Opinion
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Garbage Time
Trash Talk in the Berkshires
By: - Jun 10th, 2013Each season Gerald Elias returns to the Berkshires from Utah to play violin with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He reports with dismay, however, the daunting task of cleaning up all the trash dumped on his property by passing cars. Can you believe it? This year four 33-gallon heavy-duty lawn and garden bags. It gives new dimension to the checkout question at the super market, paper or plastic?
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Labor of Love
A Primer on Orchestral Musician/ Management Relations
By: - Jun 10th, 2013It was quite an eye-opener when I saw my first organizational chart of the BSO. Scratching my head, I asked, “Hey, where are the musicians on this chart?†as for the life of me I couldn’t find us...Today, musicians are trying desperately to fend off 40 percent salary cuts, plus concomitant reductions in orchestra size, length of season, pension and health care.
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Miserable Memorial Day Weekend
Snow Capped Mt. Greylock
By: - May 27th, 2013The wind howled and it rained cats and dogs during a cold, blustery Memorial Day Weekend. The annual launch of the summer season was a total wipeout. We woke up to a record setting view of snow capping Mt. Greylock which closed the road to the summit. We hunkered down, turned on the heat, and sipped herbal tea. Resorts and high end hotels opening up for the season took a beating. It gave a new spin to the term staycation.
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Matuschka Reacts to Angelina Jolie
Renowned Breast Cancer Survivor Discusses Options
By: - May 19th, 2013Because her mother and grandmother succumbed to breast cancer the artist/ activist, Matuschka, got tested often. At precisely the age of Angelina Jolie she underwent a radical mastectomy to remove a tumor. Her self portrait on the cover of the New York Times Magazine proved to be iconic. Which is why this week Inside Edition woke her up to comment on the breaking news about Jolie. That prompted her to write this compelling article.
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MASS MoCA Launches 14th Season
Wide Range of Programming Begins Memorial Day
By: - May 02nd, 2013MASS MoCA's summer will include music from seasoned performers like Bettye LaVette and rising stars like Gabriel Kahane with Rob Moose, the annual Bang on a Can Festival of Contemporary Music, Wilco's Solid Sound Festival, and "circus punk marching band" Mucca Pazza.
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The New York City Opera Returns to City Center
Rossini and Offenbach Fresh and Full of Life
By: - Apr 24th, 2013This spring the New York City Opera has returned to its roots at City Center in New York. Rossini’s Moses in Egypt was first up, and beautifully done. One of the grand themes of human history, the Exodus, was presented with appropriate grandeur.
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Post Marathon Healing Through the Arts
Boston University College of Fine Arts
By: - Apr 23rd, 2013Among those killed in the Boston Marathon bombings was LU Lingzi (GRS ’14), a Boston University graduate student. Though pursuing a statistics degree, LU also studied piano at CFA, because music brought her joy. In response to the tragic violence students at Boston University College of Fine Arts(CFA) are joining together to help the injured, but also to help one another in this emotionally traumatic time.
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Indianapolis Critic Melissa Hall
Covering Theatre in the Heartland
By: - Apr 23rd, 2013During the American Theatre Critic Association's meeting in Indianapolis we met the critic Melissa Hall. She has agreed to allow us to repost reviews from her lively blog Stage Write. We engaged her in a dialogue about the challenges and incentives of covering theatre in middle America.
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MFA's Malcolm Rogers on the Marathon Tragedy
Museum of Fine Arts Director Addresses Members
By: - Apr 22nd, 2013Museum of Fine Arts director, Malcolm Rogers, sent a special message to the membership. He addresses the aftermath of the tragic events during the annual Boston Marathon staged on Patriot"s Day.
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State Rep Gail Cariddi Meets with Arts Community
April 13 in Adams
By: - Apr 07th, 2013Members of the Berkshire arts community will meet with State Rep Gail Cariddi to urge her to encourage the Massachusetts House and Senate to increase the state’s allocation to the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) by $3 million to a total of $12.5 million. The event will occur on April 13th 6 PM at 47 Park St. (The Old Firehouse) in Adams MA.
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Why ATCA Indianapolis
Best of the Midwest with Boys and Girls on the Bus
By: - Apr 01st, 2013We return from an intensive visit of the American Theatre Critics Association in Indianapolis with more questions than answers. Mostly about the state of the arts in America's heartland. A busman's holiday evokes taking the pulse.
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Peter Gelb Elevated to Artistic Director of the Met
Gelb Makes Announcment in NY TImes
By: - Mar 31st, 2013Peter Gelb, recently elevated to artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera, has orchestrated an 9000-word piece in the magazine section of the New York Times defending against wide spread criticism of his regime. With no formal education or qualifications to make aesthetic decisions Gelb told the Times that music is in his genes.
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An Indy Insider's View of ATCA Visit
Celebrating the Arts in Indianapolis
By: - Mar 28th, 2013During the American Theatre Critics Association meeting in Indianapolis we met with Melissa Hall who posts to the blog StageWrite Indy. With this take on a visit from out of towners we welcome her as a contributor to Berkshire Fine Arts. We will look forward to her coverage.
