 Red Room Writer Profile
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Bob Levin's Blog
February 28, 2010
- “The Art of the Steal,” a recently released, deliciously well-made,if wobbly one-sided, documentary, recounts the City and County of Philadelphia’s take over of the Barnes Museum. For those unfamiliar with the story, Albert Barnes was a self-made millionaire – and gold medal caliber curmudgeon – from the mean streets of North Philadelphia who, in the early 20th century, ...
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February 17, 2010
- My latest piece is up at the Broad Street Review. Here's its opening paragraph, pre-editing:The White House concert honoring the music of the civil rights movement made some curious choices in the performers it presented, and their artistry did not always stir my soul, but I did not regret that we taped and watched. Natalie Cole was fine, the Freedom Singers rousing, Yolanda Adams ...
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January 30, 2010
- I was doing it twice a week. Then once. Now if I can manage one good one a month, I consider myself a success. And I peer in on my neighbors daily, keeping an eye on how they go about it. Oh, did I mention I am discussing blogging? Most of you, I must confess, I don’t read. (And from the number of visitors I log, most of you feel the same about me.) I keep an open mind ...
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January 24, 2010
- My latest piece -- edited more than most (usually to its betterment)-- is up at The Broad Street Review: http://www.broadstreetreview.com/index.php/main/article/bar_mitzvah_boy_a_memoirHere is how it begins: "In 1953, when I was in fourth grade at Lea School in West Philadelphia, my parents enrolled me in Friends Central, at the foot of the Main Line. I loved Friends Central, but my ...
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January 22, 2010
- Keith Olberman on yesterday's Supreme Court decision. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72ZwG5vQ_04&feature=ytn%3Amptnews
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January 16, 2010
- For some reason, I keep reading Sasha Frere-Jones’s “Pop Music” pages in THE NEW YORKER. Like I keep expecting to meet Johnny Ace or Bob Dylan or Neil Young there. Take the last issue, where Mr. (or Ms. – another thing I’m not up on) Frere-Jones carries on about Anne Lilia Berge Strand, whom I had never heard of. In the author’s second column, I found this passage – ...
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January 9, 2010
- For all the time I have been writing regularly and seriously, I have been a practicing attorney. At first, I handled all manner of cases – p.i., domestic, estates, criminal, even a trade name dispute and some debt collection – but for twenty-five years I have done nothing but represent workers in claims for industrial injuries. The entire time I have been self-employed. I ...
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January 5, 2010
- On The Family Blog, Sammy Harkham, of "Kramer's Ergot" fame, has listed my book "Most Outrageous" as one of his "Favorites of 2009." True, "Outrageous" was published in 2008, but Harkham also cited Bruce's "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (1978), John Huston's "The Misfits" (1961), and Oakley Hall's "Warlock" (1958), so I ...
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January 2, 2010
- My latest effort is up at The Broad Street Review. (A small portion may be familiar to faithful readers.) It opens like this: Following my freshman year at Brandeis, I worked one week on the Franks’ Beverages production line. The factory was hot, the tasks monotonous, and the foreman forbade us even one gratis grape soda. Then I received notice that my civil service score had ...
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January 1, 2010
- For those interested in the reform legislation currently wending its way through congress, I again recommend my friend Budd Shenkin's blog. Budd is a pediatrician in the East Bay, with a background in public health. I thought his most recent post interesting and easy to follow.http://buddshenkin.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html
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December 19, 2009
- My interview with J.T. Dockery and review of his “In Tongues Illustrated” is available at: http://www.tcj.com/?p=337: Here is how it begins: “(IT)... comes at one wielding its illusive classification – art object? comic? album? book? – like a Kali-armed assassin her swords. Its aim is not dismemberment though but the re-tailoring of minds. It is 25 sheets in length, ...
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December 6, 2009
- The other night, in the midst of a period of discussions of L’Affaire Polanski, where I am of the leave-the-old-scoundrel-alone persuasion, we caught, via On-Demand, the semi-charming 1987 release, “In the Mood” (Patrick Dempsey, Talia Balsam, Beverly D’Angelo), based on true events. It seems that, in 1944, Elaine Monfredi (Balsam), a twenty-one-year-old, unmarried mother of ...
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November 28, 2009
- I recently re-watched most of HBO’s documentary on Roman Polanski. Since he’s been a frequent topic of discussion here, I thought some of the facts it recounts might be of interest. 1. Polanski pled guilty to unlawful sexual misconduct with a minor, a crime which connotes participation in a consensual act. This plea was acceptable not only to the prosecuting attorney and ...
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November 7, 2009
- The in-house techno-wizard, Adele, has solved my computer problems and I am now able to read others' blogs here, as well as post my own without going through the always-reliable Huntington Sharpe, allowing him to direct his talents and energies elsewhere. Anyway, here's the link to my latest piece at Broad Street Review ...
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November 4, 2009
- My newest piece is up at The Broad Street Review: Here's the link: http://www.broadstreetreview.com/index.php/main/article/my_ball_team_my_sisterAnd here're the opening paragraphs: My father and two of my uncles sat at the breakfast room table, the radio between them. I lay on the floor, rigid with tension, the linoleum cold as clay under my back. When Dick Sisler homered, I was so happy. I ...
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