That Levant was what he seemed was doubtless a key to his appeal. His authenticity has never appeared more exceptional: no present-day mainstream media personality – not even our President — is as heedlessly controversial as was Levant every time he opened his mouth. – Joe Horowitz
Blog
Iris would have been 100 last month
It’s difficult to remember when I first met Iris Murdoch and John Bayley – in my experience, they were inseparable. – Paul Levy
Bob Wilber, RIP
We have learned that the superlative clarinetist and soprano saxophonist Bob Wilber died at his home in England earlier this month. – Doug Ramsey
Fact-Checking, Debunking, Truth-Telling And The Illusions Of Objectivity
The adversarial scene of debunking breaks down into a strange collaboration between debunker, charlatan and dupe. This collaboration leaves us with a different way of thinking about ‘modernity’ itself. – Aeon
Study: Political Values Influence Food Choices
“New research suggests that the divergent moral values underlying our polarized politics can influence our judgments even in a presumably non-partisan arena such as diet. The study finds that both liberals and conservatives perceive a food product as less healthy if the advertising pitch fails to align with their values.” – Pacific Standard
The Odd, Brilliant Career Of Oscar Levant
He was chiefly renowned for his intimate personal and professional association with George Gershwin; after Gershwin’s early death in 1937, Levant virtually owned Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F. For a time, during the 1940s, he was the highest-paid concert pianist in the United States, spicing his performances with banter and self-lacerating quips. Assaying Beethoven’s “Tempest” sonata, he might promise to play “with my customary arthritic abandon” and add: “This piece has never had a worthy interpretation. And it still won’t.” – Los Angeles Review of Books
NY Mega-Galleries Are Building Opulent New Homes, Redefining Galleries
In designing such new homes, these heavy hitters — Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner and Pace, which is consolidating its spaces on the Upper East Side and West 25th Street — are redefining what it means to be a gallery, shifting their emphasis from selling and showing art to a more full-service visitor experience that offers food, performance spaces, research libraries and open storage. – The New York Times
Online Language Is Getting More And More Sophisticated
“We no longer accept that writing must be lifeless, that it can only convey our tone of voice roughly and imprecisely, or that nuanced writing is the exclusive domain of professionals. We’re creating new rules for typographical tone of voice. Not the kind of rules that are imposed from on high, but the kind of rules that emerge from the collective practice of a couple billion social monkeys — rules that enliven our social interactions.” – The Atlantic
How OCD Feeds My Creativity
“Although I never considered it at the time, it is impossible for me now not to frame the intensity of this devotion to music as a counterpart—a harmony—to my OCD. Every moment I was poring over tablature or trying to master a new chord was a moment not spent, say, touching a byzantine pattern of bricks on the fireplace wall. When I was playing, writing, recording music, I was safe.” – Paris Review
Is There A Market For Classical Music Streaming?
Anyone who’s tried to stream classical on Spotify or iTunes knows that it’s not easy. Now two new streaming services, created specifically for classical hope they’ve solved the problems. – Musical America