As American as Andy Warhol

Handpicked by President Obama as the host city of last week’s G-20 economic conference, Pittsburgh may finally be getting its due. While most news coverage of the event was more concerned with the art of global financial negotiations than with the artwork hanging on the walls of the city’s museums, a different kind of story [...]

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James Dean of classical music

is what Tim Page the music critic called Glenn Gould. Privately they were close friends. When Gould had finished his legendary 1981 re-recording of the Goldberg variations he asked Tim Page, who was then a host of a music show at WNYC, to do an interview with him. Only, Gould would script it all! Casting [...]

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Perfection Across Time

As the Belvedere Torso inspired Michelangelo, Michelangelo inspired Robert Mapplethorpe. The Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy, has never exhibited a contemporary artist in the revered museum that houses Michelangelo’s “David.” Until now. Nearly 100 Mapplethorpe photographs — with an emphasis on nudes — join Michelangelo’s “David” and his other works permanently housed in the church-like [...]

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An Eerie Duet

When Johnny Cash listed 100 essential country songs for his daughter, Rosanne, he included one he was famous for singing himself, “Long Black Veil.” In her upcoming album, The List, Rosanne Cash covers twelve of those 100 songs, including the haunting love ballad. “Long Black Veil” tells the ghostly, heart-wrenching story of a man wrongly [...]

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Make a New Friend

Most robots take millions of dollars and years of research to build – but you can get started today on your very own, without any grant writing. And some of the materials you’ll need might be cluttering up your house right now. “Sparky” (an invention of artist Marque Cornblatt) uses a Mac Mini computer for [...]

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Hell is…

Today, “Jennifer’s Body” opens in theaters. Written by Diablo Cody (who recently stopped by Studio 360), this new horror flick tells the story of Jennifer (Megan Fox), a popular high school girl possessed by a man-eating demon. Her best friend, Needy (Amanda Seyfried), is the yin to Jennifer’s yang: unpopular, mousy, a bit of a [...]

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What Would You Ask Yoko?

Next week, Kurt will be speaking to musician, artist, and all-around icon Yoko Ono — she has a new album coming out, “Between My Head and the Sky,” on which she collaborated on with her son Sean Lennon. Ono’s work (and life) has raised controversy as well as inspired praise. From her participation in the [...]

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Dear Diary — It’s Paul’s Alter

Have you been acquainted with a Mr. Elyot Vionnet? You may not think so, but he’s actually someone we have all experienced at one time or another. For instance, remember the time when that woman with the cell phone and the couture shopping bags slammed right into you on the sidewalk and then gave you [...]

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Transforming the Sound

“And here in New York City, we heard that awful sound…” – Papa Dish, “The September 11th Song.” Today, artists across the country are commemorating the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Here in New York City, I’ll be heading to the September 11th Memorial Sing, tonight 5-7:30pm. Organized by the Brooklyn Arts Council, 20 [...]

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David, Meet Anne

We recently learned that Disney has sealed a deal with David Mamet. He will be writing the screenplay for and directing “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Breathe. This has to be a joke, right? Mamet is an incredible writer, but has had more than a few problematic moments regarding social sensitivity. Not to mention that [...]

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