“Here, after all, was a man who had worked with those American folk legends Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, had influenced Bob Dylan, and taught both Ry Cooder and Jerry Garcia. A passionate enthusiast for folk music and a performer with a wicked and often outrageous sense of humour, he continued to perform – and to record – for as long as he could. His final album, recorded with his son Ben, was released two years ago.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘Dust To Glitter’ Occupation Of Berlin Theater Ends As Police Escort Activists Away
“Protesters associated with [a group called] Dust to Glitter had been occupying the [Volksbühne] since Friday night, declaring the building ‘property of the people’ in their initial statement. They intended to develop a ‘People’s Stage’ over the next three months, as well as an ‘anti-gentrification center’ and a ‘parliament of the homeless.'” (The protests were not aimed specifically at controversial new artistic director Chris Dercon.) Yet the occupiers left peacefully when the police arrived (though a few had to be carried away) – as one of the organizers said, “It seems that the theater workers were not entirely supportive of the occupation.”
The Oldest Institution In All France (1,153 Years!) Reopens As Paris’s Newest Museum
La Monnaie de Paris, the mint originally established in 864 by King Charles the Bald and functioning ever since, has been remodeled and opened to the public as a working museum devoted to monetary metallurgy through the ages. (150 artisans continue to work there on specially commissioned coins.) La Monnaie may soon face its first repatriation controversy, however: among its opening exhibits is the Treasure of Hué, looted by French forces from Vietnam’s imperial palace in 1886.
Australian Premiere Of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ‘In The Heights’ Cancelled After ‘Whitewashing’ Casting Controversy
“Matt Ward Entertainment, the Australian producing entity behind the production, came under fire last week when a series of character posters were released online revealing that a cast of predominantly white actors had been hired for the production. … Some protesters questioned the creative team’s decision to move forward with the musical once it became apparent that they were unable to authentically cast the production.”
Septime Webre And Patricia Barker Talk About Their New International Gigs
“This summer, it was announced that two American ballet directors would be taking over major international troupes. Septime Webre is headed to Hong Kong Ballet, while Patricia Barker is taking the reins at Royal New Zealand Ballet. We caught up with Webre and Barker to get the scoop on their new posts and what’s coming next.”
Tom Petty, 66
“Mr. Petty and his band, the Heartbreakers, released their self-titled debut in 1976 and soon drew comparisons to the bluesy, guitar-heavy rock of the Rolling Stones and the Byrds. Their music was unabashedly sentimental, seeming to speak to striving, everyday Americans no less than the songs of fellow rocker Bruce Springsteen … The group toured seemingly nonstop for decades, leading boisterous shows as recently as last week.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.02.17
Contemporary Photography, Old Masters and Me
Everywhere you look in art fairs, galleries, and many museums, you’ll see contemporary photography – it’s often more interesting than other forms of contemporary art, at least to the public. A few years ago, however, I discovered … read more
>AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-10-02
How Might the Guggenheim Museum Have Dodged the Pit-Bull Onslaught?
The short answer to my headline is: by realizing in advance that works predicated upon artist-inflicted cruelty to animals are morally repugnant and have no place in a museum display … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-10-02
Can’t anyone here play this game? (second post)
Promised followup to my last post. About things badly done at the gala season opener of the National Symphony on September 24. Because there are so many fumbles when classical music is presented to the the world. We need to do better! … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2017-10-02
A New E-Book Format Designed To Be Read In Web Browser
The platform, designed by the New York studio HAWRAF, “lets users play around with font, text size, line spacing, and background color.” (There’s also a text-to-speech function and a mode with a typeface specially for people with dyslexia.) “When you click on the footnotes, located in tiny typography to the right of the main text, they overtake the main text so you can get a closer look. … A ‘focus mode’ blacks out most of the browser, keeping your wandering eyes from getting distracted.”
Pompeii To Build Contemporary Art Collection
“Pompeii is inviting artists to create sculptural works incorporating archaeological fragments from the ancient Roman site near Naples, which its director-general Massimo Osanna says will show that it is still ‘a place of the contemporary’. Osanna hopes to build a permanent collection of new works and open a space to display them.”
The Guy Who Auditions Dancers For Cirque Du Soleil Explains What He Looks For
Rick Tjia: “Little do the dancers know how many tens of thousands of dancers I have seen and auditioned to get to this moment in time, little do they know the complexities and the enormous number of hours needed to cast one show, much less 22 at the same time – all the time – and counting. Little do they know how much audition ‘success’ is out of their control and how much of it actually is. But they wouldn’t know, and I guess I wouldn’t expect them to. During this wait time the question going through the dancers’ minds is, what is the secret? … There is no mystery, there is no secret.”