James Parker: “I draw it up the side of the Boston Public Library. I draw it through the middle of Stephen King’s wallet. I draw it right between the frontal lobes of every writer who ever lived.”
Rivka Galchen: “Maybe Commercial Fiction is really great, or maybe it’s great the way a Dorito is great, but Commercial Fiction is in some way consonant with the market. … If, though, we didn’t have the term Literary to protect books of value that ¬aren’t brilliant as commerce, then we would have Melville’s Omoo and Typee but not Moby-Dick.”
Glenn Gould’s Piano, A Love Affair
“Once he got it, he said, ‘It’s done, this is the instrument for the rest of my life’. Until one day it got dropped off the back of a truck.”
Traditional Newspapers Are Doomed. Now A Fight For Control Of Distribution
“Having a legacy business configured around a website is now almost as much of a headache as the rumbling printing press, fuelled by paper and money. It is likely we will start to see studio or agency models emerge where publishing models once were, trying to create value around relationships and services rather than packages and products.”
Minnesota Orchestra’s Concertmaster On Doing Her Job While Married To The Maestro
Erin Keefe, who married Osmo Vänskä last April: “I haven’t felt any awkwardness. He’s here only 12 weeks a year; I’m here 28 weeks. When we are here together, we don’t bring anything inappropriate to rehearsal.”
San Bernardino Looks To Art For Some Healing
“Even before the news media descended, the city was bankrupt, a poster child for urban ills — the poorest city of its size in California and a haven for gang violence, drug addiction, foreclosures and political dysfunction. San Bernardino has long been known for nightmarish air pollution in which asthmatic children from low-income families breathe diesel fumes from cargo trains and trucks.”
The Artist Recreating The Sistine Chapel – In Mexico
“The Sistine Chapel has been partially reproduced around the world—in museums, as well as bars and restaurants. Mr. Macías says his work will be the only copy of all 33 panels that has been done in a church, which, by luck, has a ceiling nearly the same size and curvature of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs For 02.21.16
The Met versus The Met–At Least People Care
I am, of course, talking about the Metropolitan Museum* and the Metropolitan Opera. Since I last posted, on the Met Museum’s new logo, many people have weighed in both here and on other sites as… … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2016-02-21
Shakespeare Wisely Shaken Up
John Scott and Valda Setterfield’s Lear. King Lear (Setterfield) besieged by a storm: Kevin Coquelard (L) and Marcus Bellamy. Photo: Maria Baranova “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! howls Shakespeare’s King Lear, defying the storm… … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-02-20
Umberto Eco died yesterday (Friday) at the age of 84. I’ve written about his work on occasion over the years, including something on his analysis of the comic strip Peanuts, That’s not online. (My piece, that… … read more
AJBlog: Quick StudyPublished 2016-02-20
AJBlog: Quick StudyPublished 2016-02-20
Sullivan Fortner In Portland
In his solo piano concert opening the Portland Jazz Festival last night, Sullivan Fortner surveyed a wide territory of styles and wrapped them into his own. At the Böesendorfer grand in the rectal hall of… … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2016-02-19
In his solo piano concert opening the Portland Jazz Festival last night, Sullivan Fortner surveyed a wide territory of styles and wrapped them into his own. At the Böesendorfer grand in the rectal hall of… … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2016-02-19
Improvising preludes
In my Juilliard course on the future of classical music, we’ve been looking at how classical music was in the past. Why? Because it was looser, more flexible, with the audience applauding during the… … read more
AJBlog: SandowPublished 2016-02-19 Extracted, Diffracted, Destroyed
The poem is composed of words extracted from Joseph Roth’s The Radetzky March and mashed up in a collage that bends their meaning, so that it’s a diffraction as much as an extraction. The drawing… … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2016-02-19
In my Juilliard course on the future of classical music, we’ve been looking at how classical music was in the past. Why? Because it was looser, more flexible, with the audience applauding during the… … read more
AJBlog: SandowPublished 2016-02-19 Extracted, Diffracted, Destroyed
The poem is composed of words extracted from Joseph Roth’s The Radetzky March and mashed up in a collage that bends their meaning, so that it’s a diffraction as much as an extraction. The drawing… … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2016-02-19
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Can Chris Rock Do Anything To Save Oscars Ratings?
“The ratings numbers are of paramount concern to the academy, which derives the largest part of its income from the awards ceremony. Last year the audience fell 15 percent, to about 37.3 million viewers. At the same time, ABC has been raising prices for its ads; they now cost an average of $1.9 million to $2 million for a 30-second spot.”
Every Single Movie Studio And Most TV Makers Failed (Hard) In New Study
“When we start to step back to see this larger ecology, I think we see a picture of exclusion. … And it doesn’t match the norms of the population of the United States.”
The Art Of An Anti-Capitalist Mini-Golf Course
“A sculpture by John Akomfrah forces you to putt into the face of a kneeling figure wearing a hoodie – an obstacle inspired by the deaths of African Americans killed by the police in the US.”
Top Stories On ArtsJournal Last Week (New Feature)
An (albeit personal) selection of five top stories on ArtsJournal from the past week. A debate about arts funding. Some novel uses of crowdfunding. Discussions of the artist’s role in society. And opera as a revitalized art form. PLUS: the five stories our readers clicked on most.