Posts

Arts Commentary: Candy Rappers of 2024 — Remembering Candy Darling

January 9, 2025
Posted in ,

It is clear to Candy Darling’s biographer that the present moment contains alarming reminders of the political scapegoating generated by the culture wars of the ’90s. She leaves no doubt that her subject’s difficult, complicated life embodies a cautionary tale.

Weekly Feature: Poetry at The Arts Fuse

January 9, 2025
Posted in ,

This week’s poem: Tom Laughlin’s “Falling” 

Concert Review: The Boston Artists Ensemble Plumb the Hidden Depths of Mozart

January 8, 2025
Posted in , , ,

When performed with this high level of polish and poise, even Mozart’s darkest music can make you smile.

Film Review: “The Damned” — Horror on Ice

January 8, 2025
Posted in , ,

“The Damned” is a perfect little ice-cold January horror gem blending historical, psychological, and folk chills into a bleak midwinter’s tale to keep you up through the longest nights of the year.

Jazz Album Reviews and Commentary: Jazz Composers’ Omnibus 2024, Take 2

January 8, 2025
Posted in , , ,

In four (more) projects from 2024, jazz-oriented composers supply some of the decade’s best music so far.

Book Review: “Zeppo: The Reluctant Marx Brother” — He Wasn’t an Underachiever

January 7, 2025
Posted in , ,

Biographer Robert S. Bader is an engaging writer and meticulous researcher. And handy here, he’s able to be tactful, but not forgiving, when describing lousy human behavior.

Book Review: “Mood Machine” — In the Mood for Manipulation

January 7, 2025
Posted in , , ,

Some rugged individualists may want to break out of the corporate cycle of dependency. If they do, they might even come across music they love that they would never have dreamed existed in the Spotify universe.

Book Review: “Carceral Apartheid” — Prisons Made to Degrade

January 7, 2025
Posted in , ,

Brittany Friedman’s hope is that awareness of the racism she describes — in particular the abuse and corruption that she found in the prisons of California — will encourage readers to “take a critical view of society and examine the dark side of the state.”

Book Review: The Rise and Fall of a Multivocal and Multicultural Alternative — “The Village Voice”

January 6, 2025
Posted in , ,

Looking back, the writing in the “Village Voice” was as good as Tricia Romano’s subjects remember. She excerpts paragraphs and the language is fresh, distinctive, sometimes profane, and always worth reading. For those who wrote books, it will send you back to the bookshelf.

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives