Tradition Meets Innovation at the Fifth Annual Maqam Fest
In a city with an abundance of smartly conceived and adventurous music events, Maqam Fest stands out for its unique vision and its broad and expanding constituency.
George de Stefano
George De Stefano is a New York-based writer and editor specializing in culture and politics. He is the author of An Offer We Can't Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) and a contributor to numerous other books, including the Routledge History of Italian Americans, Our Naked Lives: Essays from Gay Italian American Men (Bordighera Press), Mafia Movies (University of Toronto) and The Essential Sopranos Reader (University of Kentucky Presses). He is currently working on a book about the Sicilians of New Orleans. His articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in The Nation, Newsday, Film Comment, The Advocate, The Italian American Review, Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, and the online publications PopMatters, Rootsworld, and the New York Journal of Books, La Voce di New York and I-Italy. He also has appeared in the documentary films "Beyond Wiseguys," "The Godfather Legacy," and the four-part PBS series "The Italian Americans."
Lucinda Williams: The Ghosts of Highway 20
On her superb new album, Lucinda Williams takes the wheel for a memory trip down Highway 20.
Last Call at Folk City with Dominic Chianese
As the MC at New York's leading folk music venue, Chianese introduced many of the era's best-known and most influential figures.
New Americana Supergroup Cooder-White-Skaggs Thrills at Carnegie Hall
The music of the newly minted supergroup often was beautiful, and always beautifully played. But it rarely broke a sweat.
Lillian Faderman’s ‘The Gay Revolution’ Gives an Epic Sweep to a Story of Repression and Resistance
How does the amazing evolution in the image and status of gays and lesbians, as well as bisexual and transgender people, affect all Americans? What remains to be done?
Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet Offers Penetrating Psychological and Sociopolitical Insight
A committed feminist, Ferrante writes with often astonishing candor, even "ferocity", about women's lives, their conflicted relationships with their bodies, with each other, and with men.
Dr. John: The Atco/Atlantic Singles, 1968-1974
A new singles compilation captures a key era in Dr. John's six-decade career.
Keith Richards: Crosseyed Heart
Richards' first release in 23 years sounds neither like an old man's record nor a placeholder for the next Stones album.
Roberto M. Dainotto Explores the Making of the Mafia Myth
The Mafia: A Cultural History offers a Sicilian perspective on the enduring popularity of organized crime stories.
Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul
Dreams to Remember recounts the triumphs and tragedy of '60s soul icon Otis Redding
A Massive Attack on America’s Ideological Fiction
The WikiLeaks Files examines how 21st century American imperialism works; the military and economic interventions, the covert actions, the violations of national sovereignty and human rights.
What Is New Orleans Producer Carlo Ditta Talkin’ About?
A "keeper of the flame of funk", Carlo Ditta, releases his first album.