One night as an 11-year-old in 1965, I watched an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in the family living room—the CBS sitcom was produced in glorious black and white and ran from ‘61 to ‘66. I was an avid young fan even though I didn’t always understand the story lines, but it was the early ‘60s when “family…
Remember when Hunter Biden had his very first art exhibit? It was at the Milk Studios gallery in Hollywood, California on Oct. 1, 2021. Organized by New York gallerist Georges Bergès, there were those who said buyers would only purchase Hunter’s art to win political favors from Joe Biden. The White House, concerned that talk of cronyism would spread, crafted…
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, How faithfully you blossom! Through summer’s heat and winter’s chill Your leaves are green and blooming still. O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, How faithfully you blossom! The above lyrics are from an 1824 song written by German composer Ernst Anschütz. Over the years his composition O Tannenbaum (in German ‘Tannenbaum’ means fir tree), became closely associated with…
This commentary is a somewhat unusual take on the timelessness of American folk music, with its focus being a young Virginian named Oliver Anthony, a former factory worker who became a farmer that lives off grid, but now hopes to make a living as a country folk singer. On Aug. 8, 2023, Anthony released his song Rich Men North Of…
On July 26, 2023, Randy Meisner, a founding member of the American soft rock band the Eagles, succumbed to COPD, otherwise known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He died at the age of 77. Gone to join the great majority after leaving his mark on contemporary music, he will be missed. This will not be a conventual obituary, because frankly…
In the Vatican City State on June 23, 2023, beneath Michelangelo’s High Renaissance mural in the Sistine Chapel, Pope Francis addressed some 200 invited artists and creative types. One attendee was Andres Serrano—maker of the infamous Piss Christ photograph and other sacrilegious images. I’m not writing this essay as a practicing Catholic, but as a working artist. The Pontiff’s assembly…
On June 14, 2023, two women from the eco-extremist group Återställ Våtmarker (Restore Wetlands), raided the National Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. They attacked Le Jardin de l’artiste à Giverny (The artist’s garden at Giverny), a painting created in 1900 by the French Impressionist Claude Monet. The two vandals, a 28-year-old nurse and a 25-year-old nursing student, wore white T-shirts emblazoned…
Funding is one activity that has sustained the acts of vandalism carried out against art museums by the UK group Just Stop Oil. That faction has received financial backing from the Climate Emergency Fund, a global network of “climate activists” headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. This was verified on Aug. 10, 2022 when the New York Times reported that the…
