Scott McLennan on the late #bobweir: he protected the integrity and idealism of the #gratefuldead’s music, playing the band’s songs year after year with a sense of wonder that he never lost touch with. artsfuse.org/322894/music...

David Daniel on a #Netflix documentary about the heralded journalist #SeymourHersh: Given the current administration’s attacks on independent reporters, "Cover-Up" couldn’t be timelier. artsfuse.org/322858/film-...

Ed Meek on David Szalay’s Booker Prize-winning novel "Flesh" (@scribnerbooks.bsky.social): it focuses on a current type of western male: one whose emotional growth and adult development are stunted by his inability to express himself and understand who he is. artsfuse.org/322831/book-...

Peter Walsh on "British Blonde" (@yalepress.bsky.social): Lynda Nead’s meticulous, competent, and impressively researched approach gives the work weight without making it ponderous; this book seems destined to serve as a text for classes in gender or cultural studies. artsfuse.org/322779/book-...

Trevor Fairbrother on "The Musical Lives of Charles Manson: The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Invention of the Sixties —or, No Sense Makes Sense"(@bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social) The book sets out a mix of facts and fictions carefully sampled from the lit on Manson. artsfuse.org/322756/book-...

Debra Cash writes that the book "Balanchine Finds His America" (@academic.oup.com) does justice to both George Balanchine’s gifts and the women who entered his orbit, and more than occasionally his bed. artsfuse.org/322737/book-...

Aaron Keebaugh writes that the Boston Artists Ensemble performances made one thing clear: what had in Mozart’s day been a failed musical venture (the "Prussian Quartets”) now present the opportunity for show-stopping pageantry. artsfuse.org/322705/conce...

This week’s poem: Brenda Coultas’s “A Study of Night” artsfuse.org/322752/weekl...

This week's newsletter is out and about: Coming Attractions, links to reviews of the A.R.T.'s "Wonder" and #thediscobiscuits. My column suggests that theatergoers support productions that engage with the crises around us. artsfuse.substack.com/p/the-arts-f...

Peg Aloi writes that #vincegilligan’s new series, #Plur1bus, is ambitious, visionary, and artfully realistic, teeming with topical and timely references that make us wonder if, indeed, this shit might actually be happening in the real world, too. artsfuse.org/322687/telev...?

Adam Theater is reviving its production of "Library Lion" at Boston's Calderwood Pavilion. A repost of Joan Lancourt's review of the earlier staging -- which she found to be utterly delightful: the lion puppet quickly becomes something magical. artsfuse.org/298124/child...

Lauren Kaufmann on "One Hundred Stitches, One Hundred Villages: The Beauty of Patchwork from Rural China" at the @mfaboston.bsky.social. The work reflects a culture that reveres its age-old traditions and preserves them over many generations. artsfuse.org/322624/visua...

Start the new year with a trio of children's books -- "How to Grow a Family Tree," "Anything" and "A Hatful of Dreams" -- about the ups and downs of family life. Cyrisse Jaffee reviews. artsfuse.org/322668/child...

Extensive and eclectic, writes David D'Arcy, #DOCNYC offers a valuable sampling of documentary films for the coming year. These favorites -- "FUGS FILM!," "Arrest the Midwife," and "True North" -- are worth searching out. artsfuse.org/322598/film-...

James Kates writes that many of the poems in Cornelia Veenendaal's new collection, "Sky of Sudden Changes," take in the world through a distinctively painterly eye for scenes and sketches. Blazevox [Books] artsfuse.org/322481/poetr...

Two critics, Scott McLennan and Paul Robicheau write on The Disco Biscuits, who chose Boston as its base for a three-night New Year’s run that unfolded in three different venues. artsfuse.org/322557/conce...

Peter Walsh on #olivialaing’s novel "The Silver Book" (@fsgbooks.bsky.social), set mostly in 1975, combines a gay romance with a literary text about the dangers of resurfacing fascism, a discourse on 20th-century avant-garde film-making, and a political thriller. artsfuse.org/322458/book-...

Each month, our arts critics fire off a few brief reviews. Peter Keough, Allen Michie, Mark Favermann, Bill Littlefield, and Editor Bill Marx send up a few critical flares for January. artsfuse.org/322370/janua...

Martin B. Copenhaver on the American Repertory Theater production of the musical "Wonder." The show aspires to make us more empathetic and to help us “choose kind.” artsfuse.org/322533/theat...

Happy New Year! Here is the magazine's first poem of the year: Ish Klein's "Global Amnesia" artsfuse.org/322471/weekl...

@callinamagician.bsky.social on Park Chan-Wook's black comedy about the inhumanity of corporate culture, "No Other Choice": South Korea looks as if it is steadily transforming into a home more fit for robots — manning the sawmills of capitalism — than humans. artsfuse.org/322425/film-...

Neil Giordano writes that director Bi Gan’s "Resurrection" is a sumptuous elegy to the cinema. The film is an artistic triumph, but be prepared -- its dreamy narrative may leave some viewers restless. artsfuse.org/322327/film-...

Thanks to you, it is a very Glad Day for The Arts Fuse --we made our $25,000 goal for the Winter Appeal! Thanks to all who contributed -- and read the magazine. Onwards!

