Yet Another Russian Literary Dispute Turns Deadly

WORDS Posted: January 31, 2014 12:03 am

Last fall it was over Immanuel Kant. This time it was the superiority (or not) of poetry over prose. (Was vodka involved? Need you ask?)

What should Congress do about the arts?
Blog neighbour Doug McLennan reviews the recent Congressional Arts Report Card produced by the Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC. He notes that there isn’t really a lot of material on which to base ... read more
AJBlog: For What it’s WorthPublished 2016-09-28
Snapshot: The Kinks sing “Sunny Afternoon”
The Kinks perform Ray Davies’ “Sunny Afternoon” in a 1966 promotional video: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2016-09-28
Almanac: Edward Gibbon on gratitude
“Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.” Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2016-09-28
Library Lessons
A July article in the New York Times (Adding Classes and Content, Resurgent Libraries Turn a Whisper Into a Roar) told of the resurgence of libraries in New York City. Many readers might focus on ... read more
AJBlog: Engaging MattersPublished 2016-09-27
Arts Congressional Report Card: Why The Arts Have No Political Clout
Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC has released its 2016 Congressional Arts Report Card rating members of Congress on their support for the arts. Many lobby groups do such rankings as a way of ... read more
AJBlog: diacritical | Douglas McLennanPublished 2016-09-27
Met Layoffs Today: About Three Dozen People Let Go
Today, the Metropolitan Museum of Art* shed more staff–in the form of involuntary layoffs. As we’ve known for a while, the Met’s financial position has deteriorated: its operating deficit has been placed at anywhere from ... read more
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2016-09-27
Witnessing
When you think about it, the majority of my practice as an orchestral musician is witnessed. My performance practice (concerts) happen in public. Sometimes my rehearsal practice – as part of the ensemble – ... read more
AJBlog: SongWorkingPublished 2016-09-27
Abstract Expressionism Hits the Bull’s Eye
Helen Frankenthaler “Europa” 1957 This is the Tate website glossary’s definition: “Abstract expressionism is the term applied to new forms of abstract art developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, ... read more
AJBlog: Plain EnglishPublished 2016-09-27
Ten years after: on looking through my baby book
From 2006: The first item is a picture of me taken at ten-fifteen on the evening of February 6, 1956, thirty minutes after I was born. I weighed eight pounds and one-and-a-half ounces, and had ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2016-09-27
Almanac: Max Planck on scientific progress
“A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2016-09-27
Mike Zito: Keep Coming Back
After sideman work, then membership in cooperative groups with Cyrille Neville, Devon Allman and others, in 2012 the St. Louis blues guitarist and singer Mike Zito formed his band, The Wheel. Few dedicated jazz listeners ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2016-09-26
African roots, Middle Eastern extensions in Hyde Park Jazz Fest
Randy Weston in Rockefeller Chapel, photo by Marc PoKempner Pianist Randy Weston, a magisterial musician at age 90 inspired by jazz traditions and its African basics, and trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, who has devoted himself to ... read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond JazzPublished 2016-09-26
Boundaries
A recent discussion with my friend Robert Carl has me pondering the ways we think of epochs in art. As many are quick to point out, there aren’t hard-and-fast beginning dates for various periods – ... read more
AJBlog: Infinite CurvesPublished 2016-09-26
More inspiration from DePauw
Only one event at the seminal 21CMposium at DePauw University (see my last post) was in standard conference format — a panel discussion. That was deliberate, and was one reason the symposium was so pwerful. ... read more
AJBlog: SandowPublished 2016-09-26
Thinking and speaking
Most of us have been admonished from an early age to “think before you speak.” But it turns out that speaking doesn’t work that way. Studies in psycholinguistics (Smith and Wheeldon 1999, for example) suggest ... read more
AJBlog: The Artful ManagerPublished 2016-09-26
Just because: Oscar Levant on What’s My Line?
Oscar Levant appears as the mystery guest on What’s My Line? (Levant’s segment starts 21:52 into the video.) This episode was originally telecast by CBS on October 17, 1965. The panelists are Milton Berle, Bennett ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2016-09-26
Almanac: Patrick Kurp on snobs and snobbery
“Snobs are always insufferable, even when they’re right, though holding strong opinions is not the same as snobbery. Some ideas and tastes are worthy only of contempt.” Patrick Kurp, “‘Sanding Off Such Pretense or Exploding ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2016-09-26
This Week in Understanding Audience: Baby Boomers Reinvent The Movie Experience
This week: Baby boomers are breathing new life into movie theatres… Dance clubs are languishing as millennials stay away… Netflix reveals at what point we get hooked on TV series… How the audience changes when ... read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts AudiencePublished 2016-09-25
Five Stories/Trends From This Week’s ArtsJournal: How The Arts Speak To Real Life
This Week: Why is it so hard to tell if American theatre is thriving or not?… Have art and technology had a falling out?… Perhaps TV is the solution to our political polarization… The music industry ... read more
AJBlog: diacritical | Douglas McLennanPublished 2016-09-25
Re-envisioning Shreds of Memory
John Jasperse presents a new work at BAM Harvey, September 21-24. John Jasperse’s Remains. (L to R): Burr Johnson, Claire Westby, Heather Lang, and Maggie Cloud. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu John Jasperse’s new Remains has a ... read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-09-25
Pap goes the easel: Painting After Postmodernism, Belgium-USA
Paul Manes, Departure, 2013, oil on canvas, 264.1 x 396.2 cm Brussels—It’s being billed as a “manifesto exhibition,” and the curator, my friend, the art historian and filmmaker Barbara Rose, is happy to ... read more
AJBlog: Plain EnglishPublished 2016-09-25
John Coltrane At 90
There are so many options that it is difficult to know what to bring you today to observe the great saxophonist John Coltrane’s (1926-1967) 90th birthday. Among Coltrane’s hundreds of recordings and videos, no doubt ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2016-09-23
A view from the gasworks
In today’s Wall Street Journal I review an important off-Broadway revival of Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Shelagh Delaney wrote her first play, “A Taste of Honey,” a ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2016-09-23
Replay: Betty Comden and Adolph Green in 1979
A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green, a 1979 TV version of the 1977 revival of their two-person 1958 Broadway revue. Paul Trueblood is the pianist: originally telecast in 1979: (This is ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2016-09-23
Almanac: Ivy Compton-Burnett on self-sacrifice
“‘I never know why self-sacrifice is noble,’ said Miss Burke. ‘Why is it better to sacrifice oneself than someone else?’ “‘It is no better,’ said Hester, ‘and it is not really held to be.’” Ivy ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2016-09-23

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