David Adler
Shostakovich at 100
Yesterday I had the thrill of attending a Shostakovich matinee at Avery Fisher Hall. Valery Gergiev conducted the Kirov Orchestra, straight outta St. Petersburg, in a performance of the 8th and 13th symphonies. This was the final concert in Gergiev’s 2006 series: all 15 symphonies in the 100th birth year of the great, unknowable Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975). Gergiev conducted without
Dylan on Broadway?
Jody Rosen of Slate has the word on Twyla Tharp’s stage musical inspired by the music of Bob Dylan. It ain’t pretty. It’s hilarious, in fact: Sure, Dylan composed “Mr. Tambourine Man.” But to turn that modest folk-rock reverie into a three-dimensional dream-vision, with a singer seated on a neon-lighted sickle moon suspended 20 feet above a stage where dancers
Sounds to cherish 5
Another in an occasional series… Paul Pieper, Stories of Before (Bright Orange)A strong guitar player from Maryland. He placed second in the 1995 Monk competition. I first heard him on the Relax CD, by 79-year-old tenor saxist Buck Hill (who is apparently a mail carrier by day). After hearing Pieper’s adept, snaky lines I felt I had to investigate. My
“We answer to the name of liberals”
Bruce Ackerman and Todd Gitlin have written a new manifesto for those unashamed of the word “liberal.” It appears in the November print edition of the American Prospect, and it’s online as well. It reflects my current thinking more closely than the Euston Manifesto, the UK version of which I signed earlier this year. Below is the Ackerman-Gitlin text in
They hate us because…
PBS ran an excellent documentary this week on the war photographers’ collective known as “Seven.” This is a smart, experienced group of people with diverse views. One of them, now focused on photographing the American social and political scene, offered his thoughts on Bush’s oft-repeated slogan that terrorists “hate us for our freedom.” I can’t pin down this person’s name
Raimondo shills for Putin
Right-wing paleocon antiwar activist Justin Raimondo, last referenced here, has now penned a hallucinatory defense of Russian president Vladimir Putin — get this — “a capable, no-nonsense, and staunchly nationalist leader.” Raimondo gripes about “elegies praising [brutally murdered journalist Anna] Politkovskaya as a veritable saint.” He works up to this: Those who criticize Putin for supposedly reintroducing authoritarian rule can
Ashcroft on the Daily
Appearing on the Daily Show of Oct. 18, John Ashcroft defended the use of “alternative techniques” — i.e., torture — in prisoner interrogations. Very important, he argued, for interrogators to do more than just ask “would you please” of terror suspects. Must get them to divulge the plans for “the next attack.” The truth about the torture debate is that
Jazz treason
I’ve received an email from the brilliant trumpeter John McNeil, advertising a regular gig with the equally brilliant tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry. At the bottom is this wonderful critical plaudit: “Their treasonous use of pentatonics speaks volumes about their hatred of America. These guys are traitors, pure and simple.” — Ann Coulter Took the words right out of my mouth.