“The girl group phenomenon reached its height between 1960 and 1963, though many scholars recognize The Chantel’s 1958 song ‘Maybe’ as the beginning of girl groups’ commercial success.”
Tag: 03.07
A Quiet Space For Poetry?
“How do poets write in a culture enamored of both media spectacle (the Super Bowl, American Idol, a televised war) and unmediated individual expression–YouTube, MySpace, and blogs?”
The Science Of Conciousness (Does It Exist?)
“Physicists believe that the theory of everything is hovering right around the corner, and yet consciousness is still largely a mystery, and physicists have no idea how to explain its existence from physical laws. The questions physicists long to ask about nature are bound up with the problem of consciousness. Physics can furnish no answers for them.”
What’s Next?
Prospect Magazine asked 100 writers and thinkers about what will happen next in the world. This is not an optimistic bunch…
Why Don’t Book Publishers Advertise In Newspapers?
Short answer – it’s not worth it. “Editors should use the budgets they have for space to make their book page part of the new and ever-changing process of attention and discussion about all kinds of books, instead of relying on a static model of two or three review pieces, with no particular logic to the selection. As for ad salespeople, they should offer up reasonably priced space that would encourage an alliance between local booksellers and publishers (which is what has happened in the movie industry).”
Wanted: A History Of Jazz
“Why have so few general histories of jazz been produced? In addition to being a relatively young art form, jazz is also a vernacular music that is usually (though not always) played in commercial settings. For this reason, scholars in America and elsewhere were long reluctant to take it seriously.”
Embracing New Music As A Career Move
Making a living as a solo violinist can be an awfully tough road in a music world obsessed with youth and crossover celebrity. So when the celebrated young violinist Jennifer Koh saw the odds against her, she decided to carve out a career niche that would set her apart from the crowd, “working with composers living and dead, getting into their heads and hearts through their scores, and developing personal relationships with those who are still alive, notably [Jennifer] Higdon and [John] Zorn.”
What’s Lost With The iPod
“When you’re ignoring the sounds of the city and you’re not even plugged into the same Top 40 hits as everyone else–when you are listening to your music, and only your music, all the time–isn’t something lost? A common cultural reference point? Something to talk about with your friends?”