2018 Best and Worst of the Arts
Time for the end of the year reckoning of things I loved and
didn't. I admit that lists of this sort are often subjective, but here goes. A
reminder: I'm not impressed by things that were first released only in New York
and/or LA, so a few of these books, films, and recordings, are technically 2017
releases. We should honor things in the calendar year in which most Americans
have access to them.
Anything underlined links to longer reviews. The lists
below are in preferential order.
BOOKS
The Best:
1. Michael Ondaatje, Warlight: Wars don't end when
the fighting stops.
2. Richard Powers, The Overstory: Yes, it's about trees and you should care.
3. Gail Honeyman, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine:
You'll laugh; you'll cringe.
4. Kristin Hannah, The Great Alone: Alaska. Mother
Nature doesn't care.
5. Walter Mosley, John Woman: Reinvention, of a sort.
6. Stephen Markley, Ohio: Blue-collar grit, hopes, and
despair in the Heartlands.
7. Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing:
Memory, history, and slavery's legacy.
8. Jennifer Egan, Manhattan Beach: Girl power, redemption, and danger.
9. George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo: Spoon River and its ghosts updated.
10. Tim DeRoche, The Ballad of Huck and Miguel:
Huck Finn in the 21st century.
Books that Wasted Trees:
1. Billy Coffey, Steal Away Home: Preaching posing as
a baseball novel.
2. Lauren Groff, Florida: Snakes, gators, losers, and
who cares?
3. Anna Quindlen, Alternate Side: Well-written book
but unworthy characters.
MOVIES
Best on Screen:
1. Leave No Trace: Debra Granik scores
again with her tale of damaged people who just
want to be left alone.
2. BlacKkKlansman: Spike Lee's improbable but true tale of a black KKK member.
3. A Fantastic Woman: My vote for the
best film about a transgendered person.
4. The Insult: Palestinians and
Christians failing to exorcise the past.
5. On Chesil Beach: Overlooked gem of
young love derailed.
6. Love, Gilda: Documentary that does justice to Radner's genius.
7. RBG: Call this documentary the making of a Supreme Court
justice.
8. Roma: Beautifully filmed, though
flawed remembrance of a family maid. Best cinematography
of the year.
9. Eighth Grade: So well done you'll
relive the pain!
10. Won't You Be My Neighbor? Great year
for documentaries. Good time to remember
Mr. Rogers.
Please Turn on the Lights!
1. Three Identical Strangers: If a
scandal isn't a scandal, why film it?
2. Victoria and Abdul: Enough with the
warm fuzzy Queen Victoria genre already.
3. I Tonya: Billed as a comedy about Tonya Harding. I didn't laugh.
4. Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman:
Does it take talent to make a boring film
about fascinating subjects? Not really.
5. Planetarium: What I just said above,
with séances.
6. The Circle: This Google-not-Google
movie is an episodic mess.
7. The Death of Stalin: Comedy as broad
as Siberia left me chilled and surly.
8. From the Land of the Moon: Marion
Cotillard imagines things, such as that there might
be a point to this movie.
9. Nuts: What I said in 4 and 5 above, but with goat glands.
MUSIC
This is always the hardest category for me to judge. So much
good music. So many talented folks–young and old.
New Releases:
1. Moira Smiley, Unzip the Horizon: Innovative,
inventive, bold & miles from her Solas days.
2. Thea Gilmore, Run: A veteran British chanteuse with a
powerful voice.
3. Eleanor Dubinsky,
Soft Spot of My Heart: Multilingual
cross-genre music that's just flat-out
gorgeous.
4. Kittel and
Company, Whorls; Jeremy Kittel takes
bluegrass fiddle deep into jazz terrain
and paints contemplative moods.
5. Gretchen Peters, Sad Songs Make Me Happy: Hear the woman
whose pen launched
dozens of country hits.
6. Eliza Gilkyson,
Secularia: Can an anti-religion album
be spiritual? Yep.
7. Vivian Leva, Time is Everything: Spare and pure
mountain music vocals.
8. Mink's Miracle Medicine, House of Candles: The
miracle is Melissa Wright! Country and
folk without gimmicks.
9. Greg Hawks, i think it's time: Time for
country-influenced artists to address issues from
the left side of the political spectrum.
10. Too many good people to leave off the list, so a
collective shout out to Anita Aysola, Big Little Lion, Don Gallardo, Guy Menilow Ensemble, John Gorka, Newpoli, and Graham Stone.
Change the Earbuds:
1. Catherine Bent,
Ideal: Not! Cello meandering to
nowhere.
2. Elena Andukar,
Flamenco in Time: Maybe hip flamenco
isn't really a thing.
3. UNIFONY, Unifony: Three Euro jazz giants make a
dull record.
4. Katie Herzig, Moment of Bliss: Pop grooves that failed
to induce bliss.
Best Live Shows of 2018:
1. Richard Shindell:
He was 100% on at the Parlor Room with new and old material and an
alphabetical set list!
2. Cowboy Junkies:
After 6 weeks on my back, the Junkies at the Academy of Music helped me heal.
3. James Keelaghan:
James never gives a bad concert and pulled out the stops all weekend at the New
Bedford Folk Festival.
4. Musique à Boucher:
The surprise hit at New Bedford. A Capella mouth music of the most
spirited kind. Surprising as their CDs are restrained.
5. Eliza Gilkyson:
An intimate evening at the Parlor Room with a Texas treasure.
6. Jim Henry: Our
own Western Mass hero. His Parlor room show was a love fest.
7. Richard Thompson:
His electric show at the Academy needed a better mix, but he rocked
the joint.
8. Rory Block and Cindy
Cashdollar: The warm-up act trumped the headliners.
9. The Weepies:
Amazing harmonies and a refreshing December show with no holiday music!
10. The Kittel Trio:
Not your mother's bluegrass at the West Whatley Chapel.
Not Feeling It:
St Paul and the
Broken Bones opened well at the Academy of Music, but then everything
sounded exactly the same. Better shtick than repertoire.
I simply don't get the hype surrounding Lake Street Dive. I love vocalist Rachel Price, when she sings in a
register quieter than Celine Dion at an airport. Lots of glitz and light show bling
that makes them more of an experience than a musical act. Boring. I wish Rory
Block and Cindy Cashdollar had headlined.
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