The Mesmerizing Art of Ran Hwang
New York City is home to thousands of working artists, including many good ones who rarely receive the publicity they deserve – even when they have galleries and have had museum exhibitions. So I was pleased to … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-03-29
Doin’ It
After almost two generations of declining emphasis on the arts in public schools we face communities largely made up of people who have little or no experience participating in the arts. Where once large percentages … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-03-28
“Emet” & Emmett: Why Truth-Telling (like Schutz’s) about Till’s Murder Should Be Ecumenical
The Whitney Museum has now composed what is, to my mind, the most succinct, sagacious response to the firestorm of castigation, pontification and rationalization swirling around Dana Schutz‘s powerful Open Casket at the Whitney Biennial. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-03-28
Max Hollein, Monet And Baseball
When baseball fans go to a game, they usually come prepared: they know the players, their records and their statistics. They know all about batting order strategy. The same for, say, horse-racing – even more so, because good bettors study the odds. But when people go to art museums, they often know nothing in advance – at least nothing very specific … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-03-26
Moody: Groovin’ High
The Rifftides staff almost let March 26 go by without acknowledging that this is James Moody’s birthday. The master of several saxophones and the flute was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1925. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-03-26
What Algren’s Legacy Doesn’t Need …
… is a museum for tourists that perpetuates clichés about him. … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2017-03-27
Squatting at The Bunker in London
‘Home Truths: An Incomplete History of Housing Told in Nine Plays.’ The play cycle runs from April 17 through May 13. … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-03-26
Mr. P.C. Found
You must have been wondering—haven’t we all?—what happened to Mr. P.C.’s Guide To Jazz Etiquette And Bandstand Decorum. The jazz world’s indispensible source of advice has become harder to find, but not … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-03-25
The love of community
This Arts Advocacy Day, the stakes are much higher. As we work to make the case for the arts, we wonder, is our data keeping pace? We’re using love (or breakup) letters as a creative and … read more
AJBlog: Field NotesPublished 2017-03-24
Apollo Meets the Higgs Boson
Emily Coates’ Incarnations premieres at St. Marks’ Church, March 16 through 18. Emily Coates’ Incarnations (dress rehearsal). Apollo leads the Muses. L to R: Iréne Hultman, Emily Coates, Sarah Demers, and Yvonne Rainer. Photo: Alexis … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-03-24
It’s Steve Kuhn’s Birthday
Pianist Steve Kuhn, born in 1938, is celebrating his birthday. Let’s celebrate with him as he, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Billy Drummond play Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation.” Kuhn’s unaccompanied introduction explores a … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-03-24
They’re gonna need a bigger helicopter
In today’s Wall Street Journal I review the Broadway revival of Miss Saigon. Here’s an excerpt. * * * “Miss Saigon,” in which Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, the makers of “Les Misérables,” turned “Madame … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-03-24
I know you won’t judge me
This Arts Advocacy Day, the stakes are much higher. As we work to make the case for the arts, we wonder, is our data keeping pace? We’re using love (or breakup) letters as a creative and fun design research method to get powerful insight into the perceptions of our stakeholders. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2017-03-23
Flyover country? Nonsense in jazz, politics, crime fiction
There’s no such thing as “flyover country” — except in the minds of careless or ignorant people who ought to know better. For instance: Jazz lives throughout the US and the world, not only in New York. … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-03-23
Ice cream and coffee
Quite a lively discussion in class this week, about how conservatories could change. One quick takeaway: That the Juilliard graduate students in my class would love to go to a school where the focus was … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2017-03-23
You’re the best
This Arts Advocacy Day, the stakes are much higher. As we work to make the case for the arts, we wonder, is our data keeping pace? We’re using love (or breakup) letters as a creative and fun design research method to get powerful insight into the perceptions of our stakeholders. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2017-03-22
The circle of art and commerce
