Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Music: Shifting cultural paradigm: Pop music historian on the role of Rolling Stones
Anyone reading this review can go to YouTube now and experience Muddy Waters, or Chuck Berry, or Buddy Holly, or the first Stones recordings, or anything else they want to see, instantly: ads for Freshen-up gum from the Eighties; a spot George Plimpton did for Intellivision, an early video game. Anything. I am not making an original point, but it cannot be reiterated enough: the experience of making and taking in culture is now, for the first time in human history, a condition of almost paralyzing overabundance. For millennia it was a condition of scarcity; and all the ways we regard things we want but cannot have, in those faraway days, stood between people and the art or music they needed to have: yearning, craving, imagining the absent object so fully that when the real thing appears in your hands, it almost doesn’t match up. Nobody will ever again experience what Keith Richards and Mick Jagger experienced in Dartford, scrounging for blues records. The Rolling Stones do not happen in any other context: they were a band based on craving, impersonation, tribute: white guys from England who worshiped black blues and later, to a lesser extent, country, reggae, disco, and rap.Smith is always good, and here he follows jazz critic Chiasson to pick two figures, Jagger and Richards, as contributing, in music especially, to a broader shift in a major Western culture paradigm that had to do a lot with, in Theodore Adorno's thawt for instance, the Mass Production of Works of Art.
When the situation changed in part because the Stones changed it, and suddenly you could hear (and even meet and play with) Chuck Berry or Bo Diddley, the band lost its way. They depended, for their force, on a body-memory of those early cravings for music they knew only by rumor and innuendo. Other cravings, for drugs and fame, were not sufficient, and had much more dire downsides. The early Stones were in a constant huddle, dissecting blues songs in front of the speakers and playing them back for each other and then for their few fans. They thought of themselves, not even as a band, really, but as a way of distributing music the radio never played.
See some Adorno critics:
| The critique criticised: Adorno and popular music - Paddison Popular music in theory: an introduction - Negus A social critique of radio music - Adorno More generally, see Lambert Zuidervaart, leading reformational scholar on Adorno. |
The Redemption of Illusion
Lambert Zuidervaart
Paper / March 1993
This is the first book to put Aesthetic Theory into context and outline the main ideas and relevant debates, offering readers a valuable guide through this huge, difficult, but revelatory work.
-- Musikos
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Music: Contemporary: Bunbury Deluxe Argentina where Enrique vocalizes in Spanish is phenom
"Bunbury & Vegas - Welcome To El CallejÃn Sin Salida"
[Babelfish says this translates "The street with no exit"]
This video contains content from Vevo,
which has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds,
says an earlier webpage thus preventing a listen to the Bunbury music.
Somebody in Latin America to my fevered mind suggested that Enrique Bunbury now of Bunbury Deluxe Argentina, after establishing a name in contemporary Spain, his native country, was / is a Christian. I don't know what I expected, but I signed onto his espanolic Facebook page some months ago, and have been receiving his noticias ever since. Eventually, as the enigma grew in my mind, I checked out his most recent website, there to find, inter alia, this image of him with his band -- and not in the colourful stage clothes they wear in performance.
The Saints Innocent, or in more grammatical English, The Innocent Saints -- The Band of the Devil, or perhaps The Saints of Innocence -- The Devil's Band. I considered this all inauspicious; not the best recommendation, but capable of being given a Christian spin, with which I will dispense here. Perhaps this Bunbury is a thoro ironist, irony being a genre that enriches many arts (along with satire) not much appreciated among most thawtful Christians, to our discredit. But irony woud have to be the order of the day in reading and musically experiencing the always-new Bunbury a Christian practioner of contemporary musical arts.
But, hecks, there's lots more interesting about the man and his bands and their processes of development over the years than whether the group's leader has been able to achieve some expression or other of a possible Christian culture. As I listen to the music, I'm finding interesting, attractive flows of sound that have an integrity in their own rite.
Oh yeah, the name "Bunbury." Enrique acquired it as a nickname from a mention in the comedic drama The Importance of Being Ernest, by that consummate ironist and satirist, Oscar Wilde. In turn he was poking at and alluding to the Bunbury Group, a social circle that included Alfred Keynes the prominent economist and many other literati and intellectuals in an area of London. In my college days, I performed the character's role of Dr Chasuble, the presumably Anglican cleric who preferred to quote 'the pagan authors' to convey his tidy Christian witticisms and maxims.
-- Musikos
which has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds,
says an earlier webpage thus preventing a listen to the Bunbury music.
