Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 56
March 7, 2019
Off Broadway: $30 Tickets for WHITE NOISE by Suzan-Lori Parks & AIN'T NO MO' by Jordan E. Cooper
From a media release:\
Off Broadway:
$30 Tickets for WHITE NOISE by Suzan-Lori Parks
& AIN'T NO MO' by Jordan E. Cooper
Playing through April 21 & 28 2019
At the Public Theater, New York City
Following her critically-acclaimed trilogy FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, In The Blood) returns with a world premiere play about race, friendship, and our rapidly unraveling social contract.
Long-time friends and lovers Leo, Misha, Ralph, and Dawn are educated, progressive, cosmopolitan, and woke. But when a racially motivated incident with the cops leaves Leo shaken, he decides extreme measures must be taken for self-preservation.
The Public’s Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis (Julius Caesar, Public Works Twelfth Night) directs this fierce new drama about what happens when the unspoken and the unspeakable come head-to-head.
WHITE NOISE
by Suzan-Lori Parks
directed by Oskar Eustis
Playing now thru April 21
Featuring: Daveed Diggs, Sheria Irving, Thomas Sadoski, and Zoë Winters.
Use code Marcia19 to "unlock" $30 tickets.
To purchase tickets:Click here.
Call 212.967.7555.
Visit The Taub Box Office at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, NYC
AIN’T NO MO’ is a vibrant satirical odyssey portraying the great exodus of Black Americans out of a country plagued with injustice.
In a kaleidoscope of scenes of the moments before, during, and after this outrageous departure, Jordan E. Cooper’s extraordinary new work explores the value of black lives in a country hurtling away from the promise of a black president.
Stevie Walker-Webb directs this wildly imaginative and emotionally charged new play.
AIN'T NO MO'
by Jordan E. Cooper
directed by Stevie Walker-Webb
March 12 - April 28
Featuring: Jordan E. Cooper, Marchánt Davis, Fedna Jacquet, Crystal Lucas-Parry, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Simone Recasner, and Hernon Whaley, Jr.
Use code Marcia19 to "unlock" $30 tickets.
To purchase tickets:
Click here.
Call 212.967.7775.
Visit The Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street, NYC.
Off Broadway:
$30 Tickets for WHITE NOISE by Suzan-Lori Parks
& AIN'T NO MO' by Jordan E. Cooper
Playing through April 21 & 28 2019
At the Public Theater, New York City
Following her critically-acclaimed trilogy FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, In The Blood) returns with a world premiere play about race, friendship, and our rapidly unraveling social contract.
Long-time friends and lovers Leo, Misha, Ralph, and Dawn are educated, progressive, cosmopolitan, and woke. But when a racially motivated incident with the cops leaves Leo shaken, he decides extreme measures must be taken for self-preservation.
The Public’s Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis (Julius Caesar, Public Works Twelfth Night) directs this fierce new drama about what happens when the unspoken and the unspeakable come head-to-head.
WHITE NOISE
by Suzan-Lori Parks
directed by Oskar Eustis
Playing now thru April 21
Featuring: Daveed Diggs, Sheria Irving, Thomas Sadoski, and Zoë Winters.
Use code Marcia19 to "unlock" $30 tickets.
To purchase tickets:Click here.
Call 212.967.7555.
Visit The Taub Box Office at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, NYC
AIN’T NO MO’ is a vibrant satirical odyssey portraying the great exodus of Black Americans out of a country plagued with injustice.
In a kaleidoscope of scenes of the moments before, during, and after this outrageous departure, Jordan E. Cooper’s extraordinary new work explores the value of black lives in a country hurtling away from the promise of a black president.
Stevie Walker-Webb directs this wildly imaginative and emotionally charged new play.
AIN'T NO MO'
by Jordan E. Cooper
directed by Stevie Walker-Webb
March 12 - April 28
Featuring: Jordan E. Cooper, Marchánt Davis, Fedna Jacquet, Crystal Lucas-Parry, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Simone Recasner, and Hernon Whaley, Jr.
Use code Marcia19 to "unlock" $30 tickets.
