“By the time they became acquainted, in 1970, both were well established in their fields – Welty in that nebulous genre called Southern literature, and Macdonald in hard-boiled detective fiction. … With the ice broken, Welty and Millar struck up an epistolary friendship that endured until his death in 1983, exchanging some 345 letters. … Can it come as any surprise, then, that these letters occasionally read like the prelude to a courtship?”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.30.15
Farmer and the Cowman Redux
Three years ago I published a post titled The Farmer and the Cowman in which I acknowledged an epiphany about the relationship between arts marketing and community engagement. In the past six months … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-09-29
The Pope, the music and the evacuation
A pope without music is like a ship without a flag. It’s part of the papal aura – but, unlike incense, it doesn’t send your sinuses into spasms. At the Festival of Families Saturday night … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2015-09-30
October Blues: Line-Dance Clicks
“Owing to the Greeks” – Tom McCartney on historical roots of the European Union fiscal crisis. “Do we mistake inaccessibility for brilliance?” – Leslie Jamison in NYT’s Bookends column (turkey headline), August 30 … read more
AJBlog: blog riley Published 2015-09-30
Diffident Leviathan
Accordionist Veli Kujala did a lovely job on my piece Reticent Behemoth for his quarter-tone accordion. Here’s the recording from the world premiere last Thursday in Turku, Finland (duration five and a half minutes). … read more
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2015-09-30
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First Female Winner Of Thurber Prize For American Humor
“Julie Schumacher became the first female winner of The Thurber Prize For American Humor on Monday night, taking the prize for her epistolary novel Dear Committee Members. It was destined to be a historic night for the nearly 20-year-old award; all three of this year’s finalists were women.”
Why Have There Been No Great Women Bad-Boy Artists? There Have Been, Of Course. Says Jerry Saltz, But The Art World Has Refused To Recognize Them
“Dana Schutz and Katherine Bernhardt are among the liveliest American painters to emerge in this country in 15 years, and both opened big new shows over two nights a few weeks ago. Before we get to the exhibitions, a little history to help explain why the reputations of these two painters have careened so much over that time – they’ve been celebrated, passed over for big shows, and become dark horses, all while helping to shape the current charismatic painting moment.”
Can Art Dissuade Young Saudis From Radical Islamism? This Artist Is Trying
“We need to invest in these young people before ISIS does,’ says Abdulnasser Gharem, a former lieutenant colonel in the Saudi Arabian army, sipping a glass of water in the Tate during a flying visit to London. ‘They have energy and have little to do in their own country – so what would you expect them to do?'”
Chicago’s Goodman Theatre Names First All-Female Playwrights Unit
“The Playwrights Unit offers Chicago playwrights a year-long residency to foster new work with the Goodman’s artistic team. The group will meet twice a month and their work will culminate in public staged readings held in summer 2016.”
Phil Woods, 83 Revered Jazz Saxophonist
“[He] was one of the leading alto saxophonists in the generation that followed Charlie Parker … For much of that career, he was a sought-after section player in big bands because of his ability, unusual at the time, to read sheet music with as much breezy authority as he brought to his solos.”
Nonesuch Records Chief Robert Hurwitz To Retire After 32 Years
“When executives at big record companies leave their jobs, there is usually a quick announcement and a scramble behind the scenes to install a new regime. Not so with the long sunset for Robert Hurwitz of Nonesuch Records, the prestigious Warner Music imprint that is home to acts as varied as Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson and the Black Keys.”
See Our Movie, Save The World: Marketing Documentaries On Climate Change And Endangered Species To Viewers Who’d Rather Not Get Depressed
“Two movies on similar missions are opening within weeks of each other this season, Racing Extinction and This Changes Everything, both exploring the devastation humanity has wrought on the natural world. Yet rather than focusing only on what is dying and lost, both films offer messages of hope, profiling people who have helped stop, animal by animal, acre by acre, the pillaging of wildlife and land.”
Are Apple Stores The 21st Century’s Temples? Maybe So, Says A Cultural Historian
“In more ancient times, when communal experiences were mediated by religion, crowds used to gather outside temples on feast days. … Nowadays, we have Apple Release Day – the Feast of St. Jobs – when faithful customers gather outside Apple stores and await the renewal of a next generation iPhone.” Says NYU professor Erica Robles-Anderson, “It’s so obviously a cult.”