Home / Arts & Life (page 5)

Arts & Life

Readers’ Picks: 12 Motivating Workout Songs

Dear listeners, Last week, I shared a workout playlist and asked you to submit a song that motivates you to move. I thought I’d publish a few of the responses at the end of a future newsletter. But so many of you suggested such fun and varied selections that I’ve …

Read More »

The Best of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Openers

Dear listeners, Perhaps you have heard that Taylor Swift is currently on tour. I kid. Of course you have heard about the Eras Tour — the record-setting cultural juggernaut that nearly took down Ticketmaster. The concerts started in March, but Eras Tour fever shows no sign of abating. Fans are …

Read More »

11 Songs That Will Make You Want to Move

Dear listeners, I have heard some truly horrific music at the gym. I am loathe to even tell you about it, but if I must: I have been subjected to an EDM remix of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge” and a clubby re-imagination of Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” …

Read More »

8 New Songs You Should Hear Now

Dear listeners, I have a constantly replenishing playlist on my phone called “Thursday Nights and Friday Mornings.” It’s named for the time I do some of my most focused new-music listening, in preparation for the publication of the Playlist, a weekly feature that I compile with my colleagues Jon Pareles …

Read More »

Record Shopping in New Jersey: A Playlist From a Fresh Haul

Dear listeners, I love the unpredictability of walking into a record store with a regularly replenished New Arrivals section. You never know what you’ll find: maybe that obscure rarity you’ve spent years hunting down, maybe a familiar classic discounted too low to resist, maybe a chance purchase that sends you …

Read More »

Michaela Watkins Shares A Few Photos from Her Phone

The star of “Paint” contemplates work, canines, a coyote attack and mortality while bouncing between the coasts. April 7, 2023 Michaela Watkins describes herself as an actress who doesn’t know where she’s going to be next week. That’s only a small exaggeration. “Paint,” the comedy loosely based on the painter …

Read More »

Springsteen Comes Alive – The New York Times

Dear listeners, In October 2020 — a time when a lot of touring musicians were wondering when, and if, they’d ever play live again — I interviewed Bruce Springsteen over video chat.* He was preparing to release “Letter to You,” his first album with the E Street Band in six …

Read More »

Finding Peace in the City That Never Quiets Down

A New York City illustrator reflects on the unlikely serenity she has discovered in one particular part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. April 1, 2023, 10:00 …

Read More »

4 New Artists You Need to Hear

Dear listeners, Each year when I watch the Grammys, I am reminded of the absurdity of the best new artist category. New to whom, I always wonder. The qualifications are notoriously fuzzy and historically unstable — just ask the country musician Shelby Lynne, who released her debut record in 1989 …

Read More »

Spring Forward: Songs for a New Season

Dear listeners, A few days ago, I was buried up to my neck in volcanic sand. Literally, and by choice! My sister and I spent a very restorative weekend at a spa, to celebrate her upcoming wedding and to shake off a winter that had been a challenge for each …

Read More »