To purchase tickets:
Click here.
Call 212.967.7775.
Visit The Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street, NYC.
February 26, 2019
Fighting the People's War: The British and Commonwealth Armies and the Second World War by Jonathan Fennell
Fighting the People's War: The British and Commonwealth Armies and the Second World War
by Jonathan Fennell
Cambridge University Press (January 24, 2019)
• Order it on Amazon
If an ill-informed or indifferent electorate is a menace to our national safety, so, too, is an Army which neither knows nor cares why it is in arms.
The quote comes from an Army Bureau of Current Affairs (ABCA) missive dated July 21, 1941, and it sums up the core of this extensive look at the Commonwealth armies in the Second World War. Despite its academic pedigree, author and professor Dr Jonathan Fennell writes in a clear and readable prose that makes it accessible outside the ivory tower set.
Fighting the People's War is a weighty volume, part of a new series from the Cambridge University Press on the armies of the Second World War. In it, author Jonathan Fennell weaves the social history of the times to come up with a portrait of the regular soldiers of the British and Commonwealth armies, including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and South Africa—soldiers he calls "citizens in military service to the state".
In doing so, he reveals a side of the Second World War that might surprise anyone whose version has so far depended on the stories of the generals and ruling classes. In the introduction, he lays out the logic of his approach.
To understand the behaviour of armies in a political and social context;Conversely, societies themselves can be understood by examining the conduct of its soldiers.As he points out, conflict and war brings any simmering social issues to a boiling point. The Second World War divided society in many ways, and along many lines that we now call intersections - by class, race, age, gender, and ethnicity.
Fennell used a variety of documents in his research, including military censorship records. Since all letters home were censored, it is a genuine snapshot of the lives of soldiers at the time. He also used diaries, photographs, memos, and many other documents to compile the book.
In the UK, WWII brought on a political and social sea change, one that led, post-war, to the surprising landslide victory of the Labour Party in 1945. In Canada, conscription for the war nearly caused a rift in the country as French speaking Quebecois objected.
In South Africa, the deep divisions of a racist society became even more pointed, with many white Afrikaners not exactly celebrating the German defeat in 1945. In India, the war effort had a tepid energy at best. Many people sympathized with the Japanese forces, and were decidedly anti-British.
In many regions of the Commonwealth, the armies were made up of a very mixed slice of the populace, including black Africans, Maoris in New Zealand, and many Indian soldiers. These soldiers wanted an end to the existing order of British imperialism—not to risk their lives for a return to the status quo.
This is photograph E 3265E from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 4700-33) - The Battle of Crete, 20 - 31 May 1941. German paratroopers jumping from Junkers Ju 52 3/m transport planes over Crete.
Even in the UK, many soldiers had already heard the stories of betrayal and disappointment from their own fathers, who had returned from World War I only to find their government failing on the promise to support them, their widows, and orphans. They'd grown up with the misery of the global economic Depression. After the poor treatment of its WWI veterans and survivors, there was widespread mistrust of the state.
The books chapters proceed in largely chronological progression, beginning with the social and political context of the pre-war years. The book quotes an article from The Economist of 1939 that notes that the economy of the British Empire, as it then stood, far exceeded that of Germany and Italy combined. Its output was boosted by a large non-white colonial population. Despite that kind of economic superiority, however, once Germany began to ramp up its armed forces, the British forces couldn't keep pace. Cracks had already begun to show in the Empire.
The armies of the Commonwealth were largely made up of blue collar skilled trades people, although Canada and New Zealand also included a large proportion of unskilled labourers in their army ranks. There was also a large chunk of poor people looking to avoid creditors or job insecurity. Welfare offices were said to have advised people to enlist rather than apply for benefits.
Once they'd been shipped overseas, their letters reveal an overwhelming homesickness. The letters and other documents also reveal the ways that their political beliefs had changed as a result of their direct involvement in the conflict.
Britain and its allies were not deficient materially. Instead, Fennell points to the crisis of morale as the root of their early difficulties during the prolonged conflict. In the second part of the book, he examines The Great Crisis of Empire.
