When Gary Clark Jr.’s right hand hits the strings of his electric guitar, it’s almost always a downstroke — as if he wants gravity on his side. At a crammed Mercury Lounge on Tuesday, the notes fall off his guitar like raindrops. Ripe fruit. Bombs. Sixties-inspired blues-rock shouldn’t steal your breath so easily in 2011, but Clark’s playing can be almost paralyzing. A dumbstruck front-row fan can’t seem to get his hands to clap between songs. “Wow,” he says, arms pinned to his sides. “Wowwowwow.” Read full article > >

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Blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr. is poised to be a breakout star in 2012

Georgetown has a scholarship with your name on it … if your name is Murphy. Arthur J. Murphy Jr., a 1969 Georgetown University graduate, established a scholarship “to be given to an undergraduate student in the College whose surname is Murphy,” and who is needy. Only if no eligible student is found can the money go to a needy non-Murphy. Read full article > >

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Endowing scholarships, attaching strings

The very first note of Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony signals that you’re in for something on a whole new scale. It’s a single note, an A, in the strings, quiet and sustained, evoking the humid tang of sulfur in the air and the pregnant hush before rain. But that single note extends over seven octaves — that is, it’s being played from the lowest to the highest ranges in the orchestra. It’s at once tiny and huge and intensely personal. This is why Mahler, who died 100 years ago this week, remains one of today’s most popular symphonists: It’s this personal quality to his music, the sense that, at bottom, it’s really about you. Read full article > >

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On anniversary of Mahler’s death, composer is remembered as one for all time

The Opera Company of Philadelphia’s announcement of a new, three-year, salaried residency with benefits and few strings attached should have composers jumping to apply.

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Opera residency: music to composers’ ears

Okay, feel free to poke fun at me for incorrectly predicting the box office winner for the first time this year, but note that I did say The Rite was working off some pretty decent buzz and that it certainly had the best shot to take that number one spot. That counts for something, right? But yes, The Rite did wind up taking the weekend box office with $15 million, beating out last week’s winner, No Strings Attached ($13.7 million), by a little over a million smackers. The other new release for the week, The Mechanic, slid into third with $11.5 million, while awards buzz helped The King’s Speech land fourth with $11.1 million. Meanwhile, that feisty Western True Grit still managed to hang around the top five with a fifth place finish of $7.6 million. As we do whenever a new… Read More Read Comments

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Poll: You Rate the Box Office Winner: The Rite

Last week belonged to the Ashton Kutcher/Natalie Portman film No Strings Attached, which romanced moviegoers to the tune of $19.7 million last week. Not far behind was The Green Hornet ($17 million) and The Dilemma ($9 million), followed by awards favorites The King’s Speech ($7.8 million) and True Grit ($7.3 million). This week we say goodbye to what felt like a month full of mediocre comedies and hello to some action and a few scares. Let’s take a look … The Mechanic What’s The Scoop: In this remake of a 1972 Charles Bronson film, Jason Statham stars as an elite hit man who teaches his trade to a man (Ben Foster) that has a connection to one of his previous victims. Why It Might Win The Weekend: Jason Statham means action and Ben Foster means good acting… Read More Read Comments

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Box Office Poll: Who Will Win The Weekend (1/28-1/30)

It’s a far cry from the acclaimed Black Swan, but Natalie Portman’s new romantic comedy with Ashton Kutcher, No Strings Attached, was a hit at the box office on Friday. According to studio estimates, it’s on pace to finish the weekend at $20 million….

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No Strings Attached Tops Box Friday Office