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Not Your 2nd-Grade Slumber Party

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An item recently added to my bucket list has just as recently been struck from it, and I can now safely say that everybody should follow suit and experience what I have: sleep over a museum. For the purpose of collecting research for an English essay (and of course, for the purpose of having fun), some classmates and I did just that at the Rubin Museum of Art’s Dream-Over, which would ultimately turn out to be a magical experience well worth the $55.

At 8:15 PM we arrived at the Rubin and were greeted by some friendly employees dressed in kimonos and socks. After our shoes were checked in the coatroom, we were led to the café that was lit with faint purplish-blackish lights. Serene new-age ambient music played in the background as we joined our pre-assigned groups and met our equally friendly group leaders who gave us a brief description of what was to come.

My group was assigned to sleep on the RMA’s 6th and uppermost floor. Each person was assigned a piece of artwork to sleep under: I was assigned to four medieval trinkets from pilgrimages done on behalf of Saint Thomas Becket, as well as a beautiful stained-glass depiction of Saint Margaret, famous for having been swallowed by a dragon and emerging unscathed.

After a few minutes to set down our sleeping bags and get acquainted with our artwork, we were led to the theater where a workshop on art meditation and dreaming was to take place. There, we listened to a Q&A between psychoanalyst Dr. William H. Braun and a real Tibetan monk, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche; two occupations I never thought would ever have any reason to meet. While this Q&A was surprisingly boring (the language barrier caused by Rinpoche’s poor English/projection didn’t help), there was a lot of talk about how one can control one’s dreams. The talk got rather in-depth; further than my mind cared to go. It was at this point that I realized the event was particularly geared towards dreaming and its importance to our lives. While I didn’t mind this, I wish that dreams were something I felt more strongly about. I enjoy having dreams and recording them on paper, but to talk as passionately as several people in the room were doing made me wish I had stronger feelings about them. I instead let my mind peacefully wander.

The workshop ended with the entire audience closing their eyes and meditating for about ten minutes (the last couple of minutes had Rinpoche vocalizing and hitting bells together as we meditated), which was incredibly relaxing. I was ready to go to bed right then and there, though afterwards we were brought to the café for our midnight snack that consisted of assorted teas, dried fruit, fresh fruit, hummus with pita chips, organic hot chocolate, and more. The energy of my conversation with my classmates (and Professor Davison) woke me up again, but as soon as we left the café, I became intent on sleeping once again. We met with our groups once before bed to help mentally prepare for the night ahead.

We all got ready for bed to the sound of an Asian flute-like instrument floating up from the first floor up through the grand spiral staircase to all the other floors. As I lay in my sleeping bag, my group leader sat beside me and read me a bedtime story inspired by my artwork (since I was quite tired, I remember nothing about my story except it was wordy and had Kubla Kahn and Marco Polo in it). Before I knew it, she had whispered “good night” to me and left.

As peaceful as the atmosphere was, I tossed and turned all night and didn’t get much sleep due to the elevator constantly moving and beeping, the hard floor, and the insufficient head support from my ridiculously small pillow. I did manage to have a vague dream despite the immense (yet unintentional) pressure the Dream-Over puts on you to remember it at all, exhibit A, being awoken by a dream-gatherer eager to hear you talk about what you dreamt of during the night.  I told my dream-gatherer in a very hoarse voice about my dream that, I kid you not, consisted of watching Seinfeld bloopers with my dad and a Macaulay senior telling me about a revered historical figure famous for owning one of two blue monkeys in the world.

We all slowly made our way down to breakfast where the same kinds of food from the midnight snack were served, with the addition of traditional (and disgusting, sorry!) Tibetan hot cereal. Amid the cheerful conversation and [overall decent] food, we posed for a huge group picture and listened to some friendly announcements and thank-you’s from the coordinators of the event. We then met with our groups for one final meeting about the dreams we had the night before. Again, I felt inadequate next to the people in my group who were deeply analyzing every tiny detail of their dreams- one woman had a dream about her father who had died, which brought her close to tears. I meekly raised my hand to share my boring-by-comparison dream, but was smilingly received nonetheless.

