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December 2008
Art all over downtown
This just in from the good folks in the Oregon Arts District… Pay ‘em a visit if you can…
Here’s the latest press release:
Kick Off the New Year in Style During the January First Friday
Several new art exhibits to open during free event highlighting the city’s artistic, culinary and entertainment offerings.
Dayton, Dec. 29, 2008 - The next First Friday downtown art hop will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. Jan. 2 at the following locations:
—throughout the Oregon Arts District on E. Fifth Street;
— Cannery Art and Design Center, 434 E. Third St.;
— Dayton Visual Arts Center, 118 N. Jefferson St.;
— Dayton Convention Center Mezzanine Gallery, 22 E. Fifth St.;
— H. David Clay Studio, 33 S. St. Clair St.; and
— Sandra’s Art Emporium, 27 S. St. Clair St.
Note: The Greater Dayton RTA’s free service on its Wright Flyer trolley will NOT be offered in January. The trolley service will resume during the February First Friday.
The following exhibits will be on display in the Oregon Arts District:
• Gallery 510 Fine Art, 510 E. Fifth St., will host an opening reception for Zachary Armstrong’s solo show, “Constructed Paintings.” Armstrong will fill the gallery with his unusual artwork constructed using found materials. His captivating large-scale pieces make viewers think about paintings and how they are created in a new and different way. Stop by for a glass of wine and to meet the artist.
• Color of Energy, 16 Brown St., will host an opening reception for a show featuring new, adventurous works that are the result of a collaboration by artists Alyssa Foland and Mike Elsass, whose styles are very different yet complementary. This show ― in which Foland and Elsass stretch themselves artistically on canvas ― represents a divergent media for Elsass, as all of his previous works have been done on steel. The Dayton Visual Arts Center will host a closing reception for two exhibits. The first is “Before You Cut!,” featuring works by Dori Lee Madden, who will present an interactive project in the front of the gallery. Madden’s show includes outlines of human figures on the wall, and viewers are asked to “dress” the figures using pre-fabricated dress patterns. The second is “Mosaic/Chimera,” a themed, juried members’ exhibition dealing with how divergent parts are combined to create an integrated whole. It includes 25 paintings, photographs, collages and fiber works.
For more on DVAC, visit www.daytonvisualarts.org http://www.daytonvisualarts.org .
The Cannery Art and Design Center will feature the work of Rees Marlatt, whose artwork has received national and international acclaim during his 30-year career. Marlatt will demonstrate portrait painting in oils from 7 to 10 p.m. during First Friday, and he will offer oil painting workshops every Saturday during January. For more information on Marlatt and his work, call 937-313-9883.
For more on the CADC, visit www.canneryarts.com http://www.canneryarts.com .
At the Dayton Convention Center Mezzanine Gallery, the Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors will host “Through My Eyes,” an exhibit of oil paintings of Dayton-area people and landscapes by Pam Adams, who taught art at Alexandria Montessori for 17 years. For more information, contact Pam Adams at 937-286-3310 or pamadams5@sbcglobal.net http://us.mc812.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=pamadams5@sbcglobal.net or Terry Hitt at terry4carol@sbcglobal.net http://us.mc812.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=terry4carol@sbcglobal.net .
H. David Clay Studio features functional and decorative stoneware pottery, as well as raku, by proprietor H. David Kirchner, who makes all the work on the premises. Sandra’s Art Emporium, a new addition to downtown Dayton as well as to First Friday, features jewelry made by owner Sandra Miller and other local artists, along with sculpture and paintings.
In addition, a variety of entertainment options are available during First Fridays. All the restaurants, retail shops, bars and clubs, Neon Movies, Wiley’s Comedy Club and other establishments in the Oregon Arts District and Cannery will be open, and many will offer specials. For example, Blind Bob’s, 430 E. Fifth St., will host a high-power rock show featuring Shadyside, Sputnik Halo, Stone the Mayor Sheriffs and If He Dies He Dies http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.showDetails&Band_Show_ID=38530647&friendid=393544526 . The Downtown Dayton Partnership’s Web site, www.downtowndayton.org http://www.downtowndayton.org , has a complete list of downtown’s arts and cultural amenities, as well as a dining guide, parking map and much more.
