Fearless Texas Singer-Songwriter and Playwright Jo Carol Pierce Has Died

Known for honky-tonk manifesto Bad Girls Upset by the Truth

"...art and cabaret music, as in Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill or Jacques Brel or even (amazingly) Noël Coward.”..."

Dec. 5, 2022 Music Post by Doug Freeman

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

"...was written by Bertolt Brecht, a Marxist playwright, and Kurt Weill, a left-wing composer, for The Threepenny Opera, a..."

Oct. 4, 2019 Column by Mr. Smarty Pants

Ernie Kovacs

Breaking the fourth wall with the legendary comedian

"...undulating to the quavering voice of Wolfgang Neuss singing Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife" in German, his proto-LGBTQ poet..."

May 12, 2017 Screens Column by Marc Savlov

Back to a Shadow in the Night

Collected works of Jonathan Cott takes music criticism into deep territories

"...discussing the work of Edgard Varèse, Charles Ives, and Kurt Weill. Yet Cott's education allows him to informatively, rather..."

Dec. 5, 2014 Music Feature by Michael Toland

The Road to Urinetown

Composer Mark Hollmann on the show's creation and success

"...me was: Who else is getting this? The Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill stuff and The Cradle Will Rock and that..."

Aug. 30, 2014 Arts Post by Robert Faires

Fun Fun Fun Fest Live Shot: Sparks

Kurt Weill would be impressed

"...soon-to-be-filmed opera The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman would impress Kurt Weill, while glam waltz “Falling in Love With Myself..."

Nov. 10, 2013 Music Post by Richard Whittaker

Dawn Upshaw

The celebrated singer of opera and musical theatre knows how to use the tools for doing her job

"...the work of composers Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, and Kurt Weill, but it was the third track – "What..."

April 5, 2013 Arts Feature by Adam Roberts

Beck

"...a great turn that immediately recalls classics such as Kurt Weill's "September Song," which starts the same way. And..."

Jan. 25, 2013 Music Review by Graham Reynolds

Think 'New' Music

eighth blackbird helps Texas Performing Arts change how we regard classical

"...that still strikes the ear as "modern": songs by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht and the groundbreaking cabaret opera..."

Jan. 25, 2013 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Elias Haslanger

Jazz Sides

"...he breathes fresh ideas into Randy Weston's "Hi-Fly" and Kurt Weill's "Speak Low." After a six-year recording hiatus, Elias..."

Sept. 21, 2012 Music Review by Jay Trachtenberg

Darren, the Devil and the Drowned Souls

Saw' director Bousman opens the tent of 'The Devil's Carnival'

"...hurdy-gurdy stylings. Zdunich borrows a threepenny or two from Kurt Weill and repays tenfold. In a fair and just..."

April 18, 2012 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

Mr. Lewis & the Funeral 5

"...hits full speed on "Villa Nocturne," while "Alcohol," a Kurt Weill-inspired Kinks cover, is a shrewd match. Unorthodoxy works..."

Sept. 9, 2011 Music Review by Jim Caligiuri

Control Shift

Thoughts on adjusting to hard times from former opera director Kevin Patterson

"...I'm going to give you a double bill of Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins and Schoenberg's Erwartung," which..."

May 13, 2011 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Saturday Preview

"...Leme, and singer Bia Mendes lead their septet through Kurt Weill-ian carnival rock. Mind the brown acid. – Raoul..."

Nov. 5, 2010 Music Feature

Who Knows Where the Time Goes

Both sides now – 50 years ago and now the iGeneration

"...tunes were from theatrical productions, including "Pirate Jenny" from Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, and Collins exercised outrageously creative..."

Aug. 27, 2010 Music Feature by Margaret Moser

The Doors

"...(and L.A. Woman's) "Crawling King Snake" before Weimar Republican Kurt Weill's "Alabama Song," which stokes the "poontang blues" of..."

Dec. 11, 2009 Music Review by Raoul Hernandez

Paris 36

This French film set in late-Thirties Paris is something of a backstage drama, but it's marred by glossy reminiscing and melodramatic politicizing.

