Back and ahead: Interview polled some cultural movers to recall the events and creations that shook them—for better or worse—in 2003 and to predict what things will stand out in the New Year

INTERVIEW POLLED SOME CULTURAL MOVERS TO RECALL THE EVENTS AND CREATIONS THAT SHOOK THEM FOR BETTER OR WORSE--IN 2003 AND TO PREDICT WHAT THINGS WILL STAND OUT IN THE NEW YEAR

What was emblematic about 2003? Was there a line in a song you hadn't heard before, a novel you couldn't stop rereading, or a news story that just kept you glued to CNN? To start sifting through a year's worth of cultural creations and events in search of what made 2003 distinctive, Interview asked a host of artists, musicians, writers, and other creative types to tell us about moments that rocked them in 2003 and what they're looking forward to in the year to come.

CHARLES BUSCH Actor, playwright

"My career--nay, my life--is about worshiping actresses. The big event of 2003 for me was seeing Vanessa Redgrave's dazzling performance as Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night. In 2004 my other favorite theatrical 'grande dame,' Maggie Smith, might De returning to Broadway in a play by David Hare."

DEAN AND DAN CATEN

Dsquared, Designers

"From a personal point of view, our first full-fledged Dsquared Women's unway show featuring major girls like Naomi Campbell, Karolina Kurkova, and Eva Herzigova. The show was 15 years in the making, and it was worth the wait."

TAKASHI MURAKAMI Artist

"The Matrix film series. I am most looking forward to the new release of a movie by Hayao Miyazaki, one of the great creators of Japanese animated films."

SARAH SILVERMAN Comedian

"The birth of TiVo. For next year, as a black woman, I would love to see a backlash to the asshole bling-bling 'look at all the bitches and hos and diamonds and money I got' kind of rap, and the birth of a new hippie movement in the black community."

IDINA MENZEL Actress, star of Broadway's Wicked

"Take Me Out's moving to Broadway. An opportunity for audiences to see an incredibly written play that challenges us to think about our acceptance of others. And cute butts!"

SHELBY LYNNE Musician

"This year I picked up East of Eden and reread it. The impact of this classic reminded me how powerful the written word is. It encouraged me to start writing my own book."

TAMA JANOWITZ Author

"I thought the new Mark Ronson CD, Here Comes the Fuzz [Elektra/Asylum], was terrific. My book, Peyton Amberg [St. Martin's Press], was published: This is the major event of the year for me!"

NILO CRUZ Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama

"I adored experiencing El Nino at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 2004 I'm looking forward to seeing the new opera by Osvaldo Golijov and the new book by Jose Saramago."

VANESSA BEECROFT Artist

"The bombing of Baghdad was most emblematic of 2003. And in 2004. I'm most looking forward to the toppling of President Bush."

JENNY SAVILLE Artist

"The exhibition Manet/Velazquez" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the looting of the museum in Baghdad, the blackout in New York City, and the conjoined-twins operations."

LIZ PHAIR Musician

"I think that Arnold Schwarzenegger is very emblematic of this year. In 2004, I am really hoping for Zoolander 2: Really, Really, Really, Really Ridiculously Good-Smelling."

MICHAEL STIPE Lead singer R.E.M.

"The glorious din of Al Franken's skewering book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right [Dutton], and his subsequent court victory over the phrase 'fair and balanced' against Fox were, to me, defining moments of 2003. For 2004, watch the whisper turn into a roar."

SARAH McLACHLAN Musician

"For 2003, this may sound egotistical--like I've been living in a bubble, which I have--but for me it would have to be that managed to finish my record and actually love it at the same time. I'm not as good at looking ahead, out being happy and content in 2004 would be fabulous."

BRUCE WEBER AND NAN BUSH Photographer and film director producer and head of Little Bear Press

"Our friend Tim Easton bought us a new record player, some good speakers, and the vinyl version of 'The World is Rated X' by Marvin Gaye. We fell in love with this song and used it in our new documentary, A Letter to True. We rediscovered the idea of listening to records. That Marvin Gaye song and our film are about questioning things that our government made us believe were true."

BUBBA SPARXXX Rapper

"My trip with the USO in June to Kuwait and Qatar to visit our men and women after the war in Iraq. But I think the revelation of Rush Limbaugh's addiction to painkillers was the most emblematic event of the year. This shows that once you make yourself a target for one reason or another, the media has the power to create an avalanche of trouble. This is another example of a self-appointed moral authority being exposed."

COPYRIGHT 2003 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning