprah's new OWN woes."
TV, too, is the main interest of this week's New York, particularly "its creators"--including the makers of 30 Rock, The Good Wife and Community. Amy Poehler is on the cover, with other features including Roseanne's take on Charlie Sheen and "the hell of carrying a sitcom." The New Yorker plays up National Security Agency whistle-blower Thomas Drake, along with the GOP's starting lineup. Foodies may--or may not--digest "Test-tube Burgers" and the potential it presents for growing "slaughter-free meat"in the test tube.
At Adweek we learn that "Women run TV," the cover feature naming the 10 most powerful women in the business along with 20 more to watch. And finally, Billboard has "the ultimate summer preview" with "16 next-gen tours," among them U2, Britney Spears, Rick Ross, Taylor Swift and Janelle Monae pictured in a cover illustration carrying a surfboard on the beach.
--jim bessman
Thursday, May 12, 2011
About
Gottfried's Journal is a function of gottfriedsnyc.com, the Web site for GNYC Delivery Systems, New York City's premiere delivery service. It is edited by Jim Bessman, a veteran New York music and entertainment journalist and author.
Bessman has written for scores of local, national and global publications, most notably Billboard, for which he served in various capacities for 25 years. He has written liner notes for over 80 albums as well as two books, Ramones--An American Band and John Mellencamp--The Concert at Walter Reed. His current work can also be found at examiner.com, where he writes the Manhattan Local Music Examiner and Baby Boomer Entertainment Examiner pages, and his own site, jimbessman.com.
Bessman has written for scores of local, national and global publications, most notably Billboard, for which he served in various capacities for 25 years. He has written liner notes for over 80 albums as well as two books, Ramones--An American Band and John Mellencamp--The Concert at Walter Reed. His current work can also be found at examiner.com, where he writes the Manhattan Local Music Examiner and Baby Boomer Entertainment Examiner pages, and his own site, jimbessman.com.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
It was inevitable. It's now all Pippa. People fronts her as "Princess Kate's stunning sister" in its "All About Pippa!" cover. She's "fun, flirty and suddenly famous, the knockout sibling who stole the show," says Peeps, but come on, People! She may be most all that, but she didn't steal the show from Big Sis. Otherwise the mag (which also has it's June Style Watch special out with Blake Lively on the cover) has Shania Twain dishing on finding "love after betrayal," the Schwarzenegger split and the McCartney engagement.
More Pippa--with Kate--on the cover of US, with the focus on Pippa (the side column hypes "Jesse vs. Sandra--A twisted insult" and "The Real World--Dustin explains his gay past). But Life & Style goes with "Harry & Chelsy world exclusive--Another Royal Wedding!" ("You're next," it says Prince Harry told his longtime love"); In Touch, however, gives the Second Couple short shrift with its "Chelsy & Pippa's fight for Harry" headline atop the title, the cover going to "Tormented Over Their Bodies"--you guessed it, the Kardashians. Poor things, their mom is "pushing them to have surgery." The mag also reveals "the truth about Bristol's new face."
Star has a horrible cover showing "Stars Without Makeup" (please, we won't say who), while OK USA has official word from Katie that yes, Suri will finally be a big sister!
Tatler goes with actress Lily Collins, Phil's lovely daughter; Playboy likewise has Mick Jagger's daughter Lizzy, while Maxim has Cameron Diaz. Elle UK's June issue has a great shot of Cameron Diaz on the cover, her thoughts inside on therapy, love and "that body." Vogue's UK edition asks "What is it about Alexa Chung," noting how "her singular style and girl-next-door personality have inspired a generation of tomboys, countless fashion designers and a sell-out bag." (Happy to see that the-girl-of-the-moment singles our our pal Tennessee Thomas as "my style heroine. She's a drummer in a band and she looks great in all-in-ones.") And Eva Green graces the cover of Harper's Bazaar's UK entry.
Oprah's O is celebrating "25 unforgettable years of the Oprah Winfrey Show," with the namesake signing off with a big cover "thank you…for the joy, the laughs, the lessons, the adventure of a lifetime." Meanwhile, Ebony has its "Music Issue" featuring 25 of the hottest artists of the year, with Jill Scott on the cover.
