Writing
Features, columns, and critique
from an incorrigibly unique mindset.
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Art – Food – Music
Freeze Frame: The Sharply Contrasting Styles And Personalities Of William Morris and Lino Tagliapietra Come To Light In Two New Documentaries
Published in Glass Quarterly Magazine Issue #112
“What Tagliapietra does, or at least how he does it, has a true workmanlike quality to it (not surprising given his time in Muranese factories). His interactions with his team are direct and pointed, at times in the style of a no-nonsense foremen. It’s as if the team becomes and extension of Tagliapietra himself, and through fierce dedication to glassblowing he shows that an ordinary man can do extra ordinary things.
Nothing, on the other hand, seems ordinary about Morris in Creative Nature. Part unfettered wild man, part somber philosopher, Morris is in search of the unconventional as part of his quest to connect to an imagined ancient history that he idealizes through his art and life.”
The “Visual Collider” at Alma on Dobbin
Published online on The Williamsburg Greenpoint News+Arts Blog (photo credit included)
“Based on the Large Hadron Collider (the astronomically complex and expensive scientific mega-experiment that is attempting to recreate the conditions of the first moments of our Universe’s existence by smashing atomic particles together at incredibly fast speeds), “The Visual Collider” is the pair’s attempt to reconcile artistically the moment when the confluence of matter, or in this case photographic light, cease to be disparate identities and instead become one object.
…While reading a methodically detailed and somewhat quixotic artist statement, Czegledy and Neustetter revealed their mix of enthrallment and distaste for the LHC, an undertaking some critics have called quasi-religious. While it’s not completely evident what ratio those dualistic feelings end up at in the artists’ minds, the simplistic yet appealing end result is more readily accessible.”
New Exhibition Highlights Avant-Garde Societie
Published in The American University Eagle Newspaper Print Edition
“The spirit of irreverence, exploration and reckless destruction of social and artistic boundaries is certainly thriving in the exhibition, but even more alive is the idea of acceptance and brotherhood.
This is no more apparent than in the first room displaying the solo exhibitions put forth by the Societe. On one wall sits the austere, neo-impressionist landscapes of American painter Louis Michel Eilshemius, featured in the Societe’s first ever one-person show. Across the room hang the abstract explosions of color that categorize the works of Wassily Kandinsky, who was given his first solo show in America by the Societe. Thus, joined together are the traditional and the revolutionary, and for the Societe Anonyme, modern art encompassed it all.”
Tastes of Turkey – Restaurant Review: Ficcin
Published online at The Examiner.com (photo credit included)
“Another standout is the zeytinyagli semizotu (olive-oiled purslane), served cold with heaps of crunchy purslane meat soaked in olive oil and mixed with potatoes, green beans and carrots. A lemon garnish helps add a welcome layer of citrus to the subtly seasoned, delicate blend of vegetables.
It’s hard to say whether exuberant dolma rollers might be found in every thriving household in Turkey, but it wholly felt like it though after an inquisitive peep into one of the restaurant’s dimly lit dining rooms elicited a welcoming call to observe (and admire) a clinic in grape leaf technique. The tightly rolled, cigar-shaped Mediterranean favorites prepared by two charming female cooks were as long as their smiles as they broke down the steps to a perfect dolma. This might seem like a far-away place to some, but at Ficcin, everyone’s just part of the family.”
5 Spoke Creamery: The big apple does its own cheese.
Published online at The Examiner.com
“One of the standouts is their Tumbleweed, a combination of the traditional French Cantal and an aged Cheddar. Cave-aged for 9 months, the semi-hard cheese has a rich curdy aroma, that is well complemented with a crisp, buttery finish. To counter any health worries, all cheeses are aged at least 60 days to kill any potentially harmful bacteria.
Although 5-Spoke currently produces its cheeses in Pennsylvania, the Port Chester-based outpost is working on establishing a creamery in Westchester country, within minutes from the city. In the meantime, head over to some of NYC’s top restaurants, like Blue Ribbon and Gramercy Tavern, where their cheeses are featured on the menu. “This is what happens when you make great cheese,” says Barbara. It seems that everyone, including their happy cows, would agree.”
The 55th annual Summer Fancy Food Show: Brooklyn goes global, New York goes local
Published online at The Examiner.com (photo credit included)
“Last week, the country’s largest city got a little bigger. Around the waistline, that is. A crowd of over 24,000 attended the 55th annual Summer Fancy Food Show, which ended June 30th, and despite reports of fewer and smaller samples being distributed by exhibitors, indulgence was never more than a hand’s reach away.
There was haggling, resourcefulness, and countless product giveaways. The samplings ranged from household standards to the ultra-exotic, and practically all of the 140,000 products were available in a nosh-able size for the quick-moving show visitors to try. There was plenty of olive oil, truffle butter, double-smoked fish, Jamaican spiced jerk patties, jelly beans, gelato, Caribbean strong rum, and reduced Sonoma wine drizzle. And cheese. Lots and lots of cheese.”
Chuck Berry played BB King’s on New Years Eve
Published online at Brooklynvegan (photo credit included)
“The moments he detached himself from the crowd and settled into the groove of his adequate road band were the overwhelming highlights of the night. There, in those instrumental breaks, Berry demonstrated how an understated guitar god never yields to time. In his effervescent and economical playing, you could hear a little bit of everything that was to come later, all nonchalantly encapsulated in each double stop riff and uprising string bend.
With the audience’s help (shouting suggestions to the somewhat jilted star), the show kept moving; just like the never-ceasing boulder of Rock that Berry pushed off the mountain of pop music way back when he first emerged. And so what if Berry clumsily distilled a pioneering 50-year career into a little over an hour? We don’t need him to show us what he means, his message is already everywhere. Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll.”
Jurassic 5 – Band of the Lost
Published in Heads Magazine, Volume 6 Issue 8
“Jurassic 5 knows its natural history. Moonlighting as paleontologists with a microphone, the group has brought life to the long extinct hip hop land-before-time, embracing the best aspects of an era when crews of eager rhyme-spitters ruled the block with a carnivorous braggadocio and an untainted adoration for making rap music.
For the dinosaurs however, who too once reigned, it was three and out. After nearly 200 million years of earthly domination, they disappeared, an inadaptable casualty of a rapidly changing world. The members of J5 must be all too aware of this prehistoric parable, as evidenced by their third full-length album, Feedback.”
Richard Lloyd played Television & Hendrix @ the Studio
Published online at Brooklynvegan (photo credit included)
“As for Lloyd, he was just as expected; raunchy, bluesy, and industrious, with as much roadhouse as arthouse in him. His raspy, full-bodied guitar moved in direct bolts, upward and downward through his angular fret-play. Performing both songs from his solo catalogue, like the powerful Field of Fire, and those hotly requested jams from his old band, Lloyd played as enigmatically as he might have done at Hilly’s place so many years back. Whereas Tom Verlaine might be withdrawn and overly cathartic during his Television interpretations, Lloyd added a begrudging gregariousness to his inviting performances of such classic numbers as Friction and See No Evil.”