Concerned citizen and Bwog Arts Editor Henry Litwhiler explores the good and the dreadful in Miller Theatre’s opening night. Madness came to us last night. We anticipated it with a cheerful reserve, with the expectation of something quirky, imaginative, and unconventionally euphonic. And why should we have approached it any differently? What indication was there that could’ve warned […]

You’ve seen the tattered blue banner, but have you ever ventured to Schermerhorn’s own Wallach Art Gallery? Fresh off the success of last year’s Romare Bearden exhibition, the gallery now plays host to an impressive selection of etchings and engravings by Dutch master Rembrandt van Rinj. Amsterdam Bureau Chief Henry Litwhiler investigates. Few media lend themselves to […]

Bridge buff Henry Litwhiler explores the good deeds undertaken by your hyper-productive classmates. Maybe you’ve been living under a socially irresponsible rock, maybe you tune out at the utterance of the word “engineers,” or maybe you don’t trust people who don’t recognize boundaries. Whatever your excuse for ignoring the activities of Columbia’s chapter of Engineers Without […]

This year’s Spring Bacchanal was doomed to mediocrity from the start. Henry Litwhiler explores why. Of over 10,000 undergraduate students at Columbia, a total of 6,000 could have been given legitimate access to this year’s Bacchanal. Of those 6,000 spots, perhaps 5,000 were actually reserved by students, and fewer than 3,000 of them were present at any […]

Daed(alus)head Henry Litwhiler makes it to the Quartet’s (inner) circle. Something about “a setting that breaks down the barriers between audience and performers” was too good pass up. The Daedalus Quartet is well-regarded in musical circles and as close to famous as a quartet is likely to get these days, so it was surprising to see their name […]

Baroque buff Henry Litwhiler shines rare appreciation on the elegance of Ohio-based group Les Délices. Saturday’s concert, entitled “Myths & Allegories,” came as part of Miller Theatre’s “Early Music” series, which speaks volumes about the Theatre’s narrow sense of time. It was undoubtedly only with great difficulty that the Theatre capped the series with the baroque instead of extending […]

Bannerman of the baroque Henry Litwhiler revisits Bach with Miller Theatre’s “Bach, Revisited” series. The title of the series is troublesome. “Bach, Revisited” implies that we had, at some point, left behind one of the greatest composers to ever put ink to paper. It implies, further, that the world had at some point deemed Bach’s works […]

First-time drama reviewer Robert Sheardown went to Columbia University Players’ production of Dead Man’s Cell Phone, which has its last performance tonight at 8:00 PM. Dead Man’s Cell Phone was a delightful romp through surprisingly eerie lighting, comedic yet crazed monologues, and the increasingly (albeit intentionally) annoying cell phone ringtone employed by the sound crew. Although […]

Bwog’s resident music critic and your very own brave patron of percussion, Henry Litwhiler, braved the Miller Theatre’s Composer Portraits Series last night. He didn’t leave alone. Lest the title confuse you: the subject of last night’s Composer Portrait was (the music of) Augusta Read Thomas, a well-regarded American composer and music educator whose works have seen successful […]

Wondering what could possibly be going on behind the closed doors of the former Uni Cafe, Bwog Detective Henry Litwhiler takes a stab at uncovering a secret dog grooming scheme in the abandoned store. I’d been waiting for three months to see one of those miserable establishments fade into memory. When the Uni Cafe finally breathed […]

One tipster overheard the following exchange between two Schermerhorn denizens: Girl 1: Yeah, it’s like, sometimes my mom will buy me a $700 keychain but not a $700 jacket. Girl 2: Yeah, moms are weird like that sometimes. We at Bwog are no strangers to this bizarre double-standard. Please: if you know any moms who tend […]

After muddling though Missy Mazzoli’s repertoire two weeks ago, acolyte of the avant-garde Henry Litwhiler explores the depths of masochism at the Miller Theatre’s latest Composer Portrait, Italian composer Stefano Gervasoni. Stefano Gervasoni was classically trained under Luca Lombardi, Niccolò Castiglioni, and Azio Corghi at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan and, after a career that brought him […]

With Darwin’s birthday in just two days, colleges around the United States are doing various activities to commemorate “Darwin Day.” Columbia is no exception; Bwog sent our resident Darwin expert/ Saturday daily Henry Litwhiler to check out Western Carolina University Professor James Costa’s perspective on Darwin. When most people contemplate—as they often do—the early days of […]

Classical connoisseur Henry Litwhiler spent thirsty Thursday drinking from the beer bong of beauty at Miller Theatre’s Composer Portrait of the unclassifiable Missy Mazzoli. Dubbed in 2010 by Time Out New York as “Brooklyn’s post-Millenial Mozart,” composer Missy Mazzoli has enjoyed mounting fame in the New York and global classical scenes. Her 2012 premiere of Song […]

Take a moment, this finals season, and remember this school’s long and noble past. Remember the simpler times, the more idyllic times, the times when prostitutes gathered across the street and young men stole wine from our president. Debauched Bwogger Henry Litwhiler brings you a moment from our glorious, degenerate history.  “King’s College” summons up certain idyllic images […]