Chita Rivera: The Real Thing

by Anthony Chase

The countdown is almost over, and the legendary Chita Rivera, goddess of Broadway, will soon arrive in town to perform her show, Chita Rivera: the Dancer’s Life at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Rivera is, without question, among the greatest Broadway dancing stars who has ever lived, with only Gwen Verdon and Fred Astaire in the competition. She is that very rare being, a true triple threat—gifted as an actress and a singer, and superhuman as a dancer. Moreover, some of the most important American choreography of the 20th century was devised specifically for her body and talent. Every performance by Chita Rivera is historic.

by Anthony Chase

by Rob Brezsny

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): To best take advantage of the fresh and innocent cosmic forces that are offering themselves up to you, try experiments like the following: eat food you’ve never tried; listen to new music; climb a hill that has always been in the distance; have a down-to-earth conversation with a person who up till now hasn’t been quite real to you; try erotic experiences you’ve wondered about; scrawl graffiti on a wall that has never been written upon; push yourself to feel positive emotions that you may sometimes be too lazy or cynical to seek out, like playful reverence, intense curiosity, voracious gratitude and surprised delight.

by Chuck Shepherd

■ Atrocities, starvation and disease continue in the Darfur region of Sudan as humanitarians try out inventive strategies to get the world’s attention. Nashville, Tenn., clothing designer Deborah Denson, for example, sells purple “Panties for Peace,” earmarking half the proceeds for Darfur relief. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who has written tirelessly since 2004 on the subhuman brutality in Darfur, lamented in a May column that Americans still seem less concerned about the rapes and murders of thousands of children there than, for example, about the 2005 plight of the “Pale Male” hawk evicted from a ledge on a luxury high-rise in New York City, and pointedly suggested that Darfur’s victims adopt a puppy as their symbol. Citing research collected by the University of Oregon’s Paul Slovic, Kristof imagined a picture of a lovable, tortured, Darfur dog as having a better chance of bringing donations and a demand to stop the killing.

Dali's Ghost

by Racquel Ananiadis

F resh off its victory in AV’s debut BOOM (Battle Of Original Music) contest, Buffalo power pop band Dali’s Ghost is chasing that most elusive of dreams: becoming rock stars. The release of their debut, self-titled album is the first step in the right direction. We caught up with the band, made up of Justin John Smith, Tyler Skelton, Ken Riley and Ian Belknap at the band house on the upper West Side to see how the star-studded life finds them.

I would like to thank Mr. Tom Golisano for this Sabres season and for turning a near-bankrupt organization into a great success. The Sabres have had back-to-back seasons where they’ve sold out almost every game. They are selling more Sabres gear (by far) than any other NHL team. They had a great year, only to get beaten by Ottawa, who, like the Sabres, were almost broke and still managed to keep their three superstars together.

Post Mortems

by Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell

Quite a number of fans, media pundits and local columnists are piling on the Buffalo Sabres. “No heart.” “They choked.” “They let the fans down.”

by Javier

The fabulous Joan Collins (pictured above), who turned 74 this week, just finished a 30 week tour of the comedy Legends! in which she co-starred with Linda Evans. The production was supposed to end up on Broadway but apparently those plans have been canceled. Collins released a statement claiming that Evans took the stage fights too far, leaving her bruised and beaten on several occasions. She ended the tour with a sprained knee and a scar on her hand. Collins’ only appearance on Broadway was in the 1992 revival of Private Lives.

Clash of the Titans

by Caitlin DeRose

Ok, so Pete Bennett knows how to sell. As a top promoter in the entertainment industry with a long career representing stars such as Nat King Cole, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, discovering starlets from Elizabeth Taylor to Brooke Shields to LeeAnn Rimes, and catapulting supergroups like Aerosmith, the Beatles, the Stones and the Who, he’s got to be a very convincing fellow. So convincing, in fact, that he’s next in line for his own reality TV show, which will peek at the music man’s magic touch and attempt to discover the latest diamond in the rough to add to his impressive repertoire of clients (both past and present).

by Amy Alkon

I love my girlfriend of eight years very much, but I’m at wits’ end over her (non-romantic) relationship with her ex-boyfriend, who lives in another state. To her, he’s a helpless 37-year-old boy who needs constant motherly supervision so he doesn’t get taken advantage of. They talk on the phone multiple times daily, and she sees every problem he calls about as a catastrophe that MUST be handled immediately (he needs a doctor, or a house to rent, or to vent about a driver who cut him off). I’m bothered to no end when she leaves the table during dinner to go talk to him or gets up when we’re watching a movie, leaving me to pause the DVD for 30 minutes until she returns. During eight years of this, I’ve asked her not to talk to him while I’m around since we have conflicting schedules and limited time together. She’ll agree, but nothing changes. I do my best not to upset her, but sometimes I let it be known I’m ticked off, and she flips out and says she’ll leave me if I can’t handle her “talking to (her) friends.” —A Sap