Posts From Author: Charles Arrowsmith
The Music of Dar Williams: Many Great Songs
Dar Williams, who is our special musical guest at the House of SpeakEasy’s opening gala at City Winery, has more than twenty years of recording and performing to her name. Described by the New Yorker‘s Hendrik Hertzberg as “one of America’s very best singer-songwriters“, Dar’s back catalogue includes nine studio albums, two live albums, a handful of EPs, a greatest hits compilation (warmly titled Many Great Companions), and two rare early recordings, distributed at concerts or to family and friends and available only on cassette, for the eBay hounds to sniff out. For those of you new to Dar’s witty, incisive brand of pop folk, here’s a quick video introduction… “I will not be afraid of women!” sings Dar on “As Cool As I Am”, originally featured on Mortal City (1996) and re-recorded in this splendid acoustic version for Many Great Companions. It’s a defiant refrain, one that announces her feminist credentials with thrilling boldness, and its confidence is no doubt part of what makes “As Cool As I Am” one of her most popular songs. Many of her lyrics describe the search for truth in the everyday; and it’s a transformative truth, “just like time, it catches up and it just keeps going”. By the end of the […]
Read MoreWelcome to The James New York!
At the House of SpeakEasy, we are delighted to be partnering with The James New York in SoHo to ensure our special guests get the warmest welcome possible when they arrive in New York. The James is a luxury boutique hotel in lower Manhattan. For its clientele luxury means pooches are allowed, there’s access to a superb gym, spa, and a swimming pool on the roof (well, maybe not in January). It also means complimentary car service in the downtown area, free Wi-Fi and child-friendly activities for lil’ James guests. Even better, the James is committed to ensuring its services are as green as possible. To cap it off, it’s a keen supporter of non-profits in the surrounding area. It’s fair to say that The James goes the extra mile. Claudia Del Greco is the marketing and public relations manager for The James here in New York. I spoke to her about the artwork at The James and some of the great and not-so-great hotels in fiction and film. Charles Arrowsmith: Thank you to all at The James for your support! We’re all very much looking forward to our partnership. Who from our line-up are you most excited to see in New York? Claudia Del […]
Read MoreFancy a bottle of Bobby Womack Zinfandel?
One of the most exciting things about the launch of the House of SpeakEasy (on January 27 — get your tickets here) is where it’s happening. City Winery, for those of you who haven’t been, kinda requires a new word to describe it: it’s at once winery, restaurant and concert venue. Whatever you call it, though, those of you who find nirvana in a glass of wine, a plate of cheese and a treat for the ears need to get yourselves down to Varick Street. Created by Michael Dorf, who also founded The Knitting Factory, City Winery opened in 2008. Four years later a second venue opened in Chicago, and there are planned openings in Napa and Nashville this year. In the last year alone, the New York branch has hosted Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Macy Gray, Bobby Womack, Sinéad O’Connor and Prince! We look forward to joining the ranks of this stellar line-up. I spoke to Shlomo Lipetz, City Winery’s national programme director, about the delicate art of pairing wine and music, and the CW experience. Charles Arrowsmith: Hi Shlomo. So your iPod must be a pretty eclectic place to be. What are you listening to at the moment? Shlomo Lipetz: […]
Read MoreFirestarters: Adam Gopnik on Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin
If, like me, you tend to want to know more than you can possibly read about, a sudden urge to learn about, say, Abraham Lincoln or Charles Darwin can be an occasion for despair. The literature on such seminal figures is vast and expanding, like an Everest that’s getting bigger. Or the universe. In short: intimidating. So to come across a book like Adam Gopnik‘s Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life is a bit like finding that the Himalayan authorities have installed a ski lift just for you. We’re super lucky to have Adam Gopnik joining us for the House of SpeakEasy’s opening gala at City Winery NYC on January 27. A long-time New Yorker contributor and three-time winner of the National Magazine Award for Essays, he has that forensic gift of the great essayist, the uncanny ability to see Aquarius where others see just stars. In Angels and Ages, recognising that his choice of subjects prohibits definitive coverage, he unspools his elegant premise from a single (but fertile) line of inquiry: the debate over what Edwin Stanton said at Lincoln’s deathbed. Stanton was Lincoln’s secretary of war and as close to the president as any man. It was natural that those […]
Read MoreFive Minutes with Andy Borowitz
Happy new year, friends! Welcome to the first blog of 2014. Now the holidays are over, we’re all getting tremendously revved up ahead of the House of SpeakEasy’s opening gala at City Winery NYC on January 27! The theme for said gala is “Plays with Matches”, and we’re lucky enough to be joined by two amazing hosts to guide us through this fiery subject: comedian Andy Borowitz and Hollywood megastar Uma Thurman. In the weeks leading up to opening night, I’ll be introducing you to Andy and Uma as well as our special guests, Adam Gopnik, Susan Orlean, Dar Williams and Simon Winchester. I spoke to Andy Borowitz over the holidays to get his views on the year past and his hopes for the year ahead. Something of a comic polymath, Andy has to his name credits including TV’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (creator), 1998 movie Pleasantville (co-producer) and hit satirical website The Borowitz Report (founder). He is the primary host of The Moth, a storytelling platform launched in New York that has now gone nationwide and recently spawned a New York Times bestseller. Andy won an NAACP Image Award for The Fresh Prince and the inaugural National Press Club Award for Humor in 2004. You might have seen his face […]
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