What piece of art changed your life? How did it affect you?

Calder's Circus is life-changing. The first time I saw the movie I was left speechless. So many elements combined to produce a liberating message. Alexander Calder was so inventive and productive but also playful. Here was a man in the movie crawling around on the floor and pretending to be a circus ringmaster. He brought motion and life to small circus figures that he had twisted from wire and constructed from scraps of wood, cork, tin and fabric. For me it was an art expander. Art had been paintings and sketches, but suddenly it was embracing a child-like innocence, and acceptance. Everything was possible. Bits of wire came to life. A circus could fit into a few suitcases. An adult could crawl on the floor. Art could pour straight from my heart and art could be whatever I created. It could be fun. It could be useful or pointless. It could be huge or tiny. With that movie the walls and...

A few months back, I posted an item about folk artist Danny Doughty's lively paintings (at Joie de Vivre in Cambridge) and noted that I was curious what he'd do next. I stopped in recently and found that Doughty is collaborating with artists Joyce Fritz Ritz and Bob Ritz to create three-dimensional sculptures of his work. The results are great fun.

It's as if Doughty's paintings have, to some extent, come to life, because visitors can circle around the figures for multiple perspectives. "For me, it's like stepping through the frame into the painting," says Doughty. "It allows me to see the work in a new way, and that's exciting."

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Here are some additional thoughts on Robert Palmer's Pressure Drop sessions at Blue Seas Recording Studios. You can check out the "Blue Seas Saga" in our current issue.

PHILL BROWN, ENGINEER ON  PRESSURE DROP ALBUM
 
On the studio [Hunt Valley]: "The 'live' room was not large but a great acoustic space and big enough for our lineup of drums, bass, percussion, two
guitars, various keyboards and a lead vocal. There were good mics and the desk was fantastic - a truly beautiful sound."
 
On the Pressure Drop sessions, "From Robert and my point of view we were all having a ball. A brilliant 'one-off' American band [Little Feat], some cool songs, Robert
singing live and singing his heart out. A wonderful studio, great food, humor, some good grass...What's not having a good time?"
 

STEVE SMITH, PRODUCER OF PRESSURE DROP
 
"Robert and I had a great time [in Baltimore] and loved it. At our hotel we met the guy that owned Head Sportswear who was...

Dan Fesperman, an ex-foreign correspondent for The Sun, sharpens his storytelling acumen to cut through various global issues in his latest thriller, Layover in Dubai. As usual, it's set in some exotic, chaotic locale, and Dubai proves to be an ideal spot for excess, intrigue, and nefarious corporate shenanigans. Sam Keller, a big pharma auditor, accompanies a co-worker on a business trip and stumbles unwittingly into a prostitution ring run by the Russian mob. The coworker turns up dead, and, in short order, Keller becomes a wanted man, his support network crumbles, and he's set adrift in a boomtown growing faster than a time-lapse photograph. He lands in the household of a traditional family that includes (of course!) a beautiful young woman chafing at the constraints of Islamic conservatism and her strict father, a local policeman. Fesperman builds tension and contrast with various subplots that buttress the overall story, and he deftly...