Dana Stevens: “If by ‘we’ you mean ‘I,’ then yes, probably. … When we mourn the early death of a writer who was just beginning to find his or her true voice, we’re also mourning, by implication, every work that author never finished, or never started.”
Benjamin Moser: “A dead young writer is, above all, a dead human being. … And the fine line that separates romance from treacle is the same that divides mourning from kitsch; to cross it is to glorify a heart-rending death instead of remembering the achievements of a life.”
Robert Craft, 92, Adviser And Steward To Stravinsky
“Called an elegant Boswell by his supporters and a calculating Svengali by his detractors, … Mr. Craft spent nearly a quarter-century as Stravinsky’s amanuensis, rehearsal conductor, musical adviser, globe-trotting traveling companion and surrogate son. After Stravinsky’s death in 1971, at 88, he was a writer, lecturer, conductor, public intellectual and keeper of the Stravinskian flame.”
America’s Cult Of The ‘Amateur’
The phrase amateur hour “now registers as an insult. But it has an older meaning, one that betrays America’s sincere enthusiasm for the utterly unprofessional. … The idea of effortless authenticity is so attractive that members of the American establishment have vied for more than a century to buy, cheat or counterfeit their way to amateur status.”
The New York Public Library’s Below-Ground Shelving Is Going High-Tech
“To fit all the books in the allotted space, the library will have to abandon its version of the Dewey Decimal System, in which shelving is organized by subject, in favor of a new “high-density” protocol in which all that matters is size. Books will be stacked by height and tracked by bar code rather than by a subject-based system, making for some odd bookfellows.”
OK, So How Do Directors Who Practice Color-Conscious Casting Deal With The Audience?
“Since I first wrote about color-conscious casting, I’ve learned—by directing my own productions as well as casting plays that I did not direct—that color-conscious casting doesn’t guarantee a color-conscious production. Diverse casting is a cause; a more challenging and/or inclusive conversation is not inherently an effect.”
The Last Living Member Of The Original Lindy Hop Troupe Is 95 – And Doing Stand-Up Comedy
“Before she became the Queen of Swing, Miller was just a poor black girl in Harlem who loved to dance. Even as she watched her mother struggle to make rent by cleaning houses, Miller dreamed of another path.”
What’s The Role Of Entertainment In The Wake Of The Attacks In Paris?
“Once again, those of us immersed in entertainment–as producers, as distributors, as chroniclers, or even just as devotees–are left to ask where it fits in. Cultures have been grappling for centuries with how much space to allow levity in the place of a tragedy. But the relevance, and even the defensibility, of entertainment has lately been thrust forward as never before.”
This German Musician Drove Through The Night With His Portable Piano To Play Near Paris’ Bataclan Theatre
“Martello described the scene as shocking and said there was blood on his piano from the previous night’s attack at the concert hall. ‘I got to the end of playing Imagine and just couldn’t carry on,’ he said. ‘Even if I wanted to it was just too emotional.'”
The Paris Photo Art Fair Has Shut Down In The Wake Of The Attacks
“We are located in the Grand Palais near the Palace of the President,” said Jean-Daniel Compain, a senior vice president at Reed Exhibitions, reached by telephone Sunday. “We were expecting another 20,000 people in those two days, and I cannot take the risk.
The Habits Of Highly Creative People
“Psychologically speaking, creative personality types are difficult to pin down, largely because they’re complex, paradoxical and tend to avoid habit or routine. And it’s not just a stereotype of the ‘tortured artist’ — artists really may be more complicated people. Research has suggested that creativity involves the coming together of a multitude of traits, behaviors and social influences in a single person.”
Belarus Artists Stage A Secret Show In London [VIDEO]
“The Belarus Free Theatre is banned in Belarus, but Will Gompertz was invited to a performance at a secret London venue.”
Facebook Tries To Explain Why Only Paris – And Not Beirut – Merited The ‘Safety Check’
“Now that Facebook has set a precedent for using Safety Check for terrorism and other violent events, it will need to figure out when and where to use the feature. From Schultz’s comments, it’s not clear if the team would have enabled it for Beirut. He includes the Lebanese city among ‘other parts of the world, where violence is more common and terrible things happen with distressing frequency.'”
CBS Pulls Two ‘Terrorism-Themed’ Episodes From Lineup After Paris Attacks
“The network had originally slated the Supergirl episode ‘How Does She Do It?’ for Monday night. However, the plot for the hour revolves around ‘a series of bombings’ that strike National City. This will now be replaced with a Thanksgiving-pegged episode.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs For 11.15.15
Carl Weissner: ‘Always These Nightmares . . .’
Carl Weissner’s novel Death in Paris — first published onlinein 2009, then as a paperback in 2012, and finally as an ebook in 2014 — was about a different kind of death from the… … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2015-11-15
Herschel Day
Today is the 277th birthday of William Herschel, a man who shows us just how vast the change has been in the fortunes of the arts and sciences. Herschel has often been dubbed the Father… … read more
AJBlog: Infinite CurvesPublished 2015-11-15
Dancing to Beat the Reaper
Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion brings three works to the Joyce Theater. Vinson Fraley Jr. and Tamisha Guy in Kyle Abraham’s The Gettin’. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu Seated at a piano in a corner of the Joyce Theater, Kris… … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2015-11-14
Weekend Extra: Roses
Here it is the middle of November and the yellow roses are in full splendor. Maybe a horticulturist could explain the phenomenon of such an extended period of bloom, but let’s simply enjoy it and… … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2015-11-14
Cogluotobusisletmesi
The major thrill of my trip to Santa Barbara last week was the chance to spend time with the extraordinary composer Clarence Barlow, who kindly took off an entire day to spend with me (click… … read more
AJBlog: PostClassicPublished 2015-11-13
Taubman’s Revenge? Sotheby’s Gavel-Busting $515-Million Guarantee
My misgivings about how Sotheby’s success in winning the A. Alfred Taubman consignment might backfire, which I voiced early last month in an interview with a British reporter, now appear to be on the money.… … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2015-11-13
Stop all the clocks
Directors have been shuttling between theatre and opera for decades now. Makes sense. Both forms tell stories, establish tension, explore characters and ideas. Ten years after Peter Gelb took charge at the Met, directors… … read more
AJBlog: Performance MonkeyPublished 2015-11-13
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How Long Does It Take To Become An Artist?
“The great Cuban-born painter Carmen Herrera, who turned 100 this year, and did not sell a work until she was 89, gets up every morning to paint. Her advice to the young is not to hurry through their 20s, and never to be intimidated by anything. ‘You don’t decide to be an artist,’ she has said, ‘art gets inside of you. It’s like falling in love.'”
Without Shakespeare, Who Would Know The Battle Of Agincourt?
But Shakespeare isn’t responsible for confusion around the meaning of the battle: “Henry V, ‘a master of propaganda,’ controlled the message; victory at Agincourt validated Henry’s divine authority. From there, over 600 years, uncertainties have been compounded.”
Yeah, I Know It’s Not So Easy: Aziz Ansari On ‘Brownface’ And Casting Minority Roles
“I had to cast an Asian actor for Master of None, and it was hard. When you cast a white person, you can get anything you want: ‘You need a white guy with red hair and one arm? Here’s six of ’em!’ But for an Asian character, there were startlingly fewer options. … But I still wonder if we are trying hard enough.”