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Return engagement
Mrs. T is back in the hospital, this time in Connecticut rather than on the road. Unlike her last hospital stay, which was the direct result of a life-threatening crisis, this one isn’t as scary. ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-20
Monday Recommendation, A Day Late: Atlantis Quartet
Atlantis Quartet, Hello Human (Shifting Paradigm Records) If you visit the Shifting Paradigm Records website in search of Hello Human, you may be startled to see the legend, “Name Your Price,” near a box with ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2018-11-20
Nuttall’s ‘Bomb Culture’ Is Back
50th Anniversary Edition When I first read Jeff Nuttall’s Bomb Culture, I saw the title two ways — descriptive and prescriptive — “bomb culture” (the kind that made nuclear annihilation possible) and “bomb the culture” ... read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2018-11-20
Lookback: a traveling drama critic orders dinner for one
From 2008: When Dad was on the road alone And dined, alone, at night, He wanted everything to be Not passable, but right: “A perfect baked potato Demands the utmost care. The only way to ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-20
Almanac: Bertrand Russell on fatherhood
“The fundamental defect of fathers is that they want their children to be a credit to them.” Bertrand Russell, “Freedom Versus Authority in Education” ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-20
The Things You Find Behind Doors, Like A Velazquez
In recent days, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston has rehung a painting called Kitchen Maid (c. 1620) with a new label, “attributed to Velazquez.” The work used to hang in its decorative arts ... read more
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2018-11-19
Theater vs. film
The twenty-second episode of Three on the Aisle, the twice-monthly 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 an ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-19
Hear me talking to you (cont’d)
Titus Techera, who hosts a podcast for the American Cinema Foundation on which he and his guests discuss important films of the past and present, invited me back to talk about Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-19
Just because: Artie Shaw’s “Symphony of Swing”
“Symphony of Swing,” a 1939 Warner Bros. short starring Artie Shaw and His Orchestra and directed by Joseph Henabery. Also featured are Helen Forrest and Tony Pastor, Shaw’s vocalists. The songs performed in the film ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-19
Almanac: Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes on the outward appearance of madness
“One of the essential features of madness is psychic exposure. A mad person sheds the thin layer that ordinarily masks the chaos of inner life from the outside observer. He walks in the world stripped ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-19
This Week In Audience: The Downsides Of Popularity And Feedback Loops
This Week’s Insights: How the internet killed a popular restaurant… Why YouTube videos are getting longer… How social media feedback has ruined feedback… How crowdfunding new bathrooms builds audience. When Popularity Becomes Fatal: Everyone ... read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts AudiencePublished 2018-11-18
Coven sings “Bread and Roses” at the English Folk Expo
This performance from the English Folk Expo (EFEx) caught me by surprise, as I had never heard of ... read more
AJBlog: OtherWorldlyPublished 2018-11-17
Identification, please
What are the keys to success in the art world? Some combination of hard work, smart early career choices, artistic talent, access to the connected and the gate-keepers, and a bit of serendipity. The same ... read more
AJBlog: For What it’s WorthPublished 2018-11-16
Winking to the choir
In today’s Wall Street Journal I review two new issue-driven New York shows, The Prom and Natural Shocks. Here’s an excerpt. * * * In the wake of the midterm elections, the pollsters are telling ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-16
Replay: Edward R. Murrow interviews Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
Edward R. Murrow interviews Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis on Person to Person. This segment was originally telecast by CBS on July 2, 1954: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-16
Almanac: T.S. Eliot on television
“It is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome.” T.S. Eliot (quoted in the New York Post, September 22, ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-16
The come-to-Arvo moment – and then some – at St. Ignatius Loyola
The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and conductor Tonu Kaljuste bow at St. Ignatius Loyola in New York. Arvo Pärt disarmingly lacks barriers. He hides nothing. Evasion, irony and pretension are unknown in ... read more
AJBlog: Condemned to MusicPublished 2018-11-15
Recent Listening: Eden Bareket
Eden Bareket, Night (Fresh Sound New Talent) New York City is still the jazz capital of the world. For about a century, young musicians have gone there from nearly every country to ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2018-11-15
The Music of Stanley Kubrick
A FEW months ago I went to see a restored 70 mm print of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and film I had not seen (I realized) in decades. A number of things struck me, ... read more
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2018-11-15
Visit from a dead diva
In this week’s Wall Street Journal “Sightings” column, I report on “Callas in Concert: The Hologram Tour,” which I saw last week in Connecticut. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Maria Callas gave a concert ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-11-15

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