Category: AJBlogs

Anna Sokolow’s Dark Spirit
Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble revives three Anna Sokolow works. Anna Sokolow’s Ride the Culture Loop. L to R: Maya Kite, Alexandra Pfister, Richard Scandola, and I-Nam Jiemvitayanukoon. Photo: Melissa Sobel/Meem Images I’ve told this story before,… … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-03-13

Ernestine Anderson, 1928-2016
Ernestine Anderson died on Thursday at the age of 87 at a retirement home in Seattle. The singer’s career of more than six decades began in that city when she was a teenager. She went… … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2016-03-12

Towards the Perfect Identification of Matter and Form, but More Myth than Man?

On Failure and Fun
In this video, Beth Kanter, discusses the prominent resistance to using failure in the nonprofit sector to our benefit or as a learning mechanism. It is helpful to move out of  … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-10

A Design Thinking Frame of Mind
When you’re watching things go down in flames or they’ve just collapsed in front of you, it can be hard to keep a broad perspective and focus on moving forward productively.  … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-10

C’mon Celebrate!
Even when you’re in the middle of a sticky situation, it’s possible to find the humor in your predicament and change perspective. Although not all failures are productive, in fact, we’d … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-10

View from the street
The Go-Go Symphony rises from the streets and clubs of Washington, DC, combining pop and classical music. And because of that poses — or ought to pose — a sharp challenge to the Kennedy Center … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-03-10

The Operatic Republican Candidates
Anyone who has watched any of the Republican candidates’ debates, particularly the recent ones,  has to have been amazed at the extreme statements, the antipathy, the crassness, and the violence of the tone, not to mention … read more
AJBlog: OperaSleuth Published 2016-03-10

Explaining Delacroix, Continued
The Delacroix exhibition at the National Gallery in London that I mentioned in my last post was also on view here in the U.S., at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, under the title Delacroix’s Influence: … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-03-10

Tracing Bloodlines
The Stephen Petronio Company premieres a new work and revives one by Trisha Brown. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-03-10

[ssba_hide]

Leading Change
“How can we do it better and should we even be doing it in the first place?” Does your organization look the same as it did five years ago? What about your creative practice? … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-09

Sharing is Caring.
People tend to talk more frequently about their successes, rather than their failures. This is natural, but it can make you feel awfully small when you think you’re the only one in … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-09

When You Might Want to Worry
It’s day four of our journey in the land of failure. To date, the news has been fairly positive, if not supportive. It has focused on the celebration, the motivation. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-09

Selfies in the museum, Victorian edition
Pacific Standard reports that “Surprised museum researchers find many visitors snap photographs of themselves with the masterpieces.” I’m not sure which researchers are actually surprised by this. But by coincidence I am now reading … read more
AJBlog: For What it’s Worth Published 2016-03-09

Orange Mound
Last year ArtsMemphis invited me to speak and do a little consulting work. In the process I learned about their Community Engagement Fellows program and that program’s focus on the Orange Mound neighborhood in Memphis. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-03-08

Juggling with monotheism – Akhnaten makes a spectacle of himself
For all the thunder that surrounds his productions, Philip Glass is undersung and underpraised. His superb memoir, Words without Music, recounts how he entered the University of Chicago, … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2016-03-09

Do we connect?
There’s something I miss at classical new music concerts, even if I like the music I’m hearing. So yes, many of us in the classical biz think new music is important, crucial to support, … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-03-09

Ornette Day, bits of wisdom with video clips
Ornette Coleman’s birthday is today, and his son Denardo has invited everyone to a walk with him from noon to three in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where his father, the prophet of Harmolodics, is interred … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2016-03-09

Dvorak on the Reservation
Sisseton, in the northeastern corner of South Dakota, sits within a Dakota Indian reservation called Sisseton Wahpeton. The population – 2,500 – is half Native American, half non-Native. Last Monday … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2016-03-09

[ssba_hide]

Complex Problem? Fail your way to a solution.
Like Ed Catmull of Pixar states, failure is necessary to producing successful creative work. If only because the first idea is not always the best idea. It requires reworking, shapeshifting. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-08

Setting Intention
“One great lesson we learn when we mess up is how to set intention.” … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-08

It’s a Shark
Have you heard the saying “a few sharks can ruin the sea”? Probably not. It’s not an actual saying. Perhaps it should be. Have you ever wanted to take a chance … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-08

Boulez haunts the Philharmonic – from his noisy youth
Pierre Boulez has been haunting the New York Philharmonic mercilessly. On Monday night at the fashionable Williamsburg, Brooklyn venue known as National Sawdust, the recently deceased composer was heard alongside … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2016-03-08

“We All Paint in Delacroix’s Language”
Paul Cezanne said that. He also said that Delacroix’s palette was “the most beautiful” in France. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-03-08

Mad Met: More on the Met Breuer’s Misfire on Madison
While the Met Breuer’s inaugural show, Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible, may prove to be a popular success, given the interest in the Metropolitan Museum’s new Madison Avenue initiatives, it got mostly tepid to negative verdicts … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-03-08

Dancing in Places
Eiko performing in Precarious II: Guest Solos in PLATFORM 2016: A Body in Places at St. Mark’s Church. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-03-08

Midweek Special: Farmer, Hall Swallow, Perkins — Just Because
Art Farmer, flugehorn; Jim Hall, guitar; Steve Swallow, bass; and Walter Perkins, drums, play Sergio Mihanovich’s “Sometime Ago,” on Ralph J. Gleason’s public television series Jazz Casual, ca. 1963. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-03-08

[ssba_hide]

What is failure?
What is failure? How do you define it? Is it really the worst thing that can happen? Does fear of failure prevent you from innovation and opportunity? … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-07

10 Reasons We Fail
There are a myriad of reasons that we fail, from plain bad luck to miscommunication or organizational shortcomings. In this article, entrepreneur Caroline Cummings, offers a set of ten reasons why … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-07

Fail Better
Best selling author Seth Godin shares what we all know to be true: we all fail. So, how do we make the most of it? … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-07

The Story Behind Toy Story
Why are Pixar’s movies such a huge success? Creative successes might be more related to failure than you think. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-07

Art Museums as Shakedown Artists: NY Times Front-Page Report on Dealers’ Support for Exhibitions
If museum exhibitions of contemporary art are increasingly looking like extensions of the commercial gallery system, it’s because they are. Those who have paid attention to the funding credits for museums’ contemporary shows during … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-03-07

Monday Recommendation: Laurence Hobgood
Laurence Hobgood, Honor Thy Fathers (Hobgood.com) It’s not that Laurence Hobgood was buried during his 18 years as Kurt Elling’s musical director. Indeed, he was one of the most admired supporting pianists in modern music. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-03-07

[ssba_hide]

Failing… Without Platitudes
We live in a society that largely looks at those who fail as, to quote a certain Presidential candidate, “Losers.” And, no one wants to be a loser. Often the tighter our budgets, the less… … read more
AJBlog: Field NotesPublished 2016-03-06

This Week In Audience 03.06.16

Celebrating the future
Had a marvelous time last weekend at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music, a school just 10 years old at Gettysburg College … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-03-03

“Unfinished” Business: Met Breuer Engulfed by a Dark Cloud of Unknowing
What a disappointment! The debut installation at the Met Breuer, unveiled to the press on Tuesday (and to the general public on Mar. 18), fell short of the expectations raised by the Metropolitan Museum itself. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-03-03

Black and Blue of Michael Butterworth’s Diaries
Michael Butterworth’s new book, The Blue Monday Diaries: In the Studio with New Order — recently published in the U.K., and just out in the U.S. — tells how he began “hanging out … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-03-03

[ssba_hide]

The Spirit of Alma Thomas
Talk about a life: Alma Thomas was born in Georgia in the 1890s, one of the most vicious decades of the Jim Crow South. She told a reporter in 1972 that when she was young, … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-03-02

Weekend Listening Tip: Terell Stafford & The SRJO
Trumpeter Terell Stafford was the recent guest soloist with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. Jazz Northwest’s Jim Wilke recorded them and will air one of the concerts on Sunday. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-03-03

The Arts in the Small Community
2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the start of The Arts in the Small Community project led by Robert E. Gard, and we … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-03-01

[ssba_hide]

The Arts in the Small Community
Today’s post is by guest, colleague, and dear friend – Maryo Gard Ewell … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-03-01

Time has come today
At the Washington Post, Philip Kennicott looks at changes in how people work and play, and implications for cultural organizations, especially museums. I’m not sure all of the claims made by people he cites add up. … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-03-01

Gergiev and the Vienna Philharmonic
Last Sunday afternoon’s Vienna Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall began with a Valery Gergiev moment. Mounting the podium, he turned to the concertmaster and shrugged his shoulders to acknowledge that (as sometimes happens to Gergiev in particular) he had arrived a little late … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2016-03-01

Jones-Lewis & Company In The USSR
Svetlana Ilyicheva, our occasional Moscow correspondent, sent photographs made during the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra’s 1972 Russian tour. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-03-01

Lookback: on the power of criticism to make some readers uncomfortable
From 2006: Alas, I’ve found over the years that many people … become uncomfortable whenever they’re confronted with strongly expressed opinions on any subject whatsoever – even positive ones. It took me a long time to figure out the reason why, … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-03-01

[ssba_hide]

Filming Dance/Dancing Film
This year the Dance on Camera Festival celebrated its 35^th anniversary and the 60^th anniversary of Dance Films Association, as well as honoring the 20-year association of those two organizations with the Film Society of Lincoln Center. As usual, it was astonishing how many screenings, panels, master classes, workshops, and exhibits were … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-02-29

Ripple Effect of My “Edlis Effect”: Crain’s Chicago Business, Lawyer Michael Dorf
My views on the Edlis Effect at the Art Institute of Chicago struck a chord with Crain’s Chicago Business‘ Lisa Bertagnoli, who interviewed me about James Rondeau‘s appointment as the museum’s director for  … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-02-29

Talking About (& Plugging) Take Five, The Book
The other day at the Portland Jazz Festival someone asked me how my biography of Paul Desmond came about. I gave him the short version, but it occurs to me that folks interested in Desmond might want to hear a fuller account. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-02-29

Marching Through Springsteen Chapter Titles: Definitive Pianists, Composers to Follow
Bruce Springsteen’s memoirs announced, sample chapters include: Blood on the Turnpike, Human Town, Lucky Touch, Hear Those Tires SQUEAL, Chuck Berry Stole All My Riffs (So I Stole Some Song Titles), Prince Almost Stole My Mojo, … read more
AJBlog: blog riley Published 2016-02-29

[ssba_hide]