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Articles by Head Butler
Trattoria: Simple and Robust Fare Inspired by the Small Family Restaurants of Italy
By Published: Apr 16, 2024 Category: Food and Wine SUPPORTING BUTLER: Head Butler no longer gets a commission on your Amazon purchases. So the only way you can contribute to Head Butler’s bottom line is to become a patron of this site, and automatically donate any amount you please each month — starting with $1. The service that enables this is Patreon, and to go there, justclick here. Thank you. BREAKING NEWS: My daughter, a lycopene addict, would chose arrabbiata pasta every night.
Weekend Butler: Editor’s Letter Update. Praise for Taylor Swift (Okay: One Song). Pulitzer Prize Novel. Sharon Olds Poem. Blood-Pounding Movie. Delish Cacao a Pepe.
– THIS WEEK IN BUTLER: Boubacar Traore UPDATE: LETTER FROM THE EDITOR I rarely do this, but earlier this week, I wrote an editor’s letter about my health, which has been, in the 20 years I’ve been publishing Head Butler, a non-event. But now I will have some surgery on my spine — nothing major, I said, more like an oil change — and I invited readers to become Guest Butlers and write 800 to 1,000 words about their favorite books, movies, music and products. The response was unsettling.
It’s the Most Popular French Book of the Last Century. Translated into 250 Languages. Yearly Sales: 2 million Copies.
— When Robin Williams died, my Facebook screen lit up with one quote after another from “The Little Prince.” I didn’t understand why so many people responded with lines from this book. And for a good reason: I’d never read it. Why not? “The Little Prince” is my dream length: 160 pages, 15,000 words. (It was originally 30,000 words, but Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, bless him, ruthlessly cut the text to its core.) It’s also the most popular French book of the last century. Translated into 250 languages.
Kara Swisher: Burn Book: A Tech Love Story
By Published: Feb 26, 2024 Category: Memoir The most important event in Kara Swisher’s life occurred when she was five. Her father had a new job, running a department at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital. He had just bought his first house. But before he could move his family in, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died. “When you’re five, your parents are pretty much your entire world,” his daughter would write in Burn Book: A Tech Love Story.
Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness
Published: Mar 11, 2024 Category: Non Fiction His name — Deogratia — means “thanks to God” in Latin. When we first meet him, Deo is 24, a third-year medical student. But there’s no way he can finish school. He lives in Burundi, and this is 1994, when civil war has come to Burundi and Rwanda, and Hutu and Tutsi tribal war has degenerated into genocide. Let one image stand for many: He sees dogs in the streets with human heads in their mouths. Escape is beyond unlikely, but Deo makes it to New York.
In This Mozart Symphony, Julia Fischer’s Joy Is Total. This Video Is a Blessing
By Easter is a day of glory: the triumph of Christ over death. It’s a day for Bach, who wrote the masterpieces we’ve heard for weeks and will, if we attend certain services, hear again today. That music weighs heavily on some of us, reminding us of other holidays and dear ones who are lost to us. So… enough of Bach, bring on Mozart! This Mozart was inspired by grief — but the violinist’s joy reaches across time and loss. Her pleasure in the music is total.
GUEST BUTLER TOM FELS: “My Mother May Not Have Preferred Her Supporting Roles, but She Knew How To Identify an Outstanding Male Lead.”
By ABOUT GUEST BUTLER TOM FELS: Considerable history here. In 1969, I was living in a media commune in Western Massachusetts. Conditions were unfavorable. Tom, who was also struggling with an unaccustomed role as a farmer, and I went off to a party in Bennington. I didn’t return. I became a screenwriter and a French chef in Bennington; Tom also moved there, and became a curator and writer. Many exhibitions, articles, and books later, he took up art photography.
