A man named Irv Teibel took the idea of musique concrète – which is, after all, what recordings of outdoor sounds are – and hustled it into a commercial relaxation-aid that fit perfectly with the America of the late ’60s and ’70s.
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Story Of The Casio And ‘The Tinny Electronic Music Revolution It Fostered’
“In the late 1970s, a man who had changed the business world by turning massive calculators into handheld devices decided that he wanted to scratch another itch. And with that itch scratched, he introduced a world of creativity to bedroom warriors around the country – a set of training wheels to the musically inclined.”
Why Did Maui The Demigod In ‘Moana’ Get So Enormous? Is This An Ugly Polynesian Stereotype? Not At All, Say The Creators
Disney’s animators – who took a lot of care to consult Hawaiians, Samoans and other Polynesians while developing the film – explain how the character got to look the way he did over a five-year process.
Revered Landscape Architect Diana Balmori Dead At 84
New Yorkers will recognize her floating island of water-filtering plants in the Gowanus Canal (Brooklyn’s own Superfund site) and the palm-filled Winter Garden in the former World Financial Center (currently Brookfield Place). But among her greatest projects are the reclamation of an old industrial area in Bilbao and the landscape plans (which were integrated from the start with the built architecture) of South Korea’s new administrative capital, Sejong City.
How ‘The Christians’ Ended Up At America’s Leading Jewish Theater Company
Washington, DC’s Theater J has gone through more than a little turmoil over what it has presented in recent years; even so, it’s not where you’d expect to see Lucas Hnath’s play about a conflicted megachurch. Adam Immerwahr, the company’s (new-ish) artistic director, explains why he’s producing The Christians and how he’s made over DC’s Jewish Community Center into a megachurch.
2,800-Year-Old Egyptian Sarcophagus, In Excellent Condition, Unearthed At Luxor
“Sarcophagi are much more than simple containers for the departed, and the pictorial script on this one records that it belonged to a man named Amenrenef, who once served as a royal court advisor.”
Oxford’s Word Of The Year For 2016 Is Way Too Apt For Comfort
Collins Dictionaries’ choice was Brexit. Their Oxonian colleagues didn’t opt for Brexit or for any variation on Trump; what they did choose is all too relevant to both.
What Constitutes Success In The Arts In The 21st Century?
After leading with a set of disheartening statistics – culminating is the estimate that, even for the few that make a full-time living from their work, only about 20% of their time goes into the actual making of art – writer Alexis Clements spoke with four artists about better ways to define success than money earned or not needing to have a day job.
Nacho Duato, After Berlin Misadventure, Says He Will Not Direct Another Dance Company
The Spanish choreographer, who earned worldwide renown at the helm of the Compañía Nacional de Danza in Madrid, has not had an easy time of it at the Staatsballett Berlin – which announced in September, three years ahead of time, that his contract would not be renewed. Back in Madrid for a gala, Duato explains what he’ll do instead. (in Spanish; Google Translate version here)
NY Phil’s $200K Composer Prize Goes To Louis Andriessen
The 77-year-old Dutchman, whose influence on contemporary music in the U.S. has been great, is the third winner of the Philharmonic’s Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music, which also includes a commission for a new orchestral work.