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

SEPTEMBER FULL OF HOPE

“The breezes taste of apple peel. The air is full of smells to feel. Ripe fruit, old footballs, burning brush, new books, erasers, chalk, and such. The bee, his hive, well-honeyed hum, and Mother cuts chrysanthemums. Like plates washed clean with suds, the days are polished with a morning haze.” (John Updike, September)

HOPE EVERLASTING

“We’ve got to be as clear-headed about human beings as possible, because we are still each other’s only hope,” James Baldwin said to Margaret Mead in a historic public conversation in New York City, August 25, 1970 … The twin beams of light emitted each September 11, as transcendental as any symbol of remembrance can ever be, depicts the timeless hope of which James Baldwin speaks.

ROCK STAR!

“A shooting star leaping through the sky, Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity…Burnin’ through the sky yeah” … An asteroid has been named after Freddie Mercury to honor what would have been his 70th birthday. Asteroid “Freddiemercury” is “burnin’ through the sky” in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Per Brian May, Queen’s lead guitarist as well as an astrophysicist, “It’s just a dot of light but it’s a very special dot of light and maybe one day we’ll get there.”

BREAKFAST IN AMERICA

Former Hollywood screenwriter Craig Carlson, with no restaurant experience, recounts his dream of opening an American diner in Paris, Breakfast in America, and turning it into a popular restaurant chain in the heart of Paris.

“After a year in France, I was dying for a good ol’ American breakfast. [Back in LA] I ordered a ham steak, scrambled eggs, home-fried potatoes, and buckwheat pancakes. I stared at it wide-eyed and said, ‘Oh my God, this is the one thing I missed when I was in Paris!’ At that instant a year’s worth of eating French breakfasts replayed before my eyes. But the problem was that every breakfast was exactly the same. Croissants and pains au chocolat, croissants and pains au chocolat. I stared down at my pancakes…my heart racing as I repeated the phrase: ‘The one thing I missed in Paris’…I knew exactly what I wanted to do: open an American diner in Paris! I even knew what I was going to call it: Breakfast in America.”

KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S GATE?

Did you know that Bob Dylan liked to sculpt enormous iron gates? Yes, it’s true. After all, he was born and raised in iron ore country in Minnesota. He just built a 26×15-foot iron gateway for the MGM National Harbor casino in Maryland. Called Portal, it incorporates found objects, farm equipment, kitchen utensils, and tools … Per Dylan: “Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed, but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways, there is no difference.” Whoa, that is so Dylan.

WHEN BAD ADVERTISING HAPPENS TO THE ARTS

Here’s a real head-scratcher. Seems that the Wells Fargo financial services company thought this was a good idea. Picture this. A smiling young woman with the caption: “A ballerina yesterday. An engineer today.” And the tag line: “Let’s get them ready for tomorrow.” Although they were taken to task for this tasteless ad campaign that they subsequently abandoned, how was it ever approved? The arts and those who choose to be artists are to be cherished, enjoyed, and encouraged. Hey, Wells Fargo, learn something about the arts from the National Endowment for the Arts and put aside some ad dollars for a donation. It’s the arts that fulfill promises and make life grand.

FULL OF AWE

Words enable us to communicate with each other. What powerful tools they are! But changes in language and in people, including interpretation, people adapting language to fit their needs, societal changes, and shifting pronunciations, affect the meaning of a word over time. Let’s look at the evolution of the word awful: In Shakespeare’s time awful had the complimentary meaning of “full of awe.” With the suffix –ful, awful means having the quality of awe. Its meanings include being worthy of, commanding profound respect or reverential fear, which may have led it to mean causing dread. So over the centuries, awful took on a negative quality – frightful, ugly, monstrous. Then awful was eventually replaced with today’s positive awesome. Note that the suffix -some is basically the same as –ful in its meaning. Since awful had such a strong negative connotation, awesome was used meaning “awe-inspiring” without the negativity. By the mid-1900s awesome went from awe-inspiring to its ubiquitous use today meaning amazing. Okay, so awesome may have reached its cultural saturation point, but its history is nonetheless awesome, right?

TRIUMPHANT NEW MUSEUM!

A new major museum is always worth celebrating! Just opened is the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in the heart of Washington DC. Its very design is crucial to the story it tells. From its lowest floor depicting the history of slavery, each ascending floor follows the journey to the civil rights movement and up to “A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond” and President Obama’s inauguration.

…AND THE BEATLES’ CIVIL RIGHTS VICTORY

In the new documentary, Eight Days a Week, director Ron Howard examines the Beatles’ touring years. Of note, we learn that in 1964 when they reached the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL, seats were segregated. They refused to perform until the venue was integrated, gaining a victory for civil rights. “We played to people. We didn’t play to those people or that people – we just played to people,” so said Ringo.

ROCK RELICS DO GOOD!

Cool pic of The Boss, right? Unless you’ve read Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin’s High On Rebellion: Inside the Underground at Max’s Kansas City (see May 2016 Newsletter), you’ve never seen it. Taken upstairs at Max’s Kansas City backstage by Lily Hou in 1973, it was one of many great items up for auction to benefit Yvonne’s arts non-profit, Max’s Kansas City Project, which provides artists grants of emergency relief for housing, medical, and legal aid.

DOG NEWS

Barkley’s incredible veterinarian Dr. Amy Attas (as well as Buddha’s and Skeffington’s!) volunteered to care for the heroic rescue dogs at ground zero. Dr. Attas and her colleagues listened to the handlers while their dogs were being treated for cuts, burns, and dehydration, prompting the vets to ask psychologists to sit with them. “A lot of the handlers told us that their dogs were really depressed, because they were search and rescue dogs and they weren’t finding anybody,” Dr. Attas told NBC News.

WE CAN HELP

The Vesey Street stairs, on site at the 911 Memorial Museum and now known as Survivors’ Stairway, is the sole remainder above ground of the World Trade Center. Gazing at it, one visualizes all those people running down them seeking safety and escape with fervent hope that they make it out. The 9/11 Memorial Museum documents the impact of 9/11 and explores its continuing significance. There we bear witness to a collection of artifacts that remind us of the people we lost and the brave souls that heroically went in to help, to save, to do their job. It is a place of commemoration.  Make a monetary donation or you can make a contribution to the collection such as pics, videos, voice messages, personal effects, workplace objects, and diaries.

Fact: Animals have a positive effect in helping people cope with traumatic events. HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response teams have been responding to crises and disasters since 2001, when they sent specially trained handlers and their dogs to provide comfort at ground zero in NYC. They calmed survivors and helped first responders and other workers relax and talk about their experiences, just as you see Tikva here at work. HOPE has since responded to major hurricanes, wildfires, train derailments, and school shootings. An all-volunteer organization, your donation helps them continue training and certifying new crisis teams.

Soundtrack to this IssueBruce Springsteen’s High Hopes

Happy Birthday to the Boss. And what a way to celebrate. Four hour concerts! A book! A book tour! A new album! … Along with his captivating, candid, and poignant memoir, Born to Run, is a compilation album Chapter and Verse which features 18 songs that reflect the themes and sections of the book and includes five unreleased songs … High hopes is surely what we are feeling, so here’s the title track from the High Hopes album:

C’mon, sing along, you know the words:

Give me help, give me strength
Give a soul a night of fearless sleep
Give me love, give me peace
Don’t you know these days you pay for everything 

Got high hopes
I got high hopes
Got high hopes
I got high hopes

Who rescued whom?

