Month: June 2012

Classical Music Sampler: July 2012

June 30, 2012
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The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s (BSO) residency at Tanglewood begins with an all-Beethoven concert on July 6th and runs through August 26th (when it concludes with a John Harbison premiere and more Beethoven –- the Ninth).

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Cultural Commentary: The Rise of Book Product — Fifty Shades of Blech

June 30, 2012
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Book product, much like food product, is manufactured –- from its very inception, designed to make money by shameless pandering to mainstream taste.

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Book Review: Robert Walser’s Big Small Thoughts — Modest But Miraculous

June 29, 2012
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In his prose and poetry, Swiss writer Robert Walser revolts from the chaos of modernity, engaging in extreme subjectivity only to confess to the heresy that is the self, choosing to revel in the simplicity of the rural life. Not for truth, but for the sake of a fleeting rapture.

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Coming Attractions in Film: July 2012

June 28, 2012
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Wouldn’t you know it, just when you thought July would be all Red Sox games, bike rides, hikes, and weekend get-a-ways, there’s a whole lot of great films to keep you occupied. This month includes classics, new documentaries, a giant screen, and two festivals –- the Maine Film Festival and Boston’s venerable French Film Festival.

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Fiction Review: “Sarah Thornhill” — A Lyrical Song in the Australian Outback

June 27, 2012
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You are hardly aware of the historical facts. Kate Grenville internalizes them so completely in her novel there is not a sentence that “stinks of history,” as a friend of mine once said about whole historical fiction genre.

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Coming Attractions in Local Rock: July 2012

June 27, 2012
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With the first official heat wave behind us, summer is now in full swing and there is a ton happening musically in New England. This month local music shows off its diversity.

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Coming Attractions in Underground Music: July 2012

June 26, 2012
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July brings a solid list of rock shows — and one good electronic gig — full of intelligent dance music. You should trudge through the humidity and lightning to get to one of these shows. I’d particularly recommend Gary War.

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Film Review: “Portrait of Wally” — Art As ‘Holocaust Loot’

June 26, 2012
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“Portrait of Wally” makes for a wonderfully engaging documentary about art and postwar intrigue with stakes on both a personal and global scale.

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Theater Review: A Delightful Turn “Round and Round the Garden”

June 25, 2012
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British playwright Alan Ayckbourn does not build gag machines that spit out one-liners. He creates finely etched characters whose humor is rooted in their befuddled behavior and personalities.

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The Arts Fuse Turns 5: The Future of Arts Journalism is Now. Help Us Make it Happen.

June 24, 2012
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As a long time arts critic for print, broadcast, and the Web, the potential for cultural coverage online strikes me then and now as exhilarating. The challenge for The Arts Fuse is to foster dialogue that articulates the value of the arts in our lives.

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