Restaurants Are Public Spaces, And They – Like A Lot Of Public Spaces – Are Dying

IDEAS Posted: December 2, 2018 8:30 am

And for this, you can blame Uber.

Lookback: traveling light

From 2010: I, too, once felt the mad desire to own every jazz record ever made, and to have them all shelved in chronological order at arm’s length from my desk. Today I own just two racks, and whenever I acquire a new album, I get rid of an old... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-27
Almanac: Anthony Powell on the meaningfulness of literature

“I was impressed for the ten thousandth time by the fact that literature illuminates life only for those to whom books are a necessity. Books are unconvertable assets, to be passed on only to those who possess them already.” Anthony Powell, The Valley of Bones Continue reading Almanac: Anthony Powell on... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-27
Alarming Preview: Sotheby’s Hawks Baltimore Museum’s Clyfford Still & Brice Marden

Sirens (coming from the street) were heard wailing at the beginning of Sotheby’s Virtual Preview of Highlights from Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art—a fleeting but thematically appropriate soundtrack for the alarming disposals set to occur at the auction house’s Contemporary Art auction on Wednesday evening in New York. That startling... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2020-10-26
Lear Lite

Shakespeare's writing—all of it, poetry and plays—was repulsive to Tolstoy, who claimed that whenever he read Shakespeare he was overcome by "repulsion, weariness, and bewilderment." As for "King Lear," ranked among Shakespeare's four greatest tragedies, he found it "at every step," according to George Orwell, "stupid, verbose, unnatural, unintelligible, bombastic,... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-10-26
Farther along

It’s just short of seven months since the death of Hilary Teachout, my beloved wife. I was close to despair when I returned from her deathbed to my locked-down apartment, and though I thought at one point that I was coming out of it, I was wrong. I missed out... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-26
Just because: Jeri Southern sings Frank Loesser

Jeri Southern sings Frank Loesser’s “Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year”: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Continue reading Just because: Jeri Southern sings Frank Loesser at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-26
Almanac: Shakespeare on grief

“Every one can master a grief but he that has it.” William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing Continue reading Almanac: Shakespeare on grief at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-26
From the Mint, another gem

In today’s Wall Street Journal, I review a webcast of the Mint Theater Company’ 2018 revival of Miles Malleson’s Conflict. Here’s an excerpt. * * * The thing I miss most about live theater is seeing shows in small houses, sitting in the midst of happy audiences who know they’re watching something special. For... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-23
Replay: Langston Hughes reads “The Weary Blues”

Langston Hughes reads his poem “The Weary Blues” on the CBC in 1958, accompanied by a jazz combo: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Continue reading Replay: Langston Hughes reads “The Weary Blues” at... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-23
Almanac: G.K. Chesterton on evil

“Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil.” G.K. Chesterton, “The Flying Stars” Continue reading Almanac: G.K. Chesterton on evil at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-23
Digital tourism and the snowball effect

A new episode of Three on the Aisle, the podcast in which Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I talk about theater in America, is now available on line for listening or downloading. Here’s American Theatre’s “official” summary of the proceedings: This week the critics discuss the recent Tony Awards announcement and surrounding controversy, and the imminent... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-22
Almanac: G.K. Chesterton on intellectuals

“She hasn’t got any intellect to speak of; but you don’t need any intellect to be an intellectual.” G.K. Chesterton, “The Scandal of Father Brown” Continue reading Almanac: G.K. Chesterton on intellectuals at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-10-22
“Central to the Museum’s Collection”: Arnold Lehman Blasts the Baltimore Deaccessions

This is the full text of a letter that was sent today by Arnold Lehman, former director of the Baltimore Museum, to Maryland’s Attorney General and Secretary of State [emphasis is his]: Dear General Frosh and Secretary Wobensmith: My name is Arnold Lehman and I was the director of the... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2020-10-20
When Emmett Williams Squared the Alphabet . . .

In 1956, his color scheme was as bright as day. In the plague year of 2020 a color inversion is like the night.... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-10-19