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um, creepy
ok, let me get this straight… they’re bringing back “password” by adding “million dollar” to it, tossing in the always-offensive adam carrolla, doing a bit of can’t-go-wrong regis philbin and bringing back… oh.my.god.say.it.aint.so … BETTY WHITE??????????????
this is wrong on sooooo many levels that we’ll just stop now.
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The biggest comic hero you’ve never heard of
Tintin? Who?
Pretend if the “Little Prince” had been crossed with Indiana Jones, Jimmy Olsen and an adolescent James Bond, give him a smart-looking trenchcoat and I guess you’d be close…
Get ready… Here he comes…
Prediction: The movie will bomb.
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So, what did happen to Kwanzaa?
This year, a funny thing happened to Kwanzaa: A good number of scribes, pundits and essayists started writing not about how to celebrate it, but instead asked if anybody really was celebrating it….
Here’s an example of the sort of story and column that you can find pretty easily this season…
So, what is up? Do you know anybody who celebrates Kwanzaa? Do you celebrate it? What is its future? And did it even have a past?
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What’s the nicest ornament on your tree?
Folks place a lot of nostalgic value and family tradition in the Christmas-tree ornaments.
My favorite ornament is a Santa made out of red yarn that was handmade by my great-grandmother on my mom’s side, back in the 1920s or 1930s. It’s trimmed with white cotton and the face is a little art-deco-style Santa-sticker. It looks just like the old elf!
It’s been passed down in my family for decades, and my mom gave one to all my siblings.
My wife’s favorite ornaments are a gorgeous set of figurines from her favorite movie, “Gone With the Wind.” Scarlett and Rhett in their finest! They are very cool and I like them, too.
What’s on your tree each year that means a lot to you?
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The best Christmas music in town!
Do you yourself a holiday favor, give yourself a treat and tune in today to WDPR-FM, Dayton’s public radio station… they’re playing classical Christmas music all day and tomorrow as well.
Larry Corressel has some playing right this minute!
It’s a great way to feel festive for the holiday. Tune in to 88.1, or go do dpr.org and enjoy!
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Begging forgiveness from my dentist
There’s an old expression about never picking a fight with somebody who buys ink by the barrel. Even smarter, though — never make trouble with somebody who gets to stick sharp things in your mouth.
Yes, friends, I have unintentionally incurred the wrath of my dentist. I want to apologize before my next appointment.
My dentist, you see, in addition to being good at teeth, takes pride in the music that plays in his office. It’s a beautiful new facility that is a pleasure to visit — not a bad thing, considering how a lot of people feel about submitting to what Dr. Greg does for a living.
Personally, I’ve never minded going to the dentist. It’s usually pleasant, with a nice result: Clean teeth! But I appreciate the effort that mine puts into trying to give his patients a calm, relaxing time. Music plays a big part, and he chooses an enlightened hybrid of New Age, Windham Hill-airy jazz/pop/world and mild classical. Lots of Pan flutes. It’s pretty and has the desired effect.
Sherry, the hygienist who’s worked on my teeth for years, knows from my byline that I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, and in that spirit we have joked sometimes about the music playing while I’m the chair, imagining for instance what sort of Jay-Z rap might fit in a dentist’s office.
Here’s where I gave offense. Two weeks ago in this space, I was cracking on the generally poor quality of contemporary Christmas music. I referred to a song I heard while in the dentist’s chair — a soft arrangement of the awful “da-hoo doray” thing the Whos sang in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
By midweek, I’d gotten a letter from my always-cheerful dentist and his staff: “Hi! We are thrilled to have been mentioned in your article Sunday about Christmas music. We are sorry about the ‘gratingly irritating’ song!!” Dr. Greg added, “That does it … I’m going to re-arrange ALL music … Just threw my house selection out! ‘I Feel Good’ — James Brown.”
