Arts Fuse Editor
By Adrienne LaFrance BOSTON, Mass.— Feeling too productive? Not procrastinating enough? Austrian artist Erwin Wurm has the answer. Why not stay in your pajamas all day? You could also fantasize about nihilism, be indifferent about everything, or even take a nap on the office toilet. These are just some of the activities depicted in Wurm’s…
Read MoreSet in Boston, Sam Savage’s fascinating satiric novel chronicles the sad life of a literature-loving rodent.
Read MoreBruce Springsteen’s latest album, widely billed as his homage to folk music, is a tribute to Pete Seeger “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions,” Bruce Springsteen. By James Marcus It’s hard to pin down exactly when my Bruce Springsteen problem began. As a teenager I worshipped the guy, and still recall a blistering 1977 show…
Read MoreBy Adrienne LaFrance Picture an alternate 2006 in which the internet slave trade in America is an integral part of the economy, only white men have the right to vote, and culture is devoid of jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and countless other things. Head to Fenway and you’ll hear the national anthem, “Dixie,” played before…
Read MoreThe current kings of sly-clown fox-rock, Eagles of Death Metal and Electric Six know how to put the fun back into rock and roll. The Eagles of Death Metal, “Death by Sexy” (Downtown); Electric Six, “Senor Smoke” (Metropolis Records) By Milo Miles Rock and roll used to be a joke. The most dangerous joke in…
Read More“Hello, I’m Special: How Individuality Became the New Conformity” by Hal Niedzviecki. (City Lights) By Adrienne LaFrance A word to the mohawked and tattooed, to those who reject cell phones and popular music. Yes, you, the self-proclaimed non-conformists: You’re not special. Or maybe more aptly, you’re just as unique as the droves of people trying…
Read MoreA consumer guide for those who want the low-down on the best of the recent crop of music fundamentalists.
Read MoreThe Italian composer’s famous masterpiece “La Traviata” receives a production that is worthy of the opera’s enduring artistry. By Mark Kroll The Boston Lyric Opera has just begun a nice long run of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata” and this is a good thing for Boston’s opera lovers. “La Traviata” finds Verdi at the height of…
Read MoreFull disclosure: my mother died of lung cancer, brought on by a decades-long addiction to the product satirized in the new film “Thank You for Smoking,” directed by Jason Reitman (son of Ivan Reitman) from a novel by Christopher Buckley (son of William F. Buckley). So maybe I’m not the right person to be reviewing…
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Book Commentary: The Scam of Mobster Memoirs
Crime memoirs about Irish mobster Whitey Bulger have become a corrupt and pathetic cottage industry. By Jay Atkinson A large, jowly, humorless man of 49, Kevin Weeks, the one-time go-fer and strong arm for the notorious Boston crime boss, James Whitey Bulger, hurt and maimed people for a living. While his boss ran most of…
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