Can Dance Make a More Just America? Donald Byrd Is Working on It

DANCE Posted: December 1, 2019 11:30 am

“The choreographer’s commitment to dance as a catalyst for social change can be seen at a museum show in Seattle and in a new work for the Alvin Ailey company.” – The New York Times

Renovation rethink

In today’s Wall Street Journal “Sightings” column, I consider the New York Philharmonic’s plan to renovate the interior of David Geffen Hall, its home, and suggest an alternative. Here’s an excerpt. * * * As most music lovers know, the interior of Lincoln Center’s Geffen Hall, the home of the New York... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-13
Almanac: C.S. Lewis on what criticism does

“Only the skilled can judge the skilfulness, but that is not the same as judging the value of the result.” C.S. Lewis, “Is Criticism Possible?” Continue reading Almanac: C.S. Lewis on what criticism does at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-13
‘The Greatest Piece of Writing’ Kerouac Ever Saw

It's a 15,000-word letter that Neal Cassady wrote to his girlfriend, and Kerouac said it was the inspiration for 'On The Road.' The letter, written in 1950, went missing and was found in an attic in Oakland, California, in 2014. Now for the first time it is being brought out... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-08-12
Snapshot: Julie Andrews sings “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?”

Julie Andrews sings “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” (from My Fair Lady) on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1961. Because she was replaced by Audrey Hepburn in the screen version, his is the only surviving contemporary filmed record of her performance in the show, or of Moss Hart’s original Broadway staging: (This is... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-12
Almanac: C.S. Lewis on rereading books

“I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.” C.S. Lewis, letter to Arthur Greeves, February 1932 Continue reading Almanac: C.S. Lewis on rereading books at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-12
Closet Cleaning

In the new world coming, we will be required to vastly expand the public that sees our work as "good" for them, to get real about issues of justice and equity, and to shift from "big dollar" to small donor funding models. In other words, we will have to get... Read more

Source: Engaging Matters Published on: 2020-08-11
Lookback: on the importance of civility in public discourse

From 2010: To be gratuitously nasty in public discourse is like relieving yourself in a swimming pool. Even if nobody knows you did it, you still made the pool a dirtier place for everybody–yourself included…. Read the whole thing here. Continue reading Lookback: on the importance of civility in public... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-11
Almanac: C.S. Lewis on the value of argument

“The very man who has argued you down will sometimes be found, years later, to have been influenced by what you said.” C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms Continue reading Almanac: C.S. Lewis on the value of argument at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-11
Parallel musical universes? More lost continents? The early-music movement in New York explores an endless past.

Before the COVID lockdown, concert life in New York was such a breathless series of discoveries that you barely had time to digest what you were hearing. Now, one stands back and marvels how horizons have kept expanding in the music before J.S. Bach, with modern premieres of 400-year-old works... Read more

Source: Condemned to Music Published on: 2020-08-10
Just because: Jim Hall plays his “All Across the City”

Jim Hall and Larry Goldings play Hall’s “All Across the City”: (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: Jim Hall plays his “All Across the City” at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-10
Almanac: C.S. Lewis on the tragic nature of love

“Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.” C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (courtesy of Brenda Becker) Continue reading Almanac: C.S. Lewis on the tragic nature of love at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-10
NY Times Department of Corrections—Hillary Clinton/Maureen Dowd Edition

The Twitterati collectively rubbed their eyes and raised their eyebrows yesterday when the NY Times‘ Opinion page tweeted a hoot that couldn’t be blamed on the social-media staff: The mistaken posting accurately reproduced an astonishing error that appeared online yesterday (Saturday) in an Op-Ed column by Maureen Dowd, and was... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2020-08-09
Five Things to Fix in the Arts

The shutdown has suspended usual rules, positions and behaviors, suggesting there may be opportunities to not just rethink but take action.... Read more

Source: diacritical | Douglas McLennan Published on: 2020-08-09
Moloko’s Burroughs-Gysin Lockdown Reading

A summer package for the avant garde: 'BRION GYSIN LET THE MICE IN' edited and with a foreword by Jan Herman and with an introduction by Douglas Field. "MINUTES TO GO Redux' edited and with an introduction by Oliver Harris. 'THE EXTERMINATOR Redux' edited and with an introduction by Oliver... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-08-09
Spinning Shakespeare topically

In today’s Wall Street Journal I review a PBS webcast of Kenny Leon’s 2019 Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing. Here’s an excerpt. * * * PBS continues to present plays and musicals on TV and streaming video that were originally telecast on its “Great Performances” anthology series—wonderful... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-07
Replay: Picasso at work in 1949

Pablo Picasso paints for the camera in 1949 in a scene from Visit to Picasso, directed by Paul Haesaert: (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: Picasso at work in 1949 at About Last... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-08-07