An entirely subjective look at the week ahead
By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published February 7, 2005
HAPPY EVERYTHING, EVERYBODY
It's a big week for holidays. Tuesday is Mardi Gras, so eat up: king cake, pancakes, paczkis, whatever. Next is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Sunset that day marks the beginning of both the Islamic New Year and the Lunar New Year celebrated in many Asian countries (called Tet in Vietnam). Hereabouts, our own version of Carnival, the Gasparilla wingding, winds up Saturday night at 6 with the Sant'Yago Night Parade in Ybor City.
THE HEAVYWEIGHTSure, Million Dollar Baby is a knockout, but on Tuesday the best boxing movie of all time - and one of the very best movies, period - comes out in a two-disc special edition. Raging Bull (1980) is Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese at the top of their form, so it seems greedy to ask for more. But the set includes a new four-part documentary on the making of the movie, covering everything from the choreography of the brilliant fight scenes to an interview with Jake LaMotta, whose life was the film's grim inspiration.
STILL IN THERE DIGGINGLegendary journalist Seymour Hersh won a Pulitzer Prize when he broke the My Lai massacre story 35 years ago. His latest sharp poke in the eye of power is Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, a book that takes on the Bush administration's wars and the prison abuses in Iraq. Hersh will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Hyatt Sarasota, 1000 Boulevard of the Arts. Tickets are $15; call (941) 349-8350.
USE YOUR INDOOR VOICEOn Saturday, the 447 members of the Democratic National Committee meet in Washington to elect the next chairman of the party. Odds-on favorite is Howard Dean. Of course, he has been a favorite before. If the former Vermont governor wins this one after the precipitous collapse of his presidential run (was that really only a year ago?), he may give Bill Clinton some competition for the title of Comeback Kid.
SPEAKING OF SCREAMSWednesday marks the 41st anniversary of the Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show during their first American tour. They performed five songs for a TV audience of 73-million, the largest in U.S. history at that time. Pop culture (and the hearts of millions of girls) would never be the same. Peace, John and George.
WHEN THEY'RE 64Beatles-related birthdays this week: Actor Mia Farrow, who hung out with the Beatles at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Indian ashram after her marriage to Frank Sinatra broke up, turns 60 on Wednesday. Folksinger Donovan, a Beatles pal and sometime collaborator and another Maharishi alum, will be 59 on Thursday. Actor-musician Peter Tork, member of the faux-Beatles band the Monkees and banjo player on George Harrison's Wonderwall Music album, is 63 on Sunday.
- By COLETTE BANCROFT, Times staff writer 727 893-8435 or bancroft@sptimes.com