ARTiculate
Has 2024 Been The Best Year For Video Game Adaptations?
The gaming industry is one that is always seeing change each and every year. Trends will come and go, and franchises will either make it or break it. Rapid changes in technology also play that part in shaping and moulding this industry. It also shapes the way...
Opinion: Why Work Doesn’t Work, Or Industrious Insanity
By CHANTAL HERMAN So a few years back, Leonardo DiCaprio interviewed Elon Musk in his movie Before The Flood, and Musk said just 100 of his clean-energy factories could power the planet. THE PLANET. I was so excited by the news, but now I realise South Africa would be...
Writing: Art Out Of Nothing At All, Or Into The Mind Of An Audience
By ALBRECHT BEHMEL When people ask me what I do for a living, I usually lie. I either tell them that I am a writer or I tell them that I am a painter. I rarely say that I am both - which would be the truth. Okay, it is only a lie by omission but most people...
Opinion: Advertise Your Ethics, Or Just Do IP
By ZAMA BUTHELEZI Zama Buthelezi is a Partner at Spoor & Fisher South Africa. For more information, go to spoor.com. Advertising is all about communicating a message in order to sell a product or service. The most successful advertisements are those that...
Opinion: Streaming Consciousness, Or Listening Re-Learned
By JOHN MCKNIGHT Professor John McKnight is a partner at Spoor & Fisher. I have never been a fan of music streaming services. I should perhaps begin by saying that when it comes to listening to music, I consider it to be a multi-sensory experience. Not only...
Writing: Motivated By Fear, Or Just Plane Thrilling
By DJ WILLIAMS My wife and I were vacationing in Hawaii when one morning she woke and said, “I want to go skydiving.” Being the seasoned husband that I am, I replied, “Yes, dear.” Now what you should know about my wife is that she’s afraid to fly. So, you can...
Opinion: Live-Action Remakes – Nostalgia Or Nous?
By JESS ROBUS It is often remarked that there are not enough hours in the day to do all of the things that need doing. While that's probably intended as a light-hearted bemoaning of busyness, this phrase has since become the grumbled mantra of doctors,...
What is the Role of Online Gambling Regulators?
The South African online gambling regulation is undergoing changes as we speak. The so-called ”Remote Gambling Bill” initiated by the Democratic Alliance aims to end the blanket ban on online casinos, bringing this segment of the market out of the grey zone and...
Literature: Franschhoek Literary Festival – Reading Into Everything, Or The Internal Explored
By BRUCE DENNILL The second day of a festival is quite different to the first. The novelty of being in a new place is diminished and there may be a dip in energy if you committed to the after-hours offerings of wherever you’re staying – eating out;...
Literature: Franschhoek Literary Festival – Getting It Write, Or Between The Lines
By BRUCE DENNILL As with so most enterprises, the Franschhoek Literary Festival – and every other cultural event in the calendar – was forced to endure a fallow period during the Covid pandemic. Happily, though, despite the enthusiastic naysaying of...
Opinion: If A Tree/Artist Falls/Plays In A Forest/Basement Parkade And Nobody Hears It/Him/Her, Does Anyone Care?
By BRUCE DENNILL There’s a man playing a singing bowl and warbling along to the soothing sound it makes outside the bank of elevators that service Rosebank’s The Zone centre. He’s good. He has a couple of albums displayed for sale on the floor next to his...
Insight: The World Of Music Copyright – Not All Bells And Whistles
By HUGH MELAMDOWITZ Hugh Melamdowitz is a Partner at Spoor & Fisher South Africa “There are no virgin births in music. Music comes out of other music,” says Sandy Wilbur, forensic musicologist (cited in Rolling Stone, 2020) – referring to the finite...
Statement: TADA!, Or When A Sector Goes Unministered
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] The most recent statement from the Theatre And Dance Alliance: If you are not with us, Minister Mthethwa, you are against us It is with a renewed sense of shock and dismay that the Theatre and Dance sector...
Opinion: Lies Of The Land, Or Country Connection
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN The realisation came when I least expected it. We had been out of South Africa for five years when we met my parents, siblings and their families for a family holiday. Our children by then had gained...
Appeal: Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra And Cape Town Opera – Silence Is The Loudest Scream, Or Carry On Classical
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] Across the world right now - from Cape Town to Kabul and London to Beijing - the arts are being silenced. COVID-19, conflict, censorship, loss of funding, displacement - even natural disasters - are seeing to it that...