Finally, Rolling Stone features a black-and-white photo of a young Bob Dylan to go with its "70 Greatest Dylan Songs" listing commemorating Dylan's 70th birthday--with appreciations from the likes of Bono, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Lucinda Williams. Number One is no surprise: "Like A Rolling Stone." Our fave, "Blowin' In The Wind," reached No. 20.
More Pippa--with Kate--on the cover of US, with the focus on Pippa (the side column hypes "Jesse vs. Sandra--A twisted insult" and "The Real World--Dustin explains his gay past). But Life & Style goes with "Harry & Chelsy world exclusive--Another Royal Wedding!" ("You're next," it says Prince Harry told his longtime love"); In Touch, however, gives the Second Couple short shrift with its "Chelsy & Pippa's fight for Harry" headline atop the title, the cover going to "Tormented Over Their Bodies"--you guessed it, the Kardashians. Poor things, their mom is "pushing them to have surgery." The mag also reveals "the truth about Bristol's new face."
Star has a horrible cover showing "Stars Without Makeup" (please, we won't say who), while OK USA has official word from Katie that yes, Suri will finally be a big sister!
Tatler goes with actress Lily Collins, Phil's lovely daughter; Playboy likewise has Mick Jagger's daughter Lizzy, while Maxim has Cameron Diaz. Elle UK's June issue has a great shot of Cameron Diaz on the cover, her thoughts inside on therapy, love and "that body." Vogue's UK edition asks "What is it about Alexa Chung," noting how "her singular style and girl-next-door personality have inspired a generation of tomboys, countless fashion designers and a sell-out bag." (Happy to see that the-girl-of-the-moment singles our our pal Tennessee Thomas as "my style heroine. She's a drummer in a band and she looks great in all-in-ones.") And Eva Green graces the cover of Harper's Bazaar's UK entry.
Oprah's O is celebrating "25 unforgettable years of the Oprah Winfrey Show," with the namesake signing off with a big cover "thank you…for the joy, the laughs, the lessons, the adventure of a lifetime." Meanwhile, Ebony has its "Music Issue" featuring 25 of the hottest artists of the year, with Jill Scott on the cover.
Finally, Rolling Stone features a black-and-white photo of a young Bob Dylan to go with its "70 Greatest Dylan Songs" listing commemorating Dylan's 70th birthday--with appreciations from the likes of Bono, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Lucinda Williams. Number One is no surprise: "Like A Rolling Stone." Our fave, "Blowin' In The Wind," reached No. 20.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Newsweek isn't the only news entity to play on the "Mission Accomplished" aspect of the Bin Laden demise, but also asks on its cover, "But are we any safer?" Its "special report" also examines the "President's triumph--Obama reborn" and "Navy Seals--coolest guys on earth." Contributors include Salman Rushdie, Elie Wiesel, Fatima Bhutto, Andrew Sullivan and Stephen Carter.
The New Yorker has a similar erased-out bin Laden illustration to go with coverage from Steve Coll, Lawrence Wright, Dexter Filkins, Jon Lee Anderson and Eliza Griswold. Inside stories also include "How does Pixar do it?" and "Alexander McQueen's tragic talent."
New York offers opposing Osama/Obama takes from Kurt Andersen/John Heilemann, and follows Out's recent feature on Justin Vivian Bond with its own "Between the sexes" look, along with a "Dressing Gaga" feature. But the cover goes to Wesley Wang's "Asian Like Me," with text beneath a faceless pair of eyes stating: "Here is what I suspect my face signifies to other Americans: an invisible person."
Even Entertainment Weekly goes bin Laden with George Stephanopoulos's "When the bin Laden story broke…." But Johnny Depp, in full Pirates 4 regalia, is on the cover, to go with his "How to build a better pirate" interview. The mag also plays up its "Mel Gibson goes crazy--this time in a movie" review of The Beaver: "This is high-quality work from a professional who…has recently sunk to terrible lows in his nonprofessional life."
Fortune fronts America's 500 largest corporations and takes us deep inside Apple, "from Steve Jobs to the janitor"; Forbes is a little more personal, with Dylan Lauren--Ralph's daughter--on the "Like father, like daughter" cover that also asks "Is entrepreneurial success inherited?"
The Hollywood Reporter wonders, re "Bin Laden, the movie," "Who'll get there first." Otherwise, its "Cannes Issue" has Penelope Cruz on the cover to go with its "Pirates 4 Takes the Croisette" cover.