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
By JESSE KORNBLUTH It’s important to understand what Putin wants with Ukraine and why “victory” is so important to him. To grasp that, you need to appreciate Ukraine’s historical importance. Here’s your cheat sheet…. Ukraine is, literally, the breadbasket of Europe. Because its rich, black soil is ideal for growing grains, it has the ability to feed half a billion people, maybe more. Russia is the largest country in the world — twice as big as #2, Canada — but its #1 status ends there.
John O’Donohue: Our Friend Among the Dead
By JESSE KORNBLUTH “Endings seem to lie in wait,” John O’Donohue wrote. His certainly did. He died in his sleep, January 4, 2008, on vacation near Avignon. He was just 53. I had read “Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom,” the 1997 book that made him deservedly famous. “Read” is wrong.
Weekend Butler: Learning to Love Paddling Out. A Short Summer Novel. A Really Funny Movie. The Power of One Song. Carrot Soup.
By JESSE KORNBLUTH SUPPORTING BUTLER: Since the start of 2023, Amazon seems to have gone on a quiet campaign to rid itself of small sites that, collectively, generate revenue worth noticing — and Head Butler no longer gets a commission on your Amazon purchases. So the only way you can contribute to Head Butler’s bottom line is to become a patron of this site, and automatically donate any amount you please — starting with $1 — each month.
John O’Donohue: Anam Cara, a Book of Celtic Wisdom
By I sometimes find myself on the outskirts of a conversation that has someone say, with regret: “National politics makes me feel like a spectator — I can’t think of anything I can do that could make a difference.” I want to step in, like that moment in “Annie Hall” when Woody Allen presents the ignorant blowhard with Marshall McLuhan, and have John O’Donohue talk about getting closer to the people who matter most to you, risking a bruised heart but maybe gaining one that’s more open and loving.
Little Caesars: How Wall Street & Big Business Conspired to Overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt and Install a Fascist Dictator - And the Patriot Who Stopped Them - The Good Men Project
By JESSE KORNBLUTH Rachel Maddow has a new book, Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, and a podcast that dissects historical efforts to bring Fascism to America. Along the way, she synopsizes the Smedley Butler episode in that campaign. Atrios has a hair-raising story about Donald Trump’s plans for an authoritarian government if he’s elected President in 2024. Clearly, Fascism and Smedley Butler are very much in the news.
The Title Is Not a Brag. It Really Is “The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need”
By JESSE KORNBLUTH Andy Tobias and I were in the same class in college. We were both heavily involved in campus organizations, so we returned to campus a week before the start of the fall term. I was Managing Editor of the literary magazine, which was very distinguished, which is to say, the very small and unimportant New York literary establishment thought we were hot shit. Andy was President and CEO of student agencies, which I took to mean he was in charge of renting refrigerators.
J.J. Cale: A Flawless Career. No False Moves. Working Hard. A Role Model? We Could Do Worse.
By JESSE KORNBLUTH J.J. Cale died on July 26th, 2013, at 74. If your interest in music is more than casual, you may know that Eric Clapton did not write “Cocaine” and “After Midnight” — J.J. Cale did. If you’re a connoisseur, you know more: Cale was a giant, a protean figure, bound for the pantheon — an immortal. As a guitarist, Cale stands alongside Hendrix as an innovator. It’s a funny pairing, for Cale was the exact opposite of Hendrix. His playing was minimal, in no way showy.
Anne Lamott: Bird by Bird
Published: Feb 20, 2024 Category: Self Help *** I was talking to an artist about why some artists have it easy. “Nobody knows how to paint,” I said. “But everybody knows how to write.” Sounds facile. But it’s true. When it comes to writing, everybody’s an expert — because, at one time or another, everyone had to write a term paper or a 300-word short story. And, most of all, everyone writes dozens of e-mails and texts a day.
Canal House: Cook Something: Recipes to Rely On
By JESSE KORNBLUTH Cook Something. by Melissa Hamilton & Christopher Hirsheimer We were giving a dinner for an Important Person, so we made up a guest list of friends we regard as Important. Of course we invited Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer, the Canal House cooks, whose books I regularly review. We decided to give the Important Person an All-American meal: Sloppy Joes and Mac & Cheese. Naturally, both recipes had been personalized. Christopher noticed.
