Opinion
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Steve Nelson, The Bosstown Sound, Three
Boston Hype Fizzles, James Brown Sizzles
By: - Mar 06th, 2011We continue 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 third part of an extended dialogue with Charles Giuliano reviews “The Bosstown Sound,†a record business promotion to cash in on the emerging musical talent in Boston, and recalls how Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination impacted the club and the city.
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Berkshire Critic Larry Murray Six
Media Impact of Social Networking
By: - Mar 01st, 2011Blogs and the social networks routinely scoop print media on news, previews and reviews. By the time newspapers cover arts stories they may be days old. Arts organizations continue to rely primarily on print reviews to sell tickets but that has changed dramatically in the past few years. Through blogs and tweets Broadway shows with long previews may be dead in the water by opening night. Through internet coverage audiences make up their minds on ticket sales before reviews appear in print.
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Eagle Drops Shoe on Berkshire Living
Slogging Through the Mud Months
By: - Feb 26th, 2011For the past six years Berkshire Living and its related publications have competed for the advertising that had previously been the domain of the Berkshire Eagle/ North Adams Transcript and weekly Advocate. An Eagle news report aggressively explores the sale and merger of Berkshire Living with Today Media. The story includes the personal financial issues of publisher Michael Zivyak as well as recent news coverage of editor Seth Rogovoy who was "discharged from the jury of a high-profile Berkshire Superior Court case after he posted a court-related comment on Twitter."
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Critic Larry Murray Five
Blogs and Social Networking
By: - Feb 22nd, 2011In the current political turmoil in the Middle East we have seen how Facebook, e mail, and social networking have resulted in resistance and regime changes. Developments in information technologies have eroded the dominance of traditional media systems. Today with access to the internet and web sites anyone can be a critic or journalist. Murray and Giuliano explore the implications and their role in covering the arts.
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Art Critic Greg Cook Four
Maintaining a Critical Distance
By: - Feb 18th, 2011In addition to writing about art for the Boston Phoenix and the new England Journal of Aesthetic Research Greg Cook is also a studio artist. In this final installment of a dialogue Cook describes how he attempts to avoid any perception of conflict of interest. As an artist, however, he feels solidarity with their struggles. In particular he resents the lack of national recognition for all but a few Boston artists.
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Stuart Chase’s Berkshire Museum Resignation
Clarification and Further Questions
By: - Feb 18th, 2011The Berkshire Museum insists that there is no substance to our speculation that the resignation of Start Chase as its executive director was "abrupt" or the result of a conflict with the Board regarding the use of the Florence Keep & Josephine Crane Fund. It is named for the donors of the works which were sold for $7 million. By e mail Chase responded to a request for clarification of the current status of the acquisition fund and its recent use.
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Stuart Chase Resigns Abruptly from Berkshire Museum
Push Comes to Shove in Board Conflict
By: - Feb 15th, 2011Other than a press release nobody is talking about the surprising and sudden resignation of Stuart Chase as director of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield. Sources indicate that there was a conflict with the Board about the proper use of $7 million thorough the sale, several years ago, of three paintings by the Russian artist, Boris Dimitrievich Grigoriev (1886-1939).
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Berkshire Critic Larry Murray Four
Separating the Personal and Objective
By: - Feb 14th, 2011Interviews provide access to the primary source. There is much to be learned through dialogues with actors and directors. But it also entails a conflict of interest and concerns when we have to write about their work. Does that entail softening the blow when we don't respond to a production? This installment of an extensive dialogue explores the tricky business of honestly informing the reader. It is the reason why some critics refuse to conduct interviews.
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Hat Dance: Cook and Giuliano Three
The Critic as Artist and Curator
By: - Feb 07th, 2011Can one be a servant of two masters? What happens when art critics Greg Cook of the Boston Phoenix and Charles Giuliano of Berkshire Fine Arts wear more than one hat as artists and curators. This installment of their extended dialogue focuses on Giuliano's epxeriences working with artists as director of exhibitions for New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University.
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Critic Larry Murray Three
From PR and Marketing to Berkshire on Stage
By: - Feb 05th, 2011After a career in marketing and PR for the BSO and Boston Ballet, and years running Arts Boston, in the past few seasons Larry Murray has made the transition to theatre critic. In this installment the publisher/ editor of Berkshire On Stage discusses how a life in the arts has entailed both side of the footlights.
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Steve Nelson Music Museum Of New England
Two: Ray Riepen and The Boston Tea Party
By: - Feb 05th, 2011Steve Nelson, president of the Music Museum Of New England, was the manager of legendary 1960s rock and blues club The Boston Tea Party. It was owned by Ray Riepen, a lawyer who came from Kansas City to become the leading entrepreneur in the Boston/Cambridge “counterculture†of the era. This second part of an extended dialogue with Charles Giuliano looks at how the Tea Party started and became a phenomenon.
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Boston Arts Tips: Feb. March
Ajax at ART and Lots More
By: - Jan 31st, 2011So far Boston is on track for a record winter of snow. But take heart, dear Valentines, Barbara Brilliant had lots of suggestions for how to artfully hunker down until spring. The uplifing Marry Poppins will surely cheer your spirits. There are also performances to enjoy for free.
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Phoenix Critic Greg Cook; Two
Museums and Local Artists
By: - Jan 31st, 2011In this installment, rural critic, Charles Giuliano, and metropolitan critic, Greg Book of the weekly, Boston Phoenix, compare and contrast issues of covering their arts communities. A primary difference is how the arts in the Berkshires are integral to driving the cultural economy. Cook comments on an uneasy relationship between museums and the community of local artists.
