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

FOR THE LOVE OF JANUARY
LET LOVE GROW

“Let this coming year be better than all the others. Vow to do some of the things you have always wanted to do but could not find the time. Call up a forgotten friend. Drop an old grudge, and replace it with some pleasant memories. Vow not to make a promise you do not think you can keep. Walk tall, and smile more. You will look 10 years younger. Do not be afraid to say, I love you. Say it again. They are the sweetest words in the world.”

(Ann Landers)

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, YEAR’S, YEARS!

What’s the deal with the apostrophe? Here’s how to get it right … It’s New Year’s when you’re talking about December 31 or January 1 resolutions you’re making, or other things that show possession. So New Year’s Eve is the eve of the New Year, New Year’s Day is the first day of the New Year, and a New Year’s resolution is something you want to do for the New Year. So New Year’s is the modifier for each noun. And New Year’s is capitalized because it’s referring to a holiday … We say Happy New Year (no apostrophe, s) at midnight and pretty much all of January, too, and when we’re talking generally about the year. Example: “I can’t believe it’s January already, let’s get together in the new year.” Used as a timeframe, no capitalizing … There’s no Happy New Years (no apostrophe) because only one year happens at a time. For many new years (plural), it is: “New years always give opportunities for celebrating and reflecting.” As the holiday, it is: “New Year’s always gives opportunities for celebrating and reflecting.” … Lastly, mostly New Year’s is a shortcut for New Year’s Eve, so the name of the holiday is the adjective. Example: “Every New Year’s I go to a party.” … Got it? Happy New Year!

 

I’M JUST MAD ABOUT YELLOW

“Sky of blue, sea of green.”

While Paul McCartney was writing Yellow Submarine, it was Donovan who came up with this iconic line. He explains how Paul “already had those words to the song, but he seemed to have a hole in the song. So I took his words and turned them around for him.” Although it was simply adding a line, this is Donovan’s best-known contribution to a Beatles song. In February 1968, he went with the Beatles on their retreat to India, where he helped John Lennon with another song written there, Julia, which John wrote about his mother. After the Beatles recorded Yellow Submarine, Donovan recorded his own yellow track, Mellow Yellow, giving Paul the opportunity to return the favor. Paul hollered and cheered in the song’s finale. These yellow songs were successful in the U.S. in the same year. Yellow Submarine hit #2 in September 1966, and in December, Mellow Yellow reached that same chart position.

 

FOR THE LOVE OF UNICORNS

So many people love unicorns. I do. I even have a few. He’s mysterious. He’s elusive. What is his enduring appeal anyway? The true “golden age” of the unicorn in Western European art was in the late Middle Ages, 14th and 15th Centuries. It was during that time that The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries were created. An elegant white unicorn appears in every one of the six tapestries, along with a richly dressed noblewoman and a lion who are all floating against a rich, red background full of flowering plants and other animals, including monkeys and rabbits. The set can be seen at the Cluny Museum in Paris … The tapestries were woven around 1500 when the unicorn was a popular element in heraldry. Did you know it is the national animal of Scotland?! There is also a set of seven Unicorn Tapestries at The Cloisters in New York, probably designed in Paris at the turn of the 16th Century … It appears that today we are in another “golden age” of the unicorn. They are everywhere, especially sparkly ones that are on everything! “While the existence of the animal has been debated by scientists since the 16th Century, the risk of extinction is not an immediate concern.”

 

MLK’S LEGACY OF LOVE

St. Augustine, FL, the nation’s oldest city, had a long history of racial inequality. In 1964 it became an important civil rights battleground as white supremacist mobs were attacking civil rights activists. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr went there to encourage and support the demonstrators, and create awareness so the country would see what was happening there … On June 11, Dr. King was arrested for trespassing as he entered one of the city’s segregated restaurants. He was placed in the back seat of the police car next to a police dog who was put there in an apparent attempt to intimidate him. Instead, as you can see, the two became friends! … Dr. King in fact did make the country take notice. And one month later, his extraordinary efforts in St. Augustine led to President Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act into law.