Somebody in Latin America to my fevered mind suggested that Enrique Bunbury now of Bunbury Deluxe Argentina, after establishing a name in contemporary Spain, his native country, was / is a Christian. I don't know what I expected, but I signed onto his espanolic Facebook page some months ago, and have been receiving his noticias ever since. Eventually, as the enigma grew in my mind, I checked out his most recent website, there to find, inter alia, this image of him with his band -- and not in the colourful stage clothes they wear in performance.
The Saints Innocent, or in more grammatical English, The Innocent Saints -- The Band of the Devil, or perhaps The Saints of Innocence -- The Devil's Band. I considered this all inauspicious; not the best recommendation, but capable of being given a Christian spin, with which I will dispense here. Perhaps this Bunbury is a thoro ironist, irony being a genre that enriches many arts (along with satire) not much appreciated among most thawtful Christians, to our discredit. But irony woud have to be the order of the day in reading and musically experiencing the always-new Bunbury a Christian practioner of contemporary musical arts.
But, hecks, there's lots more interesting about the man and his bands and their processes of development over the years than whether the group's leader has been able to achieve some expression or other of a possible Christian culture. As I listen to the music, I'm finding interesting, attractive flows of sound that have an integrity in their own rite.
Oh yeah, the name "Bunbury." Enrique acquired it as a nickname from a mention in the comedic drama The Importance of Being Ernest, by that consummate ironist and satirist, Oscar Wilde. In turn he was poking at and alluding to the Bunbury Group, a social circle that included Alfred Keynes the prominent economist and many other literati and intellectuals in an area of London. In my college days, I performed the character's role of Dr Chasuble, the presumably Anglican cleric who preferred to quote 'the pagan authors' to convey his tidy Christian witticisms and maxims.
-- Musikos
Music: Piano/Classical: Emil Gilels plays a fugue version of Bach by Ferruccio Busoni
Hat Tip to Luis Grassi Freire (Exonian). See: YouTubeServices on refWrite's channel, yUT2ube.
Here in performance Gilels plays a version of a fugue by Johan Sebastian Bach,
Prelude & Fugue in D major, BWV 532 - Fugue (2/2)
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels
1919 - 1985
See: Biography of Emil Gilels (Wikipedia) and website In memoriam Emil Gilels.
and Donal Henahan, "MusicView: Who will replace
the Old Guard in Soviet Music?" (NYT, Oct27,1985)
and Donal Henahan, "MusicView: Who will replace
the Old Guard in Soviet Music?" (NYT, Oct27,1985)
See also: Emil Gilels - a Discography (2006) by Ates Tanin
at the piano playing Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio (Dante Michelangelo Benvenuto) Busoni (1866 – 1924).
Aesthetics
Busoni's music can be considered in the context of his three major aesthetic beliefs: essence, oneness and junge Klassizität (literally 'young classicity'). The essence of music suggests that music is free from any prescriptive labels; in other words, it is absolute. For example, Busoni asked us to question just what it was in a piece of instrumental church music, that was inherently 'church'. The oneness of music proposes that music is free from prescriptive devices, and that there are endless possibilities of composition. Finally, in his words, junge Klassizität (often mistaken for neo-classicism) included 'the mastery, the sifting and the turning to account of all the gains of previous experiments and their inclusion in strong and beautiful forms' (Busoni, 'Letter to Paul Bekker', 1920).
His music falls in that most fractious of periods, the fin de siècle, where chromatic elements became part of the structure of the music, rather than being decoration. By studying Busoni's aesthetic beliefs we can suggest that his music is metatonal - given that he sought to include the old with the new to create limitless compositions. This is not to suggest (as Pfitzner did, when he attacked The Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music by Busoni) that his music is without form, nor is it without any sense of tonality (a common mistake when one finds oneself between Classical and Serial music). This grey area of music history is more engaging because the traditional forms and pitch structures have taken a side road, a road that did not ultimately lead to serialism.
In order to understand Busoni's compositions one should take only what is given in the music, and interpret them through his aesthetic beliefs (though this is no easy task, and the everpresent binarism between what a composer says and what a composer does should be kept in mind). Busoni can be recognised as a man with a variety of musical abilities. He wrote compositions and libretti, performed as a concert pianist, transcribed pieces by other composers (such as Bach, Mozart and Liszt), taught master classes, and produced aesthetic writings. It is to this end that Busoni considered music a fusion of disciplines, or to use his words 'to recognise the whole phenomenon of music as 'oneness'. (Busoni, 'The Essence of Oneness of Music', 1921).
For more information on this see: Paul Fleet, Ferruccio Busoni: A Phenomenological Approach to his Music and Aesthetics (Lambert Academic Publishing, 2009).
Text and images from Busoni article in Wikipedia.
