tuesday, march 30, 2010
THE RELIABLE SOURCE
For D.L. Hughley,
no laughing matter
The comedian is suing the D.C. nightclub Zanzibar for promoting an appearance that Hughley says he knew nothing
about. C2
THE ARTS
Classical lineup
The Washington Performing Arts Society nabs big names for 2010-11 season. C10
TOM SHALES
On TV
Style
ABCDE
C
S
TOM SHALES ON TV
You’ve gotta be kidding me 1
“Kukla, Fran and Ollie” is on a list of forgotten shows. Say it ain’t so. C2
CAROLYN HAX
Notes from ‘Crazyville’
? Critical of your significant other? Stop it now, or at least apologize. C4
3@washingtonpost.com/style Tom Shales waxes nostalgic on “Kukla, Fran and Ollie,” discusses Christiane Amanpour’s move to ABC and more at noon.
BOOK WORLD
REP. SANDER LEVIN (D-MICH.),
CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE, ON UPCOMING PRIORITIES:
“Now it’s jobs and
keeping people’s homes, giving middle-income families a chance to keep what they’ve worked for.”
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MICH.),
CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE, ON UPCOMING PRIORITIES:
“The number one thing is we’re engaged in two
wars. . . . A huge issue for me is how well or poorly we’re doing at that.”
A vet’s 30-year tour to tell a Vietnam tale
by David Masiel
V
ietnam holds a special place in the literature of war. Since that scarring conflict,
it’s been nearly impossible (or at least disingenuous) to depict war without getting into its murky politics. It’s no accident that the great American satires of war, “Catch-22” and “Slaugh- terhouse-Five” — both ostensibly about World War II — were pub- lished during Vietnam. In the combat novels and memoirs explicitly about the era, we see a similar thread, a tragi- comic refusal to justify sending young men off to battle. From Tim O’Brien’s “Going After Cacciato” and “The Things They Carried” to Michael Herr’s “Dispatches,” the absurdity of war is never far away.
All those authors respond to the main shortcoming of tradi- tional war stories, which show the horror of war, but invariably
with the tug of adventurism and the beauty that comes through bravery, camaraderie or the glory of a meaningful death. That is precisely what makes Karl Mar- lantes’s first novel, “Matterhorn,” all the more intriguing: It reads like adventure and yet it makes even the toughest war stories seem a little pale by comparison. The author, a highly
MATTERHORN
By Karl
Marlantes
Atlantic Monthly. 598 pp. $24.95
decorated Marine Corps officer and veteran of Vietnam, wrote the nov- el over 30 years, while also raising a family and working full time as a business consultant. This feat of persistence pays off in a narrative born of perspective and memories that survive over time, a narrative of frustration, terror and the war-is-hell theme that lies at the
heart of every war story since “The Iliad.” “Matterhorn” takes its title from a hilltop firebase near the DMZ and the Laotian border, not
book world continued on C9
Now Levi seeks custody of Alaska
MELINA MARA/THE WASHINGTON POST
OF BROTHERS
N
THE BOND
Sander and Carl Levin, peaking at the same time in Congress
by Dan Zak
o one will say anything bad about the Levin brothers, and surely there must be bad. For the sake of balance, a prop- osition:
Carl. Sandy. You are siblings. Please
speak ill of each other. Have a brotherly spat. Ready, go: “Nice try,” Carl huffs. “What’s the next ques-
tion?” C’mon. “Forget it. But can I tell you something on the record?” Yes.
“Forget it. Next question.”
His elder brother, Rep. Sander Levin (D-
FAMILY PHOTO
TWO OF A KIND: Sander, left, and Carl
Levin as boys in Detroit, and (above) on Capitol Hill last week.
Mich.), interjects with a story about how in 12th grade he attained the highest office at Central High School in Detroit, and how younger brother Carl made a thoughtful banner at home that said “Congrats Mr. President.” No, Congressman. That’s a nice thing to say. “When he beats the heck out of me on the squash court,” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) offers charitably, “I’m obviously not that happy.” Then again if Sandy wins two games in a row, he will throw the next game to preserve the brotherly balance of power. One could resort to superficiality, and chide Carl for his prodigious comb-over and Sandy for sounding like the dull wheeze of a humidifier, and one could also say that — in addition to being straight-shooting, compassionate, integrity-plagued workhorses and family men — they are boring as bean curd. However. They are beloved, and they are pow-
erful. The boys from Detroit, who’ve quarried the bedrock of Midwest progressivism, are currently in charge of the only certain things in life: death and taxes. That is, the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House Ways and Means Com- mittee. They are the first brothers since 1881 to serve simultaneously as chairmen, and no other siblings have served
MUSIC REVIEW
Erykah Badu’s ‘Part Two’ is a rebirth of the cool
by Chris Richards
Put that popcorn away. “New
Amerykah, Part Two: Return of the Ankh” might sound like some C-grade mummy movie starring Brendan Fraser, but it’s actually the beguiling new album from Erykah Badu.
Second thought, keep the pop-
levins continued on C9
corn. These songs are as cinemat- ic as anything the soul eccentric has ever released — including 2008’s evocative precursor “New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War.” But where that album bristled with political paranoia, Badu’s new disc explores something much scarier: falling in love. Or more specifically, falling in love for the umpteenth time and the queasy uncertainty that comes with it. Fans know all about Badu’s romantic loop-de- loops via 13 years of autobio-
OLD SCHOOL: Erykah Badu
gives a nod to Notorious B.I.G. and blaxploitation.
graphical songcraft that first emerged during the ’90s neo- soul gold rush. Her 1997 debut “Baduizm” stands just a few notches below the masterpiece status of “The Miseducation of
badu continued on C3
From Alan Jackson, a sluggish “Freight Train.” C3
Palin’s grandbaby-daddy and the bane of her existence, is pitching his own docu-series in which he will introduce viewers to Alaska. The news comes just days
L
after Discovery Networks announced that its TLC network would air “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” in which she will introduce us to Alaska.
TUBING:
Levi Johnston is no stranger to TV.
evi’s re-loading! Levi Johnston, Sarah
THE TV COLUMN
Lisa de Moraes
Yes, TV is about to erupt in warring Palin-clan docu-series. Life could not get better. “If I could wave my magic wand, I would want it to premiere at the exact same hour, minute and second as Sarah Palin’s does,” Stuart Krasnow, the executive producer of Levi’s series, told The TV Column. Levi’s show, tentatively titled
“Levi Johnston’s Final Frontier,” is “ ‘Jersey Shore’ on ice,” Krasnow said.
Bring on the tanning beds and Snooki-pouffs! Levi and his pals “put jet fuel in their snowmobiles — they trick them out,” the producer said. “They drive Ford pickups. They don’t go on the Internet often. That’s what we’re interested in about him.”
tv column continued on C6
SUSAN GOLDMAN/WONDERFUL PISTACHIOS
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