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

JUNE AND SUMMER’S IN THE AIR

 

RADIO, ROBOTS, AND REMOTE CONTROL

“Invention is the most important product of man’s creative brain.
The ultimate purpose is … the harnessing of human nature to human needs.”

Elon Musk named his company for Nikola Tesla, Elon’s forerunner genius super nerd. In Richard Munson’s illustrated biography, Tesla: Inventor of the Modern, we learn that engineer and physicist Tesla was born in Croatia in 1856, stood at 6’2″, weighed 140 pounds, was a germaphobe, dressed to the nines, spoke eight languages, slept three hours a day, memorized and wrote poetry, filed 300 patents, was a superstitious numerologist, and wowed Wall Street investors with Jedi light tubes arcing between eight-foot electrically charged plates. The Tesla coil laid the foundation for wireless technologies! … Tesla’s inventions transformed our world and they continue to inspire great science and technological inventions today. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, David Bowie played him in the movie The Prestige (20016). Pretty cool, Mr. Tesla.

 

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. Get the CD or stream it at Amazon and iTunes.

 

CAN YOU SAY CARAMEL?

“Mr. Willy Wonka can make marshmallows that taste of violets, and rich caramels that change colour every ten seconds as you suck them, and little feathery sweets that melt away deliciously the moment you put them between your lips.” (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl)

Did you know that June is National Candy Month? A caramel is that delicious, sweet, soft, sticky, chewy, light-brown candy made from butter, sugar, and milk or cream. Bite into a Milky Way, it’s the gooey stuff at the center. So how do you pronounce caramel? Some people pronounce it car-mel, others say care-a-mel, and some claim it is pronounced car-muhl ... The word caramel is derived from the Latin word cannamellis. Canna means cane and mellis means honey. In the 18th century, the Spanish changed that to caramelo. Then in 1725, the French changed that to caramel, pronounced care-a-mel, as in English … The different pronunciations of caramel are based on your accent, putting different emphasis on different vowels. So there is no correct or incorrect way to pronounce the word caramel.

CARAMEL CANDY RECIPE

Ingredients: 2 cups white sugar, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1 cup corn syrup, 1 cup evaporated milk, 1 pint heavy whipping cream, 1 cup butter, 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract … Directions: 1) Grease a 12×15 inch pan. 2) In a medium pot combine sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, evaporated milk, whipping cream, and butter and stir. Using a candy thermometer, at 250 degrees, remove the pot from the heat. 3) Stir in vanilla. 4) After 30 minutes, dust the candy with salt flakes. (You don’t want the salt to melt completely into the candy.) Transfer mixture to the pan and let it cool completely. Then cut the caramel into small squares and wrap them in wax paper for storage.

 

O’KEEFFE’S MUSICAL ART

Early in her career, Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) painted a series of abstract paintings using, as she put it, “the idea that music could be translated into something for the eye.” The title alone of her 1918 painting, Music, Pink and Blue No. 2 (1918), hanging in NYC’s Whitney Museum of Art, references her belief that visual art, like music, could convey powerful emotions. The rounded, rolling forms suggest lyrical textures and the lush colors and shaded contours create a harmonic effect. Precisely the rhythms and harmonies that O’Keeffe perceived in nature … One teacher had played music in his class, directing the students to “draw what they hear.” Perhaps it was the abstract quality of music that seemed pure, and freed from the superficiality of representational art. Whether we are realizing it or not, as we listen to music we are making our own pictures in our heads. O’Keeffe’s flowing shapes and rich colors, both smooth and austere, express passionate emotions, exactly like the sumptuous and expressive classical sonatas, symphonies, and operas that she listened to.

 

SAY WHA!??!?!?!

You are looking at a $16.50 bagel. Really. The restaurant Eleven Madison Park’s chef Daniel Humm made it. A celery seed bagel with black truffle cream cheese, smoked sturgeon, pickled celery root, pickled shallots, and sliced celery. So fancy schmancy! At $16.50, where’s the novie?

 

DOG NEWS

June is World Avocado Month and the World Avocado Association is promoting avocados in venues and menus around the world. And there is a link to dogs … “Agri-dogs” are saving Florida avocado groves. A dog has a highly sensitive olfactory system, capable of detecting extremely minute odors. A beetle transplanted from Asia is spreading laurel wilt, a disease that is destroying avocado groves in Florida. Florida International University researchers studied three dogs, a Belgian Malinois and two Dutch Shepherds, which were trained to detect the onset of this disease and to alert by sitting in front of the infected tree. Their findings suggest that with proper training, these dogs could use their natural talents to help the ailing avocado industry. In fact, it’s noted that this “technology” is the best way so far to detect a diseased tree before external symptoms are visible. Good news for guacamole lovers!

 

ENDNOTE: MAYA ANGELOU’S TRUTH

Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928–May 28, 2014) composed A Brave and Startling Truth for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in 1995. President Clinton chose her to speak at his first inauguration. And she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.

We, this people …
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.

 

WE CAN HELP

June is also a good time to remind ourselves about the beauty of the arts, the privilege of creativity and freedom, and the power of our voices to stand up for those things we cherish. The American Civil Liberties Union has worked for almost 100 years to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and its laws. That includes freedom of speech and religion, a woman’s right to choose, the right to due process, and citizens’ rights to privacy. A champion for people of color, women, LGBTQ people, prisoners, immigrants, and those with disabilities, the ACLU operates within the court system to enact change and protect our basic human rights as American citizens. By making a donation, we help them to continue fighting for our freedom and the protection of our constitutional rights now and for the next generations.

 

Soundtrack to this IssueThe Four Tops’
I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) 

Yep, that’s me. I was their music-marketing agent. They were the greatest guys, joyous and funny. These four original members were together for 41 years (1956-1997). Berry Gordy of Motown Records called them, “the epitome of loyalty, integrity, class.” They sure were. And this song? You’re smiling already, right? 

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

Sugar pie, honey bunch
You know that I love you
I can’t help myself
I love you and nobody else 

In and out my life
You come and you go
Leaving just your picture behind
And I kissed it a thousand times 

When you snap your finger or wink your eye
I come a-running to you
I’m tied to your apron strings
And there’s nothing that I can do
I can’t help myself
No, I can’t help myself 

Sugar pie, honey bunch …
Sugar pie, honey bunch
You know that I love you
I can’t help myself
I love you and nobody else

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:
By a stream pic: From Open House for Butterflies by Ruth Krauss with illustration by Maurice Sendak
Black Seed bagel pic: Alex Ostroff via Black Seed
Dog News pic: A dog pinpoints an avocado tree infected with laurel wilt disease in a Miami-Dade County grove. (Courtesy Florida International University)
Soundtrack lyrics: Brian Holland, Edward Holland, Lamont Dozier ©Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

June 27, 2018
All Rights Reserved

 

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

MIGHTY MARCH

A new album by Johnny Cash is worth celebrating. Out Among The Stars (Columbia/Legacy) was supposed to come out in the mid-1980s but was shelved … Make your way down to the Motown: The Truth Is a Hit exhibit at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Tracing the history of black music with the story of Motown Records, we learn how Motown became the powerhouse of the music we love. There through July 26 … Also at the Schomburg is the 21st Century Women’s Jazz Festival overseen by Toshi Reagon and featuring Meshell Ndegeocello … Surprised and sad to learn that the San Diego Opera, the 10th largest opera company in the US, plans to close. Citing a tough fundraising environment and weak ticket sales, yet another reminder of the challenge to fund arts programs … Only ten Stradivari violas exist and one is heading to auction for $45 million, making it the most expensive instrument in the world. A Sotheby’s VP explains, “Musical instruments and string instruments are quite different from selling other things, because they need to be played.” Hear, hear … Another sale to note are the 270 acoustic vintage guitars, some from the early 1900s, at Guernsey’s on April 2 and 3 … The incomparable voice of k.d. lang on Broadway in After Midnight … The Allman Brothers annual Beacon concerts got off to a rousing and sentimental start owing to the announcement that two beloved members would be leaving and that the band would stop its regular touring after this year. After Gregg Allman came down with bronchitis, the band postponed their last four dates. Sometimes I feel, Like I’ve been tied, To the whipping post … To celebrate Spinal Tap’s 30th anniversary, AMC is streaming a special version of the film for free viewing through April 11. Don’t forget to crank it up to 11 … 92Y Soul Jazz Festival featured Esperanza Spalding … The NY Philharmonic reprised Sweeney Todd in concert. This time director Lonny Price had Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson in the ghoulishly delicious main roles … Also at the NY Phil, the Orchestra played back-up for Mary Chapin Carpenter, who brought along Shawn Colvin and Joan Baez … Paul Simon and Sting together on tour, made a stop at Madison Square Garden, where Sting, before he sang Simon’s America, said of Simon, “If you wanted to become a literate and literary songwriter, there is the template.” … The ever evolving, ever dynamite Nona Hendryx at Joe’s Pub … And the Oscar for Best Documentary film went to 20 Feet From Stardom, where one of its stars, Darlene Love (love her!) delivered the best thank you speech ever – in song with gratitude and grace.

GIMME A KISS

I wanna rock ‘n’ roll all night. And party every day … Call it the KISS trifecta … They will be inducted into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame in April … They are the face of John Varvatos’ spring ad campaign, which was inspired by their album, Dressed to Kill. Wearing Varvatos suits and their famous faces, natch … Oh and by the way, did you know that the John Varvatos Bowery Store was originally the home of CBGB’s? …

And KISS is finally on the cover of Rolling Stone … Can it get any better for these guys who’ve just been at it forever and deserve it all? Mentsches they are … As Paul Stanley says, “…I’m dead serious. With all guns loaded. And a six-string guitar that can kill.”

SOME LEARNIN’

Interested in journalism and how we get our news? Check out the NYU Center for Global Affairs’ new lecture series, Newsmakers: Perspectives in Global Media. The creator and host is Alexis Gelber, a longtime top editor and director of special projects at Newsweek. Alexis talks to international journalists about their use of new social media and non-traditional media to source, cover, and spread their stories. What has changed? And do these changes affect the outcome and our perspective? Alexis gets to the heart of it and breaks it down for us. Check it out.

WE CAN HELP

We know that music changes lives, saves lives. How great it is to help students by giving them instruments. Between now and April 7, donate your gently used musical instrument to the WQXR Musical Instrument Drive. Working with Sam Ash Music Stores and the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, WQXR will repair the instruments and distribute them to music programs in NYC Public Schools. Drop off points are in NYC, NJ, Westchester and Long Island. A NYC Public School student myself, I know firsthand what it means to be handed an instrument that can change a life, can save a life. It did mine.

Soundtrack to this Issue is
The Four Tops’ I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)

C’mon, sing along with Levi and the guys:
Sugar pie, honey bunch
You know that I love you
I can’t help myself
I love you and nobody else

 

 Buddha, stay. Good dog. z”l

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

 

Sources:
Strad quote: NY Times, March 26, 2014
Whipping Post lyrics: Unichappell Music Inc.
Paul Stanley quote: Official John Varvatos Spring/Summer 2014 campaign video
The Four Tops lyrics: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., EMI Music Publishing