[contextly_auto_sidebar] FRIDAY night, the Seattle-area band the Posies stopped through the Bootleg Theater, which has gradually become one of my favorite places to see a show in Los Angeles. Out with me was a music writer whose work I've admired for 20 years (okay, she's now my wife), who was an ardent fan of the band back when they and a handful of other indie rockers were reviving power pop … [Read more...]
Angelique Kidjo Plays Remain in Light
[contextly_auto_sidebar] THE other night I caught a stunningly good show by the West African musician Angelique Kidjo -- a reimagining of Talking Heads' classic 1980 album Remain in Light, itself inspired by West African rhythms and themes. I was having so much fun I failed to take notes, but sometimes guest columnist Steven Mirkin, a longtime music journalist, was paying more attention. … [Read more...]
The Literary Courtney Barnett
[contextly_auto_sidebar] I CAN remember only a few times I've heard a song and immediately known I was hearing a major talent, someone I'd be paying attention to for years to come. The Smiths, Liz Phair, Pavement, Thelonious Monk, and Glenn Gould have all struck me that way. Time will tell if she really belongs in their company, but the Aussie singer-songwriter knocked me out with her song … [Read more...]
“West Side Story,” and Leonard Bernstein at 100
[contextly_auto_sidebar] IT'S hard to think of a figure in American cultural history more complex and protean than Leonard Bernstein. For my generation, he was already in eclipse when we came of age in the '70s and '80s. But he was such a titan that many of us -- and those older and younger -- are looking forward to the performances of his work and the upcoming exhibit at the Skirball Cultural … [Read more...]
Julian Lage at the Bootleg Theater
[contextly_auto_sidebar] LAST night's show by the young Santa Rosa native was one of the greatest jazz gigs your humber blogger has ever seen. Even knowing a few of his records and having seen him play a delicate, restrained, kind of perfect show with pianist Fred Hersch a few years back, I was knocked out by how fleet his playing was, and how well-matched to a more assertive style. Lage, a … [Read more...]
Southern Literature and the Drive-By Truckers
[contextly_auto_sidebar] CELEBRATED Yale historian C. Vann Woodward used to talk about the irony of Southern history, and the burden of Southern history, both phrases drawn in part from the novels of Faulkner. Patterson Hood, a son of Alabama who spent several decades in Athens, GA, before leaving the South like many a literary character before him, has made a fascinating songwriting career … [Read more...]
Artist Dora De Larios, RIP
[contextly_auto_sidebar] UNDERSUNG but widely respected, the sculptor Dora De Larios has been working in around Los Angeles for six decades now. I was pleased to be asked to write about her for Los Angeles magazine, and was able to tour her daughter's house, where a wide range of her sculptures and ceramic work sits. What interested me about De Larios' work right away was how firmly it sat … [Read more...]
Joe Henry, Poetry, and The Blues
[contextly_auto_sidebar] LIKE a lot of listeners, I've long considered Joe Henry to be a smart and vaguely literary songwriter -- smart, more-or-less sensitive, good with words. But I was pleasantly surprised when Joe came out of the closet about his love of poetry, and since it coincided with the release of the powerful, understated record Thrum, I made sure to corner him for an interview in … [Read more...]
Remembering Ursula K. Le Guin
[contextly_auto_sidebar] THERE may be no contemporary writer who's shaped me, and many of the authors of my generation, more than Ursula Le Guin, who died Monday. Even though she was nearing 90, Le Guin is the kind of person who seemed like she would live forever: When I flew up to meet her in Portland a decade ago, she seemed so physically solid and intellectually sharp, she came across like … [Read more...]
Spotify, David Lowery, and the Future of Artists’ Rights
[contextly_auto_sidebar] THE conquest of the music industry by a small number of technology companies has continued on schedule, but there has been some resistance by musicians and their advocates. One of the most stalwart has been Camper van Beethoven leader David Lowery, who led a lawsuit against Spotify for royalties. Much of the push-back from Lowery and fellow travelers like Blake … [Read more...]