Finally, Billboard goes with a "Cloud Control" cover, with white helium balloons lifting a cloud player into the sky. Pertinent stories inside include "Access vs. ownership--the new relationship between music buyer and seller" and "A post-MP3 world--FLAC files and the future of audiophile."
The New Yorker has a similar erased-out bin Laden illustration to go with coverage from Steve Coll, Lawrence Wright, Dexter Filkins, Jon Lee Anderson and Eliza Griswold. Inside stories also include "How does Pixar do it?" and "Alexander McQueen's tragic talent."
New York offers opposing Osama/Obama takes from Kurt Andersen/John Heilemann, and follows Out's recent feature on Justin Vivian Bond with its own "Between the sexes" look, along with a "Dressing Gaga" feature. But the cover goes to Wesley Wang's "Asian Like Me," with text beneath a faceless pair of eyes stating: "Here is what I suspect my face signifies to other Americans: an invisible person."
Even Entertainment Weekly goes bin Laden with George Stephanopoulos's "When the bin Laden story broke…." But Johnny Depp, in full Pirates 4 regalia, is on the cover, to go with his "How to build a better pirate" interview. The mag also plays up its "Mel Gibson goes crazy--this time in a movie" review of The Beaver: "This is high-quality work from a professional who…has recently sunk to terrible lows in his nonprofessional life."
Fortune fronts America's 500 largest corporations and takes us deep inside Apple, "from Steve Jobs to the janitor"; Forbes is a little more personal, with Dylan Lauren--Ralph's daughter--on the "Like father, like daughter" cover that also asks "Is entrepreneurial success inherited?"
The Hollywood Reporter wonders, re "Bin Laden, the movie," "Who'll get there first." Otherwise, its "Cannes Issue" has Penelope Cruz on the cover to go with its "Pirates 4 Takes the Croisette" cover.
Finally, Billboard goes with a "Cloud Control" cover, with white helium balloons lifting a cloud player into the sky. Pertinent stories inside include "Access vs. ownership--the new relationship between music buyer and seller" and "A post-MP3 world--FLAC files and the future of audiophile."
--jim bessman
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Everyone loves a wedding, if not the Royal Wedding
Facebook friends being the only friends that really matter, I'm a little ferklempt to be under fire from one of my best Facebook friends, who took me to task for saying how much I loved watching the Royal Wedding, even to the point, I wrote, of weeping openly.
"Tear duct problem?" he wrote scornfully, though not without reason: Kvelling over the lifestyles of the rich and famous, especially the born rich and privileged, is not my style. Quite the opposite, in fact. That Kate Middleton is a commoner is irrelevant: How common is she, really, coming from such wealth while being so uncommonly beautiful?
Leave it to The New York Post's snark-infested columnist Andrea Peyser to trash it without mercy--and not much more merit. Bad enough the Royal Wedding was "bigger than the Super Bowl and as tacky as a legion of Elvis impersonators," she wrote. "Most of all, it was disturbingly white [my italics added]."
White? Well, it is the Royal Family of England--not Swaziland! She played the race card a second time in belittling the unwashed masses: "Brits in T-shirts and jeans gathered for days to catch a glimpse of the white folks riding to Buckingham Palace."
Apparently, she didn't see the foreign dignitaries--many in national costume--including the Ambassador of Oman, the High Commissioner of Ghana or the High Commissioner of New Zealand (garbed in a traditional Maori cloak); no mention, either, of the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, or the Venerable Bogoda Seelawimala--acting head monk of the London Buddhist Vihara. I probably wouldn't have recognized the President of the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, so I can't slight her for that.
Kate, Peyser said, "bore the look of a lithe human sacrifice." For those of us who can relate, Prince William fared even worse in her description of him as "the badly balding heir to the throne." She somehow found his "You look beautiful" pronouncement to his betrothed "dorky," and derided "the pomp and ridiculousness [that] spilled to the streets."
Again, she must have missed the joyous multi-colored crowds in Trafalgar Square, which reminded me of the Obama inauguration in Washington, D.C., where it was likewise people of all ages, races and walks of life coming together in celebration. No, for Peyser it was all "a worldwide showcase of dreadful hats, fad diets and an unusually sour, lemon-yellow-clad queen."
