[contextly_auto_sidebar id="uhn6cUcVr5hepNR0gearR5lZEvN3qK1j"] MONDAY sees the opening of the Mike Kelley retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. The museum is only a few miles from where Kelley lives and worked. His work remains stirring and bitterly funny, and there was much good cheer from old friends and admirers excited to finally see so much work in the same place. … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2014
What’s the Matter With San Diego, and a Deadly Impostor
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="uXOtZCit5zazXO6t0Ht1wwihD894I3a9"] EVEN in an arts world familiar with groups going belly-up, this one surprised people: The San Diego Opera's board voted last week to call it a day, effective at the end of the current season. No pleading with donors or subscribers to pitch in, no Chapter 11 filing, just an abrupt, "Closed For Business" sign. Now the group's … [Read more...]
Debating the Blue Note 100, and Music Streaming
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="46i5BmaPr0zmJefPqiMZ5JyjjVYvB11F"] THE jazz label Blue Note has announced plans to reissue 100 of its classic albums on remastered vinyl as part of its 75th anniversary celebration. I don't love everything Don Was has cooked up since taking over the label -- his emphasis on "branding" rather than improving and promoting the actual recordings and supporting the … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday, J.S. Bach, You Scary Bastard
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="fCuLD2IqdN12lY1YuMoXVQLgOFYy7oc1"] Since the exact date is ambiguous -- he was born sometime in late March of 1685 -- I've decided to declare today Bach's birthday. That gives me great pleasure; Bach was the first composer to hit me hard, and is still my favorite. It also frightens me, because of the way Bach's music is typically used in films to signify something … [Read more...]
Historical Documentary and “The Story of the Jews”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Jxeq7goyZFHTuT1NApP4ZsOM8ZKVKFcG"] TODAY I have a piece in the Los Angeles Times about a new documentary, commissioned by the BBC but playing in the US on PBS, The Story of the Jews with Simon Schama. (The first part broadcasts Tuesday night.) Schama, the British-born, Cambridge-educated historian who now teachers at Columbia, is likely known to many of my readers … [Read more...]
The Irreverent Genius of Jeremy Denk
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="W81pySFXa3drR3WTlrmSjqp0w13uJQpJ"] The classical pianist Jeremy Denk has just won the Avery Fisher Prize, which caps what's been a very good year or so for him. (He's working on a memoir for Random House, among other things.) I met Denk in 2010 and was immediately impressed with playing and thinking. (His commitment to Ives was palpable.) My story looks at his … [Read more...]
The Death of Music Journalism, and SXSW
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="QsLx7wwZeCPiHbCCxGIMq5cuGHsw7dvf"] DOES music journalism have any interest in music, as opposed to celebrity and wardrobe? What happens to the audience when they get fluff instead of criticism, paparazzi shots instead of real journalism? A tough, intelligent new article by my friend Ted Gioia is sure to lose him friends among the fraternity of culture scribes: … [Read more...]
Dave Eggers on Artists in the Digital Age
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Sgct1PtiO3Y0LbD66DOqZ5sXTeAmgc4p"] FOR reasons I half understand, Dave Eggers's recent novel The Circle was dismissed and ignored in some circles. The book's not perfect, but works beautifully as a fable about what we're willing to give up to live in a digital utopia. The book's protagonist, Mae, lucks into a job at a Google-like campus in Northern California and … [Read more...]
Will Technology Eat Your Job?: The Second Machine Age
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="rH31sHcPNX2fJ8BUGdeIZ6rMJes54987"] THE honest answer to that question is, Well, maybe. Today I have a Daily Beast interview with Andrew McAfee, an MIT researcher and co-author of the new book The Second Machine Age. His previous book, Race Against the Machine, took a cautionary look at how digital technology, including artificial intelligence, was leading to levels … [Read more...]
Will Gentrification Kill Music Scenes?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="TrbR7MBr156tnxxUjyokh6h5WiyTPKma"] ONE irony that members of the creative class lives with every day is that we help bring neighborhoods up, and then get priced out sometime after the ascend. This has been going on for decades, but it's taken on a special fierceness in places where the tech boom and high finance have reshaped the cost of living. We see a … [Read more...]