Opinion
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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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Liza Minnelli Trashed by John Seven in the Eagle
Pissed that She Didn’t Wear Panties at the Oscars
By: - Mar 04th, 2014Eagle eyed columnist, John Seven, observed that 67-year-old Liza Minnelli didn't wear panties under her blue pantsuit at the Oscars. Seems he never thought much of her anyway. Her mother, Judy Garland, makes him break out in hives. Stating that he never watches the Oscars or even knows what films are nominated he wrote about it anyway. This from the columnist who urges readers to boycott artistic creeps like Woody Allen. It must have sent him to the emergency room that Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for one of Woody's films.
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Art Publisher Steve Zevitas Sounds Off
Venting a Jerry Maguire Moment
By: - Mar 03rd, 2014Steve Zevitas is a Boston gallerist and publisher of the juried magazine New American Painting. Like many in the art world he is constantly on the go making the rounds of biennials and art fairs. Normally he is level headed and reasonable focusing on the artists he publishes and promotes. But he recently vented in a piece in the Huffington Post. He's mad as hell and ain't gonnah take it anymore.
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Alec Baldwin Cries No Mas
Why He Vants to Be Alone
By: - Feb 26th, 2014For decades actor Alec Baldwin has opted to duke it out with paparazzis and the gossip media. Now like Roberto Duran tossing in the towel stating "No Mas" Baldwin, in a screed in New York Magazine titled "I Give Up," is withdrawing from public life. For celebrities of his stature, who have tried it in the past, this is more easily said than done. As Martha and the Vandellas sang "Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide."
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Eagle Columnist John Seven Boycotts Artistic Creeps
Separating Individuals from their Accomplishments
By: - Feb 19th, 2014Dishing the dirt on celebrities has become a billion dollar industry for muckraking supermarket tabloids, talk radio, and TV entertainment and gossip shows. But we were shocked and distressed when Berkshire Eagle columnist John Seven unloaded a mud slinging screed against Woody Allen and other "artistic creeps." Seven seems surprised and offended to realize that great artists are not always great people. Duh.
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Gonzo Chronicles Two
Arthur Yanoff Hipster and Jewish Artist of the Year
By: - Feb 16th, 2014Looking Berkshire hipster and artist Arthur Yanoff in the eye the rabbi told him "Once a Lubavitcher always a Lubavitcher." In part two we move from Coffee Corner to crits with Clement Greenberg and raising dogs in the country. Along the way Yanoff was celebrated as Jewish Artist of the Year. For which he had to rent a tux in Great Borington. Or something like that in no particular order.
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The Gonzo Chronicles
Arthur Yanoff Recalls Coffee Corner
By: - Feb 13th, 2014Arthur Yanoff has had a one man show at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and was named Jewish Artist of the Year. A couple of years ago he and photographer Kay Canavino collaborated on a Melville project for the Ralph Brill Gallery and the author's former home Arrowhead in Pittsfield. We met recently to discuss Boston's Coffee Corner and its rarely documented hipster legacy which was a spawning ground for gonzo.
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February is a Ten in Pittsfield
Mid Winter Festival
By: - Feb 04th, 2014No it ain't Mardi Gras in New Orleans but Pittsfield is giving it a shot. Shake off the funk with the annual city wide Ten by Ten Festival. There's lots to do so bundle up and break out of the cabin.
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Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman at 46
Smacked on Super Sunday
By: - Feb 02nd, 2014Today, as millions of Americans bet the farm on the Super Bowl, in New York, Lady Luck came up snake eyes for renowned actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. He rolled the bones and with the spike still in his arm croaked from a hot shot of smack. After 23 years of staying clean he started using again last May with today's tragic result. We remember and celebrate him as one of the finest actors of his generation.
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The Berkshire Eagle: And Then There Was One
North Adams Transcript Merges and Advocate Folds
By: - Jan 03rd, 2014Given negative trends in media it comes as no surprise that The North Adams Transcript will merge with the Berkshire Eagle as of January 20. The weekly Adovcate, which has been in freefall for the past few years, will cease publication. As a part of the transition the Eagle will exand its weekly arts tabloid insert from summer to year round. Given the importance of the economy based on cultural tourism, and coverage of issues and politics in the still depressed Northern Berkshire County, despite attempts at positive spin this is really bad news.
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When Silence is Golden
Restaurants Serve Rock Concerts with Food
By: - Nov 30th, 2013From restaurants to the mall there is no escaping America's terrible taste in music. In addition to serving food restaurants insist on providing a rock concert. Usually it's the kind of music you go out of your way to avoid. Tell them to turn it down or off.
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Red Sox From Last To First
A Prose Poem for 2013 World Series Win
By: - Nov 02nd, 2013For 12 Seasons, his firm has been a design consultant to the Red Sox. He designed the now part of Boston and MLB history giant American flag unfurled at special times on the Green Monster for crying out loud! During that time, the team has won 3 World Series. Favermann has attended every Opening Day and each of the World Series. Last year was a disaster. The Old Town Team was in last place. No one gave the Sox a chance this year either. This 2013 Fall Classic win was the first at home since 1918 since Babe Ruth was a player. The surprising triumphant march to Major League Baseball dominance left Mark spouting poetry.
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Edmund de Waal Ceramics At Gagosian Gallery
Porcelain Pots Panoply By Author of the Hare With Amber Eyes
By: - Oct 21st, 2013The author of the international bestseller The Hare with the Amber Eyes, ceramicist Edmund de Waal is a puzzle maker. Best known for his large scale installations of porcelain vessels exhibited in many major museums, much of his recent work has been concerned with ideas of collecting and collections. This reflects notions of how objects are kept together, lost, stolen and dispersed. His work comes out of a dialogue between minimalism, architecture and sound, and is informed by his passion for the written word. The issue of this Gagosian Gallery exhibition is what is it about? Is it a statement about de Waal regaining his family's lost wealth, or is it a commentary on consumerism? Just one of the many puzzles by de Waal in his literature and visual art.
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Boston Art, Marathon Bombings, Robert Lowell
Things That Got Me Thinking
By: - Oct 07th, 2013In this think piece the artist Martin Mugar connects some disparate dots. He reflects on "one of my favorite novels , "Voyage au But de la Nuit" by Celine." The tragedy of the Marathon Bombings. The Red Sox. And "I recall a visit years ago to a Boston gallery.The work on display was some overly tense and fastidiously wrought sculpture by Christopher Wilmarth." He concludes with the Robert Lowell poem "For the Union Dead" from 1960.
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