It was all in good fun, but I could tell I’d been misunderstood, and hurt some feelings in the office. Please, you all: If you are reading, allow me to clarify.
It was just that song. Just the one song.
I would not use my tastes to decide what you should play in your office, or you will get some weird stuff that a lot of other people won’t like. Don’t listen to Sherry, either.
When I say I listen to and like everything, gentle feel-good New Age music is on the list.
If I was able to make a larger point from my irritation over the da-hoo doray, I could make a different larger point from the music that came right before and right after. And it would be this:
I like what I hear at the dentist’s office. I get tired of top-40 pop wherever I go. I don’t like hearing the same easy-listening or adult-hits dreck at the bank or in a store that I can get on the radio. I don’t like going into, say, an Irish pub or a Chinese restaurant and hearing the same old American junk. Just because I like Rihanna doesn’t mean I want to hear here all the time.
When I can tell that the proprietors have fashioned music that is appropriate to the mood and atmosphere of the place, that makes me happy. It impresses me.
So, Doc: don’t go changin’ to try and please me. Keep your music the way you’ve got it. I like it that way, my grinching aside. Besides, when I hear James Brown I tend to jump around a lot. And that’s not something I should be doing when you’ve got those sharp things in my mouth.
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Tell us the best!
Tis the season for best-of lists, year-end roundups and all the usual December rundowns and recaps of music, movies, shows, etc., from the year.
But who says critics are the only ones with opinions? Let’s see what you think!
Here’s the question: What was the best performance you saw locally this year? A band, an actor, a show, a musician. What was the best thing you saw? What did you enjoy most?
I’ll start the conversation: My favorite performance of the year came from a local girl group called Vanity Theft, at the Oregon Express during the Dayton Music Festival this fall. It was a great show by a smart, gifted band of young women from the Springboro area — hard rock/pop that would’ve made Joan Jett proud. The reason it was best? Mostly because it was such a surprise — the band wasn’t really on my radar at all, and at least for me came out of nowhere.
So… Your turn.
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Wisdom from a Chinese banker
This interview from The Atlantic Monthly with one of China’s top bankers — one of the guys in charge of our debt, actually — is a fascinating look at us and how we think, don’t think, should think…
Have a look.
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“It’s A Wonderful Life” — is it the movie you thought it was?
Like many of you, I’ve always really liked “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and look forward to the annual holiday viewings (even though I really don’t regard it as a Christmas movie, a genre I generally dislike).
I’ve also read a lot about it over the years, and this morning stumbled upon a piece in the Times about it that really made me think about the film in a new light. I’ll admit this writer’s take isn’t exactly the same as mine, but I think he makes some excellent points, and has given me a lot to think about.
Read and comment, if you like…
Is it the movie you thought it was?
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a glimpse into the future
every once in a while, you stumble across a prescient news story that seems to reveal how the next few years are going to turn out… this strikes me as one of those… read and discuss…
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Got a favorite Xmas song?
A couple of reliable co-workers have found their way to my office mailbox to slip in their much-awaited annual mix CD of swingin’ holiday tunes.
What’s on YOURS? Or, what’s your favorite holiday pop tune?
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Cooking with Culture Works
Just when you wanted another last-minute Xmas gift suggestion, here comes a nifty press release from Culture Works, Dayton’s fine-arts fund:
CULTURE WORKS’ Community Cookbook Now On Sale DAYTON, OH December 11, 2008 - Culture Works is proud to announce that its community cookbook, Cooking with the Arts, is now on sale. The hard-cover cookbooks are $25 each and include a CD of jazz music that complements the wide variety of recipes. The cookbook features over 350 recipes submitted by local restaurants, local artists, fans of Culture Works, and the community. There is a great selection of recipes that includes drinks, appetizers, desserts, entrees, salads, breads, and more. The recipes are organized into sections that contain information on the arts groups Culture Works supports. The community members who contributed recipes published in the cookbook are also recognized in the book. Proceeds from the sale of the cookbooks will benefit the Culture Works Annual Campaign for the Arts. Cookbooks can be ordered by contacting Kristin Doore at (937) 222-2787 or emailing kdoore@cultureworks.org. Order forms are also available online at www.cultureworks.org and can be filled out and mailed back to Culture Works at 126 N. Main Street, Suite 210, Dayton, Ohio 45402.
