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Kabul to Brooklyn, Street Art and Graffiti as Common Ground
Afghanistan is not the first place you think of when someone says "street art scene," and Kabul would certainly be sort of low on your list of urban art festivals to check out. But, surprisingly, it...
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Mississippi Burning, Reconsidered
Mississippi Burning, written by Chris Gerolmo, was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1989. Every year or two there's an important movie that gets into trouble between its release and the Academy...
View ArticleMet Opera: A Fresh Look at Doomed Love in Massenet's "Werther"
The love that burns with the brightest flame is often a love that is fated to fail, and the passion Massenet kindled in his opera Werther is about as doomed as any love can be, as Richard Eyre's...
View ArticleVee Speers on the ImageBlog
Untitled #13 from the series THIRTEEN by Vee Speers. www.veespeers.com
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Cooking Art History: The Victorian Appetite
As I get ready to teach a series of English-themed classes inspired by the Queen Victoria and Photography exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum and Princely Traditions and Colonial Pursuits at LACMA,...
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Back and Forth: A Studio Visit With Tom LaDuke
In some ways, a Tom LaDuke painting can seem like a tease. Images that are painstakingly rendered to perfection are blocked by smeared daubs of paint or confounding painted reflections, which leads me...
View ArticleFrom Another Green Isle: Cape Verde's Neuza at SOB's (VIDEO)
If we know anything of Cape Verdean music, it is largely due to the efforts of one man: Jose DaSilva, founder of the Lusafrica label, and producer of the late great Cesaria Evora. Since that diva's...
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Rice Owls Play Carnegie Hall
Rice University's Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra conducted by Larry Rachleff at Carnegie Hall. Photo: Jennifer Taylor When you conduct professional orchestras you're always trying to make them...
View ArticleHerb Alpert Erects Huge Totem Pole in Malibu!
Photo by Jay What was I doing on Friday morning sitting on a bench at a dusty street corner at the original Gateway to Malibu, Rambla Vista, between the singer Sting and the politician Bobby Shriver?...
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Making Perfect
I am an inveterate perfectionist, though my perfectionism takes a unique and insidious form (below). Distinguishing perfectionism from the desire for excellent results -- the former a compulsion, the...
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Tallur L.N. Straddles the Globe with a Balancing Act
Tallur L.N. Unicode, 2011, Bronze, coins and concrete At an oddly chaotic prize ceremony during the 2013 Delhi Art fair, with crowds jammed around an ill-lit open-air buffet, I had my first glimpse of...
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Hoping For A Second Chance In Life
Who among us hasn't thought of a pivotal moment in life for which he wished he had been granted a do-over? Who hasn't looked back in anger (or regret) and wished for a second chance that might have led...
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Great Design Made to Measure: Please Be Seated
Sketches by Barbara Barry, photographed by David Meredith From morning to night the design of our chairs, tables, beds, sofas and desks provide comfort, reflect personal style, and enhance our quality...
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The Global Search for Education: Shepherd Sound
"Musicians are all human, that is, we all have issues and things we want to improve but we also have the same goal, and that is to be the best we can be at what we do." - Niccolo Muti World-renowned...
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Mary Jane Colter's Indelible Impression on the Grand Canyon
American architect Mary Jane Colter is often described as a perfectionist. As one of the few female architects working in the United States between 1910 and 1950, Coulter's passion for history figured...
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With Art, the Choice Is Personal
The collector's driving force and passion for art is the subject of a new show that has just opened at The Garage Center in Moscow. Personal Choice: Collectors' Selections from Their Own Collections,...
View ArticleRalph Ellison, Invisible Man, and Humanizing Our Black Youth
"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook... I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because...
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How Music Taste Varies State to State, Region to Region
If we made a list of the most popular food in each state of the United States, we'd see many of the same items crop up on each state's list -- probably burgers, pizza, and ice cream. But if we dug a...
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Female Artists Are a Force to Be Reckoned With
The Reckoning: Women Artists of the New Millennium by Eleanor Heartney, Helaine Posner, Nancy Princenthal and Sue Scott, is the new quintessential volume that illustrates the importance of female...
View ArticleHow Exposing Your Kids to the Arts Can Be a Game Changer
When I was growing up in New York City's Washington Heights, you had to hop on the 1 train to get exposure to arts and culture at a museum downtown. It simply wasn't part of the uptown neighborhood...
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