I can’t say that I remember every New Yorker cover that I’ve ever seen, but I do keep an eye out and this one’s the first that I can recall that has a cover that’s directly related to an arts-related story inside. In this case the cover, of four Spider-men laid up in a hospital room and in various states of injury, is tied to an extended Talk of the Town piece on the Broadway musical’s well-publicized travails. Still not in conjunction with a Profile or other feature but a connection none-the-less. (My absolute favorite cover, at least that I can think of in recent memory, was of Bush, Cheney and cronies neck deep in a flooded oval office, that one tied to Katrina. See note below. But I’m thinking artsy here).
(Note: now that I googled it, I found out that I wasn’t the only one into this cover. It won a Best Cover of the Year award at the ASMEs. That cover also has a role in one of a thrilling moment in my life: in a packed backstage hallway at Madison Square Garden, during a Katrina-benefit concert, I watched the crowd part as Moses [Bill Clinton] walked down the hall, shaking hands left and right. A woman to my side thrust this issue at Bill, along with a pen, and got him to sign it. Me? I grabbed at his hand, said I was a big fan. Bill said thanks, and when I mumbled that I lived near his office in Harlem he looked me in the eye, still shaking hands, and said “Thanks again.” Clinton’s famous magnetism, it’s for real. That woman? Ry Cooder’s wife, Susan).