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R.I.P. Jim Nichols
Word came to the newsroom this morning that one of our old friends and longtime colleagues, Jim Nichols, died yesterday at age 89. Here’s the obit.
Jim was a fixture in the newsroom the DDN left behind back at our original building at Fourth and Ludlow streets in downtown Dayton. He never made the move to our tidy new Media Center on South Main Street, but I don’t think he would’ve been very happy here anyway. He was, as anybody who knew him knew, a downtown Dayton guy.
In fact, the rhythm and pulse of downtown, its ups and downs over the decades, were Jim’s life and the underpinnings of his career in journalism. He came to be known as “Mr. Downtowner,” after the name of the publication that he edited and wrote for for many years, a tabloid that chronicled downtown news and events.
Nichols wrote for that and for the DDN for decades. Even after he officially retired, he still came to the features department newsroom on the fifth floor every day for years. He diligently typed his column and made phone calls to bar owners, band leaders and restaurateurs who all knew that Nichols wanted more than anything to let his many readers know what was going on in their joints.
He knew the history of the city as well as anybody. He could tell you what business had been in a certain storefront 10, 20 or 30 years ago, and knew the names of the owners and the guys who worked in the front. He knew stories about fighters, crooks, musicians and sportsmen. He knew cops, judges and crooks, and where they all ended up.
He ate lunch most days at the great Moraine Embassy, a lunch-counter restaurant with Greek flair that’s still open on Ludlow next to our old building. He spent most evenings after work at the Trolley Stop, where owner Robin Sassenberg was a good friend who helped take care of him in his old age, and where he liked to watch the comings and goings of folks who all stopped by to say hello to “Nick.”
He regretted that downtown had deteriorated to the state it’s at today from what he recalled in its heyday — but unlike many other people, he never hated it and never, ever gave up on it. He kept telling its tales and spotlighted its good points as well as he could, and even became a promoter of downtown events in his own right — founding and organizing the free music festivals at Dave Hall Plaza each summer that bring reggae, blues and Women in Jazz. What would downtown be like without them?
Nichols could be a little grouchy, as he got older, about changes to his copy, and he got a bit impatient sometimes with younger folks in the newsroom who did things differently from the ways he knew. I suppose that’s your right, after a certain point, and Nichols stuck around for so many years that he passed many, many milestones that others in ours or any business never reach.
He was neat guy. I wish I’d known him when he was younger, stronger, and more vigorous. I learned a lot from him, and that’s one of the best things I can say about anybody.
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New Killers CD: So-so stuff
The CD du jour:
The Killers DAY & AGE
Few bands have the intriguing mish-mash of influences that can be claimed by the Killers, a Vegas-based quartet who veer back and forth between wildly incongruent styles with verve — but, alas. also with mixed success.
The band’s first disc, 2004’s “Hot Fuss,” restirred the mid-’70s glam-rock pot and sounded glitzy and great, when the band turned around and followed it up with “Sam’s Town,” a big-production number that warmed over Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen and came off as a lame Bon Jovi ripoff.
Now comes “Day & Age,” which pulls the interesting trick of trying to mix both of those styles on the same disc — and sometimes on the same song. “Losing Touch,” the first cut, starts off with chimes that somehow recall “Badlands” before slipping gear into a cool shuffle and a wisecracking vocal by Brandon Flowers that made me think of “Diamond Dogs”-era Bowie. And it works.
In fact, if you can break down the Killers’ still-evolving sound into Bruce or Bowie column A and B, they almost always sound better, more authentic and more comfortable when they’re playing off the latter than the former; evidence the utterly disastrous “A Dustland Fairytale,” which rehashes every broken-dreams/washed-up-prom-queen rock cliche ever written. Ick. Stick with the mascara, guys, and you’ll do fine.
