Opinion
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Words Matter
The Value of Education
By: - Nov 16th, 2014People who make money are successful. They are sometimes well educated, and sometimes not, but they are smart. They are smart enough to be successful in the way most of us value success.
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Boston Mayah Walsh on the Arts
Reply to Larry Stark
By: - Sep 16th, 2014Veteran Boston theatre critic Larry Stark wrote an open letter to Boston Mayor Martin Walsh. He stated his disappointment that campaign promises to the arts community were soon forgotten. We posted his original letter which is linked in this reply from the Mayor's spokesperson longtime arts advocate Joyce Linehan.
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Unexamined Life Isn't Worth Living
But Not By IQ Tests
By: - Sep 09th, 2014Schools used to assign children to classes based on their IQ test scores. Then schools decided it was better for children to be in heterogeneous, or mixed IQ, classes. They would get a better feel for life because many people are not so fast. Now experts may be reconsidering. It is one of the truisms of fashion, and there are intellectual fashions, too, that they change. Here Rifkin again rebuts Zaig.
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Outside The Machine
Waxing Philosophical
By: - Sep 03rd, 2014There has been a lively response to the provocative series of think pieces by the Berkshire artist David Zaig. Here the Berkshire poet Stephen Rifkin debates Zaig's contentions. They often sit at the same table during weekly Monday night Chinese dinners in North Adams. Rifkin recently gave a poetry reading at the Rudd Art Museum where Zaig is currently exhibiting his work.
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Vaccination Followup
Poor Former Dr. Wakefield
By: - Aug 31st, 2014In this sidebar to the Vaccination Divide we discuss the contoversies surrounding the research of Dr. Andrew Wakefield who uncovered links between autism and a particular type of gut inflammation. Eventually his findings were discredieted and his liscense to practice medicine was revoked. But he is correct that aluminum toxicity is capable of doing real damage.
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Defining an Artist
Honorific vs. Generic
By: - Aug 30th, 2014Anyone who hangs a few pictures in a coffee shop is a self proclaimed artist or photographer. Is anyone who makes art an artist? Does posting comments to Facebook make one a critic? Does posting snap shots of your cat or kids qualify as art? Despite decades as a successful commercial and fine arts photographer the Berkshire based Benno Friedman, during an extensive interview, explains why he hestitates to call himself an artist.
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Open Letter to Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh
My Theatrical Response to Disaster in Ferguson
By: - Aug 29th, 2014Back in the day Larry Stark was the theatre critic for Boston After Dark which elided as The Boston Phoenix. He has covered theatre for decades currently with his website Theatre Mirror. Following up on campaign promises Stark in an open letter has questions for Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh. "To put it bluntly Mayor, I voted for you Only because I thought at the time that your commitment to The Arts was genuine."
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Exhibit in Grant Park Addresses Ferguson
Unspeakable Times Are Soothed by Chicago's Statues
By: - Aug 25th, 2014The figures are iron and aluminum, but to me and many others they stood for black and white. People of all colors are walking and seated in the Georg Solti Park in Grant Park, Chicago. These sculptures invite quiet contemplation of the state of race relations in this country this August.
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The Vaccination Divide
Exploring the Pros and Cons
By: - Aug 25th, 2014Faith based and other concerned parents have opted not to vaccinate their children. This can result in outbreaks in formerly widely preventable diseases. There are concerns that vaccinations may in fact induce dangerous side effects inluding an inclination for autism. Our science correspondent, a firm advocate of vaccination, explores the issues and risk factors.
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NY Times Zings Mass MoCA
Mixed Report on $25.4 Million from Commonwealth
By: - Aug 22nd, 2014Twelve days after breaking news the New York Times has reported on $25.4 million in Commonwealth funding for the $50 million renovation of the final phase of build out for Mass MoCA. While damning the museum with faint praise the Times drags up an eight year old controversy of a botched installation by Christoph Buchel. The reporter probed far and wide for on and off the record smears of the museum and its critical reputation.
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A Welcome Settlement at the Met
The Unions and Management Both Give Ground
By: - Aug 21st, 2014From inside the Met: "Both sides gave in. This is heartening. The three big unions took income reductions, even though they are not the massive reductions Gelb wanted. One of the good things is having some oversight on Gelb's spending. A big concern house-wide has been Gelb's tendency to over-spend without thinking things through." It appears that by settling with unions there will not be the anticipated lockout and the Metropolitan Opera will launch its season on schedule. We dig below the surface of this news for an understanding of long term implications for the Met and the struggle to sustain opera as an expesnive and viable cultural resource.
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What's Up at the Metropolitan Opera?
An Insider's View
By: - Aug 10th, 2014The jury is still out on when the Metropoitan Opera season will actually start. The bulk of the rehearsals for the Marriage of Figaro have already been completed, so it may be possible for the House to be ready for opening night. One rumor circulating is that Gelb will plan his lockout during the scheduled rehearsal time for Death of Klinghoffer, so that he can cancel the production. This would mean that he could extricate himself from that publicity disaster and blame the unions for it. An independent budget analysis is supposed to be completed by August 11th. It will be interesting to see how negotiations go forward after that.
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A Psychiatrist Appointed President of BSO Board
Dr. Paul Buttenwieser to the Rescue
By: - Jul 17th, 2014When Dr. Paul Buttenwieser, the newly-appointed President of the BSO's Board, stepped down from the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art, he performed on the piano at a sold-out fundraiser. He had studied piano as a young man in New York. He is a descendant of the Lehman banking family, which of course adds materially to his board credentials. But that he is a competent enough pianist to perform with Yo-Yo Ma in a sold out fundraiser is also an important credential.