But British writer Roger Bennett, who was no less irreverent in his commentary for MSNBC, saw it differently--and with English eloquence and depth: "She's a vestige of England's empire long gone, where the sun never sets. She's the one constant and the human personification of everything that is and was once great about this country."
Back to Facebook: "[I'm] not saying 'off with their heads' but c'mon, this is the 21st Century!" my L.A.-based friend said. "OK, they can be King and Queen of Disneyland."
Storybook Land, for sure! British music journalist Mick Brown was one of many who contrasted the "fairytale of popular imagination" that William's mother's ill-fated wedding was supposed to be with what seemed to be the reality of his own.
"The fact that Prince William should have chosen to marry through genuine love and affection rather than by royal arrangement, surely presages a different future for the monarchy, less hidebound by tradition, a king with the common touch," Brown wrote in The Telegraph. Vividly describing "a ritual steeped in history" as well as "a pageantry that was at the same time magnificent and vaguely preposterous; irrational, and profoundly moving," he called the Royal Wedding "a matchless act of high theater, resonant with history, tradition and the inescapable feeling of the institution of the monarchy being reshaped before our eyes."
The benefit to "the spirit" of England, Brown stated, "in an age of increasing cynicism, when Britain’s sense of national self-hood has never been more fragile, is incalculable."
But Brown also observed "a delightful sense of informality" within "an occasion of high majesty." And who would he be sitting next to but the the teary-eyed High Commissioner of Swaziland. "It's been so wonderful," he quoted her as saying. "We all love them so much."
Simply put, "everyone loves a wedding," Brown concluded, and in this rare case I include myself.
"Tear duct problem?" he wrote scornfully, though not without reason: Kvelling over the lifestyles of the rich and famous, especially the born rich and privileged, is not my style. Quite the opposite, in fact. That Kate Middleton is a commoner is irrelevant: How common is she, really, coming from such wealth while being so uncommonly beautiful?
Leave it to The New York Post's snark-infested columnist Andrea Peyser to trash it without mercy--and not much more merit. Bad enough the Royal Wedding was "bigger than the Super Bowl and as tacky as a legion of Elvis impersonators," she wrote. "Most of all, it was disturbingly white [my italics added]."
White? Well, it is the Royal Family of England--not Swaziland! She played the race card a second time in belittling the unwashed masses: "Brits in T-shirts and jeans gathered for days to catch a glimpse of the white folks riding to Buckingham Palace."
Apparently, she didn't see the foreign dignitaries--many in national costume--including the Ambassador of Oman, the High Commissioner of Ghana or the High Commissioner of New Zealand (garbed in a traditional Maori cloak); no mention, either, of the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, or the Venerable Bogoda Seelawimala--acting head monk of the London Buddhist Vihara. I probably wouldn't have recognized the President of the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, so I can't slight her for that.
Kate, Peyser said, "bore the look of a lithe human sacrifice." For those of us who can relate, Prince William fared even worse in her description of him as "the badly balding heir to the throne." She somehow found his "You look beautiful" pronouncement to his betrothed "dorky," and derided "the pomp and ridiculousness [that] spilled to the streets."
Again, she must have missed the joyous multi-colored crowds in Trafalgar Square, which reminded me of the Obama inauguration in Washington, D.C., where it was likewise people of all ages, races and walks of life coming together in celebration. No, for Peyser it was all "a worldwide showcase of dreadful hats, fad diets and an unusually sour, lemon-yellow-clad queen."
But British writer Roger Bennett, who was no less irreverent in his commentary for MSNBC, saw it differently--and with English eloquence and depth: "She's a vestige of England's empire long gone, where the sun never sets. She's the one constant and the human personification of everything that is and was once great about this country."
Back to Facebook: "[I'm] not saying 'off with their heads' but c'mon, this is the 21st Century!" my L.A.-based friend said. "OK, they can be King and Queen of Disneyland."
Storybook Land, for sure! British music journalist Mick Brown was one of many who contrasted the "fairytale of popular imagination" that William's mother's ill-fated wedding was supposed to be with what seemed to be the reality of his own.