By 9 AM, I was out the heavy RMA doors and in the real world, slightly dazed from my lack of sleep. My commute home was peaceful and serene, however, and I felt the calming power of the museum for the rest of the day. My main criticisms for the Dream-Over were that they could have offered more universally-eaten food, in addition to extra blankets and pillows for those who needed them. They also could have put more focus on the art- it was only after the Dream-Over that I realized I still had virtually no knowledge of the museum and its art at all. Either way, I am incredibly glad I went and would certainly consider going again, only next time with an air mattress.

to read more about the Dream-Over, click here! 

Classical Conducting? There’s an App for That — Reaction

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/arts/music/new-york-philharmonic-with-jeffrey-kahane-review.html?_r=1&ref=music

I stumbled upon this article while searching through The New York Times online and thought that it was a genius plan. What better way to gain the attention of a generation that is obsessed with technology than actually using it to your benefit? By combining classical music with modern technology, the public experiences the best of both worlds (past and future – classic and modern). It keeps classical music alive and interesting to individuals that may have thought that classical music was “dead” or “boring”. I applaud his technique and hope that one day I get to experience it firsthand.

Occupying the Arts

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As always, society is reflected in the art that is produced in the respective time period. Artists find inspiration—sometimes subconsciously—in everything that the experience or learn about. Thus, it makes sense that there is a reflection of the current major movement in American, Occupy Wall Street, on modern art. However, I am not going to discuss the specific ways it effects the creation of the art, but rather, how it has an effect on what type of art is produced, and America’s perception of what is art.
The argument for Occupy Wall Street is that the rich upper class, an extremely small minority, holds the majority of the wealth in America. This affluent minority is referred to as the 1%, while the rest of the American inhabitants categorized as the 99%. As far as I am concerned, this division already displays Occupy Wall Street is a useless movement that will not lead to any good. Are they (the supporters of Occupy Wall Street) trying to tell me that somebody that is unemployed because they flunked out of high school, due to laziness, should be categorized with somebody who makes a moderate living because they worked in high school and graduated with a decent GPA? 99% is a number that encompasses millions of people: there are too many discrepancies between the population this number is intended to include to make it an effective assertion. Since every person in this group has a different reason for supporting Occupy Wall Street, there can be no ‘main assertion’, and so this movement will never actually bring about change. Every previous political movement that was successful had a clear focus and goal; that is why they were successful. http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/ this tumbler post is proof of just how many different backgrounds and reasons there are for supporting Occupy Wall Street.
While there may not seem to be an obvious connection between art and Occupy Wall Street, there most certainly is. With all of the new social media that have been created and grown in popularity over the years, art has changed. Even what I would define as the three main groups of art—audio, visual, and interactive—are no longer clearly distinguished between. A video game can take all three of these art types and combine them into one fluid piece of art. A movie that is created by somebody who is not famous or rich can become art due to social media sites such as Youtube and Facebook. Unfortunately, with this increase in social medias popularity, there seems to be an increase in unrecognized artists. These new art forms, whether using different types of traditional media in untraditional ways, to employing brand new technology to create art, art often ignored. Who are they ignored by? The 1%. Since the upper class generally provides the paycheck for famous artists, many modern artists that are not recognized by the upper class barely make a living, despite their talent. Think of all of the starving artists there are—or even artists that make a moderate living—and then think about how the upper class still desires to acquire art that is “traditional”. Despite all of the changes that have occurred in American society—including the increasingly unbalanced distribution of wealth—the affluent class continues to hold onto their old beliefs. These unacknowledged artists are also part of the growing 99% in America. In this way, a clear bridge between modern art and Occupy Wall Street can be viewed.
Even while trying to research what, exactly, is the meaning behind Occupy Wall Street, every source I found was largely biased or not helpful. A blog about Occupy Wall Street is obviously going to be either for or against it depending on who created it. A site that is supposed to be informative is, once again, going to be extremely biased depending on who created it. Since there is virtually no specific and concisely outlined information about Occupy Wall Street that can be find online, I cannot support this movement. Regardless of whether I agree with the general idea—that the wealth in American needs to be redistributed—this is not the proper way of expressing these sentiments and it is not going to bring about change. We do live in a Democratic Republic after all: maybe if these people spend time educating themselves on politics, rather than standing in a street, and voted for somebody who has their sentiments in mind, they would be more successful.

Occupy Wall Street: Not For Me, But Godspeed Anyhow

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I attended the Occupy Wall Street teach-in with my English class on Thursday, November 17th, hoping to get a better perspective about Occupy Wall Street. I confess that because I have been busy with so many other things, I haven’t had the time to seriously examine the movement as extensively as I know I, a member of the “99%”, should have.

