Paul Robicheau at @newportjazzfest.bsky.social 2026: Kamasi Washington, Herbie Hancock, Flea, and a lively new generation showed how the venerable fest is stretching jazz’s boundaries without losing its center. artsfuse.org/332595/music...

Music Festival Review: At Newport Jazz 2026, the Past and Future Jam Side by Side - The Arts Fuse

Kamasi Washington, Herbie Hancock, Flea and a lively new generation showed how the festival is stretching jazz’s boundaries without losing its center.

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The newsletter is out and about. Editor Bill Marx's column is about how impossible it is not to see some connections between recent conflagrations, physical and cultural,- and links to a sampling of the magazine's latest cultural coverage. artsfuse.substack.com/p/the-flamet...?

The Flamethrowers of AI

AI is literacy's climate crisis? - and a sampling of the latest cultural coverage

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Scott McLennan writes that on "Bring on the Psychics," the venerable post-hardcore band Quicksand sounds urgent, thoughtful, and surprisingly rejuvenated, balancing punishing riffs with hard-won wisdom artsfuse.org/332583/rock-...

Rock Album: Quicksand’s New Album Is a Blast of Purpose, Fury, and Reflection - The Arts Fuse

On "Bring on the Psychics," the post-hardcore veterans sound urgent, thoughtful and surprisingly rejuvenated, balancing punishing riffs with hard-won wisdom.

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Steve Provizer and Jonathan Blumhofer on the late Joel Cohen of The Boston Camerata: his galvanizing presence left an enduring mark on Boston’s musical culture. artsfuse.org/332551/arts-...

Arts Remembrance: The Musical Mission of Joel Cohen - The Arts Fuse

His galvanizing presence left an enduring mark on Boston’s musical culture.

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At @jacobspillow.bsky.social, writes Debra Cash, Brinae Ali’s "Baby Laurence Legacy Project" reanimates a jazz tap master’s bebop musical brilliance through choreography, live music, and technology. artsfuse.org/332527/dance...

Dance Preview: Brinae Ali Dances Baby Laurence Back Into the Spotlight - The Arts Fuse

At Jacob’s Pillow, Brinae Ali’s "Baby Laurence Legacy Project" reanimates a jazz tap master’s bebop musical brilliance through choreography, live music, and technology.

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Paul Robicheau writes that #Phish's weekend stand in Boston offered crowd-pleasers, deep cuts, and one of the band’s most startling bust-outs in decades. artsfuse.org/332506/rock-...?

One of the many bands taking part in this year's Somergloom Festival will be the Wilkes-Barre, PA based post-metal/shoegaze act Planning for Burial. Rob Duguay had a talk with Thom Wasluck about the show. artsfuse.org/332388/music...

Jon Garelick on the late musician and Boston rock legend Jeff “Monoman” Conolly -- he was obsessive, exacting, and unforgettable. artsfuse.org/332483/arts-...?

Arts Remembrance : Jeff “Monoman” Conolly - He Knew All the Secrets - The Arts Fuse

The "Monoman" was obsessive, exacting, and unforgettable.

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In her wry, incisive documentary, "Wild Inside," writes @pkeough1.bsky.social, filmmaker Penny Lane turns Flaco's rise and fall into an unusually moving inquiry into animal sentience, urban spectacle, and the cost of liberation. Screening at @thecoolidge.bsky.social artsfuse.org/332495/film-...

A Singapore Symphony Orchestra recording of compositions by John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, and Hugo Friedhofer, writes Jonathan Blumhofer, quietly punctures old prejudices about film composers and “serious” music. artsfuse.org/332419/class...

Our expert critics -- Peg Aloi, Jonathan Blumhofer, Tim Jackson, Jon Garelick, Matt Hanson, Peter Walsh and Bill Marx -- supply a guide to film, visual art, theater, author readings, television, and music for the next two weeks. artsfuse.org/332200/comin...

Tim Jackson writes that the Dardenne brothers’ latest film, "Young Mothers," transforms a series of fragile stories about teenage motherhood into an unsentimental, deeply compassionate study of resilience. artsfuse.org/332452/film-...

Film Review: "Young Mothers" Finds Grace in Hardship - The Arts Fuse

The Dardenne brothers’ latest film transforms a series of fragile stories about teenage motherhood into an unsentimental, deeply compassionate study of resilience.

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@kuntsuragi.bsky.social welcomes Nicolas Winding Refn's #HerPrivateHell in all its somnambulistic glory. This baffling, vibe‑driven film trades narrative for fetish—and asks whether you still care what the critics think. artsfuse.org/332409/film-...

Film Review: "Her Private Hell" - A Rorschach Test in Neon and Leather - The Arts Fuse

Nicolas Winding Refn’s baffling, vibe‑driven film trades narrative for fetish—and asks whether you still care what the critics think.

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A commentary by Trevor Fairbrother: in Boston and Hanover, new works by Alan Michelson and Kent Monkman challenge the myth of the vanishing Native—and the Cyrus Dallin bronze "Appeal to the Great Spirit" that enshrined it at the @mfaboston.bsky.social. artsfuse.org/332371/visua...

Each month, our arts critics fire off a few brief reviews. The lineup for August includes critiques from Bill Marx, Brian Shovelton, Allen Michie, Ralph Locke, Mark Favermann, @callinamagician.bsky.social and @epstanzer.bsky.social. artsfuse.org/332045/augus...

Scott McLennan writes that at the #houseofbluesboston, Mike Patton’s supergroup, Tomahawk, navigated pandemic-era anxieties with surgical precision while (the) Melvins provided savage support. artsfuse.org/332335/conce...

Michael Londra reviews "Closer" (@groveatlantic.bsky.social). He writes that Dennis Cooper’s “transgressive” reputation obscures his deeper project -- language as moral instrument, and the victim rather than the predator as the true subject. artsfuse.org/332302/book-...

For Jonathan Blumhofer, soprano-conductor Barbara Hannigan’s semiquincentennial album "An American Dream?" reframes familiar American classics through a lens of wistfulness, insight, and quiet defiance. On Alpha Classics artsfuse.org/332291/class...

Betsy Sherman on "The Girl in the Snow" in the @mfaboston.bsky.social's French Film Festival. In the film, a turn-of-the-century schoolteacher’s idealism collides with alpine tradition—and the land itself—in a beguiling, sensorially rich debut. artsfuse.org/332263/film-...

Film Review: Enlightenment Meets the Mountain in Louise Hémon’s "The Girl in the Snow" - The Arts Fuse

A turn-of-the-century schoolteacher’s idealism collides with alpine tradition—and the land itself—in a beguiling, sensorially rich debut.

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@sarahminaosman.bsky.social writes that Kelly McWilliams’s YA horror novel "No One Leaves the Manor" turns a haunted-house setup into a sharp, lyrical reckoning with race, class, disability, and trauma. @littlebrownyr.bsky.social artsfuse.org/332158/book-...

Book Review: A Haunted House, Some Hard Truths - The Arts Fuse

Kelly McWilliams’s "No One Leaves the Manor" turns a haunted-house setup into a sharp, lyrical reckoning with race, class, disability, and trauma.

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This week's poem: Brendan Lorber's "Sag Harbor in the morning" artsfuse.org/332238/weekl...

Weekly Feature: Poetry at The Arts Fuse - The Arts Fuse

This week's poem: Brendan Lorber's "Sag Harbor in the morning"

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@pkeough1.bsky.social writes that documentarian Ross McElwee’s most profound film, "Remake," folds four decades of self-portraiture into a threnody for his son—and a meditation on memory, guilt, and cinema’s solace. @thecoolidge.bsky.social artsfuse.org/332247/doc-t...

Doc Talk: "Remake" - A Filmmaker Ponders a Career and a Life - The Arts Fuse

Documentarian Ross McElwee’s most profound film folds four decades of self-portraiture into a threnody for his son—and a meditation on memory, guilt, and cinema’s solace.

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Mike Marano on "SpiderMan: BrandNewDay" The webslinger’s new outing has the cameos, the conspiracy, and the corporate logic. What it doesn’t have is heart. artsfuse.org/332221/film-...

Film Review: Spider-Man vs. the Emotional Void - The Arts Fuse

The webslinger’s new outing has the cameos, the conspiracy, and the corporate logic. What it doesn’t have is heart.

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Paul Robicheau on this year's @newportfolk.bsky.social: From Tom Morello’s searing set to CMAT’s breakout turn and Dave Matthews’ final-set detour, the gathering kept its focus on music that opened outward rather than looking back. artsfuse.org/332172/festi...

Festival Review: Newport Folk 2026 Finds Its Fire in Surprise, Collaboration, and Crossover - The Arts Fuse

From Tom Morello’s searing set to CMAT’s breakout turn and Dave Matthews’ final-set detour, the festival kept its focus on music that opened outward rather than looking back.

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For @sarahminaosman.bsky.social, #thedink turns pickleball rivalries into an easygoing comedy about aging, ego, and unexpected connection. artsfuse.org/332110/film-...

Joseph Horowitz comments, with passionate concern, about the widening chasm between European and American orchestras. It is not just a matter of polish, but of style, inheritance, and musical conviction. artsfuse.org/332092/arts-...

Betsy Sherman writes that punk auteur Alex Cox's late-career swan, "Dead Souls," is ragged, witty, and politically sharpened, though not always as cohesive as its ambitions. @brattletheatre.bsky.social artsfuse.org/332142/film-...?

Film Review: Alex Cox’s "Dead Souls" Recasts Gogol as a Spaghetti Western Fever Dream - The Arts Fuse

By Betsy Sherman

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Rob Duguay talks to John Stanier of Tomahawk as the supergroup, its members reconvening after more than a decade, prepares for a rare tour stop at Boston's House of Blues. artsfuse.org/332073/music...

Musician Interview: John Stanier Talks About Tomahawk’s Second Life - The Arts Fuse

Tomahawk readies a rare tour stop in Boston as its members reconvene after more than a decade.

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Double Edge Theatre is reviving its 2015 roaming spectacle, “Once a Blue Moon/Cada Luna Azul,” writes Nicole Estvanik Taylor, a site-specific work shaped by ecological grief, political resistance, and communal art. artsfuse.org/332010/theat...

Theater Review: Amid a Smokey Haze, Double Edge Theatre Delivers an Inspirational Warning - The Arts Fuse

Double Edge Theatre revives its 2015 roaming spectacle of ecological grief, political resistance, and communal art.

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@cleasimon.bsky.social writes that Daniel Mason’s latest novel, "Country People," trades the ambition of "North Woods," a Pulitzer finalist, for a lighter, more self-satisfied satire of intellectual life. artsfuse.org/332023/book-...