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© St. Petersburg Times, published December 25, 2001
Happy Holidays! After all the packages are open and the bounteous feast consumed, there might be time to ponder on this year of 2001, now almost over. I don't think even Stanley Kubrick, who created the astonishing movie of that title, could have predicted how our world would change and deepen.
With all the pressures on us now, it's even more important to refresh the self with good books, good music and good thoughts. A first novel, Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger, is set in the upper Midwest and is full of family closeness, faith, two enchanting children and a mythical father -- all set off by a journey across the land looking for a lost brother. This story is beautifully written; it lacks flashy action but offers quiet, deep determination and purpose. Quite an achievement.
Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier, who wrote Girl with the Pearl Earring (her first novel, about 17th century Delft and the artist Vermeer), takes us this time to Edwardian London, a time rife with social change. The novel opens the day after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and tracks the friendship of two 5-year-old girls. It reflects their two families' different styles of adjusting to new circumstances and is rich with details of the time and place.
A little closer to home for most of us, especially fans of the long-running CBS news program, 60 Minutes, is the memoir Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years and "60 Minutes" in Television by Don Hewitt, the show's originator and producer. It really does live up to its title and is absorbing reading for anyone who is a regular watcher of the show or interested in background stories of TV journalism.
Two good, low-key movies that you might have missed at the local picture shows have now made it to the video store shelves. Legally Blonde (or Cinderella Goes to Law School) is a featherweight but delightful story about a stereotypical dumb blond. While chasing after her fellow, she ends up at Harvard Law School and surprises everybody there, most of all herself.
The Golden Bowl is another Merchant-Ivory team effort that pays off to the fullest. Adapting Henry James' novel to the screen can't have been easy, but with a cast of Uma Thurman, Kate Beckinsdale, Jeremy Northam, Nick Nolte and Anjelica Houston, the project takes on a fully realized life of its own, involving love, betrayal, secrets and dashed hopes. This all makes for a leisurely and beautifully moving viewing experience.
For musical-theater lovers, fun is often spelled "Gilbert and Sullivan." The Clearwater campus of St. Petersburg College, 2465 Drew St., will present Princess Ida, featuring numerous G&S veterans such as Susan Demers, Tom Bronson and Susan Spaulding. Performances, in the arts auditorium, are at 8 p.m. Jan. 10-12 and 2 p.m. Jan. 13. Tickets are $5 each and benefit the college's nursing program.
Care to dance? The St. Petersburg Coliseum's Big Band Ballroom Dance Series starts its season Saturday, Jan. 26, with a tribute to Harry James and the Andrews Sisters. Other programs will be presented in February and March. Admission is $12 in advance, $14 at the door, with group rates and BYOB set-ups available. Information and reservations: (727) 892-5202.
For splendid music, it's hard to beat the Adults at Leisure Series at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. On Tuesday, Jan. 8, the Manhattan Rhythm Kings will re-create a dazzling nightclub show dating back to the '20s and '30s. The Rhythm Kings, a fabulous singing, tap-dancing and instrumentally adroit trio, appeared on Broadway in Tommy Tune's Crazy For You.
On Wednesday, Jan. 16, the Florida Orchestra will present an afternoon of popular easy-listening favorites, with Thomas Wilkins conducting. On Tuesday, Jan. 22, the American Swing Orchestra, under the direction of Clement DeRosa, will play A Musical Salute to Benny Goodman, offering favorites such as Jersey Bounce and Body and Soul.
On Tuesday, Jan. 29, the Pieces of Eight, an a capella octet, will rock the hall with Fascinatin' Rhythm. The program traces the progression of blues, swing and big band to be-bop and pop in a history of rhythm in American music. All concerts begin at 2 p.m.; tickets are $12.
Web sites: For the best portal to more good things than you could ever find time for, don't forget Arts and Letters Daily (www.aldaily.com), with links to Salon and Slate on-line magazines, many of the best columnists and newspapers in this country and overseas, and at least three new, stimulating pieces chosen from a wide variety of sources you wouldn't be likely to run into on your own. The site is well-organized and easy to use.
The new year is always the time for making resolutions, most of which go by the wayside within a matter of days or weeks. Here's one you won't want to give up on (taken from the best novel ever about King Arthur and his knights, T.H. White's The Once and Future King.) Merlin instructs the young Arthur on how to grow up to be wise and good: "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin . . . "is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then -- to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting."
Happy new year, and take note.