Are Writers Running Out Of Book Titles?

WORDS Posted: June 27, 2014 5:39 am

Could authors and publishers be starting to run out of titles? It can look that way…

The Maltese Icon–No, Not That One
If you’re an art-lover (and writer) headed toward Malta, as I was last June, the first artwork that comes to mind is Caravaggio’s masterpiece in the Valetta cathedral, The Beheading of St John the Baptist. Brilliantly ... read more
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2017-09-19
Lookback: on no longer using public libraries
From 2004: I can’t count the hours I spent haunting big-city libraries as a young man. During the decade I spent working on The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken I had access to the ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-19
Almanac: Proust on critics
“The critics of each generation confine themselves to maintaining the direct opposite of the truths admitted by their predecessors.” Marcel Proust, The Guermantes Way ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-19
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: RiffTidesPublished 2017-09-18
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. And, the other night, not just a natural union ... read more
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2017-09-18
Listening In Brief: Victor Gould
Victor Gould, Clockwork (Fresh Sound New Talent) A Los Angeles native now in New York, pianist Gould debuts as a leader in an album showcasing him and an impressive collection of established ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-09-18
Beat Conference: ‘Paris Interzone’ 2017
I wish I could be there when the European Beat Studies Network meets in Paris on Wednesday. Douglas Field (University of Manchester) will give a presentation about Harold Norse’s “Cosmographs.” I remember seeing them ... read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-09-18
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: “Tickets ... read more
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2017-09-18
Just because: the original cast of Appalachian Spring
Excerpts from Martha Graham’s Appalachian Spring, choreographed in 1944 and filmed that year in a performance by the original cast, featuring Graham as the Bride, Erick Hawkins as the Husband, and Merce Cunningham as the ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-18
Almanac: Robert Rauschenberg on the meaning of art
“It is extremely important that art be unjustifiable.” Robert Rauschenberg, “Note on Painting” ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-18
Cerra On Early Getz
Thanks to Steven Cerra of Jazz Profiles for including, in his recent profile of Stan Getz, notes that I wrote for the box set reissue of Getz’s recordings for the Roost label. ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-09-17
“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 ... read more
AJBlog: Unanswered QuestionPublished 2017-09-17
Bausch Reborn
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch returns to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (through September 24). Julien Stierle and Tsai-Chin Yu watched by the celebrants in Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring. Photo: Stephanie Berger Pina Bausch ... read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-09-17
Bill Evans. Remember
Rifftides reader and audio chronicler Mike Harris writes: 37th anniversary of death of pianist Bill Evans. Worth a tip of the cap? Worth more than that. It’s worth reminding us all, if we need reminding, ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-09-15
Reminder: Free Piano-History Concert Download
Rifftides readers asked if it would ever be available, so Bill Mays and I offer a performance of our History Of Jazz Piano project at no charge. Following a good deal of attention ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-09-15
Out of chaos, comedy
In today’s Wall Street Journal drama column I report on a New Jersey revival of What the Butler Saw and the last of five productions at Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre, A Flea in Her Ear. ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-15
Replay: “An Evening with Fred Astaire”
“An Evening with Fred Astaire,” choreographed by Hermes Pan and directed by Bud Yorkin, originally broadcast by NBC on October 17, 1958. Astaire’s guests include Barrie Chase and the Jonah Jones Quartet. This is the ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-15
Almanac: G.K. Chesterton on nostalgia
“In short, as I have said, I do not like the past; I like certain particular things in the past. I should like them even more in the present. I think it highly probable that ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-15
“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 ... read more
AJBlog: Unanswered QuestionPublished 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 ... read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2017-09-14

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