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July 20, 2006

catching up

Some links and comments:

- He's Money.  I suppose part of the job is having no shame, but lord, that's awful.

- One piece of news I've been remiss in noting: via Hubarts, WBUR is phasing out art criticism and its online arts site, with head critic Bill Marx leaving the station.  Marx has his farewell, with thoughts on the importance of criticism and its current state, online now.  As a Rhode Islander, I've not felt very warm toward WBUR for a while, even if I enjoyed some of its programming; this doesn't make me feel any better.  I'm all for art news, but to think it can or should take the place of a commitment to art criticism seems awfully shortsighted--or the product of a vision that isn't focused on what's good for art, or the audience.

- Looking at RISD's uncoming exhibits lately, I see they've got one sure to appeal to the younger, hometown crowd: a show devoted to the Providence "underground" of the past decade.  Me, I wish they had gone back a little further, maybe five to ten years; then they'd hit the time frame when more people I knew might have been involved.  As it is, it seems like it's going to be a celebration of  Fort Thunder and its progeny.  I remember hearing about this stuff in '96 or '97, but it was never my scene.  I'm not sure why anyone was so surprised by it, though; for a number of reasons--RISD, cheap living (once upon a time), an insular mindset, a romantic, decaying urban landscape containing both great beauty and squalor, Providence has (almost) always had a lively underground.  I'm not in touch with anything like that so much anymore, but I can't help feel it was better back before the time period of this exhibit, which coincides with the gentrification of large parts of town.

Comments

and don't forget incredible Portuguese food!

You gotta go to East Providence for that. Or even better, Fall River.

true, Sagres....

Sagres....

Or the TA. And a number of other places. There's a fun little market, I forget the name, that sells great chourico and cheap Portuguese wines. A little rough, but good. Man, I need to have some carne de porco à alentejana soon. And some good kale soup.

TA is best

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