Author: Douglas McLennan

Seattle’s Last Typewriter Repairman Dies At 96

When first profiled in The Seattle Times in 2014, he told about when he was 7 or 8 years old and went to the downtown Seattle shop of his father, also a typewriter repairman. The son helped by changing ribbons and cleaning machines. And so Mr. Montgomery ended up repairing the machines in Bushy Park in London. That was right where Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was stationed as supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force…

Why Composers Should Reconsider Whether To Enter Competitions

I have served as Chairperson and panelist for countless composer competitions and residencies over the course of the past twenty years. I have yet to witness any winner be selected because of a resumé stuffed with Important Sounding Awards. Not one. When the panelists and I looked at someone’s attached C.V., it was often just a passing glance. The composers who received these juried opportunities were selected because of one marvelous thing: the excellence and creativity of their music. Imagine that. And keep it in mind.

Explaining Jazz As An Art

The sad truth is that all too often jazz suffers the same kind of casual dismissal that hip-hop, country, and EDM used to get before they took over the mainstream. Granted, this might be something only a jazz lover would notice but since at least the ’70s, jazz has become something of a niche market, to put it mildly. In terms of yearly record sales, jazz usually sells as much as classical music does, one of the many things the two genres have in common. Far too often jazz comes off as dated or quaint; it’s your granddad’s make out music. Worse, there’s an implied snobbishness often projected onto loving jazz — it’s a little like explaining that you prefer to spend your Saturday nights translating Hegel or making artisanal cheese.

Hollywood’s Retirement Home Is, As You Might Expect, Pretty Interesting

One feature that differentiates the Motion Picture Country Home, as residents call it, from your run-of-the-mill retirement community: it has a TV channel. Founded about a dozen years ago, Channel 22 is a closed-circuit station run by and for MPTF residents, with assistance from a dedicated staff and hundreds of volunteers, including film-school students and current members of the industry. Its programming, which runs 24-7, is composed of older movies and TV shows and 12 hours of original content a day, including interviews with the residents about their experiences in entertainment—like a popular series called Behind the Silver Screen, in which folks will recall their work on a specific film or show before it airs on the channel

What Multi-Dimensional Inclusive Complex Theatre Looks Like

There are 14 actors in the enormously complex Off Broadway premiere of this ambitious bilingual play, a multigenerational drama that aims to be equally accessible to deaf and hearing audience members at every moment of every performance. There is one featured cast member and one shadow cast member for each of the seven characters. The shadow cast performs entirely in A.S.L.; the featured cast, in a mix of English and sign.

NEA Study: Arts Participation In America Is Up

The report paints a generally positive picture for the arts in America. Attendance at both visual and performing arts events is up significantly over the past five years, although it has yet to climb back to 2002 levels. In the 2017 survey, 43.4 percent of American adults—nearly 107 million people—reported they attended a live arts performance during the previous 12 months. That’s up significantly from 40.2 percent in 2012.

On What It Means To Matter

“The notion of mattering is intimately linked with the notion of attention. To say that something matters is to assert that attention is due it, the kind of attention that both recognises and reveals its reality. Something that matters has a nature that demands to be known, and the knowledge may yield other attitudes and behaviour due it. If I say that something doesn’t matter, I’m saying that it’s not worth paying attention to.”

How The Los Angeles Philharmonic Makes Itself Interesting

Fortunately, one thing we have a lot of in this organization is risk capital. Our board allows us to take chances — artistically and monetarily. Not every piece we commission is going to enter the repertory. Most work we commission is not. So, why do it? We do it as an investment in the art form, to push the boundaries forward, and keep our audiences informed and inspired.”

Plan For Giant Restaurant/Bar On Roof Of London’s Royal Festival Hall Shocks Preservationists

The idea is that the Pergola on the River, as it would be called, would be in place for three years. It would then be removed and the arts centre would go ahead with a long-held ambition to use the roof for open-air performances. But the Twentieth Century Society, a conservation group, said it was shocked by the proposals and would be objecting in the strongest terms.