Here in New York City, the jazz capital of the world, hot summer nights mean not just jazz but free jazz. The very idea of Ornette Coleman or Albert Ayler playing at Slugs’ Saloon fills me with the image of musicians on the bandstand in a hot, crowded club, the air conditioning failing to compete with the temperature outside, the […]
Arts
Songs Over Solos: The Music of J.M. Clifford, by Mike Fiorito
I went to see J.M. Clifford debut his new album Trains, Thinkin’ And Drinkin’ at the Jalopy Theater in Brooklyn, NY on June 7th, 2023. I was new to J.M. Clifford’s music, so prior to the show, I spent a few weeks listening to Trains, Thinkin’ And Drinkin’ and his prior album On a Saturday Night, released in 2021. I […]
Film: Canonizing the Ordinary and Fantastical of “Chronicles of a Wandering Saint”, by Dante A. Ciampaglia
There is nothing the least bit remarkable about Rita, the protagonist of Chronicles of a Wandering Saint. She lives in a desperately rural Argentinian town. Her job, as a cleaning lady in the desperately old church, is, like, her marriage, desperately mundane. As if to prove that cameras do capture souls, her Facebook profile photos are either underlit smears or […]
The Scene by Roger Bell
Red Hook Brooklyn has a tangled relationship with artists and musicians. A long time resident once confidently told me that he had found Herman Melville’s ink pot and coffee cup in an abandoned outhouse on Beard Street. Olga Bloom “discovered” these quiet shores while scouting a location for her Barge Music project from the deck of a tugboat she had […]
The new mural
In this country there is no greater work of public art than the mural by Diego Rivera in the Detroit Institute of the Arts, Complex culturally and politically the grand fresco employs the Sistine Chapel sense of gravitas with narrative references to contemporary history and the sweeping saga of human life. It is a masterwork. Now The Red Hook Houses are the […]
Quinn on Books: Luc Be a Lady Tonight
Review of “I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition,” by Lucy Sante Review by Michael Quinn A million years ago, my then-boyfriend and I were in Las Vegas for a wedding. One of the casinos had a photo booth that took pictures of couples and produced stickers that showed what your child would look like. You could […]
Music: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk
Seasons in the Sol. One of the great mysteries of the 1990s was Gastr del Sol. Formed as a trio by former Squirrel Bait guitarist David Grubbs, two of the members decamped for Tortoise after the first album. They were replaced by musical polymath Jim O’Rourke, and so began the grand experiment. Their long meandering tracks, often with electronic beds […]
Jazz in the Public Ear, by George Grella
Dear Reader: Thanks for turning to this page. If you are a jazz fan, you know why you’re here, and I’m glad to have you. But what I’m writing this month is more specifically directed at the non-jazz fan, or any reader who happened to turn to this page just to continue reading everything in this fine newspaper. For you, […]
The beauty of Edo at the Brooklyn Museum, by Roger Bell
The installation of the Brooklyn Museum’s special collection of 100 Views of Edo is on view until August 4. With the cherry blossoms clinging to the branches and the blockbuster “Giants” also on view, the museum offers an especially diverse and powerful experience. Hiroshige’s serial masterpiece launches into our Spring of 2024 from the Spring of 1856 as we watch the […]
Quinn on Books: A Taste of Brooklyn for Mother’s Day
Review of “The Margaret Palca Bakes Cookbook: 80 Cakes, Cookies, Muffins and More from a Famous Brooklyn Baker,” by Margaret Palca; photography by Michael Harlan Turkell Review by Michael Quinn Baking enthusiasts often cherish memories of the person who first taught them how to knead dough or frost a cake. For baker Margaret Palca, who retired last year after 40 […]