Tiger, Obama and the Perils of Print

The January 2010 issue of "Golf Digest" magazines hit newsstands and mailboxes in early December while most of its copy was probably written in October and November. This made for a few hilarious boo-boo's, including the cover story entitled "10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger" which didn't take into account Mr. Woods' new reputation as a world-class philanderer who the American president would probably want to avoid at the current moment.



One of the great advantages of online journalism over traditional print journalism is that misspellings and misstatements of fact can be corrected, and updated information can be added to the original online article so that the eventual historical record is more accurate. With print, once ink hits the page, the false information is there forever. For instance, the 2009 wrap-up page above mentions the surprising news that "Korea's Jiyai Shin -- not Mexico's Lorena Ochoa -- is the best player in women's golf." In truth, Ochoa edged out Shin in a final LPGA tournament and was named LPGA Player of the Year. Whoops.



Mixed-race Obama would probably never have become president without the American public having been conditioned by the decades-long media worship of the mixed-race Tiger Woods. This unconsciously helped suppress many of the "fear of a black man" feelings this country has thrived on since its inception. So it probably seemed a good idea to have a series of short essays written by everyone from Arnold Palmer to Thomas Friedman about "10 Things Obama Might Learn from Tiger" and "10 Things Tiger Might Learn from Obama." The consensus seemed to be that Tiger should teach Obama not to compromise so easily and to hold to certain core principles, while Obama could teach Tiger how to lighten up and become more of a smiling man of the people.



Obviously, nobody was anticipating Tiger's car crash and adultery scandals, so the advice now reads very oddly, particularly writer Bruce McCall's "At Least Look Like You're Having Fun." The essay starts:

"Tiger needs to borrow some of Obama's joie de vivre. Too often the guy comes off like Kim Jong Il, afraid to crack a smile for fear of giving the impression that some things about life might actually be pleasant. Obama's face and body language broadcast in HD when he's having fun. Even Tiger's moments of joy more closely resemble the relief of a man having just crawled out of a car crash alive."

That's some bizarrely prescient writing, though Mr. McCall would probably like to take it back, and I'm sure "Golf Digest" would definitely like to expunge the phrase from the official record. Too late, it's in print.

Swine Flu's Silver Lining

After one too many grungy Muni bus rides, I contracted swine flu earlier this week and then passed it on to my partner. It's been a series of days filled with fevers, chills, soaked sheets, headaches, and aching muscles.



There has been a silver lining, however. The cool new cat, Tiger Woods, who has seemingly doubled in size every other week, has been oddly gentle and protective of us during this time, and he feels like a genuine blessing.

Cole Porter's "Jubilee" at 42nd Street Moon

The most interesting theatrical presentation in San Francisco right now is playing for two more weeks at the Eureka Theatre in the Embarcadero Center. It's a revival/reconstruction of a 1935 Cole Porter and Moss Hart musical called "Jubilee," detailing what happens when the fictional King and Queen and Prince and Princess of England decide to escape from their confines and kick up their heels for a couple of weeks before the Royal Jubilee.



The production is being presented by 42nd Street Moon, a San Francisco theatrical group in its 16th year that specializes in rare musicals. The company started with bare-bones productions that featured actors and chairs on a blank stage, delivering their lines from a script. Though they are still producing huge musicals on a tiny stage, they are now featuring fully choreographed productions with costumes and all the actors off book.



The score is a major wonder, almost the "Gotterdamerung" of frivolous musicals, with famous songs like "Begin the Beguine" and "Just One of Those Things" sprinkled among about 25 other musical numbers. The first weekend sold out so you might want to click here to see if there are tickets available for this weekend or next.



The cast of 15, playing close to 50 different characters, is surprisingly even. The standouts are CJ Blankenship as Mowgli (Johnny Weissmuller), Megan Cavanaugh as The Queen, Dyan McBride as Eva Standing (Elsa Maxwell), and the singing dancers Benjamin Pither (below) and Andrew Willis Woodward as Prince James. The direction by Greg MacKellan, the company's co-founder, is also superb.



The musical was written by Hart and Porter during a 5-month worldwide cruise where they were joined by Porter's wife Linda and his rat pack of gay friends, including Monty Woolley ("The Man Who Came to Dinner"). For fans of gay and lesbian double entendres, the musical is something of a gold mine. Plus, it's a fascinating early look at the lure of international celebrity. And did I mention the score? The musical director Dave Dobrusky on piano is joined on various reed instruments by Nick Di Scala and they conjure up a whole orchestra. Highly recommended.

Bach's "Christmas Oratorio," Abridged

The San Francisco Symphony began its month of Christmas themed concerts with a serious starter, an abridged English-language version of J.S. Bach's six cantatas written for performance over the 13-day Lutheran Feast of Christmas in 1734.



After spending a year listening to Bach's cantatas recently, I was looking forward to this concert tremendously, because just about all of Bach's 20 to 30 minute cantatas written for church services are superb, wonderful music, and the Christmas sextet are particularly buoyant and festive. Unfortunately, though the chorus was good and the Canadian contralto soloist Marie-Nicole Lemieux great, the other three soloists and the conducting by chorus director Ragnar Bohlin threatened to put me into a very deep sleep.



The pseudonymous Axel Feldheim (above) was similarly disappointed, and he wrote a concise description why at his "Not For Fun Only" blog. Check it out.