[contextly_auto_sidebar id="PafOG3MPyZj6bmDJpEFc7L4n3rZYgP8V"] ONE of the topics that's fascinated me for decades, as I've moved from Baltimore to New London, Conn., to Los Angeles -- and in visits to Mexico City, Berkeley, Manchester, and Rome -- is how cities work, and how they stop working. No one has the entire answer to this, but one thing we can all pretty well conclude by now is that … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2014
New NEA Chair and More on Starving Artists
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="0LTdLuqZwPqtzeNA2d7ehmGpnFkQovIb"] AT long last, we have a National Endowment for the Arts chair. The president has nominated Jane Chu, who runs Kansas City’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Chu and has also been a performing pianist; she seems to be well-liked among people I know, considered “low key,” and capable. (This story, from Chu's hometown paper, … [Read more...]
“The Creative Economy,” and Malcolm Cowley
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="d46qMqunSiyQZaayiQ00FiACRUSOSiOO"] AN important survey has just come out from Otis College of Art and Design – its annual report on the “Creative Economy.” Previously concentrated on the Los Angeles area, the survey is now statewide. What motivates this study, and reports on things like "cultural tourism," is the urge by arts and culture types to show that we’re … [Read more...]
Calder, Bookstores and the Death of Cool
TODAY I’ve got a few smallish items to catch up on. First, it’s hardly news that the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has been on a roll recently. Over the weekend, I caught the Calder exhibit – “Calder and Abstraction” – and parts of it blew me away. I’ve seen my share of Alexander Calder sculptures over the years – there is a “stabile,” the stationary version of a mobile, outside the train … [Read more...]
What Are the Arts For?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="n5XpwhQfRtKBHPK1BXtQynuCSQpBNl9j"] WHY do we fight? Whether you are a World War II soldier trying to save an Italian Renaissance painting from the Nazis, or a 21st century American, trying to produce, assess or defend culture in a marketplace that's less and less interested in it, the question is the same. The answers -- some of them proposed by a new film -- may be … [Read more...]
The Glories of Van Dyke Parks
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="ct3qiObIO1GjbjGS8WTsakgdEZd3a77u"] ONE of the great characters -- and great talents -- of Southern California, Van Dyke Parks, has experienced a renaissance lately. First known for his work with the Beach Boys and for his pop-baroque Song Cycle, Parks is an ornery Southerner with a big heart, an abiding love for music, and some serious frustrations with recent … [Read more...]
Are the Arts Only For the Rich?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="aqiS16Ux4TDDRYOTuxApesEZ8xik6SGp"] TAKE the long view, and people and institutions have been trying to destroy culture, and the people who make it, for centuries. Among the latest attacks has been the category of the "cultural elite," and the implication that anyone who enjoys the arts or takes place in their making is not a real American. It's a weird mix of … [Read more...]
Movies and the 1 Percent
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="MXOnux5h60TpQeeW1oA2Sr2osSWsecFp"] SEVERAL of the big, prestigious films of recent months look at the Wall Street crash, corrosive greed, and economic insecurity. But how substantially do they engage with these topics? Is there a Chinatown or Network or The Wire -- narratives that wage a larger social critique -- in the bunch? I get into these questions in my new … [Read more...]
Pete Seeger, Llewyn Davis, and Sisyphus
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="o511ReiogmTCk65Pr1jtarJdMtJ8q5at"] IN the weeks since I’ve seen it, I’ve gone back and forth on the movie Inside Llewyn Davis. The film was beautifully shot and well acted, I love the way some of the scenes of Greenwich Village make it look like the characters are inside the cover of Dylan’s Freewheelin’ , and so on. But I also couldn’t help thinking that for all … [Read more...]
Reporting, the Digital Age, and the Disappearing Middle Class
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="UdzFLHqHKqJ9wXVQI1GqH0q0PFUfcGe7"] HOW are digital technology and the 21st century economy reshaping journalism, including arts reporting? I'll plan to dig into economy-of-culture questions on this blog as often as I can. Today, a business columnist gets into it quite smartly in a new piece. Michael Hiltzik’s Los Angeles Times column, “Supply of news is dwindling … [Read more...]