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In the Papers, 10/2/08

“Believe me, at some point someone in Iowa City will think that I am Kathy Lee Gifford,” comedian Kathy Griffin tells the Press-Citizen’s Deanna Truman in an interview published today. The acerbic red-head says her stand-up act at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Saturday night will cover everyone from Sarah Palin to Clay Aiken. “The live show is where the fur flies,” she says.

In today’s Gazette, Diana Nollen interviews Ann Hampton Callaway, who will pay tribute to “First Lady of Song” Ella Fitzgerald in performances with the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra at Coe College’s Sinclair Auditorium Saturday and Sunday. “One of my missions in life is to protect and keep the Great American Songbook alive, and Ella Fitzgerald is one of the most popular heroes of that,” Callaway tells the newspaper. “She sang every great composer.”

The Gazette’s Eric Clark filed a review of last weekend’s Chuck Berry concert on the University of Iowa Pentacrest. “The crowd went wild every time Berry swiveled his hips, did a little dance or lifted his guitar in the air,” Clark writes. “Berry responded with a big, mischievous smile, and usually proceeded to bust out a few spontaneous guitar licks. Basically, Berry's charisma couldn't be contained.”

Rob Cline reviewed the Theatre Cedar Rapids production of “The Children’s Hour” for the Gazette, calling it “powerful stuff.” Lillian Hellman's story "would be a strong production in any setting, but the Grant Wood House is the perfect location for the play," he writes. "The grand old house conjures up both the time and locales in which Hellman's story takes place. It also provides an intimacy (two rooms are configured so that 150 people can attend) that heightens the play's impact." The play runs through this weekend.

The Wall Street Journal this week featured an interview with Iowa City author Marilynne Robinson, whose third novel “Home” was published last month. As in her last novel “Gilead,” David Propson writes that Robinson in “Home” aims to weave humanity back into history. “Her quietly lyrical novels are in fact haunted by the past, preoccupied by the possibility of redemption — not only of their characters but of their country. ‘Gilead’ and ‘Home’ are — among much else — antidotes to the processes of historical forgetting that Ms. Robinson sees constantly at work,” he writes. Robinson is scheduled to read at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City on Nov. 3.