[contextly_auto_sidebar id="8lG1gx076ac8sMEbh9E4fK0epPYBWHeb"] THERE is a great new-ish journal out of San Franscisco that not only has the right idea, it has the follow-through. Radio Silence includes work by established elders (peerless short story writer Tobias Wolff), an interview with Lucinda Williams, and appearances by Carrie Brownstein, Rick Moody, even F. Scott Fitzgerald. It's all … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2014
If Culture Isn’t Quantified, Does it Exist? And, Tech News
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="9uyV3uaURenHexrSfUw92h6J4J7iuLD6"] ONE of the most important stories of the week ran below the fold in New York Times Styles. "Statisticians 10, Poets 0" got at the relentless quantifying that digital technology has made possible. And the things that can't be counted are fading from view. That would be fine, if so many of the things that matter, especially for the … [Read more...]
The Forgotten Fifties: Debut of a Guest Columnist
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="FSBn2DLrnWZBS8DufCMUcy7PwGEjKVRO"] DO we misread our cultural past, especially the 1950s? Today marks the debut of CultureCrash guest columnist Lawrence Christon, a veteran arts and entertainment journalist in LA, author of a book about South Coast Repertory, and a longtime friend. Larry will be weighing in on various topics about the past, present and future of … [Read more...]
What Does Death of Net Neutrality Mean for Culture? And, Women of Paris
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="xGDWAexoDrHPFCevaXgcNYzALx2EWaaG"] THIS week, it seems, has brought us closer to the end of net neutrality, with the FCC getting closer to approving a pay-to-play "fast lane." The fear among purveyors and enthusiasts of indie culture is that there will be a tiered Internet, one for wealthy corporations and a slow one for the rest. Enormous power would go to broadband … [Read more...]
Can the Internet Destroy the Blockbuster Era? And, Digital Humanities
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="HnOcX1gioiqpT82lL4d0savWjVspAEhp"] IT'S been pretty well documented now that by "connecting" us all, the web has reinforced the growth of a corporate blockbuster culture. Despite the talk about "the long tail," and the web's ability to sustain fringe culture, the most heavily promoted movies, pop stars and so on are increasingly trouncing their less-funded rivals. … [Read more...]
Artist-Activist Daniel Beaty, and Dismantling Libraries
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="fWCZOlqlcOkp84opgNwzY9TpfVFLSu9B"] CAN an artist -- in this case an actor and playwright -- be a healer at the same time? Do the two roles reinforce each other, or do they pull in opposite directions? These were questions I got into in a new story on Daniel Beaty, a remarkable guy who is closing out the LA run of The Tallest Tree in the Forest, a play about the … [Read more...]
Roots of a Great English Band: The Clientele
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="dzt0X2rINHchc2UlFWD4AkubWFuBi9up"] TODAY sees the reissue of the debut LP by one of Britain’s best rock bands: The Clientele’s Suburban Light. Fans of the Clientele know that this group took bits of ‘60s British folk, the Byrds, and Velvet Underground, jacked up the tremolo, and produced succinct and chiming pop songs that become hard to forget. (Here is the album's … [Read more...]
Art, Work and Money
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="iZv7JeHqc41WMIllgv7eQnjxMkFtGil8"] IF art and culture produce something besides money, what, exactly, is it? Who are the people who devote their lives to this stuff? And how have technological and economic shifts changed things over recent years? Those are questions I ponder often, and A.O. Scott addresses them in a perceptive and wide-ranging New York Times essay … [Read more...]
How Do Visual Artists Survive? A Conversation
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="bf0FrQh0qNpnPUaXjMY1eGrcVaOQV5gc"] IT’S never been easy to make a living as a creative being, and recent years have made it even more difficult for anyone without a trust fund. So I’m quite cheered by the recent appearance of a handsome, useful book, Living and Sustaining a Creative Life. Edited by the Brooklyn-based, Yale-educated artist Sharon Louden, it's … [Read more...]
The Struggle of Creative Professionals, and a Gay Bookstore Down
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Qq27kwhxLk22LnK6cMR3w47aN5iOTjFn"] WITH the national unemployment rate falling, and the persistence of digital utopianism, which tells us that we live in the best of all possible worlds, we've put that nasty recession stuff behind us, haven't we? The struggle of the creative class, which has not much abated, continues to be obscured. A new funny and poignant essay in … [Read more...]