Arts

Arts

Quinn on Books: Soaked in Intelligence and Wit

Review of “The Bloodied Nightgown and Other Essays,” by Joan Acocella Review by Michael Quinn When you read a newspaper or magazine for a long time, you start to recognize the bylines. Favorite writers emerge. Over time, you begin to feel like you know them. And you do. You know how they think and feel—the good ones, anyway. Joan Acocella […]

Arts

Music: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

Sleep and other horrors. I don’t know what goes on within the Sleepytime Gorilla Museum after hours, and truth be told, I don’t always understand what’s happening during public viewings, either. Past exhibits have focused on Ted Kaczynski, pulmonary tuberculosis, pediatrics, cicadas and cockroaches. It’s been 17 years since their last offering, In Glorious Times and during that time they’ve […]

Arts

Jazz: In Transition, by George Grella

Transitions are beguiling, that period when a thing is changing into something else. It’s part of nature, of course—it’s the story of the universe—and it’s essential in all the arts. The ephemeral, performing ones, especially dance and music, are all about movement and transitions through time. Not all music is the same, obviously, and the way transitions are handled and […]

Arts

Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

Something in 4/4 time. Late last year, Robert Fripp—the lynchpin between ambient music and prog rock—appeared on an episode of Daryl Hall’s home cooking and barn jam show Live From Daryl’s House. The series has been airing intermittently since 2007 and is generally a pleasure. (All of the episodes can be found on YouTube.) The reason episode 87 matters to […]

Arts

Crime Jazz By George Grella

Moral panics have been around long before Socrates was forced to commit suicide for corrupting the youth of Athens. Since civilization began, there’s been an endless cycle of social/political/artistic change provoking reaction from those who are fearful of any change whatsoever, or even, in Mencken’s immortal words, “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” The challenge for the […]

Arts

Review of “The Premonition,” by Banana Yoshimoto; translated from Japanese by Asa Yoneda Review by Michael Quinn

Authors sometimes see renewed interest in their old work, especially if they’ve made a name for themselves. These older titles may not be as good as their most popular books (though occasionally, they’re better). Yet it’s always interesting to dip into an author’s back catalog to see how they’ve evolved. Early attempts often have a freshness that embodies what we […]

Arts

Back to “Brighton Beach” with Filmmakers Carol Stein and Susan Wittenberg,
by Dante A. Ciampaglia

Author Nelson Algren wrote in 1951 about Chicago that, “once you’ve come to this particular patch, you’ll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real.” That sentiment could also apply to the Brighton Beach neighborhood filmmakers Carol Stein and Susan Wittenberg captured some 30 years […]

Arts

WALKING WITH COFFEE: A Boomer talks with a Millennial.

Boomer– R.J. Cirillo Millennial –Amy Flatow We are in Park Slope, sitting with coffee. R.J. –“So Amy, what generation are you?” Amy –“I’m technically a millennial, but considered a geriatric millennial, or like the first crop of them.” And she laughed. R.J.– “I’m a boomer, so I get some flak for that, the term itself becoming sort of a put-down.” […]

Arts, Books, Red Hook News

Local author Tara Isabella Burton brings Red Hook to her latest novel, by Michael Quinn

You don’t choose to attend a performance at the floating cabaret, the Avalon. The Avalon chooses you. And you’re not only the guest of honor—you’re the only guest. Every song, every dance, every act is written just for you. But the invitation comes at a high price: step on board once, you risk leaving your old life behind forever. This […]

Arts

Music Column: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

The beginning of another new age. The year that’s just passed might go down in history as the one in which New Age music at last made its triumphant return. The media likes nothing more than a counterintuitive tale, and so a rapper long off the scene, André 3000, of the groundbreaking Atlanta duo OutKast, releasing a new age record—New […]