The Teach-In was not as helpful as I thought it would be. I wanted to learn exactly how and why the movement started, and why it only decided to take wing on September 17th, when it can be argued that big corporations and billionaires have been wronging the middle and lower classes for decades. Instead, it seemed to be an endless shouting match between our two student hosts, who, in piercingly loud and aggressive voices, tried to show their audience of roughly fifty why we all belong in the 99% and what the government is doing to us.

I felt a bit awkward sitting there and feeling none of the passion and fervor the student hosts felt. Their aggressive way of speaking made me want to tune them out more than listen. Their attempts to roleplay people on the particularly low spectrum of the 99% were more comical than informative, mostly because of the bad acting and use of a tie to help disguise a white girl as a middle-aged black man.

After being flooded with all of these ideas and all of this information about how much the government has been wronging us, I wondered if there was something wrong with me. How could I, who used to be such a passionate lover of the 1960’s and hippie counterculture, be so disinterested in the Occupy Wall Street movement? I may be part of the 99%, but I feel that I think like a 1%-er. I have no desire to join these protesters, and most of the time they simply annoy me.

I checked out the OWS Tumblr page, which consisted of hundreds of 99%-ers’ pictures and their individual stories. I found that I had very little in common with these people. All of them were experiencing much harder times than my family and I have ever faced: most of them were in heavy debt from college and credit card bills, many did not have health insurance, and in general, were in a much lower economic standing than my family and I. My family is by no means rich, but we are definitely more fortunate than the people I saw on this Tumblr page. Both of my parents work, we all have health insurance, being a Macaulay student means I have no college loans to pay off, and we have a house and live comfortably. It is perhaps for these reasons that I don’t feel particularly “cheated” by big corporations like the OWS protesters do. In this way, I see my comfortable living as a sort of curse. I want to understand where they are coming from. I want to really understand how difficult life is for these people, but my social and economic standing doesn’t permit me to – or not as fully as I would like to.

I will say that the Occupy Wall Street movement does have a poignant resonance that can be connected to the visual and performing arts. The arts are definitely a big part of the OWS movement in the same way it was part of the civil rights/anti-war movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Just on the news this morning, I saw that the protesters have moved to Gracie Mansion and are planning to keep up a communal drumming session for 24 hours. A singer-songwriter I follow on Twitter, Amanda Palmer, has frequented Zucotti Park numerous times and has performed her famous “Ukulele Anthem” with the protesters. The connections of Occupy Wall Street to art are endless, though I wouldn’t say that they are synonymous, mostly because I don’t strongly support the movement to begin with. In the same way that a painting or a piece of art makes a statement, however, it cannot be denied that the OWS movement is making a very strong statement. The fact that so many thousands of people can come together when it is so easy for modern technology to isolate us is truly remarkable. If the Occupy Wall Street movement will show us anything at all, it will show us that it is still possible for people to truly come together for a common cause; that activism is not dead.

 

Sites accessed:

OccupiedWallStreetJournal.com

Wearethe99percent.tumblr.com

Occupy Wall Street

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On Wednesday, I attended the Homelessness in Focus event in the Patio Room on campus.  The event consisted of two speakers from Picture the Homeless, an organization that draws attention to the homeless community in New York City.  The two speakers are currently homeless, and spoke to us about their experiences from becoming homeless, to their mistreatment by the shelters and the government. Instead of the typical image of a homeless person, these women had previously been government and state employees before becoming homeless.  One woman was a postal worker for over 20 years, while the other was a teacher for 23 years.  Both were forced out of their apartments because of unfortunate incidents with their landlords, and growing medical bills. To visit the Picture the Homeless Website, click here.

The two women opened the audiences’ eyes to the money-making schemes that the city’s wealthy officials are perpetrating.  According to the women, and the information that the Picture the Homeless brochures provided, the city pays shelters $3.500 per homeless person per month, while to rent an apartment in the outer boroughs can cost anywhere up to $1,100.  The shelters do not provide comfortable living, and are often times under equipped to handle the amount of people that come to their doors.  If the shelters are receiving that much money per person, the shelters should be able to provide housing and food to everyone who comes to their doors.  According to the presenters, the owners of the shelters are pocketing the money. If the city wanted to be truly economical, they would provide housing to the homeless for the much cheaper rate of $1,100 a month.  The Picture the Homeless people told us that the City’s reasoning for their method is that there is not enough housing in the city.  While this appears to be true, the Picture the Homeless organization are performing investigations and have found hundreds of vacant apartments and lots throughout the city.  For more information, click here to go to the housing campaign website.  The discussed the many issues with homelessness today, and the misconceptions that the majority of the population has today.

