Last Sunday there was quite a lineup at the Y to satisfy any of your music, dance, literary, politics and news media interests. Starting with our Critics & Brunch series, The New Yorker’s Alex Ross previewed a chapter from his book-in-progress on 20th century music with the aid of recorded samples. Several bloggers were in attendance (noted above) and if you’ve never attended a brunch discussion here it’s a great opportunity to meet the writers, highly informed audience members and have an informal conversation.

Up a floor and later in the afternoon, there was a dance preview with the Christopher Caines Dance Company, part of our Sundays At Three dance series. Caines, an extremely articulate and engaging choreographer/dancer, led the audience through a guided tour of his work in progress for the group’s upcoming season. Live music and singers accompanied the pieces and dance critic Mindy Aloff followed the performance with further discussion from Caines and his collaborators.

Quickly we shuffled out of Buttenwieser Hall and back to the Weill Art Gallery to catch Francine du Plessix Gray speak about her childhood and memoir, Them, chronicling the lives of her Russian-born mother and stepfather—"elitist snobs” she lovingly described them. She noted this label was used only in the sense they were attracted to people of the arts and who could provide cultural stimulation. Of course, money probably didn’t hurt either. She entertained a packed room full of Russians and Russophiles who are becoming regulars at our Russian Sundays at the Y program.

The day, or night to be technical, concluded with the kickoff of the 25th anniversary of television news analyst Jeff Greenfield’s In the News series at the Y with guest Tom Brokaw in the Kaufmann Concert Hall. It’s easy to see why the crowd loves Jeff as he balances the discussions with serious insights and lots of humor. The two media veterans spent a lot of time talking politics, a topic that Brokaw said got him into the business and never fails to interest him. Radar’s Jeff Bercovici has the lowdown on Brokaw’s premature handicapping of the Presidential race from the evening:

“I was talking to someone over the weekend who is a very smart, very conservative Republican, down in the bowels of knowing how these nominations are won,” said the retired NBC anchor. “He said, ‘[Rudy Giuliani] can’t do it. The social issues are gonna kill him.’”

He continued, “We’ve seen in the last week or so the issues that are gonna start bubbling up for him and it’s not just Judith and her two, three, or however marriages there were, but his business deals and his relationship with Bernie Kerik. That’s the stuff that will start getting examination.”