Commentary

Music Commentary: Nanci Griffith vs. the “New Yorker”

December 19, 2023
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It was the sniping tone that made the article perplexing. I would almost call it perverse. Why treat so cavalierly — even shabbily — a deceased, highly esteemed, Grammy-winning artist?

Film Anniversary: From Punchline to Plausibility — The 50-Year Transformation of “Soylent Green”

November 29, 2023
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“Soylent Green” should be seen as a work of future history, a docudrama of things that, in 1973, had yet to happen but are happening now, 50 years later.

Short Fuse Podcast #65: Arts Commentary and Criticism — The Canary in the Mine Shaft

November 16, 2023
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In this episode of the Short Fuse, host Elizabeth Howard and Editor-in-Chief and founder of the “Arts Fuse,” Bill Marx, discuss the vital role arts commentary and criticism play in nurturing an open and democratic society

Music Commentary: “Now and Then” — Nostalgia By and For the Beatles

November 13, 2023
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In many ways, “Now and Then” is the fitting gift — a single closing bookend, which Paul McCartney has called the Beatles’ last record.

Book Review: George Scialabba’s “Only a Voice” — Time to Roll Up Our Sleeves

November 5, 2023
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It’s good to discover that George Scialabba is as lively as ever and that “Only a Voice” is filled with provocative arguments that make the reader want to argue right back.

Arts Commentary: More Cultural Coverage — But Less Culture?

October 24, 2023
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The journalistic value of blathering out weekend tips to the ears of the comfortable in a social media world awash with likes is dubious.

Arts Remembrance: The Passage of a Giant — Carla Bley, 1936 – 2023

October 18, 2023
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Carla Bley was an original. We will never see her like again. It is a great blessing that she left so much music.

Book Review: “Pleading Out: How Plea Bargaining Creates a Permanent Criminal Class”

October 17, 2023
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Dan Canon provides not only the statistics but powerful stories to demonstrate the extent to which plea bargaining has bankrupted the justice system

Jazz Commentary: Three More Recent Composer-Driven Jazz Releases — Stretching the Boundaries of the “Conventional”

October 5, 2023
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These projects are more conventionally jazzish in their sounds than the four in the companion post, but that does not make their ambitions less worthwhile or less adventurous.

Jazz Commentary: Four Recent Composer-Driven Jazz Releases — New Wine in New Bottles

October 4, 2023
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Four recent releases illustrate what can happen when the only limits are the imagination of the composer and the passion of the performers.

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