Grade: B-
iPod picks: “Human,” “Losing Touch,” “Joy Ride.”
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Happy Beethoven’s birthday!
OK, kiddies, light up the candles and strike up the band — um, symphony: Today’s the birthday of the one and only Ludwig van Beethoven.
As a friend said when I mentioned this, “His fifth?” Nyuk-nyuk.
Here, just in case you should need it, is the top of the Wikipedia entry. Note the one-year discrepancy in the year of his birth… that’s because when he was a child, his father promoted him as younger than he was, in order to make his earliest performances appear more prodigy-like, and thus more profitable.
Enjoy! And while we’re at it, what’s your favorite Beethoven piece? I’m partial to the Ninth, myself…
Ludwig van Beethoven, 16 December 1770[1] - 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most respected and influential composers of all time. Born in Bonn, then in the Electorate of Cologne (now in modern-day Germany), he moved to Vienna in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. Beethoven’s hearing gradually deteriorated beginning in his twenties, yet he continued to compose, and to conduct and perform, even after he was completely deaf.
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Prime-time Leno: What do you think?
Pretty interesting, the way Jay Leno’s sudden announcement of a move to NBC’s prime-time lineup has shaken the TV landscape… and, it seems, in a good way.
He’s talked with the NYTimes about what he would like to do on the new show, if it will really be all that much of a new show, and says some fun stuff — such as the fact that he would love to be on TV some with David Letterman.
OK, I’d tune in for THAT. If life really is a continuation of high school, then Leno would be the popular class clown who gets elected to the Homecoming court, while Letterman is the kid who gets caught smoking in the parking lot and who always seems to be the one throwing the coolest party that you might get in trouble for attending. Wouldn’t it be fun to have them both at the same party for a while?
What do you think Leno’s show will do for TV? Are you looking forward to his move?
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Shoe-throwing thoughts
Would throwing one’s shoes as an insult have evolved in a culture that had to deal with a lot of rain and snow?
Methinks not…
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A cool WYSO funk-a-thon!
Oooh, this sounds like fun… Just in from WYSO-FM:
Season’s Greetings
We Know its cold but…
WYSO Presents The Third Annual “Godfather Of Soul Funk-A-Thon” guaranteed to warm your soul!
Thursday, December 18th from 8 - 10 o The Groove with Peter Hayes
2 hours featuring Soul Brother #1 getting down with the get down plus 2 half hour special radio shows about the Hardest Working Man In Show Business. Que Pasa People, Que Pasa Hit Me!
In Search Of James Brown: An Appreciation (30 minute special)
In 1999, radio producers Paul Ingles and Joe Warnes went in pursuit of an interview with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown at a tour stop in Albuquerque. As they pursued a private audience with Brown, they managed to capture his essence by talking to fans and handlers and by taking listeners inside the arena for a taste of a James Brown show.
The Big Payback - A Tribute to The Godfather of Soul! (30 minute special)
A tribute mix to the Godfather of Soul, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business and Soul Brother #1—-James Brown. Featuring interviews with Don Cornelius, Dave March, Sammy Davis Jr, Harry Weinger, Mike Douglas and of course with James Brown himself. Montages of all his hits and much more.
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Bad holiday music and other stuff
Hmmm, let’s have a look into the holiday arts and entertainment grab bag, and see what we can find?
Sounds of the season, alas: Surrounded as we are this time of year by holiday music, both good and bad — well, more precisely, both decent and horrible — I am amused and amazed each year by the various things that come wafting over the airwaves in the name of holiday cheer.
While I was sitting in the dentist’s chair this week, for instance, I was trying to place a familiar tune that came wafting over the speakers as my teeth were cleaned It was a light guitar arrangement, brimming with background strings, but I couldn’t place it. Was it classical? A pop tune? A weirdly reworked carol?
