What piece of art changed your life? How did it affect you?
I don't recall ever having a moment of Pauline conversion as a result  of a piece of art, but I guess this, from a long way back, counts. When I was 11 or 12, I sang in the choir at my prep (junior) school, [...]

Â
The Virgin Mobile Festival will return to the area after all. This year's event will be held at Merriweather, rather than Pimlico; it's one day (August 30), instead of two; and it's free.
And at that price point, the lineup rates as superior with Weezer, The National, Public Enemy, Blink-182, Girl Talk, Franz Ferdinand, St. Vincent, [...]

Interesting show tomorrow night, hosted by Baltimore contributor Geoff Himes. There's a good article in today's Sun about it.
THE ROOTS CAFÉ PRESENTS:
The Night of 1000 Dylans
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Sonia (of Disappear Fear), June Star, Anne Watts (of Boister),
Mark Brine, Red Sammy and Mary Battiata (of Little Pink) perform the songs of Bob Dylan
in [...]

Boister's Anne Watts played an intimate show at 4th&Bergen as part of Brooklyn's annual Jaken Bacon Festival last weekend. The performance ended with a few woozy, accordion-fueled sing-a-longs that would have made Tom Waits blush. Even the Vampire Weekend groupies in attendance were impressed.
[Image: John Lewis]

What piece of art changed your life? How did it affect you?
Norman Rockwell: Artist and Illustrator by Thomas S Buechner. I became a visual artist because of this 13" x 17" x 2" opus that covers Rockwell's entire career. It has over 600 illustrations, including these incredible gatefold pages that open up to over 30" [...]

From last Friday's New York Times...
Ponytail, a spastic prog-punk quartet from Baltimore, is the auditory equivalent of downing 15 pounds of Skittles, while Thank You, also from Baltimore, feels more like eating gravel: each band makes artful, visceral noise that hits in the gut.Â
Bon appetit.
photo credit: fisherkiller

What piece of art changed your life? How did it affect you?
I saw How to Draw a Bunny, the documentary about Ray Johnson’s life. I had been familiar with Ray’s work, and I felt some sort of connection with him. Here’s a guy who could have been as popular as Andy Warhol, a guy who [...]

What piece of art changed your life? How did it affect you?
Thelonious Monk’s Greatest Hits. I found it by chance in the $1.99 bin at F.W. Woolworth’s at the Alameda Shopping Center. I didn’t know who Thelonious Monk was. All I knew was I had just enough money to get it, and the cover showed [...]

What piece of art changed your life? How did it affect you?
Hearing 'Visions Of Johanna' by Bob Dylan, at age 13, diverted my course from wanting to be a mad scientist into being a songwriter. It's hard for me to imagine what I would have been without that song - the eye that blinks atop [...]

Economic turmoil may be wreaking havoc with various arts institutions, but the Bach Concert Series is doing just fine. In fact, the group seems to be thriving, and it wraps up this season with a free concert tomorrow at Christ Lutheran Church, 701 South Charles Street.  The 75 minute concert starts at 4 pm.

Here's what [...]