At the New York Tartan Day Parade.
So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.

Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l

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

 

Sources:
James Baldwin quote: A Rap on Race (J. B. Lippincott; 1st edition, 1971)
Freddy Mercury lyrics: Don’t Stop Me Now by Freddie Mercury ©Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Brian May quote: The Guardian, September 5, 2016
Book quote: Pancakes in Paris by Craig Carlson Page 42 ©2016 Sourcebooks
Dylan’s gate pic and quote: Forbes, September 7, 2016
Dr. Amy Attas, DVM quote: NBC News/New York, September 11, 2016
Tikva at Ground Zero, NYC, 2001 pic: HOPEaacr.org
Soundtrack High Hopes lyrics: Timothy Scott McConnell ©Universal Music Publishing Group

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

HOT DOG DAYS OF AUGUST

 

 

How hot is it? Real Feel: 118 degrees – wow! … This has been one hot summer for most everyone everywhere. Hope you (and your dogs) are keeping cool wherever you are … Prediction: There will be snow soon enough!

 

THE BOSS TELLS HIS STORY

 

 

“I come from a boardwalk town where almost everything is tinged with a bit of fraud. So am I. By 20, no race-car-driving rebel, I was a guitar player on the streets of Asbury Park … But I held four clean aces. I had youth, almost a decade of hard-core bar band experience, a good group of homegrown musicians who were attuned to my performance style and a story to tell.” … From the forward to Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography, Born to Run, to be released in September.

 

SO HOW’D YA WRITE THAT SONG?

 

Many were mollified at the unquestionably correct verdict that, no, Led Zeppelin did not steal a lesser known band’s music for their not derived, resplendent, iconic Stairway to Heaven … Robert Plant testified in court on the song’s origins: “…I sat with Jimmy by the fire, and he began playing. And I had this little couplet lyrically that, if you like, in tempo, fitted into what he was playing. So I just started developing that into two lines, then four lines, and then on, slowly, opening it up…‘There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven. And when she gets there she knows that the stores are all closed; with a word she can get what she came for.’…I was really trying to bring in that aspect of Welsh, the beauty and the remoteness of the pastoral Britain…Meanwhile, the guys were working on opening up the song and its transition into something that was really flowering and it was quite a thing as we moved on through the song, to open it up and to turn around various parts of it and see it develop into something I couldn’t even imagine.” … Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that’s how they wrote that song.

 

DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’!

 

 

The Nutcracker. Swan Lake. 1812 Overture. The celebrated Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) believed that one must keep working and working, just keep at it, and inspiration will happen … “We must always work, and a self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood. If we wait for the mood, without endeavoring to meet it half-way, we easily become indolent and apathetic. We must be patient, and believe that inspiration will come to those who can master their disinclination” … Two centuries later, producer, songwriter, and lead singer and guitarist of The White Stripes, Jack White echoes Tchaikovsky’s ideal … “Inspiration and work ethic — they ride right next to each other…Not every day you’re gonna wake up and the clouds are gonna part and rays from heaven are gonna come down and you’re gonna write a song from it. Sometimes, you just get in there and just force yourself to work, and maybe something good will come out.”

 

PEPSI-COLA HITS THE SPOT

 

 

The distinctive Pepsi-Cola sign in Long Island City, Queens, that faces the East River and Manhattan, is now an official New York City landmark. Its bright red swirly lettering has long been a welcoming beacon on the waterfront. Crowning Pepsi’s bottling plant at this site in 1940, its reconstruction in 1993 was faithful to the original sign. The 50-foot painted Pepsi bottle was probably replaced in the 1970s with an updated bottle design. Serving as a longstanding and well-known branding symbol, this sure is a testament to the power of a great marketing imprint.

 

READY FOR LIFT-OFF

 

 

Another should be New York City landmark are the Metropolitan Opera’s spacey chandeliers. Who doesn’t ooh and aah as the world-famous show before the show starring 12 radiant starbursts begin their ascendency as the lights fade? A gift made by the Austrian government to thank the US for its help after WWII, it was a shining symbol of the friendship between Austria and the US. Fondly named sputniks, their design was inspired by the post-war era’s International Space Race and the Big Bang. And now they have been mechanically overhauled, outdated equipment for raising and lowering them updated. Let the oohing and aahing begin!

 

YOU MAY SAY HE’S A DREAMER

 

 

“Let’s see, I think it was Jack Lemmon and Yoko Moto,” said Leon Wildes when asked the names of his new clients. With immigration and deportation hot-button issues in this election year, how timely and informative this new book is about John Lennon’s four-year battle to stay in the US. Wildes was John and Yoko’s lawyer, an expert on immigration law. Insights abound. We see that the debate about discretionary targeting of political protestors was as relevant then as it is now. Richard Nixon may have wanted John banished but, as Wildes states, “Thanks to [Lennon’s] willingness to fight, we managed to discover and helped create a remedy for impossible cases.” Funny how John’s 1972 deportation case with its societal significance and legal impact, is as essential a lasting legacy as is the extraordinary music he left us.

 

…AND SPEAKING OF JOHN’S MUSIC

 

 

Netflix’s new animated series, Beat Bugs, tells stories through Beatles songs, teaching kids life lessons while turning them on to great music! About a quintet of kid characters and their insect friends, Eddie Vedder performs as Jasper, a grasshopper who takes the insects on a Magical Mystery Tour. Pink sings Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds as Lucy the dragonfly, and yes, she has kaleidoscope eyes. James Corden sings I’m A Loser and Sia covers Blackbird. All You Need is Love is the theme song. Animated bugs singing Beatles songs? I’m taking that Ticket to Ride!

 

RIP, MENTSCH

 

 

Law & Order is just a fact of life. It permeates countless homes. Who doesn’t love feeling the palliative power of watching L&O reruns over and over again? Switching channels, we are compelled to stop when there’s an episode airing. We know the words, we know whodunnit, we know the wisecracks. Especially those pithy gems spoken by Manhattan DA Adam Schiff, Steven Hill’s character. Hill even studied the law to make his character more convincing. Born Solomon Krakovsky to Russian Jewish immigrants, he passed away August 23. A devoted Orthodox Jew, he did not work on Shabbos, which was written into all his contracts. And when Hill resigned after a decade on L&O, in the show Adam Schiff resigned to work with a Holocaust organization. Oh, and he played the rabbi in Yentl. I admired him. A great actor who stayed true to his faith, Steven Hill had a deep sense of his own purpose and a heartfelt compassion which he exuded in every one of his roles. “Take the deal.”

 

I LOVE MY DOG

I love my dog as much as I love you
But you may fade, my dog will always come through.

All he asks from me is the food to give him strength
All he ever needs is love and that he knows he’ll get.

All the pay I need comes shining through his eyes
I don’t need no cold water to make me realize that.

