Vanity Fair articles from November 2003

Vanity Fair archives from November 2003

The Music Portfolio 2003.(photoessay of music industry celebrities)(Illustration)
November 1, 2003... Here's the download: Elvis Costello fell for Diana Krall, and Def Jam reunited, while the Donnas hopped into the female-rocker ring with Avril Lavigne and a recharged Marianne Faithfull. Clive Davis is back to prove he was never really gone,...

Stairway to excess.(heyday of rock group Led Zeppelin)
November 1, 2003... As Led Zeppelin's concerts broke attendance records across America, the band was dismissed by critics, while gaining a reputation for unprecedented debauchery, thanks to tales (often true) of drugs, sex, and violence. Unearthing her diaries,...

Recorded in the USA.(excerpt from 'American Music' by Annie Leibovitz)(photoessay)(Illustration)(Excerpt)
November 1, 2003... As principal photographer for Rolling Stone from 1970 to 1983, ANNIE LEIBOVITZ learned how the music got made, more often in hotel rooms and rehearsals than onstage. In photos and an essay from her new book, American Music, with a vision honed by...

Nuclear insecurity.(vulnerability of United States nuclear weapons facilities)
November 1, 2003... Even as the president pushes for new anti-terrorism powers, Washington continues to ignore warnings that its nuclear-weapons facilities-high on any terrorist target list-are frighteningly vulnerable. So Rich Levernier, who spent six years...

Judging Andy.(controversial pronouncements by the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board)
November 1, 2003... Signed by the artist, certified by his estate-it's got to be an original Andy Warhol, right? Not unless the Warhol authentication board says so. But dealers and collectors are crying foul over the four-member board's perplexing verdicts, which...

Another Hamptons whodunit.(the draining of Georgica Pond)
November 1, 2003... Swelled by rain, East Hampton's Georgica Pond would swamp many waterfront mansions, flooding cellars and lawns. Then, one July night, someone destroyed the barrier between it and the ocean, draining a 290-acre pond. Hamptonites are still guessing...

The discomfort of strangers.(retrospective exhibit of photographer Diane Arbus' works, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
November 1, 2003... Diane Arbus's 1971 suicide sealed her legend, which was born of the disturbing parallels her photographs drew between the bizarre and the familiar. As a retrospective opening in San Francisco reveals, she recognized the private, precious freak in...

An affair of the art.(Louise MacBain and management of the Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg auction house)
November 1, 2003... When Simon de Pury needed a C.E.O. for his struggling Phillips auction house, he hired his millionaire girlfriend, Louise MacBain. Ten months later, after she warred with his partner, she had to leave. But MacBain, now owner of Art & Auction...

Homeland insecurity.(Editor's Letter)(Editorial)
November 1, 2003... A contributor to this magazine said recently that when she reads the newspapers in the morning she just wants to scream. I know how she feels. The quagmire in Iraq, the growing encroachment on civil liberties here, a flagging economy, our...

Heaven Can Weight.(21 Grams)(Movie Review)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Eve Epstein One could easily suppose that 21 Grams, the new movie from director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Amores Perros), is about a whole bunch of cocaine. Turns out the film, like its title, is about death. 21 Grams is...

School Daze.(Elephant)(Movie Review)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Handy What to make of Elephant, a fictionalized take on the Columbine shootings that is equal parts exhilarating, horrifying, brave, and self-defeating? The director, Gus Van Sant, has deliberately chosen not to "explain"...

Hot Type.(Bibliography)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Elissa Schappell Quick, someone pass the president the Cliffs Notes version of Conrad Black's Franklin Delano Roosevelt (PublicAffairs); F.D.R. pulled the country out of the Great Depression and through W.W. II while burnishing the...

Kennedys at Play.(Jacques Lowe photographer to the famous klan)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: David Friend Cologne-born Jacques Lowe was Camelot's court photographer. He had unparalleled access to the J.F.K. White House and an insider's entree to Kennedy-clan gatherings. Blending into the rarefied woodwork of Hyannis Port...

Jailhouse Doc.(documentary film What I Want My Words to Do to You portrays writing workshop for women in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Patricia Bosworth Fifteen women, some young, some middle-aged, some Muslim, some Christian, some Ph.D. candidates, others high-school dropouts-most convicted of murder-struggle on paper to confront their...

Rock On.(Los Angeles boutique Lo-Fi recycling vintage clothes)
November 1, 2003... Byline: John Brodie The way rappers swaddle themselves in N.B.A. finery, and mall-hopping nymphets drip in Juicy Couture, no self-respecting member of the rocker-model industrial complex would be caught dead in a trashed hotel room without...

Farm-Fresh.(Farmer's Daughter Motel)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Emily Poenisch The Farmer's Daughter Motel, like Los Angeles itself, is a mass of heady contradictions. Formerly a drab, low-budget refuge and, in a previous decade, home to the Olive, an industry haunt with an unlisted phone ...

