It’s Time To Rediscover The Greatness Of Mary McCarthy

Ignore Norman Mailer and his evaluation of McCarthy’s books. “This is a perfect moment, in terms of the progress of our political development as well as the sand through feminism’s hourglass, for the Library of America’s release of McCarthy’s complete fiction. The two volumes comprise a body of work that retains startling and unsettling relevance. “

Top AJBlogs Posts From The Weekend Of 07.09.17

Stop Talking: More on Deleting the Formal
On the day of the Comey hearing, we sat in a bar in Paris watching CNN. Lordy, that was a lot of talking. As if to balance that experience, we went to a piano … read more
AJBlog: The Bright RidePublished 2017-07-09

Other Matters: Mount Adams And The Moon
With the abeyance of certain physical annoyances, cycling is back in more or less full swing. Glorious weather makes it a pleasure to be on the road again, but only if the … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-07-09

Consistency within Variety
Jessica Lang Dance performs at Jacob’s Pillow July 5 through 9. Jammie Walker and members of Jessica Lang Dance in Lang’s Lyric Pieces. Photo: Christopher Duggan Jessica Lang graduated from the Juilliard School and danced … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-07-08

Followup: Gunnarsson Quartet Seen And Heard
Moments after I posted yesterday’s Riftides review of Fanny Gunnarsson’s Mirrors, I came across a video of the pianist and singer with her quartet performing a piece from the album. Again, the … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-07-07

Kansas City’s American Jazz Museum Has This Little Problem Of Being Too Identified With 18th And Vine

The city’s former mayor Emanuel Cleaver, during whose administration the museum was opened, says that the financially troubled museum – in a building owned by the city, with artifacts owned by the city, and with a third of its budget coming from the city – needs the entire city to view it as a point of pride. City Councilor Quentin Lucas: “When you look at the successful museums in Kansas City, those that have broader buy-in from a larger community are the ones that are successful.” But how to make that happen?

The Two ‘Brown Girls’ TV Shows Being Developed Say Something About Two Futures For The United States

“Americans are preparing for different eventualities. The president is promising a border wall, even as the nation’s biggest networks pour cash into Telemundo and Univision. This year and last, Atlanta and Insecure and Moonlight and Moana moved the spotlight away from white characters and writers, and eyes and hearts and wallets moved, too. … The nation’s heartbeat holds the quick pulses of those brown girls and black boys, and executives tried to match fare to that pace. Others, famously, could not keep up.”

The Pasadena Playhouse Is In Trouble, But Its New Artistic Director Is Ready To Fight For Its Survival

The Playhouse is celebrating its centennial but canceled two large-cast productions last year for plays with far, far fewer people, and had to get board loans for this year after the state of California cut $1 million from its budget (the cuts were restored). Still, new producing artistic director Danny Feldman “isn’t daunted by the challenges, referring to himself as ‘bizarre’ in that he loves fundraising.” Can he succeed?