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Ending Washington Redskins Racism
Derailing Disparaging Branding of Sports Teams
By: - Jun 20th, 2014On Wednesday, June 20, the United States Patent and Trademark Office cancelled the trademark registration for the Washington Redskins, because Federal trademark law does not permit registration of trademarks that may “disparage†individuals or groups or “bring them into contempt or disrepute.†We post remarks by Kevin Gover the director of the National Museum of the American Indian.
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Don’t Keep on Truckin
Tracy Morgan’s Crash Highlights Highway Crisis
By: - Jun 09th, 2014A highway crash that killed a fellow passenger and resulted in comedian Tracy Morgan fighting for his life gained national media attention for a far too common highway hazard. Returning from a gig Morgan's limo was rear ended by a Walmart truck driven by one Kevin Roper who faces criminal charges. He allegedly dozed off and lost control after 24 hours without sleep. During a recent road trip we narrowly escaped a similar accident.
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Wild Bill Cardoso
Total Gonzo Tales
By: - Jun 07th, 2014This is part two of Dr. Gonzo, William J. Cardoso. He is best remembered as allegedly coining the word Gonzo which in fact he stole from me. Other than that theft of literary property little is known of him today other than the legacy of the out of print collection of essays Maltese Sangweech. There was much more to Bill than that. He was indeed the heart and soul of Boston's hipster literary culture during its best years.
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Jaap van Zweden, Simone Lamsma
Making the Case for Music at Chicago Symphony
By: - Jun 06th, 2014The Shostakovich story has unfolded over the past ten days in Chicago. The Fifth Symphony is more formal than his other works. Its contrasts, the beautiful flute solos performed by Mathieu DuFour, inarguably the world’s greatest flutist, and the horns, the trombones, the clarinet and bassoons all fill the ears and heart. The conductor’s intensity and the smiles he shares with the harpist with whom he has obviously worked with on a particular pluck approach which succeeds in concert, all add to the pleasure.
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Dr. Gonzo, William J. Cardoso
The Maltese Sangweech and Other Heroes
By: - Jun 04th, 2014If you do a Google search the late Bill Cardoso comes up as having coined the term gonzo and dubbing Hunter Thompson's style of writing as Gonzo Journalism. Other than that he is largely forgotten as one of the outrageous characters and original thinkers of his era. Recently I read his out of print book The Maltese Sangweech a collection of magazine pieces. It includes two masterpieces of gonzo journalism "The San Francisco Red Sox" and "Zaire"an account of the Ali vs. Forman rumble in the jungle./
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Correction
Re: Randolph Fuller and Opera Boston
By: - May 27th, 2014In a preview of the Boston 2014/15 opera season, published in Berkshire Fine Arts on April 26, 2014, I made an error in characterizing Randolph Fuller’s financial relation to Opera Boston.
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Mary Zimmerman's The White Snake
Goodman Theater in Chicago Mounts the Chinese Tale
By: - May 19th, 2014Mary Zimmerman’s The White Snake is now playing at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. It has been produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and also at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, so this is not a premier struggling to find its way. Yet it fails.
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Stamps In the Age of Colonialism
Your Land is My Land
By: - May 17th, 2014As a child stamp collecting offered global vignettes. This album of stamps with accompanying text from the 1930s offers horrific insights to the colonialism and racism that fueled WWII. Words and ideas which were seemingly benign now burn into our hearts and minds. This is a grim and riveting glimpse into the past if you take the time to read and reflect on the thoughts of another era. The Third World was a pie to be sliced and consumed by dominant super powers.
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Rethinking Mr. Conservative Barry Goldwater
Notes on a Play in Progress
By: - May 09th, 2014When Senator Barry Goldwater ran for President of the United States that prospect evoked thoughts of Armageddon in the hearts and souls of liberal Americans. As our friend and colleague Larry Murry explains that consummate politician Lyndon Baines Johnson successfully demonized Goldwater. In a very odd way Murray, a man of astute political wisdom and common sense, not only voted for Goldwater but even campaigned for him. Which makes an enticing idea for a play that recent events of the wacko Republicans have caused him to rethink and upgrade. It's a great then and now saga.
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Vlad the Impaler
The Puta Putin Skewers Dissent in Russia
By: - May 07th, 2014Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431–1476/77), was a member of the House of Drăculești, a branch of the House of Basarab, also known by his patronymic name. He inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula based on crushing dissent by impaling opposition. This barbaric autocrat evokes that other Vladamir in this case the puta Putin who silences and censors the citizens of Russia. This makes us treasure all the more free speech in America.
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Dohnányi and Paul Lewis at Chicago Symphony
A Prelude to Tanglewood July 24th
By: - May 05th, 2014The audience and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra worked hard at a dress rehearsal for a program that included the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3. Christoph von Dohnányi is a sought after conductor the world over and it is easy to understand why. Instrumentalists respect and enjoy working with him, even though a flautist in the CSO turned a bright red in the face trying to execute a passage to the Maestro’s taste.
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Degenerate Art in Nazi Germany
The Neue Galerie Mounts an Important Exhibit
By: - Apr 13th, 2014The Nazis seized ‘degenerate art’ from museums and private collections. A three-year traveling exhibition of this art criss-crossed Germany and Austria. Most of the paintings were sold, lost, or presumed destroyed. The recent discovery in Munich of the Gurlitt trove of such artwork has attracted attention. The film "The Monuments Men", directed by George Clooney, is about the seized art. The Neue Galerie mounts a moving exhibit of the work and compares it with some of Hitler's favorite art.
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