NYT: All Ears on Screen: Music and Musicians Play Major Role at Toronto Festival “…But music was also stealing the show in some less expected places. “The Secret Life of Bees,” a coming-of-age drama set against the civil rights struggles of 1964, turns out to be stitched together, emotionally speaking, with a cello. Through much … [Read more…]
http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/yonder_mountain_barack_obama_2008 And sorry to indulge (for a sec) but, when I saw Barack’s “Top Ten” song list, it did cross my mind that the next President of the United States might actually dig my music…http://www.nationaljournal.com/conventions/co_20080828_4414.php I saw BLP, Cheryl Crow, Kanye West, Stevie, Michael McDonald. Blue Grass opened the day at Invesco and reentered immediately … [Read more…]
“This is the person who would play the piano to calm me down before all of my big games in high school.” – Craig Robinson on his sister Michelle Obama http://www.demconwatchblog.com/2008/08/remarks-of-craig-robinson.html—–
Music as a civic strategy: books reviewed in this week’s Economist — “FOR Plato the art of music was so firmly anchored in moral and political reality that any alteration to the musical system would necessarily require a corresponding political shift.” Great Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, calls it “Interbeing” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Interbeing). The intellectuals reviewed … [Read more…]
As most athletes know, music can help create a winning mind-frame. Boxers often walk out to the ring with their favorite track blaring in the background. Football and basketball teams can usually be found getting amped up in the locker room to a playlist of songs specifically designed to gear them up for the game. … [Read more…]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7553117.stm—–
“You can’t walk down the street with a ukulele without being asked about it,” said Chris Johnson, who plays the instrument with the Deedle Deedle Dees, a Brooklyn-based rock band for children. “I teach some kids music lessons, usually starting with piano, but they are all interested in ukulele.” What the world seems to need … [Read more…]
…performing West African rhythms with his students from Umana Barnes, Public Middle School in East Boston, MA. cool huh? he tells me those kids never skip his class… check out Jeremy’s party here: http://www.thisworldmusic.com/whoweare.html—–
From NYTimes today: “A career in the arts has always been difficult to establish. But in the last few years the process of breaking in has changed as digital technologies and shifting economics profoundly alter the ways in which art is made, popularized and consumed. Perhaps no entertainment industry has changed as rapidly as the … [Read more…]
“They had enrolled in the summer band camp operated by the Marching 100. For the campers, these eight days offered a kind of initiation; for the band, they offered the chance to recruit future members and to spread its ecstatic performance style literally around the world.” “In the nation’s historically black colleges, marching bands have … [Read more…]