Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
An Economist Wonders: Why In The Arts Are “The Greatest” All Oldies?
Why are composers like Mozart, Beethoven and Bach widely regarded as the greatest of all time? Why is it that in a 1985 survey of art experts...
Club To Harness Dancers’ Body Heat To Power Building
What if dance-floor catharsis could be good not only for the soul but also for the planet? This month, SWG3 and the geothermal energy...
No, Your Attention Span Didn’t Just Shrink. It Was Stolen
A small study of college students found they now only focus on any one task for 65 seconds. A different study of office workers...
Stephen Lawrence, Composer Of Sesame Street Music, 82
From Muppets to major stars, Lawrence composed the music for hundreds of Sesame Street songs. He also served as music director for Free to Be... You and...
Boston-Area Church Pays “Royalties” For Performing African-American Spirituals
"Today, we as a church will begin the practice of collecting ‘royalties’ ... for the spirituals we sing and worship. Whenever we sing Negro...
Venice’s Calatrava Footbridge Is A Visual Surprise in An Ancient City. But Pedestrians Have...
The glass floor of the bridge is slippery, and locals have learned to be careful. Warning signs posted by the city didn't help. So...
Stop Blaming Tribalism For What Ails Us
Although the notion that group solidarity leads inevitably to prejudice, animosity, and conflict is common, it is also incorrect and potentially dangerous. - The...
Latest Blockbuster Music Catalog Sale: David Bowie For $250 Million
The deal, for more than 400 songs, also includes soundtrack music; the material for Bowie’s short-lived band Tin Machine from the late 1980s and...
Opera House Appoints Italy’s First Woman Music Director
The Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv said she was surprised to learn she was making history after receiving the offer from the Teatro Comunale opera...
When Harry Reid Helped Michael Heiser Realize His Magnum Opus
A lesser-known part of his legacy—one that’s arguably just as enduring as his political feats—is his campaign to preserve Nevada land that is host...
Under The Radar Festival Is Canceled
The Public announced the cancellation on Twitter today. Considered one of the top international theater festivals focusing on new work, Under The Radar 2022...
Entertainment Stocks Didn’t Have A Great 2021
Disney had its worst year since 2008. Discovery, ViacomCBS, AT&T and AMC Networks also ended down. Netflix, Fox, Lionsgate and Sony rose. Comcast was flat. Fubo, a...
Streaming Has Made Counting Viewers Trickier
Of course, there has been grumbling for decades about Nielsen’s methods or the validity of box office projections, but there was generally some kind of verdict once...
Hilton Als: What Joan Didion Knew About America
Global in mind but a small-town girl at heart, Didion stayed close to home because she was, first and foremost, a writer, and she...
American-Style Culture Wars Come To France
Politicians, media commentators, and scholars from both left and right all seem to agree that the French political debate has been contaminated by American...
Much-Hyped “Harry Potter” Network Reunion Excluded JK Rowling
The network made it abundantly clear that she was not directly involved, flashing a disclaimer every time she (briefly) appeared that her interviews were...
Lost Bronte Sisters Trove Was Going To Be Sold. Fans Saved It
Sir Leonard Blavatnik, the American-British-Ukrainian petrochemical-finance-entertainment mogul, put up half the money to buy it for the public a few weeks ago — with...
How To Define Composer Caroline Shaw?
Her work inspires articles with headlines like “Is Caroline Shaw Really the Future of Music?” and “Caroline Shaw Is Firing on All Creative Cylinders”...
Lessons In Creativity From Metallica
Thanks to a massive box set issued earlier this year for the 30th anniversary of Metallica’s squillion-selling self-titled 1991 album. It includes 14 versions...
Phantom Restorer Strikes Again – “Repairs” Historic Church
While the mayor’s report this fall of a “masked restorer” had set off angry calls for an investigation to find the culprit, information that...
Bob I. Retires From Running Disney. Bob C. Takes Over
Bob Chapek must simultaneously steer Disney through a cataclysmic transformation while keeping it the world’s most powerful and recognizable entertainment company — despite incursions...
The Canadian English Dictionary Hasn’t Been Updated In Almost Two Decades – No New...
The entire Canadian Oxford research staff was laid off in 2008 due to declining sales, and responsibility for identifying our country's words was placed largely...
An Abusive Violin Teacher Drove Me To Give Up. As An Adult I Learned...
The experience of being confined in a tiny practice room with an emotionally and psychologically threatening adult is, alas, not rare for children learning...
Ben McFall, Strand Bookstore’s Heart And Soul, 73
McFall enjoyed duties and perks not given to any other Strand employee. For much of his tenure, he was the only person in charge...
A Dance World Reckoning Of Liam Scarlett’s Death
The shock of Scarlett’s death has gone on causing wave upon wave of complex emotion across and beyond the dance world. Large parts of his career...