Before you can say, “Da-hoo doray,” it came to me: It was that song by the Whos! No, not The Who — the ones from Whoville! It was that gratingly irritating song that nearly pushes the poor Grinch to the brink of madness … and it has now been introduced, apparently, into the Christmas canon. I guess that means we’ve gotten all the mileage out of “Silent Night” that we can….
Changes, changes: This has been an interesting week in terms of personnel changes in the local arts scene: Having wrapped up her time as head of the Victoria Theatre Association, Dione Kennedy moved this weekend to take a new job in Fort Worth, where Texas theater fans are about to learn that our loss is very much their gain. Stay tuned for word on the search for her replacement.
WYSO-FM, meanwhile, announced that it has found a new general manager — a rather illustrious one, at that. She is Neenah Ellis, a longtime National Public Radio talent. She brings with her Noah Adams, her husband, also very well-known to public radio listeners for his voice and reporting. They’ll be living in Yellow Springs, and will doubtless have a positive impact on the local cultural scene. Welcome to both.
Congrats! Big news for Bing Davis, well-known Dayton artist and teacher, who has received the Irma Lazarus award for lifetime achievement from the Ohio Arts Council — which also awarded Cityfolk for its community education and outreach efforts. The awards will be presented in Columbus in April. Nice to see some statewide recognition for terrific local talent.
Hmm: “The Dark Knight” is back in people’s minds now that the DVD is out and awards buzz is happening — but interestingly, three people this week told me that upon seeing it for the first time, they liked it but found it to be waaaaaay too long. Aren’t those mutually exclusive?
Go while you can: You have about three more weeks to go visit the very nice show at the Dayton Art Institute about children in American art, on loan from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It’s got some great work by Homer, Sargent and others — and is worth your time as a nice break from shopping.
And finally, da-hoo doray to you!
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R.I.P., Bettie Page
Bettie Page, the … well, what’s the right word? “notorious?” “infamous?” “legendary?” … beautiful and mysterious pinup-girl-in-bondage from the 1950s and ’60s who enjoyed a recent historical revival, has died.
Her obit in the Times tells the tale.
What’s interesting to me about Page, mostly, is the way she became mainsteam-famous years after she stopped working. Hers was one of those careers in which she toiled in her heyday on the fringes of social acceptability, and then found herself the subject of popular widespread attention decades later, when she had herself put her old work behind her.
Everything old becomes new again, and one era’s naughty is a later era’s quaint. How interesting, and how odd.
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‘The Simpsons’ — not funny anymore?
Hey, Simpsonites… A Kettering reader sent an email the other day that he’s hacked off about his favorite animated comedy show… He writes:
Is anyone going to have the guts to put in print that “The Simpsons” just isn’t that funny anymore? The episodes have lost their bite and lack originality. Everything comes to an end at some point. I realize they were up against tough competition but last night’s episode only drew a 3.8. It will be up to the critics to start forcing the shows end or to get some improvement. I loved the show and hate to see it go down.
Sooo, what do you think?
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Britney Spears ‘Circus’: Better than you thought
Britney Spears CIRCUS
As it’s topped the charts in its opening week it might be tempting — but really isn’t fair — to say Britney Spears is back with “Circus.” She was actually very nicely back with her previous disc, “Blackout,” but nobody noticed, was all.
Which was too bad, because “Blackout” was a terrific, energetic and exceedingly listenable collection of sexy dance tracks. With the great producer Danja mostly at the helm, “Blackout” showed Spears off for the first time as something we hadn’t seen before: An adult who had put her cute-teen ways behind her and was going straight for a no-nonsense, grown-up sexpot image. Take exception if you like, but it was frankly the first time she had acted age-appropriate in her entire life as an entertainer, if you think about it.
Unfortunately for her, the album got buried beneath all the mega-hype about her personal troubles. Now that all that stuff seems to have calmed down — that, or the celebrity press has lost interest; hard to tell, actually — it’s easier to apply fresh ears to her work.
