Thursday , March 28 2024

Jon Sobel

Jon Sobel is Publisher and Executive Editor of Blogcritics as well as lead editor of the Culture & Society section. As a writer he contributes most often to Music, where he covers classical music (old and new) and other genres, and Culture, where he reviews NYC theater. Through Oren Hope Marketing and Copywriting at http://www.orenhope.com/ you can hire him to write or edit whatever marketing or journalistic materials your heart desires. Jon also writes the blog Park Odyssey at http://parkodyssey.blogspot.com/ where he is on a mission to visit every park in New York City. He has also been a part-time working musician, including as lead singer, songwriter, and bass player for Whisperado.

Music CD/DVD Review: Joe Bonamassa – ‘Live at the Greek Theatre’

Bonamassa and his band fire on all cylinders on this live 2-CD or 2-DVD set. Recorded, amazingly, at a single sold-out Los Angeles concert in 2015, the selections pay tribute to the three "Kings" of the blues: Freddie King, Albert King, and Bonamassa's mentor B.B. King.

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Theater Review (NYC): ‘Hedda Gabler’ by Henrik Ibsen

The sharp poignancy of Ibsen's classic comes through strongly in a flawed but sincere new production by the young company The Instigators. The tragic story of an unhappy young wife whose hopes of a glorious future of social ascendancy are being dashed before her eyes rings as true today as it did when Ibsen wrote it 125 years ago.

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Music Review: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – ‘Circlin’ Back: Celebrating 50 Years’

Back when the term "Americana" just meant pioneer-era antiques, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was bringing American folk music into the pop-music mainstream. To celebrate half a century of making music, the group is releasing a live album of 18 favorite tunes recorded at Nashville's famous Ryman Auditorium, many featuring guest artists from the pantheon of folk, Americana, and country music.

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Exclusive Interview: Tulis McCall on Her One-Person Show ‘Are You Serious? A Woman of a Certain Age Inquires’

'Age is something that we avoid talking about in our Western society. We either ridicule it or try to ignore it, or we box people in by calling them senior citizens. So I say let's bring it out into the open and shine a light on this aging process.'

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Classical Music Reviews: Schubert Piano Trios, Songs of the Rhinemaidens, and New Music for Theremin

Knowing that Eyck conceived and recorded the album for 12" vinyl made even my digital listening experience feel somehow richer – as if I were in the presence not just of new avant-garde music but of the whole weird history of the theremin.

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EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Director Courtney Laine Self on Presenting Mae West’s 1927 Broadway Hit ‘SEX’

Mae West wrote 'SEX' in the mid-1920s, just after the peak of first-wave feminism hit with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. First-wave feminism was about suffrage and other basic political inequalities. 'SEX' more directly challenges gender roles and expectations and illustrates the hypocrisy and tragic consequences of societal gender inequities. So, West was more in line with second-wave feminism – which didn’t happen until the 1960s!

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