“Over the years Les Paul has had a profound influence on music, creating enough inventions to fill a museum. A five-time Grammy winner, he’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame. There’s a Gibson guitar named for him, because he invented it – the Les Paul solid-body electric guitar. He’s got a legion of guitar-playing disciples.”
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Philly’s Concert Bargains
High ticket prices are a big problem in the classical music business. But one organization in Philadelphia offers top stars at bottom prices. “Other cities may have more concerts and higher-concept programs, but few have such a smart selection for so little money. No decent seat at a Krystian Zimerman or Mitsuko Uchida concert in most places is available for less than $50. Play your cards right with subscription offers, and it’s $19 here. Other concerts, such as contralto Ewa Podles, are as low as $16 – if you subscribe to everything.”
Fokine, Romantic
“In the shadow of the 1905 Russian Revolution, the tardy Romantic Michel Fokine rejected the ballet spectacle of Marius Petipa, with its numbers and entries, for a new kind of ballet that would “restore dancing its soul,” he wrote in a manifesto. “We must abandon fixed signs and devise others based on the laws of natural expression.” He made the dreamy mind the protagonist of three of his most enduring works…”
Do Writing Workshops Kill Good Writing?
“In the workshop, the students critique each other’s writing and as the comments are bandied about, a “consensus” develops about what does and doesn’t “work” in a story. The writer then meshes the “popular” opinions of the group into his or her work, slowly removing the unpopular parts, until the work is readable and accessible to all. More often than not, this process destroys the writer’s initial vision, leaving behind a work that is void of passion and anything that is different, new, or creative. Many of world’s greatest novels would have never made it through the workshop process.”
Rzewski – Composer As Iconoclast
Composer Frederic Rzewski is “one of the most prominent living American composers and a prodigiously talented pianist, he is also an old-fashioned iconoclast. He’s blunt-speaking, cantankerous — focused on his art and intent on creating it with as much independence as possible from the institutions and bureaucracies that have congealed around it.”
Book, ‘im Danno – American TV Overrun By Police Shows
Why are Americans so fascinated with police shows on TV? “Last season, a third of the Top 40 shows on television were procedurals, loosely defined as programs that depict a crime each week and solve it. Most of the other top-rated programs were reality shows or comedies, with only six dramas having nothing to do with crime making the list.”
Glasgow – Capital Of Music?
The UK’s capital of pop music? Not London, but Glasgow, a city that is extraordinarily supportive of its bands. “Pick any Glasgow band and you’re likely to find that at least one member has an art-school past. The recent rise of Glasgow-based bands has moved Time magazine to declare the city one of the ‘hottest’ in Europe for its thriving, supportive music scene and proliferation of decent venues…”
Scotland to Set Up Club To Honor Artists
Scotland is setting up a new academy to honor artists. “An ‘Academy of Scotland’ is to be established to honour the most distinguished artists in Scottish culture. Under early plans, a select group of the best and brightest across the artistic spectrum will receive the new award, designed to reward excellence. The recipients are likely to receive their titles as ‘Member of the Academy of Scotland’ in a yearly ceremony held on St Andrew’s Day.”
A Regional Museum Gets An Expansion Right
The Delaware Art Museum reopens after a major expansion. “The museum has been closed for three years for a complicated renovation and expansion that not only increases its capacity by two-thirds, but also dramatically reorients the building on its 11-acre site. One of the region’s premier smaller museums, it generally specializes in American art and illustration, including major collections of work by illustrator Howard Pyle and realist painter John Sloan.”
Sonny Rollins Reinvents (Again)
Saxist Sonny Rollins is 74, and remaking his life since his wife of 47 years died in December. “There are some career decisions that I’m facing, that my wife would usually help me with. I can’t divulge what it is, but there’s one big one that some people would say `How could you turn that down?’ But you know, I turned down a lot of things in my career and I think that’s sort of been the subtext of my life — not doing everything that people want you to do for money.”