[contextly_auto_sidebar id="wZSGDJOmSbhvFKacaUaPFIlOS5DNnjBE"] IS it more prominent than ever, or disappearing from American eyes and ears? It may be some of both, in a time in which opera is played in movie theaters and opera companies struggle to survive. An aptly ambivalent story by Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times looks at the strange predicament of American opera in 2014. Things were … [Read more...]
Archives for 2014
Music in the Age of Streaming
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Fa2HMMUonP7cJZz5wWMQHx91Wm261nWI"] THE battle between artists and indie labels on one side and gigantic tech corporations on the other has taken on a sharp pitch. A New York Times story serves as a good summation of the terms of the fight, and gets at how it hits indie record labels in particular. Executives and advocates for the indies say they are vulnerable to … [Read more...]
Working for Free, Pro and Con
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="3yEpOmVWqQdiM8tHRZQ892WnlfCfPiSE"] AMAZINGLY, there are still gurus urging creatives that working for free -- for for-profit companies -- is a good "branding" move. An article in the Financial Times describes some who believe in the great opportunities of the digital age, and says that asking for -- and receiving -- free labor has continues to increase. But as … [Read more...]
“The Disruption Machine” and the Arts
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="R3zLDzzRclVKKTROWNxF41CXdu70ZMpQ"] Jill Lepore's New Yorker article, "The Disruption Machine," which looks at one of the key fallacies of the digital crowd, has become much discussed. Her challenge to a theory that describes how newer, smaller companies destroy old ones may not seem to relate to the world of arts and culture. But these things are intimately … [Read more...]
Eric Fischl and Steve Martin
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Z2ToD122mPHrUfvrPjk39l1JB9c1LnKn"] THE artist and comedian will speak tonight at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, part of what's shaping up to a strong series called The Un-Private Collection. Fischl's memoir, Bad Boy: My Life on and Off the Canvas, is fascinating not only about the path of an artist, but about the strange cultural spot we find ourselves now. Here's … [Read more...]
“American Top 40,” Poptimism and Winner-Take-All
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="plD2J41Igr64VnQSKm3MiH74DQcHRIgZ"] IS it possible to hate Casey Kasem? Probably not. His show was a lot of fun, and he was the voice of Shaggy. But his death is being received in an odd way that's unfair to him and wrong about the way culture, popularity and economics work. In short, he's being drafted into a war in which he never fought. My new story in Salon … [Read more...]
Q & A with Nightmares on Wax
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="uIm5M387lh0ylXERBBwGP7PyQjBb5NZx"] NIGHTMARES on Wax is not a horror movie, but one of the best electronica bands too many people have never heard of. A collage of dub, R&B, and trip hop, mixing recorded beats with live instruments, the British collective headed by George Evelyn is somewhere between '70s Curtis Mayfield and Massive Attack. They've covered a lot … [Read more...]
Jazz and Starbucks
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="3JEnMcrdtVkWILcqYCAtf8k4lzIbNOYE"] WHO listens to jazz these days? Besides a small, dwindling number of purists, almost anyone who goes to a chain coffee shop, it seems. Are they really listening? Those are some of the questions music historian Ted Gioia gets into in a fascinating essay in The Daily Beast, in which he talks about the mostly mid-century jazz that … [Read more...]
The False Promise of Digital Publishing
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="qUIajYbX9hto2gQVHqpXSXAzUoXDE0A8"] WHAT does it mean to be a digital bestseller? We continue to hear that removing the middleman and getting rid of the expenses of print will be good for readers and writers. The experience of Tony Horwitz, a first-rate writer of narrative nonfiction like Confederates in the Attic, shows it doesn't always work out that way. He calls … [Read more...]
A Dissent on “The Classical Style”
AS I posted the other day, this year’s Ojai Music Festival was full of good stuff. But there was one piece that frustrated me: The new opera, The Classical Style, which was for many the highlight of the weekend. Why did it drive me crazy? The Classical Style: An Opera (of Sorts) is the first opera commissioned in the seven-decade history of the festival; it’s based on a well-regarded book by … [Read more...]