Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 32

Ludwig van The Man

Major new piece by Alex Ross at The New Yorker just posted that more or less agrees with my longtime claim that Beethoven is the greatest artist in the West at least since Shakespeare.  He asserts this while commenting on several recent books and even a novel.  All well and good, except he fails to mention, to be immodest, the acclaimed current doc directed by Kerry Candaele (which I co-produced) and our related book, Journeys With Beethoven.  Both fit very well in his take on Beethoven cultural and political import and universal embrace today. 

Oliver vs. Pumpkin Space Latte

John was off last night but posted a three-minute Web special.

'NYT' Still Unfair to Amazon?

As I noted, the NYT's fine public editor Margaret Sullivan has criticized the paper for one-sided coverage of book publisher  (led by Hachette) disputes with Amazon, noting among other things that it had failed to cover much at all authors who have backed the giant book seller.  So when I saw today's headline over a major story in the Business section with a headline referring to writers backing Amazon I presumed this was the response.  Imagine my surprise when I read the piece and found that it barely made mention of that, and instead focused on more complaints.

Apparently editors realized the absurdity and the same online story now carries a more accurate headline:  "Amazon and Its Missing Books."  Margaret?

Poitras Film on Snowden Debuts (With Updates)

We followed the Twitter reveals about the much-awaited doc on Edward Snowden by Laura Poitras that debuted at the NY Film Festival last night.  How he reacted to news of a second leaker, and so on.  Now stories at news sites are appearing, including this one at The Guardian--that he film shows that his girlfriend, presumed to have been abandoned, has actually been living with him in Moscow.  And more:

In his first comment about the documentary, which Poitras had shown to him in advance, Snowden told the Guardian: “I hope people won’t see this as a story about heroism. It’s actually a story about what ordinary people can do in extraordinary circumstances.”

UPDATE: Early reviews are strong.

Trailer just out:

CITIZENFOUR Trailer

The Alyssa Peterson Story

Over at Huff Post I've returned to the sad subject of the U.S. Army soldier who killed herself in Iraq 11 eleven years ago after refusing to take part in torture.  Some actually did a YouTube song/video "The Ballad of Alyssa Peterson."

For Columbus Day: If it Be Your Will

One of my true heroes--and funniest and keenest political comedian ever--is Will Rogers, born in Oklahoma and proud of his strong Cherokee heritage (on both sides of his family).   I have visited Will's ranch in Santa Monica, and interviewed one of his sons.  Will plays a key role in my book on Upton Sinclair's 1934 campaign.  So, for Columbus Day, here's his comment on the Pilgrims, who landed a few years later:

“I love being down here in pilgrim country. I bet you when the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and they had the whole of the American continent to themselves, and all they had to do to get another 160 acres was to kill another Indian, you know, well, I bet they kicked at the cost of ammunition. Now, I hope my Cherokee blood is not making me prejudiced, but it was only the generosity of the Indians that allowed the pilgrims to land in the first place. Suppose it was the other way around.

"Yeah, my ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower. They met the boat.”  More from Will:

They sent the Indians to Oklahoma.  They had a treaty that said, ‘you shall have this land as long as grass grows and water flows.’ It was not only a good rhyme but looked like a good treaty, and it was until they struck oil. Then the government took it away from us again. They said the treaty refers to ‘water and grass; it don’t say anything about oil.’ So the Indians lost another bet – the first one to Andrew Jackson, and the second to the oil companies.

 Much more on Will as one of great American political commentators.

From the Stones to the Big Lebowski

Demo of Townes Van Zandt doing "Dead Flowers" in 1973, a different version much later used in Lebowski.    Below that an original just unveiled on same lp last year.

Great and (Still) Greatest

Kershaw and Koufax left, one year ago, before two Kershaw playoff meltdown series.  Koufax era in World Series:  0.95.

Favorite Piece for Autumn

My favorite piece of American classical music is Ives' "Alcotts" movement from his Concord Sonata, which revolves around opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.  Here it's played live not long ago by MacArthur genius winner Jeremy Denk.  Jeremy's also written another piece for The New Yorker this year.  And I interviewed him for my Beethoven book.

Mailer-Vidal, Round 12

Amazing find via Rick Perlstein--a classic SCTV skit purporting to be a Tide commercial with battling Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal.   No doubt that is Eugene Levy as Stormin' Norman and Joe Flaherty as announcer and maybe Martin Short as "Sissy" Gore.   Good vocal and hair work.  Can you imagine two authors today who would be famous and recognizable enough to warrant this? And actual feuders below that.