The Transcendental Minimalist:  Agnes Martin

The Transcendental Minimalist: Agnes Martin

So I’m at brunch at Figaro (on Vermont) with two of my best (and one of my oldest) friends from out-of-town; and we’re actually sitting outside on the hottest day of the year (I’m imagining the wait-staff making bets on my imminent demise). There’s a very...

A Little Night Music:  21c Liederabend, Op. L.A.

A Little Night Music: 21c Liederabend, Op. L.A.

So much of contemporary art and music is preoccupied with a space, both physical and cerebral, between layers, liminal boundaries – the space between potential and actuality; the ‘what-if’ imponderables of what-was, what-might-have-been, and what-might-be. It’s both...

The Man Who Fell to Earth  (Part 3 of 3)

The Man Who Fell to Earth (Part 3 of 3)

“We like dancing and we look divine.”David Bowie, “Rebel Rebel”from Diamond Dogs, 1974Finally – Bowie. Forever Bowie. “Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep….” I want to quote Mick Jagger (to be very specific about it) quoting Shelley (from Adonais –...

“Some Make You Sing….”  (Part 2 of 3)

“Some Make You Sing….” (Part 2 of 3)

Something kind of hit me todayI looked at you and wondered if you saw things my way. . .     We're taking it hard all the timeWhy don't we pass it by? David Bowie, “We Are the Dead”from Diamond Dogs, 1974 The first part of this post promised a superfecta; and I’m...

“Fill Your Heart….”  (Part 1 of 3)

“Fill Your Heart….” (Part 1 of 3)

“If we can sparkle, he may land tonight….”David Bowie, “Starman”(from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972)Those readers who have followed this blog since it launched in 2007 may recall that it was originally a somewhat diaristic...

Joy to the World:  My Holiday Season in a Nutshell

Joy to the World: My Holiday Season in a Nutshell

Happy New Year, dear reader(s). I know I was living up to the blog title just a bit excessively in the last month of this just past year; but I wasn’t just staying at home. First of all, there was Norma – the Los Angeles Opera’s production of Bellini’s classic tale of...

Trust the Momentum – Karen Finley:  Love Field

Trust the Momentum – Karen Finley: Love Field

If there was a central flaw or fracture to Karen Finley’s The Jackie Look, it had mostly to do with a lack of clarity of its dramatic objective and trajectory. Finley seemed to be trying to both deconstruct an icon (or more precisely its refractions and reflections in...

Karen Finley’s “The Jackie Look”

Karen Finley’s “The Jackie Look”

There are probably as many words written about the ‘Jackie look’ by now as there are actual images documenting it. A quick scan of just a few of these images taken over the roughly 40 years of her public life reveals quite a range: the young equestrienne, the...

The Idea of North / The Disease of Humanity

The Idea of North / The Disease of Humanity

The North is very much on our collective minds lately – especially in the wake of recent news that TransCanada has suspended its application procedure to build the 1200-mile Keystone-XL pipeline to transport tar sands-extracted oil across the U.S. Plains states to the...

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