Weekend Butler: “Five Easy Pieces.” the Billat the Last Supper. Bon Iver. A Danish PSA. Easy Chicken Marbella.
By SUPPORTING BUTLER: Since the start of 2023, Amazon seems to have gone on a quiet campaign to rid itself of small sites that, collectively, generate revenue worth noticing — and Head Butler no longer gets a commission on your Amazon purchases. So the only way you can contribute to Head Butler’s bottom line is to become a patron of this site, and automatically donate any amount you please — starting with $1 — each month. The service that enables this is Patreon, and to go there, just click here.
Act One: "The Best Broadway Memoir. Ever."
By Moss Hart Published: Mar 02, 2024 Category: Drama The best Broadway memoir. Ever. I’m not the only one who says it. Here’s André Bishop, Artistic Director of Lincoln Center: “This is the greatest theatrical memoir ever written and it reads like a Dickens novel. I was 12 years old when it first was published—an impressionable age and a perfect age to read about a young man’s dreams of breaking into the theater. Those were Moss Hart’s dreams and they were mine and those of many like me.
Exit West: A Novel
By Mohsin Hamid Published: Mar 04, 2024 Category: Fiction “Exit West” is the best serious fiction I read about immigration in the last decade. I wasn’t the only one to think this. It made many 10 Best lists. It was short-listed for the Booker Prize. The Obamas are adapting it for a Netflix movie. When Mohsin Hamid won the inaugural Aspen Words Literary Prize — one of the largest literary prizes in the United States — for “Exit West,” he gave dignity and perspective to immigrants.
Refugees and a Respite from Current Cruelty. Book Review: The Blood of My Mother
By A family of refugees walks a thousand miles to a new home where they’ve been told they can find land to farm. One of them, Eliza, is a young mixed-race girl — and the great-great-grandmother of Roccie Hill, author of “The Blood of My Mother.” This story starts in 1827, when the promised land, now Texas, was part of Mexico. Refugee families “travelled in packs like hounds for survival.” This centuries-old irony is not lost on the novelist or the reader.
L’Atalante [Movie Review]
By Movie Week film #2: This is on almost every major critic’s list of the “best 100 movies of all time.” I’ve never seen it ranked lower than #15. After Renoir’s “Rules of the Game,” it’s the highest ranked French film. And I’d bet most of you have never heard of it. The movie was made in winter. And on the river. Jean Vigo was already suffering from tuberculosis. Now he got so sick he sometimes had to direct from a cot.
The Letter, with Bette Davis: A Taut and Insinuating Melodrama [Movie Review]
By I have praised Dodsworth — if you haven’t watched it, put it high on your list — in terms so effusive you could think I want to have children with it. “The Letter” is just as good. Maybe better. “If your wife had only shot Hammond once, the whole thing would be absolutely plain sailing. Unfortunately, she fired six times.” – the lawyer Somerset Maugham, the most popular writer in the world for much of his life, traveled widely, collecting stories as well as experiences.
The Harder They Come: This Was and Is Some of the Most Sophisticated Music on the Planet
By As I write, it’s 38 degrees in New York. In Negril, where I spent the most joyous holidays of the last decade, I’d be finishing a beach walk, waving off the weed purveyors, getting ready for a delicious morning discussing this and that as my friends and I floated in the warm, clean water. The early riser in our crew would have claimed chaises on the beach, and there, at some point, I’d sit with a book, marking passages I’d want to think about back in New York.
Beatriz at Dinner
By Mike White created “White Lotus,” the hugely popular series (ten Primetime Emmys and two Golden Globes) that’s funny, frothy, and takes viewers to pretty locations (Maui, Sicily, and, coming up, Thailand). Think of it as a great blender drink. Mike White also created “Beatriz at Dinner.” It’s intermittently funny and frothy — but it’s about something serious that “White Lotus” carefully avoids. Be warned: it’s 90% protein.
