Southern Bookman

Manhattan glows with vibrant autumn energy

New York City reveled in beautiful fall weather during our long weekend visit.

Rather than the chaotic, crime-plagued city depicted by rants in the New York Post, Manhattan displayed a vibrant, diverse spirit, its people warm and welcoming, filling the streets on a holiday weekend.

I first visited New York City 50 years ago, in October. Walking through the Museum of Modern art as an old man now walking with a cane, I summoned the ghost of my youthful self, stunned and transformed by viewing Picasso's "Guernica" there. I loved returning to the old masterpieces, from Picasso, Monet and Van Gogh to Jackson Pollock.

We walked to see Kenny Leon's endearing reclamation of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town," starring Jim Parsons as a mesmerizing stage manager. In my first experience with Broadway, I saw Bernadette Peters, Robert Preston, Glenda Jackson, Elizabeth Ashley, Keir Dullea and Fred Gwynne on various stages. 

Gwynne, the star of "The Munsters" and "Car 54 Where Are You" played Big Daddy in  Tennessee Williams' "Cat  on a Hot Tin Roof," which also featured the radiant Ashley and a laconic Dullea.

The young Peters and the veteran Preston achieved aching chemistry in "Mack and Mabel." Jackson gave a dazzling performance in an Ibsen drama. I can't remember if it were "A Doll's House" or "Hedda Gabler."

Now, the young women aren't as stylish. Businessmen don't wear ties. Most newstands don't sell newspapers. Telephone booths are long gone.

The city still pulses with energy, a nutty entrepreneurial vitality. Manhattan might sink beneath the ocean one day, but I'll bet on it coming out on top, forever new.

Matthew Klam's style deepens with short story "Hi Daddy," published in New Yorker

Writer Matthew Klam has displayed his distinctive talent in a small body of work.

Acclaimed as a fresh new voice with his 2000 collection "Sam the Cat and Other Stories," Klam appeared infrequently until the publication of his satirical 2017 novel "Who's Rich," which also received widespread praise.

Klam, now 60, makes a notable rare appearance with his short story "Hi Daddy" in the current issue of the New Yorker. The story, which examines a middle-aged man's coming to grips with his daughter's gaining independence as a young adult and caring for his aging parents, exhibits Klam's stylistic brilliance with a deeper maturity.

The short story follows Klam's "The Other Party," published in the New Yorker in 2022, which also focused on affluent professionals in suburban Washington, D.C. coping with life changes. 

New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman in an interview accompanying "Hi Daddy" asked Klam if he's working on a collection of "suburban-D.C. family stories."

Klam replied "there is certainly a conversation going on between that last story and this one, about families and neighbors in the D.C. area, but I don't know how much more I have to say."

Devoted Klam fans like me will be excited to discover Klam's work in whatever direction his career takes.

 

October's extreme weather a disturbing alarm of climate change

San Francisco reached 94 degrees last week as Hurricane Helene pummeled the Southeast.

Earth's alarms keep sounding. Another hurricane, Milton, reminding us of John Milton's "Paradise Lost," rushes toward Florida. The Amazon's drying up, an ominous sign for the world.

Yet, climate change recedes as a presidential campaign issue. Both parties support continued drilling for oil, when the world's survival depends upon petroleum remaining deep beneath the ground.

Autumn's arrival in years past brought crisp temperatures. Now October comes with 100-degree readings in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Palm Springs. Wildfires are a common hazard of California life. Even cold cities like Chicago and Minneapolis suffer from extended heat waves.

Fall's exciting cool days seem fewer and fewer.

 

 

 

 

Atlanta Braves do not go gently into that good night

The Atlanta Braves' patchwork season mercifully ended Wednesday night in San Diego.

Still fighting until the end, the Braves fell 5-4 to the high-powered San Diego Padres in the first round of the National League playoffs.

During the year, Braves stars spent more time on the bench than playing. Yet Manager Brian Snitker like a master mechanic keeping a car running with spare parts piloted the Braves into the playoffs.

With Ronald Acuna, Spencer Strider and Austin Reilly out with season-ending injuries, the Braves turned to willing troupers Gio Urshela, Whit Merrifield, Ramon Laureano and Eli White. Late in the season, the depleted Braves brought back 2021 World Series hero Jorge Soler for an engine charge.

During the strange season, Marcel Ozuna rose to all-star heights, playing in every game, hitting 39 home runs and batting .302. But first baseman Matt Olson struggled, reaching 29 home runs and 98 RBI with a late season flourish.

Emerging superstar Michael Harris excelled after a long stretch on the injured list. Second baseman Ozzie Albies was hampered by a wrist injury that kept him on the bench for weeks. Upon his return, Albies displayed his competitive fire, but never regained full strength.

Max Fried ended his Braves career with heartbreak in the season-ending loss to the Padres. Fried, soon a free agent, was hit by a line drive and gave up five runs before leaving the game in the second inning.

In his previous start, the emotional Fried tipped his hat to cheering Braves fans at Truist Park after pitching into the ninth innning and not giving up any runs in a crucial win.