Hot Tracks.
November 1, 2003... Byline: Lisa Robinson What sophomore slump? New albums from the Strokes, Nelly Furtado, and Alicia Keys all prove that there is hope after hype. With Room on Fire, the Strokes don't change much, but do take their welcome garage,...

Witches' Brew.(Broadway musical Wicked)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Krista Smith Long before Dorothy and Toto's crash landing, there were two women-one pretty and popular, the other born emerald green and malcontent-who were unlikely friends in the Land of Oz. Their story will be told...

Model Television.(Tyra Banks' America's Next Top Model)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: James Wolcott Supermodel Tyra Banks should be a superheroine to the suits at UPN--she's given the straggling network a bouncing baby hit. As creator, executive producer, and presenter of America's Next Top Model, where 10...

Dancehall Craze.(musician Sean Paul)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Marc Goodman Perhaps it was inevitable that when authentic "dancehall"-style reggae finally broke big in America it would be brought by a singer raised not in Bob Marley's hardscrabble Kingston 13 (Trench Town to you) but in the...

Living in Shin.(Marty Crandall, keyboardist of the Shins)(Brief Article)(Interview)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Michael Hogan No two paths to stardom could be less similar than indie rock and reality TV, but Marty Crandall, keyboardist of the Shins, has had a taste of both in the past two years. In 2001 his band, fronted by...

Dream Weaver.(Olatz Schnabel opens New York linen store)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Ingrid Sischy Next time there's a blackout and visitors to New York have to sleep on the city's sidewalks, they'll have it made. By then Olatz Schnabel will have opened the doors to Olatz, her own take on Bed Bath & Beyond. And...

The Ticket Queen.(Shelley Lazar)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Lisa Robinson Paul McCartney dedicated the Beatles song "Birthday" to her onstage, in front of 500,000 people. Bob Dylan calls her "Shelvis." Sting told her if she was working on his show, then everyone would know he was...

Teenage Graceland.(Joseph Szabo photographs moments of adolescence )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Edward Helmore It is often said that youth is wasted on the young, but Joseph Szabo's remarkable photographs of that brief span between puberty and baby adulthood seek another determination. As art teacher (and yearbook photo...

Get Yourself Connected; Friendster.(Friendster.com)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Dana Levy Remember the Faberge Organics shampoo commercial-"And she told two friends, and they told two friends"? Well, that's the basic theory behind Friendster.com, the seven-month-old Web site that's generating more...

Signature Scents.(Aftelier perfumes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Elissa Schappell Consider Aftelier perfumes couture for the nose. Owner Mandy Aftel exclusively crafts all-natural custom perfumes from a trove of fragrant vintage oils and distillations of essences ranging from the esoteric...

VANITY FAIR NOMINATES PEGI AND NEIL YOUNG.(work with Bridge Schoolnon, profit organization dedicated to helping children with severe impairments )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Lisa Robinson Because in 1978, Pegi and Neil Young's son, Ben, was born with cerebral palsy-later unable to converse and confined to a wheelchair-and after years of working with various programs to help him, Pegi co-founded the...

AZURE RAY.(Orenda Fink, Maria Taylor)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Edward Helmore provenance: Birmingham, Alabama. that was then: As high-schoolers, Orenda Fink (standing) and Maria Taylor, both now 27, were ballsy chicks with guitars who played in a power-pop band called Little Red...

The Rock Snob's Dictionary Volume 4; Can't keep Terry Reid straight from Terry Riley.(Glossary)
November 1, 2003... Byline: Compiled By Steven Daly And David Kamp Rock Snobbery used to be a generation-specific affliction-if you owned a mint vinyl copy of Nick Drake's Bryter Layter and were prone to arguing with friends over whether Gram Parsons or Gene...

Simon says.(Simon Le Bon)(Interview)
November 1, 2003... Byline: George Wayne As front man for Duran Duran, the quintessential 80s "pop band," Simon Le Bon has a louche-sophisticate persona that elicits many a swoon from fans. After the release of a 13-disc boxed set of its heyday songs, Duran...

The Patriots; The Dixie Chicks, country musicians.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The Dixie Chicks won more media attention than anyone else in '03 simply by saying what was on their minds. At a London concert Maines, the lead singer of this Texas trio, told the audience, "We're ashamed the president of the United States ...

The Freak; Perry Farrell, singer, surfer, Pied Piper.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... In their original, late-80s blitz of alterna-land, Jane's Addiction were scary Gothniks who wore fetish gear, took hard drugs, and seemed destined for grisly, premature Hollywood Babylon deaths. But Perry Farrell astutely turned the...

The Showstopper; BETTE MIDLER, belter, actress, wit, environmentalist, self-deprecating diva.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Her professional origins in the Continental Baths, a gay men's club, are now the stuff of legend (SCTV paid tribute with a parody sketch, "Edith Prickley, Live at the Melonville Baths"), but the great thing about the Divine Miss M...