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Barrington Stage to Present Clybourne Park
Rehashing Regional Theatre
By: - Mar 27th, 2013Claybourne Park, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and 2012 Tony Award for Best Play is coming soon to a theatre near you. Here in the Berkshires from September 26 through October 13 at Barrington Stage in co production with Vermont's Dorset Theatre Festival where it will run from August 15-31. It begs questions about regional theatre companies focused on a short list of recycled Broadway and Off Broadway plays.
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Fast Eddy Reports from Indianapolis
On the Road with Our Peripatetic Critic
By: - Mar 19th, 2013Having returned from Paris, in a blur, our correspondent Edward Rubin is reporting from Indianapolis this week. This was a typically witty, gonzo, e mail note he dashed off to friends and colleagues. It captures the wit and flavor of life on the road. And why he is known as Fast Eddy to his pals.
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Boston Phoenix Incinerates
Venerable Alternative Weekly to Cease Publication
By: - Mar 15th, 2013It started in 1966 as Boston After Dark a weekly entertainment guide launched by Jim Lewis then a student at the Harvard Business School. Stephen Mindich was its theatre critic and later bought in as partner. After Mindich bought out Lewis he later acquired the Cambridge Phoenix. The renamed Boston Phoenix was the flagship of an alternative media empire that has now crashed and burned. It leaves a remarkable legacy of journalism and criticism.
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Longterm Impact of Monsanto's Roundup Seeds
Supreme Court Screws American Farmers
By: - Mar 14th, 2013Our science correspondent and organic farmer Jimmy Midnight explores in detail why our food ain't what it used to be. He states that. As a farmer myself, I would not use glyphosate, or plant any (Monsanto) Roundup Ready seeds, because I presume they’re not safe to use, eat, or feed. If it’s perfectly safe to eat or feed, why does it suddenly become dangerous in the hands of the world’s small-time agricultural operators? On May 13 The Supreme Court upheld the copyright of Monsanto against a farmer planting cheap, second generation seed purchased from a grain elevator.
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Arts and Culture Demonized
Government Support for Arts Declining
By: - Mar 12th, 2013This is the second in a series of articles on the crisis in the arts by Larry Murray. They are reposted with permission of Berkshire On Stage. He reports that appropriations to state arts agencies grew by 110 percent between 1992 and 2001, reaching an all-time high of $450.6 million in 2001 before decreasing to $354 million in 2008. Since 2008, state appropriations have decreased by 27 percent, close to 1996 spending levels.
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The Arts and The Economy, Interconnected Gears
A Series Exploring Arts and Fiscal Challenges
By: - Mar 10th, 2013With this richly detailed and insightful series on the crisis of the arts we welcome back to Berkshire Fine Arts, Larry Murray, a valued colleague and founding contributor of Berkshire Fine Arts. For the past few years he has been publisher/ editor of Berkshire on Stage and more recently joined Broadway World as its Berkshire Correspondent. He has spent decades involved in and thinking about arts management as marketing and PR manager, administrator, and, for the past several years, critic and reporter.
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A Quick Note From Fast Eddy
Exhibitionism in Paris
By: - Mar 06th, 2013Our correspondent Edward Rubin, known to his friends as Fast Eddy, is currently eating and drinking his way through Paris. He often enjoys outrageously expensive meals at Michelin star restaurants. While on the run he dashed off notes to friends including impressions of less trafficked museums. And the Pompidou.
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Aspects of Chimeric Artificial Plasmids
Consequences of Circular DNA Molecules
By: - Mar 02nd, 2013I’m a longtime student of a group of subjects that could collectively be called, “Molecular Biology." For the last few, maybe several months, I’ve been up on the internet, doing readings in this area, hoping that my “fresh eyes,†which are also those of a rock’n’roller and a visual artist, might see something that regular scholars are missing.
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The Future of North Adams?
A Letter to Mayor Dick Alcombright
By: - Feb 17th, 2013Now in his second term as Mayor of North Adams Massachusetts there was hope and expectation of change when he defeated the long term Mayor John Barrett III. Other than a dramatic rise in property taxes there is scant evidence of progress. Many attribute that to catching up with decades of neglect, collapsed infractucture, decline in schools and social services. An architect, gallerist and pragmatic visionary Ralph Brill in an open letter to Alcombright offers a blue print for change and the creation of jobs for the depressed city.
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Mean Streets: Blizzard of 2013
The Big Dig Out
By: - Feb 09th, 2013In Boston's blue collar neighborhoods digging out parking spots evokes survival of the fittest and the law of the jungle. Shovel out a spot and you own it. Move and mark your space with a lawn chair. Leave and hope that its not occupied when you come back. If not all hell breaks loose.
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Super Bowl Was Just That
A Guy Thing
By: - Feb 04th, 2013A bunch of guys from the loft, all artists, hunkered down in front of Opie's huge, Hi Def, smart TV to scoff snacks and enjoy the super bowl. It was a guy thing; a night of raging testosterone for the annual ritual. Lots of fun and actually a heck of a game.
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Many Happy Returns
Regifting the Holidays
By: - Dec 28th, 2012Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, marks a feeding frenzy and the launch of Holiday gift shopping. Arguably there is an equally notable Blue Monday in which millions flock to malls returning gifts for cash and store credit. We have friends who have perfected returning merchandise into an art form and philosophy.
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