Policy: Charter Of Rights For South African Artists
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] CHARTER OF RIGHTS FOR SOUTH AFRICAN ARTISTS Definition For the purpose of this Charter, and based on UNESCO’s 1980 Recommendation Concerning the Status of the Artist, an “Artist” is someone who a. creates, or gives...
Opinion: Above The Clouds, Or With A Little Alp From Our Friends
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN One of the vivid memories that I have about the period in my life spent on planes, was taking off from Zurich airport on the way to Munich early one November morning. It was a dark, cold, wet morning....
Funding: Following The Money, Or TADA Goes Forensic
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] The newly formed Theatre and Dance Alliance (TADA) has established a team to investigate the PESP funding debacle that has compromised many in the creative sector, including numerous TADA members. The intention of the...
Fundraising: Theatre On The Square – Sponsor And Stay Spellbound, Or Staging A Recovery
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] Keep Sandton's Theatre On The Square alive! Due to the pandemic, Sandton’s precious, award-winning, independent Theatre On The Square on Nelson Mandela Square no longer has corporate support. As with worldwide theatres,...
Opinion: Feeding Your Fears, Or A Knead For Bread
By HOWARD FELDMAN Much like Gwyneth Paltrow, I am not sure if I will be able to cope with another lockdown. If government statistics are to be believed, South Africa will shortly be entering the third Covid wave, which might well mean increased restrictions. An...
Opinion: Music And Gaming In Harmony, Or Provocative Performance Platform
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By CHRISTIAN FACEY In 2020, the endless cycle of lockdowns threw up roadblocks to planned festivals, tours and events worldwide, and so the world of virtual gigs exploded. In April, 12 million players headed into the...
Insight: Theatre Collective – Report To Parliament, Or Shortfalls Made Public
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] An extensive report filed with the Parliamentary Select Committee For Education & Technology, Sports, Arts & Culture on Wednesday, 11 November 2020, about negligence, maladministration and longstanding unresolved...
Championing Cultural Expression, Or Creativity’s Value Confirmed
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] The Intergovernmental Committee of UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions met recently. This meeting occurred as COVID-19 has caused a crisis in culture that is...
Insight: Culture In Crisis, Or Curing Creatives’ Covid Concerns
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] UNESCO has assessed the measures taken by governments to respond to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on culture professionals and on the sector as a whole, an impact which appears to be more severe than previously...
SAGA Memorandum To Petition: Remember Our Legends
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By JACK DEVNARAIN Jack Devnarain is the chairman of the South African Guild of Actors (SAGA). If interested in responding to the below appeal, please sign this petition. Since the inception of the South...
Opinion: Paint Your Fence, Even If You’re Sitting On It
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN It’s that time of the year when we are asked to consider the past 12 months, and then look towards the next. It is never easy to do so, but this year, given its complexity, presents us with challenges...
Opinion: Rolling Back The Year, Or Onwards And Upwards/Downwards
By HOWARD FELDMAN This is my worry. We have become so accustomed to blaming 2020 for our woes that we seem to assume that the moment we pop open the champagne to celebrate the new year, everything that plagued us will magically disappear. Death in the family? Because...
Opinion: Avoid Post-Crisis Crashes, Or Take Leave Before Leaving
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN When on holiday in the Kruger Park recently, I woke up on more than one occasion to find myself alone in the chalet. In all instances I was completely unaware of the betrayal that was taking place while...
Opinion: The Check’s In The Male, Or Decisions About Diversity
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN Here is some context. Since lockdown started, I have been involved in hosting a series of webinars. All have been designed to educate, inform and entertain and are free to participants. A series we...
Opinion: Handle Me With Care, Or Covid Coffee Context
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN This morning, I realised why the world needed COVID and why we most likely still do. The backstory is this: early on in lockdown it became clear that my father was seriously ill and that he would have a...
Podcast: The Chorus – New Episode Up: Towards Utopia, Or Meeting Marvellous Martin
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] I have, along with Stefan Vos. a podcast, based on our discovery that we 'can't not art'. Listen as we tell fascinating stories/spout interesting inanities - you be the judge - covering our broad range of interests,...
Opinion: Cutting Remarks, Or Vis-A-Bris Trolls
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN It started, perhaps as it always does, fairly innocently. Sunday was the bris (circumcision) of my great nephew and because of COVID rules we could not be there. I had travelled to Israel in the past...