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Larry Murray of Berkshire On Stage
Recalling Sarah Caldwell and E. Virginia Williams
By: - Jan 31st, 2011Larry Murray moved from promoting the Pocket Mime to the BSO and Boston Ballet. He also worked with the legendary opera promoter Sarah Caldwell. He was on duty and fielded the press calls when his friend Arthur Fiedler passed away. In this second installment Murray describes his early years in theatrical marketing and PR.
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Berkshire Theatre Critic Larry Murray
On and Off Broadway Part One
By: - Jan 25th, 2011Initially, Larry Murray and Charles Giuliano divided coverage of the four major Berkshire theatre companies as well as the Colonial and Mahaiwe. Murray retired to the Berkshires after a long career as a publicist and marketing specialist for a range of organizations including the BSO, Boston Ballet, and Sarah Caldwell's Opera Company. He started his own blogs Arts America and Gay in the Berkshires. Last season he left BFA to focus on a new site Berkshire on Stage. This is the first of several dialogues about his career in the arts and an overview of the critical condition.
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Steve Nelson on The Boston Tea Party
Reelin' and Rockin' (Part 1)
By: - Jan 24th, 2011From 1967 to 1970 Steve Nelson produced rock and blues shows at The Boston Tea Party, The Woodrose Ballroom in South Deerfield, MA and Paramount Theatre in Springfield, MA. Now he is a co-founder of the Music Museum Of New England. Charles Giuliano was art director and then music critic for Boston After Dark, which became The Boston Phoenix. They spoke about the Museum and the music scene back in the day. This is the first of four parts of their conversation.
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Boston Art Critic Greg Cook
Part One of a Dialogue
By: - Jan 22nd, 2011During the 1960s Charles Giuliano was the art critic for Boston After Dark which evolved as The Boston Phoenix. Later distinguished Phoenix art critics included Kenneth Baker, David Bonetti and Christopher Millis. Currently Greg Cook is the art critic for the Phoenix. Spanning generations this is part one of a dialogue on covering the Boston art world and the state of criticism.
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Mayor Dick Alcombright's State of the City
Mid Point of First Term in North Adams
By: - Jan 12th, 2011When Dick Alcombright defeated John Barrett as Mayor of North Adams, after a tenure of 26 years, nobody anticipated that it was going to be easy. While the city had come back from the dark days when Sprague Electric, the primary employer, shut down that progress appeared to have stalled. In this address Alcombright discusses progress and issues that remain ahead.
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Branding the Berkshires
Marketing July 4th Weekend
By: - Dec 01st, 2010For most of us right now its jingle bells. With the announcement of the 2011 Tanglewood schedule this week, however, Berkshire arts organizations are hard at work planning a fast launch to the season on the Fourth of July. But, like Abbott and Costello, come summer, let's hope they aren't wondering about "who's on first." There is desperate need for branding, pooled resources, and a marketing strategy for the Berkshires.
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December Arts Picks
A Brilliant Overview
By: - Nov 28th, 2010Our Boston arts and entertainment correspondent has been making a list and checking it twice. There is a lot of fun for the whole family on tap for the holiday season. Barbara Brilliant once again provides a cheat sheet to the best and brightest offerings and convenient links to the box office.
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Colonial/ BTF Merger: Now What
Thinking Outside Pandora’s Box
By: - Nov 22nd, 2010There is a domino impact for the arts in the Berkshires with the merger, over the next year, of the Colonial Theatre and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. A more dynamic Colonial increases the critical mass and leadership of Pittsfield as the matrix and hub of the arts and cultural economy. It is equidistant from the boundaries of the region that represent more than an hour to drive from one end to the other. Strengthening the thriving arts community in Pittsfield changes the paradigm for the region. It increases the potential for synergy or competition.
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Berkshire Theatre Festival and Colonial Theatre
Contemplating Collaboration
By: - Nov 18th, 2010With a $21.6 million renovation the 107-year-old Colonial Theater reopened in Pittsfield in 2006. Running with an average of just under half a house, with too many dark nights, the Colonial has yet to live up to its potential. In a bold move it may partner with the venerable Berkshire Theatre Festival, as early as June, 2011 to produce what are likely to be popular musicals with bankable stars.
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November at the Colonial Theatre
Tommy Tune to Arlo Guthrie
By: - Oct 15th, 2010November iz shaping up as a busy month for the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. It starts with The Spencers, Nov. 6 then sweeps in Tommy Tune on the 12. Kate Clinton appears on the 13th with Ani DiFranco on the 16th followed by Arlo Guthrie, 20th, Kathy Mattea, 27th and Sound of Christmas, 30th. That brings us up to the Holidays with lots of merry cheer.
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Covering the Art Wars
Schjeldahl in the New Yorker and The Globe’s Smee
By: - Oct 14th, 2010In the exercise of power, influence and ego art critics often like to make or break individuals and movements. The combative stances perpetuate the notion of artists as warriors. High art is depicted as a clash of the titans. The great artists are simply the last ones standing.
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Brilliant Arts and Entertainment
October 2010
By: - Sep 26th, 2010Boston correspondent Barbara Brilliant offers a selection of highlights of arts and entertainment for October. We are moving into high season with many options for audiences.
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