“We are essentially pattern-recognizing machines. Every great musician knows that a great performance involves building up tension to an eventual release. And that’s because that taps into our pattern recognition apparatus in the brain. Our brain is trying to figure out what’s going to happen next.” – PBS News Hour
Tag: 09.29.19
Making Non-Boring Theatre About Climate Change
There’s a sliver of space where audience members can start to consider societal change. “I keep coming back to the idea that, as theatremakers, our greatest weapon in the fight against climate change may ultimately be this sliver of audience-lifting space. In this space comes an expanded capacity for empathy and, perhaps, the ability to be more collectively accountable.” – HowlRound
Is It Theatre Or Theater?
“I remember we thought we should use the British spelling of ‘theatre’ so that people would take us more seriously.” – Washington Post
Remembering Music Critic Martin Bernheimer
Tim Page: “To those who knew only Mr. Bernheimer’s prose, it came as a surprise to learn that he was a gentle, gracious and tender man to his colleagues. He supported the early careers of many young critics who disagreed entirely with him, simply because he believed in their talents.” – Washington Post
Kara Walker Takes On The British Empire
Sometimes, if you’re a US person and have British friends, the Brits will enjoy talking about how long the US had slavery. An important discussion, no doubt – but guess what? The British aren’t exactly innocent either in the foundation of chattel slavery in the US or in a lot of other horrors of the British Empire. And artist Kara Walker isn’t messing around with her latest work in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. “‘It’s a reversal of the triangle trade, going from America via Africa back to England,’ she said, laughing. ‘Or thinking of it as a different shape — a circle, a cycle.'” – The New York Times
A Longtime Political Artist Turns To Business To Drive Social Change
Tom Greyeyes’ art career started in a jail cell after an activist installation he created was considered vandalism by the Flagstaff police. Now the artist, who has had residencies and big gallery shows, and who has been featured on NPR, has pivoted a bit (though art and social justice are still involved): He is starting a graphic design business “that he hopes will help boost the economy on the reservation, provide jobs and give other Native American artists experience — and a steady income — creating logos and websites across the region.” – Arizona Daily Star
What It Was Like To Be A Supreme
Mary Wilson says that those who weren’t there don’t quite understand that Motown “really was like walking into a Disneyland. All these creative people. People say: ‘Motown, it was this big building,’ but I always say no, Motown was always a collaboration between the people, with Berry (Gordy) at the head.” – The Guardian (UK)
Music Critic, Pulitzer Prize-Winner Martin Bernheimer Has Died At 83
Bernheimer, who was the music critic for the LA Times for more than 30 years, “was renowned internationally for the strong opinions he voiced in his reviews combined with a singular wit and personality that often provoked strong responses from his readers, both positive and negative.” – Los Angeles Times
Leonardo Mocked By Other Italians For His Ginger Hair And ‘Unconventional’ Sexuality
A “comic strip” of the time shows that “although the work of the great Italian was popular in his time, an extensive new study of the artist to be published this week has outlined evidence that he was the butt of gossipy jokes in Renaissance Milan.” – The Observer (UK)