Ultimately, Pride was rewarded by the country music business — by the end of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s, he was one of the genre’s central, crucial performers, a part of the firmament. But he was also, naturally, the exception that proved the rule — even with his success as an example, the country music industry remained largely inhospitable to Black performers. He was a one of one. – The New York Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
How The Internet Broke Our Brains
“Imagine the 21st-century worker as accessing two modes of thinking: productivity mind and leisure mind. When we are under the sway of the former, we are time- and results-optimizing creatures, set on proving our industriousness to the world and, most of all, to ourselves. In leisure mode, the thrumming subsides, allowing us to watch a movie or finish a glass of wine without considering how our behavior might affect our reputation and performance reviews. For several hours a week, on Sunday evening, a psychological tug-of-war between these perspectives takes place.” – The Atlantic
Could The Streaming Wars Hit Their Peak In 2021?
The problem with all this growth is that eventually streaming services will just run out of households to sign up. This year, video-on-demand services have seen more growth than any other time in their history… But in 2021 the industry could see a massive cooling. Everyone will have tried everything and pretty much decided which ones they’re sticking to. – Wired
What Ancient Cave Art Teaches Us About The Place Of Art In Human Existence
“It’s rare to see art that is intrinsically woven into, and ultimately shapes, the very fabric of society. Was art always destined to be something that came only after we had satisfied our basic subsistence needs? Human evolution suggests not.” – Aeon
By The Numbers: Just How White Publishing Is In America
By the end, we had identified the race or ethnicity of 3,471 authors.We guessed that most of the authors would be white, but we were shocked by the extent of the inequality once we analyzed the data. Of the 7,124 books for which we identified the author’s race, 95 percent were written by white people. – The New York Times
The Best Architecture of 2020
The editors of Dezeen have chosen their favorites. – dezeen
Classical Music’s Real Diversity Problem? Class
Today, the genre is grappling with what, on the surface, might seem like an entirely different aspect of its legacy: the historical lack of diversity in its orchestras and ensembles. The truth is that these legacies could hardly be more intertwined: Economic discrimination has produced diversity dramas of all sorts. Yet you’d never know this from recent attempts by critics to wrestle with the genre’s representation problems without so much as a passing reference to class. – The New Republic
A Plea For Books For Christmas
“Books remain the ultimate gift: easy to wrap, available in such a multifarious array that there’s truly something for everyone and, best of all, a desperately needed break from screens in the age of TikTok and Zoom. A book does not beep at you, spy on you, sell you out to marketers, interrupt with breaking news, suck you into a doomscrolling vortex, cease to function in a nor’easter, flood your eyes with melatonin-suppressing blue light or otherwise interrupt your already troubled sleep.” – The New York Times
US Senator Mike Lee Blocks Legislation To Create Smithsonian Women’s, Latinx Museums
“The last thing we need,” Lee said, “is to further divide an already divided nation with an array of segregated, separate-but-equal museums for hyphenated identity groups.” – NPR
How NY Bars And Restaurants Found Ways To Start The Music Again
Birdland, and a number of other noted jazz clubs and piano bars across the city, were quietly offering live performances again, arguing that the performers were playing “incidental” music for diners, and that the music was therefore permitted by the pandemic-era guidelines set by the State Liquor Authority. – The New York Times