Showing Tag: "w" (Show all posts)

Tea Party serves tepid brew and Bristol Palin can't dance

Posted by Harvey Ostroff on Thursday, November 25, 2010,

I've spent almost forty years as a teacher of the performing arts and have had to judge countless presentations. Some young people had that undeniable spark and some worked at it to such a degree that they were able to transcend the footlights and connect with the audience.

Poor Bristol Palin, victim of the haters and buoyed up by the tea party supporters was incapable of creating that invisible connection. She never should have been on the dance floor past week four. Brandy had it. Rick Fox h...

Staying alive at 65

Posted by Harvey Ostroff on Saturday, April 25, 2009,

In less than a week, I will be a senior. Despite my general demeanor, I have been dreading this birthday. I don’t really know why. It’s just a number isn’t it? I was, earlier this year in a bit of ... in a deep depression. Not my style. We had a great time on Maui. I have been work-shopping more than usual . I love my little Zozo so much that her smile lifts me into the sky. Margie is well. I am healthy. What happened was that my Monologue book was rejected after more than a year o...

Obama

Posted by Harvey Ostroff on Thursday, April 9, 2009,

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am still enthralled by the new attitude espoused by the President of my neighbor to the south. Not only is he a take charge guy but his method is inclusion rather than the superior posturing that W used to treat his allies and his enemies. There seems to be a realization that America under Bush/Cheney was nearly universally hated and that reparations are needed.

I was pleased to read that Obama hosted the first 'seder' in the White House. I am neithe...

Dreaming

Posted by Harvey Ostroff on Thursday, March 12, 2009,

" A salesman's got to dream. It comes with the territory."

Arthur Miller in Death of a Salesman

I wasn't lyin' I was dreamin'

Richard Nash in The Rainmaker

"A dream is a wish your heart makes"

Jiminy Cricket in Pinnochio

I think, by nature, the creative individual has to be a dreamer. As a child, I was captivated with the Wizard of Oz series by Frank l. Baum. The books, which he wrote beneath the spires of the Hotel Del Coronado, came out each year just before Chrismas. They were the gi...

It's a beginning

Posted by Harvey Ostroff on Sunday, March 8, 2009,

This trial and error bit of work has been exciting to produce. For a guy who grew up before television this is quite an achievement. Yep that's right, I said before television. I was ten years old before the first 12" black and white TV appeared on our block. Sunday night's we used to go over to my aunt Hilda's place and " watch the radio." I guess I can't think of myself as a luddite anymore even though I haven't got a cell phone or a blackberry. I can compute!!!

Last night I went to the ...