 

It is the 50th anniversary of Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ first hit single release, I Love My Dog in 1966. That was followed by The First Cut Is The Deepest, Wild World, Hard Headed Woman, Where Do the Children Play?, Father & Son, Morning Has Broken, Peace Train, and Moonshadow. Did you forget he wrote all those great songs? He’s on tour to celebrate his 50th anniversary as an artist – even playing New York City for the first time since 1976! Through his charity, Small Kindness, a portion of every ticket goes to UNICEF and International Rescue Committee to help children affected by the current refugee crisis. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, his most recent albums (2006’s An Other Cup is excellent!) are as notable as his early ones we cherish.

 

I LOVE MY RESCUE DOG

So there’s this cartoon about the wonders of rescuing a dog. If you’ve ever adopted a dog, you will relate to comic artist Bird Born’s simple yet right-on telling of how he welcomed home his new friend. Remember, we never know where they are from, what kind of damage has been inflicted on them, nor are we ever assured that they’ll forget their history. But, we can shower them with loads and loads of love, make them feel safe, and show them the world will be a better place for them. Born’s experience in We’ve Taken A Dog From An Animal Shelter is a mirror of our experience, too. It’s the story of fear turning into owning the couch, the bed, the easy chair, well, you know the rest.

 

WE CAN HELP

 

 

The ASPCA has dispatched its Disaster Response Team to Louisiana to conduct water rescues for animals displaced by the area’s devastating floods resulting from three days of torrential rain. Donations will help the ASPCA “give people peace of mind while they cope with this crisis by making sure their pets are safe.”

 

Soundtrack to this Issue

U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

 

One can relate to this gospel-influenced anthem from U2, especially heading into fall’s new beginnings. This is critic Jeff Jensen’s description: “[It] is my bridge over troubled water, a psalm of reorientation in times of disorientation. It embraces hopeful paradoxes: that doubt and faith are compatible, that certainty doesn’t preclude a constant search for truth … a bittersweet hymn that calls me to look up when I’m down and keep clear-eyed when I’m fogged.”

 

C’mon, sing along, you know the words:

I have climbed the highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you.

I have run, I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you.

But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for.
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for.

 

 

 

Who rescued whom?

At the New York Tartan Day Parade.
So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.

Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l

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

 

Sources:
Bruce quote: Bruce Springsteen official website brucespringsteen.net
Robert Plant trial pic: Mona Shafer Edwards
Robert Plant quote: Rolling Stone, August 16, 2016
Tchaikovsky quote: Life and Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky by Modeste Tchaikovsky (University Press of the Pacific 2004)
Jack White quote: from the documentary, Under Great White Northern Lights
Leon Wildes quotes: John Lennon vs. The U.S.A.: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History (American Bar Association, August 2016)
Beat Bugs pic: Netflix
I Love My Dog lyrics: Cat Stevens ©Universal Music Publishing Group
Soundtrack quote: Jeff Jensen/Entertainment Weekly August 12, 2016
U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For lyrics: Adam Clayton, Dave Evans, Larry Mullen, Paul David Hewson, Victor Reina ©Universal Music Publishing Group

 

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

MAY MAKES SWEET MUSIC

HAPPY 75^th BIRTHDAY, BOB DYLAN!

“He was completely different than anyone, I remember the first time I saw him at Gerde’s Folk City in New York City. I snuck in because I didn’t have the money to buy a ticket. I listened to him and I thought, ‘…I can sing better than that. What’s all the fuss about?’ Then I started listening to the words.” (David Crosby)

GOOD VIBRATIONS: PART ONE

Peacocks not only show their spectacular tails, or trains, they rattle them, and scientists are studying the physics of feather vibration. They have found that the tail feathers vibrate at their natural resonating frequency — like a guitar string. During their courtship, they display their feathers often, and they vibrate only when females are around.

BEAUTIFUL MUSIC

A flirtation, a courtship, a complex marriage, a productive working relationship, parenthood. Hmm, sounds like a modern day romance … In Robert and Clara (Master Performers), Robin Freund Epstein reveals the Schumanns’s remarkable music-making, despite a life together filled with secrets, sacrifice, loss, love, and illness. In Robin’s dynamic piano playing and enthusiasm for her subject, we are caught up in a world of romance and joy … Did you see HBO’s Mildred Pierce? Remember when Veda’s daughter played piano? Well, she was “performing” on a silent piano while the soundtrack was actually recorded by Robin. That was movie magic. Now you get to hear Robin’s real magic. Available at CDbaby and iTunes.

ANOTHER MOZART SUMMER!

The new exhibition, Mozart Forever at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts celebrates 50 years of the Mostly Mozart Festival. This fabulous annual New York summer tradition, takes place across Lincoln Center from July 22 to August 27 … The exhibit is special, too, with artwork, photos, memorabilia, interviews, and concert excerpts to discover. Check it out now through August 27.

REMEMBER MAX’S? CAN YOU REMEMBER?

Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin is the president and founder of Max’s Kansas City Project, providing emergency funding to artists in need. Her husband, Mickey Ruskin, founded Max’s Kansas City, where Bob Marley opened for Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith had their first New York show, Deborah Harry waitressed, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin visited, and Iggy Pop, Andy Warhol, and Lou Reed were regulars. Max’s was the place to be – there was always new music to hear and interesting people to talk to. Yvonne’s mesmerizing compendium of rare photos and first-hand stories of legendary performances might as well be a textbook called Music History 101.

HEY, LOOSEN UP!

Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen, Composer-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic and curator of the second NYPhil Biennial, is interested in finding new approaches to appeal to younger, artistically inclined people who do not often listen to classical music. On the need for the music world to adapt:

“We should loosen up a bit, and accept the fact that there are so many experiences available that loftiness doesn’t get us anywhere. Self-improvement is not a reason to buy a ticket, which is not cheap. It has to operate on a totally different level. It has to be: O.K., here is an experience you won’t forget.”

GOOD VIBRATIONS: PART TWO

Is there a secret link between music and the structure of the universe? That’s the idea behind Stephon Alexander’s new book, The Jazz of Physics (and its subtitle). “If the structure of the universe is a result of a pattern of vibration, what causes the vibration?” Is the universe acting like an instrument? … Physicist and sax player, Alexander uncovered the connection between the fundamental waves that make up sound and the fundamental waves that make up everything else … The “reason music has the ability to move us so deeply is that it is an auditory allusion to our basic connection to the universe.” Whether musicians or fans, we can all relate to that.

FORGET THE COWBELL, MORE PIANO!

Steinway & Sons’s new flagship in New York is no ordinary piano store. An artistic and modern two-level retail and performance space, there’s a 74-seat recital hall, a state-of-the-art custom sound system, live-streaming capabilities for musicians and audiences from around the world to connect, rehearsal studios for artists and students, and a recording studio. And they sell their awesome pianos there, too.

DOG NEWS

Barkley was chosen as a finalist in Pottery Barn’s Dogs of New York Cutie Pageant contest … I’d say photographer Thomas Parker caught Barkley’s Mr. Big Shot Westie attitude. Do you agree?

WE CAN HELP

MusiCares provides help to music people who don’t have safety nets for emergencies. The legendary Smokey Robinson was honored this month for his dedication and support of the MusiCares MAP Fund, which provides members of the music community access to addiction recovery treatment regardless of their financial situation. There are free recovery support groups in LA, Nashville, Austin, New Orleans, New York, Seattle, and Fort Collins, CO that offer a safe environment to face the challenges of staying clean and sober in the music industry … Says Robinson, “I’m not ashamed to tell people because I want to be of help if I possibly can.”

Soundtrack to this Issue

Cream’s Sunshine Of Your Love

Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker. Cream is my all-time favorite band and this is my #1 favorite song. In honor of my May birthday, check out this live version … Oh yeah, Jack Bruce’s birthday? Same as mine. Meant to be.

C’mon, sing along, you know the words:

It’s getting near dawn,
When lights close their tired eyes
I’ll soon be with you my love,
To give you my dawn surprise
I’ll be with you darling soon,
I’ll be with you when the stars start falling

I’ve been waiting so long
To be where I’m going
In the sunshine of your love

I’m with you my love,
The light’s shining through on you
Yes, I’m with you my love,
|It’s the morning and just we two
I’ll stay with you darling now,
I’ll stay with you till my seas are dried up

I’ve been waiting so long
To be where I’m going
In the sunshine of your love

Who rescued whom?

So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.

Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l

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

 

Sources:
My Girl lyrics: Smokey Robinson and Ronald White ©Universal Music Publishing Group
David Crosby quote: Rolling Stone, May 24, 2016
Peacock tails: New York Times, May 3, 2016
Salonen pic: Los Angeles Philharmonic
Salonen quote: New York Times, April 26, 2016
Robinson quote: @MusiCares
Barkley pic: Thomas Parker
Soundtrack lyrics: Eric Patrick Clapton, Jack Bruce, Peter Constantine Brown, Peter Ronald Brown ©Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

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

SOMETIMES IT SNOWS IN APRIL

Sing along to Prince:

 Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish that life was never ending,
But all good things, they say, never last

APRIL’S SCOTTISH REIGN

And it was in the relentless rain, those unavoidable April showers, that the great Scots were celebrated in the New York Tartan Day Parade.

PURPLE REIGN: LONG LIVE PRINCE

Doves cry now, so do we. How sad it is to lose this magical artist too soon. With huge limitless talent, he could do it all. And all of it he did to perfection … “When I first started out in the music industry, I was most concerned with freedom. Freedom to produce, freedom to play all the instruments on my records, freedom to say anything I wanted to,” said Prince at his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 … “Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince; and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” (William Shakespeare, Hamlet)

SEX, LIES, AND MOVIES

Freedom of expression. It’s the entitlement of a true artist. And it is what the First Amendment guarantees, meaning the government does not have the right to forbid us from saying and writing what we like. But in the movies, that wasn’t always so. Did you wonder why married couples were in two beds instead of sharing one? That is because during Hollywood’s Golden Age film censors, charged with protecting the moral fabric of their communities, were the arbiters of what we could see … In his new book, Dirty Words and Filthy Pictures: Film and the First Amendment (University of Texas Press), Jeremy Geltzer explores cinema censorship, the movies that changed the law resulting in greater creative freedom for all, and how modern versions of censorship are shaping what we see today … Well-suited for this subject, Geltzer is an entertainment attorney for major studios (Paramount, Warner Bros., Disney), producer (Turner Classic Movies), and teacher of film history.

APRIL CELEBRATES POETRY

In the movie biz, it’s the Foley artist who enhances the film with sound effects such as a thunderous night or a procession of clip-clopping horses … In her poem Foley (from The Oldest Map with the Name America, 1999), Lucia Perillo tackles the music lover’s age-old conundrum:

“In certain sixties pop songs that had the singer keening
antonyms: how can something so right feel so wrong,
so good hurt so bad…you know what I’m talking about.
And don’t you think it’s peculiar:
in the first half of the sixties they made the black girl-groups
sing with white accents and in the second half of the sixties
they made the white girl-groups sing with black accents,
which proves that what you hear is always
some strange alchemy of what somebody thinks you’ll pay for
and what you expect.”

ACTORS AS MUSICIANS

Ethan Hawke stars in Born to Be Blue, a re-imagining of jazz legend Chet Baker’s musical comeback in the late 60s. This is what Hawke says about why actors like to portray musicians:

“One thing about studying Shakespeare as an actor is that you start to hear the music in language. Shakespeare and the best rappers have a lot in common. There’s a musicality to language. Music is just about as powerful a unifying force as we have. It’s without language, it’s without race, it’s without so much … It’s because we want to be a little closer to the music.”

SHAKESPEARE’S APRIL

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616. And it is April that is mentioned in his works more than any other month.

“April, dressed in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”
(Sonnet 98)

“O, how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day,
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away.”
(Proteus in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act I, Scene 3)

SHAKESPEARE, A NOBLER ACTION HERO

Need inspiration? Get yourself this Shakespeare action doll. Wordsmith as action figure, you ask? Why not? Known for his sharp tongue and withering wit, William Shakespeare wrote many a drama with loads of action. “To take arms against a sea of troubles,” his heroes believe in truth, faith, and loyalty, same as today’s action heroes. And he is wearing spandex. You just have to make up your own quips and obscure Elizabethan-era references. You know you’ll feel smarter and maybe he’ll even inspire you!

SCOTLAND’S NEW TARTAN: LOCH CHAIM!

The first kosher Jewish Tartan is here … Tartans have represented different clans in Scotland for over 200 years, now Jews have their own. This new Jewish Tartan design reflects both Jewish values and Scottish history. It features blue and white – colors of both the Israel and Scotland flags – with a central gold line representing the gold from the Ark, a silver line representing the silver that adorns the Torah, and red for the red Kiddush wine … A splendid symbol of Jewish and Scottish culture, order your Tartan tallit and kilt now!

DOG NEWS: SCOTS HONOR THEIR OWN!

The New York Tartan Day Parade featured the Barbour Tartan Dog Pack of Westies and Scotties. Sure, Outlander’s Sam Heughan was the Grand Marshall who led the marchers up Avenue of the Americas, but it was these distinguished Scottish dogs that brought roaring cheers from the bystanders. Yes, that’s my Barkley getting his marching orders from a Bagpiper as they get set to join the Parade.

WE CAN HELP

In honor of Prince, please consider a donation to the GRAMMY Foundation which provides national attention to important issues such as the value and impact of music and arts education and the urgency of preserving our rich culture and musical heritage.

Soundtrack to this Issue

 

Donovan’s Mellow Yellow

Great Scot! Born in Glasgow, Scotland and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, Donovan’s hits include Hurdy Gurdy Man, Jennifer Juniper, and Sunshine Superman. But who doesn’t hold fond memories of flower power and Mellow Yellow?

He traveled to India with the Beatles to study Transcendental Meditation in February 1968. That’s Donovan in all his very mellow yellow glory in the middle. (Left to right: Pattie Harrison, John Lennon, Mike Love, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, George Harrison, Mia Farrow, Donovan, Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, and Cynthia Lennon.)

Donovan: “The Beatles discovered meditation and were searching for something different. Well, they certainly got something different from Donovan. A guitar style and a set of chords that opened up an enormous amount of new ways of doing things. And that’s what we musicians do, we pass on styles from one to another.”

C’mon, sing along, you know the words:

I’m just mad about Saffron
Saffron’s mad about me
I’m just mad about Saffron
She’s just mad about me

They call me mellow yellow
(Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow
(Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow.

Who rescued whom?

At the New York Tartan Day Parade.
So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.

Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l

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

 

Sources:
Prince pic: Rolling Stone
Sometimes It Snows In April lyrics: Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman ©Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Ethan Hawke pic: IFC Films
Ethan Hawke quote: Entertainment Weekly, April 1/8, 2016
Shakespeare pic: Chicago Stage Review
Soundtrack pic: Beatles Book Monthly No. 143
Mellow Yellow lyrics: Donovan Leitch ©Peermusic Publishing

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

FEBRUARY FULL OF LOVE

LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED

“All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.”

A SHINING STAR SHINES FOREVER

Maurice White didn’t focus on one musical genre, he mixed it all up in his band, Earth, Wind and Fire – rock, pop, funk, gospel, soul, R&B, jazz, Latin, Caribbean steel drums, and classical … Just honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Grammys, EWF’s music “naturally appealed across racial and socio-economic lines.” … He was a unique visionary who delivered exuberant, funky music with a mighty message of peace and unity. Inspired by the times of the 70’s, his music and message are even more relevant today.

“Being joyful and positive was the whole objective of our group. Our goal was to reach all the people and to keep a universal atmosphere. All of our songs had that positive energy. To create uplifting music was the objective.” (Maurice White)

YO-YO MA

A child prodigy, Yo-Yo Ma has been performing since he was five … “I started the violin when I was three. I screeched away and sounded horrible, so I gave it up…I saw this double bass and I said, ‘I want to play that.’…The cello was a compromise. So my parents said, ‘You have to promise that you’re not going to switch again.’ So I kept my promise and I’m still playing the cello.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Based on a woodcut in its collection by Luca Pacioli (Leonardo da Vinci’s colleague), the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “M” logo (top) has been iconic for 45 years – suggesting the museum’s great hall with its three square chambers topped by circular vaults or the proportional geometries of Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man. Whichever, it has been hailed a classic, conveying what it represents – art, history, and architecture … So what do you think of the new logo (bottom)? Does it look like “a typographic double-decker bus crash” (New York Magazine)? Or Robert Indiana’s “Love” sculpture? Is it clean and modern? Is the red too bold? Does it say: museum? And the two words – did you think it referred to the opera house, also called The Met? Changing a company’s logo generates buzz, even controversy. Will this new logo unify this massive institution’s identity and connect its past to the future, as it is designed to do? Will it endure? Time will tell.

DOG NEWS

No, the adorable, stubborn, spirited, intelligent, and brave Westie did not win the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show’s Best in Show. That honor went to the German Shorthaired Pointer named CJ. Rumor the German Shepherd, Charlie the Skye Terrier, and Bogey the Samoyed came close. Judge Richard Meen explained, “It’s very important that every dog take me back to what they were bred to do. Pointer CJ never stopped looking, focused in front of him, and he floated around the ring.” … New breeds welcomed in this year included the Bergamasco, Boerboel, Berger Picard, Mini American Shepherd, Spanish Water Dog, and the Lagotto Romagnolo.

Faithful companion. Could be said of dogs, sure, but must also be said of their human ambassador, David Frei. This was the last time he hosted Westminster. But we will still hear his knowledgeable and warmhearted commentary at the National Dog Show … Here he is with Gracie (left) and Angel, for whom his Angel On A Leash organization is named. A human who is synonymous with the love of dogs.

WE CAN HELP

This year’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show poster is a 19th century painting by J.M. Tracy, Haunt of the Woodcock: Sensation and Bang Bang. It depicts the Pointer, Westminster Kennel Club’s symbol since 1877 … The recipient for the poster sales proceeds is the Warrior Canine Connection. Using Canine Connection Therapy, they help Wounded Warriors learn how to train service dogs for their fellow veterans. By interacting with the dogs from puppyhood to training to adult service dogs, Warrior Trainers benefit from the interaction with the dogs and the veterans with disabilities receive the finest in trained service dogs … By purchasing this poster, we can help bring the healing power of dogs to these heroes.

Soundtrack to this IssuePhilip Glass’s Escape! (The Hours OST)

We hear the familiar stirring theme music begin each episode and we know what’s in store. In celebration of Downton Abbey, here’s [hear] something interesting: Downton Abbey’s theme composer, John Lunn, admits he “started out with elements of Philip Glass and I did listen to a lot of English, early 20th century music … But the underlying harmony is actually very simple and perhaps almost a bit like pop music.” … Take a listen to Philip Glass’s Escape from Stephen Daldry’s film, The Hours. Both themes share a similar mood – evocative, moving, and hypnotic.

Who rescued whom?So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.

Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l“…live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
(Buddha)

 

Sources:
All You Need Is Love lyrics: John Lennon and Paul McCartney ©Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Maurice White pic: February 1982, Rob Verhorst, Redferns
Producer Wayne Edwards quote: Roger Thompson, NY Times, February 12, 2016
Maurice White quote: Songwriter Universe, March 28, 2007
Yo-Yo Ma child pic: Adelaide de Menil, New York Magazine, January 12, 2016
Yo-Yo Ma quote: New York Magazine, January 12, 2016
Met logos: Metropolitan Museum of Art
West Highland White Terriers at Westminster pic: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
Judge Meen quote: NY Times, February 17, 2016
David Frei pic: Ben Walker/AP
Downton Abbey pic: PBS
John Lunn quote: Hollywood Reporter, September 4, 2012

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

JANUARY’s CH-CH-CHANGES

SOME CHANGES JUST SUCK

Changes are really hard. Imagining a world without David Bowie in it is pretty unimaginable. But I do believe that Major Tom is happily traversing the universe now and we wish him an eternity of safe and interesting travels. “I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” … His longtime producer, Tony Visconti, tweeted: “David Bowie, my friend and colleague, left us Blackstar and 1000s of great memories. Not enough really.”

Bowie compared his approach to music to searching for God. “There’s an effort to reclaim the unmentionable, the unsayable, the unspeakable, all those things come into being a composer, into writing music, into searching for notes and pieces of musical information that don’t exist.” … His influence significant and his message simple: “Fill your heart with love today, don’t play the game of time.”

TAKE IT EASY, GLENN

Sad to lose Glenn Frey, a founding member, songwriter, and guitarist of the Eagles. It’s his voice on an amazing list of hits: Take It Easy, Peaceful Easy Feeling, Tequila Sunrise, Already Gone, Lyin’ Eyes, New Kid in Town, and Heartache Tonight … His solo album Soul Searchin’ (MCA 1988) yielded sunny laid-back lyrics, sax solos, and Frey’s upbeat spirited vocals. Check out Some Kind of Blue, pretty sweet … He also acted. My two favorite memories of him are when he guest starred on Miami Vice in the first season episode titled Smuggler’s Blues, inspired by his hit song of the same name, and his starring role in the Dead Dog Records arc of Wiseguy. Really, how cool is that?

Eaglemate Don Henley: “I’m not sure I believe in fate, but I know that crossing paths with Glenn Lewis Frey in 1970 changed my life forever, and it eventually had an impact on the lives of millions of other people all over the planet.” …. Yep, having sold over 150 million records worldwide, Glenn Frey took it to the limit alright.

MUSIC ON FILM FOR REAL

The sheer power of her voice and her personality made her unforgettable. There’s no one like Janis Joplin. Amy Berg’s new documentary, Janis: Little Girl Blue, uses archival and concert footage, Joplin’s letters home, and interviews with people who knew and loved her … But it’s a documentary I watched long ago late one night on PBS that I’ve never forgotten. It was Howard Alk’s Janis: The Way She Was (1974), I was hooked on how genuine she was. Powerful performances and candid interviews revealed an insightful, honest, and emotional artist.

“I’d like ya to feel like standin’ up and jumpin’ up and down in time to the music, gettin’ sweaty, just goin’ with the music, just goin’. Rock ‘n’ roll’s very rhythmic. That’s what it’s all about, y’know. One-two-three-four.” … When Joplin got hold of a song, she owned it, body and soul.

DOG NEWS

On 9/11, seven firemen from Ladder Company 20, one of the first groups responding to the attack, were killed in the collapse of the World Trade Center, along with seven members of Squad 18 which shared the firehouse. A few weeks later, Ladder 20 was given a Dalmatian puppy by the Monroe County sheriff’s department in upstate NY. They named her Twenty. She slept and ate with the firefighters and went with them on all their calls. And she remained their mascot until she died this month at 14 … The Dalmatian as the iconic NYC fire dog dates back to the 1800s, when fire vehicles were pulled by horses. When a fire alarm sounded, the Dalmatians ran out of the firehouse barking to let bystanders know to get out of the way. Horses are afraid of fire, and the Dalmatians were a calming presence … Twenty became a spotted symbol of healing for the firefighters. Her ashes were placed near a memorial in the firehouse commemorating firefighters who died in the line of duty. RIP, brave girl.

One of my favorite songwriters, JD Souther (here with Doc and Jake), co-wrote the Eagles songs Best of My Love (with Glenn Frey and Don Henley) and Heartache Tonight (with Glenn Frey, Don Henley, and Bob Seger) … He also loves dogs: “I’ve written three songs about dogs. Their place in my musical process is the same as it is in my life: a reminder to (a) not take myself too seriously and (b) pay attention!”

WE CAN HELP

Anderson Cooper did! The Norfolk, VA police department recently lost one of its bravest members, a four-year-old Belgian Malinois named Krijger during a shootout. He would have survived had he been wearing a ballistic vest. But at $2,200 each, most police departments can’t afford them. But now, thanks to Anderson Cooper’s donation, every single dog in the Norfolk PD is getting one. These dogs selflessly risk their lives to protect us. We can help to make sure that they are protected, too, by making a donation in Krijger’s memory to Spike’s K9 Fund.

Soundtrack to this Issue

The Eagles’ Take It Easy

Having trouble completing the song, Jackson Browne asked his upstairs neighbor Glenn Frey to help him finish it. When he got to the second verse, Frey came up with a key lyric: “It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me.” And then finished the song. Take It Easy became the Eagles’ first song on their first album, their first single, and a foretelling of their signature sound.

C’mon, sing along, you know the words:

Well, I’m running down the road
Tryin’ to loosen my load
I’ve got seven women on my mind
Four that wanna own me,
Two that wanna stone me
One says she’s a friend of mine

Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don’t even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy

Who rescued whom?So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.

Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l“…live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
(Buddha)

 

Sources:
David Bowie pic: ©Bowie
Bowie’s God quote: 60 Minutes, CBS News
Pic of Glenn Frey and Don Henley: The Dominion Post
Don Henley quote: Billboard, January 18, 2016
Janis Joplin quote: Janis: Little Girl Blue documentary (Amy Berg 2015)
Dog News pic of Twenty: FDNY Twitter Page @FDNY
JD Souther pic and quote: The Bark
We Can Help Norfolk Police dog in vest pic: Spike’s K9 Fund
Take It Easy lyrics: Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey, Jackson Browne/Swallow Turn Music/Night Kitchen Music/Open Window Music

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

DECEMBER WISHES

 

HOPE

As we wind down the year, I wish you a new year filled with kindness and friendship, love and joy, and peace and prosperity.

JOY

“I started working with Oliver Sacks on a music therapy program called the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function. Up until I started working with him, I had thought that music was a nice thing that I enjoyed and liked making, but it wasn’t a serious healing modality. What Dr. Sacks has proven is that music is actually a quantifiable, profound healing modality. I think that’s true for a lot of these other things that are joyful and expansive. On a very literal level, they are incredibly healing, they promote neurogenesis, they’re good for our immune systems, yet we sometimes ignore them.” (Moby)

GRATITUDE (PART ONE)

“My predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved. I have been given much and I have given something in return … Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.” (Oliver Sacks)

GRATITUDE (PART TWO)

“We want to offer our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for everything our brothers in U2 did for us in the aftermath of the November 13 attacks. They reminded us that the bad guys never take a day off, and therefore we rock ’n rollers cannot either … We are incredibly grateful to U2 for providing us the opportunity to return to Paris so quickly, and to share in the healing power of rock ‘n roll with so many of the beautiful people – nos amis – of this great city … and thank you to everyone in the world who continues to prove that love, joy, and music will always overcome terror and evil.” (Eagles of Death Metal)

PEACE + LOVE

“If someone thinks that love and peace are a cliché that must have been left behind in the sixties, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal.” (John Lennon)

DOG NEWS

His album Play sold over 10 million units worldwide. And his song Extreme Ways plays over the credits of all the Bourne films. Moby partnered with the Humane Society of the US (HSUS) to raise money and awareness for animal rights programs. He created MobyGratis, a library of his instrumental film music “for independent and non-profit filmmakers in need of free music for their independent, nonprofit film, video, or short.” Money generated from commercial license fees goes to HSUS. “One of the things that impresses me most about HSUS is their diligence and their persistence. And because they’re such a big organization, they’re actually able to accomplish a lot on a legislative level.” … Asked what dogs teach us, Moby says: “I’m certainly not the first person to say this, but they teach the idea of loyalty, and the capacity to find joy in just the simplest things—to be uninhibited in our emotions.”

WE CAN HELP

Barkley hopes you get a lot of toys this holiday … Westie Rescue Of New England sent me this beautiful bundle of happiness. All volunteers, they are dedicated to saving, fostering, and placing West Highland White Terriers into new loving forever homes. Your donation helps them continue their mission, one that is close to my heart … When our Westies smile, the world seems a little lighter.

 

Soundtrack to this IssueU2’s Beautiful Day

C’mon, sing along, you know the words:

It’s a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
It’s a beautiful day
Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I’m not a hopeless case 

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out 

It was a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
Beautiful day

 

Who rescued whom?

So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.

Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l

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

 

Sources:
Moby joy and the arts quote: Thrive Magazine
Dr. Sacks quote: NY Times Opinion Page, My Own Life: Oliver Sacks on Learning He Has Terminal Cancer, February 19, 2015
Eagles of Death Metal and U2 pic: Eagles of Death Metal Facebook page (December 7, 2015)
Eagles of Death Metal quote: Rolling Stone, December 8, 2015
John Lennon pic: Bob Gruen, Power to the People: The Hits (2010)
Moby and dog pic: The Bark
Moby Dog News quotes: MobyGratis.com
Beautiful Day lyrics: Bono ©Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

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

NOVEMBRE = VIVE LA LIBERTÉ, VIVE LA MUSIQUE

Cette Novembre nous sommes reconnaissants pour la liberté, l’amitié, et la musique … This November we are grateful for freedom, friendship, and music.

LA MARSEILLAISE

Music brings us together, a way we can show our support for our allies … Before the Metropolitan Opera’s Saturday matinee performance of Tosca, Placido Domingo led the orchestra, principal singers, and chorus in a rendition of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise. Inserted into the audience’s programs were the anthem’s lyrics with an explanation that the performance was “a show of our solidarity with the citizens of France.” The audience stood and sang along, at the end shouting, “Vive la France!” …

In a scene at Rick’s Café from the classic film Casablanca, to drown out the Nazis singing their national song the French patriots sing La Marseillaise.

 Allons enfants de la patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrive!
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L’etendard sanglant est levé!
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes,
Mugir ces féroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes!

 EAGLES OF DEATH METAL

“Love overshadows evil … we are proud to stand together, with our new family, now united by a common goal of love and compassion.”

Despite their band name, Eagles of Death Metal are not a death metal band. Peace and love is their message and their music was an audience favorite in this Paris neighborhood … A California blues rock group, they were playing a sold out concert at the Bataclan concert hall … Drummer Josh Homme describes their sound as a combination of “bluegrass slide guitar mixed with stripper drum beats and Canned Heat vocals.” Lead singer and guitarist Jesse Hughes is known for enthusiastically interacting with their audiences.

 IMAGINE

 Music fills us with hope and love, nurturing our spirit and soul … A touching tribute to Paris attack victims, pianist Davide Martello continues to play John Lennon’s Imagine on a grand piano outside the Bataclan theatre. He and his piano get there by bicycle. “I wanted to be there to try and comfort, and offer a sign of hope. I can’t bring people back but I can inspire them with music and when people are inspired they can do anything. That’s why I played Imagine.” 

DOG NEWS

 “His role was to open the way for the rest of us. He uses all his senses to detect if anyone is present and if he can get to them, to go and bite them. If not, he stands and barks to indicate where the person is hiding.”

R.I.P. Diesel … The French police dog that died in the shootout with terrorists suspected of organizing the Paris attacks was due to retire from service in a few months. Diesel, a seven-year-old Malinois (Belgian Shepherd), was shot after being sent in to the apartment in St-Denis where the attacker was holed up … #JeSuisChien.

 WE CAN HELP

 

“We believe ALL our veterans, two-footed and four-footed, should come back to a hero’s welcome, a loving, forever home, and the happy, healthy, and dignified retirement they so deserve after a lifetime of service to their country.” 

The American Humane Association is helping retired military working dogs get veterinary care, a benefit currently denied to canines that served in the military but are no longer active … President Obama signed the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which guarantees a ride home for ALL military working dogs and gives their handlers first rights at adoption.

 

 Soundtrack to this Issue
Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant

Music helps us express our gratitude for our freedom, for our friends, and for music itself … This 18-minute ballad is the unofficial Thanksgiving Day anthem.

 C’mon, sing along, you know the words: 

You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant
Walk right in, it’s around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant

 Who rescued whom?
So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.

 Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l

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

 

Sources:
Eiffel Tower pic: Thierry Orban/Getty Images
Eagles of Death Metal pic: T-Boy Records/Ume
Eagles of Death Metal quote: band statement
Josh Homme quote: Amoeba Music
Pianist pic: Valery Hache/Agence France-Presse
Davide Martello quote: The Guardian
Dog News pic: Marc Tetro
Dog News quote: Diesel’s handler
German Shepard pic: United States Army
We Can Help quote: Dr. Robin Ganzert, President and CEO, the American Humane Association
Alice’s Restaurant lyrics: Arlo Guthrie and Garry Sherman ©Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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

IT’S OCTOBER, STAY CALM + READ A BOOK

TAKE THE M TRAIN

“…Fred implored me to come and live with him in Detroit. Nothing seemed more vital than to join my love…saying good-bye to New York City and the aspirations it contained, I picked what was most precious and left the rest behind…”

Patti Smith blends a lifetime of memories with everyday experiences in her new book, M Train. In elegant prose and with sincerity, she recalls her favorite Greenwich Village café now closed, a cherished black coat now lost, her late husband, Frida Kahlo’s home, and Hurricane Sandy. Haunted by these intimate ghosts, she writes about the possessions (people, places, things) she has cherished, lost, and she reckons are now found as remnants in her soul, to be stored there forever … “The transformation of the heart is a wondrous thing, no matter how you land there.”

HIS AIM IS TRUE

“Songs can be many things, an education, a seduction, some solace in heartache, a valve for anger, a passport, your undoing, or even a lottery ticket.”

Elvis Costello’s new memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, recounts his life which begins as the son and grandson of musicians. Destiny surely played its hand. In equal doses, as a fan and as a scholar, he writes about music and the artists he reveres. The wit and acute observations that we’ve come to recognize and appreciate in his songs are just as evident in his autobiography. Accompanied by a 38-track, 2-CD set, he tells the detailed stories, experiences, and emotions behind Alison, Accidents Will Happen, Watching the Detectives, Oliver’s Army, and Veronica.

NO MUSIC, NO LIFE

From modest beginnings in a small-town drugstore in 1960, Tower Records became the heart and soul of the music world, a cultural phenomenon with two hundred stores, in thirty countries, on five continents. All Things Must Pass, a new documentary from Colin Hanks, charts Ross Solomon’s dreams and the chain’s magical legacy and fateful demise in 2006. Tower was the place to spend hours going through records and talking about music. And you’d never know who you’d see there. A cherished memory: spending an afternoon with the one and only Bill Graham. Not just a store.

THE GREATEST COVER

“You feel his presence when you walk into the room. Even though he can’t really communicate with you, you hope that just by being near him, something rubs off on you.’’

That can only be one person. The Champ. The Greatest. Muhammad Ali, the world’s hero, my hero … He told Sports Illustrated in 1965, “I got a feeling I was born for a purpose. I’ve always had that feeling since I was a little boy. Perhaps I was born to fulfill Biblical prophecies. I just feel I may be part of something—divine things.” … On October 1, at The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, KY, the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award was inaugurated to honor a former athlete who has used the platform of sports to improve the world. The ceremony was 40 years to the day after Ali overpowered Joe Frazier in the Thrilla in Manila … “How would you like to be remembered as an athlete? As the best heavyweight boxer of all time. As a person? As a good person who tried to be kind to everyone.”

DOG NEWS

“In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.” (W. H. Auden)

Wouldn’t you like to know why your dog behaves the way he does? The editors of Adopt-a-Pet.com just published a great resource for dog owners. The Total Dog Manual highlights behavior, training, and care. And Adopt-a-Pet.com should know – they are the world’s largest non-profit pet adoption website, helping shelters and rescue organizations find permanent loving homes for homeless pets. While they can’t speak, dogs do communicate to us.

So we should learn how to speak dog!

WE CAN HELP

The ASPCA just completed the expansion of the rehabilitation center to shelter and care for even more canine victims of cruelty in New York City. The Gloria Gurney Canine Annex for Recovery and Enrichment can house up to 50 dogs rescued through the NYPD/ASPCA Partnership at any given time. And, crucially, the dogs will receive personalized behavioral rehabilitation necessary to prepare them for adoption. Our donations help the ASPCA continue to do their fabulous, innovative, and necessary work!

Soundtrack to this Issue

Elvis Costello and the Imposters’ live performance of
Everyday I Write the Book

C’mon, sing along, you know the words:

Don’t tell me you don’t know what love is
When you’re old enough to know better
When you find strange hands in your sweater
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote
I’m a man with a mission in two or three editions
And I’m giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book

Who rescued whom?So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.

Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l“…live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
(Buddha)

 

Sources:
Book and a Dog pic: Edward Gorey
Patti Smith quotes: M Train (Knopf, October 2015)
Elvis Costello quote: Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink (Blue Rider Press/Penguin Random House, October 2015)
Ali pic: Sports Illustrated Cover, October 5, 2015
Quote under Ali pic: Dhani Jones, a former NFL linebacker who was a presenter at the night’s event, Sports Illustrated cover article, October 5, 2015
Ali quote: Muhammad Ali to Sports Illustrated’s Gil Rogin, 1965, Sports Illustrated cover article, October 5, 2015
Ali’s questions and answers: Sports Illustrated cover article, October 5, 2015
We Can Help pic: ASCPA
Elvis Costello’s Everyday I Write the Book lyrics: ©Universal Music Publishing Group

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

AUGUST’S RAP-UP

“Whether it was money, gangbanging, crack, LAPD and eventually AIDS — everything in the world came down on this group. What did we combat all that with? We had music. We had lyrics. We had hip-hop.” (Ice Cube)

You’d think the film Straight Outta Compton was based on today’s headlines. But it started in the 1980’s when five friends in Compton, CA, a city in south-central L.A. with drugs, crime, street gangs, and a high murder rate, formed a group and told their story. This biopic about the groundbreaking hip-hop group N.W.A. (original members Dr. Dre and Ice Cube are producers) beat all expectations, debuting at #1 … Their debut album of the same name marked the beginning of gangsta rap, hitting at real-life issues – racial profiling and police brutality. Rolling Stone cited the album as one of hip-hop’s most crucial albums, calling it a “bombastic, cacophonous car ride through Los Angeles’ burnt-out and ignored hoods.”  … With funky, bass-driven beats and explicit controversial lyrics, they left a lasting legacy on hip-hop music. The stories they were telling in the album were relevant then and resonate still – in this new film as well as in tonight’s evening news.

And hip-hop made it to Broadway, too. Hamilton, opening to record-breaking advance sales, is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical about Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Real history with a real hip-hop score. Sure, it’s about the birth of our nation. But its world of politics with rivalries, self-interest, integrity, even a sex scandal, mirrors our own state of the union, centuries later. Another example of hip-hop storytelling that’s historically significant yet pertinent today.

THE BEATLES PLAY NEW YORK!

Did you have one of these?

August 15 marked the 50th anniversary of the Beatles concert at Shea Stadium. In front of 55,000 screaming fans, the largest crowd in music history at the time, they were introduced by Ed Sullivan: “…honored by their country, decorated by their Queen, and loved here in America, here are the Beatles.” Then they ran on stage to open the concert with Twist and Shout.

HAVING SURGERY? BRING FLOYD!

A good song makes us feel better, right? According to new research, patients who listened to music were less anxious after surgery and needed less pain relief. In fact the lead author, Dr. Catherine Meads, said Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon helped soothe her pain after hip surgery … Dr. Hazim Sadideen from University Hospitals Birmingham also researched the role of music, “Undertaking both minor and major surgery can induce stress. Music can be used…to improve the patient journey…” … So doctor, what do the tests show? Listening to music before, during, and after an operation can help reduce pain. That’s a relief … “And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear, You shout and no one seems to hear, And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes, I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.”

BABY WE WERE BORN TO RUN

“The screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves, like a vision she dances across the porch, as the radio plays…” … So starts Born To Run, August 25 marking 40 years it hit record stores. This is the original Columbia Records ad. Special place in my heart, my record company (CBS Records) and recording studio (Record Plant) alma maters. One happy tramp.

DOG NEWS

Turns out, August 15 is an auspicious date. It also marked Clear the Shelters day. About 7.6 million animals enter shelters across the country each year, 3.9 million dogs and 3.4 million cats, according to the ASPCA. Waiving most or all adoption fees, 400 animal shelters nationwide took part in the one-day event. An initiative by NBC-TV stations to help get cats and dogs waiting for new homes successfully adopted, the result? Over 19,000 adoptions and still counting! Westie Rescue Barkley straight out approves.

WE CAN HELP

Let’s show our love and appreciation for the military working dogs, who are highly trained to work side by side with their handlers in war zones as trackers or sentries, in search and rescue, and explosive detection. The U.S. War Dog Association has been sending care packages to military dogs all over the world, all year round, since 2003. You can send specific items needed by the dogs, such as cooling vests and mats, nail clippers, brushes, combs, Kongs and other heavy duty chew toys, doggles, collapsible nylon dog water bowls, and dog shampoo and treats (made in the USA only). Or you may make a financial contribution.

 

Soundtrack to this Issue

NWA’s Express Yourself
From Straight Outta Compton (Priority/Ruthless 1988)

C’mon, sing along, you know the words:

I’m expressin’ with my full capabilities,
And now I’m livin’ in correctional facilities,
Cause some don’t agree with how I do this.

I get straight, meditate like a Buddhist,
I’m droppin’ flava, my behavior is hereditary,
But my technique is very necessary.

Blame it on Ice Cube…
Because he says it gets funky
When you got a subject and a predicate.
Add it on a dope beat
And that’ll make you think.

Express yourself…
Express yourself…
Come on and do it…

 

Who rescued whom?

So grateful for Barkley coming into my life.
Thanks to Westie Rescue of New England.

Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l

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

 

Sources:
Ice Cube quote: LA Times, Lorraine Ali, July 30, 2015
Straight Outta Compton album review: Jon Caramanica, Rolling Stone, September 30, 2002
Beatles at Shea pic: Copyright holder unknown. (Beatles Rarities)
Music and surgery quotes: Brunel University and Queen Mary University of London music during surgery study
Brain Damage lyrics: Roger Waters ©Roger Waters Music Overseas Ltd., TRO-Hampshire House Publishing (Dark Side of the Moon, EMI 1973)
Born To Run ad: Sony Legacy Records
Thunder Road lyrics: Bruce Springsteen ©1975 Laurel Canyon Music Ltd.
Adoption results: Clear The Shelters
We Can Help pic: The U.S. War Dog Association, Inc.
Express Yourself lyrics: O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson, Charles W. Wright © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.