In Portland, Oregon ArtsWatch’s Matthew Neil Andrews is writing a series about classical music and meaning. For instance: We know music can help people process trauma (think of the Boston Symphony playing Beethoven’s Funeral March from the Eroica the afternoon JFK was murdered) – but what if it’s designed to do that? Does that change the experience? And “the main question is whether using music to address these issues is appropriate and effective. What good do these shows do, in terms of actually stimulating change?” – Oregon ArtsWatch
Author: ArtsJournal2
On The One Hand, Instagram Brings Ballet To The Masses
And on the other hand, dancers really have to keep their feeds up to become big stars. It’s a responsibility far away from the rehearsal studio. – The Observer (NY).
Marilyn Yalom, Who Wrote About The History Of The Breast And The History Of Wives, Has Died At 87
Yalom, who was a professor of French at Stanford before she segued into writing history books for a wider audience, admired the salons of the 18th century in France and ran one of her own in the Bay Area “where women found support and encouragement for their writing projects as well as practical advice about publishing.” – The New York Times
Pink Martini’s Thomas Lauderdale Once Wanted To Be Mayor Of Portland, But Rally Music ‘Really Sucked’
Because of the music, Lauderdale “had become the de facto social director of Portland’s underground political scene, staging rallies, parties and functions at coffeehouses, private homes and auditoriums citywide. In 1994, he called a vocalist he had met at Harvard named China Forbes and the die was cast to improve the quality of political rally music in Portland.” And that is how the now-ubiquitous Pink Martini came to exist. – Monterey County Weekly
An Actor Afraid Of Singing And Dancing?
Well, no time to confront those fears like filming a Noah Bambach movie, of course. Julie Hagerty has been in everything from Airplane to Lost In America (and a whole lot more), but it was new to work with Bambach – and for Netflix. Wallace Shawn, a frequent collaborator, says: “I’ve seen her act on Broadway. I know that she has an incredible … ability to control what she does to make the audience laugh, to do whatever the director wants her to do. When you act with her, it feels as if it’s never happened before.” – Los Angeles Times
Marion McClinton, Vital Interpreter Of August Wilson, Has Died At 65
McClinton, who was mourned on actors’ Instagram feeds and Twitter posts as soon as word spread that he had passed, was “a noted director who was a favorite of the playwright August Wilson and took two of his plays to Broadway.” McClinton was also an actor and a playwright who did some of his best work in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. “‘London and New York have the glamour and money,’ he told The Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2007, when he was directing Samm-Art Williams’s Home at the Pillsbury House Theater in Minneapolis. ‘But when you are working on Broadway, you are as much a director as a manager solving people’s problems. Here, I get to concentrate on the art, without distractions.'” – The New York Times
Has Anything Truly Changed For Women Since The Shockingly Subversive Novel ‘In The Cut’?
As In the Cut is reissued, “What is more shocking about the book in 2019 than 1995 … is not the violence, or the fact of a woman having sexual desire, but how little else has changed – from misogyny to the futility of reporting it.” – The Guardian (UK)
It’s The Most Wonderful Time To Dig Into The Economic Push Behind Media Gift Guides
To be blunt, well, ugh: “Beyond the curious clicks they draw, gift guides often allow publishers to sell outright sponsorships or subtly blend content and commerce through back-end deals with many of the stores they link to, pocketing a portion of sales.” – The Atlantic
The Kehinde Wiley Statue In Times Square Has Given Security Officers A Lot Of Extra Emotional Labor
As the monument “Rumors of War” prepares to leave Times Square for its permanent home in Richmond, some security officers talk about their time as special “art ambassadors” slash security guards for the work. “The ambassador training was minimal. Some preparation centered on the artist and how the statue was created, but a lot focused on anticipating what questions visitors would ask.” – The New York Times
Why Do Music Fans Want ‘Constant Content’ From Singers Even After The Musicians Are Dead?
It’s generational, really: “The old consensus decreed that in order to build a respectable legacy, an estate should protect what the artist had already put out and be discerning with anything more. Fans were furious with Drake’s bungled attempts at putting together a posthumous Aaliyah album, and frustrations arise whenever a Prince release is announced. … But those artists come from an era where the album was the respected format and fans wanted little beyond the occasional alternate version of a hit they had known for 30 years. In the saturated streaming market, made up of audiences with shorter attention spans, the idea of a traditional legacy is being passed over for a more-is-more approach.” – The Guardian (UK)