If I mention four female names, many of you, I think, will know who I am referring to. Here they are: Samantha, Miranda, Charlotte and Carrie. That’s right! I’m talking about the girls from “Sex and the City.” But I shouldn’t say “girls.” By now, they are “women” characters that have gone beyond their gal-about-town ways. They are a bit more grown-up, interacting in not quite the same way with the city. To quote the director of the film version, Michael Patrick King, “Thirty-two-year-olds go out and get drunk and sleep with inappropriate men in bars downtown, and 42-year-old girls maybe don’t.”Though the television series ended its 6-year run on HBO in 2004, viewers have been able to follow it on DVD or in syndication. For many (including me), “Sex and the City” is a continuing affair. No one captured the lives of the lovelorn and the love-seeking in New York City like the columnist, Carrie Bradshaw. Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays the columnist, is also a hands-on producer. Once, the show educated the world about the glitzy cocktails and charge card culture. Carrie’s closet was an outrageous mix of haute couture, vintage frocks and miles of Manolo Blahnik stilettos. I wonder how she’ll dress in the movie which, by the way, is scheduled for a May 30 release.
I’m one of the ravenous fans wondering about the doings of our four heroines. Will they put the randy Manhattan nights behind them? Only a few series have successfully made the transition from the television screen to movie screen with the same cast. Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and, finally, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) are the stars who, hopefully, will make it work. Personally, I hope the irresistible, dashingly handsome Mr. Big (Chris Noth) is still part of the cast.
If you were invited to see and hear a musical group called Funk Filharmonik, what would you expect? I certainly was baffled. The dictionary helped in part. “Funk” is defined as “music that combines traditional forms of black music (as blues, gospel or soul) and is characterized by a strong backbeat.” Okay! But “filharmonik’ isn’t even in the dictionary. So I accept it as a play on the word “harmonic,” which means “musical, pleasing to the ear.” Well, I didn’t expect a group called Funk Filharmonik to be pleasing to my ear – and it wasn’t.
Happily, that didn’t matter because the brassy 12-piece band did appeal to its audience – and even got some folks dancing and clapping in the aisle. The concert was part of the World Financial Center Arts Holiday Program, sponsored by Songs of Love. That organization was a revelation to me. Songs of Love is a non-profit organization that creates uplifting, personalized songs for children and teens struggling with a life-threatening illness or lifetime disability. Each CD is professionally produced with personalized lyrics. Songs are written and performed in the child’s favorites musical style by a variety of talented professionals. Those songs are often played during painful hospital treatments to serve as a distraction to help the children keep their minds off the pain and trauma.
The performance I attended was recorded for an 8-year-old who is battling a chronic lung disease. The audience was invited to help finish her song by adding their voices on the song’s chorus.
Yes, music can, at times, be as good as (or even better than) medicine for the individual child who faces tough medical challenges so that the child can feel special instead of different. To get more info on Song of Love, you can visit the Web site at www.songsoflove.org, or call 1 (800) 960-SONG.
Frequently, the title of a movie makes me uncertain about wanting to see it. I reacted negatively to “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” (do you blame me?!). That name comes from an old Irish line: “May you be in heaven for 30 minutes before the devil knows you’re dead.” It has no relevance to the film. In charge of the film is an octogenarian (I always like to use that word), the legendary filmmaker Sidney Lumet. “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” includes an entire cast of Academy Award winners and nominees, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Albert Finney.
It was easy from the first scene to know that everything would go wrong, and the viewer gets to see the unraveling through various perspectives. This is a heist-gone-wrong flick that goes for the jugular. I’m not a fan of time-hopping narratives, and this movie keeps flashing forward and back. You really must stay awake to follow the events. I managed to keep my eyes open because it is a gripping story, tense, interesting and unpredictable throughout. The terrific ensemble performances keep it consistently engaging and suspenseful. On the other hand, if you’ve seen too many family dysfunction stories, you’d be happier if you skipped “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.”
I know nothing about the science of music. I do know that when it comes to music, I know what I like. It’s all a beautiful mystery to me. Recently, my friend, Joanne, told me to read a book, titled “This is Your Brain on Music.” Then, she followed up her suggestion by giving me the book. Its author is a deeply musical neuroscientist, Daniel J. Levitin.
His book describes how music affects our brains, our minds, our thoughts and even our spirits. In spite of his striking scientific trivia, many questions remain. How can hearing an old song bring back such strong memories (not all of them pleasant)? Why does it take thousands of hours of practice to master a musical instrument? Why do some of the most annoying advertising jingles get stuck in the brain, playing over and over again? Will Mozart’s music make a child smarter? All these questions and many more add to the wonderment of music. Even Dr. Levitin can’t truly answer them – perhaps because there’s no simple explanation.
“This is Your Brain on Music” is a slow-going read and requires effort. The neuroscientist explores the connection between art and science. He points out that Americans spend more on music than on prescription drugs – only I think that at times, the music does more good. If you’re looking for a quick read, this book is not it. So perhaps, happily, the beautiful mystery of music remains intact despite this attempt to explore the connection between music and the human brain. I do know that music is fundamental to my life.