If you do that, you might enjoy what you hear. “Circus” picks up where “Blackout” left off, and even reprises one of its tracks as a bonus, in the apparent hope of getting folks interested in looking back to that album. The beats are tight and danceable, snugly wrapped around Spears’ breathy voice in a way that makes it sound bigger than it really is.
Sexy? You bet — in fact, it’s downright naughty at times, and sounds a lot like a younger, more peppery version of Madonna’s recent disco-ball work. In fact, that’s what she should’ve been aiming toward all along, if she wants to keep extending her 15 minutes, and get folks to think of anything other than her tabloid headlines.
OK, good luck to that — but at least she’s trying.
Grade: B+
iPod picks: “Circus,” “Womanizer,” “Blur.”
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Let’s hear it for the library!
This is interesting news… This story in the DDN today by arts writer Terry Morris says that the Dayton Metro Library is on track to break its all-time usage record, with more than 7 million items loaned this year…
Dayton has always been a high-use town when it comes to libraries, but what’s most interesting to me about this statistic is that it arrives at a time when reading and books in general seem to be under general assault.
Borders and other book chains are on the financial ropes… Publishing houses are losing money, and several have announced that they are accepting and printing fewer titles this year… Newspaper readership is down… Book readership is considered to be down in the face of the Internet… In general, from the headlines and trends, one might have gotten the idea that over the last few years, we’ve been headed toward something resembling a post-literate culture, or at least a post-print culture.
And maybe we are. But the news that usage of the local library system has jumped comes along to put a bit of a speed bump in that trend, it seems.
Sure, when unemployment goes up, more folks to go the libe. I get that. And yes, the library has DVDs and CDs in its shelves now, too, in addition to books. We check them out as well.
But still — this is the sort of news that ought to make the thinkers out there among you just a little happier. People are using their library. Good for them. Good for the library. Glad it’s still there for them to use.
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Obama’s inauguration: What’s appropriate?
Here’s a question: As companies are reducing staff, cutting back and in nearly every case I’m aware of, cancelling long-standing company holiday parties (the proper thing to do, obviously) … what’s appropriate for Obama’s inaugural events?
His inauguration is a big deal, of course. It should be a large celebration, for lots and lots of reasons…
But as this story in today’s Times shows, he and his committee are giving a lot of thought to striking the right tone… Too much could seem like, well, too much, considering what a lot of people are going through right now…
What do you think? Pull out the stops? Go for sedate and laid-back? Somewhere in between?
Share your thoughts on this…
And while you’re at it, what would be the perfect theme song for it all?
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Classical CD’s for sale!!!
Hey, music lovers… this just in from WDPR-FM, our local 24/7 classical station…
WDPR/Classical 88.1 To Host 5 For $20 Classical CD Sale!
Let Classical 88.1 FM help you complete your holiday shopping for that music buff on your list! Stop by the station on Thursday, December 18th, between 10 am - 7 pm and pick up some great buys on classical CD recordings from a variety of classical artists from their extensive music library. From Bach to Beethoven to the most obscure national and international artists, you will find it at the Class-A-Polloza sale event! Many CD’s are new and still in the original packaging…perfect for holiday gift giving. Individual classical CD’s are $5.00 each or 5 for $20.There will be some specially priced rare recordings, compilations and box sets as well. WDPR-FM is located in the Metropolitan Arts Center at 126 North Main St. Call 937-496-3850 for further information.
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Art prices to drop?
If you pay any attention to the art world, you know that the price of contemporary art has gone haywire in the last few decades — with millions of dollars spent for pieces whose long-term value has yet to be fully understood or determined (by something other than its cost, that is).
It’s been crazy for a long time, and has affected galleries, artists and museums. This story suggests the bubble is about to burst, for all sorts of interesting economic reasons.
All I know is, I got a cool collage print at a local fundraiser over the weekend for $20. I would’ve happily paid a little more for it, too.
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Joe the Karaoke Plumber Writer Guy… Sigh
Good, if kinda mean, op-ed piece from the Times… about writing, not writing, and getting to write even when you can’t and have no business trying. I guess I see the point, but also figure folks should get the chance to write or read what they want to, yes?
