[contextly_auto_sidebar id="pFkvNxQ3v2mm1VEKfWCa48kouHd3cwqj"] FOR the next few weeks, we have an unusual and probably accidental correspondence: Two important but often unseen artists of Los Angeles' great 60s flowering are up at the LACMA. For admirers of John Altoon -- one of the original Ferus Gallery bad boys -- and Helen Pashgian, a pioneer of the Light and Space movement -- it's a rare … [Read more...]
Celebrating Route 66
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="1HoMw0eKbPzQBS6WAPogsGZlqRRM0XrN"] WELL, that sure was an unexpected pleasure. I thought I knew a bit about Route 66, but there are apparently dimensions to the legendary historic highway I'd not considered. The press preview I walked out of this morning left me thinking that this medium-sized exhibit at the Autry was the best social-history show I've seen in … [Read more...]
Massenet’s “Thais” at LA Opera
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="GYlAzT4O3lEomZ10GqKrQmACXiv7ZjHE"] WHAT kind of love is the truest and most enduring, spiritual or erotic? That’s a theme that echoes through the opera I saw the other day. My experience with Massenet is limited, so I have little sense of what to expect. But Thais, which stars Placido Domingo as an earnest and confused fourth-century monk seeking out an Alexandrian … [Read more...]
Memories of the Elusive Eric Dolphy
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="gWxP2UlWmS5c3mIiMDSg5QhfQpx7pxO7"] OFTEN I wonder how the pressure on today's musicians and artists to constantly promote themselves would allow a musician like Eric Dolphy -- an introvert dedicated to his craft and someone who remains a kind of enigma -- to have a career and achieve even the low level of fame he had in the '60s. I'm still wondering, but I'm glad to … [Read more...]
Will Kickstarter Save Culture? And, Curvy Divas
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="OipGQdl5st5HpgJ16uvOZV10yHar99su"] WE'RE now five years past the launch of Kickstarter, and some culture hounds, a new Telegraph article says, refer to the eras "BK" and "AK" -- Before and After Kickstarter. What has it done for arts and culture projects? The story takes stock of the good and bad, and comes down mostly on the good the crowdfunding has done. It's been … [Read more...]
Artist-Activist Daniel Beaty, and Dismantling Libraries
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="fWCZOlqlcOkp84opgNwzY9TpfVFLSu9B"] CAN an artist -- in this case an actor and playwright -- be a healer at the same time? Do the two roles reinforce each other, or do they pull in opposite directions? These were questions I got into in a new story on Daniel Beaty, a remarkable guy who is closing out the LA run of The Tallest Tree in the Forest, a play about the … [Read more...]
The Struggle of Creative Professionals, and a Gay Bookstore Down
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Qq27kwhxLk22LnK6cMR3w47aN5iOTjFn"] WITH the national unemployment rate falling, and the persistence of digital utopianism, which tells us that we live in the best of all possible worlds, we've put that nasty recession stuff behind us, haven't we? The struggle of the creative class, which has not much abated, continues to be obscured. A new funny and poignant essay in … [Read more...]
A Return in Minnesota, and Kushner and Rodrick in Paperback
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="9ERXa4nuBab6v5CPcvsEksqMFVDobHPt"] ONE of the unpleasant recent developments in classical music -- the 16 month (!) lockout of the musicians in the Minnesota Orchestra -- may be resolving. But it may not go entirely smoothly. A report just today from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune describes newly restored music director Osmo Vanska. “We are terribly behind and must do … [Read more...]
Looking Ahead With Astra Taylor, Tallest Tree; and Rushdie
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="kNYZhxkhTXTFf6ORXY8ykY6cNtaDGWj8"] THE other day I spoke to Astra Taylor, a documentary filmmaker who was involved in the Occupy movement, about her new book The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age. I'll be writing about her more fully shortly, but for now I'll just say this is one of the best books on the impact of digital technology … [Read more...]
How Important is a Writer’s Routine? Plus, McMansions
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="VwvlTpDOy3SsWouxN3cvJka5SISHA7pJ"] ONE of the many ironies of our age is that as creative folk find it harder and harder to keep afloat, a whole world of books, workshops, and other sorts of guides to creativity continue to spring up. A sub-genre is the book which tells you about an artist's or writer's daily routine: How eccentric waking hours or diets or various … [Read more...]