[contextly_auto_sidebar id="o511ReiogmTCk65Pr1jtarJdMtJ8q5at"] IN the weeks since I’ve seen it, I’ve gone back and forth on the movie Inside Llewyn Davis. The film was beautifully shot and well acted, I love the way some of the scenes of Greenwich Village make it look like the characters are inside the cover of Dylan’s Freewheelin’ , and so on. But I also couldn’t help thinking that for all … [Read more...]
Reporting, the Digital Age, and the Disappearing Middle Class
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="UdzFLHqHKqJ9wXVQI1GqH0q0PFUfcGe7"] HOW are digital technology and the 21st century economy reshaping journalism, including arts reporting? I'll plan to dig into economy-of-culture questions on this blog as often as I can. Today, a business columnist gets into it quite smartly in a new piece. Michael Hiltzik’s Los Angeles Times column, “Supply of news is dwindling … [Read more...]
LA Phil Goes to Scandinavia
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="8kEqCdbcCqQwhdKRJpToOBscTE4zIEM7"] ON Saturday night, I caught an all-Scandinavian Los Angeles Philharmonic concert that included a West Coast premiere of an Anders Hillborg piece and violinist Hilary Hahn playing a Nielsen concerto. The whole concert was strong -- I was amazed at the sounds Hahn was able to coax out of her violin -- but Hillborg's King Tide was so … [Read more...]
Week in Review: Obama on Art vs Factories, and More
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="UzOdqTdRr0f4bA3skq8em9vtTLiLXNnZ"] WHAT seems to have been a throwaway line on the impracticality of the "art history major" by President Obama is stirring up art-world folk. I first read about it in this Hyperallergic post, "Obama Loves Art History But Thinks It's (Economically) Useless," which describes him praising skilled manufacturing jobs over, you know, artsy … [Read more...]
“Passion” and a Life in the Arts
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="iQQVe5TAzEEnpCsYlIIqaek1CQTiG9Gn"] WELL, I feel like the vaudeville announcer lingering onstage because the dancing girls are late: The piece I intended to launch this blog with turns out to be waiting until the weekend. But I’m quite intrigued by this essay on creativity, work and careers in the arts, which appears in my favorite newish magazine, Pacific Standard. … [Read more...]
Introducing Culture Crash
Today I launch the new ArtsJournal blog, Culture Crash. I’m a longtime arts reporter in Los Angeles, and a former LA Times writer who’s covered architecture, classical music, jazz, film, books, visual art, indie rock, and and written for Salon and The New York Times. For the last five years I’ve run the West Coast Culture blog TheMisreadCity, but I’m shifting those energies to Culture … [Read more...]
The Life and Death of the Alternative Press
IF it weren't for the '80s Village Voice, I probably would not be a journalist. (The world, I expect, would be a better place.) This weekend I have a story in Al Jazeera America about good times and bad for alternative weeklies. I talk about the crystalline sense of mission these publications had during conservative times, and the troubles they've had more recently. And I try to shine a light … [Read more...]
Richard Rodriguez on Religion, Atheism and Politics
SOMETIMES I wonder why the words -- especially the personal essays -- of Richard Rodriguez hit me so directly. He is a gay Latino born in the '40s, a devout if conflicted Catholic, and on many issues a political or social conservative. My origins and allegiances are very different and coincide with none of those categories (I have long thought of myself, for instance, as a Protestant agnostic on … [Read more...]
Dave Allen on Rock Music and the Internet
RECENTLY I've been corresponding with Dave Allen, bassist for the British post-punk group Gang of Four. His ideas on digital culture -- mostly strongly opposed to those of David Lowery and David Byrne -- are as forceful as his bass playing on Entertainment! I'll point out that I disagree with Mr. Allen on much of what he says; I'm less optimistic that the new system will work out for musicians … [Read more...]
Returning to Charlie Haden, Jazz and Transcendence
TODAY I have been trying to move on to other things, but can’t get the memory of last night’s Charlie Haden/ Liberation Music Orchestra concert out of my mind. There are too many things to contemplate here, but let me offer a few stray thoughts. Overall: While this night was by no means perfect – there were minor technical problems early on, the musician most of us had come to see was in such … [Read more...]