Commentary

Jazz Remembrance: You Don’t Know Jack—From Glasgow to New York

November 2, 2014
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“With Cream I and Ginger could play free jazz as a rhythm section, while Eric played the Ornette Coleman role. However, we didn’t tell Eric that!”

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Music Commentary: “I’ve neither seen nor heard it, but I don’t like it. (And neither should you.)”: “The Death of Klinghoffer” Meets the Know-Nothing Protest

October 23, 2014
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What we seem to have here is one of the glories of our democracy in action: the blind leading the oblivious; aping distortions and downright falsehoods about the opera.

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Book Commentary: Patrick Modiano — An Oddly Elliptical Choice for the Nobel Prize for Literature

October 23, 2014
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Patrick Modiano’s simple sentences pull one in; the nostalgia of loss and pain of youth and the hunt for a vague, romantic Other are easy to relate to.

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Fuse Commentary: A Tasting Menu for Boston Arts — An Idea Whose Time Has Come

October 18, 2014
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Here’s a modest proposal. Let’s invent a Boston arts tasting menu.

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Arts Commentary — Big Money for Artist Activists From the Robert Rauschenberg Estate

September 8, 2014
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It’s important for there to be funds, curators, institutions, and audiences for art that can speak truth to power in unconstrained ways.

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Visual Arts Commentary: The Lawn on D — A New Park Paradigm in South Boston

August 29, 2014
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The Lawn on D is a breath of fresh cultural air in Boston.

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Opera Commentary: The Mess at the Met — … curtain!

August 22, 2014
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On the surface, this is a deal that lets both sides go forward having saved face, though a closer look at things suggests that the musicians came out ahead.

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Fuse Visual Arts Commentary: Design Museum Boston — Celebrating 21st Century Design

August 22, 2014
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The establishment of Design Museum Boston is long overdue.

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Critical Commentary: But Can You Relate?

August 13, 2014
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Fighting for the intellectual integrity and independence of arts reviews means demanding more analysis and less sales talk.

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Arts Remembrance: Farewell, Robin Williams — Manic Master of Comedy

August 13, 2014
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Monday’s news of the death of Robin Williams has hit hard. His brand of irresistible joie de vivre has been indispensable for decades.

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