Arlene Goldbard's Blog

• Complicating the Story

  January 2, 2009

  • On New Year's Day, we saw the film Cadillac Records. After drying our eyes, we sat for a few minutes in the empty theater speculating about why such a wonderful film hadn't done better at the box office.

    Since opening on December 5, it's earned less than $8 million (as opposed to Marley & Me, $50-plus million in ten days), with the result that it has shown in fewer theaters every week since. The performances are remarkable, especially the protean Jeffrey Wright (as Muddy Waters), one of the best actors who ever lived, Beyonce Knowles as Etta James and the British actor Eamonn Walker, who gives an astounding performance as Howlin' Wolf.

    This fictionalized account of Chicago's Chess Records is not a documentary. Instead, it provides yet more evidence for Sandro Portelli's wonderful quip that "Many of the most important stories are true but not accurate.”

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• Steer Into It

  December 25, 2008

  • I haven't had my driving-on-black-ice lesson yet. Weather conditions have been spectacularly cold, but there hasn't been the right combination of temperature, precipitation and time off to open space for this particular learning experience—yet.

    Everyone is happy to offer advice, though. They tell me to drive slowly, brake slowly and turn slowly, so as to avoid gliding into the intersection precisely when I mean to stop. They describe slow-motion accidents observed from this very location. Most of all, they deliver the paradoxical prescription that apparently is foundational to Ice Driving 101: Steer into it. "When your car starts to skid," they say, "you'll feel like braking or turning the wheel in the other direction, but don't do it! Just steer into the skid until you feel the car gripping the road again."

    Surrender again? Remember in The Wizard of Oz, when the Wicked Witch of the West spelled out "Surrender Dorothy" using her broomstick as a skywriter? Maybe I'm projecting, but the surrender message seems pretty ubiquitous right now.

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• Vote Now for Artists' Jobs

  December 17, 2008

  • I'm in the midst of writing an article about public service employment for artists, an ideas whose time has once again come around. There are numerous proposals afloat and a semi-mysterious political process that will determine whether and how this idea will be implemented. I'll be posting a link to my article and more information later, but right now, I want to ask you to take a few seconds and help elevate this concept into visibility with the Obama team.

    Go to Change.org and vote for the National Campaign to Hire Artists to Work in Schools. You'll have to register—it's very quick and easy—before your vote will be counted. Rumor has it that more than 500 votes are needed to make the proposal rise to serious consideration. Please forward this information to everyone you know. Thanks!

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