“Used bookstores, with their quintessential quirkiness, eclectic inventory and cheap prices, find themselves in the catbird seat as the pendulum eases back toward print. In many cities, that’s a de facto position: They’re the only book outlets left.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
He Was A Major Violinist And Teacher, Now Stricken With Dementia; Language Has Almost Abandoned Him – Except When Coaching
Walter Levin escaped the Nazis as a child and went on to spend 40 years as founder and first violinist of the La Salle Quartet – and longer as a feared teacher. (He once kicked James Levine out for being unprepared.) At age 91, dependent on his near-superhuman wife, and barely verbal, music is his one remaining tether to the wider world. And when giving a lesson to a young quartet, we can see his faculties gradually revive. (includes video)
Broadway’s Hottest Choreographer Of The 21st Century
After The Apple Tree in 2006, “it was all upward – 2007’s In the Heights, for which he won a Tony; 2009’s 9 to 5; 2012’s Bring It On: The Musical (in which he debuted as a director), as well as the heralded revival of Annie that same year. And now there’s Hamilton.”
The Extraordinary Daring Of ‘Transparent’
“Jill Soloway’s stealth masterpiece … would have won polite praise even if it were merely a piece of well-made agitprop – a TED Talk on trans identity. Instead, it dived, quick and confident, into murkier waters, exploring themes less comforting but more interesting than ‘love makes a family’ sloganeering.”
Tufts Univ. To Take Over Museum Of Fine Arts Boston’s Art School
“The agreement, which has been initially approved by both institutions’ boards, would become effective June 30, paving the way for the art school’s more than 700 students and roughly 145 faculty members to come under the Tufts banner.”
This Theater Thought It Had Two Years Of Surpluses; It Actually Had A $1 Million Deficit
“On Monday, [Carolina Theatre’s] leaders announced they had run up an additional $800,000 in debt since July 2013, when they and the rest of the board thought the city-owned theater was making a profit. The city [of Durham] pays Carolina Theatre of Durham Inc. $654,000 a year to run the complex on Morgan Street.”
The ‘Digital Dissenters’ – They Come From The High-Tech World, And They’re Very Worried About It
Jaron Lanier, Astra Taylor, Douglas Rushkoff – even Gary Shteyngart and Pope Francis. They and their fellows are “unhappy about the way the tech revolution has played out. Political progressives once embraced the utopian promise of the Internet as a democratizing force, but they’ve been dismayed by the rise of the ‘surveillance state,’ and the near-monopolization of digital platforms by huge corporations.”
Looking At Carnegie Hall’s Wish List For A New Chairman
“The memo, obtained by The New York Times, offers insight into the institution’s thinking as it works to recover from the turmoil that burst into the public eye this fall when Ronald O. Perelman, the billionaire businessman, abruptly stepped down after eight months as its chairman.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 12.28.15
Performing arts and cities and (again) the creative class
A new study just published in the academic journal Economic Development Quarterly looks at the links between big (budget over $2 million) performing arts organizations and the change in the proportion of the metro workforce … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2015-12-27
Monday Recommendation: Mette Henriette
The mystery, melancholy and minimalist magic of Mette Henriette Martedatter Rølvåg’s music stems in part from her family origins in the Sámi, the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-12-28
The Year in CultureGrrl, 2015 Edition
2015 was, for me, a high point of my CultureGrrl “career” – the only year when my dogged blogging was generously compensated, thanks to the munificent Art Writers Grant from Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation. This windfall … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-12-27
Shared Birthday: Crow, Budwig, Scofield & Dickerson
December 26th is the birth date of several notable musicians including Bill Crow (b. 1927), John Scofield (b. 1951) and Dwight Dickerson (b 1944). We wish them a happy birthday and remember Monty Budwig (1929-1992). … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-12-27
Immodest me, in Steve Cerra’s Jazz Profiles
Howard Mandel, photo by Salvatore Corso Thanks to Steve Cerra of Jazz Profiles for asking me a few questions by email, and letting me go on and on. Of course my answers are far from … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2015-12-26
Smyth: Early, Late, and Best
I’ve found what I think is the best available music by Ethel Smyth: this recording of her Serenade in D (1890) and Double Concerto for Violin and Horn (1927). (Pardon the generic suffragette image on … read more
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2015-12-23
Puerto Rican/European: Francisco Oller’s Hybrid Paintings at the Brooklyn Museum
Like the works of Archibald Motley, now featured at the Whitney Museum, the art of Puerto Rican painter Francisco Oller, subject of a concurrent retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum (to Jan. 3), inhabits two separate … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-12-23
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What Have We Lost Now That We Can No Longer Read The Night Sky?
“For most of human history, … it was unthinkable to ignore the stars. They were critical signposts, as prominent and useful as local hills, paths or wells. … On otherwise trackless seas and deserts, the familiar stars would also serve as a valued friend. That friendship is now broken. … Today, we are more disconnected from the stars than ever before.”