I first saw Laurie Anderson and Barbara Kruger’s work in concert in the 1980s, as a young person in New Zealand. Anderson had her big hit O Superman. I had never heard of Barbara Kruger. But I was in love. Powerful women’s voices meant everything to me, in the cynical violence of apartheid, Reagan, nuclear […]
Visual Arts
Please, thanks
Over the holidays musician friends on Facebook played with ChatGPT’s Lego AI, generating hilarious representation of Western classical composers. My favorite is this one of Paul Hindemith, with enraged, screamy performers burning the candle presumably at both ends, and a French horn looking like a desk fan. You can feel this image multiple ways. Hindemith as […]
In A World
We’ve been enjoying (not) the apocalyptic orange glow of Canadian forest fires in NYC this week. Question: Is it a good thing that we are experts at smoke, having gone through this ritual in Oregon every year? Performances all over the city continue to be cancelled/postponed (including one of mine). And the other night Ken […]