Posts Tagged ‘article’

Bookmarks for October 2nd through October 8th [del.icio.us]

Bookmarks for October 2nd through October 8th [del.icio.us]

Bookmarks from October 2nd through October 8th:[del.icio.us]

  • (Glen) Beck Tries to Kill Parody Website : Dispatches from the Culture Wars -
    “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the Did Glenn Beck Rape and Murder a Young Girl in 1990 website, but it’s fairly amusing. It’s a political satire of the style of argument Glenn Beck likes to engage in, which involves requiring that someone prove a negative (“prove you didn’t do X”) and making claims in the form of an interrogative (“Hey, I’m just asking questions here. I’m not saying he did this. What’s wrong with asking questions?”). Well now Beck is trying to kill the site by making a formal complaint (PDF) to an international internet governing body, the World Intellectual Property Organization. He wants the domain name taken away from the person who registered it…”
  • Manifesto (this one’s for you, Lindemann) « Là ci darem la mano -
    I, Maura, aka mlaffs on twitter, “so white I glow,” do hearby declare my intent: Firstly, that classical music is awesome. In fact, it’s so great that we should all take Alex Ross’ suggestion and start calling it “Awesome Music.” After all, “classical” is an arbitrary label, has negative connotations, and isn’t very sexy. Second, that my friends are the best. I was shocked and flattered by the overwhelmingly positive response when I suggested that I might want to start a blog. I can’t believe that people actually want to hear what I have to say! I’m just a mousy little second-year employee at a regional orchestra that likes to whine. Third, that strawberries are the best snack ever. I am going to start buying them more frequently. Actually, I’m going to start eating more fruits & veggies in general. I am so much more focused and energetic this afternoon than usual. Love it. …”
  • David Cross: An Open Letter to Larry the Cable Guy -
    “…Okay, here’s what I said in the RS interview: “He’s good at what he does. It’s a lot of anti-gay, racist humor – - which people like in America – all couched in ‘I’m telling it like it is.’ He’s in the right place at the right time for that gee-shucks, proud-to-be-a-redneck, I’m-just-a-straight-shooter-multimillionaire-in-cutoff-flannel, selling-ring tones-act. That’s where we are as a nation now. We’re in a state of vague American values and anti-intellectual pride.”
  • Will California become America’s first failed state? | World news | The Observer
    “Few places embody the collapse of California as graphically as the city of Riverside. Dubbed “The Inland Empire”, it is an area in the southern part of the state where the desert has been conquered by mile upon mile of housing developments, strip malls and four-lane freeways. The tidal wave of foreclosures and repossessions that burst the state’s vastly inflated property bubble first washed ashore here. “We’ve been hit hard by foreclosures. You can see it everywhere,” says political scientist Shaun Bowler, who has lived in California for 20 years after moving here from his native England. The impact of the crisis ranges from boarded-up homes to abandoned swimming pools that have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Bowler’s sister, visiting from England, was recently taken to hospital suffering from an infected insect bite from such a pool. “You could say she was a victim of the foreclosure crisis, too,” he jokes.”
  • Dudamel’s press briefing – The Arts Blog – OCRegister.com -
    “Dudamel was charming throughout, and genuine. I’m not cynical. The hype surrounding him may be hard to take at times, but he’s good, and appears to have his head on straight. His music directorship is going to be marked by his efforts to take classical music to the people, to the regular guy, but I don’t sense that he equates that with cheapening the product in any way. Just making it available to more folks. The phrase “creative use of digital platforms” was uttered, though not by him… …Underneath the hubbub, there are plenty of naysayers, atheists if you will. They give looks to each other, roll their eyes, just to show they’re not chumps. It doesn’t matter. It’ll all come out in the wash. The music’s the thing and we’re about to get to that”

Bookmarks for September 6th through September 20th [del.icio.us]

Bookmarks for September 6th through September 20th [del.icio.us]

Bookmarks from September 6th through September 20th:[del.icio.us]

