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Lend me a tenor
Recap of Catch of the Day #20 (September 3, 2017)

September 5, 2017

The tenor James Price, world-famous on Maui as the very fine Jean Valjean of the "better than Broadway" MAPA Les Miz of 2013, joined Paul Janes-Brown and me in the studio for a smorgasbord of new vocal releases. (Scare quotes? You decide. The phrase continues to be tossed about in all seriousness.) For the record, this was a milestone program: our 20^th.

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Yayoi Kusama contemplates infinity
Big time investment, little payoff

August 29, 2017

Let's see. By fiat of the artist, viewers—two or three at a time—get a big 20 to 30 seconds but no more to view each of the five little reflective interiors that anchor her traveling retrospective Yoyai Kusama: Infinity Mirrors (itinerary below). Separate queues for each, order up to you, backtrack at will. Guards armed with timers control the traffic. An official at the Seattle Art Museum, where the show continues through September 10, said to allow about an hour to see it all, but it took me better than two. Two hours on your feet for two and a half minutes with the art: what a pathetic yield.

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At Juilliard, Barbara Cook shares her recipe for success
That master class (an encore)

August 13, 2017  •  Wall Street Journal (December 14, 2005)

New York. "It's about communication," Barbara Cook said in late November, anticipating her next master class at The Juilliard School. "I specifically ask the students to bring in songs they connect with emotionally. But then they hide. They bring in singy stuff, operetta stuff, stuff with jokes. But of course, they don't know they're hiding."

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Being Barbara Cook
A legend remembered

August 12, 2017

We were on our way to the beach on August 8 when the news came over the air: the Broadway star and matchless interpreter of the Great American Songbook, had died of respiratory failure that morning in New York at age 89. I'd last heard Barbara's voice, also on the radio, on June 30, when Fresh Air re-ran an interview Terry Gross conducted just over a year ago upon publication of Barbara's memoir Then and Now. The encore was prompted by Barbara's announcement that she was retiring. I shot her a mash note that afternoon, but never heard back, which seemed a sign.

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From the Archives: Authentic Cook
Whatever she does—give concerts, perform in nightclubs, teach top students, Barbara Cook does from the heartWhatever she does—give concerts, perform in nightclubs, teach top students, Barbara Cook does from the heart

August 12, 2017  •  Town & Country

After a half-century at the top of her profession, Barbara

Cook has a word of advice: Be yourself. That's where safety lies.

It has worked for her. When she flew in from Atlanta at age 20 to set the Big Apple on fire, it took a single audition to launch her as Broadway's finest singing ingénue. With her honey-blond hair, shy, sensuous smile and eyes big as saucers, she definitely had the look, though her résumé

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