Frank Capra (film) - Divide and Conquer (Why We Fight #3) Public Domain (U.S. War Department): https://archive.org/details/DivideAnd... - British troops rescued in a ship at Dunkirk (France, 1940). Screenhot taken from the 1943 United States Army propaganda film Divide and Conquer (Why We Fight #3) directed by Frank Capra and partially based on, news archives, animations, restaged scenes and captured propaganda material from both sides.
The onset of war came with early defeats for the UK and Commonwealth forces in France and Norway, and significant losses to the British navy. The massive evacuation of over 338,000 British troops from Dunkirk known as Operation Dynamo was spun as a success, but it came alongside the surrender of about 40,000 French troops to the Germans.
Back home in the UK, the newspapers blamed the politicians. In private documents, the military already spoke of a crisis of morale. There were many documented cases of gross insubordination and AWOL, corroborated by letters and diaries. Churchill, who of course has emerged as a hero in the history books, was, as the book notes, "the architect of the disasters at Gallipoli and Norway". Fennell describes Churchill's political maneuvering, and the tumult at a time when the UK was facing bankruptcy.
Troops were stretch thin from Crete to the Balkans, and as the war dragged on, morale sank further. Soldiers were losing confidence in their abilities and equipment. Generals were so worried about dropping morale and the threat of both insubordination and desertion by asking for the return of the death penalty for deserters.
The book spends some time examining the (mis)adventures of the Eighth Army in Africa, where their own exhaustion was only rivaled by that of the German Afrika Korps. After Japan attacked in the east, during the Fall of Singapore, the troops were chastised for not showing "the fighting spirit which is to be expected of men in the British Empire".
Field Marshall 'Monty' Montgomery
Extensive sections follow the battles of the war on various fronts chronologically. The turning point, as many felt it to be, came after the victory in North Africa—when Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery took over command of the Eighth Army and led them to final victory in Tunisia - along with New Guinea and Burma.
However, even as the Allies marched toward eventually victory, morale still remained an issue. There was the New Zealand Furlough Mutiny of 1943, where troops, who had suffered horrible conditions in battle, returned home to find the country in prosperity. Anger grew at their low pay. The New Zealanders were sent on a furlough in late 1943 before returning to the war in Burma. However, after a public campaign, many simply refused to return. Only about 42 percent of returning soldiers showed up to embark in January 1944. It was an incident that the government suppressed, with no media reports of the effective mutiny.
The last section of the book looks at the post-War world, and the social changes the returning soldiers brought back with them.
The average British soldier was said, derisively, to run on "football, beer, and crumpets." But, the experience of war had changed them. Living as soldiers encouraged social cooperation and socialism—not the model of rugged individualism. As they returned home, they brought a wave of change.
In Britain, it was the Labour victory of 1945. New Zealanders also elected the Labour Party post-war. In Canada, the left-leaning Liberals, CCF, and Social Credit parties garnered 58 percent of the civilian vote post-War - and 71 percent of the vote of veterans with combat experience.
The post-War period saw the final dissolution of the British Empire, a kind of boiling point that stripped away whatever was left of the old ways. India was partitioned into modern day India and Pakistan in 1947, and became a republic in 1950, with Pakistan following in 1957. Nigeria gained its independence in 1960.
Photographer not identified. "Official photograph". This is photograph HU 2781 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 5707-03)Lieutenant-General Percival and his party carry the Union flag on their way to surrender Singapore to the Japanese. Left to Right: Major Cyril Wild (carrying white flag) interpreter; Brigadier T. K. Newbigging (carrying the Union flag) Chief Administrative Officer, Malaya Command; Lieutenant-Colonel Ichiji Sugita; Brigadier K. S. Torrance, Brigadier General Staff Malaya Command; Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding, Malaya Command.
In South Africa, social change took a darker turn. The war experience brought greater cohesion among white soldiers from mixed Dutch, English, and Jewish backgrounds. Back at home, with so many white workers away, somewhat ironically, black workers tended to prosper as skilled trade positions opened up that had never been available to them before.
