Stories and blogs about culture
A lifelong lover of chocolate, Yael Rose is as happy sipping a cup of hot chocolate as she is nibbling sea-salted caramel or cocoa nibs. “To be honest, I think it’s an addiction,” she said. “There’s something about the smell and colors of chocolate I simply can’t resist every single time.” Ms. Rose has...
Promotional fliers for rock shows typically end up in the trash. But David Ensminger collects them. He’s stockpiled them for more than 30 years, documenting a Xeroxed history of punk gatherings, an anthropologist of punk rock’s printed images and text. The do-it-yourself tradition of punk-rock fliers are just part of his new book, “Visual...
Because of the million or more people who attend it, the Notting Hill Carnival, an annual celebration of Caribbean culture, can feel overwhelming to say the least. Sprawling over roughly 20 miles of West London, the carnival is often cited as one of the largest street festivals in Europe. This year’s festival takes place...
When I ask my university journalism students why exactly they want to be journalists, a majority tell me it’s because they “like to write.” Considering most of them are in their 20s and grew up with the Internet, this response always surprises me. With a seemingly endless supply of emerging technology and digital storytelling...
The Barbican Art Gallery is offering a glimpse of life in downtown Manhattan in the early 1970s — at least through the eyes of a particular group of artists. The “Pioneers of the Downtown Scene, New York 1970s” exhibition, at the gallery through May 22, features sculptures, drawings, photographs, documentation of performances, and mixed-media...
It’s been 20 years since Vincent Ahehehinnou and his bandmates in the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou could afford to spend their days playing music. Back then, the band from Benin — formed in the late ’60s following the country’s independence from France — was busy spreading the joys of Afrobeat, a blend of soul,...
In London, you can take classes on how to make graffiti. On weekends, street artist Andy Seize gives graffiti lessons to children and adults who pay between £35 and £150 per session. Since he works in pre-approved spaces, Seize doesn’t have to worry about London’s active graffiti clean-up crews. “ will always have people...
“Slackistan”, a debut feature from Hammad Khan, follows the uneventful lives of a group of aimless, privileged 20-somethings. They hang out, wear T-shirts, smoke, listen to music, get bored, drive around, and talk about stuff. The film’s story—it would be tough to call it a plot—could unfold in any number of places around the...
On the belief that poetry is indeed a growing, expanding art form, this year, Southbank Center will host its annual T.S. Eliot Prize Readings festival in larger digs: the Royal Festival Hall. The shortlisted poets for this year’s prize, a prestigious award for the best poetry collection of 2010, are Simon Armitage, Annie Freud,...
In 2004 Florent de La Tullaye and Renaud Barret encountered Leon “Ricky” Likabu playing music on the streets of Kinshasa. A victim of poliomyelitis, he was joined by fellow wheelchair-bound musicians and street youth. Together, with old beat-up or hand-made instruments, the group played what could only be described as folk music: honest, heart-felt...