Charles Giuliano
Bio:
Publisher & Editor. Charles was the director of exhibitions for the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University where he taught art history and the humanities. He taugh tModern Art and the Avant-garde for Metropolitan College of Boston University. After many years as a contributor, columnist and editor for a range of print publications from Art New England, Art News, the Boston Phoenix, the Boston Herald Traveler and Patriot Ledger, to mention a few, he went on line with Maverick Arts which evolved into a website.
Recent Articles:
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Modern Lovers Word
Ever Petulant Jonathan Richman
By: - Apr 10th, 2016Influenced by the Velvets the Modern Lovers were the greatest 1970s band that never made it. Their records dribbled our after they broke up. Ever adolescent and erratic Jonathan Richman wanted to abandon the Velvets sound. He even refused to perform the paradigmatic Roadrunner. Drummer Dave Robinson joined The Cars. Keyboard player Jerry Harrison left for Talking Heads. Bass player Ernie Brooks backed a variety of artists. Over the years, ever morphing, Jonathan has a loyal cult following. He recorded the music of the film There's Something About Mary.
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Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo Front Page
Chicago's Remy Bumppo
By: - Apr 09th, 2016Remy Bumppo’s new production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo is the powerful story of the famous mathematician whose findings about the structure of the universe defy church teachings. His story is supremely relevant today because it poses crucial issues such as science vs. religion and government control of expression.
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PIll Popping Word
No More Wake and Bake
By: - Apr 09th, 2016Taking more drugs than ever but they don't give me a buzz. Not like wake and bake back in the day when Spaceman Bill Lee put pot on his corn flakes.
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Duh Ramones Word
Hey Ho Lets Go
By: - Apr 09th, 2016By 1974 four guys from Forest Hills, Queens, unrelated, hit the downtown club scene as The Ramones. There last gig was in 1996. Over that time tons of albums. Adored by critics and fans they were too punk for mainstream success. Decades of endless one-nighters. Today they are regarded as one of the greatest and most influential all time rock bands.
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Cyndi Lauper Word
Beyond Just Having Fun
By: - Apr 09th, 2016Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was a youthful and fun anthem to a generation. Her ballad "Time After Time," covered by Miles Davis, hinted at what was to come. She won a Tony for the Broadway Musical "Kinky Boots." With more to come.
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A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder Front Page
Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles
By: - Apr 08th, 2016One can’t help but enjoy the sparkling and inventive on-stage musical comedy machinations of ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder’ in one of the Ahmanson’s slickest and audience-pleasing productions this season. The musical runs in LA through May 1.
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Britain's T. Rex Word
Marc Bolan's American Pratfall
By: - Apr 08th, 2016Big deal that we got to talk with Marc Bolan of British supergroup T. Rex launching their first American tour. Be nice we were warned by the PR folks. That night Bolan skipped on stage and fell flat on his ass. It was a bad omen and the tour bombed. Not long after both the group and Bolan were dead as dinos.
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Buddy Rich Word
Marching to a Different Drummer
By: - Apr 08th, 2016It is argued that Buddy Rich was the greatest drummer of his era. His challenger, great album, Max Roach. In the dressing room at Lennie's on the Turnpike between sets Buddy was always good for a quote. Usually about Vegas or stints with Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. Lennie discovered a local kid doing standup. Jay Leno became a regular on the Tonight Show and eventually took over from Johnny.
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Stan Kenton's Progressive Band Word
Artistry in Rhythm
By: - Apr 08th, 2016There was an edge to progressive big band leader Stan Kenton when we met in 1970. He had cut loose from 25 years with Capitol Records and bought the catalogue to reissue on his own label Creative World. On the road with Stan it was less a tour than crusade. Those who performed and heard his music were true believers in his Artistry in Rhythm
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Woody Herman Word
Big Band Bop
By: - Apr 07th, 2016Woody Herman fronted one of the most admired and successful groups of the big band era. He commissioned works ranging from Stravinsky's Ebony Concert to the eventual Dizzy Gillespi standard Woody'n You. The gig in Beverly at Sandy's Jazz Revival was more like a family reunion.
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Count Basie Word
Goin' To Kansas City
By: - Apr 07th, 2016In the mobbed up city of politician Tom "Boss" Pendergast the saloons and brothels of Kansas City were wide open during prohibition and the depression years. The best of the thriving Midwest jazz and blues scene was the Count Basie Band.
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Pianist McCoy Tyner Word
Trane and Beyond
By: - Apr 06th, 2016Growing up in Philly the legendary pianist Bod Powell was a neighbor and mentor to pianist McCoy Tyner. He also knew John Coltrane before he joined Miles Davis emerging as a superstar. Tyner was invited to join the classic quartet of Trane, drummer Joe Jones, and bass player Jimmy Garrison. There was an edge when I asked Tyner why he and Jones quit Trane a couple of years before he died.
