What a difference a year makes: Conductor Ramón Tebar has improved the quality of the Palm Beach Symphony by sheer force of will and good leadership. This happy band has jumped 10 notches on the Richter scale of music-making; it is unrecognizable from the orchestra we heard last year. At the opening concert of the season Wednesday night at the Society of the Four Arts, the … [Read more...]
The View From Home 33: New releases and notable screenings, Dec. 6 to 31
Bravo, once again, to maverick distributor Olive Films for releasing yet another brave, cinephilic film for a microscopic but dedicated audience. For many of my movie-obsessed brethren, the release this month of Jean-Luc Godard’s Histoire(s) du Cinema ($44.99) is the most exciting home-video news of the calendar year, a monumental achievement in experimental self-reflection … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 2-6
Art: This weekend, the Society of the Four Arts opens its first art exhibits of the season, both paying tribute to the illustration genre. Some of the most iconic American artists, such as Norman Rockwell, were primarily illustrators for some of the big-circulation magazines of the early to mid-20th century, and two of the others, J.C. Leyendecker and Howard Chandler Christy, … [Read more...]
Rockers come and go, but The Dillengers stay on rootsy road
If history dictates one fact of musical life, it's that most bands are too big not to fail. That's because they're formed through relationships between three or more people, which makes them even more complex than romances. Most will therefore crumble within a year, and even successful ones are lucky to last for five. But 20 years? It's a mark only a few South Florida groups … [Read more...]
Dying author faced the end by insisting on happiness
As medical director of Dean Ornish’s Preventive Medicine Research Institute in California, Lee Lipsenthal regularly helped patients overcome their fear of pain and death. But just short of his 52nd birthday in 2009, Lipsenthal was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and told he had at most only a few years to live. Enjoy Every Sandwich is the author’s upbeat account of how he … [Read more...]
‘Flags’ delivers provocative, ambiguous message
A month ago I sat to write the art preview for the upcoming season and included a then-future exhibit at the Norton Museum that promised to make us think. But I did not know how just yet. Dave Cole: Flags of the World has been running since early November and delivered on its promise. A commanding 15-by-30 foot American flag hangs in the middle of the white room. This is the … [Read more...]
Director Kennedy brings new energy to Master Chorale
Leaving a place where your colleagues in academia went boogie-boarding in the Pacific Ocean every Friday morning can’t be an easy thing to do. And so it was for Karen Kennedy, who left her job at the University of Hawaii-Manoa and directorship of the Honolulu Symphony Chorus to come back to the mainland, first to Baltimore, and then to Miami. “It was very hard for me to … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: From ‘Red’ to the ghoulish black of ‘Addams Family’
“What do you see?” demands intense abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko, referring to the massive red canvas with two darker red vertical lines that dominates the stage. He is speaking to his new assistant, a would-be artist named simply Ken, hired to do all manner of grunt work, freeing up Rothko to ruminate, cogitate, bellow and, only occasionally, paint. And he is … [Read more...]
The View From Home 32: New releases and notable screenings, Nov. 8-30
American director Alex Cox remains most famous for the first two films he ever made: 1984’s Repo Man and 1987’s Sid & Nancy. He’s continued to be active for more than two decades since, though you wouldn’t know it from the lack of distribution his films have received – Cox seems content with making cult movies for microscopic audiences. A crueler critic might suggest that he … [Read more...]
Almodovar sees the sickness beneath the skin
In order to appreciate the latest triumph by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, The Skin I Live In (La Piel que Habito), two things are necessary: eyes and heart. No need for thick skin, unless you are sensitive to surrealism, non-linear plots, sharp razors and the color red -- as in blood. The eyes will follow a brilliant plastic surgeon/scientist (Antonio Banderas) carefully … [Read more...]