Month: August 2005
For fans of jazz, world music, Americana — in short, for fans of all the genres guitarist Bill Frisell has explored over the past decade — “East/West” is a must. By James Marcus Will the real Bill Frisell please stand up? It’s a question his admirers have been asking with increasing frequency over the past…
Read MoreDon Quixote, Stalin, and a deadbeat 18th century nobleman trigger musical magic at a series of concerts in the Berkshires.
Read MoreAn increasingly popular movement in the visual arts prides itself on picturing everything that is the raw, untutored, and irrational.
Read MoreBy Debra Cash Ella Baff, executive director of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, recently shared the revision of an article she wrote for Arts Manager International Magazine last year. Her first tip for audience members: “Relax. Remember that when you travel to a foreign country, you may not know the language, but this does not…
Read MoreAn intriguingly speculative study argues that the history of world literature boils down to a power struggle between outsiders and insiders.
Read MoreThe critically acclaimed documentary “Rize” claims to be about a new form of hip hop dancing, called “krumping,” that transcends commercialism. By Debra Cash The commercial calculation of MTV, smoggy and as near at hand as central LA, lurks in the margins of the new critically admired hip hop dance documentary, “Rize.” The film examines…
Read MoreFrank Black of the Pixies and bad boy Ryan Adams have put out new albums that, at their mellow best, skillfully substitute pedal steel for screams. By Danielle Dreilinger The 2005 Newport Folk Festival made an unusual decision when it came time to pick their Saturday headliner: seminal indie-rock band the Pixies, famous for the…
Read More
Arts Commentary: Classical Musical Chairs
The controversy over the appointment of a woman to become the conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra boils down to issues of power and gender. By Mark Kroll It’s been a tough year for conductors. In February, David Miller was in southern France conducting “Don Giovanni” with his Bulgarian orchestra when French police burst in…
Read More