Opinion: Logging Off, Or Stung By Blue Bottles
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN First they came for the Tempo, and I did not speak out, because I wasn’t crazy about Tempo. Then they came for the Lays Salt and Vinegar chips, and I did not speak out, because I was always more of a...
Opinion: Avoid A Grave Mistake, Or Dead Good Prices
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN Because 2020 wasn’t weird enough, South Africans are apparently now able to purchase coffins on popular retail site Takealot. The items sell for just under R5 000 per box and the company has stipulated...
Opinion: Problems And Perspective, Or Favoured By Fortune
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN Monday morning June 1 was the day that South Africa stumbled into Level 3 Lockdown. Although eagerly anticipated, there were many aspects of this milestone that seemed to catch us by surprise. Parents...
Opinion: Zoom Out, Or Screening Your Symposium
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN With governments around the world getting involved in almost every aspect of our lives, from when we are allowed to exercise to what clothes to buy, it is somewhat disappointing that they have not...
Opinion: Be Still, Or Sick Of The Sibilation
By HOWARD FELDMAN Whereas I am not a coronavirus expert, I have been a hypochondriac for some years. I am also am a radio talk show host, author and a social commentator, which perhaps qualifies me in some way to speak of social impact of this illness. There have...
Opinion: Operation Optimism, Or Preparing A Perspective
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN On first blush there is ample reason to be miserable. The economic data released recently once again confirmed that South Africa is in a recession. An investment downgrade is more likely to happen than...
Opinion: Educate With Art, Or Investing In EQ
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By DAVID LIMBERT The arts are vital for personal and academic growth, but there is a lack of time, money and resources dedicated to the area in schools. Sport is highly prevalent in South Africa, and everyone understands...
Opinion: Just Do It – Cause And Reject, Or As You Like It
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN Courage! The conversation went something like this. “I really want to climb Kilimanjaro. Do you know any good causes?” “I know plenty of causes”, I answered, “but why would you need one to climb...
Opinion: Level-14 Craziness, Or Daughter Available, Voetstoots
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN “Would you consider adopting Abby?” I messaged two friends. “We will continue to pay the cost of her tuition and will also cover her hair products." I didn’t want to blindside anyone, especially...
Opinion: Trumped By A Danish, Or Buy The Beloved Country
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN Recently, if American media was to be believed, Donald Trump was apparently considering buying the island of Greenland. This was not the first time that Greenland was on the market and not the...
Opinion: Establishing The Ground Rules For Optimism, Or How To Be Positive When The Rest Of The World Isn’t
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN The road of life isn’t always happy. It has potholes and bad drivers and broken robots. Being happy isn’t about beaming with positivity as you navigate these challenges, it’s about recognising...
Opinion: Video Killed The Referee Star, Or The Growing Inhumanity Of Sport
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By BEN WRIGHT The Video Assisted Referee (VAR) first ruined rugby. Now it’s ruining football. I don’t mean so much as sport. I mean more as cultural expressions, human moments. We love sport because we identify...
Opinion: Exercising Exclusivity, Or Of Finance And FOMO
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By BRUCE DENNILL Exclusivity. “The practice of excluding or not admitting other things.” Or, “Restriction to a particular person, group, or area.” So the opposite of woke, then. The opposite of #MeToo. Kind of...
Opinion: Why The Youth Are No Longer A Cause For Grave Concern
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN South Africa is a magical country. It’s a place where truly anything can happen. And it so often does. Recently, social media erupted with images of a pastor who demonstrated his ability to...
Opinion: Don’t Emigrate In The Dark, Or Illuminating The Murkiness
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN Think that positivity is a strapline for stupidity as the lights go out across South Africa? Wrong… Loadshedding and the frustrations that walk alongside it aren’t a joke. No South...
Opinion – What It’s Like To Make Music In 2019, Or Art With The Past And In With The Present
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By JOHN ELLIS I have regular conversations with musicians and people currently involved in the business of making music. The people I talk to who are my age are mostly bewildered, while younger musicians or those...
Statement: Declaration of Support for the Copyright Amendment Bill
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]Dear President Ramaphosa Declaration of Support for the Copyright Amendment Bill We are writers, filmmakers, producers, photographers, actors, teachers, professors, students, learners, librarians, journalists, artists,...