You may be wondering how this applies to Occupy Wall Street.  Recently, the Occupy Wall Street Movement was evicted out of Zuccotti Park, and so the occupiers have needed to find other places to sleep.  This situation has left many of the movement feeling as the homeless do every night.  As Seen Here, in the article “Why Homelessness is Becoming an Occupy Wall Street Issue,” the movement has taken on the issues of homelessness because people who have been living on the streets for the past few months realize how terrible it is.  According to the article, it is illegal to perform the basic human function while being homeless.  Police will bother you for sitting, standing, lying down, and sleeping in public areas.  Especially for truly homeless people, they do not have any place to go, and so they live their lives as if they are fugitives in their own country.   Since vacating Zuccott According to the New York City General Assembly, the Occupy Wall Street Declaration one of their points is “They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.”  This falls in suit with what the two homeless women were telling us.  They lost their homes unfairly, and are now living in the shelter system.  The Occupy Wall Street movement is attempting to remedy this issue, among other things.

One of the ways that the movement is attracting attention is through their signs.  As an example of impromptu art, the movement’s visibility has drastically increased with the various signs on display.  Orginially made of cardboard, the signs are now being massed produced and are beginning to have common themes.  As an example I have posted this one to the blog.   The signs express many of the grievances the movement has, and are beginning to be unified under a main theme.  This particular sign, goes hand in hand with Wednesday’s presentation, because many of the homeless people in society are jobless, and they can relate to this image.

The Arts in New York and Occupy Wall Street/ from Prof. Smaldone

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Dear Class,

The Occupy Wall Street movement has received more and more attention in recent weeks.  Our “Arts in New York” seminar is not centered on politics, but the role of politics in the cultural life of the city (and the relationship between culture and politics cultural through artists’ reactions to politics) is a significant aspect of the Arts throughout history and throughout the world.  The essential battle cry of the Occupy Wall Street movement is the claim that 1% of the population hold 99% of the wealth.  This sounds strangely similar to the cries of 18th century revolutionaries, who complained of a similar disparity between the aristocracy and the rest of the European world.  The American and French Revolutions were a fact of the political landscape at the exact time that Mozart and DaPonte were composing their greatest works for the Viennese Aristocracy.  (It is also no surprise that the “Arab Spring” uprisings have found cause in the similar disparity between the wealth of the ruling class and the general populations).  We will explore the relationship between the 1% and the 99% as it relates to the Arts.

The distinctions of wealth and class have always played a profound role in the arts.  The internet has served as an enormously powerful tool to bring some aspects of the arts to anyone with a computer (or mobile phone) connection, but going to the Theater, the Opera, the Symphony or a museum (and certainly OWNING art), is still (and always has been) a distinct feature of the lives of a rich upper class. (And the wealthiest class has also typically been the ruling class.  This is a natural outgrowth of the most famous “Golden Rule”; “He who owns the gold, makes the rules.”

The Occupy Wall Street movement is primarily concerned with the financial disparity between the 1% and the 99%, but the movement provides an opportunity for us to explore the relation of this struggle to the arts in general, and the Arts in New York in particular.

Because of a number of events taking place this week, we will devote a class assignment to the Occupy Wall Street movement. The purpose of this exercise is to explore the movement and its meaning for us (specifically what it has to say about the relationship between art and commerce; art and wealth; art and political expression; etc.).

Here is what is going on this week:

•Monday November 14, 2011
A Conversation About  The 99% Occupy Wall Street
Where: Rosenthal 230 (Library Lower Level 2)
Time: 12:15pm – 1:30pm
Meet organizers of the Occupy Wall Street Movement
Learn about the causes behind the movement
Ask questions, seek answers/ Sponsored by Queens College Provost’s Office

•Wednesday Nov. 16 – Homelessness in Focus @ Patio Room (Dining Hall) – Free Hour (12:15 – 1:30)

•Thursday Nov. 17 – OWS Teach-In from 9am – 3pm @ Patio Room

•Thursday Nov. 17 – Mobilize for Economic Justice – The PSC (the Professional Staff Congress, the union to which the Professors at Queens College belong) will take part in a peaceful, permitted rally and march that will begin at Foley Square at 5:00 PM before winding its way around City Hall and across the Brooklyn Bridge.  Our members will meet at the intersection of Broadway and Worth Street at 5:00 PM, before marching together into Foley Square. Earlier in day, people’s assemblies will be held near subway stations around the boroughs, and the organizers of the march are also planning civil disobedience actions. If you are interested in being trained and participating in a planned act of civil disobedience, contact Deirdre Brill (Dbrill@pscmail.org).

