[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Y8fDWKTQR4PySZdf0pqVQLolQa6bMrQS"] THE phrase "we love you people" may have a new resonance: Apple's purchase of Beats may mean Silicon Valley may be turning toward actual people as "curators" over the faceless algorithms it's been using. Years into a process by which your bookstore or record store clerk found himself made obsolete by an Amazon recommendation, this … [Read more...]
Offshoring Hollywood Musicians
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="nyU3WlOOWJ6AtWo9GPWNXOReGdrv3jlA"] WHAT could be the first skirmish in a larger war is shaping up in Hollywood, where L.A. musicians are protesting a studio's hiring of foreign musicians. The protestors are telling the Lionsgate studio, which distributes the Hunger Games movies, to "stop sending musicians' jobs overseas." It comes after a protest by the American … [Read more...]
What Does Death of Net Neutrality Mean for Culture? And, Women of Paris
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="xGDWAexoDrHPFCevaXgcNYzALx2EWaaG"] THIS week, it seems, has brought us closer to the end of net neutrality, with the FCC getting closer to approving a pay-to-play "fast lane." The fear among purveyors and enthusiasts of indie culture is that there will be a tiered Internet, one for wealthy corporations and a slow one for the rest. Enormous power would go to broadband … [Read more...]
Novelists in the New Economy, and a National-ist Goes Classical
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="hPd2FVtPIrH02PAHBYXfxFyuIQJdbTd3"] HOW are novelists doing in the post-recession, Internet-besotted world? In Britain, apparently, even purportedly successful and well-reputed writers are hanging on by their fingernails. That's the conclusion of a nuanced and well-reported piece by Robert McCrum in the Observer. The story starts by describing Rupert Thomson, an … [Read more...]
The Genius of James Booker
IT'S long been something of a cliché to talk about what a head-spinning musical and cultural melting pot New Orleans is. But there’s no other way to frame the protean New Orleans pianist James Booker (1939-‘83), who is very near the top of my list of most individual/ accomplished musician who very few people know about. His musical vocabulary was an odd blend of bordello and concert hall: He … [Read more...]