Commentary

Arts Appreciation: Ozzy Osbourne — He Was One of Us

July 23, 2025
Posted in , , ,

Ozzy also gave us all the inspiration to overcome whatever dipshit, fucked up, and idiotic things we did, because he did just that, and generated plenty of good in the process.

Read More

Arts Appreciation: Ozzy Osbourne — A Pioneer of Heavy Metal Left on His Own Terms

July 23, 2025
Posted in , , ,

It would be hard to name another successful artist so passionately demeaned by the music press.

Read More

The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll — Sharing What We Know at Mid-Year

July 11, 2025
Posted in , , ,

We are all part of a community with a deep commitment to this extraordinary but way-too-often unappreciated musical art, and the late critic Francis Davis believed we should work together and share what we know. His poll was one important way to do just that

Read More

The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year — Listomania! Confessions of a Bad Voter

July 11, 2025
Posted in , ,

So what am I saying? That the system is imperfect, corrupted by bad voters like me (there must be a few others who didn’t listen to even close to everything on this list — show of hands?)

Read More

Music Commentary: Analyzing the Greatness of Brian Wilson’s “God Only Knows”

July 5, 2025
Posted in , , ,

I hope this close look makes clear the exquisite craftsmanship that went into “God Only Knows.” But for many of us, the song has a magic that goes beyond the mere exercise of compositional skill, even skill of a very high order.

Read More

Film Retrospective: “Floating Clouds … The Cinema of Naruse Mikio” — Dedicated to Women’s Passions

July 3, 2025
Posted in , , ,

Film scholars, programmers, and the many filmmakers influenced by Naruse Miko value him as having crafted well-rounded portraits of women and their lives across decades of Japanese cultural changes.

Read More

Culture Commentary: Homemade and Despicable

July 2, 2025
Posted in , ,

So now, along with hand-made candles, jewelry, and home goods, Etsy customers can sport tees, caps and download stickers with Alligator Alcatraz names and images.

Read More

Arts Commentary: Essential Inquiries — “40 Questions About a Political Play”

July 1, 2025
Posted in , , ,

“A play is political if its subject is taboo and its story mirrors, exposes, and critiques the suppression and repression that interferes with the treatment of a cultural disease. A political play is a problem that is ignored, denied, maligned. A political play is, by definition, unpopular.”

Read More

Jazz Commentary: John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” Turns 60 — A Homage

June 29, 2025
Posted in , , ,

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the release of John Coltrane’s magisterial album “A Love Supreme,” which has meant so much to so many.

Read More

Cultural Commentary: Time for Arts Groups, Large and Small, to Display Some Bona Fide Irreverence

June 25, 2025
Posted in , , ,

The question before arts organizations and companies is the same one that looms over the rest of us: will they—can they—act before it’s too late?

Read More

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives