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Jazz Album Review: Pablo Ablanedo’s “Chistreza” — Rhythmic Bounty

July 18, 2020
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Every piece here seems to play by its own rhythmic rules, and yet nowhere does the music sound academic or formal.

Album Review: “Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again” — Kacy Hill Goes Intimate

July 18, 2020
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Freed from the pressures of recording for a major label, Kacy Hill has created an album that feels surprisingly personal.

Book Review: “The U.S. Antifascism Reader” — Recovering the Great American Tradition of Punching Nazis

July 18, 2020
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Practical handbook, compendium of theory, or history of an American tradition? A little of each… but enough of any?

Film Review: “The Painted Bird” — A Memorable Vision of the Worst That Can Be Imagined

July 18, 2020
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The Painted Bird is a coming-of-age story populated by the worst of humankind.

Concert Review: Billy Strings’s Streaming Strings Tour — Virtual but Unbridled

July 18, 2020
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If the first set was all about reminding us the breadth and depth of the talent in Billy Strings’ combo, the second set was all about dynamics and power.

Television Review: “Bully. Coward. Victim: The Story of Roy Cohn” — A Soulless Man

July 17, 2020
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Roy Cohn was much more pernicious than Joe McCarthy because he was far more adept at undercutting the relevance of so-called American values.

Book Review: “Utopia Avenue” — A Broken Record?

July 17, 2020
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These days, I worry that David Mitchell is losing touch with reality.

Television Review: ” I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” — True Crime, with Empathy for the Victims

July 16, 2020
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To its credit, this “true crime” documentary treats the tragedy of each victim with empathy and respect.

Film Review: Writer Flannery O’Connor — A Singular and Mysterious Consciousness

July 16, 2020
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With its many virtues, Flannery isn’t the perfect film biography. It’s a shoot-by-the-numbers conventional PBS American Experience.

Critical/Theater Commentary: Slapping Sleeping Media Outlets A “Woke”

July 15, 2020
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Taking action on even a modest number of these suggestions will undoubtedly shake up the current puerility of much of American theater criticism.

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