For more than a century, African art has challenged the western imagination. How and why does an embroidered apron, for example, made in the 1970s by an unidentified, young South African woman, merit a place in a world-class museum? The answer may be found in “Object, Image, Collector: African and Oceanic Art in Focus,” the fascinating exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, through July 18. The exhibition traces the evolution of African artifacts from object to art.



“The impact of photography in promoting this shift has been neglected,” says Curator Christraud Geary. Photographs– the “image” referred to in the show title – are a key to understanding how utilitarian objects came to be regarded as art.

It is difficult to peruse any avenue of pop culture these days without running across a video, a review, or at least some commentary on Lady Gaga. She’s everywhere. Granted she scored five top ten singles in 2009. And, truth be told, her opening performance at this year’s Grammys with (Sir) Elton John was captivating, if overblown. But then, everything at this year’s Grammys was overblown, from Beyonceé extravagant song and dance medley amid a gaggle of dancers who looked like starship troopers wearing World War II-era Nazi helmets to Pink’s cirque-du-soleilesque performance, suspended high above the audience (mostly upside down), while being drenched with water.

With a promise of puppets, dancing, political subversion and free bread, Bread & Puppet Theater’s fourth annual installment of their Boston residency attracted a crowd Friday, the second night of the “Tear Open the Door of Heaven” performance. Audience members braved the cold to come out to The Cyclorama building, part of the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End, which proves to be a perfect venue for the visually arresting style of this Glover, VT based theater troupe. “Tear Open the Door of Heaven” packs a punch into an hour-and-a-half long piece, charged with director Peter Schumann’s stark anti-war message and his anti-elitist, community approach to creating art. It leaves one with an equal amount of despair and inspiration.

BOSTON/South End - This week, for the fourth winter in a row at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, the Glover, VT based Bread and Puppet Theater troupe present their subversively entertaining brand of politics and punditry.

Members of the year round Bread and Puppet collective again will be joined this week by scores of local actors and performers (a mix of pros and mostly amateurs who have been rehearsing all week at the BCA) who responded to the annual call for volunteers.

In 2003, Steve Jobs railed against music subscription services, telling Rolling Stone that “People want to own their music.” Now it appears that Apple might be changing its iTune. Apple’s recent $80 million plus purchase of music subscription service Lala suggests that the company that made it easy (and legal) to download digital music files to your iPod or computer might now be envisioning the future of music as a big jukebox in the clouds. One big question is where this will leave users? Another is where it will leave musicians.

BOSTON/Copley Square - Coming up on Sunday, December 20, 2009, the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra will present its long running annual Christmas Concert and benefit. This year, the orchestra performs at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, located halfway between Copley Square and the Public Garden, at 15 Newbury Street, Boston.

Proceeds from the show will benefit the Poor People's United Fund and The Massachusetts Council of Churches.

They were meant to be together so when I learned that the Guggenheim Museum was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its landmark building with an in-depth retrospective of the Russian avant-garde artist Wasilly Kandinsky, I knew I had to go.

“The Angel in The Architecture,” trumpeted The New York Times headline for the review of the Guggenheim show, which runs through January 10. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the building especially for the museum’s founding collection of Kandinsky’s non-objective work.

Somerville and Cambridge, MA - Davis Square thronged with crowds excited to see the dozens of marching bands from around the world performing at this weekend's Honk! Festival. Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society kicked off the music and arts festival Saturday afternoon at 7 Hills Park, taking band attendance in loud, rowdy fashion, and sending them marching to all corners of Davis to perform throughout the day. Sunday, bands paraded from Davis square down Massachusetts Avenue to Harvard Square for encore performances at Oktoberfest. Photo, audio, and video coverage follows.

Michael Moore has wrestled with Congress, insurance companies, the National Rifle Association, General Motors, and various players in the “military-industrial complex."

But Goliath has never been this big…

In his new film, “Capitalism: A Love Story” which opened nationwide on Friday, Michael Moore (playing David) “volunteers” to save his tribe by taking on the behemoths that sit atop our economic system; i.e. the banks and mega-financial services corporations – companies such as AIG, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs – who many believe are responsible for the global economic disaster that erupted into public view 18 months ago.

Cambridge, MA - Fresh from her triumph at the New York International Fringe Festival where she won the award for Outstanding Solo Show (what would that be, a Fringe D’Or?) and extended by popular demand, Gioia (Joya) De Cari’s new autobiographical play "Truth Values, One Girl's Romp Through M.I.T.'s Male Math Maze" continues through Sunday, September 27th at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge.