[contextly_auto_sidebar id="MrCO2VFKSM6GvoqcLDS6xaupSfsgna7y"] RECENTLY I spoke to the author of the novel HBO has adapted into a Sunday-night series. Both the novel and the show concern a small town from which a small but significant number of people have mysteriously vanished; most of the storytelling concern the way people deal in various -- and variously conflicting ways -- with the loss. … [Read more...]
Archives for 2014
R.I.P., Charlie Haden
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="tnDFZtwLKRma3GhZjOOq3vBDLpuUYWqr"] THE great jazz bassist, long ailing, died Friday at 76. Even for those of us who knew how sick he was -- he had post-polio syndrome -- the loss is brutal. So many musicians played with him, live or on record, or studied with him at the program at CalArts. Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau are only a few of the best … [Read more...]
Art for the Uber-rich
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="9cukHwn37jIza9qSYJkcWoPfxa124uvq"] DESPITE the struggles of many visual artists, not to mention the stagnant middle class in the Anglo-American world, art's auction market continues to boom. The latest story from the New York Times, on the London auction season, has some interesting details. “The sleepy days of collecting are over,” said Amy Cappellazzo, the … [Read more...]
Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="hHJ8eiJnuFjsqO6u5KIkazfFviuefQB1"] BY now it's pretty well know that the comedian best know for "King Tut" and the arrow through the head is not just another show-business dilettante: This dude is a real and committed musician. But even with high expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by the strength and seriousness of Martin's banjo playing and the bluegrass group … [Read more...]
Taking on Amazon
THERE'S been so much bad news as the online Goliath has crushed bookstores and tangled with publishers, that it's nice to see a bit of silver lining. Two new developments make us smile a bit here at CultureCrash, where we are too often locked into a grim expression. First, a talented first-time novelist has received an unlikely bounce from Stephen Colbert, who used Edan Lepucki's new book as an … [Read more...]
Great Animated Short
TRAGEDIES like the Japanese-American internment during World War II can be hard to render artistically. So I'm especially surprised that a college student turned out a short animated film as powerful and understated as Yamashita. I met the student, Hayley Foster, recently to discuss her work as an animator and her ambitions to do more projects that look at issues of social justice. (She also spoke … [Read more...]
Culture and Monopoly
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="vpKpOFraYmovKc1hoqt7x37XjxxamfNB"] WHAT would Teddy Roosevelt do? I know I'm not the only arts observer who wonders where the anti-trust boys -- the Department of Justice, for instance -- are when a tech company takes over an enormous share of a culture industry. Amazon owns about two thirds of the market for digital books, for example, and the DoJ ruled in favor of … [Read more...]
Can We Fix Music Streaming?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="gqUq5BWr0TyCF2J8po7C3NUJDqWArzLu"] MOST of the complaints about music streaming so far have been about the way the new system leaves musicians out in the cold. But a new story looks at the way they frustrate listeners. as well. Ted Gioia -- jazz pianist, music historian, and avid listener of a wide range of music -- recently signed up for the Beats streaming service, … [Read more...]
Jeremy Denk Responds re The Classical Style
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Lz4IkluPYlxFQWA9NEkxhgYseWGqugC1"] MUSICOLOGISTS will already have seen this, but the rest may enjoy this defense from pianist Jeremy Denk, who conceived and wrote the libretto for The Classical Style (An Opera of Sorts.) The opera was performed last month at the Ojai Music Festival. I was one of a handful who were frustrated by it. Another was Los Angeles … [Read more...]
Publishing’s Shrinking Attention Span
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="CAxR2RewOYpbx08DLip9Jb3pvG0eQ2Sw"] THE Scottish novelist Val McDermid, who has sold 10 million books, says she wouldn't have a career in today's relentless marketplace. One of the things the Internet and the superstar economy have done is to shrink our already shrunken attention spans further, and that's doubly true in the culture industries. Crime writer … [Read more...]