Straight Up | Jan Herman

Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

Poland Dials the Wrong Number

by

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 […]

A Burroughs-Gysin ‘Motherlode’

by

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

by

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 . . .

by

Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth, Obsessing our private lives. — W.H. Auden

‘Aletheia’ to Tour Northeastern U.S.

by

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 […]

Oh Say Can You See . ? .

by

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 […]

Acker Awards to Honor One-of-a Kind Artists

by

I don’t know what the late Kathy Acker would think of an award given in her name to non-conforming artists. I assume an experimental punk novelist and poet would like the idea of supporting artists who don’t conform. Although awards are besides the point especially for non-conformists, they do generate publicity. And unless I’m wrong, […]

The Shithole and the Shithouse

by

By now roughly 23 million people have seen the rebranded Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. Or if they haven’t, at least that many have googled it. If you’re the one person who hasn’t seen it, here it is. And here, not incidentally, is Trump’s Shithouse in Washington D.C., also known as The White House.

Michelangelo, poet

by

Before Michelangelo, Divine Draftsman & Designer leaves The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, here’s a sweet little item from the show. It’s about how he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and it brings him down to earth. Jackson Pollock anyone? I’ve already grown a goiter from this torture, Hunched up as […]

A Rising Composer’s Calling

by

Dylan Mattingly’s work-in-progress opera “Stranger Love” is to be performed at Roulette in a world premiere next week in New York City on Jan. 16 & 17. STRANGER LOVE Music by Dylan Mattingly Libretto by Thomas Bartscherer Concept by Thomas Bartscherer and Dylan Mattingly Act I is the tale of two lovers, in the tradition […]

The Lust to Consume

by

“The people who run Tesco’s must be Buddhists. You go in there … and there is nothing you could possibly want.”–Heathcote Williams Tesco PLC is a global retailer based in the U.K. It owns and operates supermarkets throughout Europe and in recent years has expanded to Turkey, China, Thailand, and the U.S. the Middle East, […]

Quad Cinema Hosts Wyler Festival

by

WNYC’s Sara Fishko has produced a terrific audio piece about William Wyler and two of his best films — “Dodsworth” and “The Best Years of Our Lives” — both of which are playing among the 25 being screened at the Quad through Dec. 11. Listen: Click for the schedule. “Jan Herman’s biography of William Wyler […]

A Magazine for Word and Image

by

Andreas Hansen 3      Sabine Vogel 84 Tone Avenstroup 6      Caroline Hartge 86 Joshua Groß 7      Christian Geissler 88 Katja Horn 10      Sabine Peters 90 Wolf Ways 11      Bert Panenfuß 91 Kai Pohl 12      Stefan Döring 94 Kristin Schulz 15      Karl Krüll 95 Alexander Krohn 16      Monika Rinck […]

2017: Thanksgiving in Trumpistan

by

A Straight Up greeting to mark the moment. From William Burroughs, and Norman O. Mustill, and Heathcote Williams, and our staff of thousands … thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison . . . thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and to falsify until the bare lies shine through . . . thanks […]

This blog published under a Creative Commons license

an ArtsJournal blog