Seems the U.S. State Department is bringing the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra to Washington, where it’s booked at the Kennedy Center for a free concert Tuesday evening with D.C.’s own National Symphony Orchestra, featuring Yo-Yo Ma. … Didn’t know Iraq had a big band, did you? Must make our Maximum Leader proud. Strange he hasn’t talked it up. Or maybe you thought it was called the Occupied Iraq Symphony Orchestra, given that the Iraqis lack sovereignty. …
What puzzles me, however, is where did they get all the visas? You may recall the visa wars the Bush administration has been waging, making it difficult or impossible for foreign artists from “enemy” nations to enter the United States. Did the State Department decide to give the Iraqis all the visas they’ve been withholding from the Cuban musicians or the others they’ve turned down? …
Now that Tom Cruise is playing Nathan Algren in “The Last Samurai,” maybe he will start aHollywood trend of naming all film heroes and heroines for American novelists. … For starters, how about Joe Updike and Fani Morrison, to star in a movie titled “The Human Saint,” based on a novel by Phyllis Roth with a screenplay by Paul Bellow, Ashley Tan and Tommy Kushner, to be directed by Mark Nichols? …
Speaking of the real Kushner, Tony by name, has he been sanctified yet? Except for Andrew Sullivan’s rank demurral, the tsunami of publicity in the run-up to Sunday’s HBO version of “Angels in America” would make you think so. I love the play as much as anyone. Well, maybe not as much as Frank Rich — nobody could — but does Kushner really want to be seen wearing a halo? …
We will rue the day: “People the law forgot.” Read it and cringe. … And let’s not forget to color Tina Brown purple: Her lede this morning — “It’s odd how fast grandeur becomes gloomy when the miasma of misfortune sets in” — sets some kind of record for awful.
