C M Y K C1 DAILY 05-27-08 MD SU C1 CMYK [ABCDE] C Tuesday, May 27, 2008 Style S CAMPAIGN 2008 The Magazine Reader Democrats’ Looking at 12 Years Between the Covers By Peter Carlson but it turned out to be the last. Reason to Paranoia, from George Washington Post Staff Writer That’s because this is my final to Jane, from Spy to Sly, from Good Convention Magazine Reader column. I’m tak- Dog! to Murder Dog, from New Last week, the cover of Us Week- ing The Post’s early retirement Beauty to New Witch, from Mod- ly screamed in big yellow type “The buyout and heading off to pursue ern Maturity to Modern Ferret to Plot to Destroy Lauren,” and my other interests, such as sloth and Modern Drunkard. first reaction was, ‘Oh, no, they gin. And let’s not forget Wrapped in Pool: Is It can’t destroy Lauren.” For nearly 12 years, I’ve been My second reaction was, “Who paid real American money to read See MAGAZINE, C8, Col. 4 the hell is Lauren?” magazines and write about them. It wasn’t the first time I was ut- During those years I’ve pondered After more than a decade reporting on All Wet? terly baffled by a magazine cover the glories of magazines ranging magazines, some things never change. since I started writing this column, from Life to Sounds of Death, from Baffling covers, for one. Bloggers Say DNC List Lacks Racial Diversity By Jose Antonio Vargas Washington Post Staff Writer Beneath Elmore Leonard’s Cool Exterior Lurks a Crime-Novel Mastermind Forget the row over RFK, the latest superdelegate tally or Saturday’s sure-to-be contentious meeting of the Rules and Bylaws Committee. With the Democratic National Convention less than three months away, and with Web pundits play- ing an even bigger role during the four-day event, a whole other drama is chewing up the blogosphere — and the often unmentioned Afrosphere. A small taste of the commentary: “OK, folks, black bloggers to the back of the bus,” read one post on the African American Political Pundit, one of the more prominent national black blogs. A posting on Georgia Politics Unfiltered, a state blog, read: “Jim Crow raises his ugly head . at the Democratic Convention.” The protracted primary has been like a bottomless glass to thirsty national and local bloggers — so much to blog about! — and about 400 of them have applied to attend the convention. Although four years ago the credentialing of 30 bloggers in a single pool was a historic event, this August there are two blog- ger pools: a State Blogger Corps and a General Blog- ger Pool. The State Corps is considered the more elite; its 55 bloggers will have floor access all four days, sit next to their state delegations and be hooked up to the Internet. Those not chosen for the State Corps are competing for spots in the General Pool, which will See BLOGGERS, C2, Col. 1 BY JEFFREY SAUGER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST The author of “Get Shorty,” “3:10 to Yuma” and many other novels will receive this year’s F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Achievement in American Literature. A Blast of Bullets By Neely Tucker they were down at the other house in Palm nickname. “A really great story idea that keeps BY LEAH L. JONES Washington Post Staff Writer Beach, Fla. About $15,000 worth of stuff. readers turning the pages. And I just never had Dolora Zajick in a riveting performance as Santuzza in It was no big mystery. The thieves used a key. one. I always came up with stuff that I’d say, ‘Oh, Washington National Opera’s “Cavalleria Rusticana.” BLOOMFIELD VILLAGE, Mich. Took jewelry, clothes, Christine’s unmention- I guess I could make a book about that.’ ” utch Leonard, standing over by the ables. Left the electronics. Who are the cops go- Dutch sits down to wait for Christine. He’s typewriter. He’s saying to Christine in ing to think did it, two guys with a U-Haul and a watching the Tigers on the TV. They’re down by Opera this loud voice, “Christine!” Calling up panty fetish? It was the maids. They fired the two in the first. Dutch has been writing the great the stairs. They’re going to be late for maids. quirky endlessly entertaining endlessly violent Ddinner. You’d expect a little more creativity from the American novel for half a century, mostly right Christine used to be the gardener. Now she’s criminal class, particularly when they break into here in this room, over there at the desk with an Mezzo-Soprano’s the missus. a crime novelist’s house. unlined yellow legal pad and a typewriter. Some Dutch and Christine Lelich know a lot