Category: AJBlogs

Kusama in Seattle, Post Script, And On to LA
When, on a recent day, The Broad museum announced that “due to overwhelming demand” additional tickets for the coming Yayoi Kusama exhibition would be available on Oct. 2, it added this to the statement: … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-09-18

“The Difference Between Quality Art and Crap” Take Four
Processing my exchange with Vladimir Feltsman, I find myself distracted by something I have long more or less ignored: the art of the piano as manifest by the young artists who today dominate the scene – what Feltsman calls “a new artform.” … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-09-17

Bausch Reborn
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch returns to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (through September 24). … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-09-17

Brad Mehldau and Chris Thile at the Ace Hotel/LA
In some ways, this pairing makes absolutely no sense — a jazz pianist and a bluegrass mandolinist, playing together? But in another, it’s nearly inevitable. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-09-18

Monday Recommendation: Tatum’s Town
Bob Dietsche, Tatum’s Town (Bobson Press)
Most Art Tatum devotees know that Toledo, Ohio, was his hometown. It was where his genius became evident when he was a teenaged Fats Waller disciple. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-09-18

Concept Test Kitchen, Episode 1
I’m launching a new experiment with this pilot episode of “Concept Test Kitchen” – a video series presenting interesting frameworks or approaches to arts management (‘recipes for thinking’), so you can share back whether or when they may be useful. … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2017-09-14

Smith Smites: Tom Campbell’s Precipitous Fall from Favor (plus, my I-told-you-so)
Now that we know what the Metropolitan Museum wants in its next director, I’m going to allow myself an I-told-you-so moment about its last director, responding to Roberta Smith‘s recent autopsy of Tom Campbell‘s trouble-plagued tenure. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-09-14

“The Difference Between Quality Art and Crap” Take Three
Though as usual most of the feedback to my recent blogs comes via private emails rather than public responses, a flurry of interesting posted responses here and via Facebook spurs me to rant some more. … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-09-14

Youssou N’Dour on stage & screen, PoKempner photos
Photo-journalist Marc PoKempner‘s images from the Chicago Jazz Fest, as featured in my previous post, and these from Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour’s rousing … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-09-14
 

Defusing beauty
My previous post suggested a multi-layered view of our work in arts organizations, including attention to the nouns of our ‘products’ or ‘outcomes,’ the verbs of our ‘processes’ or ‘practices,’ but also the core ‘source’ … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2017-09-13

Why Engage?
I am frequently asked about the rationales for community engagement. I have spent so much time with my head in the weeds about the subject that my responses have a tendency to go on for … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-09-12

Breaking: Metropolitan Museum’s Job Description for Its Next Director (contrasted with its last one)
This just in — the memo sent today to the Metropolitan Museum’s staff by president and CEO Dan Weiss, followed by the text of the job description for the new director. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-09-13

“The Difference Between Quality Art and Crap” Take Two
My exchange with Vladimir Feltsman about “quality art” versus “crap” was posted on youtube and elicited this response: “Two oldies bemoaning that they have had their day and are confined to the dust bin … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-09-12

Recent Listening: Rigby And Eckemoff
Jason Rigby Detroit-Cleveland Trio, ONE (Fresh Sound New Talent)
The simplicity of the Rigby Trio’s cover design matches the uncomplicated instrumentation—saxophone, bass and drums. It is a configuration used to great effect … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-09-13

Coming Soon: Ask A Curator Day
I’m not sure how I missed Ask A Curator Day in years past; I think it’s a splendid idea. Maybe because it seems to be publicized most ardently on Twitter, and I do not have … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-09-11

The Red Shoes Are Not Tired
When Bourne’s stage version of The Red Shoes opened at Sadler’s Wells this past December, the review headlines appeared full of praise (I’ve averted my eyes from any spoiler details). … Will Bourne find a way to transmit the energy of the film’s dialogue and giant close-ups onstage? … read more
AJBlog: Fresh Pencil Published 2017-09-11

“The Difference Between Quality Art and Crap”
I was chatting with Vladimir Feltsman last Spring about PostClassical Ensemble’s 2017-18 immersion experience, “The Russian Experiment,” when the conversation took an unexpected turn. … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-09-10

Monday Recommendation: Hagans On Cassavetes
Tim Hagans, NDR Bigband, Faces Under The Influence: A Jazz Tribute to John Cassavetes, Waiting Moon Records. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-09-11

Berserk in the Berkshires: Museum’s Perverse Plan Underscores Need for Government Regulations
The sad saga of the Berkshire Museum’s descent into madness — its wrongheaded, self-destructive obsession with solving its financial problems by selling off the best works in its collection — reaffirms my long-held conviction that strict laws and/or ironclad … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-09-07

Jazz on Millennium Park’s big screen – PoKempner photos
A 40-by-22½-foot LED screen is a dominating feature of the stage in the Pritzker Pavilion of Chicago’s Millennium Park, difficult to ignore though many try.  … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-09-07

The shallow breathing of rational management
So much of our training, theory, practice, and focus in cultural management has to do with outcomes and processes. When we look to improve how our organizations ‘work’, we tend to choose between … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2017-09-06

Three Small(ish) Exhibitions That Deserve More Notice
Planning your fall outings to special exhibitions? The season about to begin has a wealth of fascinating shows – many devoted to artists or topics that are due for much more exposure and attention. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-09-06

Breaking (& heartbreaking): Sotheby’s Releases Checklist & Price Estimates of Berkshire Museum Disposals
Read ’em and weep. Sotheby’s has just released the checklist (with presale estimates and sale dates) for the Berkshire Museum 40. Apparently the seller and its agent don’t believe that … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-09-06

Charlie Shoemake’s Changes
Demanding to be heard, now and then one of the LPs in the surviving Rifftides collection of vinyl records sends vibes — appropriately in this case. The album called Sunstroke appeared in 1979 on the … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-09-06

How to Save the Berkshire Museum: A Roadmap Provided by the Endangered Danforth Art Museum
Could Williams College come to the rescue of the foundering Berkshire Museum and its endangered collection? The financially challenged Danforth Art Museum|School has shown how this might be done, … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-09-05

Chicago Jazz Fest expanded review & Deutsch photos
My DownBeat review of the 39th annual Chicago Jazz Festival held over Labor Day weekend in and spilling out of Millennium Park, highlights the best I heard — including the specially organized big band … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-09-05

In Harvey’s Wake: An Update on Houston MFA and the Menil Collection
Updates to my previous post on the effects of Hurricane Harvey on two of Houston’s premier art museums: … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-09-01

Walter Becker, R.I.P.
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, the creative nucleus of Steely Dan, were the Stephen Sondheims of rock, ironic, disillusioned, and musically and lyrically sophisticated to the highest possible degree. I first heard their music (not … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-09-03

All Fall Down
We’ve got a packed fall season in the Composition Department of the UNC School of the Arts.  For those who aren’t familiar with it, this is a campus of about 1200 students, all artists, from … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2017-09-04

Homeward Bound
Jonah Bokaer performs at the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-08-31

Janne “Loffe” Carlsson 1937-2017
Less than a month after he amused a huge audience at the opening event of the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival, the Swedish actor, comedian and drummer Janne “Loffe” Carlsson has died. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-08-31