  • 5 Ways to Build a Fascist-Proof America | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet – “America’s best (and perhaps only) chance to keep the shreds of its tattered democracy intact is to get serious about cutting working Americans back into the democratic contract — and repair their broken trust by making damn sure those promises are actually kept. Once they’re back on board, the system will begin to work again for everyone. Until then, the accelerating breakdown is just going to continue. It’s not going to be easy. Right-wing populism is riding so high among the middle and working classes right now that there’s nothing progressives can say right now that they’re likely to believe. So we need to let our actions do the talking — and there are five solid places we can start that will get their attention.”
  • Nick Hornby on the liberating effect of MP3 blogs | Music | The Observer – “In the year that High Fidelity was published, a new CD shop opened in my neighbourhood and rejuvenated my listening habits. The shop did well, initially, and I spent a lot of time in there, buying pretty much whatever the owners told me to buy; they were very clever, it seemed to me, in targeting the ageing (or perhaps, more precisely, ex-) hipsters of north London, people who were growing sick of their REM albums but didn’t know what else to buy. They sold hundreds of copies of Buena Vista Social Club, and a lot of tasteful trip-hop – which, as Simon Reynolds pointed out, was “merely a form of gentrification”. But then, what are you supposed to do if you’re becoming gentrified? Pretend it isn’t happening?”
  • Criticism « Proper Discord – “That the longest piece in the concert was played badly, and should have been cut. Mediocre performances aren’t just a boring waste of time. If nobody acknowledges that they are bad, it creates the illusion that there’s something the audience doesn’t get. They feel alienated, and they don’t come back. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t stage concerts if there’s a risk of doing them badly – there’s an element of creative risk in any good concert – but I am saying that we do ourselves a disservice when we create an environment that is hostile to the idea that there is room for improvement. There are plenty of ways you can dismiss my artistic criticism. Here are a few that I’ve seen:”
  • Artists Paid – REASONS I PREFER A LESS KNOWN BAND -”1. There’s a good chance you’ll talk to me 2. Even better, that you’ll know my name and not be a passerby 3. You appreciate/recognize individual supporters and interact with us closer 4. WE CAN ACTUALLY BUY TICKETS TO YOUR SHOWS 5. Sometimes you’ll come and play at ours because you can 6. Sometimes you’ll Tweet and say “I’m going to be playing here” and play there… FOR FREE 7. Sometimes you’ll spend four and a half hours playing all your songs back to back to say thank you 8. Sometimes you’ll send us emails or letters to individuals just to say ‘Hey, I like what you’ve been doing, thanks’ 9. I get to be in your album notes and contribute in various shapes and forms 10. The music quality isn’t actually WORSE than the big bands, and in some cases, exceeds it”

  • Bookmarks for August 9th through August 17th [del.icio.us]

    Bookmarks from August 9th through August 17th:[del.icio.us]

    • TRIUMPH OF HIS WILL: GQ Feature on Quentin Tarantino – “You can lie about a lot of things,” he says, “but your filmography doesn’t lie. It’s right there. And it doesn’t give a shit about why you did it.”
    • Clare Graham’s Wonderama – LA Times Magazine -”As for the question of art versus craft, Graham comes down definitively on one side. “I don’t like the terms outsider art, or naive art. What I do is craft,” he insists. “Fine art has a need to communicate something. My work is about simple processes done to the nth degree until the accumulation is significant.”
    • Lefsetz Letter » Amanda Palmer email; the new art of twitter and blogging – “BUT this is, hands fucking down, also why people listen, why they search, why they want art. connection = primary. music/art = secondary.”
    • Ready for the devil we don’t know -LA Times endorses a constitutional convention to fix CA budget mess -”A single initiative to end the current rule requiring a two-thirds supermajority of the Legislature to adopt a budget may be doomed at the ballot box. But opponents are more likely to accept the change if they can keep the supermajority to increase taxes and are assured that future taxes will no longer be disguised as “fees.”
    • Fieldnotes from a Rock Band Bar Night | – “Much to my surprise, the scene reminded me of the participatory tradition that was the focus of my first major research project: Sacred Harp singing, an American vernacular hymnody tradition that is open to anyone, regardless of perceived musical expertise, and that revolves around drop-in community “singings” rather than rehearsed performances for an audience. “
    • Views on Music and Life from an outpost.: Making the case for the musical amateur. -”think to say that people simply need more exposure to jazz, to classical music, etc- is only half-right. I think that people need to be directly involved. Make people an active part of any activity, and they are much more likely to stay engaged.”
    • This Blog Will Change the World: No neon arrows – “What we need here is a third option, one which avoids asserting the absolute superiority of any one musical style without sliding into relativism.”
    • YouTube – GAMEBOY FOOT CONTROLLER DEMO + 8BIT GUITAR -
      joey mariano [animal-style] demonstrates his GBC Gameboy Foot Controller
    • How American Health Care Killed My Father – The Atlantic (September 2009) -”Indeed, I suspect that our collective search for villains—for someone to blame—has distracted us and our political leaders from addressing the fundamental causes of our nation’s health-care crisis.”
    • A music lesson for LACMA’s film program | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times – “It is not without a twang of envy that I watch the film community react to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s announcement that the 40-year-old film program would go the way of the even older Monday Evening Concerts, which was thrown out on the cold street three years ago.”
    • Cal State Fullerton abruptly begins canceling classes – College Life OC – OCRegister.com -”Cal State Fullerton officials say the university has begun canceling classes, including those that were already underway, because its being required to make tens of millions of dollars in cuts to help the state balance its budget.”
    • WATTS ENSEMBLE: IF WE ALL GOT MOHAWKS -”What would I call the next punkest classical record? Fuck. I could tell you probably the Andy Kaufman of classical music, which is probably Terry Riley’s ‘In C.’ Don’t get me wrong—I love the piece but it almost feels like it’s daring you to like it. ‘In C’ is typically 45 minutes to an hour long and it’s everyone playing the phrases at the same tempo—but they play it staggered so it creates all these different patterns. It’s an amazing piece. But I’ve shown it to people before and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is driving me insane—I can’t deal with it.’ It’s kind of the same thing with Andy Kaufman. Some people were like, ‘Wow, this is fucking amazing’ and other people were like, ‘I can’t stand this guy.’”
    • The Fun Music Company Ultimate Flashcard Set -”In the Ultimate Instant Print Flashcard Set you get a comprehensive selection of printable flash cards that you print yourself, right from your computer.”
    • Create Digital Music » Hexagonal iPhone Sequencer-Rhythm Machine from Jordan Rudess -”Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess and noise.io developer Amidio have made a crazy-looking hexagonal sequencer for the iPhone. It comes with plenty of samples and factory sessions if you just want to play around…”
    • Terry Teachout Asks, Can Jazz Be Saved? – WSJ.com -”No, I don’t know how to get young people to start listening to jazz again. But I do know this: Any symphony orchestra that thinks it can appeal to under-30 listeners by suggesting that they should like Schubert and Stravinsky has already lost the battle. If you’re marketing Schubert and Stravinsky to those listeners, you have no choice but to start from scratch and make the case for the beauty of their music to otherwise intelligent people who simply don’t take it for granted. By the same token, jazz musicians who want to keep their own equally beautiful music alive and well have got to start thinking hard about how to pitch it to young listeners—not next month, not next week, but right now.”