There were rumblings of dismay in the newspapers. The white minority saw the native black African population as one to exploit—not one with which to share a new era of prosperity. The general election of 1948 resulted in the entrenchment of Apartheid as an official state policy.
The book delivers the proof for its premise that there are strong links between social cohesion and what happens on the battlefield. It's important as an academic work, but will also interest any history buffs with a penchant for the Second World War, and mid-twentieth century.
Dr Jonathan Fennell is a Senior Lecturer in Defence Studies at King's College London. He's been with the Defence Studies Department since 2009, after a stint as a management consultant in the City of London. He is Co-Director of the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War, Chair of the Defence Studies Department MA Assessment Sub-Board, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Second World War Research Group and a member of the War Studies Research Ethics Panel. His book Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign was named one of BBC History Magazine's Books of the Year for 2011.
Fennell acknowledges in the introduction that there was not enough space (in a 700+ page book) to do justice to the contributions of some 473,250 colonial soldiers (most from West and East Africa,) the 43,000 Free Irish State soldiers, and the 214,120 women who served in these armies. Hopefully someone else with a similarly thorough approach will take up that challenge soon.
by Jonathan Fennell
Cambridge University Press (January 24, 2019)
• Order it on Amazon
If an ill-informed or indifferent electorate is a menace to our national safety, so, too, is an Army which neither knows nor cares why it is in arms.
The quote comes from an Army Bureau of Current Affairs (ABCA) missive dated July 21, 1941, and it sums up the core of this extensive look at the Commonwealth armies in the Second World War. Despite its academic pedigree, author and professor Dr Jonathan Fennell writes in a clear and readable prose that makes it accessible outside the ivory tower set.
Fighting the People's War is a weighty volume, part of a new series from the Cambridge University Press on the armies of the Second World War. In it, author Jonathan Fennell weaves the social history of the times to come up with a portrait of the regular soldiers of the British and Commonwealth armies, including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and South Africa—soldiers he calls "citizens in military service to the state".In doing so, he reveals a side of the Second World War that might surprise anyone whose version has so far depended on the stories of the generals and ruling classes. In the introduction, he lays out the logic of his approach.
To understand the behaviour of armies in a political and social context;Conversely, societies themselves can be understood by examining the conduct of its soldiers.As he points out, conflict and war brings any simmering social issues to a boiling point. The Second World War divided society in many ways, and along many lines that we now call intersections - by class, race, age, gender, and ethnicity.
Fennell used a variety of documents in his research, including military censorship records. Since all letters home were censored, it is a genuine snapshot of the lives of soldiers at the time. He also used diaries, photographs, memos, and many other documents to compile the book.
In the UK, WWII brought on a political and social sea change, one that led, post-war, to the surprising landslide victory of the Labour Party in 1945. In Canada, conscription for the war nearly caused a rift in the country as French speaking Quebecois objected.
In South Africa, the deep divisions of a racist society became even more pointed, with many white Afrikaners not exactly celebrating the German defeat in 1945. In India, the war effort had a tepid energy at best. Many people sympathized with the Japanese forces, and were decidedly anti-British.
In many regions of the Commonwealth, the armies were made up of a very mixed slice of the populace, including black Africans, Maoris in New Zealand, and many Indian soldiers. These soldiers wanted an end to the existing order of British imperialism—not to risk their lives for a return to the status quo.
This is photograph E 3265E from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 4700-33) - The Battle of Crete, 20 - 31 May 1941. German paratroopers jumping from Junkers Ju 52 3/m transport planes over Crete.Even in the UK, many soldiers had already heard the stories of betrayal and disappointment from their own fathers, who had returned from World War I only to find their government failing on the promise to support them, their widows, and orphans. They'd grown up with the misery of the global economic Depression. After the poor treatment of its WWI veterans and survivors, there was widespread mistrust of the state.
The books chapters proceed in largely chronological progression, beginning with the social and political context of the pre-war years. The book quotes an article from The Economist of 1939 that notes that the economy of the British Empire, as it then stood, far exceeded that of Germany and Italy combined. Its output was boosted by a large non-white colonial population. Despite that kind of economic superiority, however, once Germany began to ramp up its armed forces, the British forces couldn't keep pace. Cracks had already begun to show in the Empire.
