rakemag

Mexico’s most prominent photographer turned 100 this year. Sadly, he died just a few weeks ago, before he could join us; the Walker was already bringing to town a Getty Museum retrospective of 100 of Alvarez Bravo’s works covering the many phases of his long career. Born into a family of painters and photographers, Alvarez … Read more

Eugene Larkin has been a fixture of local printmaking for more than 30 years, a denizen of both MCAD and the University’s art department. Larkin’s work has a reassuring quality to it—never indulging in gimmicks or trends, but hewing to old-fashioned media and traditional values in composition, tone, and texture. In terms of subject matter, … Read more

Though he still tours constantly, Bobby Z.’s attention lately has been taken up more and more by the movies. Perhaps inspired by the Oscar netted by “Things Have Changed,” Dylan’s developed a thing for releasing his new songs on soundtracks. His newest, “Waitin’ For You” was in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, so you’re … Read more

By now, you should have given Aimee Mann’s new album, Lost in Space , a few thousand listenings—not because you don’t get it, but because you do. “Humpty Dumpty” was on local playlists for a while, but Mann is the kind of artist who still makes albums you want to listen to, from beginning to … Read more

In recent years, there’s been a real expansion in our awareness of great rock ’n’ roll coming from non-English speaking countries—and we’re not just talking about all the cool ABBA tribute bands. Maybe it’s just the natural consequence of having successfully overwhelmed the rest of the world with our brand of pop music. Are we … Read more

You know, there just aren’t very many pop recording artists these days who are making what we’d call “art” in the high-brow sense of the word. And any time we start making a list (you know how we love lists around here!), the little elfish one from Iceland lands right on top, every time. Her … Read more

If anyone has earned the right to use such an inclusive title for a series of records as “American Recordings,” it’s Johnny Cash. He connects with an amazingly broad set of audiences, from collegiate hipsters to presidents Nixon and Reagan, and is equally able to impress pious churchgoers and (as Merle Haggard once observed) “to … Read more

Since the odds of you being attacked by a shark are about the same as being marooned on a desert island with Jennifer Lopez or Russell Crowe, New York Times writer John Tierney has written The Best Case Scenario Handbook, a parody of those successful worst-case handbooks. If you are going to learn how to … Read more

Many people don’t understand that “May you live in interesting times” is a curse. It is certainly one that befell Cicero, who was indeed Rome’s greatest politician, in the sense both of statesman and opportunist. Marcus Tullius Cicero was a contemporary of Julius Caesar, Pompey, Mark Antony, and Augustus, the figures that did most to … Read more

When our associate editor’s sister writes a book, we can’t help but think you should buy it. Especially if that book was the successful and superhip result of a Ph.D. dissertation on the unlikely subject of contemporary television programming and viewing. In Viewers Like You?, Laurie Ouellette finally explains why, despite knowing better, we vegged … Read more