"The fact that Prince William should have chosen to marry through genuine love and affection rather than by royal arrangement, surely presages a different future for the monarchy, less hidebound by tradition, a king with the common touch," Brown wrote in The Telegraph. Vividly describing "a ritual steeped in history" as well as "a pageantry that was at the same time magnificent and vaguely preposterous; irrational, and profoundly moving," he called the Royal Wedding "a matchless act of high theater, resonant with history, tradition and the inescapable feeling of the institution of the monarchy being reshaped before our eyes."
The benefit to "the spirit" of England, Brown stated, "in an age of increasing cynicism, when Britain’s sense of national self-hood has never been more fragile, is incalculable."
But Brown also observed "a delightful sense of informality" within "an occasion of high majesty." And who would he be sitting next to but the the teary-eyed High Commissioner of Swaziland. "It's been so wonderful," he quoted her as saying. "We all love them so much."
Simply put, "everyone loves a wedding," Brown concluded, and in this rare case I include myself.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
Time has a special "End of Bin Laden" issue with a portrait of OBL crossed out with a red 'X'--a gimmick used before for the deaths of Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Iraq's Ab Mousab al-Zarqawi.
OK! USA goes with an OBL cover, too. "Justice!" it shouts, with a picture of firemen raising the flag at the World Trade Center. In Touch goes with "Angelina Caught Cheating!" (a world exclusive tell-all), Life & Style fronts "Brad's Heartbreak." Star has "Jen's Secret Lover Tells All!"--while giving us a glimpse of "Beyonce's new boobs" on the side.
OK! USA goes with an OBL cover, too. "Justice!" it shouts, with a picture of firemen raising the flag at the World Trade Center. In Touch goes with "Angelina Caught Cheating!" (a world exclusive tell-all), Life & Style fronts "Brad's Heartbreak." Star has "Jen's Secret Lover Tells All!"--while giving us a glimpse of "Beyonce's new boobs" on the side.
Katy Perry is on the cover of Vanity Fair with a headline "There's even more than meets the eye!"--though it shows plenty there, too, that does meet the eye. Inside stories include Jonathan Alter's "Hillary Clinton's third act--Dealing with Obama, saving the world, sneaking brownies," "Charlie Sheen--Inside the meltdown of all meltdowns" and "The untold story of Elizabeth Taylor's final days."
Nylon's "Young Hollywood Issue" stars Emma Roberts and Rory Culkin on the cover, which trumpets "67 stars of tomorrow." For the second year running, the mag has partnered with YouTube in providing corresponding video content.
Nice icy blue shot of Michele Williams on Interview's cover to go with her "The Art of Independence" feature. Michael Stipe, Kristen Wiig, Olivier Theyskens and Plan B are among the inside stories. Zink's cover goes to Kid Cudi and his "Pursuit of rock and roll, fashion and fresh starts"; Shipley & Halmos, Sally Lapointe and Christina Perri are featured inside.
Fergie's on the cover of Lucky, and relates her takes on "flirting, high heels and her insane abs" inside. We repeat: Her insane abs.
Finally, Time Out New York's "Summer Preview" of top concerts, outdoor events, food and drink fests, dance parties, art shows, etc., presents Saturday Night Live's trio the Lonely Island on the cover and offers their picks inside.
Nylon's "Young Hollywood Issue" stars Emma Roberts and Rory Culkin on the cover, which trumpets "67 stars of tomorrow." For the second year running, the mag has partnered with YouTube in providing corresponding video content.
Nice icy blue shot of Michele Williams on Interview's cover to go with her "The Art of Independence" feature. Michael Stipe, Kristen Wiig, Olivier Theyskens and Plan B are among the inside stories. Zink's cover goes to Kid Cudi and his "Pursuit of rock and roll, fashion and fresh starts"; Shipley & Halmos, Sally Lapointe and Christina Perri are featured inside.
Fergie's on the cover of Lucky, and relates her takes on "flirting, high heels and her insane abs" inside. We repeat: Her insane abs.
Finally, Time Out New York's "Summer Preview" of top concerts, outdoor events, food and drink fests, dance parties, art shows, etc., presents Saturday Night Live's trio the Lonely Island on the cover and offers their picks inside.
--jim bessman
Monday, May 2, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Bloomberg Businessweek has an angry Donald Trump headshot barking on the cover with the word "Seriously?" alongside. Clearly, it didn't see the Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night. Then again, all this morning's magazines are hopelessly outdated with the late-breaking Bin Laden news of last night.
