Low Priority, High Importance

I don't expect the new Obama administration to put culture at the top of its priority list. But when Newsweek asked me to contribute an essay to its annual "Issues" edition, I came up with this. Surprisingly, most of the comments have been favorable -- at least most of the ones that seem to have been written by human beings over the age of 9.

January 7, 2009 2:08 PM | Permalink

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PRC Pop

The Chinese pop music scene is like no other ...

Remembering Elvis

The best part of him will never leave the building ...

Beyond Country

Like all chart categories, "country" is an arbitrary heading under which one finds the ridiculous, the sublime, and everything in between. On the sublime end, a track that I have been listening to over and over for the last six months: Wynnona Judd's version of "She Is His Only Need." The way she sings it, irony is not a color or even a set of contrasting colors; it is iridescence.

Miles the Rock Star?

Does Miles Davis belong in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame? Here's my take on his career ...

Essay Contest

Attention, high school jazz listeners ...

more trax

Edward Hopper

Painter of light (and darkness) ...

Dissed in Translation

Here's my best shot at taking Scorcese down a few pegs ...

Henri Rousseau Revisited

"Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris" appeared at the National Gallery of Art in Washington this fall ...

Paul Klee's Art