about But it’s the kind of idea Dutch could use, peo- 43 novels, who knows how many short stories life, which is one reason it’s good. Even when ple that stupid. and screenplays. He’s been hailed as the “great- bad things happen they understand that it’s just “I never had a really brilliant idea,” he is say- est living crime novelist,” “the king of crime,” Glorious Debut the way it is sometimes; they’re at that stage. ing, coming back into the room. His name is El- Lifts ‘Cavalleria’ Like, they got cleaned out the other day, while more, but people call him by his high school See LEONARD, C2, Col. 1 By Anne Midgette Washington Post Staff Writer Recordings Dolora Zajick, 56, has long been the reigning American mezzo-soprano. She is a fixture at the Met- ropolitan Opera, where she is unequaled in the major Verdi roles (Amneris, Azucena, even Eboli). We must pause here as fans of Olga Borodina rise Usher’s Sensuous Storytelling Matures in ‘Stand’ up in protest. Calm down, people. Borodina is fine in these roles, but for my money, Saint-Saens’s Delilah By Serena Kim of his first child. is a better fit for her. But, counter my conveniently Special to The Washington Post Catapulted firmly into manhood, Usher fictional Borodina fans, Zajick just pumps out sound now revisits the booty-shaking, babymak- without much dramatic inflection. In the crowded field of abdomen-undu- ing content of his material with a more This has been one segment of the conventional lating R&B boychiks, Usher has long been confident and relaxed cool that smacks of wisdom about Zajick for far too long. And Sunday af- king, thanks to his tender and nimble vo- — could it be? — maturity. ternoon’s concert performance of “Cavalleria Rusti- cals. But since his Grammy-winning 2004 Bookended by a heartfelt prelude that cana,” in which Zajick made her astonishingly late album, “Confessions,” with its plotlines sounds like a love letter to his wife and a so- debut at the Washington National Opera, showed worthy of a telenovela, he’s weathered cially conscious hidden end track that ex- that it is just plain wrong. Anyone who has hitherto even more major personal changes: break- failed to “get” Zajick should be invited — no, forced! ups, makeups, one wedding and the birth See RECORDINGS, C5, Col. 2 — to hear this “Cavalleria,” which repeats once See OPERA, C8, Col. 1 K ALSO REVIEWED: New releases from Wale, Al Green and Spiritualized, plus Singles File. | C5 BY GUS RUELAS — ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 10 FILMS THE RELIABLE SOURCE Grilling puts some sizzle in McCain’s weekend |C3» ‘Indiana Jones’ BOOK WORLD Climbs Atop the Finding one’s way in the work world |C8 Box Office Hill |C7 KIDSPOST Veterinarian’s life has warm and furry moments |C12 ARTS, C5 · ASK AMY, C7 · BRIDGE, C10 · CAROLYN HAX, C8 · COMICS, C9-11 · CROSSWORD, C9-10 · KIDSPOST, C12 · SU|DO|KU, C11 · TELEVISION, C6 Online Today »Media Backtalk with Howard Kurtz | Noon » Station Break with Paul Farhi on pop culture | 1 p.m. » Freedom Rock with pop music critic J. Freedom du Lac | 2 p.m. » C M Y K C1 C M Y K C2 DAILY 05-27-08 MD RE C2 CMYK C2 Tuesday, May 27, 2008 R STYLE The Washington Post At 82, Crime Master Still Makes Killer Lines Look Easy LEONARD, From C1 ion about crime in America. Maid theft not- withstanding, he has almost no life experi- “the Dickens of Detroit.” ence with it. He has helped shape an entire body of lit- Sutter’s research fills a box for each erature and cinema. He has become, in book. What cops do each day, books on these later years, an iconic cultural refer- prison culture and slang. The boxes are ence point: Any quirky violent crime story kept in the basement. Inside, there’s a reg- with punchy dialogue is Dutchesque. When ular schoolboy’s notebook, 80 pages. It’s the new version of the video game Grand the “skinny” for each book, or his essential Theft Auto came out recently, the New notes. These are filled with possible charac- York Times said its street patois could “ri- ter names, addresses of banks that get val Elmore Leonard’s.” “Pulp Fiction” is robbed, snippets of dialogue, and facts like the best Elmore Leonard film not written the population of Miami and the number of by Elmore Leonard; director Quentin autopsies performed each year in Detroit. Tarantino acknowledged a “big debt” to For “Up in Honey’s Room,” one of his him when the film came out. The New most recent books, there are Hitler jokes. Yorker reviewed the Oscar-winning “No Hitler asks a fortuneteller when he’ll die.