Opening tonight: Hard Times

Am very excited and curious to see (and hear) the musical drama Hard Times, which opens tonight at The Cell theater on West 23rd Street in New York. It’s set in the Five Points area of Manhattan in July 1863.  The location will ring a bell if you’ve seen Gangs of New York  or are […]

Signs of Political Animals in NYC

Last week ads for the USA Network‘s summer mini-series Political Animals started appearing around Manhattan. The six-part series stars Sigourney Weaver and (Belfast-born)  Ciáran Hinds as the ersatz Hillary and Bill, here known as Elaine Barrish Hammond and Bud Hammond. Also part of the cast – and in a role that looks like good fun […]

Sardars and U2: Rock On!

When U22 – the special edition, live album of songs selected by fans from U2‘s 2011 tour playlist – arrived in the mail, one of the pages in the accompanying program caught my eye: Among the various pages of images of the band performing and fans in arenas around the world cheering them on, here […]

An Irish encounter

Here’s a link to a story I did that’s running in this month’s JetWings International magazine, currently available in seat pockets on all overseas Jet Airways flights, as well as online.  (Just type “33” in the white Page box at the top of the screen, hit Enter, and it’ll take you straight to the article.) […]

James X arrives in New York

The last time I was at the little theater at 45 Bleecker was to see Colin Quinn doing Long Story Short, his funny retelling of the history of man and all his weaknesses and  imperfections, before it shifted to Broadway. Last night, I was there for the preview of a drama – James X – […]