Author: Douglas McLennan

How Go-Go Culture Stood Up To Gentrification In DC

The story is already legend: In D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood, Donald Campbell had been cranking go-go music from the speakers of his store at the corner of 7th and Florida Street since 1995, and it had been one of the few places one could still hear go-go in a public space in the city in recent years. But, in April, a tenant of a nearby luxury condo threatened to sue Campbell if he didn’t turn the music off. So Campbell let the streets decide, putting the call out to local media, social media, college networks—whoever would listen—that go-go was once again under attack. The response: Thousands of people flooded Shaw’s streets and thousands more signed a petition (80,329 to be exact) – CityLab

The Serious Critic: How James Wood’s Judgment Has Changed

Wood’s earlier essays are more sure of themselves, more eager to please, packed with the kind of aphoristic insights that might have undergraduates reaching for their highlighter pens… In later essays, mostly those written for the New Yorker, there is a more grounded and relaxed voice; a bit less desire to display fizzing erudition, a bit more concern for the messiness of emotional truth. – The Guardian

Art Market Trends Report: Artists Will Need To Diversify Their Income Sources

These changes are symptomatic of several wider cultural shifts that, in combination with rising costs and declining public funding, are ‘squeezing’ the low-to-mid end of the market: the rise of a global elite, art fairs, ‘mega-galleries’ and the commodification of art as the sector became more closely intertwined with fashion, celebrity culture and advertising. – Arts Professional

Botticelli “Copy” That Lay In Museum Storeroom For Decades Turns Out To Be Authentic

National Museum Cardiff has put on display a painting of a Madonna and child that had for decades been dismissed as a crude copy of Botticelli’s style. Ironically, it had been thought a Botticelli by the collector, Gwendoline Davies, who bequeathed it in 1952. Experts soon began to doubt that and downgraded it to the status of copy. – The Guardian

By The Numbers: Who Works In Publishing

2017 was the first time women held a greater share of management jobs than men, and in 2018 they once again had a majority of jobs in that area, though their share fell to 52% (from 59% in 2017). Still, the median compensation for a woman in management was $126,000 last year, up from $110,000 in 2017. Male managers also had an increase, with their median pay rising to $139,000 (from $118,000 in 2017). – Publishers Weekly

I Like Books. But I Really Like Reading On My Phone Better

“Reading on my phone is not a perfect cure for my drowsiness, which seems to be a condition of aging, and stress, or both. I’ll never again be 14 years old with an insatiable appetite for one more chapter, and that’s sad. But I can approximate that feeling, reading on my phone, in bed, with the lights out, long after I should have gone to sleep.” – The Cut