Real Journalism written by people
Henry Threadgill, photo by John Rogers Jazz is not just modern, but modernist; not just part of the last 100 years of cultural history, but a music that took old and existing language and made it new. Bebop was an explicit modernist, even avant-garde, movement that took existing popular material, like “How High The Moon,” and gave it a new […]
Modern Vintage aptly describes the sound of The Cactus Blossoms, an indie band based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota who wear their hearts on their sleeves. Led by brothers Jack Torry and Page Burkham, both siblings play guitar and sing tightly knit harmonies that range from the tenderness of The Everly Brothers to the powerful crescendos of Roy Orbison. They’re backed […]
Review of Walking through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, by Cookie Mueller Review by Michael Quinn Among the arty crowd, there might be two kinds of people: those who never heard of Cookie Mueller and those who are obsessed with her. She was the ultimate free spirit. Born in Baltimore in 1949, she was, by her own account, […]
You might know the whimsical artwork of Alice and Martin Provensen without even realizing it. The husband-and-wife illustration team created more than 40 children’s books in a career that spanned the mid- to late-20th century. Some of their earliest works are classics from the Little Golden Books series, such as 1949’s The Color Kittens written by Margaret Wise Brown (one […]
Portrait of a lady in a world full of dirt. In hindsight, I’m not sure why I’ve been using this space in recent months to demand a new full-length from the voice of conscience for an angry, dying world known in her current form as Shilpa Ray, but I’m willing to take at least partial credit for her crucial, vital, […]
Charles Mingus is one of the greatest figures in the history of jazz and modern music. Born 100 years ago this month (April 22) , he’s one of those few musicians who, in the mind of the public and fellow musicians goes by one name: just Mingus, like Miles and Col-trane and Ella and Monk and Duke. Even rarer, he […]
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one with the fewest Spider-Men, And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost wrote “The Road Not Taken” in 1915 as a reflection on self-determination, or maybe a goof on his walking buddy. But, c’mon, he’s clearly got the multiverse on his mind. Two roads, two choices, two […]
Go to a mirror. Look into your eyes—the same ones you had as a child. When you look into them, whom do you see? Breath Better Spent: Living Black Girlhood, DaMaris B. Hill’s new book of narrative poems, fulfills a pledge the author made to not only acknowledge the child within, but “to carry my girl self on my shoulders […]
It’s surprising that Sonic Youth, gone now for more than a decade, have yet to go the deluxe/unreleased route. Their Bandcamp page is replete with live sets and rarities, but In/Out/In (out March 18 on vinyl, CD, cassette and download from Three Lobed Recordings) may mark a change in that missing tide. The album collects five tracks recorded between 2000 […]
Is it too early to say there won’t be a 2022 Major League Baseball season? Because it sure feels like there won’t be one. If the current lockout, which has already claimed some of Spring Training, begins eating regular season games, which seems likely, who knows where things end — or how the shrinking fan base will react. But maybe […]
By her own admission, Brooklyn-based author and illustrator Sophie Blackall is an optimist, someone who is able to see the silver lining in just about any cloud. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and even the most glass-half-full among us felt the strain. “When things seemed especially grim, I began posting a list of Things to Look Forward To on Instagram, […]
Here’s a motto to listen by: it’s harder to write a song than a sonata. There’s a general perception both among outside listeners and musicians inside institutional structures that the sonata is one of the supreme formal achievements of classical music. And this is true, proven by how vital and enduring the form has been since composers like Haydn were […]
Review of Behind the Mask: Living Alone in the Epicenter by Kate Walter Review by Michael Quinn The start of the pandemic was like a game of musical chairs. The music suddenly stopped. We all scrambled for safety. We worried for (or laughed at) the ones without a spot (the pandemic also revealed the mean-spirited among us). But we all […]
