John Shand Posts

February 7, 2017 / Concert Reviews - Archive

City Recital Hall, January 21 8/10 As we enter the new world order of trashing truth and reviling cultures perceived as alien, it was like sliding into a parallel universe to relish the nuanced and ancient musical world of Azerbaijan presented by Alim Qasimov’s sextet. Here was truth intertwined with…

February 5, 2017 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Hotel Blue, February 4 7.5/10 It’s no coincidence that the 1920s and the 1960s gave us a swag of the last century’s best songs: these were the two most culturally revolutionary decades, sharing a mad optimistic energy that the world could be changed for the better. In the ’20s, of…

February 1, 2017 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Hayes Theatre, January 31 8/10   It creeps up on you like a cancer. Perhaps the blithe, swirling decadence contributes in its way, helping make the conditions ripe, as a failing immune system does. When Herr Ludwig’s vividly red swastika armband first appears it has the shock-value of an open…