•Other information available at:  nycga.net * takethesquare.net * occupytogether.org * wearethe99percent.tumblr.com – click here

Here is your assignment for this week:

1 – Attend – Everyone is required to attend at least one (preferably 2)  of these events and report back to the group by posting about your experience on the Blog.
2 – Research – augment the experience of attending these events by reading some of the information found on the web sites listed above, and by reading and reporting about additional articles from major news sources (print, online, etc.).
3 – Focus – Your blog post can be general in nature, or focussed on a particular aspect of the movement, (or the rallies, or the experience, or historical connections, etc.) depending on what comes up in your research. remember to focus your blog post on the issue of how the Movement reflects issues that have resonance in the arts.  What does the movement have to say about the position of the arts in general and the Arts in New York, in specific?
4 – Write – The actual assignment is to create a single, detailed and substantial blog post on this topic. These posts should all be in the “Politics” category I have just created and include “Occupy Wall Street” in the title.  Your blog post should include links to articles you cite. Due Date: Monday, Nov. 21.

Further plans:
1 –  I will be attending the “Mobilize for Economic Justice” event in Manhattan and will be at Broadway and Worth Street on Thursday.  If anyone wishes to accompany me, we can travel together, or meet there.  Take my cell phone number so you can find me: 516-850-9536.
5 – I cannot attend the conversation on Monday at 12:15.   I would like at least a handful of volunteers to attend that meeting and report to the class at our regular meeting on Monday at 3:05.

This is a rare opportunity to engage in a major political movement that is right outside our door.  I am especially interested in exploring ways that this movement informs the questions we are asking about the Arts in New York.  Your blog post should address this aspect specifically.  We will relate what you learn this week to the experiences in the arts we have had already this semester.

See you on Monday.  The blog post on “Occupy Wall Street and the Arts” is due by Monday Nov. 21.

Best,

ES

Prof. Edward Smaldone, Director
Aaron Copland School of Music
Queens College, CUNY
Kissena Blvd.
Flushing, NY 11367
718-997-3800

When Stocks Fall….Buy Art?

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This New York Times this week ran an article detailing Sotheby’s auction this past week.  It begins by talking about this past week, as the stockmarket fell 400 points, Sotheby’s sold a painting done by Clyfford Still and Gerhard Richter for  $315.8 million. This week, the company achieved the company’s third-highest total for a contemporary art sale ever. The piece was estimated at  $270 million. Even in this economy, the painting went for more than $45 million than it was expected to be sold for.   Of the 73 lots for sale at Sotheby’s, 11 went unsold.Another surprise sale was the sale of Clyfford Still’s “1949-A-No. 1,” a canvas of thick, jagged brush strokes in deep reds and blacks.  The painting sold for $61.7 million, instead of the $25 million estimate.

I thought this was an appropriate article to blog about right before we go and visit Occupy Wall Street.  To the general public, spending thousands of dollars on art is not in their annual budget, yet alone spending millions.  I would have to bet that many of the people buying paintings for hundreds of millions of dollars are among the 1% of the population that has amassed so much wealth.  The money that bought the painting that was sold for $315 million, could have been used to support thousands of people for their entire lives.  When so muh money is being spent on art, and not on the general population, people get angry.  This anger is part of what  is what is fueling the Occupy Wall Street movement.  The full article can be found Here.  I am excited to see the Occupy Wall Street Teach In, after reading this article.

Message from Prof. Smaldone

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I will be posting additional instructions for next week right here at the top of the blog.  I can make a particular post “sticky” which means it will remain at the top and will thus be the first thing everyone sees when they go to the site.  new posts from the students will begin below my “sticky” posts.  I had previously made the Don Giovanni posts (from me) “sticky” but I changed that status, so those posts have slipped down in the blog.  If you need to catch up on the YouTube Don Giovanni (or the other reading in those posts) you will have to scroll down to find them.  They are still there.