Buck Brannaman, the Horse Whisperer
By Buck Brannaman specializes in the improbable. Got a skittish, poorly trained horse? A bucking bronco? A steed who seems not to care about anything? When an owner brings that uncooperative beast to one of Buck’s clinics, very quickly — often in a matter of minutes — he gets your horse ready to ride. No whips are involved, no threats are made. Buck’s methods call for a little stroking with a flag, a steady gaze, a gentle tone.
Dolly Parton, Rockstar. Bradley Cooper, Actor/Director/Writer. Wisdom: Thich Nhat Hanh & David Hockney. e.b. White Defines Democracy. Marcella Hazan’s Carbonara.
By THIS WEEK IN BUTLER: Badenheim 1939. Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman. Buck Brannaman, the Horse Whisperer. An unusual week. Two celebrities, famous for a reason bigger than talent: massive intelligence. Don’t skip these interviews because you think you know them. You don’t. DOLLY PARTON, 77-YEAR-OLD ROCKSTAR Look at the photo (above). That is one fearless star. And candid: “I wanted the rock people to be proud of me.
Weekend Butler: Anthony Bourdain on Henry Kissinger. Acting Your Age. Help Wanted at the Met Museum (Gun Required). Making Paul Newman’s Day. One-Pan Chicken. And More.
By “Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking.
Fifth Avenue, 5 a.m.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman
By I first read Sam Wasson’s charming, original take on “Breakfast at Tiffany’’s,” reviewed below. My favorite movie from the ‘70s is “Chinatown.” I inhaled The Big Goodbye. An oral history of Hollywood with scholar Jeanine Basinger? It’s a doorstop, but I like to read a few pages at a time. And, just now, his book on Francis Coppola was praised by the Times and excerpted in Air Mail. “Fifth Ave, 5 AM” is Exhibit A of the kind of book that could keep me home and happy every night.
My “Lunch” With Nora Ephron, Years After Her Death
By Meg Ryan starred in “When Harry Met Sally” and “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail” — movies written and sometimes directed by Nora Ephron. If you’ve thought of her recently, it’s because she is in her first movie in seven years. The Times ran a long interview with Ms. Ryan, not mentioning the obvious: she’s had some disastrous cosmetic surgery.
“Is This the Beginning of the End?” Judi Dench Recites Shakespeare. Going to Paris: Meet Van Gogh. Mary Oliver. Garland Jeffreys Movie Online. Mmmm: Recipe for Mac and Cheese.
By In the last few days, I’ve had conversations with smart readers and big-time insiders. All were dour. They see Biden losing steam, Trump gaining strength. They missed the videos of Kamala Harris being mobbed by kids, so they don’t take her — or any other Democrat — seriously. Even if Trump has dementia, they don’t see his base moving away from him.
"No": A Movie that's a Romp, a Thriller and a Primer All in One
By In 1973, in a coup supported by the CIA, the Chilean military overthrew the country’s first Socialist government. President Salvador Allende committed suicide (or was killed); Augusto Pinochet, General of the Army, became dictator. The cleansing of progressives began immediately.
Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective: 12 Songs, a Mosaic of Subtle Harmonies, Led by a Singer Who Can Tap Deep Emotions.
By In the homes of zillionaire Americans and English nobles, I think it’s more or less assumed that a butler is available 24/7 to serve up toast-and-chevre or the most readable book about Gerhard Richter. Except for a week in late August and another in December, this butler is happy to comply.
Claridge’s: The Cookbook
By A bargain hotel website can get you a room at Claridge’s next week for less than $1,000, though I’m pretty sure it’s not nearly as nice as the room I had when Vanity Fair flew a troupe of us to London on the Concorde for a two-hour promotional lunch. On that long ago visit I understood what Spencer Tracy meant when he said, “Not that I intend to die, but when I do, I don’t want to go to heaven, I want to go to Claridge’s.” Corporate boondoggles are out of fashion now.