The magazine's Winter Appeal ends tomorrow. I’m very grateful for the response we’ve had so far from our readers. I invite those who have yet to support an independent, nonprofit publication dedicated to seriously (but not solemnly) covering arts and culture to do so. artsfuse.org/keep-the-fus...

For Steve Elman, 2025 turned out to be a feast year for devotees of soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom. The music found on both of these releases could be thought of as exemplifying three areas Bloom has explored in depth and refined to purity. artsfuse.org/322386/revie...

In "Translation Spotlight," Tess Lewis writes appreciations of three remarkable translated works that have preoccupied her for months. artsfuse.org/322345/trans...?

Viewing John Singer Sargent and his art through the lens of identity studies and LGBTQ history, writes Trevor Fairbrother, supplies new insights into claims about his homosexuality. artsfuse.org/321979/visua...

Ed Meek on Xiaolu Guo's rethink of #mobydick -- "Call Me Ishmaelle" @groveatlantic.bsky.social. Applying a litmus test to art — in this case ideological sanitizing — inevitably diminishes the art. artsfuse.org/322286/book-...

The title of this revelatory book might suggest that it’s limited to uncovering the deficiencies and biases of a particular profession, writes Bill Littlefield. But "The Coroner’s Silence" @beaconpress.bsky.social is far more than that. artsfuse.org/322316/book-...

Steve Provizer on "Unfinished: The Role of the Artist in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" (@bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social) Composer Lucas Cantor Santiago's book supplies a thoughtful analysis of the relationship between music, musicians, and AI. artsfuse.org/322054/book-...

Editor Bill Marx, Kai Maristed, Roberta Silman, Preston Gralla, Clea Simon and others offer up some of their favorite books of the year. artsfuse.org/322168/arts-...

This week's poem: Martine Bellen's "To Think Snow: A Meditation" artsfuse.org/322270/weekl...

Martin Copenhaver supplies a valuable message for the holidays. Sometimes the stranger is someone who is very well known to us, like a father whose strange ways include a devotion to a certain story about a childhood in Wales. artsfuse.org/322032/holid...

Roberta Silman on "NightWood" at The Mount. The intent was to create a winter display that had no religious message but that would illuminate The Mount at this darkest time of year, that would call attention to its wintry beauty. artsfuse.org/322129/arts-...

Critics Peg Aloi and Sarah Osman supply their TV favorites of 2025. artsfuse.org/322203/arts-...?

It can’t be denied that #MartySupreme is effective as a wild cinematic trip, writes @callinamagician.bsky.social. But it offers an immersive experience — not an analysis of its self-adorning anti-hero. artsfuse.org/322148/film-...

Happy Holidays! In this week's newsletter: a favorite poem. Also, jazz, film, and theater end-of-the-year lists. artsfuse.substack.com/p/the-arts-f...?

Jonathan Blumhofer on #Trump's slapping his name on the #kennedycenter -- and the fate his administration might have in mind for the #nationalsymphonyorchestra artsfuse.org/322110/arts-...

Ed Symkus on #BradleyCooper's character-driven dramedy "Is This Thing On?": What’s harder … performing comedy onstage or making a marriage work? artsfuse.org/321926/film-...

Debra Cash on Anne Plamondon Productions' "Myokine" at the @icaboston.bsky.social: The ensemble itself is under interrogation: can these dancers connect enough to rescue each other? Can they form bonds of solidarity? artsfuse.org/322100/dance...

Michael Londra on @fsgbooks.bsky.social's release of John Berryman's "Only Sing": The poet's choice of minstrelsy in his "Dream Songs" is not just a distraction that can be explained away by aficionados — it is impossible to excuse or forgive. artsfuse.org/321958/poetr...?

Our popular music critics -- including Paul Robicheau and Scott McLennan -- pick some of the standout albums and performances of 2025. artsfuse.org/322072/arts-...

Critics David Greenham, Robert Israel, and Editor Bill Marx salute the year’s outstanding Boston-area stage productions, with some commentary on the state of the art. artsfuse.org/321800/theat...?

Tim Jackson on the film "The Housemaid": " A satisfying, occasionally cringe-worthy Gothic thriller, whose sharp satire of social mores contains a feminist message that’s hard to miss. artsfuse.org/321835/film-...

Jon Garelick welcomes The Either/Orchestra back at The Regattabar: leader Russ Gershon's jazz band remains a refreshing outlier in form and content. artsfuse.org/321847/jazz-...

Throughout their provocative anthology, "My Studio Is A Dungeon Is The Studio", artist, educator, and curator Nayland Blake reminds readers of the importance of maintaining authenticity and self-representation in every facet of creative work. artsfuse.org/321897/book-...

Cyrisse Jaffee on two new books ("Hugged by the Night" and "Winter is Wonderful") and one reissued classic ("Christmas in the Trenches") that will teach, delight, and intrigue children. artsfuse.org/321822/child...

Thanks to all for the greetings for editor Bill Marx's 72nd birthday. For those who would like to make the day brighter for him -- and to help the invaluable cause of arts journalism -- please contribute to The Arts Fuse, his teenage (18 year-old) publication. artsfuse.org/keep-the-fus...

We continually hear from arts organizations and artists that this publication is more essential than ever. Please consider contributing to the Fuse's Winter Appeal. High quality coverage of the arts is a truly endangered species. artsfuse.org/320870/winte...

This week's poem: Heller Levinson’s "Archaeology of Gap" artsfuse.org/321787/weekl...