Category: AJBlogs

Is There Anything New In Costume Exhibits?
Yes, maybe. Vogue magazine recently wrote: “Couture Korea proves that in the often choked-up calendar of museum fashion exhibitions, there are still fascinating new subjects to explore that are fresh and full of feeling.” … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2018-01-08

Britain, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and 1966
What was the real heart of the ’60s? That depends, of course, on what we really mean when we talk about that much-mythologized and contested decade. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2018-01-08

My Debt to Eugene Thaw, the Late Dealer, Collector, Connoisseur, Scholar, Donor, Mentor
I’ve never met an art dealer as brilliant and multifaceted as Eugene V. Thaw, who died Jan. 3 at the age of 90. Selling works of highest quality, from old masters to modern, he advised the … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-01-08

Big man, small screen
Seeking to rest my weary mind, I brought a short stack of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mystery novels with me to Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania, where Mrs. T and I retreated last week … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-01-08

Recent Listening: A Porter, Porter And King Collaboration
Randy Porter Plays Cole Porter, special guest Nancy King (Heavywood)
If Randy Porter played more widely outside the US Pacific Northwest, he would likely be lauded as one of the leading contemporary … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-01-08

 

Recent Listening: Django Bates Trio
Django Bates’ Belovèd, The Study Of Touch (ECM) Following his engrossing participation in Anouar Brahem’s Blue Maqams, pianist Bates returns to ECM with his trio in nine of his compositions, a Charlie … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2018-01-05

Intersession Deaccession: AAM and AAMD Issue Joint Statement Deploring the La Salle Sales
As they did in the ongoing Berkshire Museum saga, the American Alliance for Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors have just issued a joint statement strongly opposing La Salle University’s planned sales of … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2018-01-05

Replay: Sid Catlett sits in with the John Kirby Sextet
The John Kirby Sextet plays Charlie Shavers’ “Musicomania” in Sepia Cinderella, directed by Arthur Leonard and released in 1947. The band consists of Buster Bailey on clarinet, Charlie Holmes on alto saxophone, Shavers on trumpet, … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-01-05

Almanac: Michael Powell on the unity of “high” and popular art
“Art with a big A makes professionals uneasy. All art is one, and there is no difference in the mystery of the craft, only in the hand and eye of the craftsman.” Michael Powell, A … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-01-05

Admission Revision: Metropolitan Museum Raises Eyebrows with Mandatory Fees for Non-New Yorkers
Were it not for my free-admission press pass, I’d be personally affected and affronted by the Metropolitan Museum’s new admissions policy. I’d feel as if a longtime lover had jilted me. As a Bronx native … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2018-01-04

Artichokes, Hearts
A while back I read that some folks were plucking artichokes from farm borders off the roads in California, apparently to sell. One doesn’t immediately think that these vegetable aardvarks are sustenance, although, indirectly, … read more
AJBlog: Out TherePublished 2018-01-04

Admission Revision: Metropolitan Museum Raises Eyebrows with Mandatory Fees for Non-New Yorkers
Were it not for my free-admission press pass, I’d be personally affected and affronted by the Metropolitan Museum’s new admissions policy. I’d feel as if a longtime lover had jilted me. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-01-04

Artichokes, Hearts
A while back I read that some folks were plucking artichokes from farm borders off the roads in California, apparently to sell. One doesn’t immediately think that these vegetable aardvarks are sustenance, although, indirectly, … read more
AJBlog: Out There Published 2018-01-04

The artist and his art
In today’s Wall Street Journal“Sightings” column, I offer some further thoughts on the wider implications of the James Levine scandal. Here’s an excerpt. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-01-04

It’s complicated, or complex, or chaos, or…
The idea of “best practices” has always driven me a bit nuts. The world is full of complexity and context and interconnections, I figured. … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2018-01-03

A New Leonardo?
Has the unprecedented sale of Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi brought more paintings by the Renaissance master out of the closet? Over the courses of this fall and winter, some people were speculating that that would happen, … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2018-01-03

