An open letter from Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, took up a full page yesterday in The New York Times. The heading was “It’s Time to Dial Back the Rhetoric in Poland.” I have no expertise in the matter, but I couldn’t help recalling Tuvye Tenenbom‘s take on the situation of […]
Archives for February 2018
A Burroughs-Gysin ‘Motherlode’
SEE UPDATE BELOW My staff of thousands informs me that the Smithsonian Institute has posted scans of three notebooks by William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin dating from 1963 to 1973, and 1977. It was described to me as “a motherlode” of writings and collages. And indeed it is. Have a look by clicking the […]
R. Crumb Classic Portraits
![Portrait of Charles Plymell © by R. Crumb [2018]](https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RCRUMB-portrait-of-Plymell-508-200x200.jpg)
Charles Plymell writes: I sent Robert some old political cartoons on crumbling paper from 20’s-30’s & some extra sheets of the plain parchment which had beautiful tan sheen like I ran the first ZAP on. I had remembered the old comics I found in Lawrence of Andy Gump & another one of The Katzenjammer Kids […]
Thinking of Auden . . .
Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth, Obsessing our private lives. — W.H. Auden EmailFacebookTwitterReddit
‘Aletheia’ to Tour Northeastern U.S.
Composed by William Osborne for singer-instrumentalist, computer-controlled piano, and quadraphonic electronics, “Aletheia” is a music theater work featuring the solo performance of Abbie Conant as the title character. Osborne writes, “Aletheia is an opera singer who is delighted that she has been asked to perform for an opera gala. She only needs to go down […]
Grub Street Deformation
![Drawing © by Gerard Bellaart [Cold Turkey Press, 2018]](https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Beached-recto-CT-365-200x200.jpg)
BEACHED On the sunny island of friendship ash was falling from our faces. “This is not subtle,” the doc said. He prescribed a regimen of pills the size of Montaigne’s chateau. My head shrank to a bungalow in Far Rockaway, and I recalled the ghost ship of our childhoods beached against the boardwalk where a […]
Oh Say Can You See . ? .
![Flag illustration © by Sonia Pulido [New York Times, 1/31/2018]](https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Flag-Sonia-Pulido-NYT-1enh-360-200x200.jpg)
Some ideas are so good that they’re too good to steal. Norman O. Mustill had many of them. This was one. But good ideas get around –or go around — landing many times in many places. Sonia Polido’s good idea landed yesterday as an illustration for the lead editorial “What Trump Doesn’t Get About the […]