Aryana Sayeed on the pushback when she performs despite Taliban death threats in Afghanistan: “I am very aware of the danger. Nobody can really protect me there. But if I give up hope to millions of people who feel lost because everyone else has left, then it is worth it.”
Blog
After Months Of Bargaining, MoMA Workers Finally Secure A Contract They Can (Literally) Live With
The union overwhelmingly ratified the contract, which pushed back against many of the museum’s proposed takeaways – and even improved some things for the workers. “The museum initially fought against seniority step raises, but the union fought for its inclusion and eventually won.”
Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ Became A Rallying Cry For Musicians Seeking Royalties
It’s been played more than 70 million times, and Franklin saw exactly none of the royalties because it was written by Otis Redding. “Every time the song is played on the radio, Mr. Redding’s estate — he died in a 1967 plane crash — has been paid.” That’s a rallying cry to make copyright law work both for writers and for artists.
Following The Lead Of Greta Gerwig, A Director Gets The Music He Wants By Writing A Letter
Originally, Coldplay (a band) refused to let Warner Bros. license the song “Yellow” – partly because of the connotations of the word. “Chu’s letter to the band, though, changed its mind within 24 hours, and a Mandarin cover of the song, performed by Chinese-American singer Katherine Ho, closes out the film at a pivotal moment.”
There’s A Lot More Going On Between The Minnesota Orchestra And South African Musicians Than A ‘Tour’
A member of the Minnesota Chorale notes that the important parts involve an exchange, and that the Orchestra and Chorale are working with “750-800 local musicians and 20 music ensembles. At least 11 South African composers will have their works performed.”
Tom Clark, Poet And Biographer Of Poets, Has Died At 77
Clark was hit by a car and killed on Friday, not too long after updating his blog. He was friends with the Beat Poets, wrote a biography of Jack Kerouac, and was editor of the Paris Review from 1963-1973. The publisher of his 2010 poetry collection wrote that his recent “depict nocturnal walks in Berkeley, California — not the Berkeley of a faded, nostalgic, radical past, but rather the multi-cultural Berkeley of today that circulates in the streets outside the university gates.”
A German Gallery Cuts Ties With One Of Its Artists Over His Views On Immigration
Artist Axel Klause expressed some quite conservative views on Facebook – and his gallery of 13 years said that it couldn’t continue the relationship. One of the Leipzig gallery’s partners: “I’m not a public institution or an institution of public interest. I have a commercial gallery where I organize and sell exhibitions, and I don’t have to represent every viewpoint that exists in society.”
How One Stand-Up Comedian Copes With A Devastating Loss
Comedian Adam Cayton-Holland: “I don’t really have a joke about it. It’s more like a public service announcement that I make into the microphone, urging people to seek help, urging people to not feel ashamed of feeling powerless when it comes to their brains. You can see the audience tense up. I pepper in a few jokes here and there, to try to cut the tension. Which kind of works. It’s not perfect, but it’s real.”
The Baltimore Symphony Is Going International For The First Time In 13 Years
Principal horn player Philip Munds was with the orchestra the last time they went abroad in 2005, and he’s missed it: “It’s really good for the orchestra to play in different places. … It makes you step it up. It broadens our awareness and gets us hyper-focused.”
Bernstein at Brevard — Take Two: The Artist and Politics
The backlash against Bernstein’s politics was huge – and “his activities became an insane obsession of J. Edgar Hoover.”