Advertisement
Everyone's an expert on architectural design
February 03
What do you think of the new library addition at Fresno State?
How about the new University High School building on campus? Read more →Fresno State exhibit offers new view on the mundane
January 26
Repetition. Time.
They're the building blocks of life. Read more →Why do Oscar-worthy films take so long to open in Fresno?
January 20
The emails and calls from movie fans start coming in December. They’re almost always structured the same way:
Lumber shortage results in rockin' 'Raw' art
January 13
Chris Sorensen, the longtime metal artist whose cheery bald pate and gentle smile are among the most recognized physical attributes of anyone making art in Fresno today, can be like an addiction.
Behind the scenes with stage actor Chris Carsten
January 08
I call it theater sizzle. Those are the moments when an actor makes such a strong impression in a show that it's as if he or she took a branding iron to my brain. For me, such a moment came when Chris Carsten marched onto the stage last year in the Good Company Players production of "The Crucible" at the 2nd Space Theatre.
Fresno-area arts shined in 2011
January 02
As I launch into my annual Top 20 cultural events for the year, keep in mind that while I try to attend as many theater, classical music, opera, dance and visual arts events as I can, I sometimes miss some choice options. (Note that I decided not to include California State University, Fresno, Professor Emeritus Philip Levine's selection as the nation's poet laureate in this 2011 list because it didn't really qualify as an event, but it's certainly significant.) You can discuss my picks, blast my omissions and add your own nominations on my blog at fresnobeehive.com. In alphabetical order:
1. "The Ballad of Chet," Fresno City College. Chuck Erven's original musical was a clever romp with impressive writing. Notable, too, was students and faculty coming together creatively. The title is one of 14 nominated for a prestigious Kennedy Center university playwriting award. Read more →'War Horse' OK on screen, better on stage
December 24
The title character in the visually sumptuous and emotionally charged Broadway production of "War Horse" isn't a real horse, of course. It's a life-size puppet brought to life by three men -- one working the head and two hunched over as the torso, all of whom can clearly be seen.
The surprising thing is how easily the puppetry effect disappears and the idea of a living, breathing, whinnying "horse" cements itself in your mind. Read more →Fresno photo show's gritty view of Valley agriculture
December 19
Familiarity breeds contempt. Or so the saying goes.
Cuts leave museum facing challenges
January 17
In the annals of the arts in Fresno, it’s hard to imagine a more rotten couple of weeks.
We lost the Fresno Metropolitan Museum on Jan. 5, of course, and the community still reels. Read more →'Locker' brings you into war's addiction
August 16
This and that from the culture beat:
Defying the conventional wisdom that small/serious films in Fresno wither in the hot summer months for one or (at the most) two weeks before flitting off to greener pastures, “The Hurt Locker” is holding strong at Regal Manchester. Read more →His Broadway tour debut spells out lots of fun
June 07
A is for “accommodate.”
That’s the word I imagine having to spell as I look into my bathroom mirror. I practice saying the letters slowly and clearly: a-c-c-o-m-m-o-d-a-t-e. Yes! The audience murmurs its approval. I am a double-letter king. Bring ’em on, baby. Read more →The life of an understudy
March 24
Originally published in The Fresno Bee and on fresnobee.com January 9, 2005.
Whooping cough? No way. Read more →Civil War's realism portrayed in two ways
October 20
This column was originally published in The Fresno Bee and at fresnobee.com on Sunday, September 26, 2004.
Guts oozing across the dusty floor of a mobile hospital. Maggots spilling out of a dazed soldier's stomach. The disorienting blur of a battlefield thick with dust and debris. The noise, the vomit, the whimpers, the eyes glazed with fear. As South battles North, the sickening sound of crusty bayonets slicing through wool before piercing flesh. Read more →