In the meantime, today’s Doonesbury had an interesting commentary on “Occupy Wall Street.”  More on that later:

 

Absurdism

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Recently, I read “The Stranger” by Albert Camus.  The novel is considered one of the major accomplishments of the absurd movement and sometimes the existentialists.  .  The movement started with World War Two, and became more popular towards the middle of the century.  “The Stranger” is about a Frenchman living in Algier although he does not appear to fit in to his culture.  The novel opens with the main character, Meursault, stating that his mother died.  He shows no emotion, and goes through the funeral without ay signs of grief.  Then, he moves on with his life and starts a relationship with a woman the following day.  Later on in the novel, Meursault kills a man for no apparent reason.  As he says, he was annoyed by the sun and the heat.

I do not want to ruin the novel for anyone who wishes to read it, as i think it is extremely worthwhile.  I became interested in the absurd movement as soon as we saw “The Bald Soprano.”  When we read it in class, I was annoyed by the apparent randomness and silliness of the play.  After understanding the meaning behind Ionesco’s words, the play became fascinating.  The absurd movement as well.  It is hard to imagine how people were feeling after the war, and the total destruction of millions of people and countries.  This is the expression of the survivors.  It shows the world the psyche of the times, better than movies or photographs.  Through Ionesco, and Camus we see the feelings and emotions that the survivors of the war were feeling.  I think that is an incredible accomplishment for the absurdists.

Jim Snidero, the Buddhist?

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For my English 110h class, we are required to visit the Rubin Museum for our up-coming essay. As I perused the Rubin Museum’s website, I saw that they have live jazz performances, and that on November 4th, Jim Snidero and his quartet would be playing there. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and go see his quartet while getting a feel for the museum. While the actual museum exhibits were closed at this time, the gift shop, restaurant/bar and theater sections were open. The restaurant area was not at all what I was expecting. It was filled with people, and it had a very loud atmosphere, with modern music playing in the background. The concert, though, was held in the floor below. The acoustics were amazing: nobody used or needed a microphone (though I think the bass had an amp), and there was very little superfluous resonance.
Despite these unexpected surprises, the Jim Snidero Quartet was just as I expected: amazing. Unfortunately, they did not play any jazz standards, but I could still appreciate the originals that they performed. My favorite player was the drummer, McClenty Hunter, because exuded so much—and the right—energy in his playing, while never missing a change to interact with another band member. The last three songs that they performed were a suite that Jim Snidero composed The first movement was about the Buddha, the second movement was inspired by the Buddhist Temple museum exhibit, and the third movement was written with the deity of chaos in mind. While they band played through these songs, an image of what each song was about was projected onto a screen behind the quartet. This was a very interesting idea, because it allows the audience to see what inspired each song while the music is playing—however to me, it distracted from the music. Adding pictures to a song changes its purpose from absolute music, to program music, and this music was certainly absolute. Each song was remarkably distinctive, and amazing.

Jim Snidero\'s Website

Spiderman the musical

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Spiderman the musical has been a roller coaster in terms of production. It costs double the price of a normal broadway play. It also had a long bring of injuries and a seemingly endless period of previews. Most broadway shows have a month of preview shows. Spiderman the musical had six months of previews. The list of issues that the play faced does not end there; Early reviews for the musical were quite negative, and the artistic disagreements between the director and her fellow creators and new producers were so sharp, that she was fired from the show. The original director, Julie Taymor may have appeared for opening night with a happy face, but she was furious. She is currently legally pursuing $500,000 dollars in royalties she believes she is owed. I found this musical to be a such a stark contrast to Don Giovanni, the opera we are about to see. Spiderman uses lots of cables and modern technology for effects; Don Giovanni uses none. Spiderman’s composers are Bono and the Edge of U2, instead of an orchestra like Don Giovanni. It’s unlikely to happen, but a seeing a more modern musical would provide excellent context for discussion after seeing Don Giovanni. The article on Spiderman can be found here.

Seminar

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Last night, I saw Seminar:  a new Broadway production starring Alan Rickman (aka Professor Snape).  The production was written by Theresa Rebeck and directed by Sam Gold.  The production is still in previews, so last night was one of the first shows that an audience has seen.  It opened to the public on October 27th and is being performed at the Golden Theather.

