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4.8.05

Culturally Speaking #60

By Sarah Stodola

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Me Three News: Today marks the inauguration of the literarily dexterous Tyler Gore's new weekly events listing feature -- "Tyler Gore's Strange Attractor" -- in Me Three's weekly newsletter.  Tyler Gore is a great writer and a long-time New Yorker.  The listings will cover lesser known and/or extremely interesting cultural events in the New York City area.  To those readers who do not live in New York, we apologize, but we also say it's your own damn fault.

In order to receive the update and hence the events listings, you must first join Me Three's Yahoo Group by entering your email in the box in the column to the left of this page (yes, there is a problem with the graphic over there...we're working on it).

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A royal wedding in England tomorrow...I'm not really one for mushy love stories, but this is really one of the most fascinating love affairs of our times.

But in a different observation concerning these folks: what is it about royalty and bad hairdos?  You'd think with all the money the British crown has, it would be able to afford to update its look every fifty years or so...

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While the American Government has been busy spreading "freedom" in Iraq, this is what has been going on in Afghanistan.  The article says that drug production there last year exceeded "even the most alarming predictions":

There is wide consensus in the government and the military and among humanitarian organizations that the drug trade now threatens all of America's goals in Afghanistan. Terrorists and insurgents there finance their activities largely with drug revenues, and the trade could undermine the nascent democratic government of President Hamid Karzai, who has called for a holy war against the opium trade.

The United States government has been repeatedly warned about the dangers of letting the Afghan poppy trade flourish, and has been criticized for failing to curb its growth after American forces toppled the Taliban government and routed Al Qaeda fighters in 2001. The Taliban, using often brutal tactics, had greatly suppressed poppy production.

I guess that's what happens when you take $700 million away from a country in order to enable your attacks on another on...

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A quick browse through list of people and bands who have performed at Fez over the years, and you really get a sense of what a bummer it is that the place had to close...

 

 

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Saul Bellow's obit in the Times...

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The folks in Vienna have discovered some sheet music that might be a previously unknown work by Mozart...this is like discovering a Shakespeare play that no one knew about...except better, because with Mozart you don't have to read that frustrating 17th century prose.

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I've just noticed that the LA Times has a "Chess" section...wha???

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This new book by Sherill Tippins chronicles "the year that W.H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Benjamin Britten, and Gypsy Rose Lee spent together in a Brooklyn townhouse" (via Beatrice).  Who knew?  It's titled February House and you can buy it here.

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Click here for the last Culturally Speaking.

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Sarah Stodola is the Executive Editor of Me Three.  She can be contacted here.

© 2005 Me Three