Commentary

Arts Commentary: AI Implementation and the Arts — Welcome to Dystopia

September 8, 2025
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There will be no winners in this battle for control, whatever the judicial outcomes. Once the AI bubble bursts, many people will be hurt.

Arts Remembrance: Robert Scanlan — An Animating Force in Boston-area Theatre for Nearly Five Decades

September 7, 2025
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“An inspiring intelligence combined with a high level of artistry is a rarity in the arts. With the loss of Bob Scanlan, the worlds of both theatre and poetry have cause to mourn.”

Book Commentary: Three Weeks Before the Mast — Reading “Moby Dick”

September 7, 2025
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A slow thinker, I read 600 pages into “Moby Dick” before putting my finger on the book’s key tension. It’s between Ishmael’s intense and ecological whale love and the central story which chronicles the wanton murdering of whales, man’s unconcern with destroying the natural world.

Art and Design Commentary: Art Deco at 100 — Happy Birthday!

August 16, 2025
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Still fresh and energetic today, the Art Deco period — which influenced the construction or fabrication of buildings as well as luxury décor and functional objects — is considered one of the finest moments in design history.

Jazz Artist Appreciation: Sheila Jordan (1928-2025)

August 12, 2025
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Each time I heard Sheila Jordan sing live, I remember being spellbound, embraced, dazzled, awestruck, and I know I’m not alone. 

Film Review: “Made in New Jersey” — A Fabulous Trip in the Cinematic Way-Back Machine

August 4, 2025
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This journey in the way-back machine contains many delights, some staged and some as part of the photographic record of America from 100-plus years ago.

Theater Commentary: Boston Fall Theater Preview — Rinse and Repeat and Repeat and Repeat …

July 30, 2025
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My hunch is that not only theater critics but audiences will find the parade of tried and true tiresome.

Arts Remembrance: Fanny Howe — A Poet for the Spiritually Audacious

July 25, 2025
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Fanny Howe’s writing pursued, as she put it, “bewilderment as a poetics and a politics.”

Arts Appreciation: Ozzy Osbourne — He Was One of Us

July 23, 2025
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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.

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

July 23, 2025
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It would be hard to name another successful artist so passionately demeaned by the music press.

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