Writing: Clothed In Conversation, Or Improvised, Then Revised
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By CST HARDING I have been asked how I set about writing a novel, and there is no easy answer. I have to write. It is a compulsion, sometimes a joy, and when it goes well it’s a relief to have a means to express my...
Writing: Teenage Trials, Or Imaginings Beyond Experience
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By LOHAN SL WIJERATHNE At just 14 years old, Sri Lanka's Lohan SL Wijerathne's is an experienced writer and published author. I began writing when I was nine. My head was teeming with ideas all the...
Short Story: Is It Too Late To Be Human Again?
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By MIKE JOSLIN James Walker was finding the reality of his impending death hard to cope with. He sat in his study reflecting on his life. He was dubious about the subject of religion, but tried to remain open to...
Opinion: On The Importance Of Musicing, Or Working With The Indefinable
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]By HERMAN THERON When I told my parents that I would like to study music after school, they told me that, though they know I sing very well, I should rather pursue a career that has the potential to add real value...
Writing: Publishing Perspectives, Or You Can Go Your Own Way
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By MIKE JOSLIN I think it’s fair to assume that although writing is thought of as an ‘art’, in general the written word is used only as a means of communicating ideas and substance. This isn’t to say that writing...
Opinion: Poetry – A Communicable Medium, Or Learning The Language Of The People
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By RAYMOND FENECH Poetry is an art as vast as the universe. As William Blake wrote, through poetry one should be able: "To see a world in a grain of sand/ And a heaven in a wild flower, / Hold infinity in the palm...
Writing: Confidence Begins At Home, Or When Building Blocks Are Broken
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By SOFIA ALEXIA Home is the place where most habits are learned: our parents teach us a lot. A father teaches us how a man should be and a mother teaches us how a woman should be. If a father is abusive or...
Marketing: The Power Of Blah Blah Blah, Or Mouthing Off About Books
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By MATTHEW SMITH There is one question authors always ask me – how will you market my book effectively (closely followed by "What do you mean you’re not printing 10 000?")? It’s a very valid question, and...
Opinion: The Future Of Festivals, Or Sensible Is Sexy
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By BRUCE DENNILL Parklife / Marks Park, Johannesburg “You know what I really like about this festival? You can go home after the set. Have some real comfort. No trying to find your tent in the mud and then...
Essay: Writing It Out, Or After The Alcohol
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By DEAN LILLEYMAN It’s gone midnight. I’m sat at a table. I have a blanket draped over my head and the laptop I am typing on. I am shivering as I type. Under the blanket it is too warm, but the sweat on my face...
Opinion: Audience Etiquette, Or Don’t Talk, Spanky; It’s Not A Conversation
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]By BRUCE DENNILL Stand-up comedy is a masochist’s vocation. Often, abuse is the most sincere form of appreciation, something that’s fair enough when an act’s material involves, as it often does, brutal satire of a...
Seen And Heard: The Best Of 2017
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By BRUCE DENNILL The below music, literature, film and theatre may not have been created or originally released during 2017, but it was only at some point during this year that I was able to see it, hear it or...
Opinion: Good, Better, Blogger
By BRUCE DENNILL Blogger. It’s a term that’s almost spat out, like a condition you might catch if you discuss it for too long. As media platforms go, blogs are often classed somewhere between penis enlargement flyers pasted onto suburban dustbins and first-time...
Opinion: Before We Disappear: Chris Cornell – In Memoriam
[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By BRUCE DENNILL I had two interactions with Chris Cornell. The first was after his set at the My Coke Fest music festival in Johannesburg in 2008, perhaps the most exciting reason ever to go to a racetrack in Alberton....
Opinion: Going Around A-Goon, Or Show Me The Funny
By JOHN ELLIS It’s a sign of our ever-deepening cultural poverty that I’d have to explain what I mean by ‘The Goons’. I’m talking, of course, of the one-and-only, groundbreaking, anarchic, pioneering, standard-setting Goon Show. The BBC radio comedy of the...
Seen And Heard: The Best Of 2016
By BRUCE DENNILL The below music, literature, film, TV and theatre may not have been created or originally released during 2016, but it was only at some point during this year that I was able to see it, hear it or read it. In all cases, I count myself lucky to...
