Dancing Old Master by Arlene Croce.

The Talk of the Town Neighborhood Story by Stanley Mieses. Talk story about amateur pianist, Bobby DeVito, who lives at 125 Sullivan Street, in Greenwich Village. Writer sees a sign outside DeVito's apartment, Piano Playing Not Mine. B. DeVito. No one in the neighborhood was sure if Bobby could really play the piano until he gave a concert at the...

Fiction New Hampshire Buried Under Permacurse by John Skow. The narrator describes how cold this winter has been in New London, N.H., and the measures his family has taken to keep warm. Dogs and cats are invited to bed, whiskey is ent to the plumber, the car repairman is propitiated. Motor oil is drained from cars, heated on the...

Musical Events A Peculiar Grace by Andrew Porter.

The Sporting Scene HEAVY GOING by Alastair Reid. A SPORTING SCENE about the writer's interest in sport which began when he was a young boy in Scotland and attended rugby games with his father. Tells about his delight in sports at school, and the class difference between rugby and soccer. Games have always been popular, but in the...

The Talk of the Town Beautiful White Swan by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about efforts to save the S.S. Alexander Hamilton, discussed at a luncheon at the Downtown Athletic Club, which overlooks NY Harbor. The old curmudgeon attended, along with members of the Steamer Alexander Hamilton Society, formed a couple of years ago to save the ship. The guests recalled ship...

Fiction Shifting by Ann Beattie. The woman's name was Natalie, and the man's name was Larry. They had been childhood sweethearts. They went to the same college, in their home town, but he left after a year to go to a larger, more impressive university. His parents were afraid that he would marry her. They...

The Theatre Happy Homecoming by Brendan Gill.

Fiction On The Steps Of The Conservatory by Donald Barthelme. A dialogue between Hilda, an art student who has been refused membership in the Conservatory, and Maggie, a member of the Conservatory. Maggie tells Hilda that she is not Conservatory material, but maybe she could pay $12.00 a year to be an Associate. As an Associate she would receive the...

Profiles AT THREE MINUTES PAST EIGHT YOU MUST DREAM by Kenneth Tynan. PROFILE of actor Sir Ralph Richardson, 74, the eldest of the trio of English actors including Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud. Late last year, he co-starred with Gielgud in Pinter's "No Man's Land" on Broadway. Discusses the characterization of Sir Ralph as the Common Man; quotes extensively...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. Comment about newspapers and power. Writer thinks power is the last thing a newspaper should aim for. News stories can have large political consequences. Bob Woodward's and Carl Bernstein's investigation of the Watergate break-in, for example had a good deal to do with Pres. Nixon's fall from office. Writer...

Books Gaiety in the Galleries by John Updike.

The Talk of the Town Dough by Mark Singer. Talk story about children making dough sculpture at the Aztec Festival, held one recent Saturday at the Center for Inter-American Relations - a building at Park Ave. & 68 St. that usually functions as a gathering place for those with a special interest in how the Americas (North, Central. South...

Jazz New York Notes by Whitney Balliett.

The Current Cinema Boss Ladies by Pauline Kael. Review of "Nasty Habits", the film version of Muriel Spark's 1974 novel "The Abbess of Crewe", the Watergate travesty set in a convent. Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed. He is 36 and American, though he also has Irish citizenship via his mother, Geraldine Fitzgerald. Tells about him...

The Race Track More About Cauthen by G. F. T. Ryall. The grandstand of Chicago's Washington Park burned to the ground on the night of the fifth. There had been racing there that afternoon. Happily, the old barns across the track, in which about a thousand horses were stabled, escaped the blaze. The management cancelled the meeting and no plans have...

Poetry Collective Dawns by John Ashbery. You can have whatever you want...

Poetry Houses by Robert Mazzocco. It's hard to go back to women...

Poetry My Father's Wall by David Wagoner. The old one was falling: the cracked, gravelly pieces...