Music
The Mysteries of... Rheinallt H. Rowlands: Bukowski (ankstmusic)
By David ShirleyOn the evening of May 17, 1980, a middle-aged Welsh stonecutter named Rheinallt H. Rowlands sat despondently at his wooden kitchen table, drinking ale and eating a bowl of broth. The quarry where he had worked for the previous thirteen years had recently closed, and with no prospects for the future, Rowlands was slowly sinking into despair.
Lost Art: Watching David Bowie Videos at MoMA
By Paula CrossfieldIn 1981, MTV was born and the music video became a measured, constructed, and elevated art form, a thing I watched hungrily from my remove in the Midwest. But for more than a decade before that, David Bowie and the directors he worked with were experimenting with the medium, taking theatrics, music, and new (at the time) technology and bringing them together in a novel way.
Masked Avenger Claims Yodeling Cured His Asthma
By Bart PlantengaMasked avengers are a strange, lonely breed: Batman, the Lone Ranger, Zorro, Wonder Woman. They operate as one-person operations, alienated from society and paperwork, at once heroic and existential.
The Greatest Compilation Ever
By Dave MandlI can’t remember the last time I was asked about my Desert Island Discs, but for nearly twenty years my robotic response was the same: the two-LP Recommended Records Sampler (1982). There may have been more important compilations released in my lifetime, but I can’t think of one at the moment.
Revenge of the Anti–Mega-Mix
By Tony CoulterTwo pseudonymous British gentlemen lurk behind the “band” name Modern Shit. The first has used various vaguely absurd monikers over the years, including Amos, L. Voag, and Xentos “Fray” Bentos; the other has stuck with one improbable handle: Lepke Buchwater (no doubt meant to echo the name of legendary U.S. crime kingpin Lepke Buchalter).
Keeping It Real—Or at Least Virtual
By Charles PoladianWhile record stores provide a kind of human contact and communication that doesn’t exist online, the thriving festival and concert scenes provide a real community that can never be replaced digitally.
The Whole World’s Listening
By Ellen PearlmanFirst established after 9/11, when rampant xenophobia in the U.S. made visas for foreign musicians almost impossible to obtain, globalFEST this year showcased a smorgasbord of international music, with both relative unknowns and the kinds of world-class stars who fill gigantic stadiums at home.
Opera Reconsidered (After Sixty Years)
By Richard KostelanetzOpera is a tough art for those who resist it, as I have done for most of my adult life.
