Opinion
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Netflix Charges More for Less
Ripping Off Consumers During Hard Times
By: - Jul 14th, 2011In the depth of the Great Recession with the recovery, what recovery, dragging on forever prices and fees are going up. It started with banks and airlines now Netflix is jacking up its prices. And because of all the yahoos in Washington messing with us the Government may not mail out our Social Security check this month. Hey, we're mad as hell and ain't gonnah take it any more.
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Critical Condition Arts in the Berkshires
Is Less More
By: - Jul 13th, 2011When Rocco Landesman, the head of the NEA, suggested that there are too many arts organizations with supply outweighing demand there was a response of outrage in the arts community. Here in the Berkshires it begs the question of sufficient audience and patrons to support four major theatre companies. It also begs the question of the role of critics? Are we just providers of consumer information for ticket buyers?
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Moca's Joe Thompson Discusses Wilco
Second Year of Museum's Solid Sound Festival
By: - Jun 25th, 2011There was risk taking and expensive infrastructure development, last year, when Joe Thompson, director of Mass MoCA, launched Wilco's Solid Sound Festival. Much of the start up costs will be absorbed with a commitment for the the rock band to return over the next few years. We spoke with Thompson about the impact of the event on the museum and Northern Berkshire County.
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Connecting the Dots in Northern Berkshire County
From Pissarro at the Clark to Wilco at Mass MoCA
By: - Jun 22nd, 2011This weekend the Wilco Solid Sound Festival will bring upwards of 6,000 rock fans to Mass MoCA. In addition to music this young audience will enjoy a massive exposure to contemporary art. It is just the kind of demographic that promises synergy and future audiences for other North Adams/ Williamstown arts organizations including the Clark Art Institute, Williams College Museum of Art and Williamstown Theatre Festival. It takes strategy, marketing and PR to promote visiting Northern Berkshire County as more than just a day trip.
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Summer Arts Previews
Hot Time Summer in the City
By: - Jun 21st, 2011Our Boston correspondent Barbara Brilliant has tips for what's going on in the city and region. With a preview of Porgy and Bess coming to American Repertory Theatre starring diva Audra McDonald.
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Carl Belz Three
Legacy and Future of the Rose Art Museum
By: - Jun 08th, 2011Asked about the attempt of former Brandeis president, Jehuda Reinharz, to close the Rose Art Museum and sell its renowned collection, the museum's former director, Carl Belz, responds "blah, blah, blah." In this final installment of a dialogue he speaks in greater depth of the contributions of former curator, Susan Stoops, now with the Worcester Art Museum, and the artist/ preparator, Roger Kizik.
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Carl Belz Two
Running the Rose Art Museum During Hard Times
By: - Jun 04th, 2011During the era of radical unrest and social change in the 1960s, the black listed professors of McCarthyism nurtured a generation of activists. Brandeis became notorious for the number of its graduates on the FBI Most Wanted lists. That greatly changed growth and philanthropy for the university. It had a significant impact on the Rose Art Museum and its limited resources. Then the Rose family gave $500,000 to start an acquisition fund and Belz initiated a series of annual exhibitions of a major artist,
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Former Rose Art Museum Director Carl Belz
Part One of a Dialogue
By: - May 30th, 2011During the tenure of Carl Belz as director of the Rose Art Museum I frequently reviewed the exhibitions and interviewed him for Art New England and other publications. During an extended dialogue Belz spoke in depth about presiding over one of the great collections of modern and contemporary art in the New England area.
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June at the Mount
Historic Lenox Estate Launches Its Season
By: - May 25th, 2011With the arrival of June, The Mount kicks into its summer season and an exciting array of events including a two-day publishing workshop, weekly ghost tours, daily exhibits, and the opening of the Terrace Café.
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NEA Head Rocco Landesmann's Our Town
Describes New Initiative in Mass MoCA Speech
By: - May 24th, 2011In a speech during the Creative Communities Exchange at Mass MoCA on May 20, Rocco Landesmann, head of the NEA discussed a new program. "The notion of “artist-citizens,†is what led me to propose $5 million of new funding at the NEA called “Our Town.†It’s called “Our Town,†frankly, because that’s a play, I am a theater guy, and getting to name things is pretty much the only prerogative of being chairman."
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NEA Head Rocco Landesmann at Mass MoCA
Wrapup of Creative Communities Exchange
By: - May 21st, 2011Last February NEA head, Rocco Landesmann, dropped a bomb when he applied the need for Darwin's concepts of Survival of the Fittest for the over expanded and under financed theatre community in the face of diminished audiences. During remarks at a lunch that concluded a conference at Mass MoCA he thanked its director, Joe Thompson, for publicly supporting his controversial but insightful position. It provided a lively bookend to the Creative Communities Exchange sponsored by Berkshire Creative and NEFA.
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Creative Communities Exchange
Conference at Mass MoCA by NEFA and Berkshire Creative
By: - May 20th, 2011Artists and arts administrators from all over New England gathered at Mass MoCA for Creative Community Exchange. During breakfast the attendees were greeted by the organizers, Rebecca Blunk, director of New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), and Helena Fruscio, the director of Berkshire Creative.