Chavela Vargas
By I never heard of Chavela Vargas until she died. But an email and an obituary got me moving; hours later, limp and in thrall, I knew I’d have to tell you about her. “The Edith Piaf of Mexico,” with 80 records to her credit. That’s the shorthand. It’s too simple. In fact, you’ve seen her, briefly, in “Frida,” Julie Taymor’s movie about Frida Kahlo. Vargas lived with Frida and Diego Rivera for a few years; she was almost certainly Kahlo’s lover.
Theatre Review: “I Can Get It for You Wholesale”
By Movie week? I interrupt it for a good reason: I saw a play last night that impressed me more than X, an award-winner we left at intermission, and Y, which held us captive until we were limp with inexpressible resentment. It’s “I Can Get It for You Wholesale,” and it’s at the Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street, until December 17. For the good but not great NY Times review, click here. To buy tickets, click here. Coincidence… or cosmic plan? Sometimes it’s hard to tell.
A David Bowie Story: “Here’s a Mask. It’s Magic. Invisible. Put It On…”
NEIL GAIMAN tells this story. I published it long ago as a Short Take, at the bottom of the main screen. I think about it often, more now than I used to. And I thought: At a time when there is so much to fear… this needs to be permanent. Now it is. I repeat: it’s a story Neil Gaiman tells. It’s NOT my story. Give credit when due: Neil Gaiman. My friend told me a story he hadn’t told anyone for years. When he used to tell it years ago, people would laugh and say, ‘Who’d believe that? How can that be true?
Little Caesars: How Wall Street & Big Business Conspired To Overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt and Install a Fascist Dictator - And the Patriot Who Stopped Them - The Good Men Project
By Rachel Maddow has a new book, Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, and a podcast that dissects historical efforts to bring Fascism to America. Along the way, she synopsizes the Smedley Butler episode in that campaign. Atrios has a hair-raising story about Donald Trump’s plans for an authoritarian government if he’s elected President in 2024. Clearly, Fascism and Smedley Butler are very much in the news.
Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler: All the Roadrunning
By Talent is the ante. Many have it. What you do with it is what matters. Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler are blue-collar workers. They take their immense natural talent, put it to the side and roll up their sleeves, building songs like brick walls — a note at a time. As the notes pile up, they sound effortless, eternal, as if they could have been served up in no other way. Which is why Knopfler and Harris’s CDs feel like houses: solid, honest, as permanent as anything mortals can create.
Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai
By In 1973, Leonard Cohen was 39. Living on Hydra, with Suzanne and their child, he was a cult favorite — in France, it was said that if a girl had only one album, it was his — but he was miserable. He felt trapped by his family. He found relief only with women and drugs. Then, on Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel.
'The State Within': A Thriller Series With a Chilly View of the World
By I, who never binge, binged “The State Within.” There are, I know, many multi-episode intellectual thrillers with British stars who talk smart. Most have the same theme: what’s really going on, the story they never tell you on the news. They suggest that international corporations just might be criminal enterprises and that governments happily do their bidding.
Lift: If Ever a Book Ought to Come Attached to a Box of Kleenex, This Is It
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The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate―Discoveries From a Secret World
– By FORGIVE MY SILENCE LAST WEEK. I WAS IN CALIFORNIA, WORKING ON A DEFECTIVE LAPTOP, PROMOTING “BLACK BEAUTY.” Why did I choose to abridge that book? Cruelty to London’s 10,000 cab horses was of no great concern to the public in the 19th century. “Black Beauty” changed that. In 150 years, its passionate plea for kindness to horses has sold 50 million copies. It’s said to be the 6th biggest bestseller in English. And it has a message for us today.
Thich Nhat Hanh: “Breathing In, I Calm My Body. Breathing Out, I Smile. Dwelling in the Present Moment, I Know This Is a Wonderful Moment.”
