Culturewatch
Encountering Steiner
I first met literary critic and philosopher George Steiner, who died February 3, in early 1964.
Intercommunalism (A New Decade of Ghosts)
my delusion is soaking through/makes my whole world wet with the idea of you
Eclectic Boogaloo & Participation Theory Now!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrrJvYLH_kc
What follows is a poem—inspired in part by the grainy yet graceful video above—and a short program for the Academy dashed off by Charles Keil.
Old Ideas and New Blood (Alvin Ailey, 2020)
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, January 2, City Center: “Ode,” “Fandango”, “Mass,” “Revelations”
Liner Notes
A folklore professor from the Ivy League was scowling when he came up to me at the 1969 meeting of the American Folklore Society. He stabbed a finger in my direction and, without a hello, said, “There’s one thing I can never forgive you for.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You wrote the liner notes for Phil Ochs’ album.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“That’s not authentic folk music,” he said.
“Who cares?” I said.
Sad Memes and the Limits of Radical Brokenness
r/2meirl4meirl is a “subreddit”[1] devoted to sad memes. People commiserate there in short blasts of image and text on how lonely and shitty life as a Millennial is.
Fuck Jeffrey Epstein (Varieties of Necro Leftism)
I was living in a devil town/I didn’t know it was a devil town
Sympathy for BeYelzebub
The best line from Jesus is King, Kanye’s new gospel album, comes halfway though its brief 28 minutes. “I thought the book of Job was a job.” It’s classic Ye—self-deprecating, stupid-corny (in a fun way), and a little sad. It’s honest about the cause of his recent hard times: himself. Five years ago he was claiming celebrities are the new slaves. I think processing that in good faith made us all a little stupider. His candor now is refreshing.
