Commentary

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

July 11, 2025
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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?)

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

July 5, 2025
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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 Retrospective: “Floating Clouds … The Cinema of Naruse Mikio” — Dedicated to Women’s Passions

July 3, 2025
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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.

Culture Commentary: Homemade and Despicable

July 2, 2025
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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.

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

July 1, 2025
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“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.”

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

June 29, 2025
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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.

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

June 25, 2025
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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?

Arts Remembrance: The Special Legacies of Three Prominent Architects

June 23, 2025
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Though not necessarily for of their buildings, these three prominent architects leave legacies that will be cherished and remembered.

Film Commentary: Zombie Apocalypse, Re-Imagined — The Legacy of “28 Days Later”

June 20, 2025
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Where is the grandiose zombie apocalypse that illuminates the grotesque reality of the death-denying yet death-obsessed beings we’ve become? Ralph Fiennes knows.

Artist Remembrance: Brian Wilson — An Appreciation

June 12, 2025
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Brian Wilson’s clear falsetto voice may be stilled but his amazing trove of timeless music lives on.

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