The armies of the Commonwealth were largely made up of blue collar skilled trades people, although Canada and New Zealand also included a large proportion of unskilled labourers in their army ranks. There was also a large chunk of poor people looking to avoid creditors or job insecurity. Welfare offices were said to have advised people to enlist rather than apply for benefits.
Once they'd been shipped overseas, their letters reveal an overwhelming homesickness. The letters and other documents also reveal the ways that their political beliefs had changed as a result of their direct involvement in the conflict.
Britain and its allies were not deficient materially. Instead, Fennell points to the crisis of morale as the root of their early difficulties during the prolonged conflict. In the second part of the book, he examines The Great Crisis of Empire.
Frank Capra (film) - Divide and Conquer (Why We Fight #3) Public Domain (U.S. War Department): https://archive.org/details/DivideAnd... - British troops rescued in a ship at Dunkirk (France, 1940). Screenhot taken from the 1943 United States Army propaganda film Divide and Conquer (Why We Fight #3) directed by Frank Capra and partially based on, news archives, animations, restaged scenes and captured propaganda material from both sides.The onset of war came with early defeats for the UK and Commonwealth forces in France and Norway, and significant losses to the British navy. The massive evacuation of over 338,000 British troops from Dunkirk known as Operation Dynamo was spun as a success, but it came alongside the surrender of about 40,000 French troops to the Germans.
Back home in the UK, the newspapers blamed the politicians. In private documents, the military already spoke of a crisis of morale. There were many documented cases of gross insubordination and AWOL, corroborated by letters and diaries. Churchill, who of course has emerged as a hero in the history books, was, as the book notes, "the architect of the disasters at Gallipoli and Norway". Fennell describes Churchill's political maneuvering, and the tumult at a time when the UK was facing bankruptcy.
Troops were stretch thin from Crete to the Balkans, and as the war dragged on, morale sank further. Soldiers were losing confidence in their abilities and equipment. Generals were so worried about dropping morale and the threat of both insubordination and desertion by asking for the return of the death penalty for deserters.
The book spends some time examining the (mis)adventures of the Eighth Army in Africa, where their own exhaustion was only rivaled by that of the German Afrika Korps. After Japan attacked in the east, during the Fall of Singapore, the troops were chastised for not showing "the fighting spirit which is to be expected of men in the British Empire".
Field Marshall 'Monty' MontgomeryExtensive sections follow the battles of the war on various fronts chronologically. The turning point, as many felt it to be, came after the victory in North Africa—when Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery took over command of the Eighth Army and led them to final victory in Tunisia - along with New Guinea and Burma.
However, even as the Allies marched toward eventually victory, morale still remained an issue. There was the New Zealand Furlough Mutiny of 1943, where troops, who had suffered horrible conditions in battle, returned home to find the country in prosperity. Anger grew at their low pay. The New Zealanders were sent on a furlough in late 1943 before returning to the war in Burma. However, after a public campaign, many simply refused to return. Only about 42 percent of returning soldiers showed up to embark in January 1944. It was an incident that the government suppressed, with no media reports of the effective mutiny.
The last section of the book looks at the post-War world, and the social changes the returning soldiers brought back with them.
The average British soldier was said, derisively, to run on "football, beer, and crumpets." But, the experience of war had changed them. Living as soldiers encouraged social cooperation and socialism—not the model of rugged individualism. As they returned home, they brought a wave of change.
In Britain, it was the Labour victory of 1945. New Zealanders also elected the Labour Party post-war. In Canada, the left-leaning Liberals, CCF, and Social Credit parties garnered 58 percent of the civilian vote post-War - and 71 percent of the vote of veterans with combat experience.
The post-War period saw the final dissolution of the British Empire, a kind of boiling point that stripped away whatever was left of the old ways. India was partitioned into modern day India and Pakistan in 1947, and became a republic in 1950, with Pakistan following in 1957. Nigeria gained its independence in 1960.