Alan Rickman stars as an acclaimed, eccentric, sometimes damaging fiction editor, who was hired by four aspiring writers to critique their work.  Each of the writers react differently to Alan Rickman’s harsh criticism. Some of writers nowadays resent the criticism, while others take Rickman’s advice to heart.  The audience sees the difficulties that modern writers need to overcome in order to publish.

In terms of setting, the play reminded me of the Bald Soprano by Ionesco.  The play takes place in an apartment on the West Side.  It is not meant to be an action packed play.  The play centers around their meetings, and their conversation.  It also reminded me about the Bald Soprano because of the emphasis on language.  Whereas the Bald Soprano turned language into absurd, Seminar emphasized the importance of language.

As the perfect ending to a great night, I met Alan Rickman outside the theater and he signed the playbill.  Everyone should see Seminar if you enjoy Broadway. Here is the Link

How is this Art?

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Continuing from Ayala’a earlier post, I still don’t quite understand the appeal of modern art. However, I suppose I must admit that everyone is entitled to his own taste of artistic expression, and if people think that random white spheres sitting outside a building is, on some level, beautiful, then so be it.

But this is simply going to far.

I mean . . . it’s curry.

That’s right, folks: for a limited time only, visitors at the MoMA can receive a free serving of Thai curry as part of their new art exhibit on the second floor. How giving away free food (while it is generous, I’ll admit) can in any way be considered art remains a mystery. The article did not do a very good job of explaining the reasoning behind the curry. Then again, this is modern art we’re talking about– maybe their whole point is that now, in the 21st century, when mankind has gotten so far and made so many advancements, there doesn’t actually need to be a point to anything in order for you to invest an afternoon or two in experiencing it.

Got Jazz?

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Being a jazz enthusiast isn’t easy. Most of the people that I listen to are deceased, and forgotten by those outside of the “jazz world”. It’s actually a disintagrating genre that is at the end of its life. At least, that’s what I’ve been told by a countless number for people. However, during high school, I started branching out and trying to find new artists (most of my jazz repertoire up to that point consisted of Glenn Miller and Charlie Parker). My search has taken me through the timeline of jazz saxophonists, staring with Lester Young and ending with Michael Brecker. After a short time, though, it became clear to me that there are plenty of jazz stars that are still alive and performing: Brad Mehldau, Roy Hargrove, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Kenny Barron, Herbie Hancock, John Patitucci, Jack Dejohnette, Christian McBride, Joshua Redman, Wynton Marsalis, etc. Now, while jazz may not be as popular as it was in the Big Band era, it is certainly not dead. Out of curiosity, I decided to look up “jazz” on the New York Times. When I found the jazz listings for October, I was extremely angry: how could I have not realized that I’m only a subway ride (or two) away from so many superb performances! Here is the link for the jazz listings in NYC. Having these opportunities is amazing, and something I’m not used to. I need to explore the city more.

Brad Mehldau

Brad Mehldau–Live in Tokyo: Someone to Watch Over Me

Music, Video Games and Art

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Bjork, an artist that is known for creating “unique” music, released a new album entitled “Biophilia”. In a jazz ensemble that I performed with in High School, I played an arrangement of one of Bjork’s songs. Even though it was heavily influenced by pop–which is not my genre of preference–I have to admit that it was intriguing and fun to play. Her newest album, though, sets itself apart from other albums with more than just her style of music. Available for Ipad only, there is an app that syncs with her album and allows the user to interact with the music. There are various methods of doing this, ranging from just playing games to the music, to changing the way the music sounds by tapping the screen. For a more in-depth description, Seth Schiesel goes through how the mechanics work in the attached article.

This idea of combining music with video games has been something that I have always wanted to seen done properly. Imagine a video game that has music written by a virtuoso musician (and no, I am not referring to Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber), graphics and video animated by top quality producers, and dialogue that is truly brought to life by the voice-actors. If this were to be accomplished, I would say that it could prove video games could be a valid art form. However, Bjork has diluted the importance of both the video games and the music with her newest album. Instead of paying full attention to the music, the audience can now be distracted by cheaply made games for a mobile device. Does tapping a screen–and by doing so, altering the sound effects of a song–really enhance the experience of listening to music? While it may be innovative, and thus have commercial appeal, I really don’t believe it has any artistic benefit.

clickBiophilia