[contextly_auto_sidebar id="5JaPY4EuOTgKJQzRDmJq9iKTEWZtZtT7"] SHE's not just my favorite new jazz singer in many moons, but someone who points the way forward for the music. That's the sense I've gotten from the young, classically trained vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant, who played the other night at Catalina's and whose album, WomanChild, is a knockout. Part of what I like about her is the … [Read more...]
The Invasion of San Francisco, and Intellectual Property
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="HKpgUBHFGiXW1ahrZaq596c8kILm1OXt"] FEW scribes write more eloquently than Rebecca Solnit about sense of place, especially San Francisco's. She’s got a very fine piece in the London Review of Books today about the way the tech boom is remaking the Bay Area. Cities and the arts have a long and fruitful relationship, so this has serious consequences for the creative … [Read more...]
The High Cost of Theater, and Defending Gatekeepers
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="qToyX6SJ454AKU5ZAPxUoStd2PThtZQi"] THE high cost of culture is an important topic these days; steep ticket prices keep a broad swath of the nation away from visual art, classical music, historic architecture and, often, theater. I once spoke to playwright Donald Margulies (Sight Unseen, Dinner With Friends) about his parents – who I take to be lower middle-class … [Read more...]
Week in Review: The Life and Death of Cities, More on NEA
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="PafOG3MPyZj6bmDJpEFc7L4n3rZYgP8V"] ONE of the topics that's fascinated me for decades, as I've moved from Baltimore to New London, Conn., to Los Angeles -- and in visits to Mexico City, Berkeley, Manchester, and Rome -- is how cities work, and how they stop working. No one has the entire answer to this, but one thing we can all pretty well conclude by now is that … [Read more...]
New NEA Chair and More on Starving Artists
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="0LTdLuqZwPqtzeNA2d7ehmGpnFkQovIb"] AT long last, we have a National Endowment for the Arts chair. The president has nominated Jane Chu, who runs Kansas City’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Chu and has also been a performing pianist; she seems to be well-liked among people I know, considered “low key,” and capable. (This story, from Chu's hometown paper, … [Read more...]
“The Creative Economy,” and Malcolm Cowley
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="d46qMqunSiyQZaayiQ00FiACRUSOSiOO"] AN important survey has just come out from Otis College of Art and Design – its annual report on the “Creative Economy.” Previously concentrated on the Los Angeles area, the survey is now statewide. What motivates this study, and reports on things like "cultural tourism," is the urge by arts and culture types to show that we’re … [Read more...]
Calder, Bookstores and the Death of Cool
TODAY I’ve got a few smallish items to catch up on. First, it’s hardly news that the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has been on a roll recently. Over the weekend, I caught the Calder exhibit – “Calder and Abstraction” – and parts of it blew me away. I’ve seen my share of Alexander Calder sculptures over the years – there is a “stabile,” the stationary version of a mobile, outside the train … [Read more...]
What Are the Arts For?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="n5XpwhQfRtKBHPK1BXtQynuCSQpBNl9j"] WHY do we fight? Whether you are a World War II soldier trying to save an Italian Renaissance painting from the Nazis, or a 21st century American, trying to produce, assess or defend culture in a marketplace that's less and less interested in it, the question is the same. The answers -- some of them proposed by a new film -- may be … [Read more...]
The Glories of Van Dyke Parks
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="ct3qiObIO1GjbjGS8WTsakgdEZd3a77u"] ONE of the great characters -- and great talents -- of Southern California, Van Dyke Parks, has experienced a renaissance lately. First known for his work with the Beach Boys and for his pop-baroque Song Cycle, Parks is an ornery Southerner with a big heart, an abiding love for music, and some serious frustrations with recent … [Read more...]
Are the Arts Only For the Rich?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="aqiS16Ux4TDDRYOTuxApesEZ8xik6SGp"] TAKE the long view, and people and institutions have been trying to destroy culture, and the people who make it, for centuries. Among the latest attacks has been the category of the "cultural elite," and the implication that anyone who enjoys the arts or takes place in their making is not a real American. It's a weird mix of … [Read more...]