More on La Salle’s Sales: My Revealing Q&A with the University’s Spokesperson
La Salle University’s website provides surprisingly scant information about its astonishing plan under a relatively new president to dispatch to Christie’s some 46 objects from its museum’s collection to raise funds for non-museum activities. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-01-03

Across the Pacific
“To all Sailors, Soldiers, Marines, wherever ye may be and to all mermaids, flying dragons, spirits of the deep, devil chasers, and all other living creatures of the yellow seas, Greetings: Know ye that …” read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-01-03

 

Docents as Engagers
Some time ago in a forum discussing community engagement, someone asked me what the role of docents should be in engagement work. It was a light bulb question for me. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2018-01-02

Fade to gray
Both of us had a feeling that we might not be coming back to Florida this January, and sure enough, the doctors told us a couple of months ago that the time had come at last for Mrs. T to hang up her traveling shoes and start waiting for the Big Call. This is, lest any of you forget, very good news. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-01-01

Wishing You A Perfect 2018
Over the years, the Duke Ellington Orchestra’s head arrangement of “Auld Lang Syne” took on new colors and quirky solo turns each time the band played it, as they invariably did in … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-01-01

What We Liked in 2017
When Doug McLennan asked me to write a description for my blog that ArtsJournal would begin hosting in 2017, I thought about the topics which move me to spend time writing—the things that I feel … read more
AJBlog: The Bright RidePublished 2017-12-30

Recent Listening And Viewing: Ernie Watts
Ernie Watts, Wheel Of Time (Flying Dolphin) From his years with Buddy Rich in the 1960s through his long membership in the late bassist Charlie Haden’s Quartet West and for years since, … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-12-30

Some Home Thoughts from Abroad as Hurricane Hamilton Hits Britain
The hoop-la surrounding the London staging of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is almost as interesting as the musical itself. The ticket-tout-defeating instructions for admission to the Victoria Palace Theatre that came with my pair of … read more
AJBlog: Plain EnglishPublished 2017-12-30

The Year in CultureGrrl: Kicking the “*!%&@” Out of Plan B (for “Blog”)
Once again, art-lings, allow me to offer you my Best Wishes for an Art-Full New Year, along with CultureGrrl’s Top 20 Stories for 2017, in chronological order, with an emphasis on the controversies that we’ve been following and exhibitions that caught my eye. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-12-27

A Book That Brings Her Back Alive
Mary Beach’s Electric Bananas, the brilliant posthumous collection put together by her daughter Pam Plymell, uncovers a writer who has the kind of … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2017-12-27

Credo
I’m not nearly as good as I should be about answering my reader mail, especially during stretches of time when my life becomes more complicated than usual. So I spent an hour on Christmas afternoon … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-12-27

 

Al Cohn, Twice
It is neither Al Cohn’s birthday (November 24, 1925) nor the anniversary of his death in 1988. As on any day, it is simply a good time to listen … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-12-26

Merry Christmas: The Annual Gift
My Christmas painting for RCA readers this year is Domenico Ghirlandaio’s Nativity from the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University. It’s dated c. 1492 and was bequeathed to the museum by Charles Brinsley … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2017-12-24

Brownlow’s Christmas Music, By Request
When we posted this visit with Jack Brownlow a couple of years ago, response was enthusiastic and dozens of readers asked if we planned to make it an annual feature. I’m not … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-12-24

Three Christmas Albums
For some reason, this year did not bring the wide collection of celebratory albums that usually flow into Rifftides headquarter during the holiday season. But here are acknowledgements, if not full-fledged reviews, … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-12-23

The Case of James Levine: Taking Stock
When a pianist plays the piano, when a violinist plays the violin, when a conductor conducts an orchestra, the performer channels music through a network of personal traits. This should be self-evident. It has … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered QuestionPublished 2017-12-22

Jeanine Durning was the Best Thing Ever in 2017
In 2017 I wasn’t able to get out to the theater often (so I reviewed film and book and other events as well). I maybe saw 10 concerts, including the big bubbly premiere of American Balllet Theatre’s “Whipped … read more
AJBlog: Fresh PencilPublished 2017-12-22