Album Review: Pixies Live In Brixton
After an unpleasant split in 1993 fans of the Pixies were resigned to the fact that the band would never play together again. At the time, the future of the band looked dire. Singer Frank Black was making solo records, Kim Deal was having success with The Breeders and The Amps, while Dave Lovering and […]
Movie Review: YELLING FIRE IN AN EMPTY THEATRE (Slamdance Film Festival)
Justin Zuckerman’s Yelling Fire in An Empty Theater removes any pretense that moving to a new city is easy, fun, or romantic. His entertaining first feature film replaces these tropes with a gritty narrative rich in bohemian angst. Isadora Leiva gives a lively performance as Lisa, a young woman whose arrival in New York is fraught with […]
Review: FERROEQUINOLOGY (Slamdance Film Festival)
Pulling into the station as the world is reopening and people are rushing to get back to normal, Alex Nevill’s leisurely documentary Ferroequinology could not be better timed. Translated literally as “the study of iron horses,” his film, streaming as part of Slamdance 2022, follows two wandering spirits as they set out on separate railroad photography […]
Review: PARIS IS IN HARLEM (Slamdance Film Festival)
There is a lot to unpeel in Christina Kallas’ Paris Is in Harlem. Screening as part of the 2022 Slamdance Film festival, this emotionally powerful and crisply paced film uses the cultural tapestry of Harlem as the backdrop for exploring multiculturalism. Structured like a jazz composition this fine example of socially conscious cinema piles layers […]
Review: The St. Louis Symphony and John Adams Save the Best for First
Although he cut his teeth in the minimalist traditions of Steve Reich and John Cage, John Adams has established himself as an American composer whose genre-bending classical pieces and operas (Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, Doctor Atomic) have made him the country’s most prolific composer. Creating a body of work rooted in language […]
Review: BEYOND VAN GOGH at Saint Louis Galleria
Although he did not achieve great success during his lifetime, Vincent Van Gogh’s popularity became unparalleled in the decades after his death. Since his death in relative poverty in 1890, his works are now worth millions and featured in museums, private collections, and exhibitions around the world and Immortalized in popular culture through prints, posters, […]
Interview: Black Thought, Tariq Trotter of The Roots
At a time when the world is struggling to get back on its feet The Roots are here to show us the way. Their uncanny ability to tap toes and lift spirits through their music, an unpredictable mélange of soul, rock, funk, and rap, has made them one of the most innovate collectives of the […]
Review: NEW WORKS, BOLD VOICES Speaks Loudly for Opera Theatre of St. Louis
At a time when many companies are coming out of the pandemic, Opera Theatre of St. Louis is turning on the lights. While the last year has been challenging for opera, theater groups and arts organizations, it also has sparked a creative resourcefulness that has resulted in powerful new works. OTSL’s New Works, Bold Voices […]
Review: Hanging On the Telephone – La voix humaine at Opera Theatre
It’s hard to move on when you can’t stop looking back. This is especially true for Elle, the center figure in the tragic La voix humaine. Based on a play by Jean Cocteau, Francis Poulenc’s scarcely performed opera about love, life, loss and death is eerily relevant in the time of a global pandemic. Unofficially […]
Review: Opera Theatre Drives Fast On Highway 1, U.S.A.
William Grant Still may not be as well known to casual opera fans as Verdi or Rossini, but he should be. An arranger for W.C. Handy and composer of over 200 operas, ballets, and symphonies, he is considered the dean of African American composers. Every bit as prolific as Duke Ellington or Terence Blanchard, Still’s […]
