Name: Jon Sobel
Dateline: New York City
Weblog: jonsobel.com [RSS]
Articles: 380
First Published: Thursday, January 15, 2004
Last Published: Monday, November 24, 2008
Jon Sobel is Blogcritics' theater editor, reviews NYC theater frequently, and writes a regular round-up of independent music releases. He is also a computer professional, musician, and small-time concert promoter in New York City. (His original band, Whisperado, can be blogcriticized at will, and you can also find him playing bass and singing in the Kings County Blues Band.)Currently listing articles 380-351:
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DVD Review: Composing the Beatles Songbook: Lennon and McCartney 1966-1970— A new film focuses on the climactic period of Lennon and McCartney's legendary songwriting partnership.
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Theater Review (NYC): Zero by Danny and Robert O'Connor— Danny O'Connor plays a batch of wayward twenty-somethings in an impressive, if frustrating, one-man show.
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Music Review: East Village Opera Company - Olde School— The operatic tradition has always had a place in rock and pop, but this band comes at it from the other direction.
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Theater Review (NYC): Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Presented by the Queen's Company — Get shipwrecked with Viola and Sebastian in the Queen's Company's hilarious, updated but fully Shakespearean take on the classic comedy.
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Book Review: Wandering Star by J. M. G. Le Clézio— A novel about two refugees, one Jewish and one Palestinian, reminds us that there is no simple right or wrong.
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Music Review: Indie Round-Up - Matt Morris, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Asylum Street Spankers— Matt Morris's high, fluty tenor wafts his words into your consciousness like a message carried on the wind.
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Theater Review (NYC): Oh, Whistle...: Two Ghost Stories by M R James— Immerse yourself in the macabre mind of M R James, the master of the English ghost story.
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Burning the Future: Seeing the Lights Go Off On Broadway— A new documentary raises the question of where we should be living.
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Music Review: Indie Round-Up - Laura Vecchione, Red Wanting Blue, and More— Laura Vecchione's second disc is a consummately crafted and craftily written set of tunes that touch on commercial country, country-rock, and alt/Americana.
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DVD Review: Sunshine Superman: The Journey of Donovan— This two-disc set is a close look at Donovan's life, music, and, maybe even more interesting, his times.
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Theater Review (NYC): The Pumpkin Pie Show— Clay McLeod Chapman's story-monologues dig for the gory innards of the human soul.
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Theater Review (NYC): To Barcelona! by Michael Niederman— In a new work, a playwright honors his grandfather and all the other Americans who illegally went to Spain to fight against Franco.
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Moments of Redemption— Humanity rears its mild, non-hate-filled head. Twice in one day!
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Book Review: Capote in Kansas - A Ghost Story by Kim Powers— What might have been a lovely and haunting story collapses under the double-team pressure of mawkishness and bad writing.
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A Visit to Fort Totten— New York was too important a mercantile center to risk leaving vulnerable to an alliance between the Confederacy and the British.
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Theater Review (NYC): The Night Carter Was Bad by Ben Cikanek— Commitment problems are the standard male character flaw of our age, but "Carter" is a compelling, even sympathetic bastard.
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Indie Round-Up: Cadillac Sky, Lewis, Dupree, Dunn, Minissale, Vigil, The Break and Repair Method— Cadillac Sky is every bit a bluegrass band, but the Texas quintet quietly expands the frontiers.
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The Politics of "Why"— Instead of taking offense at one another's convictions, let's ask each other why.
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Music Review: The Keith Reid Project - The Common Thread— Procol Harum's legendary lyricist collaborates with John Waite, Southside Johnny, Terry Reid and more on his first solo CD.
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Indie Round-Up: Boggia, Coppola, Saunders, Jezzro— Jim Boggia makes melodic, smart pop that's warmhearted but never overheated.
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Barack Obama's Uneasy Marriage of Reason and Faith— Can he walk the lines between intellect, charisma, and faith steadily enough to appeal to independent and moderate voters?
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9/11: In Me For Good— All it takes is a few images on a screen, or even a glance out the window, to bring it all back.
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Theater Review (NYC): Sa Ka La by Jon Fosse— Two sisters' helplessness in the face of their mother's precipitous decline rides a wave between heartrending and frustrating.
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Book Review: The Likeness by Tana French— Tana French raises the bar with her second mystery set in booming, confused, 21st century Ireland.
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Indie Round-Up: Mojomatics, Duane Andrews, Brandie Frampton, Alex Statan— Canadian guitarist Duane Andrews grafts strains of the traditional music of Newfoundland onto Django Reinhardt-inspired "gypsy jazz."
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Theater Review (NYC): One Nation Under by Andrea Lepcio— Rich folks' conservative views grate against the realities of inner city working-class life in this gripping play.
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Music Review: Putumayo Presents: Acoustic Arabia— It's sad when artists (and others) have to leave their native lands to pursue their dreams.
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Really Bad Promo Copy— The names have been deleted to protect the stupid.
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Music Review: Indie Round-Up - Bonet, Jeanrenaud, Citizens, True Heart, Sakata— Former Kronos Quartet cellist Joan Jeanrenaud releases her first solo CD of all original compositions.
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Theater Review (NYC): 7 Stories by Morris Panych at the Gene Frankel Theatre— An Everyman contemplates jumping to his death while an assortment of hilarious eccentrics babble on.
All BC Articles