A Forgotten Form of Street Art

Advertisements are a nuisance.  The giant ones plastered on billboards and buildings all over major cities – those are eyesores.  However, in the new short documentary “Up There,” director Michael Murray may have just articulated a compelling reason for their existence. “Up There” follows a group of commercial painters as they work on an ad [...]

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Musical Building Blocks

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of the jazz piano are probably smoky late night bars and cool cats in fedoras. But would you think of quilting? Jason Moran does.  Along with critical acclaim for his technique, this jazz innovator is gaining recognition for his more avant garde compositional sensibilities, taking [...]

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World Cup Worries

The 2010 World Cup is in full swing. And while the eyes of the world are trained on South Africa, not everyone in the host nation is sold on the event. On this week’s show, South African novelist Marlene van Niekerk was in to discuss her new novel Agaat. But she and Kurt also got to [...]

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Drink Bitches Brew

Last week, Delaware’s Dogfish Head Brewery announced that they’d be commemorating the fortieth anniversary of Miles Davis’s singular fusion album Bitches Brew with a beer of the same name. In addition to being “the ultimate partner for chili or spicy curry chicken,” Dogfish founder/president Sam Calagione suggests it pairs well with the actual album. Bitches [...]

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Fred Hersch Whirls Again

Two years ago, celebrated jazz pianist Fred Hersch was in the throes of a life-threatening, A.I.D.S.-related dementia.  He’d been living with H.I.V. since the mid-’80s – but when the virus spread to his brain, he suffered hallucinations, paranoia, and fell into a coma. Perhaps the only thing more miraculous than his survival was his recovery.  [...]

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Andrew Jackson Rules

Part history lesson, part satire, part blood bath — a lovely night at the theater, no? “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” (now up at New York’s Public Theater) is a singing, dancing, punk-rocking rollick through the 7th presidency by Les Freres Corbusier, a company that delights in re-imagining well-known historical figures. They’re known for turning said [...]

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You’ll Love This

This weekend saw the opening of “I am Love,” an Italian film directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Tilda Swinton (performing in Italian). It’s beautiful to watch, but what’s really exciting is how beautiful it sounds. Pulitzer prize-winning composer John Adams is the source for the film’s sublime score. Ranging from urgent minimalism to modern [...]

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The Next American Idol

Sometimes we cling tightly to things we deem “traditional” without realizing they’re not as deeply entrenched in our history as we thought. Take Uncle Sam: he hasn’t changed much since J. M. Flagg’s iconic World War I recruitment poster, in which he appeared as an older white man wearing a snazzy red, white, and blue [...]

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Hey World, Look At Us, We’re The Greatest

Oh, say can you compose a new anthem? Well, the jury’s still out on that. A few weeks ago we began our listener challenge to create a new national anthem with the hopes that people would write new lyrics and music for song that could take the place of the Star Spangled Banner. With so [...]

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BLK JKS: Too Good For Vowels

It’s hard to imagine a band getting more exposure than by playing at the opening ceremony of the World Cup.  With the eyes of the world on South Africa last Thursday, the nation’s own BLK JKS delivered what was arguably the best performance of the night. At the heart of their music is a tenacious [...]

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