    "Let's Burn that Puppy Down" Rex Reason/OC Weekly (2005)

    "Let's Burn that Puppy Down" Rex Reason/OC Weekly (2005)

    OC Weekly January 13, 2005 By Rex Reason

    “Paul Bailey saw a lot of space between pop art and high art and decided to fill it, rather than just rant about it over fish tacos and soda—although he does a pretty good job at that, too. The jovial, articulate composer/trombonist/bandleader is just as likely to talk about Wes Anderson or Love & Rockets comics as elements of the baroque chamber music his nine-piece ensemble—two violins, cello, vibraphone, synthesizer, electric guitar, bass guitar, clarinet and trombone, augmented by vocalists as necessary—draws on. It’s classical instrumentation and architecture, but the amplified guitars are front and center, enough to scare off the furs-and-tiara set. And that’s fine for Bailey, who’s proud of a distinctly un-academic—though definitely not uninformed—take on classical composition, something between Weezer and Wagner. With many of his musicians coming from Cal State Fullerton, his ensemble is familiar with gigs at local art galleries, churches and other impromptu performance spaces; this month, however, Bailey will debut Retrace Our Steps , a work based on writings by Gertrude Stein, Guy Debord and Jenny Bitner that was commissioned by the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in what Bailey describes as a happy accident.

    OC Weekly : So you left Kansas to become a professional musician in California, and you ended up . . . at Disney. How was that?

    Paul Bailey: It’s Disney. Anything anyone else has said? It’s true. I was trained to be a musician, I practiced very hard, and I got there, and I basically had to make farting noises on my trombone and play show tunes. At Disney, you don’t have a choice. We played the same 12 songs for four years.

    Is that what drove you to become a teacher?

    Being a teacher is the only way I can be a composer and a musician and not have my soul taken out of me. Being paid to play trombone or being paid to write music, I have to worry about who’s going to pay me next. Now, in a sense, I have no filter. I can write whatever I want. It can be shitty, but at least it’s what I want.

    So explain why you want to do what you do.

    I’m 36. Are people my age supposed to listen to pop music their whole lives? The whole music industry is set up to please a 17-year-old kid. I don’t mind listening to that stuff, but am I supposed to live my life through the eyes of a 17-year-old?

    But you told me earlier how much you like Weezer.

    I love Weezer. They’re one of my favorite bands, but it would be false of me to write pop songs or rock songs. Is rock and pop music the only way you can express yourself in today’s culture? If I had drums, we’d be a rock band. Right now, it’s very deliberate—I’m not a rock band, although I use rock instruments

    So is this something closer to an orchestra?

    Fuck the orchestra. Let’s burn that puppy down and start over. The orchestra’s proper place is the museum. The idea you’re getting some cultural experience that’s going to make your life better and it’s going to expand your mind is total bullshit.

    Then how do you reconcile the two forms?

    There’s the technical aspect where I can say, academically, we’re not modernist music. We believe in stuff that has the same chords as Weezer, the Beatles or Radiohead. I’m choosing to deal with music I grew up with and that interests me. But I don’t want to make people go through all these things to decide whether they like it or not. In my latest work (Retrace Our Steps), there might be a message, but the actual music takes very little to understand. You don’t need to listen to Michael Nyman or Steve Reich or Phillip Glass to listen to my music—although it’s based on them. You don’t need to understand hundreds of years of music history in your mind to listen to stuff I write.”