FOR my money, there is no more important and provocative essay about classical music over the last 10 years than an Alex Ross that begins this way: "I hate 'classical music': not the thing but the name. It traps a tenaciously living art in a theme park of the past." And he goes on: "For at least a century, the music has been captive to a cult of mediocre elitism that tries to manufacture … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2010
Robyn Hitchcock and Joe Boyd at Largo
THURSDAY night sees one of the season's most intriguing bills: Joe Boyd, who produced folk-rock gods like Richard Thompson and Nick Drake and wrote a wonderful book about his early years, which I described here, will appear at Largo with neo-psych demigod Robyn Hitchcock. Both will appear -- with Boy's reading and telling stories, Hitchcock playing the songs described -- at the Largo at the … [Read more...]
New TV Legal Drama
THE lawyer show has become almost as ubiquitous as the cop show, and there are several of each in the new fall TV season.I've reviewed a new legal drama, The Whole Truth, which goes up tonight at 10 on ABC. I'd say the show is decent, needs to fine tune some things, including an off-putting main character, but succeeds at drawing you into the law's chess game.Here is my Hollywood Reporter review, … [Read more...]
Grizzly Bear and Phoenix at the Hollywood Bowl
ON Saturday night I was lucky enough to catch these two bands at the Bowl. Both exceeded my expectations.Grizzly Bear, a Brooklyn group with a bearded-hipster following and a knack for Pet Sounds derived vocal harmonies, has long been an enigma to me: I got their debut LP before it came out, and it literally destroyed my wife's car stereo even before we could hear it. But some of my most dedicated … [Read more...]
Two New Cop Shows
THE new television season is starting, and there are a lot of new cop shows. So far the best I've seen is the mellow, low-key Terriers, which I reviewed for The Hollywood Reporter last week. Two new shows try a lot harder but achieve less. Here's my review of the Hawaii Five-0 reboot, which begins: By the time the shooting begins in earnest on "Hawaii Five-0," about halfway through the pilot, the … [Read more...]
Casey Affleck Comes Clean
I DON'T think anybody's terribly surprised. But Casey Affleck just admitted to the New York Times that is bizarre documentary on Joachin Phoenix, I'm Still Here, was a piece of performance art.From Michael Cieply's piece in today' NYT:His new movie, “I’m Still Here,” was performance. Almost every bit of it. Including Joaquin Phoenix’sdisturbing appearance on David Letterman’s late-night show in … [Read more...]
"Common as Air"
THE scholar and poet Lewis Hyde is a fascinating figure whose ideas about the unease of art in a market economy have developed him a cult following that includes figures like Zadie Smith, Michael Chabon and artist Bill Viola. (David Foster Wallace was also a big fan.)Hyde's most famous and influential book -- with the possible exception of Tricker Makes the World -- is The Gift: Creativity and the … [Read more...]
Slacker Noir in San Diego
THERE'S a pretty good TV show that's just made its debut on FX. Terriers -- don't know about the name -- is like a Ross Macdonald novel crossed with The Big Lebowski. Or something like that. Either way, the casting and storytelling are quite fine. (The second episode goes up Wednesday.)Here is my review, which leads this way:The protagonist in FX's "Terriers," Hank Dolworth (Donal Logue), is two … [Read more...]
Classical LA
ANGELENOS don’t need to be told that they live in one of the nation’s best cities for classical music, but it may still be news to much of the rest of the world. On that count, I wrote a piece for the fall issue of Listen, the classical music magazine, that looks at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl, local chamber music series, and oddball programs like Classical Underground.The whole … [Read more...]