5. “Reno 911!” and “The
Apprentice” — “Reno 911!” is pure
brilliance and it airs during dinner, which is a definite plus.
“The Apprentice” … well, admit it: Reality TV is
addicting. Someone needs to make it stop.
- Laura Wong
4. The Federal Communications Commission —
Thank God someone’s putting a stop to nipples, deplorable
violence, naughty curse words, Howard Stern and everything else
that’s wrong with our country. For fuck’s sake,
it’s about time.
3. “Songs of Innocence and Experience”
— Pulitzer Prize winner and Music Prof. William Bolcom is
one week away from having his New Yorks Times-labeled
“masterpiece” return to Hill Auditorium for the first
time since its U.S. premiere in 1984. The roughly 450 musicians
required to pull off the William Blake song cycle include a full
chorus, orchestra, reggae band, rock group, multiple soloists,
maestro Leonard Slatkin and hell knows what else. It doesn’t
get much bigger than this.
2. Arthur Miller on campus — How often is it
that one of the greatest living playwrights attends his alma mater
to speak during “An Arthur Miller Celebration?”
1. Jon Brion — With his recent score for
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” an upcoming
album from Fiona Apple, an experimental rock group,and a follow-up
to the pop masterpiece Meaningless,
producer/composer/musician-extraordinaire Jon Brion will continue
to conquer the world.