Commentary

Visual Arts Commentary: “Portraits of Courage” — Critical Misfire

May 27, 2017
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Why do critics like the New Yorker‘s Peter Schjeldahl rush to absolve G.W. Bush?

Theater Commentary: “Trumpismo avant la lettre” and the Elliot Norton Awards

May 22, 2017
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Hypnotized by celebrity and the monied class, our stage critics have become a gaggle of cheerleaders, feckless enough to call Diane Paulus a “visionary.”

Commentary and Preview: The Shrinking Scene v. Jazz Week and the Thelonious Monkfish Jazz Festival

April 22, 2017
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I try to be optimistic, but it’s hard not to observe that the jazz club scene in eastern Massachusetts is worse than it’s been in decades.

Music Commentary: Thoughts on the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2017-18 Season

April 11, 2017
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On paper, at least, the upcoming season of the BSO is a bit of a letdown: cautious, unthreatening, comfortable.

Theater Commentary: Resist Trump? Boston’s Stages Opt Out

April 5, 2017
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Resistance, at least in Boston theater, is futile.

Visual Arts Commentary: Urban Branding — An Expression of Civic Character

April 2, 2017
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Thoughtful Branding underscores a community’s sense of place.

Visual Arts Commentary: The ICA — The Limits of Being an Icon

March 7, 2017
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The nagging question: why didn’t the ICA didn’t create a building that offered options to be developed vertically?

Music Commentary: New England Philharmonic at 40

March 2, 2017
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Whatever challenges there may be, the enthusiasm of the New England Philharmonic’s leadership is infectious.

Book Review and Commentary: Albert Murray’s Non-fiction – A Balm in Columbia

February 21, 2017
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At his best, Albert Murray is a thinker passionately in love with thinking, a virtuoso of verbal music, an American to his core.

A Compendium of Consolations: The Words of Albert Murray

February 21, 2017
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“Art . . . is . . . fundamental equipment for existence on human terms.” — Albert Murray

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