[contextly_auto_sidebar id="CCAh4bKVUCAChyU9848GkcdsXhxXqV12"] ABOUT a week ago, I caught the Austin, TX, troubadour at City Winery in New York. Great show -- one of my musical heroes -- thoughts will follow. Sheesh busy few days hope to post on this tonight if I can. Everyone needs to pick up his records Thirteen Years and live chronicle More Miles Than Money if they are curious. He's … [Read more...]
Is Free Will For Real?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Ik2UBDsLb9qxlWm7jqiO4d9Utt1cqk1Y"] SO who decides what we do -- our biology or us? Is there anyone home, or do we just run through our decisions the way nature programmed us? I didn't think there was a lot more to say about free will, which often provokes dull, abstract debates, but a presentation in Puebla, Mexico last week by David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at … [Read more...]
Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="GoFGOT4Q6EPfBqiYMIbBn4gpMbiXLSMV"] IT would give me a contrarian thrill if I could come out against what may be the best-reviewed movie of the year. But Boyhood, which I finally caught up with, struck me as the most profound film I've seen in years. The New York Times review, by my friend Manohla Dargis, caught a hint of the movie's poetry. The realism is … [Read more...]
Do Visual Artists Still Need Galleries? And, Outsider Artist in Texas
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="xuel5RALWv2asRk33q0uxqd8UbYD0j58"] OVER the last few years, there's been a lot of talk about disintermediation -- removing the middle man. Digital technology makes this easier, and we've seen the self-publishing model expand for artists for authors, musicians, journalists and others. Will artists abandon galleries and try to reach collectors directly? Some already … [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...]
Radar Bros and Overseas at the Satellite
Still buzzing from some recent cultural highs -- Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio at UCLA Royce Hall, the Glass/Wilson Einstein on the Beach at Los Angeles Opera -- we're looking forward to a smaller but no less welcome event in town this week. That's LA's own Radar Bros -- who we've written about several times -- with Overseas, the new collaboration between Matt Kadane (Bedhead, The New Year) with … [Read more...]
British History and Texas Music
A SHORT, insightful new book about the making of the modern world – told in microcosm – has just come from the pen of a noted indie rocker.Here at The Misread City, we’ve been impressed with the melancholy genius of Matt Kadane since the first record, What Fun Life Was, from his old band, Dallas slowcore quartet Bedhead. Like the group that followed, The New Year, Bedhead was defined by melodic … [Read more...]
In Search of Ryan Adams
EVERY few years, Ryan Adams surprises me. He'll put out a song or album that reminds me what a goddam genius the self-destructive lad can be. He's someone I'm always on the verge of writing off as a narcissistic showboat, or a pastiche artist, but he comes through with some of the most poignant and alive work in the entire alt-country tradition. It's a bit low-key for me, but last year's Ashes … [Read more...]
Two New Cop Shows
THE new television season is starting, and there are a lot of new cop shows. So far the best I've seen is the mellow, low-key Terriers, which I reviewed for The Hollywood Reporter last week. Two new shows try a lot harder but achieve less. Here's my review of the Hawaii Five-0 reboot, which begins: By the time the shooting begins in earnest on "Hawaii Five-0," about halfway through the pilot, the … [Read more...]
California Vs. The Great Plains
The writer and urbanist Joel Kotkin has a fascinating piece in a recent Newsweek called "The Great Great Plains," which looks at the way cities like Fargo and Bismarck -- as well as most of Texas -- are booming while much of the rest of the country languishes in a dead economy.It got us here at the Misread City wondering: What are Omaha and Dallas doing right that Los Angeles and other West Coast … [Read more...]