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Freedom Riders: An American Experience
A Journey for Justice That Became A Trip To Hell
By: - May 18th, 2011The PBS program Freedom Riders is the powerful story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives and endured savage beatings and imprisonment for simply traveling together on buses and trains through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence. Coming from all strata of American society, they embarked on these Freedom Rides knowing the danger but willing to put their lives on the line for the cause of justice. A personal connection is that George and his wife Ann Withorn were married nearly forty years ago by one of the Freedom Riders.
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Arnie Reisman on Boston Media in the 1960s
Boston After Dark Became Boston Phoenix
By: - May 15th, 2011As part of our ongoing dialogues about the arts and culture in Boston during the 1960s and 1970s we interacted with Arnie Reisman. He was an early editor of Boston After Dark which merged and morphed into the Boston Phoenix. He later moved on to broadcast journalism at WGBH. Among his award winning documentaries was Hollywood on Trial.
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Lakers Swept Celtics Down by Three
The Agony of Defeat
By: - May 10th, 2011Rajon Rondo, playing hurt, missed an easy layup that would have evened the series. Just two points that would have saved a game, series and era. There was a lot of pride last night for the aging and wounded warriors. But youth defeating age is one of the oldest plot lines in sports. The Celtics showed heart and pride while Kobe Bryant and the once dominant Lakers were not only swept but blown away. Now it's up to the Heat to make their bones as the feared and dominating new hoop dynasty.
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NEFA Conference at Mass MoCA
Arts Groups Meet May 19 & 20
By: - May 03rd, 2011Berkshire Creative of Berkshire County, MA, and the New England Foundation for the Arts of Boston, MA, will host the Creative Communities Exchange, a major regional event highlighting successful creative economy work on May 19 and 20, 2011, at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA.
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The Mount 2011 Season Program
Opens May 7 through October 31
By: - Apr 27th, 2011The Mount, the historic estate of Edith Wharton, has announced its 2011 summer season. The official opening day is Saturday, May 7. The Mount will be open daily from 10 am to 5 pm through October 31, 2011.
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Steve Nelson, WBCN, Part Four
Hello Freeform Radio, Bye-Bye Boston Tea Party
By: - Apr 18th, 2011We have more of our conversation with Steve Nelson, president of the Music Museum Of New England, and manager of legendary 1960s rock and blues club The Boston Tea Party. This fourth part of an extended dialogue with Charles Giuliano recounts the revolution in music programming on FM radio and the changing club scene in Boston.
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Mass MoCA Summer Schedule
Wilco and Rosanne Cash to Katharina Grosse
By: - Apr 18th, 2011The summer season at Mass MoCA launches with a concert by Rosanne cash on May 28. Not long after, June 24 to 26, North Adams will be transformed into a tent city ersatz Woodstock for the Wilco Solid Sound Festival. There's also lots to see and enjoy in the galleries of North America's largest contemporary art museum.
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2011 Pulitzer Prize List
"Madame White Snake’" by Zhou Long at the Boston Opera
By: - Apr 18th, 2011"Madame White Snake’" by Zhou Long, premiered on Feb. 26, 2010, by the Boston Opera at the Cutler Majestic Theatre won for music. Sebastian Smee of the Boston Globe won for criticism.
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Red Sox Nation in a Tailspin
Panic in April as Team Goes 2-10
By: - Apr 16th, 2011There is no joy in Mudville. Who knew when my buddy Mark invited us to opening day at Fenway that would be just one of two wins by mid April. You have to go to the record book for a slower start. This from the team that pre season was predicted to make it all the way to another World Series. You wish. Panic mode strikes fear in Red Sox Nation. Say it ain't so Joe. The fix is in.
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Regime Change at National Arts Club
O. Aldon James Takes a Well Earned Vacation
By: - Mar 31st, 2011While drawing no salary for the past 25 years, as president of the renowned National Arts Club in New York, O. Aldon James, with his twin brother John, and their inner circle of friends have enjoyed remarkable perks. After decades of fights, feuds, law suits and scandals it is the end of an era as the NAC Board announced recently that James is taking a "well earned vacation."
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Spring Arts Listings
Covering Boston and Beyond
By: - Mar 19th, 2011Our Boston correspondent Barbara Brilliant provides a dense schedule of arts events in Boston. The listings provide capsule and links for box office connections. Events range from Hair and Educating Rita to a complete breakdown of the Boston Pops.
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NY Times States Pay to Play
No More Free Lunch
By: - Mar 18th, 2011The New York Times today in an e mail blast is announcing that it will no longer put out for nothing. While it makes sense to charge for world class content there is a glut of free information on line. Why does this feel like a desperate last stand for the once mighty media giant. What is not evident in this move is the potential decline of readership and an erosion of authority and influence. While older Times readers may well pony up it is unlikely that anyone under 40 will bother and the Times, accordingly, has abandoned its next generation of potential readers.
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Berkshire Critic Larry Murray Seven
It's a Wrap
By: - Mar 12th, 2011In this final installment of their dialogue Murray and Giuliano discuss cutting edge theatre which is a mainstay of America Repertory Theatre in Cambridge. And why there is nothing like that in the Berkshires. Murray defines an approach as providing information to readers to help in making informed choices. With so much being offered this summer it is less about competition and more about a critical mass of superb theatre.
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