Bach-Busoni Editions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bach-Busoni Editions are a series of publications by the Italian pianist-composer Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) containing primarily piano transcriptions of keyboard music by Johann Sebastian Bach. They also include performance suggestions, practice exercises, musical analysis, an essay on the art of transcribing Bach's organ music for piano, an analysis of the fugue from Beethoven's 'Hammerklavier' sonata, and other related material. The later editions also include free adaptations and original compositions by Busoni which are based on the music of Bach.
Busoni issued his Bach editions over a nearly 30-year span in two collections: the 25-volume Busoni Ausgabe[1] (Joh. Seb. Bach Klavierwerke) and the Bach-Busoni Collected Edition (Bach-Busoni Gesammelte Ausgabe), which was first issued in 6 volumes in 1916, and subsequently in 7 volumes in 1920. A small collection of selected excerpts with transcriptions of organ and violin music was also published separately in 1916 as Sechs Tonstücke (Six Tone Pieces).[2][3][4]
Text and image from article Bach-Busoni Editions (Wikipedia).
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sports: World Cricket: Dhaka scene of big match between Bangladesh and Ireland
A Bangladeshi fan, with Bangladesh's national flag and tiger painted on his face, looks on during their Cricket World Cup match against Ireland in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Royal Bengal Tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh. -- Themba Hadebe/AP via Christian Science Monitor (Feb25,2k11).
Monday, February 14, 2011
Music / Dance: Vidclip: I believe she's amazing -- celebrates women
Hat Tip to Steve Bishop's Reformational Daily
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Huffington Post (Feb13,2k11)
Arcade Fire gets Grammy for Best Album
An indie rock band has won the biggest prize in mainstream music.
The Arcade Fire, whose third album, "The Suburbs," set the summer ablaze for young fans around the world, completely shocked the Grammy Awards on Sunday, taking home the award for Album of The Year. They beat out Eminem and Lady Antebellum, both of whom had taken awards home earlier in the night.
From Montreal, Canada, the band is led by husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, both of whom sing for the group. Five other members include Will Butler, Tim Kingsbury, Sarah Neufield, Jeremy Gara, and Richard Reed Parry.
They released their first album, "Funeral," a personal work about recent family deaths, in 2005. In 2008, they came out with the dense "Neon Bible." Both were nominated for Grammys, in the Alternative Album of The Year.
"The Suburbs" has sold 400,000 copies and reached number one in both the United States and Canada. They're signed to Merge Records, the only Album of The Year nominee not signed to a major label.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Music: Calendar: Grammy Awards nite Los Angeles, CBS TV
2011 GRAMMY® AWARD NOMINEES:
Album of the Year
The Suburbs – Arcade Fire
Recovery – Eminem
Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
The Fame Monster – Lady Gaga
Teenage Dream – Katy Perry
Record of the Year
“Nothin’ On You” – B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars
“Love The Way You Lie” – Eminem feat. Rhianna
“F*** You” – Cee Lo Green
“Empire State Of Mind” – Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
“Need You Now” – Lady Antebellum
Song of the Year
“Beg Steal or Borrow” – Ray LaMontagne
“F*** You” – Cee Lo Green
“The House That Built Me” – Miranda Lambert
“Love The Way You Lie” – Eminem feat. Rihanna
“Need You Now” – Lady Antebellum
Best Female Country Vocal Performance
“Satisfied” – Jewel
“The House That Built Me” – Miranda Lambert
“Swingin’” – LeAnn Rimes
“Temporary Home” – Carrie Underwood“I’d Love To Be Your Last” – Gretchen Wilson
Best Male Country Vocal Performance
“Macon” – Jamey Johnson“Cryin’ For Me (Wayman’s Song)” – Toby Keith“Turning Home” – David Nail“’Til Summer Comes Around” – Keith Urban
“Gettin’ You Home” – Chris Young
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
“Free” – Zac Brown Band
“Elizabeth” – Dailey & Vincent
“Need You Now” – Lady Antebellum
“Little White Church” – Little Big Town
“Where Rainbows Never Die” – The SteelDrivers
Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
“Bad Angel” – Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert & Jamey Johnson
“Pride (In The Name Of Love)” – Dierks Bentley, Del McCoury & The Punch Brothers
“As She’s Walking Away” – Zac Brown Band & Alan Jackson
“Hillbilly Bone” – Blake Shelton & Trace Adkins
“I Run To You” – Marty Stuart & Connie Smith
Best Country Song
“The Breath You Take” – Casey Beathard, Dean Dillon & Jessie Jo Dillon, songwriters (George Strait)
“Free” – Zac Brown, songwriter (Zac Brown Band)
“The House That Built Me” – Tom Douglas & Allen Shamblin, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)
“I’d Love To Be Your Last” – Rivers Rutherford, Annie Tate & Sam Tate, songwriters (Gretchen Wilson)
“If I Die Young” – Kimberly Perry, songwriter (The Band Perry)
“Need You Now” – Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott, songwriters (Lady Antebellum)
Best Country Album
Up On The Ridge – Dierks Bentley
You Get What You Give – Zac Brown Band
The Guitar Song – Jamey Johnson
Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Revolution – Miranda Lambert
Best Country Instrumental Performance
“Tattoo Of A Smudge” – Cherryholmes
“Magic #9” – The Infamous Stringdusters
“New Chance Blues” – Punch Brothers
“Willow Creek” – Darrell Scott
“Hummingbyrd” – Marty Stuart
Sports: College Football: Trick shots by Johnny McEntee of University of Connecticut (UConn)
Johnny Mac trick shot Quarterback. Check out refWrite's YouTube vid collection, yUT2ube.
