Commentary

Dance Review/Commentary: “The Grand Union” — The Story of the Accidental Anarchists of Downtown Dance

October 20, 2020
Posted in , , , ,

This fascinating book, and the rich literature of films and writings around it, have helped me feel a bit more positive about these shrunken times.

Podcast Review: “The Joe Rogan Experience” — Taking Responsibility for Random Gab?

October 16, 2020
Posted in , , ,

As amusing and informative as The Joe Rogan Experience can be, a few podcast interviews doth not an actual education make.

Arts Remembrance: Eddie Van Halen

October 7, 2020
Posted in , , , ,

Not since Jimi Hendrix had there been such a game-changer for the electric six-string.

Jazz Commentary: Louis Armstrong as Negotiator

October 2, 2020
Posted in , , ,

Throughout much of his career, Louis Armstrong negotiated a balance between being a “popular” artist and a jazz artist.

Theater Review: Penny Arcade — Provincetown, Puritans, and the Pandemic

September 29, 2020
Posted in , , ,

I’ve hated enough people,” Penny Arcade confessed, “I can’t hate anyone new until 2022.”

Poetry Remembrance: John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes” — Forever Young at 200

September 29, 2020
Posted in , ,

Keats is comfortable in that ambiguous space between reality and the imagination, and you will find no finer example of Romantic poetry when he fuses them in the language of an erotic dream.

Jazz Remembrance: Ira Sullivan

September 26, 2020
Posted in , , ,

In no way was the recognition that Ira Sullivan received commensurate with his skill.

Theater Commentary: Boston Stages — Running from Reality?

September 25, 2020
Posted in , ,

Are our theaters indifferent, craven, or complicit? Take your pick.

Arts Commentary: “The Death of the Artist” — Culture Workers Unite!

September 24, 2020
Posted in ,

The shared baseline of these conversations is that there are no good old days to go back to. If the cultural sector in the United States returns to the ways things were organized in February, 2020, with all the inequity and unsustainability that implies, we will have failed.

Jazz Remembrance: The Lasting, Complex Legacy of John Coltrane

September 23, 2020
Posted in , , ,

Of all the musicians who were harbingers of change, none has had the long-term influence on young musicians that John Coltrane has had.

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives