June Newsletter: A Review of the Month’s Culture, Arts + Trends

JUNIE JUNIE MO MOONIE

On the first day of summer, Make Music New York filled the City with more than 1,300 free outdoor performances. The flutists in Central Park ruled (natch) … Elvis Costello solo at Carnegie Hall. About Everyday I Write the Book: “…a song I really hate. I wrote it in 10 minutes, and then it was a hit.” … Maya Angelou’s handwritten manuscript of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on display at the NY Public Library’s Schomburg Center … Looking for viability and relevance globally, Harleys go electric. But where’s the vroom? … The brilliant Patti LaBelle on Broadway in After Midnight … Queen on a 19-date cross-country tour with Adam Lambert … The NY Phil Biennial was an 11-day festival of new music … Spike Lee directed the live stream of Pharrell Williams at The Apollo … Have you seen the iPad ad with Esa-Pekka Salonen? Software takes him from inspiration to score to orchestra … Bang on a Can collaborating with the Jewish Museum for a year and the Rolling Stones played Tel Aviv. L’chaim! … Dylan’s original lyrics to Like a Rolling Stone handwritten on hotel stationery sold at auction for over $2M – including doodles … You know it’s summer when Gangster of Love Steve Miller plays Jones Beach with Journey, and Ringo and his All Starr Band (Todd Rundgren!) play the Beacon … Caramoor’s American Roots Music Festival of folk, country, blues, and bluegrass featuring Rosanne Cash and my favorite roving troubadour, Matt Turk … And the June Full Moon –called Honey Moon, Strawberry Moon, or Rose Moon – filled the sky on Friday the 13th.

MUSICAL MOVIES

He managed Alice Cooper, Blondie, and Luther Vandross. Mike Myers celebrates his great friend Shep Gordon in Supermensch … Clint Eastwood + The Four Seasons = Jersey Boys, based on the Broadway musical … Toni Colette is a rock music critic in Lucky Them … We Are the Best! has all the wild fun raw emotions that a real punk girl group can muster … Begin Again with movie stars Keira Knightly as songwriter and Mark Ruffalo as record guy, with musician Adam Levine as musician with record deal … Don Cheadle crowdfunding for Miles Davis biopic, to direct, write, and star.

THINKING ABOUT…

“Tonight you’re mine completely. You give your love so sweetly…but will you love me tomorrow?” Gerry Goffin is remembered for writing beautiful songs with Carole King … RandR Hall of Famer Bobby Womack cited his lost friends, from Sam Cooke to Luther Vandross, as motivation to work. “I’m standing up for [them]. I feel proud to represent them. This is what soul music is about. Music has to reach the soul.” … I will always be grateful to Peter Shukat, my great advisor and friend. At the top of the music lawyerdom heap (John, Yoko, Miles, Jimi, Marley), he was ever accessible as he was skillful. Rest easy, Peter … Producer John McClure worked on 200 recordings with Leonard Bernstein: “[Bernstein] is not long on patience and not stingy with blame…[but he was] unfailingly stimulating, educational, maddening, and musically nutritious.” … And a passing of the bow (not baton), as Glenn Dicterow, NY Phil’s concertmaster since 1980, moves to sunny California to teach. I got to say goodbye to him, as did the City at the Beethoven Triple Concerto performances. A great musician, and, oh yeah, a mensch.

 

WE CAN HELP

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum tells the history and significance of rock and roll through its exhibits, library, archives, and educational programs. Become a member or volunteer. You can even donate an artifact!

Soundtrack to this Issue is
The Joker by the Steve Miller Band

Greatest word ever in a song? Pompitous – of course! Listen to the Space Cowboy sing about the pompitous of love, lovey-dovey, playin’ music in the sun, and those peaches.

C’mon, sing along:

 

Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l

“…live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
(Buddha)

 

Sources:
Painting of the Strawberry Moon: by Leah Dorion
Supermensch pic: supermenschmovie
Will You Love Me Tomorrow? lyrics: EMI Music Publishing, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Bobby Womack quote: LA Times, June 28, 2014
John McClure quote: NY Times, June 24, 2014
Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame pic: 2014 Induction Ceremony poster