Book / Magazine News

The Evolution of Art

Source: All About Jazz
February 21, 2009

We may be genetically predisposed to appreciate listening to Sinatra or staring at a Seurat. Art suffuses our lives. Whether it's bluegrass, heavy metal, Frank Sinatra or Mozart, music moves us all.

On a trip to a foreign city, visiting an art museum is a mandatory exercise. Imaginative writing affects many of us, though—alas—with decreasing frequency.

Why should art be important? Being seen as an “art lover" may increase our status, but otherwise art is not useful. Yet ...

Continue Reading

Is Genius Born or Can It Be Learned?

Source: All About Jazz
February 21, 2009

Is it possible to cultivate genius? Could we somehow structure our educational and social life to produce more Einsteins and Mozarts — or, more urgently these days, another Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes?

How to produce genius is a very old question, one that has occupied philosophers since antiquity. In the modern era, Immanuel Kant and Darwin's cousin Francis Galton wrote extensively about how genius occurs. Last year, pop-sociologist Malcolm Gladwell addressed the subject in his book Outliers: The ...

Continue Reading

Bad Times for Bunny: Playboy for Sale

Source: All About Jazz
February 20, 2009

For sale (maybe): Playboy The bottom line for Playboy Enterprises: Business is bad.

Business is so bad that the company that gave us the magazine, the interviews, Hugh Hefner, Playboy bunnies past and present (including Gloria Steinem) and, of course, the Playmate of the Month, would consider -- gasp! -- selling itself.

Calm down, calm down. Interim CEO Jerome Kern only said the company would be “willing to listen" to a sale offer. That doesn't mean it's going ...

Continue Reading

Drum! Magazine Invites Neil Peart Fans to Sit in for June Issue

Source: JCM Media
February 16, 2009

San Jose, CA -- Enter Music Publishing, publishers of hip percussion mags worldwide, will feature Neil Peart on the cover of DRUM! Magazine in June. However, instead of having one of its staff writers interview Neil, the company is inviting Neil Peart fans to conduct the interviews via email. In fact, the company has set up a special email address, [email protected] so the Neil Peart population can have their say. (The readers can also go online or access a question ...

Continue Reading

New York's Milk Studios Picks Hollywood Backdrop

Source: Michael Ricci
February 7, 2009

Milk Studios Gone Hollywood The firm, which is expanding from New York, will spend millions to upgrade a 46,000-square-foot, half-century-old industrial building on Cahuenga Boulevard.

Publishers and advertisers can't get enough of Hollywood, the photography studio says. Some of its space may rent for $10,000 a day. One of New York's best-known photo studios said Friday it will open a large branch in Hollywood to take advantage of America's changing tastes in magazine covers and advertising campaigns.

Professional ...

Continue Reading

Dr. Nick Catalano's "New York Nights" - Covers Jazz and Comedy in New York

Source: All About Jazz
February 2, 2009

New York Nights, by Nicholas Catalano, PhD, professor of literature and music, shares the personal experiences, gossipy anecdotes, and critical commentary of a television and concert producer who was once firmly entrenched in the exciting and unpredictable comedy and jazz scene in a city that never sleeps. Producer Nick Catalano introduced early audiences to the comedy of Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Maher, Richard Lewis, Robert Klein, Larry David, Sam Kinison, Ray Romano, and many others. In this compelling collection of stories, ...

Continue Reading

AllAboutJazz-New York February 2009 Issue Now Available!

Source: All About Jazz
January 31, 2009

We hate to be the ones to temper all the post-election enthusiasm for potentially more arts support, but it seems like the financial crisis facing the world has trickled (or deluged) down into jazz. Recent reports indicate that Festival Network, which took over George Wein’s Festival Productions company last year, has laid off most its staff, making it uncertain if New York (or any other city for that matter) has seen its last JVC Jazz Festival. We will report more ...

Continue Reading

Snark the Web and Woes of Journalism

Source: Michael Ricci
January 28, 2009

In his new book, Snark, David Denby dons a lab coat and rubber gloves and plays taxonomist with the kind of odious and repellent writing the Web has come to produce in such volume.

Denby, who is a film critic for the New Yorker, makes a point that many online readers might readily agree with: Theres a lot of writing out there thats pointlessly mean, cheap, empty and thoughtless and its getting old.

But the book goes further, suggesting that ...

Continue Reading