Is it OK to admit that at this point, I’m feeling a little sorry for Joe? The poor bastard probably wishes he’d never gone to that rally that day…
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Museums vs. arenas: Which one wins?
This may seem counter-intuitive, given the nature of how we regard such things, but this interesting little NYTimes tidbit makes an interesting point: Far, far more people go to museums each year than go to sporting events. With all the hullabaloo we make over sports, this surprised me.
Why do you think this is? The story suggests that it’s because museums are cheaper and because TV coverage of events keeps people from having to go to sporting events.
Both good points, but I would add a few more suggestions… It’s become fairly irritating to attend big-arena or stadium events, between the hassle of parking, traffic, often-foul weather and often-obnoxious fans. Plus, your team may lose, which makes the whole thing a deflating event after you’ve put up with all the rest.
With the museum, it’s all upbeat and good: Pleasant, comfortable, laid-back and informative, plus you feel smarter at the end. Even if there’s a crowd, it’s a cool crowd.
And generally, nobody paints their bare chest and throws beer at a museum. I’m just sayin’.
Thoughts?
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Life imitating art in terrorist attacks
Like many of you, I read the news about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai with fascination and dread, following intently online as the firefights pitched back and forth. But even though I’ve never been to India, I also felt a strong sense of deja vu.
I knew right away where it came from. The stream of violent, tragic news seemed to flow directly from the pages of a novel I had just finished reading a few weeks ago. We all encounter life-imitates-art episodes from time to time, but this one seemed particularly bizarre and poignant. Not only did I feel as I read about the attacks that I had already heard exactly the same stories, but I had a strong sense that the whole situation was scripted and inevitable.
The book in question is “Sacred Games,” by the Indian-American author Vikram Chandra. It’s a whopper of a tale — a vast, sprawling 947-page opus published in 2006 that one critic described, rather perfectly, as Dickens meets “The Sopranos.” That was enough to hook me.
At its heart, it’s a fairly simple murder mystery set in the sweaty, teeming streets of Mumbai, which is the commercial, financial and cultural heart of India — a city that emerges as the country’s cosmopolitan combination of Wall Street and Hollywood, with vast slums full of desperate poverty thrown in.
The main characters are a Sikh police detective, Sartaj Singh, and a crime lord/mafia don sort of boss named Ganesh Gaitonde, who is killed early in the story. He’s so big, and into so many things, that the government’s intelligence service needs to find out who killed him and why — and turns to Sartaj and his street smarts to dig into the case and find out.
Of course, in a book this long nothing is really simple for long. The story turns out to run off in dozens of interwoven directions, with narrative threads looping crazily in and out of each other. Gaitonde, a Hindu gangster, was at war with a rival Muslim gang leader, turns out, and thrown into all this is the political tensions between India and Pakistan. I don’t want to give too much away, but at some point a principal plotline emerges in which a massive terror attack is planned for Mumbai with the goal of causing war between the two countries — by criminals who plan it all from boats offshore.
Sound familiar? Chandra gave a soft-spoken interview on NPR the other day about his novel’s strange prescience, in which he pointed out that while it was a bit unsettling, it was also not that surprising — Mumbai has been the scene of previous terror strikes, including a 1993 street-bombing campaign that is vividly recreated in his story.
Violence, in fact, is the thread that runs through the entire novel — along with corruption, poverty, crime, filth, all balanced in nearly equal measure by Bollywood glitter, extreme wealth, good humor and great courage. Chandra loves and hates Mumbai, and the city he portrays provides an incredible backdrop for a story as big as the one he tries to tell.
Even as long and imperfect as it is, I’d recommend “Sacred Games” as a way to toe-dip into some of the politics and tensions that seem to undergird the news of the last few weeks. While no single novel, of course, can capture all there is to know and understand about a city or country, this one is a bold, entertaining start if you’re interested.
And besides, the creepiness of the uncanny similarities between Chandra’s imagination and the real world is just too delicious not to sample. Have fun.