At least the Royal Wedding had the weekend to continue its warm glow. People's special collector's issue features a 72-page royal wedding album. Us Weekly has the Royal Kiss on the front (with a "Kardashian Vacation Album" highlighted in the margin), and Newsweek, which has its own special commemorative issue, has a wedding picture on its regular issue cover, with a wedding report inside from editor-in-chief Tina Brown (and an "Is Sarah Palin Over?" story inside). Time, which also has a special commemorative issue, virtually ignores the Wedding entirely in its regular magazine, though its "exclusive report" on FBI director Bob Mueller, "The Terrorist Hunter," seems like a losing cover choice sales-wise.
Entertainment Weekly, meanwhile, goes with an "exclusive first look" at Breaking Dawn, the two-part Twilight finale, with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson on the cover, of course. New York has an "Extreme Decor" home design cover feature, with the striking painted canvas bedroom cover shot looking more like an arty illustration than the real thing. An inside story looks into the controversial "Madonna, Kabbalah, Malawi" connection.
Love The New Yorker's cover illustration of mothers strolling their babies through Central Park--with one unattended gaint stroller containing 16 babies. Inside features include "On Libya's front lines," "Beating the death penalty" and "Jane Fonda's performances."
And ending where we began, Adweek has a golden Trump to go with the "Brand Trump--The name that grew and grew" cover story. Interesting inside is "Annals of Hype: The Beastie Boys do postmodern super-meta marketing."
At least the Royal Wedding had the weekend to continue its warm glow. People's special collector's issue features a 72-page royal wedding album. Us Weekly has the Royal Kiss on the front (with a "Kardashian Vacation Album" highlighted in the margin), and Newsweek, which has its own special commemorative issue, has a wedding picture on its regular issue cover, with a wedding report inside from editor-in-chief Tina Brown (and an "Is Sarah Palin Over?" story inside). Time, which also has a special commemorative issue, virtually ignores the Wedding entirely in its regular magazine, though its "exclusive report" on FBI director Bob Mueller, "The Terrorist Hunter," seems like a losing cover choice sales-wise.
Entertainment Weekly, meanwhile, goes with an "exclusive first look" at Breaking Dawn, the two-part Twilight finale, with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson on the cover, of course. New York has an "Extreme Decor" home design cover feature, with the striking painted canvas bedroom cover shot looking more like an arty illustration than the real thing. An inside story looks into the controversial "Madonna, Kabbalah, Malawi" connection.
Love The New Yorker's cover illustration of mothers strolling their babies through Central Park--with one unattended gaint stroller containing 16 babies. Inside features include "On Libya's front lines," "Beating the death penalty" and "Jane Fonda's performances."
And ending where we began, Adweek has a golden Trump to go with the "Brand Trump--The name that grew and grew" cover story. Interesting inside is "Annals of Hype: The Beastie Boys do postmodern super-meta marketing."
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Wednesday morning magazine roundup
Rolling Stone certifies Steven Tyler's ascension from "bad boy to America's sweetheart" in a striking cover shot, with Paul Simon's "long, restless journey of a musical genius" highlighted inside--thanks to his acclaimed new album So Beautiful Or So What. On a sober note, the mag also tallies 31 reactors that are just like Japan's in "Our nuclear nightmare."
Esquire, meanwhile, offers "way more music than usual" in May, and has its own striking cover boy in Jeff Bridges, in sharp-dressed rocker mode. As "The next life of Jeff Bridges" explains, "This time he's a singer. For real." For sure, for anyone who saw his remarkable Oscar-winning country singer turn in Crazy Heart knows he can sing up a storm; he's got an album on the way, and Twitter followers of Rosanne Cash know that she's guesting on it. Also noted are "50 songs every man should be listening to, including five that just might save Detroit," but we also note that in this section is a box written by our pal Dierks Bentley, the best of the contemporary country singer-songwriters, "Hot to write a song (for a woman)."
