Month: September 2010

Visual Arts Commentary: Alex Katz — Superficiality Equals Profundity?

September 9, 2010
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Through July 29th, the MFA in Boston is presenting “Alex Katz Prints.” Time to take a look at Arts Fuse Critic Franklin Einspruch’s thoughts on the artist, posted about an exhibition of Katz’s paintings at the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine.

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Theater Review: Beowulf Unleashed

September 6, 2010
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Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage. Written and performed by Banana Bag & Bodice. At Oberon, Cambridge, MA, tonight (September 6). Reviewed by Chantal Mendes AF interview with Big Banana & Bodice Oberon is not the kind of place where you think you are going to learn something about what it means to be human.…

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Music Interview: Jazz Colossus at 80. Bob Blumenthal on Sonny Rollins

September 6, 2010
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Bob Blumenthal has spent almost his entire listening life as an admirer of Rollins and an appreciator of his music, and he is a prose stylist of great elegance and precision. There is hardly anyone alive more qualified to write this kind of career-spanning appreciation. Saxophone Colossus: a Portrait of Sonny Rollins Text by Bob…

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Theater Commentary: For Mature Audiences?

September 4, 2010
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By Bill Marx After four years in the position, Louise Kennedy is leaving her post as theater critic for the Boston Globe to work on a book project. I wish her well: she’s had to persevere as the position becomes the afterthought of a Tweet. Perhaps she sees the handwriting on the printer’s wall. Her…

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Welcome to the Newly Upholstered Arts Fuse!

September 2, 2010
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The Arts Fuse began as my blog after the untimely end of NPR/WBUR Arts Online. But, as more writers and critics wanted to make their voices heard, the blog became a magazine. So, I decided to make it a New England focused magazine modeled on other pioneering efforts to cover the news online, such as…

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Classical Music Commentary: Tanglewood Confabulation

September 1, 2010
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This past Friday night’s guests were two of the most impressive names in classical music, concert pianist Emmanuel Ax and conductor Kurt Masur. By Ron Barnell One of the highlights of this and the past several Tanglewood seasons has been a two-step operation. First, early Friday night Boston Symphony Orchestra concert goers enjoy chamber music…

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Theater Interview: Talking with the Big Banana Bag & Bodice

September 1, 2010
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By Chantal Mendes This Sunday the enterprising theater troupe Banana Bag & Bodice brings its distinctively modern adaptation of an ancient classic, Beowulf – A Thousand Years of Baggage, to Oberon in Cambridge, MA. For those of us who missed the recent movie version, Beowulf conjures up sleepy times in early English Literature class. Given…

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Coming Attractions in Popular Music: September 2010

September 1, 2010
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Even though it’s the time of year when the T is clogged with wide-eyed college freshman trying to find Faneuil Hall, there are still lots of great shows to go see in Boston. By Thomas Samph This month’s selection of pop music begins with an up-and-coming female pop act from the UK whose Family Jewels…

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