Art and Culture

I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Katlyn Greenidge is a spectacular young woman just coming out of her first novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman.  She has won a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, among other awards.  Libertie is her second novel.

A Dutch painter in the 1600s created images that can still tug at the human soul.

Last  month, I spent a few days at the National Gallery in Washington DC and there was a particular painting I wanted to see:  a work by a Dutch artist named Johannes, or Jan, Vermeer called Woman Holding a Balance. If I’m forced to pick (or if you’re playing “David & Art” trivia) it’s my favorite painting.

Vermeer was born in the Netherlands in 1632 and his life overlapped with other painters of what’s referred to as the Dutch Golden Age—people like Franz Hals, Judith Leyster, and, most famously Rembrandt.   In these paintings you’ll find lots of interior scenes:  lots of tables overflowing with food and

Walter Hawkins brings the whole band together on the legendary two-LP live set, The Hawkins Family from 1980.

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From the return of Waco Walks to styrofoam recycling and lots of entertainment, here are some events happening in and around Waco this week.  

Vist ActLocallyWaco.org to see the full calendar of events.

I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

According to Wikipedia.  “Mary Jane Oliver passed on January 17, 2019.  She was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.  Her work is inspired by nature, rather than the human world, stemming from her lifelong passion for solitary walks in the wild.  In 2007 she was declared to be the country's best-selling poet.” (Wikipedia) I felt a kinship with her works, and I miss her every day.

A Teflon budget helps us to have access to some of the world's greatest art. 

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The government supported National Gallery is a treasure for the whole country.

Last week I mentioned that I had recently spent three days in a row at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.  If you’re perhaps going there this summer, definitely put the National Gallery on your to-do list. 

As an institution of the national government, although not part of the Smithsonian system, the Gallery gets much of its annual budget from congress.

In 2013 the Washington Post called that budget “Teflon,” because whereas the budget of other cultural institutions like the National Endowment for the Arts often 

Austin Layne and the Layne Ensemble’s “Have Mercy, Lord” is a wonderful mixture of traditional and modern gospel music.

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I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Betcha’ thought I’d run out of novels set in Libraries and bookstores!  Well, here is a story of love and depression.  The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is just what the book reviewer ordered.  Matt is the author of the internationally bestselling memoirs Reason to Stay Alive, along with five novels, including How to Stop Time, as well as several award-winning children’s books.  Somehow, I felt this novel was going to speak to me.

The National Gallery of Art, one of the country’s best museums, has reopened after a long closure.

A couple of weeks ago I spent a few days in Washington DC doing research at the library of Congress. The library had just reopened post pandemic and because they were limiting the number of researchers who could be in the reading room at any one time, people had to reserve specific three-hour blocks each day, either morning or afternoon; you couldn’t just go in and stay all day. For five days

Jessie Glover brings a deep, soulful groove to “Hard Times.”

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This week, host Kennedy Sam speaks with local artists Jonathan and Sarah Martin, owners of Black Oak Art and Gather in downtown Waco, and Samuel Thomas & Louis Hunter with Deep in the Heart Film Festival, coming to Waco in July.

Music teachers have one of the central and most crucial roles in the art world.

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For more than 40 years, the Gospel Blenders have been one of their hometown of Philadelphia’s favorite gospel ensemble.

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