Commentary
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.
My hunch is that not only theater critics but audiences will find the parade of tried and true tiresome.
Fanny Howe’s writing pursued, as she put it, “bewilderment as a poetics and a politics.”
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.
It would be hard to name another successful artist so passionately demeaned by the music press.
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
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?)
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.
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.
Jazz Artist Appreciation: Sheila Jordan (1928-2025)
Each time I heard Sheila Jordan sing live, I remember being spellbound, embraced, dazzled, awestruck, and I know I’m not alone.
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