Author: Randy Slovacek

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UC Davis Chancellor says she won’t resign

Two police officers involved in a pepper-spraying incident at the University of California-Davis have been placed on leave, and over the weekend, the university’s faculty association called for the chancellor’s resignation.

But Chancellor Linda Katehi told ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday that she’s staying put. “I really feel confident at this point the university needs me,” she told GMA (video here). “There are so many critical issues to be addressed and we really need to start the healing process and move forward.”

On Friday, a police officer was captured on video casually pepper spraying a group of sitting protesters. The incident occurred after “Occupy” protesters were asked to take down their tents from the university’s lawn.

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New from Nickelback “Here And Now”

The new album from the Canadian hard rockers.

Produced by Nickelback and recorded at Mountain View Studios, Vancouver, BC, Here and Now is Nickelback s seventh studio record and is the follow up to 2008 s widely successful Dark Horse which has been certified three-times platinum.

“When you listen to this record, it sounds like it could be from four different artists,” says Chad Kroeger. “We always try and do the same thing: We try to do something heavier than we’ve ever done, more melodic than we’ve ever done, every single time we do this, and I think we’ve achieved it again.”

Release date November 21, 2011 – check it out here.

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University of California President lays down the law

Via press release:

President Yudof responds to campus protest issues
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Date: 2011-11-20
Contact: UC Office of the President
Phone: (510) 987-9157

University of California President Mark G. Yudof today (Nov. 20) announced the actions he is taking in response to recent campus protest issues:

I am appalled by images of University of California students being doused with pepper spray and jabbed with police batons on our campuses.

I intend to do everything in my power as president of this university to protect the rights of our students, faculty and staff to engage in non-violent protest.

Chancellors at the UC Davis and UC Berkeley campuses already have initiated reviews of incidents that occurred on their campuses. I applaud this rapid response and eagerly await the results.

The University of California, however, is a single university with 10 campuses, and the incidents in recent days cry out for a systemwide response.

Therefore I will be taking immediate steps to set that response in motion.

I intend to convene all 10 chancellors, either in person or by telephone, to engage in a full and unfettered discussion about how to ensure proportional law enforcement response to non-violent protest.

To that end, I will be asking the chancellors to forward to me at once all relevant protocols and policies already in place on their individual campuses, as well as those that apply to the engagement of non-campus police agencies through mutual aid agreements.

Further, I already have taken steps to assemble experts and stakeholders to conduct a thorough, far-reaching and urgent assessment of campus police procedures involving use of force, including post-incident review processes.

My intention is not to micromanage our campus police forces. The sworn officers who serve on our campuses are professionals dedicated to the protection of the UC community.

Nor do I wish to micromanage the chancellors. They are the leaders of our campuses and they have my full trust and confidence.

Nonetheless, the recent incidents make clear the time has come to take strong action to recommit to the ideal of peaceful protest.

As I have said before, free speech is part of the DNA of this university, and non-violent protest has long been central to our history. It is a value we must protect with vigilance. I implore students who wish to demonstrate to do so in a peaceful and lawful fashion. I expect campus authorities to honor that right.

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Elaine Paige’s small rewrite of “I’m Still Here” from FOLLIES

Michael, Elaine Paige and I at a party in Palm Springs, CA

A few years ago, Michael and  I had a fantastic time spending the evening with the first lady of London theater, Elaine Paige.  We were at a great party in Palm Springs and, thrillingly for me, we found ourselves chatting for much of the evening.  She couldn’t have been more fun and sassy.  Having had a career in the theater myself, I enjoyed every minute.  My first big show was CATS, and of course Elaine had created the role of Grizabella singing the haunting “Memory.”

In addition to a shared history of wearing yak hair, we have a few other things in common.  We are both cancer survivors, have fairly short “blond” hair, enjoy an occasional glass of wine and we both have a history with a certain Stephen Sondheim musical.

Elaine is currently stopping the show on Broadway in FOLLIES at the Marquis Theatre.  I’m seeing Elaine and company  in a few weeks and can’t wait.  My last Broadway show was the first revival of FOLLIES over ten years ago, which I was very proud to be a part of.  We closed that production on my birthday, which I share with Polly Bergen, who was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in the same role Elaine is performing today.  So there are many threads that weave in and around our meeting and enjoying each other’s company.

From the NY Times: Ms. Paige is happy to discuss: “Follies,” the 1971 James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim musical that many critics viewed as ailing when it opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington in May, but which, after coming to New York this fall, has been hailed as a miracle of reincarnation. Ms. Paige, in the role of the actress Carlotta Campion, sings “I’m Still Here,” an anthem of showbiz survival, “with a galvanizing fierceness that makes this much-performed song sound fresh and stinging,” Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times.

The song includes the lines to which few mature actresses do not relate: “First you’re another sloe-eyed vamp, then someone’s mother, then you’re camp. Then you career from career to career.”

When asked if she were to rewrite a few lines of “I’m Still Here” for her own life, how would it go?

Sing along with Elaine:

“Sunset” and “Sweeney,”

“Chess,” “Piaf,” “Anything Goes”

And I’m here!

Cat costume sometimes.

Naked in “Hair”… goodness knows!

But I’m here!

“Follies” on Broadway

So sublime

Due to the talent of

Steve Sondheim

Queues ’round the block

So get in line, while we’re here

Lord knows it’s great to be back

And I’m here!

Look who’s here!

I’m still here!

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Stephen Sondheim: “Look I Made A Hat”

After his acclaimed and best-selling Finishing the Hat (named one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2010), Stephen Sondheim returns with the second volume of his collected lyrics, Look, I Made a Hat, giving us another remarkable glimpse into the brilliant mind of this living legend, and his life’s work.

Picking up where he left off in Finishing the Hat, Sondheim gives us all the lyrics, along with excluded songs and early drafts, of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins and Passion. Here, too, is an in-depth look at the evolution of Wise Guys, which subsequently was transformed into Bounce and eventually became Road Show.

Sondheim takes us through his contributions to both television and film, some of which may surprise you, and covers plenty of never-before-seen material from unproduced projects as well.

There are abundant anecdotes about his many collaborations, and readers are treated to rare personal material in this volume, as Sondheim includes songs culled from commissions, parodies and personal special occasions over the years—such as a hilarious song for Leonard Bernstein’s seventieth birthday.

As he did in the previous volume, Sondheim richly annotates his lyrics with invaluable advice on songwriting, discussions of theater history and the state of the industry today, and exacting dissections of his work, both the successes and the failures.

Filled with even more behind-the-scenes photographs and illustrations from Sondheim’s original manuscripts, Look, I Made a Hat is fascinating and essential reading..

Christmas is coming, and this would make for a great gift for any fan of the theater or this great man’s work.

Check it out at Amazon.