"...blackly satirical works of George Grosz, Bertolt Brecht, or Kurt Weill. Paris 36 plays like a heavily politicized Moulin..."

April 24, 2009 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Letters @ 3AM

Jo Carol Pierce's music says: Go the distance, baby, and find out – find you

"...art and cabaret music, as in Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill or Jacques Brel or even (amazingly) Noël Coward...."

March 14, 2008 Column by Michael Ventura

SXSW Showcases

"...bring the curtain down with the sweeping theatricality of Kurt Weill by way of Nick Cave on latest Murder..."

March 7, 2008 Music Feature

The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera, the deliciously caustic musical by Brecht and Weill, has been reinterpreted by Austin Playhouse, with unfortunate results, as a kind of broad slapstick

"...Bertolt Brecht and the brilliantly dissonant musical talents of Kurt Weill, has been reinterpreted by Austin Playhouse, with unfortunate..."

June 29, 2007 Arts Review by Iris Brooks

Fay Grim

The lunatic charm of Parker Posey is the best reason to see this wild, borderline-screwball sequel to Hal Hartley's 1998 film, Henry Fool.

"...a character whose clownish authority plays like one of Kurt Weill's earnest oddball strays. Hartley's film doesn't match up..."

May 18, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Hellbent for Pleather

A thousand lashes with Mistress Stephanie.

"...(Whiskey Bar)," which is actually a cover of a Kurt Weill song, which is appropriate, as some of the..."

Feb. 7, 2007 Music Post by Audra Schroeder

Nine Inch Nails

Live shot

"...Shouting Marianne Faithfull-by-way-of-Kurt-Weill and sporting a look straight out of Cabaret, stark..."

June 3, 2005 Music Review by Margaret Moser

Za vashe zdorov'ye, Shostakovich!

Fifteen local arts organizations work together to celebrate Shostakovich's 100th birthday

"...didn't do much to mark the recent centenaries of Kurt Weill, Aaron Copland, Richard Rodgers, or William Walton, and..."

March 18, 2005 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Backward 'Spin'

Catherine Berry explains how to reverse engineer your very own musical

"...of Stephen Sondheim, Johnny Mercer, Jacques Brel, Shelby Lynne, Kurt Weill, and Amy Rigby with original monologues by such..."

Aug. 20, 2004 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Not Your Father's Musical (Or Your Kid's, For That Matter)

Three local shows show breaking into song ain't what it used to be

"...musical diamonds by Cy Coleman, Stephen Sondheim, Irving Berlin, Kurt Weill, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Loewe, Jacques Brel,..."

Aug. 13, 2004 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Human Marvels

Texas Platter

"...gentle lilts of Nino Rota and twisted turns of Kurt Weill. The lush, Eighties-tinged pop balladry of instrumental "Paper..."

Aug. 1, 2003 Music Review by Kate X Messer

The Cinema of Dual Citizens

In the upcoming series Driven into Paradise: European Émigré Directors 1933-1950, the Austin Film Society will be screening (at the Alamo Drafthouse) six classic films reflecting the ethical sensibilities and aesthetic innovations of these exiled masters.

"...satirical romantic-comedy/crime-picture featuring musical numbers by Bertolt Brecht collaborator Kurt Weill. Neither audiences nor critics took to it, but..."

April 18, 2003 Screens Feature by Will Robinson Sheff

GVSB

Jazz Sides

"...Paris-based Dee Dee Bridgewater gives a refreshing twist to Kurt Weill on This Is New (Verve), her flamenco-tinged "Bilboa..."

Oct. 25, 2002 Music Review by Jay Trachtenberg

Ex-Girl, Red Eyed Fly, Friday, March 16

Live Shots: South by Southwest 2001

"...to spare Friday night. As their rollicking rendition of Kurt Weill's "Alabama Song" played, the trio took to the..."

March 23, 2001 Music Review by Greg Beets

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