Month: July 2014

An Evening with Hedwig and Her Angry Inch

A couple months ago while doing my hostly duties at my company’s BEA party, I found myself in a fantastic conversation. It began when a friend/colleague apologized for being unable to hook me up with an interview with Neil Patrick Harris. He’s got what looks to be a wonderfully creative biography coming out in October that’s styled like the old Choose Your Own Adventure books. The apology happened to come at a moment when I was chatting with actor Cary Elwes, who’s also anticipating a book release in October, and with whom I’d enjoyed an interview earlier that day.

Because of what is it?

Starting a post — let alone an entire blog — with an inside joke might be a silly way to try to communicate. The punchline, briefly, is a strange translation from Hebrew to English I encountered at a friend’s annual Passover dinner. It’s meant to mean “Why,” and though only a handful of people out of the 20+ attendees see that version, everyone loves to shout that line out when the time is right… and beyond as it’s become a part of some of our social circle’s everyday vernacular.

Here I’m drawn to it because it’s Why? but it’s also so much more.