Once a Eurovision cynic, I walked out of ABBA Voyage stunned, converted, and grateful for the wake-up call. About 49 years ago, in Tokyo, I first heard ABBA. I wasn’t impressed. Eurovision pop felt too sugary for my taste — bubble‑gum melodies piped into elevators or blasted in arenas where Read more
There was an instant camaraderie — that rare, unspoken recognition between two people who’ve lived on the same frequency of backstage chaos, late-night interviews, and too many deadline coffees. I admired the view from Britannia House, where Rocks Back Pages quietly operates above the hum of West London. “Yeah,” said founder Barney Hoskyns, Read more
I just returned from nine glorious days in London, a city I have always meant to live in, but didn’t. For whatever reason, life took me elsewhere on the Continent and in Asia. So I revisited in October, the so-called worst month (I am a veteran of dreary, dank, rainy Read more
New York: Where Service Became a Craft Ask Mark what shaped him most and he’ll take you back to New York City—where hospitality is a contact sport and excellence a daily discipline. He grew up in Glendale, Queens, a subway ride from the old-school dining rooms that taught him how Read more
Robert Rodriguez, the legendary Austin filmmaker, opened his Troublemaker Studios for ACG’s 35th Season. They filmed Alita: Battle Angel there. At the open-air set, I felt as if I was roaming the streets and alleyways of a fading, long-forgotten town in Spain. We savored complimentary sangria and paella from Flavor Read more
Tucked just off Research Boulevard, north of Great Hills Trail, rests a cultural gem: Austin’s only Steinway Piano Gallery. A temple to the legendary hand-crafted instrument, Steinway is to the piano what Rolls Royce is to the automobile—uncompromising, timeless, and revered. The flagship in New York, around the corner from Read more
What do you get when you mix one of the most original living conductors (our own Farkhad Khudyev, Associate of Music in Orchestral Studies & Music Director of the UT Symphony Orchestra) with a world-renowned opera singer, Rebecca Davis? Answer: you get what only Khudyev brings to this town: dynamic Read more
ATX Chamber and Jazz Music keeps blurring the line between concert and experience, pairing world-class artists with crafted culinary and cocktail moments. A Toast to Texas was another example of lyrical strings and piano from a powerhouse roster of musicians wafted through Assembly Hall as virtuoso violinists — Alexander Sitkovetsky, Geoffrey Herd Read more
I had not heard about Jeff Goldblum’s involvement with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra until recently, and the discovery came as a surprise. After all, I used to spend Monday nights at Michael’s Pub in Manhattan listening to Woody Allen play his clarinet, so I thought I had a handle on Read more
Austin music education nonprofit Beat 4 Beat celebrated a decade of empowering youth through the transformative power of music at its 10-Year Anniversary Party this past weekend at Meanwhile Brewing. The free event featured live performances by local Austin artists Nakia, Deer Fellow, and DJ Marc Fort (KUTX 98.9, KOOP Read more