Manifesting "The Next Generation Leading Man," Mark Ruffalo takes the cover of Details, which otherwise fronts a lot of superlatives ("The best outdoor workouts," "The coolest spas in the world," "The sexiest new summer cocktail") while pondering the much-asked question: "Is skim milk making you fat?" Out stars a leading man of a different sort in its "The Making of Justin Bond: Meet the Artist Formerly Known as He" cover feature on "one of the great New York performers," according to Scissor Sisters' lead singer Jake Shears. We recently saw Shears, Bond and our pal Sandra Bernhard grace the Joe's Pub stage with their new production, Arts & Crafts, and can back up Shears' claim.
It's Steven Tyler, too, on the cover of People, declaring "I'm lucky to be alive!" and discussing his four kids, eight rehabs and "stunning comeback." Noted also are Katie Couric ("finding love again") and LeAnn and Eddie, whose wedding album is featured. Us Weekly has Khloe revealing how she's "tortured for her weight" (after her mom calls her fat!) and also divulges how Kate got ready for her big day. Kate, of course, is all over the place, what with two days to go to her big day. She and William are on the "collectors edition" of Life & Style Weekly (running a poor second are "How Brad betrayed Emily," "Rob & Kristen's secret honeymoon" and "Mob Wives confessions"). They're also on top of OK!, which includes a special British OK! section inside (and also has more on Emily's breakup).
But William and Kate are reduced to side column features on the covers of In Touch Weekly and Star. In Touch goes with Jen falling for Bradley on top--though her friends fear she's moving "too fast…again!" And at Star it's Sandra Bullock who's "betrayed again!"
Finally, Time Out New York brings us the apartments issue--and also shows where to watch and celebrate the royal wedding.
Esquire, meanwhile, offers "way more music than usual" in May, and has its own striking cover boy in Jeff Bridges, in sharp-dressed rocker mode. As "The next life of Jeff Bridges" explains, "This time he's a singer. For real." For sure, for anyone who saw his remarkable Oscar-winning country singer turn in Crazy Heart knows he can sing up a storm; he's got an album on the way, and Twitter followers of Rosanne Cash know that she's guesting on it. Also noted are "50 songs every man should be listening to, including five that just might save Detroit," but we also note that in this section is a box written by our pal Dierks Bentley, the best of the contemporary country singer-songwriters, "Hot to write a song (for a woman)."
Manifesting "The Next Generation Leading Man," Mark Ruffalo takes the cover of Details, which otherwise fronts a lot of superlatives ("The best outdoor workouts," "The coolest spas in the world," "The sexiest new summer cocktail") while pondering the much-asked question: "Is skim milk making you fat?" Out stars a leading man of a different sort in its "The Making of Justin Bond: Meet the Artist Formerly Known as He" cover feature on "one of the great New York performers," according to Scissor Sisters' lead singer Jake Shears. We recently saw Shears, Bond and our pal Sandra Bernhard grace the Joe's Pub stage with their new production, Arts & Crafts, and can back up Shears' claim.
It's Steven Tyler, too, on the cover of People, declaring "I'm lucky to be alive!" and discussing his four kids, eight rehabs and "stunning comeback." Noted also are Katie Couric ("finding love again") and LeAnn and Eddie, whose wedding album is featured. Us Weekly has Khloe revealing how she's "tortured for her weight" (after her mom calls her fat!) and also divulges how Kate got ready for her big day. Kate, of course, is all over the place, what with two days to go to her big day. She and William are on the "collectors edition" of Life & Style Weekly (running a poor second are "How Brad betrayed Emily," "Rob & Kristen's secret honeymoon" and "Mob Wives confessions"). They're also on top of OK!, which includes a special British OK! section inside (and also has more on Emily's breakup).
But William and Kate are reduced to side column features on the covers of In Touch Weekly and Star. In Touch goes with Jen falling for Bradley on top--though her friends fear she's moving "too fast…again!" And at Star it's Sandra Bullock who's "betrayed again!"
Finally, Time Out New York brings us the apartments issue--and also shows where to watch and celebrate the royal wedding.
--jim bessman
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday morning magazine roundup
Time is out with its "The Time 100" special double issue of the world's most influential people, with profiles promoted on the cover including Barack Obama's Gabrielle Giffords, Arnold Schwarzenegger's David Cameron, Usher's Justin Bieber and Rush Limbaugh's Michele Bachmann. As these four choices (and writers) suggest, the entire list is pretty questionable, to say the least. Other Time-declared notables pictured on the cover include Benjamin Netanyahu, Cory Booker, Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, Paul Ryan, Patti Smith, Colin Firth Michelle Obama and Mark Zuckerberg.
