[contextly_auto_sidebar id="BzVPwGiB459dyUluIjJVpzR7FI0D0eim"] THERE's an excellent Alex Ross essay in the latest New Yorker on the Frankfurt School and the rise and fall and perhaps rise again of its reputation. Ross leads this way: In Jonathan Franzen’s 2001 novel, “The Corrections,” a disgraced academic named Chip Lambert, who has abandoned Marxist theory in favor of screenwriting, goes to … [Read more...]
Archives for 2014
The Sad State of New Music
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="U0Diha6KNzqSf3E00pDolCNSLLKJwBcT"] THESE days I'm working on a series about commissioning new music -- and some of the news is good, offering more and different kinds of options to composers and audiences alike. But this Guardian piece recounting a survey of British composers reminds me how complex, wide-ranging and sometimes depressing the field of composing … [Read more...]
James Ellroy, The Big Picture
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="oWUL3zIX6tkrbLbqzzcrPNH15S6oj1MP"] HOW does the new Ellroy novel, Perfidia, shape our thinking of his career? How has he changed as a writer? How does he fit in to noir's history, and has he changed the field? These questions were on my mind while I was writing a recent profile of the edgy novelist, so I asked J. Kingston Pierce, editor of The Rap Sheet crime fiction … [Read more...]
The Death of Art’s Third Place
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="m8KE0CbwCulzkRvRmJL6ZGSvuY8h2kLD"] DAVE Hickey has long been one of the orneriest and most original voices in the art world -- his book Air Guitar is a revelation -- and he recently posted something that hits me almost literally where I live. He's talking about the disappearance of a discourse around visual art that is neither grounded in academia or the marketplace. … [Read more...]
Elvis Costello at the Hollywood Bowl
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="yoxDRYe0pvcibitrbAUITNZnhe94ChmB"] OVER the weekend, the former Angry Young Man played the Bowl, alongside indie piano man Ben Folds, both accompanied by the LA Philharmonic. I'm split on the show. Because both artists had equal billing, Costello had to squeeze a career that goes back to the 1970s into an hourlong set. It was too short, and his syncing up with the … [Read more...]
The Wild and Romantic Robyn Hitchcock
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="xANv3Jjm5ljwdEVoQbaPVK2EMGMYSFMx"] ONE of the most unexpectedly delightful records of the year is the new LP by psychedelic Brit Robyn Hitchcock. The former Soft Boy has been moving in a more romantic and understated direction lately, but the album -- produced by Joe Boyd, known for his work with Britfolk gods and R.E.M. -- took me by surprise. It's a low-key … [Read more...]
James Ellroy: The Demon Dog is Back
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="J9S6BFoEKctFIUF9sCOFryBh5uvOWyC0"] AFTER completing his Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy and writing a memoir about his often tortured relationships with women, crime writer James Ellroy is back with a new quartet of novels that will serve as a prequel to his Los Angeles Quartet -- the four great novels that include L.A. Confidential. A few days ago, I hung out with … [Read more...]
An LA Novelist Pleads With Amazon
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="2X67n54jvsskEeTyvZeL9ZzPV0yO4y6x"] JANET Fitch, a friend whose writing I admire, has written an open letter to Jeff Bezos of Amazon about what the online bookseller is doing to the literary trade and the the nation's "intellectual life." Amazon's dominance means its decisions matter, she writes: "I'd like this profession of author to remain a possibility for young … [Read more...]
Alex Ross on the Physicality of Music
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="exXEgyg9vY0GhSt0xuo4Eqn9fO25Opza"] THE New Yorker's classical music critic is one of the least stodgy and most forward-looking of writers; he got in on blogging early and thinks classical music and digital technology are natural allies. But even he has reservations about the disappearance of records and CDs into the cloud. His new piece, about "The pleasures and … [Read more...]
An Interview with the Allah-Las
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="lc08pyxv3eSerUA4sZEPFYeA0ka8ZMiw"] ONE of the best bands going these days is an LA group who met at Amoeba Music on Sunset. Their records sound like lost tracks from the West Coast garage collection Nuggets. And unlike a lot of revivalists, these guys can put it across live and make the music sound not retro but somehow timeless. Your humble blogger corresponded … [Read more...]