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We’re not sure why PBS has let Mystery! go to hell, and if their idea of customer service is another Hetty Wainthrop sequel, we’d rather have another hole in our head. Time was, they ran the good stuff, like Morse—a virtual institution on the other side of the Atlantic. Granted, the series has been uneven … Read more

These days, girls kick ass all the time. Buffy, Michelle Yeoh, the Power Puffs—it’s not even remarkable anymore. Which makes it hard to believe that’s it’s been a mere 12 years since Thelma & Louise, Ridley Scott’s feminist buddy movie. But in those ancient days of 1991, the damsel in distress wasn’t expected to stand … Read more

It’s unfortunate that sonic groundbreakers like the Cocteau Twins sometimes sound so unremarkable in retrospect—in part because they spawned dozens of soundalikes, some of whom went on to greater glory and radioplay, such as Fascination Street-era Cure. We have fond memories of the Twins’ earliest records from the 80s, like Garlands. These were brooding, proto-gothic … Read more

When Johnny Marr unplugged his guitar and walked out of the Smiths in 1987, his time as the king of jangly guitar was effectively over, as much by his own choice as anything else. Beyond a lackluster teaming with New Order’s Bernard Sumner in Electronic, Marr was inconspicuous through the 1990s, interspersing sideman stints with … Read more

There’s just no way around it, so we’ll take it head-on: Jane Monheit is similar to Diana Krall—but, we hasten to add, in all the right ways. She’s a brilliant retro-jazz interpreter, an incredible vocal stylist, and a very young woman with a very bright future. At the tender age of 26, she’s worked wonders … Read more

Neil Finn has been making the musical progression from reckless youth (he joined his brother’s band, Split Enz, at age 18) to pop craftsman (Crowded House) to, on his last couple of solo discs, melancholy crooner. Finn’s rich, textured vocals and whimsical and songwriting make him one of the most underrated performers of the last … Read more

After three solid albums diffidently supported by three labels, English pop-folkster David Gray got the break he deserved when frat-friendly superstar Dave Matthews chose White Ladder as the first release on Matthews’ own label. True to its title, Ladder kept climbing, reaching multiple platinum on the strengths of its effervescent electronic beats and Gray’s sophisticated, … Read more

Originally a recording produced in 1999, Caravan is one of the Kronos Quartet’s recent world explorations, this time through the imagery of the Gypsy Diaspora. Pannonia, a name once given to the stretch of eastern Europe where the Mediterranean and European worlds cross paths with the Orient, is the setting and inspiration for an evening … Read more

Though Disney might sue us for using their copyrighted phrase, it’s a small world, after all. And getting smaller. This three-month, cross-disciplinary exhibit directs your attention to the growing effect of globalization on art, bringing together 27 visual, new media, film, and performance artists from China, Brazil, South Africa, India and that foreign land called … Read more

This year’s Northern Clay exhibit and forum with an acknowledged master of ceramic art is a twofer, as both the 2002 and 2003 invitees will be here simultaneously, dropping science and throwing pots like there’s no tomorrow. Now in her 80s, Gütte Eriksen has earned her place as one of Denmark’s most important potters, combining … Read more