(Published in the March-April 2017 edition of AramcoWorld magazine: http://www.aramcoworld.com/pt-BR/Articles/March-2017/Saudi-Film-Days) As sunset gilded Los Angeles on November 3, actor Giancarlo Esposito, most recently of Breaking Bad fame, joined a small flock of fellow Hollywood celebrities at Paramount Studios to walk a red carpet in front of an unprecedented backdrop: the logo for Saudi Film Days, the…
(Published at KQED on Dec. 9, 2014: https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2014/12/09/fifty-years-and-counting-why-john-coltranes-a-love-supreme-is-still-a-musical-revelation/) Even the album’s cover photo is unforgettable – and a bit jarring. Is John Coltrane angry? In pain? Contemplative? A Love Supreme is one of the most recognizable, most successful and most influential jazz albums in history. Recorded in 1964, it’s Coltrane at his best, a milestone piece of art that set a…
(Published at KQED on August 2, 2016: https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2016/08/02/how-to-listen-to-songs-in-a-language-you-dont-understand/) Many years ago, when I was looking for something to eat and drink on a late night in Hiroshima, Japan, I found the only place that was open. The woman spoke virtually no English. I knew a few phrases in Japanese, including “Eigo Wakari Masuka? (英語分かりますか)” (“Do you…
(Published at KQED on April 3, 2017: https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2017/04/03/john-stewart-of-egypt-looks-for-more-than-just-laughs-in-u-s/) When he appears on Tuesday, Apr. 4 at the University of California Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, Bassem Youssef promises to be his usual funny self: a guy who, with a wry quip or odd facial expression, can induce laughter about very hard truths. Millions of Americans know Youssef…
(Published in SF Weekly on May 4, 2017: http://www.sfweekly.com/culture/art/roz-chast-and-the-influence-of-anxiety/) Roz Chast is very funny. Everyone who reads her New Yorker cartoons knows this. In fact, that’s all they really knew about Chast until 2014, when she published her graphic memoir, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, which details her stressful childhood and the demanding…
(Published in SF Weekly on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017: http://www.sfweekly.com/culture/art/psychic-infrastructure-in-pyramid-city-teotihuacan-and-the-de-young/) Located on the outskirts of Mexico’s capital, the ancient pyramid city called Teotihuacan is firmly established in the psyches of the Mexican people — and of the millions of tourists who’ve set foot on the stones and pathways that comprise Teotihuacan’s panoramic vistas. UNESCO calls…
Habitually detained by Cuban authorities, Tania Bruguera’s art combines performance with activism. She’s even running for president (although she will not win.) Published in SF Weekly on June 14, 2017: http://www.sfweekly.com/culture/art/cubaist-portrait/ The Cuban police and officials who have interrogated Tania Bruguera — and who continue to interrogate her whenever she’s on the island — resort to…
(Published in SF Weekly on June 29, 2017: http://www.sfweekly.com/culture/art/scream-and-shout-edvard-munch-at-sfmoma/) Surrounded at an early age by familial deaths from tuberculosis, an ominous fear that he would be “next,” and the worrisome nature of his religiously conservative father, Edvard Munch was on edge through much of his life. This sense of unease infused his work with a psychological and emotional…
The new Leonardo Drew exhibit at the de Young. (Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco) (Published in SF Weekly on April 5, 2017: http://www.sfweekly.com/culture/art/peabrain-ism-and-a-love-supreme/) On a recent Friday afternoon, the de Young Museum’s atrium — the one that a million art-goers pass through every year — was experiencing a radical metamorphosis. Gone was…