Writing: How To Remain Anonymous, Or Covert In Glory
By JM SHORNEY Until today, in my sheltered writer's existence, I had not encountered any reference to the group who call themselves Anonymous. The members don Guy Fawkes masks, which I suppose lends an eerie but historic message, as Guy and his co-conspirators...
Opinion: Fantastic Mr Foxes, Or Of Leicester And Longinquity
By BEN WRIGHT In the late 1970s, my uncle wanted to go to Filbert St. My Grandmother said no. Like the stadiums of many a middling football club at the time, the home of Leicester City could be a rough place. English hooliganism was enjoying its dark hey day...
Seen And Heard: The Best Of 2015
By BRUCE DENNILL The below music, literature, film, TV and theatre may not have been created or originally released during 2015, but it was only at some point during this year that I was able to see it, hear it or read it. In all cases, I count myself lucky to...
Opinion: Back To The Future Imperfect, Or Caught In A Fox Trap
By JOHN ELLIS The costume designers of Back To The Future II were asked to imagine, from the viewpoint of 1988, how we’d all be dressing in 2015. As can be expected, they got it hilariously, entertainingly wrong. It’s 27 years later, and we still don’t have...
Opinion: First Week In Stewart’s Seat, Or Yes Or Noah?
By BEN WRIGHT Over the course of my ten years in the US, I’ve met numerous families who have adopted kids from overseas. While any adoption is ostensibly noble, I’ve always been somewhat troubled by the fact that there are so many children in the US waiting to...
Opinion: Pierneef Posers, Or Painting Over The Past
By GABRIEL CROUSE There is a taste war being waged in South Africa. On one side, a distaste for shame dominates. Let me put it this way: if your grandfather was sympathetic to evil social experiments, please don’t take me up to the attic and show me how nicely...
Writing: Scripting Tradition, Or Show And (William) Tell
By ALBRECHT BEHMEL What really fascinates me as a writer is the question why some stories enter tradition and others don’t. There is plenty of good stuff out there that nobody reads anymore. Material that is totally forgotten but once was really en vogue, like...
Opinion: The Gong Remains The Same, Or Getting Star-Stuck
By BRUCE DENNILL Before this year’s Naledi Awards, there was a Facebook kerfuffle about the nominations, and during and after the show, there was more of the same sort of chatter – verbally, this time – in the Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City and in the lobby...
Opinion: Art mArtyr – Not On Your Nolly, Or Frequent Frugal Filmmaking
By SIBUSISO MKWANAZI A good story usually takes really long to tell, and this is the case with Nigeria’s film industry, affectionately known as Nollywood. Give Nigerian directors, producers and actors enough time and they will do what they are doing in...
Awards: Seen And Heard – The Best Of 2014
By BRUCE DENNILL The below music, literature, film and theatre may not have been created or originally released during 2014, but it was only at some point during this year that I was able to see it, hear it or read it. In all cases, I count myself lucky to have...
Opinion: Art mArtyr – Forget To Book, Or Leaf Well Enough Alone
By SIBUSISO MKWANZI Every year, numerous literary awards including the Pulitzer, Man Booker and Goethe Prizes are dished out to those who pen riveting tales. These authors recognised evoke emotion, memories and untold feelings about an array of subjects. We all...
Opinion: Art mArtyr – Push-Up Performances, Or When Support Sucks
By SIBUSISO MKWANAZI The concept of an opening act is one that can be seen as a positive or negative aspect of any show, depending on your perspective. This idea is meant to offer much-needed exposure to up-and-coming performers, as they can piggy-back on...
Opinion: Art mArtyr – The HR/PR/A&R Axis, Or Seeing The Bigger Picture
By SIBUSISO MKWANZI It is imperative that all those involved in the arts and culture industry see the bigger picture. By bigger picture I mean that it takes more than just the front-end of the business - directors, cast members, scriptwriters, etc. to...
Opinion: Arts mArtyr – Learning From Littles, Or Small Mercies
By SIBUSISO MKWANAZI One of the joys of living in Gauteng is the wide array of activities that are on offer for families. And by this, I mean the kids are taken care of - any parent worth their salt will concur. They say a happy wife leads to a happy life, but...
Opinion: Art mArtyr – Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Why Don’t We Collaborate?
By SIBUSISO MKWANAZI I have a sneaking suspicion that artists are missing a beat when it comes to what they can do to rescue our ailing arts, besides highlighting the lack of funding and the government’s inadequate support. This thought was sparked by Mi Casa’s...
