Videos: Let It Rain!
All anyone is talking about here in Southern California is the forecast for much needed drought-busting rain. Sandbags are in place for mudslides, newsrooms are on storm watch, gardeners are crossing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Novorealism Aims High at TRAC 2014
The Novorealist Movement will be well represented at this year's Representational Art Conference (TRAC2014) in Ventura, which begins Sunday Mar. 2nd. I come from the Nerdrum School myself, and find...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Billy Budd at L.A. Opera
Herman Melville's novella Billy Budd is set on a British warship in 1797, but it is not an heroic epic. The Brits seek out French enemies in the ocean mists, but never quite find them. The ever grim,...
View ArticleAisle View: A Muddled New Play and an Engaging Forgotten One
Right off the bat, Adele (Kathryn Erbe)--the main character in Craig Lucas' Ode to Joy, a Rattlestick Production at the Cherry Lane--screams out in pain. Moments later, Bill (Arliss Howard) prefaces...
View ArticleWATCH: What Happened When A Kid Asked Her, 'Are You A Boy Or A Girl?'
In this incredibly moving talk, waitress-turned-equal-rights-advocate Ash Beckham shares a story about how a little girl's innocence stopped her in her tracks. See what this profound encounter reveals...
View ArticleClik here to view.
That Mysterious 'Winter Is Coming' Himalayan Dog Photo
'winter is coming' by Sebastian Wahlhuetter on 500px The story of the Himalayan dog titled "winter is coming" that went viral came from amateur photographer and 500px member, Sebastian Wahlhütter. We...
View ArticleParenthood Season 5, Episode 15 Recap: 'Just Like At Home'
The separation that no one thought would actually happen but is somehow still a thing is at the heart of Parenthood's post-Olympics return. As the crew copes with the Julia-Joel fallout, there's a...
View ArticleEveryone You've Ever Dated, By 2014 Oscar-Nominated Roles
Did you get a weird sense of déjà vu while Oscar-cramming all the movies before Sunday's big awards show? It's not just because you can chart your dating style based on the Oscar-nominated movies (as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Times Three
Note: In recent weeks, I've been blown away by three new recordings. Two are by alumni of New England Conservatory, the third is by an old colleague and friend, a great orchestral conductor who shares...
View ArticleWomen's History Month: My Favorite Novels About Unforgettable Leading Ladies
Did you know Women's History Month officially begins in March? And in just a couple days, on March 3, we will celebrate 100 years since women suffragists marched on Washington, asking for the right to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stage Door: Ode To Joy
Craig Lucas' Ode to Joy is strangely named. It's more of a meditation on the nature of addiction -- and the disturbing codependency it produces. Now at the Cherry Lane Theater, the three-person drama...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Listener as Participant
It is always astonishing when a simple gesture leads to a heated debate. At the start of a tour to Florida with the Detroit Symphony, we decided to try something just a bit different. When the main...
View ArticleIf Jimmy Met Matika: The Power and Peril of Photographing Indigenous Peoples
In the bio photo on his website, English photographer Jimmy Nelson drills into the viewer with his ice-blue stare. Behind him, Buddhist monks stand, soft and out of focus. Jimmy's eyes tell us that the...
View ArticleRefusing the Happy Ending: 12 Years A Slave
The somber close of Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave eloquently unsettles one of the most vexing aspects of U.S. race relations: a uniquely American desire for a happy ending. This desire surfaces in a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Loving Real Inclusion
I experienced inclusion before I knew the word. Growing up, Kelsey was my cousin, not a person with a disability we had to include. She had things that made her similar and things that made her...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Things We Think and Do Not Say, or Why the Art World is in Trouble
I had a Jerry Maguire moment last night. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to write. The following thoughts are a bit of a ramble - a sketch really - and I leave it to others to expand on the dialogue. If...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Program 3 at San Francisco Ballet: Heartaches by the Number
Program 3 at San Francisco Ballet is a rare trio of works that explores themes of longing, unfulfilled love and connecting with the hereafter or the totally other. First on the bill is "The Kingdom of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Conversation With Dudley Charles
Most artists talk about their personal history with a definitive sense of knowing that they were destined to be an artist. Not Dudley Charles. A soft-spoken man with a melodic cadence to his voice,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Canicular: Demetrius Oliver at the Print Center
Through March 22, 2014 at The Print Center, Philadelphia. My 18-month-old is fascinated by the moon and stars. Every night he asks to be taken outside, and if the moon is visible, he breaks into a...
View ArticleMadness, Divinest Sense and This Year's Oscars
In response to John Belushi's death from an overdose of heroin and cocaine in 1982, Dan Aykroyd reportedly attempted to explain Belushi's drug use by saying, in effect, great talent sometimes requires...
View Article