billionaire being interviewed: i havent listened to a single note of music in 27 years. think about it, music was basically invented, what, maybe 50 years ago? interviewer: this is really interesting

Allow me to regale / regael you with five of my favourite Irish words… 1. Ladybird = bóín Dé, or “God’s little cow” 2. Sea anemone = cíoch charraige, or “rock boob” 3. Bat = amadáinín, or “little fool” 4. Jellyfish = smugairle róin, or “seal snot” 5. Hedgehog = gráinneog, or “horrible little thing”

Spent the afternoon with this lovely record by Will Epstein (who I came to via one of my fave podcasts, Know Your Enemy). I heard traces of Julien Baker and Andy Shauf, even a little Jeff Buckley, although Epstein's hypnotic sound world is ultimately all his own. willepstein.bandcamp.com/album/wendy

Viewers noticed Ryan Coogler appears to have a guitar and treble clef braided in his hair at the #Oscars

In Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis concert film, it’s riveting to witness the full range of his showmanship and offhanded virtuosity. But the film’s real achievement is to de-familiarize a taken-for-granted icon—to remind us not only of the deep traditions Elvis came from but also what a glorious freak he was.

Wallace Shawn’s WHAT WE DID BEFORE OUR MOTH DAYS has been overpraised a bit, as anything by Shawn tends to be. But there is no gainsaying the sneaky, supple provocations of his writing, the spare elegance of André Gregory’s direction, or the deft, textured acting (especially by Maria Dizzia).

IVANOV is a hot mess of a play, an early Chekhov effort that’s like a louder, angrier, zanier variation on themes he’d later develop. New American Ensemble’s knockout new production (now at West End Theatre) gives the play’s excesses their due, but also illuminates its darker recesses. A full meal

Oh how I wanted to like Lisa McGee's new series. www.americamagazine.org/television/2...

New column just dropped, in which I got to speak to some great people (Gaby Moreno, Rachel Chavkin, Sarah Gancher, The Bengsons) on one of my favorite topics: actor-musicians www.americantheatre.org/2026/03/13/g...

This show's ability to make every cast change an event two years into its run continues to amaze. deadline.com/2026/03/maya...

Always a thrill to read an essay by Betty Gilpin www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

On 2/8/1958, a playwright preparing for her Broadway debut wrote to Langston Hughes asking permission to use a line from one of his poems as the title for her play. Just over a year later #otd 1959, A RAISIN IN THE SUN premiered. This #america250 post w/ @cmcanning.bsky.social explores that premiere

AI transcription error of the day: "Persephone" rendered as "bear Stephanie"

NEW: for @nytimes.com, I wrote about a new study showing that queen bumblebees can breathe underwater, surviving submerged for a week the “remarkable” study stems from a lab snafu, when a co-author thought she accidentally drowned several bees—but later found that they were alive 🧪 gift link 🎁

Finally made time to read this, and it's superb. Highly recommended.

Idiot plot

I love how this play ends with an extended MST3K episode.

The Birdcage opened thirty years ago today, so in its honor, I want to share one of my favorite stories about Mike Nichols that didn't make it into my biography. This is from an interview I did with Nathan Lane.

Helen Shaw, with a dose of hope www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/i...

Lydia Polgreen, sharp as always www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/o...

Ryusuke Hamaguchi's shattering DRIVE MY CAR, about a director working through grief by staging UNCLE VANYA, has its own plot and specific preoccupations, but it is so saturated in Chekhov's themes and feelings that it almost qualifies as an adaptation of VANYA. Needless to say, I loved it.

A colleague and mentee recalls Othell J. Miller of N.J.'s Plainfield Academy, a tireless advocate and encourager who wasn’t content to make art himself—he also felt called to nurture it in others.

I'm obsessed with this song by the Brooklyn band Forager (which is on their great new full-length album EVEN A CHILD CAN COVER THE SUN WITH A FINGER). I defy anyone to listen to this and not be utterly charmed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bMG...

For people who blather so much about Western Civilization and how they’re supposedly saving it, it’s like they’ve never heard of the canonical Ancient Greek concept of “hubris.”

This vital new TCG podcast series, The Bridge, tells the surprising story of the theatre subscription/loyalty model, which, after decades of decline, has emerged as a post-Covid bright spot at some theatres. Corinna Schulenburg looks at who's making it work and how podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

On this podcast I get Alia Shawkat to tell me about her own family smell and Robert Kaplow to tell me his favorite Rodgers & Hart song, and @daniellaignacio.bsky.social gets Joriah Kwamé to explain how to turn a TikTok into a full-length musical. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

Urgent report from my colleague @daniellaignacio.bsky.social

Heaven have mercy on us all—Presbyterians and Pagans alike—for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending

OTD, 1953

In an effort to save money, I once stayed in a hostel in NYC where I was offered crack by a young woman who said she babysat Sigourney Weaver’s kids

Steel worker, US Steel administrator

I'm late to post about this but a few weeks ago I finally took my whole family to see MAYBE HAPPY ENDING. I'd loved it when I first saw it in late 2024, but this was the first chance we all had to see it (i.e., got snail mailed a discount code so it was finally affordable), and we all loved it.

If Mexico has a RITE OF SPRING, it is probably Revueltas's surging, cathartic LA NOCHE DE LOS MAYAS, which Esa-Pekka Salonen's LA Phil introduced me to, both live and on record. I can also recommend this rackety 2007 rendition by Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa. open.spotify.com/album/6quoTv...

Great convos every one, if I may say so myself

"The Babe Ruth Story" ~ Classic SCTV sketch starring John Candy, Joe Flaherty & Catherine O'Hara! #MLB #Baseball #Comedy #Legends

i'm not crying you're crying

Mitski's beautiful and haunting new record is giving me Magnetic Fields and Aimee Mann vibes, though after several listens the album's most Mitski tune, the jagged whirlpool of "If I Leave," is the one I find myself most drawn to. mitski.bandcamp.com/album/nothin...

In Japan, we have an expression that means “earning it with your feet,” getting results by showing up in person. I believe that even in a digital world, record stores and live venues offer experiences I can’t get anywhere else, and they always feed back into my music. I love things that take time.

Once again, excellent, important brass tacks reporting from Marisa.

It was the closing show, so you can no longer see it, but the Ulysses stage adaptation by Elevator Repair Service at the Public Theatre was one of the most thrilling works of theatre I’ve seen in a long, long time.

I miss Melvyn Bragg’s distinctive bluster, of course, but so far I’ve been enjoying In Our Time’s new host, Misha Glenny podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

This @defector.com story is a good (non-political) example of why it’s not enough to have a bunch of individual reporters with newsletters running around. You need some kind of institution with the resources (and principles) to publish despite legal threats. defector.com/a-complimentar…

NPR and PBS would have to be much more robustly funded by the government than it was before. the problem is that the money + hands off the content approach has been largely a matter of norms. no norms will remain after trump. propublica is vital, but here's the thing about them —

Excited to speak to these two writers

To those of you who have read and enjoyed any of my three books, the reason they wound up in your hands is that in 2004, Ann Godoff, the editing and publishing giant who founded Penguin Press, took a chance on me. She died yesterday at 76. I owe her more than I can say. She changed my life. >