 

DOG NEWS

While we’re making our New Year’s Resolutions, why not make some for our best pals:

Leave the cell phone, take the dog … Try new activities like an agility class or going on a hike … Add fresh vegetables to his diet … Teach a new game you can play together: fetch, chase, or hide and seek … Give him more exercise … Set up play dates with a dog buddy … Take better care of his teeth … Put aside a little in savings each month for a medical emergency … Check out pet insurance … Go to new places together … Make plans in the event you die first: provide for your dog and name a guardian.

 

ENDNOTE: ROBERT INDIANA (1928–2018)

“Some people like to paint trees. I like to paint love.
I find it more meaningful than painting trees.”

One of the most recognizable works of art from the 20th century, did you know LOVE was originally designed as a Christmas card commissioned by NYC’s Museum of Modern Art? Born Robert Clark in Indiana, he adopted the last name Indiana to honor the American heartland that he loved. LOVE was created at the end of 1964, and in the late 1960’s he created a 12-foot-tall steel version (like the one on Avenue of the Americas in NYC). In 1976 he changed LOVE to VOTE for the Democratic National Committee and in 2008 he changed it to HOPE for the Democratic National Convention. LOVE became an emblem of 1960’s idealism and it has since only grown larger in stature and meaning. Robert Indiana took a plain word and turned it into art.

 

WE CAN HELP

Big smiles. Cozy naps. A wagging tail every time we walk in the door. (Unless you have a Westie who stays on the couch and clearly conveys, “So you’re home, what’s for dinner?”) When we adopt a pet, so many things change for the better, for everyone. We can help change an animal’s life! Consider welcoming the love of a pet into your life. Putting our love into action is what adopting is about. Let’s spread the word that adoption is a cool thing to do. Each of us can play a role in creating a better world for animals. Adopting a pet who needs a loving home will make a difference in their lives, and ours.

 

Soundtrack to this Issue

Edison Lighthouse
Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes

Start the new year with a big smile! This is one of those songs that just makes you feel happy. Take a listen. You’ll be tapping your feet and swaying from side to side in no time. You feel better already, right?

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

She ain’t got no money
Her clothes are kinda funny
Her hair is kinda wild and free
Oh, but Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

She talks kinda lazy
And people say she she’s crazy
And her life’s a mystery
Oh, but Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me 

There’s something about her hand holding mine
It’s a feeling that’s fine
And I just gotta say
She’s really got a magical spell
And it’s working so well
That I can’t get away 

I’m a lucky fella
And I’ve just got to tell her
That I love her endlessly
Because Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

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:
Donovan quote: Songfacts
Unicorn quote: wall text at the end of the Cluny Museum’s exhibition
Dog News pic: Agnes Harangoza
EndNote LOVE pic: Garden of Love (set of 6 works), 1982 Prestige Art, pub.; Domberger, prntr, pub.
Soundtrack Love Grows lyrics: Tony Macaulay, Barry Mason ©Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Copyright Admin Services Ltd

 January 29, 2019
All Rights Reserved

 

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

Show Your True Colors

“They call me Mellow Yellow, quite rightly, they call me Mellow Yellow …”  Well, we know how Donovan felt about yellow. How do you feel about the color yellow? Scientists say the human eye notices the color yellow first. In fact, marketers use a yellow background with black type because tests have shown that this combination is the most memorable and the easiest to read.

What makes a product stand out? Color. Visually, it’s how your brand will be recognized and easily remembered. Emotionally, it’s how it will make your customer feel. As the first observation that will be made about you, it is the foundation of your brand’s identity.

Colors affect us, they can trigger our feelings. Therefore, knowing the emotion a color emits is important to represent your brand effectively. It will convey your message instantly and reinforce its meaning. So when choosing a color for your company, brand, or product, make sure that it reflects your personality! Or as Cyndi Lauper says, “… show your true colors!”

 

Source:
Infographic: The Logo Company