“If contemporary music is to thrive, it must do so in a pluralist and eclectic culture. Then, the best of modernism can be appreciated alongside the parallel strands in new music. The young do not appreciate being lectured by sniffy cultural snobs, reliving their own glory days of 1968. Time and music have moved on.”
Tag: 01.01.08
This Year’s Question For The World
Every year John Brockman asks some of the world’s leading thinkers a question and publishes the answers. This year’s question: “When thinking changes your mind, that’s philosophy. When God changes your mind, that’s faith. When facts change your mind, that’s science. What have you changed your mind about? Why?”
Have We Finally Got Tired Of Overly LOUD Music?
“A number of sound engineers and artists are taking a hard look at the effects of the so-called loudness war and producing albums at lower volumes. One producer who says he made loud records for years has started an organization called Turn Me Up, which aims to show artists, music labels and fans that louder doesn’t always mean better.”
Robert Frost Home Vandalized
A former home of poet Robert Frost has been vandalized, with intruders destroying dozens of items and setting fire to furniture in what police say was an underage-drinking party.
Where Did The Memorable TV Theme Songs Go?
“My hunch is that modern TV producers fear flip-happy viewers will take any excuse to surf away from a show and sample other channels. Eliminating the theme song is just another way to deal with the multitude of channels and remote control technology offered today’s consumer, locking them into an unfolding show before they even realize it has begun.”
Blues Singer “Weepin'” Willie Robinson, 81
Robinson, a blues singer who performed with Steven Tyler and Bonnie Raitt but also spent time homeless. Robinson had been a sharecropper, an Army veteran and a friend of performers, including B.B. King.