Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Fiction Earshot by Penelope Gilliatt. Story about Agnes, who came from an orphanage in Northumberland, and went South and found a job with a hairdresser. There she got to know an elderly Indian man who sought her company in the evenings and silently gave her a present each time from his collection of Raiput paintings...

The Theatre FAILED FRAYN by Brendan Gill.

Fiction Id by Charles McGrath. The weight alone (3 lbs. 7 1/2 oz.) would seem the right heft for a doorstop and the wrong one for a best seller. But King has become a brand name himself and his publishers ordered a supernatural first printing of 800,000 copies--and then demanded five additional printings...

Letter from Washington by Elizabeth Drew. It is hard to get one's bearings amid all the revelations, charges, countercharges, rumors & speculation of the past few weeks. The story of what happened in regard to the selling of arms to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages in Lebanon, & of the diversion of...

Profiles PARTNERS by Ian Frazier. PROFILES about 2 emigre Russian conceptual artists, Vitaly Komar & Alexander Melamid... The two began working in collaboration in 1965. Melamid is thing and stands with an athlete's slope. His hair & the frames of his glasses are thick and black; his hair looks slightly electrified. He is 41 years...

A Reporter at Large TWINS by William Murray. A REPORTER AT LARGE about San Diego, CA. Tijuana, Mexico, the economic relationship between the 2 cities c illegal Mexican workers in the US... Tells about an outbreak of malaria in San Diego County. None of the stories about the malaria outbreak commented on the fact that 9 out of...

Greetings, Friends! by Roger Angell. Look, friends, before you - can't you see...

The Current Cinema THE GOOD, THE SO-SO AND THE UGLY by Pauline Kael.

Books by Whitney Balliett.

Comment by Harold Brodkey. If a survey should be made, it might turn out that the writer has one of the most envied lives in America. He works at home--free lance--in a fourteenth-floor apartment at sky level. He describes the tremendous changes that his neighborhood has undergone; it's become a get...

The Talk of the Town Lotus Blossom by Susan Lardner. Janet talk story about attending a cult meeting of some sort, probably Buddhist Janet tells writer, "I was making my lonely way home from a Mexican restaurant when a short man with pamphlets stopped me on the street," Janet said. "I would say he accosted me. I was afraid he...

Fiction Remembering I Forget What by Mark Singer. What were you doing on Sept. 1, 1985? Do you recall? Do you recall what you had for lunch on the first day of September, 1985? Do you recall what time you went home? Do you recall filing a story that day? No, none of the above. So fairness for...

The Talk of the Town Season Part II by William McKibben. Talk story about John Bromley-Davenport, who is a barrister. He gave the premiere in 1983 of his one-man production of "A Christmas Carol". The play, well received in London, had its American debut last December in New York and returned this holiday season for a run at the...