Harry´s Blog

Nat Hentoff

From Swing Men and Women by Herbert Kuhner
You could call Nat Hentoff,
the Dean of jazz critics.
I’ve already expressed my
admiration for him.
Nat has always been politically minded
and he certainly knows how to write
a political sentence,
as well as a sentence about music.
Nat is now “pro-life.”
He’s opposed to,
what some refer to
as murder before birth.
Abortion is not exactly
a […]

From Stromboli to The Visit
Ingrid Bergman left Hollywood to make Stromboli for Roberto Rosselini in 1949. Her intention was to leave Tinsel-Town glamour behind her to in order make neo-realistic European films. And Roberto’s manly appeal may have influenced her decision. Roberto had made Roma, Open City and Paisa, which are indeed stunning. Some film […]

Vernissage Padhi Frieberger in Studio 18 Gallery
17.06.08-6.30 p.m- on Waehringer Guertel 75 - 1180 Vienna
Herbert Kuhner
Charlie came first and then came Buster. Charlie pratfell and caused pratfalls, and he battered around with the heavies. Charlie had a mean streak but Buster was gentle. The Looney Tunes cartoon characters carried on in the roughhouse manner. […]

Herbert Kuhner
from Swing Men and Women
Hans Weigel,
who was reputed to be
the dean of Austrian critics,
claimed that Uncle Sam
had committed “mortal sins”
in the music category.
Porter, Berlin and Kern
are named as the greatest sinners,
but the sinner of sinners,
according to Weigel,
was George Gershwin.
He calls Gershwin
“a second-hand syncopation profiteer.”
Hans, there’s a song I’d like to play for you.
It’s called […]

Profil 22. Jänner 2007, Profil 4, Seite 87
Interview
Bronner: Dazu folgende Geschichte: Der Theaterkritiker Hans Weigel bekam von der Burgschauspielerin Käthe Dorsch anläßlich eines Verrisses die legendäre Watschn. Aus diesem Vorfall machte ich die Nummer “Hit me, Kate”. Eines Abends saß Franz Antel mit großem Gefolge in der “Marietta”. Just nach “Hit me, Kate” verließ er […]

Being able to forget keeps you young!
Minister With a Past
The Minister of the Interior,
Trotzkist, Maoist
and Ho Chi Minh demonstrator
in his student days,
gave orders to the police
to break up a peaceful
pro-ecology demonstration
with the use of truncheons and dogs.
. . . . . . . . . . […]

The list of Austrian poets that Herbert Kuhner has rendered into English reads like Who’s Who in modern Austrian poetry.
- Harry Zohn, Brandeis University, Modern Austrian Literature, Riverside, CA
The translations are impressive (poems by Johannes Urzidil). I would like to express my undivided admiration for Herbert Kuhner. He has remained true to the originals and […]