-- posted here by Sportikos
Comix and Cartoons: Marvel Comic Books: Movie brings back stunning digital edition of original book
Marvel Comic Book's Captain America
In all its shame and glory, here's the refurbished icon
for the movies that inspired and disciplined an earlier
generation. The anti-Nazi warrior before video games.
-- from the official website, posted by Owlb
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Toronto the Good: Music for Valentine's: New Band in Town, indie rockers from Calgary
Fast Romantics | Indie-Rock Band from Canada
New EP Coming Soon!
Now available on iTunes: a new five-song EP calledKidcutter.
The EP was recorded in Vancouver this past spring with producer Howard Redekopp.
Music: Chamber Music: Avishai Cohen Trio -- 'Remembering'
Hat Tip to Igor Miguel! Check out the Trio and other on refWrite's YouTube channel, yUT2ube.
-- Musikos
Sports: Pro Football: Packers have a gen in their team's leadership style
Two birds with one stone: First, the Green B ay Packers' team captain, Aaron Rodgers and his style of athletic leadership of his team and in the broader sport of Pro Football in the USA. Second, this page with all its semiotic details is presented to alert you to quality Christian sports journaletics as exemplified by Christian Athletes Examiner by journo Joey Soto, Jr. I'm just learning myself about this faith-aspect of Rodgers' vocation and his sports morality, as well as the Examiner and its fine journo Soto.
-- Sportikos
Aaron Rodgers wins championship, humbly leads
Do you like this Article?
Last week, Aaron Rodgers spent a good portion of his press conference time talking about his relationship with God.
Sunday night, after leading the Packers to their fourth Super Bowl victory in franchise history, he used his time addressing the sports world by humbly giving credit to his defense for the victory.
Mind you that Rodgers was named Super Bowl MVP after throwing for 309 yards and three touchdowns, yet he's giving the credit to his defense. That's humility.
Some of you might be wondering what's to be celebrated about this Christian athlete, anyway. He didn't exactly make God the center of his inital comments like many other athletes. But that's just in line with Rodgers and his soft-spoken personality.
A great article by Athletes in Action from October 2010 took a deeper look in Rodgers faith and up-bringing. Rodgers grew up with two great Christian role models in his parents, and his father was a major role model. Rodgers is active in his service when the lights go off and his season is over. Even in the middle of the season, he's making an impact on his community.
But Rodgers normally doesn't do it like Tim Tebow. You won't see John 3:16 in his eyeblack. You won't hear him giving the typical, almost cliche, "glory to God" line when accepting awards. And you probably won't see him pointing to the sky to thank God after throwing or rushing for a touchdown. That's just not his style.
Rodgers told Athletes in Action that he loves to use his fame and celebrity to make a more soft-spoken and indirect impact on charities and organizations. Troy Murphy, pastor at Green Bay Community Church and the Packer chaplain, told Athletes in Action that, "Aaron will not stand on the bleachers and shout, but he will privately live that life consistently with Jesus. I love that about him.”
That's an admirable trait.
He might not boldly vocalize his intent to do all things for God, but it seems he's not just living for his glory, either. He's being consistent with the soft-spoken personality God has given him and using what God's blessed him with for something more than his own selfish ambition. At the end of the day, that's what God desires.
Rodgers certainly breaks the trend of your stereotypical poster-boy Christian athlete. But it's all the same to God. Rodgers is using his talents and blessings to serve his King.
Well played, Aaron. Well played.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: Aaron Rodgers wins championship, humbly leads - National Christian Athletes | Examiner.com
http://www.examiner.com/christian-athletes-in-national/aaron-rodgers-wins-championship-humbly-leads#ixzz1DVfXlUuz
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interview with Russ Weakley
