The Master at 100: Understanding Max Roach
Sean MurphyMax Roach, b. Jan 10, 1924 While there is much to admire and recommend in the excellent documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, especially for young creatives or academics who want to better understand--and…
2023: A Creative Recap
Kicking off '23 in Todos Santos From 1455’s Movable Type, Issue 15 (peruse the complete archives, here): The State of the Art, right now, is a sum total of every individual…
2023: A Final Farewell to Some Irreplaceable Icons
Wow, it's sad to look back and see the sheer number of all-times greats we watched depart our planet this year. Of course, these losses are invariably mitigated by the…
Original Poem: Albert Ayler’s Vision
If it’s true a picture is worth a thousand words, this particular image seems able to conjure up entire books, libraries filled with stories of pain and pathos, apathy and…
William Dowd, RIP–and some thoughts about the harpsichord (Revisited)
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA (From Dec 6, 2008.) A life well spent? That’s the goal, isn’t it? For any of us. Not necessarily to be enshrined in a newspaper’s obituary (although few people…
Every Day is Veterans Day
I. Personal Remember when Born in the U.S.A. was ubiquitous? The album and the song. Springsteen was already a big deal, but he wasn't ubiquitous. (A lot more on how Bruce went…
The Who’s Quadrophenia at 50
Most popular Who album? No. Most important Who album? No. Most influential Who album? No. Best Who album? Definitely. More: Best album of the ‘70s? Probably. More? Best rock album, ever?…
This Day in History: “Porgy and Bess,” the first great American opera, premieres on Broadway
From History.com On October 10, 1935, George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess premieres on Broadway. Porgy and Bess began its journey to the Broadway stage in 1926, when George Gershwin wrote a letter…
Robbie Robertson: The Man in the Band
When it comes to The Band, I've always been inflexible in my opinion that their best work was entirely a team effort, the sum greater than the considerable brilliance of…
Be at Peace, Sweet Sinéad
She was brave. She was beautiful. She was brilliant. We all found our lives enriched thanks to her gift and, as is so often the case with our most fragile…