Opinion: Art mArtyr – The Value Of Arts And Culture (And Chicken Licken)
By SIBUSISO MKWANAZI Ironically, those tasked with delivering creative content to the rest of the population often find it difficult to describe the level of satisfaction they derive from fulfilling their destiny. But there has to be a reason why they do what...
Music: To The End of The World, Or How U2 Can Plan For Retirement
By BEN WRIGHT After five decades, U2 need an exit strategy. Black rappers do it better than white rockers. That’s my opinion anyway; though I’m sure fans with more intimate knowledge of musicians have split opinions. I’m talking about retirement, of course....
Music: A Reputation Waiting To Be Rescued, Or Reflections On Tree63 From A Guy Who’s Never Heard Of Gareth Cliff
By BEN WRIGHT Not many love affairs (musical of otherwise) start with a recommendation from your mother. As with many things, Tree63 was different (or Tree as they were known back when kids still played outside and people left their doors unlocked.) Before...
Opinion: The Death And Resurrection Of Live Music
By SIBUSISO MKWANAZI Those who have been infatuated with their tunes for extended periods of time will let you know that there are fewer live music venues than there were in the good old days. And they would be correct. Names of once great venues such as The...
Theatre: Soweto Theatre Expenditure – Steven Sack Responds
Former City of Joburg official Steven Sack was concerned about what he perceived to be inaccuracies in the story below (italics), which appeared recently in The Times. He has submitted his response for consideration (below the original story). Ninety percent of...
Music: 15 Years On – Secular Versus Spiritual, Or Reasons To Get Delirious?
By BEN WRIGHT What is Christian music? How is it different from music made by Christians? Is it different from church music? And why is it usually quite bad? As a worship leader, these are the sorts of questions I like to bore people to death with. However,...
Tribute: If Barry Is Ronge, I Don’t Want To Be Right
By BRUCE DENNILL Barry Ronge was recently recognised for his work as a writer, critic, columnist and commentator at the Sunday Times Literary Awards. He was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award further honoured by the renaming of the Sunday Times Fiction...
Opinion: Does Brazil Win, Or Panem-onium And Perspective
By JO-ANNE GARLAND As I sat with eyes glued to the festivities of the World Cup opening ceremony, I struggled to remove the contrasting images of rioting crowds outside the stadium from my mind. The scene bore an uncomfortable resemblance to Suzanne Collins’ dystopian...
Music: Five Things U2 Got Right On Pop
By JOHN ELLIS There were a zillion reasons why U2’s 1997 album Pop was considered to be the band’s nadir. Today, three studio albums and a billion dollars later, U2-watchers remain fiercely divided over the glitterball-y, Warholian K-Mart of an album that The Edge...
Books: No Apologies, Or Passion, Intelligence And The Futility Of Farting Around
By BRUCE DENNILL “To be properly committed to the writing process, you need to be sufficiently obsessed with the project” – Damon Galgut The Franschhoek Literary Festival 2014 was held from 16 to 18 May. It was superb experience, three days of brain food and...
Books: Serving A Short Sentence In Franschhoek
By BRUCE DENNILL This weekend, I’m a FLFer. It’s pronounced like that word, but it’s not nearly so hard on the knees. The Franschhoek Literary Festival is, as I write, half-way done, and it’s been its usual melange of the entertaining, intellectual, naïve,...
Opinion: Bye-Bye Book Day
By TAMSYN LUNT Today marks the annual celebration of World Book Day! We can all band together and bask in the glory of the classics. Of crime novels and fantasies. We can think fondly of the distinct smell of fresh chapters or of yellow-stained pages handled...
Opinion: The Survivors Of MH370
By CHRISTOPHER LEACH On March 8th, contact was lost with Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER en route from Kuala Lampur to Beijing. The absence of facts as to the fate of the flight at first left a vacuum swiftly filled by speculation, guesswork...
Appeal: Be A Benevolent
By BRUCE DENNILL Worrying about finance is for accountants. Think about how many situations you’ve observed, onscreen or elsewhere, where an actor asks a director: “What is my motivation for this role?” How many times has that director said: “What you need to...
Opinion: No Defence Is The Best Defence
By BRUCE DENNILL At the time of writing, the top four teams in the English Premier League – Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool – have goal differences of, respectively, 24, 38, 23 and 25.That is to say, each of those squads have scored that many...