Music and Poetry
To the memory of Adrian Mitchell
By David Walsh, December 24, 2008
This is more of a personal response to the death of poet Adrian Mitchell December 20 than an informed, much less scholarly, commentary. My encounter with his works took place several decades ago.
30 years since the death of Jacques Brel: his life, his art, his legacy
By Louis Girard and Hiram Lee, December 15, 2008
On the 30th anniversary of his death, the World Socialist Web Site offers a critical appreciation of legendary French singer Jacques Brel.
Songs from a modern lover: Jonathan Richman at The Southgate House
By Hiram Lee, November 4, 2008
Jonathan Richman, formerly of The Modern Lovers, performed a remarkable set at Newport, Kentucky’s Southgate House.
Chicago 2008:The Lollapalooza and Pitchfork Music Festivals
Political and musical perspectives
By Kenny Crucial, August 12, 2008
Lollapalooza, August 1-3, Grant Park; The Pitchfork Music Festival, July 18-20, Union Park
Real Emotional Trash from Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
By Hiram Lee, July 21, 2008
American singer, songwriter and guitarist Stephen Malkmus is approaching his twentieth year of making music. Best known as the lead singer and principal songwriter of the influential indie rock band P...
A concert in Atlanta: Behzad Ranjbaran’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
By Kenny Crucial, June 14, 2008
World premiere of Concerto for Piano and Orchestraby Behzad Ranjbaran, performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Spano, June 5, 7 and 8
Two new “cover albums”: Shelby Lynne’s Just a Little Lovin’ and Cat Power’s Jukebox
By Hiram Lee, March 18, 2008
Country singer Shelby Lynne spent a decade in Nashville creating music for a hostile and restrictive recording industry. Between 1989 and 1999, she made several albums of country-pop essentially no di...
Year Zero: Trent Reznor looks outside himself
By Peter Kloze, January 26, 2008
Objective events have a way of catching up with even the most subjective of individuals. Trent Reznor, founder and leading member of the industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails (NIN), is one of the more...
“Neon Bible” by the Arcade Fire: Where to from here?
By Graham Beverley, January 19, 2008
Sincere and developed artistic content in popular music remains a fringe phenomenon in both mainstream and ‘underground’ or independent music.
The art of Oscar Peterson: legacy of a jazz piano virtuoso
By John Andrews, January 4, 2008
Accolades poured in after the Christmas Eve announcement of Oscar Peterson’s death on December 23 from kidney failure at his home in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, at the age of 82.
Das Reichsorchester—The Berlin Philharmonic and the Nazis
By Verena Nees, December 18, 2007
For 60 years the role of the renowned Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra during the period of Nazi power has remained in obscurity. In Hitler’s Third Reich the orchestra was known as the “Reich...
An evening with the Cleveland Orchestra
By Alex Lantier, December 12, 2007
This writer recently had the opportunity to attend a concert of the Cleveland Orchestra, directed by guest conductor James Conlon. The orchestra, founded in 1918, has long been considered one of Ameri...