Shaking off the loss, Snitker said after the game that he's eager for spring training to begin in 2025, ending speculation that he might leave. At age 69, the baseball lifer will put on the uniform for another year.

Snitker's looking forward to having Acuna, Reilly and Strider back in the Florida sunshine.

 

 

Asheville's devastation brings sorrow

Another city I love lies devastated by a hurricane.

Asheville, where I enjoyed many happy times in my youth, was devastated by Helene, still relentlessly destructive as a tropical storm when it blew through the idyllic city in the western North Carolina mountains.

Flood waters cover Asheville's downtown streets, where art, music, food and literature flourished before the storm's rampage. Helene's high winds and flooding destroyed the nearby Biltmore Village's charming shops and restaurants. Some of the area's resort towns disappeared altogether.

For years, I've mourned New Orleans, Houston and Lake Charles following hurricanes. I never thought I'd weep in the same way for Asheville.

Farewell, Kris Kristofferson and Pete Rose

Kris Kristofferson and Pete Rose gained fame as American outlaws.

In a fitting juxtaposition of fate, Kristofferson and Rose both died over the weekend.

Kristofferson, 88, one of the ground-breaking Nashville songwriters who transformed country music in the 1970s, died Saturday at his home in Maui, Hawaii, surrounded by his family.

Rose, 83, who broke Ty Cobb's all-time hits record and was the driving force for Cincinnati's Big Red Machine, was found dead at his home Monday, according to the medical examiner of Clark County, Nevada. He had appeared at an autograph show over the weekend. 

A former Army officer and Rhodes scholar, Kristofferson refused a post teaching English at West Point to move to Nashville, where he worked as a janitor before achieving major success as a songwriter, with the help of Johnny Cash. Kristofferson wrote some of the most memorable lines in American music, and with his rugged masculinity found stardom as a Hollywood sex symbol.

Rose, known to detractors and fans as Charlie Hustle, shook up baseball with his reckless, devil-may-care play. He seriously injured Cleveland catcher Ray Fosse, barrelling into him in an all-star game, which once meant something to participants.

After propelling the Reds to two World Series titles in the 1970s, Rose brought his harem-scarem style to the Philadelphia Phillies. He finished his career with 4,256 hits, a record that Major League baseball doesn't honor because of Rose's banishment from the sport in a gambling scandal.

The 17-time all-star was banned in 1989 by Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti for betting on games while managing the Reds. As one social media wag noted, Rose's lifetime ban has now ended, possibly making him eligible for election to his rightful place in the Hall of Fame.

Kristofferson and Rose both exemplified a roguish, hyper-charged masculinity. Each of them were transformational stars who excelled in fields of entertainment that fascinate millions.

The rules-breaking songwriter and ballplayer sparked outpourings of acclaim and vilification, two outlaws who changed American culture.

 

 

Bernadette Peters thrills Atlanta audience with exploration of Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein songbooks

Bernadette Peters in an appearance with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Saturday night took an ecstatic audience on a rousing tour of Stephen Sondheim and Rodgers and Hammerstein classics. 

Sondheim considered the Broadway star the best interpreter of his music. Performing a deep selection from Sondheim's songbook, Peters displayed the acting and singing brilliance that Sondheim praised. She made each song a character portrait evoking its original musical.

At age 76, Peters possesses a strong voice and dynamic energy.

In a shimmering silver dress, she made one departure from the Sondheim and Rodgers and Hammerstein menu with a dazzling, sexy performance of the Peggy Lee standard "Fever," in which she perilously climbed stairs in her high heels to recline on music director Tedd Firth's piano.

Swinging her gorgeous legs, Peters echoed Lee's resonant voice, ranging from seductive low notes to brash higher registers.

Firth's piano enhanced the emotional complexity of Peters' more intimate songs. He also conducted the ASO with flair. The orchestra's musicians seemed to enjoy the swinging freedom of playing jazzy songs while smoothly backing slower-paced ballads.

Drummer Cubby O'Brien of Mouseketeer fame and bass player Kevin Axt from Peters' band joined the ASO. Axt and O'Brien gave a pulsing beat to Peters' "Fever" performance, building its dramatic momentum.

Peters reached one of the evening's high points with her aching interpretation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "It Might as Well Be Spring" from the movie "State Fair." Hitting the song's high notes with crystal clarity, Peters uncovered the poetic richness of Hammerstein's simple lyrics.

Remembering Elaine Stritch, her fellow accomplished Sondheimian, Peters said farewell to her ardent admirers with thrilling performances of "Send in the Clowns" and "Being Alive."

Peters with her soaring voice and emotional range turned Sondheim's anthems of remorse and despair into affirmations of the human spirit, night music for the soul.

 

 

Atlanta Opera's arias to ring out at Bobby Jones Golf Course clubhouse

Opera, theater and film will find a new home at a historic golf landmark in Buckhead. 

The Atlanta Opera this week announced a $45 million renovation and expansion of the Greek Revival showpiece that served for years as the Bobby Jones Golf Course clubhouse. Reminiscent of "Gone With the Wind's" Tara, the clubhouse was abandoned several years ago when the Bobby Jones course, dating back to the 1930s, was converted into a reversible nine-hole layout.