By JESSE KORNBLUTH Every day, it seems, the Israel/Gaza conflict seems more dire, and the suffering of civilians is more painful to witness. Prayers are never a bad idea, but do they make a difference in managing my own pain? For help with self-healing, I turn to Thich Nhat Hanh, who was, after the Dalai Lama, the most respected and influential Buddhist monk. TNH died on January 22, 2022 at 95. A year ago — or forever ago?
Asghar Farhadi: Three Remarkable Films
By Only a handful of directors have won the Best Foreign Film Oscar more than once: Vittorio de Sica and Federico Fellini (four times each), Ingmar Bergman (three times), and René Clément and Akira Kurosawa (twice each). Asghar Farhadi won Best Foreign Language Film Oscars for “A Separation” (2011) and “The Salesman” (2016). In 2021, he won the Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prix for “A Hero.” All three films can be streamed on Amazon Prime.
“Three Women” Presents Women With Problems They Can’t Fix; They’re Victims. Esther Perel Offers Actual Wisdom. It’s Just Possible She Can Help.
By The more I think about Three Women, the more puzzled I am by the uncritical enthusiasm for it. The women are clearly victims. One is married to a man who doesn’t like to kiss — and who is supported by their marriage counselor. One has sex with men her husband selects. The most pathetic is the high school girl who was clearly groomed by her teacher, and now, years later, as he’s being named teacher of the year, decides to file a police report against him.
Weekend Butler: The Most Beautiful Car Commercial. Why Does Air Force One Have One More Takeoff Than Landings? Bill Blass Meat Loaf. Mary Oliver. And More.
By THIS WEEK IN BUTLER: Egyptian Magic. Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic. Free Covid Tests. Jesse news. 3 movies The govenment will mail you 4 free COVID tests. Click here. I borrowed the idea for Chapter 1 of my just-finished, not-yet-published novel, “The Next Dalai Lama” from a famous chapter in a famous American novel. Know the book I’m thinking of? If you do, write me at HeadButlerNYC@AOL.com. Yes, there’s a prize.
Louise Glück: Reading Her, You Get the Feeling That Her Struggle Is Your Struggle, That She Somehow Knows How It Is for You.
By Louise Glück — it’s pronounced “Glick”— died. Large obit in The Times. Big Butler review for her last book of poems. She won the Nobel Prize for Poetry. She was “unprepared…. I come from a country that is not thought fondly of now, and I’m white, and we’ve had all the prizes. So it seemed to be extremely unlikely that I would ever have this particular event to deal with in my life.” Yes, yes, but what did she think about the Prize?
Epictetus Was a Stoic. The Famous One is Marcus Aurelius. Epictetus Was His Teacher.
By Epictetus was a Stoic. The famous one is Marcus Aurelius. If you’ve read his Meditations, or selections from it, you know the drill: Life is short, death obliterates us, it is folly to get caught in the snare of desire. What they forget to teach you in school is that Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) was a student of the teachings of Epictetus (55-135 AD). One man was an emperor, the other a former slave who lived simply and wrote not a word.
Head Butler Suggestions for a Wednesday in Fall
By Another batch of suggestions to amuse and comfort you while I take a few days away from Butler. This one feels lighter. Why? La Rochefoucauld: “No one can look long at the sun or death.” And no one can incessantly worry about this and that and the other thing. Enjoy these. But first… health. Because it comes first, always. Most of the Vitamin C in pills or capsules never reaches the bloodstream. Estimates of its absorption rate are less than 50%. Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C has a 90% absorption rate.
Jesse Malin, Poet Laureate of Lower East Side Musicians, Writes About Great Characters. Now He Has Become One
By A few years ago, I “discovered” Jesse Malin. More accurately, “Todd Youth,” one song by Jesse Malin. I watched the video dozens of times that summer because it so accurately delivered a time and a place. I praised him on Butler: Jesse Malin is the kid with the shoe box under his bed that’s filled with skipping stones from sunny days and bottle caps from bad breakups.
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