Last week, in my Juilliard course on the future of classical music, one of my students asked about art and commerce. Where do they fit in classical music’s future? What roles will they play? … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2017-03-22
Augurs of spring
New York drama critics are forced to attend so many Broadway openings in March and April that they don’t have time to do much of anything else. Needless to say, I love theater, but I’m I’m not monomaniacal about it, so I figured I’d better indulge a couple of my other artistic interests while I still could. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-03-22
The NEA (and Other Things)
The NEA, along with the NEH, the IMLS, the CPB, etc., etc., is very important for both symbolic and practical reasons. … The other thing that concerns me is that, in general, attacks on public funding of the arts are not about money or the arts. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-03-21
I am still feeling the same glow
This Arts Advocacy Day, the stakes are much higher. As we work to make the case for the arts, we wonder, is our data keeping pace? … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2017-03-21
Making What You Will of Malvolia
Paul Levy on Simon Godwin’s production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, starring Tamsin Greig as Malvolia, at the National Theatre of Great Britain. … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2017-03-21
What’s In A Name? Plenty, If The Name Is Cuneiform
Cuneiform is an independent label recording music that is out of the mainstream. … The history of the label’s name goes back 5,500 years or more. Curious about how it was chosen, I dropped a line to Joyce, the label’s director of publicity and information, and asked, “Are you archeologists?” … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-03-21
Love, Hate and Design Research
Sigh. We live in interesting times. Increasingly folks are driven further apart, retreating into factions that love one thing/person or hate another. Naturally, we are right and they are wrong. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2017-03-19
Operas That Dance
The Brooklyn Academy of Music presents Mark Morris: Two Operas (Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River and Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), March 15 through 19. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-03-20
Film Composition
We had composer Chris Heckman in on Friday to talk with our composers about careers in Film Composition. … He was direct and informative with the students: no sugar-coating, no blasting the bad guys, just shared a clear sense of how the profession works. A few themes emerged. … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2017-03-20
The awkward master
Marsden Hartley was a major American painter, to my mind a great one. Robert Hughes called him “the most brilliantly gifted of the early generation of American modernists,” … Yet his work has never come close to receiving its due, … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-03-20
Poetry of the Absurd
This is a tape cut-up I made with Carl Weissner way back in 1971. We used a recording of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley speaking to members of the city council. We “cut” the tape … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-03-19
For The Weekend: A Beach Boys Song A La Charles Lloyd
At the Jazz At Porquerolles Festival on the French Riviera in 2011, Charles Lloyd and his remarkable quartet of the period turned their attention to one of Brian Wilson’s songs. Wilson first … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-03-17
What Went Wrong
Spineless Democrats and Republican thugs: A 30-minute rap on why we are where we are. Click to listen to … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-03-17
The Art of Empathy; or the Neurology of What the World Needs Now
Guinea Baboon Brain by J. Sayuri, part of the “Animal Brains” series. Prints available on Etsy. The way we live our lives is based on memories and stories that we tell each other as part … read more
AJBlog: New BeansPublished 2017-03-17
NEA Funding: Beyond Votes, We Must Grow the Applause
The President’s budget proposal to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts is merely an “opening argument.” A very long legislative process now begins which will, hopefully, culminate in a budget that reflects moderation … read more
AJBlog: Audience Wanted Published 2017-03-16
It’s A Matter of Taste-And Touch And…
If three, as the old saying goes, makes a trend, the museum world is past that and into institutionalizing the idea of multi-sensory exhibitions. I still would call it a “mini-trend,” though … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-03-16
Phantasmic Freaks and Geeks in ABT’s Scrumptious “Whipped Cream”
No one in their right mind thinks the ballet stage needs any more dancing sweets, yet there was something irresistible about the announcement that American Ballet Theatre Artist-in-Residence Alexei Ratmansky planned to resurrect Richard Strauss’ … read more
AJBlog: Fresh Pencil Published 2017-03-16