Located on Woodward Way near a wealthy neighborhood, the clubhouse site sits along the not yet fully developed Beltline, which might receive mass transit in the future. 

Under the plan, the expanded complex will house a 200-seat recital hall for concerts and theater, a film studio, rehearsal and education space, a library and administrative offices.

However, the Atlanta Opera will continue performing at the Cobb County Galleria Center, with no future plans to build a major opera house. Several years ago, the company abandoned a lagging fund-raising campaign for an opera venue at Woodward Arts Center.

The Opera's renovated clubhouse will be another jewel for the area. Nearby are the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and museum, a lavish putting green, the renovated Bobby Jones golf complex, Bitsy Grant Tennis Center and the popular Boone's Restaurant.

A busy walking trail winds through Memorial Park, site of the bloody battles of Peachtree Creek and Tanyard Creek during the Civil War.

With the World Cup and other major sports competitions, the growth of Ga. Tech and other universities in starting and attracting high-tech businesses, and ambitious projects to revive downtown, Atlanta's cruising into a new era as an international city.

Yet, as columnist Maria Saporta recently pointed out in her Saporta Report, an essential source of Atlanta news, Georgia and Atlanta fall short in supporting the arts, for which Georgia ranks last in per capita spending.

Chastising Atlanta's futile campaign to attract the Sundance Film Festival, Saporta called for the city to increase arts funding and establish a department devoted to culture.

For years, Atlanta arts institutions have depended on wealthy private donors and the contributions of regular arts supporters to make up for insufficient public funding.

A revitalized commitment to the arts will raise Atlanta to new heights.

 

Rachel Kushner's "Creation Lake" raises literary firestorm

Rachel Kushner's"Creation Lake" is this season's literary lightning rod, drawing extreme critical reactions.

The 55-year-old Kushner's new novel, long-listed for the Booker Prize, received extravagant praise Sunday from The New York Times' Dwight Garner in the newspaper's Sunday Book Review, and condemnation from American novelist Brandon Taylor in the current London Review of Books.

While Taylor questioned why the novel was even written and joked in an X feed that the book "gave him Lyme Disease," Garner in his review said the book "consolidates Kushner's status as one of the finest novelists working in the English language. You know from this book's opening paragraphs that you are in the hands of a major writer, one who processes experience on a deep level. Kushner has a gift for almost effortless intellectual penetration."

Washington Post reviewer Ron Charles agreed with Garner, gushing that "Creation Lake" "bears all the hallmarks of her inquisitive mind and creative daring." In an expansive review in the Atlantic, Lily Meyer called the book a "swerve" that "suggests Kushner is ready for big change."

While the Guardian lauded the book, the Wall Street Journal reviewer Sam Sacks was lukewarm, relegating "Creation Lake" to his fiction roundup in the WSJ's Saturday Review.

Garner's review likely will do more than any other to boost the book's sales. Garner is the Times' most important book critic, now mainly writing for the Sunday newspaper rather than the daily Arts section, and the Sunday Book Review is the nation's leading literary arbiter.

Kushner's novels "The Flamethrowers," "Telex from Cuba" and "The Mars Room" also stirred heated critical debate, as did her essay collection "The Hard Crowd."

It'll be interesting to see if "Creation Lake" lands on the Times' best-seller list after garnering such media attention. These days, fantasy, horror and romance novels dominate the list, rarely crashed by "literary novels."

 

Remembering Battle of Antietam on 162nd anniversary

The Antietam Battlefield stretches toward the horizon, peaceful and bucolic.

It's hard to imagine that the bloodiest battle in American history took place 162 years ago on those rolling green hills near Sharpsburg, Md.

The Civil War battle on Sept. 17, 1862, at last fell silent with 22,727 Americans killed, wounded or missing. Two days after the battle, the bearded Scotsman Alexander Gardner took photographs of the dead's bloated bodies, the first photos taken of soldiers killed in battle.

Famed photographer Matthew Brady a month later displayed the Antietam photos at his Broadway gallery in New York City, drawing huge crowds shocked yet mesmerized by the horror of war.

Robert E. Lee's invading Army of Northern Virginia clashed with Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac on that late summer day, changing the course of the war.

Famous sites that Gardner visited remain unchanged, familiar from his photographs. The Dunker Church and the nearby cornfield, where the armies fired their first shots. The quiet Sunken Road, filled with Confederate dead in Gardner's images. The Burnside Bridge crossing idyllic Antietam Creek.

In fierce afternoon fighting, soldiers of both armies battled  for control of  the majestic bridge, at last captured by Gen. Ambrose Burnside's federal troops.

While not achieving a decisive victory, McClelland's army forced Lee to retreat to Virginia, ending his incursion into Maryland. The Union success led President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, shifting the war's purpose to ending slavery as well as preserving the union.

Many of those who sacrificed their lives at Antietam rest in a national cemetery there. Like those soldiers buried at nearby Gettysburg, they "gave the last full measure of devotion... that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom," as Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address a little over a year later.