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Spirit Boat Word
Hatshepsut Pharaoh/ Queen
By: - Apr 06th, 2016Hatshepsut was the daughter of Thutmose I and his primary wife Ahmes. Her husband Thutmose II was the son of Thutmose I and a secondary wife named Mutnofret. Married to her half brother they had a daughter Neferure. By another wife Thutmose II fathered Thutmose III. From the age of two Hatshepsut co-ruled as Regent but overshadowed him as Pharaoh. When he came to power Thutmose III did his best to removed her name from prolific monuments.
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Pianist Chick Corea Word
Pushing the Limits
By: - Apr 05th, 2016Miles Davis launched fusion jazz with the seminal double album Bitches Brew in March, 1970. It marked an era of experiment and change. That summer I covered Miles twice in one week at Harvard Stadium then Lennie's on the Turnpike. For both sessions he featured the dual electric pianos of Chick Corea, who had replaced Herbie Hancock, and Keith Jarrett.
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Janis Joplin's Last Gig Word
Harvard Stadium, August 12, 1970
By: - Apr 05th, 2016During the turbulent summer of 1970 Schaefer Beer sponsored a series of concerts at Harvard Stadium. It was just $2 for festival seating. Capacity was topped at 10,000 although there were incident ot vandalism and gate crashing. Janis Joplin performed her last gig there on AUGUST 12. She was dead at just 27 shortly later on October 4.
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Lin Manuel Miranda Word
Hip Hopping Hamilton
By: - Apr 05th, 2016While on vacation Lin Manuel Miranda, an avid reader, took along Ron Chernow's biography of the colorful, brilliant, complex and tragic founding father, Alexander Hamilton.. Blended with rap and hip hop Miranda concocted it into a game changing Broadway musical.
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Jazz Pianist Bill Evans Word
More Classical Than Roots
By: - Apr 04th, 2016Working with composer and theorist George Russell the pianist Bill Evans evolved from bop to modal playing. That was an influence of Miles Davis resulting in the masterpiece Kind of Blue. Snubbed by influential mainstream musicians and critics, Wynton Marsalis and Stanley Crouch, who excluded him from the PBS/ Ken Burns series Jazz, Evans is widely regarded as among the seminal artists of his generation.
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Pianist Teddy Wilson Word
Benny Goodman to Billie Holiday
By: - Apr 04th, 2016Initially Teddy Wilson studied music at Tuskegee University. With Lionel Hampton and Charlie Christian they integrated Benny Goodman's big band. Billiw Holiday was invited to join the band but she declined to tour with Ben particularly in the South. Pianist Wilson made classic recordings with Lady Day. We recall his long stints as piano player in the bar of Boston's Copley Square Hotel.
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African Artist El Anatsui Word
Metallic Cloth of Many Colors
By: - Apr 04th, 2016Gallerist Jack Shainman, who grew up in Williamstown, represents major African as well as African American artists. He was instrumental in bringing super star El Anatsui to the Clark Art Institute.
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Playwright Mark St. Germain Word
Mentor and Friend
By: - Apr 04th, 2016Playwright Mark St. Germain started as a writer for The Cosby Show. He could have stayed on in TV and its easy money. But Mark took the road less traveled for a challenging career in theatre. We first met for breakfast after the premiere of Freud's Last Session at Barrington Stage. There has been a dialogue ever since as he developed new plays. The insights have been invaluable.
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Chuck Berry Word
Outlaw Rock 'n' Roll
By: - Apr 03rd, 2016In the 1950s, for Chicago's Chess Records, Chuck Berry recorded the national anthems of rock 'n' roll from Maybelline and Roll Over Beethoven to Johnny B. Goode. Busted for armed robbery as a teenager he did three years. Then more time for jail bait and later for tax evasion. It left him with understandable trust issues as a loaner on the road. Amazingly he is now pushing 90.
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Eubie Blake Word
Brought Ragtime to Broadway
By: - Apr 03rd, 2016The team of Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle brought Shuffle Along the first all black musical to Broadway in 1921. Blake's music was the basis for Eubie! another Broadway hit in 1978. Well into his 90's he put on a hell of a show.
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Gato Barbieri 1932 to 2016 Word
Argentine Musician's Last Tango
By: - Apr 03rd, 2016Tenor sax player, Gato Beabieri, fused jazz with his Argentine roots. He composed the score for Bernado Bertolucci's steamy, moody erotic masterpiece Last Tango in Paris.
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WGBH DJ Ron Della Chiesa Word
Boogie Nights
By: - Apr 03rd, 2016Hanging with WGBH DJ and host of Music America, the impeccable Ron Della Chiesa when jazz was king in Beantown. Recalling the lush life.
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Storyville Pianists Word
Crescent City Professors
By: - Apr 01st, 2016Jazz was born in the cat houses and juke joints of the red light district, Storyville, in New Orleans. The pianists were known as professors starting with Jelly Roll Morton. There have been many since in the Crescent City from Fats Domino and Professor Longhair to Allen Touissant.
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