It's "America's Next Billionaires" over at Newsweek, with "those cute little" Olsen Twins on a cover that otherwise asks "Can Kate & Will save Britain?" and "Guess who hates Obama now?" (the answer to the latter question is Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas; the former proclaims that despite the Royal Wedding, England is "royally screwed"). But the mag might have sold more had it expanded its inside "America's Pot-Smoking Capitals" survey and splashed it on the cover; at least editor-in-chief Tina Brown eulogized tragically slain war photojournalists Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington in her upfront essay, and ran a feature on the pair--with stark photos--inside.
The Royal Wedding is cartooned on the cover of The New Yorker, showing the unnerved couple hiding beneath the bedsheets from cameramen and the Royal Elders. Inside coverage concerns Britain's ambivalence to all the hullabaloo, with the main story being the apparent new "Obama doctrine." New York likewise wonders about the president in its "The Loneliness of the American Liberal" cover, featuring the picture of an old Volkswagen bug with an "Obama '08" bumper sticker--and a flat tire. Inside, "Beastie Boys, the early years" revisits the birth of the influential rock-hop trio on the 25th anniversary of its landmark album Licensed To Ill, and "How funny is Brian Williams?" asks a question that maybe should have been rhetorical.
Saturday Night Live's so-called "quiet genius" Lorne Michaels is on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter's "New York issue," and is also lionized as "comedy's most important man…ever" for making stars from Tina Fey to Will Ferrell to Jimmy Fallon. The issue also offers "The NYC Power List" of the heaviest hitters in Hollywood who live in New York, No. 1 being Rupert Murdoch (Michaels comes in at No. 15, Jon Stewart's No. 5) and an oral history of the Tribeca Film Festival, at age 10.
Finally, Billboard's "Latin Issue" highlights Luis Fonsi on the cover, and also offers five tips for getting your tunes on TV, ironically while asking "Big on YouTube: What's it really worth?" But we're most excited to see "6 Questions: Joe Jackson," since it answers when the next album by the great Brit piano pop star comes out: June 7, via Razor & Tie, Live Music.
It's "America's Next Billionaires" over at Newsweek, with "those cute little" Olsen Twins on a cover that otherwise asks "Can Kate & Will save Britain?" and "Guess who hates Obama now?" (the answer to the latter question is Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas; the former proclaims that despite the Royal Wedding, England is "royally screwed"). But the mag might have sold more had it expanded its inside "America's Pot-Smoking Capitals" survey and splashed it on the cover; at least editor-in-chief Tina Brown eulogized tragically slain war photojournalists Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington in her upfront essay, and ran a feature on the pair--with stark photos--inside.
The Royal Wedding is cartooned on the cover of The New Yorker, showing the unnerved couple hiding beneath the bedsheets from cameramen and the Royal Elders. Inside coverage concerns Britain's ambivalence to all the hullabaloo, with the main story being the apparent new "Obama doctrine." New York likewise wonders about the president in its "The Loneliness of the American Liberal" cover, featuring the picture of an old Volkswagen bug with an "Obama '08" bumper sticker--and a flat tire. Inside, "Beastie Boys, the early years" revisits the birth of the influential rock-hop trio on the 25th anniversary of its landmark album Licensed To Ill, and "How funny is Brian Williams?" asks a question that maybe should have been rhetorical.
Saturday Night Live's so-called "quiet genius" Lorne Michaels is on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter's "New York issue," and is also lionized as "comedy's most important man…ever" for making stars from Tina Fey to Will Ferrell to Jimmy Fallon. The issue also offers "The NYC Power List" of the heaviest hitters in Hollywood who live in New York, No. 1 being Rupert Murdoch (Michaels comes in at No. 15, Jon Stewart's No. 5) and an oral history of the Tribeca Film Festival, at age 10.
Finally, Billboard's "Latin Issue" highlights Luis Fonsi on the cover, and also offers five tips for getting your tunes on TV, ironically while asking "Big on YouTube: What's it really worth?" But we're most excited to see "6 Questions: Joe Jackson," since it answers when the next album by the great Brit piano pop star comes out: June 7, via Razor & Tie, Live Music.
--jim bessman
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