The Survivor; JIMMY SCOTT, singer.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Billie Holiday named him as her favorite singer and Madonna claims he's the only vocalist who ever made her cry-how's that for endurance? Scott was born 78 years ago with a hormonal deficiency that denied him puberty and...

The Sage; MARIANNE FAITHFULL, chanteuse, actress.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... More than 20 albums; one extraordinary memoir, Faithfull. "Survivor" isn't a strong enough word-too pedestrian, too Joey Heatherton. Faithfull, who traipsed into the Swinging 60s pop vortex as a dewy-voiced "angel with big...

The Slumber Party; The Donnas, rock group.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Palo Alto, the capital of Silicon Valley and birthplace of the Grateful Dead, has another homegrown band worth bragging about. The Donnas first strapped on their guitars in 1993 for a junior-high talent show, just to show...

The Whole Package; Anna Netrebko, soprano.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Like Beverly Sills, whom she resembles vocally, Anna Netrebko, 32, possesses the holy trinity of opera talents: she's a great singer, a great actress, and a great presence. Discovered at the age of 20 by conductor Valery Gergiev-she...

The Funny Valentines; diana krall and elvis costello, musicians, singers, lovers, upholders of the virtue of songcraft.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Two old souls: he, the kind of guy who, at the age of 19, could write the lyric "Bad lovers face to face in the morning / Shy apologies and polite regrets"; she, the kind of gal who, with that beguiling, oboe-rich alto, already...

The Back-Roaders; ROBBIE ROBERTSON and RONNIE HAWKINS, roots gurus, expert yarn spinners.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Talk about prescience: Hawkins and Robertson were grasping for the "old, weird America" decades before alt.country cultivated a new yearning for the dirt-floored and undigital. Hawkins, an Arkansas boy, made it big in the...

The British Invaders; Coldplay, rock band.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... On Parachutes, Coldplay's 2000 debut, Chris Martin bared his tortured-romantic soul in a sweet voice that contained an undertow of pained passion-especially on the band's breakthrough hit, "Yellow." But on its follow-up, A Rush of...

The Impresario; CLIVE DAVIS, C.E.O., BMG Records Group.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... When Bertelsmann Music Group gave Clive Davis some big retirement money in 1999 and not too subtly ushered him to the door, the 68-year-old hit-maker quickly founded J Records and signed Alicia Keys, whose debut album won five Grammys...

The Punk Princess; Avril Lavigne, pop star, singer, songwriter, guitarist.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Avril Lavigne, the 19-year-old singer from the small town of Napanee, Ontario, never claimed she was Husker Du -she's just following the tried-and-true rock 'n' roll formula that worked for Eddie Cochran almost 50 years ago and...

The Genuine Gangsta; 50 Cent, rapper.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Memo to the suits at Columbia Records: Next time a rapper on your label gets shot nine times and lives to tell the tale, don't respond by dropping him. Queens native 50 Cent (born Curtis Jackson), who possesses hip-hop's...

The Hard Rockers; Queens of the Stone Age, California rock band.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Somewhere between the lands of Metal and Garage Rock, at a roadhouse dive, we find Queens of the Stone Age. They have come to rock you. Heavily. Led by Josh Homme, a singer, songwriter, and astonishing guitarist formerly of the cult...

The Aria Man; Juan Diego Flirez, tenor.(Brief Article)(Biography)
November 1, 2003... For years, music directors staging Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia have routinely cut the tenor Count Almaviva's last aria. It's too damned hard, with its crazy runs and sky-high peaks, and, anyway, the opera's star is supposed...

Def Jam Reunion.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... When Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin started Def Jam from Rubin's N.Y.U. dorm room, they couldn't possibly have imagined it would turn into a multi-million-dollar entertainment company. But it did, and here are the people who...

ARETHA FRANKLIN; Aretha Franklin is considered the greatest singer of our time-in fact, the legislature in her home state of Michigan declared her voice a natural resource.(Interview)
November 1, 2003... What is your idea of perfect happiness? It's never going to be absolutely perfect. There will always be something you would change if you could. What is your greatest fear? My lips are sealed. What is your favorite...

V.F.'s Starting 11; Take 11 mega-stars, add family, very close friends, stylists, and assistants, and what you get is a party, with dancing, singing, and people staying late to play dress-up.
November 1, 2003... Byline: Lisa Robinson Queen Latifah drove her own car to our cover shoot, walked through the door, and got the party started. The Queen-born Dana Owens in Newark, New Jersey, 33 years ago-is a one-woman entertainment empire: rapper,...

Crowning Achievement.(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... As a monarchist fairly knowledgeable about European royalty, I've often cringed at factual errors and anti-royalist bias when the mainstream media tackle my favorite subject. Not this time. Your "Young and Royal" issue is superb, probably the...