Category Archives: Culture Corner

Bernie Langs David Bowie’s music always showcased complex arrangements, alongside lyrics reflecting the turmoil of our world. To learn more about Bowie and his music, I contacted musicians and producers who had worked with him during his productive recording and … Continue reading →

Concert Review: Paul Simon at the Prudential Center (Newark, NJ), September 15, 2018 By Bernie Langs Paul Simon sings “The Boxer” at the Prudential Center—YouTube view by audience member. Singer-songwriter Paul Simon completed his farewell tour with an outdoor concert … Continue reading →

Aileen Marshall Kelvin Droegemeier, November 19, 2014. Credit: Wikimedia Commons On July 31 of this year, Trump nominated Kelvin Droegemeier, a meteorologist, for Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.  This position has been vacant for … Continue reading →

Camila Cabello’s Havana Wows Pop Music Bernie Langs   Photo: Sony Music Entertainment The first time I heard the pop song Havana by Cuban-American recording artist Camila Cabello was on a radio tuned to one of my 20-year-old daughter’s stations. … Continue reading →

Visiting Michelangelo’s Sculptures in Florence Bernie Langs One of my personal goals during a late May 2018 visit to Florence, Italy was to view as many sculptures by Michelangelo as possible. Here is a rundown of my thoughts on some … Continue reading →

Emotional Immediacy in Recent Movies Bernie Langs Warning: Spoilers ahead! (Source: Wikipedia) The powerful lessons of the arts, can be used by each of us as tools for enabling the expansion of our emotional dictionaries. As the woes of the … Continue reading →

My Thoughts On Two Documentaries: Long Strange Trip (Amazon Studios, 2017) and Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars (2017 film; released on Showtime Network in February 2018 for television) Bernie Langs   Cream in the 1960s, (from left to right) … Continue reading →

  “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer” (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 13, 2017 – February 12, 2018)   Bernie Langs   The Metropolitan Museum of Art recently had on view an internationally acclaimed exhibition, “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer”, … Continue reading →

  “Airbag” by Radiohead Bernie Langs I’ve come to believe that there are two masterpiece records that not only predicted the political, cultural and even emotional condition of the 21st century, but expressed them musically and lyrically in such a … Continue reading →

Book Review: Compass by Mathias Énard (New Directions, 2015; translated into English, 2017) Bernie Langs There are novels that are categorized as literature and not merely as fiction, and then there are the geniuses of literature and the masterworks of … Continue reading →

  Television review: The Defiant Ones (HBO documentary) Bernie Langs Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, featured in HBO’s documentary “The Defiant Ones” (promotional photo: HBO) The HBO television network changed the landscape of TV programming for the better and for … Continue reading →

  Ubiquitous Art Bernie Langs I have of late—but wherefore I know not—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises, and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a … Continue reading →

Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism and the 2016 Presidential Election Bernie Langs I am close to finishing a masterpiece of historical and philosophical discussion written by Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975), The Origins of Totalitarianism. My purpose in writing … Continue reading →