Photographer not identified. "Official photograph". This is photograph HU 2781 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 5707-03)Lieutenant-General Percival and his party carry the Union flag on their way to surrender Singapore to the Japanese. Left to Right: Major Cyril Wild (carrying white flag) interpreter; Brigadier T. K. Newbigging (carrying the Union flag) Chief Administrative Officer, Malaya Command; Lieutenant-Colonel Ichiji Sugita; Brigadier K. S. Torrance, Brigadier General Staff Malaya Command; Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding, Malaya Command.In South Africa, social change took a darker turn. The war experience brought greater cohesion among white soldiers from mixed Dutch, English, and Jewish backgrounds. Back at home, with so many white workers away, somewhat ironically, black workers tended to prosper as skilled trade positions opened up that had never been available to them before.
There were rumblings of dismay in the newspapers. The white minority saw the native black African population as one to exploit—not one with which to share a new era of prosperity. The general election of 1948 resulted in the entrenchment of Apartheid as an official state policy.
The book delivers the proof for its premise that there are strong links between social cohesion and what happens on the battlefield. It's important as an academic work, but will also interest any history buffs with a penchant for the Second World War, and mid-twentieth century.
Dr Jonathan Fennell is a Senior Lecturer in Defence Studies at King's College London. He's been with the Defence Studies Department since 2009, after a stint as a management consultant in the City of London. He is Co-Director of the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War, Chair of the Defence Studies Department MA Assessment Sub-Board, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Second World War Research Group and a member of the War Studies Research Ethics Panel. His book Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign was named one of BBC History Magazine's Books of the Year for 2011.
Fennell acknowledges in the introduction that there was not enough space (in a 700+ page book) to do justice to the contributions of some 473,250 colonial soldiers (most from West and East Africa,) the 43,000 Free Irish State soldiers, and the 214,120 women who served in these armies. Hopefully someone else with a similarly thorough approach will take up that challenge soon.
Psychadelica:Lord Sonny the Unifier - The Starman (Independent / 8 February 2019)
New Single:
Lord Sonny the Unifier - The Starman
(Independent / 8 February 2019)
from the upcoming album Final Notice! due April 13, 2019
• Stream the New Single
• Pre-order the album
"The music and instrumentation that comes from this album is based on a deep love for the instrumentation, production style and spirit of the mid 60's to the late 70's when, somehow, it seemed as if the very magnetic force of the earth and her times were also directly transferred to the magnetic tape itself as well as the song's soul, a soul that seemed to BE, to exist solely, for the purpose of being a song to sing of itself and not for any other commercial or self - aggrandizing distractions."
Starman is the new single from psychadelic garage rocksters Lord Sonny The Unifier. Brooklyn-based musician and composer Gregory Jiritano began playing guitar at the age of 8, and started playing in New York City bars by age 16. When a fire struck his recording studio in 2015, he knew he had to either regroup or give it up. He chose to regroup, and got together with drummer Carmine Covelli. Lord Sonny The Unifier was born.
Starman celebrates the mystical side of sci-fi with a catchy groove, interesting and hypnotic rhythms, keening guitars, and growly vocals. It's accompanied by a video that follows Jiritano in a white suit, exploring the Starman theme.
It's the second single leading up to the album release in April 2019, coming after Right In Your I, released in October.
FINAL NOTICE! by Lord Sonny the Unifier
The album combines a retro feel and aesthetics in a sophisticated musical package. The release has a nicely fat sound, with lush instrumentation fleshed out by keyboards. Jiritano's vocals are raw and expressive, from an edgy lower end to a softer tenor. In keeping with an anti-establishment, anti-commercial philosophy, the lyrics talk about social change, with a heavy side order of the space race, and mystical musings thereon.
Musically, the band covers a range of retro rock stylings, from anthemic to trippy psychadelica, and orchestral pop. The music is constructed in layers of sound, with plenty of changes and unexpected elements that keep it fresh and vital.
The full 10-track album drops April 13.
Track List
1. Right in Your I 2. The Starman 3. Till We Changes Things 4. Satellite Eye 5. First in Space 6. Your Sweet Daydreams 7.Love is on the Line 8. All the Signs 9. The All New Knownothings 10.March Forth 11. El Ray
Personnel:
Greg Jiritano: Vocals and Guitar; Tyler Wood: Keyboards, Percussion and Backing Vocals; Derek Nievergelt: Bass; Carmine Covelli: Drums, Percussion and Backing Vocals; Amy Gordon: Backing Vocals
Stay In Touch:
http://www.lordsonnytheunifier.com/
https://twitter.com/LUnifier
https://www.facebook.com/lordsonnytheunifier/
Lord Sonny the Unifier - The Starman
(Independent / 8 February 2019)
from the upcoming album Final Notice! due April 13, 2019
• Stream the New Single
• Pre-order the album
"The music and instrumentation that comes from this album is based on a deep love for the instrumentation, production style and spirit of the mid 60's to the late 70's when, somehow, it seemed as if the very magnetic force of the earth and her times were also directly transferred to the magnetic tape itself as well as the song's soul, a soul that seemed to BE, to exist solely, for the purpose of being a song to sing of itself and not for any other commercial or self - aggrandizing distractions."
Starman is the new single from psychadelic garage rocksters Lord Sonny The Unifier. Brooklyn-based musician and composer Gregory Jiritano began playing guitar at the age of 8, and started playing in New York City bars by age 16. When a fire struck his recording studio in 2015, he knew he had to either regroup or give it up. He chose to regroup, and got together with drummer Carmine Covelli. Lord Sonny The Unifier was born.
Starman celebrates the mystical side of sci-fi with a catchy groove, interesting and hypnotic rhythms, keening guitars, and growly vocals. It's accompanied by a video that follows Jiritano in a white suit, exploring the Starman theme.
It's the second single leading up to the album release in April 2019, coming after Right In Your I, released in October.
FINAL NOTICE! by Lord Sonny the Unifier
The album combines a retro feel and aesthetics in a sophisticated musical package. The release has a nicely fat sound, with lush instrumentation fleshed out by keyboards. Jiritano's vocals are raw and expressive, from an edgy lower end to a softer tenor. In keeping with an anti-establishment, anti-commercial philosophy, the lyrics talk about social change, with a heavy side order of the space race, and mystical musings thereon.
Musically, the band covers a range of retro rock stylings, from anthemic to trippy psychadelica, and orchestral pop. The music is constructed in layers of sound, with plenty of changes and unexpected elements that keep it fresh and vital.
The full 10-track album drops April 13.
Track List
1. Right in Your I 2. The Starman 3. Till We Changes Things 4. Satellite Eye 5. First in Space 6. Your Sweet Daydreams 7.Love is on the Line 8. All the Signs 9. The All New Knownothings 10.March Forth 11. El Ray
Personnel:
Greg Jiritano: Vocals and Guitar; Tyler Wood: Keyboards, Percussion and Backing Vocals; Derek Nievergelt: Bass; Carmine Covelli: Drums, Percussion and Backing Vocals; Amy Gordon: Backing Vocals
Stay In Touch:
http://www.lordsonnytheunifier.com/
https://twitter.com/LUnifier
https://www.facebook.com/lordsonnytheunifier/
Rio de Janeiro: The Perfect Place For An Active Holiday
From a media release:
Rio de Janeiro: The Perfect Place For An Active Holiday
• Find Out More About Rio de Janeiro
The city of Rio de Janeiro, with its climate and lush natural landscape, is the perfect stage for practicing outdoor sports. Whether in the sea or the mountains, locals and tourists find a welcome setting, which has already served several official competitions, including the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Check it out below.
Running along the beach in Rio de JaneiroWALKING, RUNNING AND CYCLING - Rio’s beachfront is perfect for leaving the boring health clubs behind. The paired boardwalk/cycling path is the perfect invitation for walking, running or cycling. Flamengo, Botafogo, Leme, Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, São Conrado and Barra are some of the neighborhoods with cycling paths. At the break of dawn or at the end of the day, locals and tourists flood the tracks. On Sundays, one of the lanes of Avenida Atlântica, in Copacabana, and Vieira Souto, in Ipanema, are closed, as well as in Aterro do Flamengo. The perfect invitation to exercise and relax.
Copacabana Beach, Rio de JaneiroBEACH VOLLEYBALL AND FOOTVOLLEY - From Flamengo to Barra da Tijuca, footvolley and beach volleyball courts occupy the sands of the Rio beaches. On these courts, every day professional athletes share space with Cariocas and tourists who love sports. Leblon and Copacabana have youth groups to practice and learn the sport. The same goes for footvolley, which has become a tradition at the Barra beach, but is played along the whole beachfront – in this case, just use your feet instead of your hands.
Trekking in the mountains near Rio de JaneiroTREKKING, ROPE DOWN AND CLIMBING: Surrounded by hills and rocks, Rio de Janeiro offers a multitude of options for climbers, trekkers and rappelling enthusiasts. The variety of trails – there are over 100 of them in the Tijuca Forest alone – and the natural obstacles take the sportsmen to different scenarios, including the top of benchmarks such as the Sugar Loaf and the Corcovado. The most popular destinations are Morro da Urca – about 40 minutes walking – and Pedra da Gávea, taking up to four hours, depending on the route chosen. Going with a group or a guide is recommended.
Surfing in RioSURFING AND KITESURFING - With a gigantic coastline facing the Atlantic, it is obvious that surfing would be a popular sport in Rio. In the 80’s and 90’s, the city was renowned for a number of surf wear brands that sprang up. The beaches of Arpoador, Pepê, Diabo, Prainha and posto 5 and 6 at Barra are famous for the quality of the waves and have hosted world championships. The strong and constant winds which are dominant in Barra da Tijuca make the beach the perfect setting for kitesurfing. On weekends, the sport lovers showcase their moves in Postinho.
Hang gliding above Rio de JaneiroHANG GLIDING AND PARAGLIDING - A world reference in gliding, Rio is certainly one of the most beautiful cities to fly. For the bravest, flying out of Pedra Bonita is incredible. It is one of the most beautiful landscapes in Rio – maybe of the world. For those who have never experienced, there is tandem hang gliding and paragliding, with accredited and experienced pilots. The adventure takes between 10 and 15 minutes and reveals panoramic views of Ipanema, Lagoa, Barra da Tijuca, the Guanabara Bay, the Sugar Loaf and Christ, the Redeemer.
Rio de Janeiro: The Perfect Place For An Active Holiday
• Find Out More About Rio de Janeiro
The city of Rio de Janeiro, with its climate and lush natural landscape, is the perfect stage for practicing outdoor sports. Whether in the sea or the mountains, locals and tourists find a welcome setting, which has already served several official competitions, including the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Check it out below.
Running along the beach in Rio de JaneiroWALKING, RUNNING AND CYCLING - Rio’s beachfront is perfect for leaving the boring health clubs behind. The paired boardwalk/cycling path is the perfect invitation for walking, running or cycling. Flamengo, Botafogo, Leme, Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, São Conrado and Barra are some of the neighborhoods with cycling paths. At the break of dawn or at the end of the day, locals and tourists flood the tracks. On Sundays, one of the lanes of Avenida Atlântica, in Copacabana, and Vieira Souto, in Ipanema, are closed, as well as in Aterro do Flamengo. The perfect invitation to exercise and relax.
Copacabana Beach, Rio de JaneiroBEACH VOLLEYBALL AND FOOTVOLLEY - From Flamengo to Barra da Tijuca, footvolley and beach volleyball courts occupy the sands of the Rio beaches. On these courts, every day professional athletes share space with Cariocas and tourists who love sports. Leblon and Copacabana have youth groups to practice and learn the sport. The same goes for footvolley, which has become a tradition at the Barra beach, but is played along the whole beachfront – in this case, just use your feet instead of your hands.
Trekking in the mountains near Rio de JaneiroTREKKING, ROPE DOWN AND CLIMBING: Surrounded by hills and rocks, Rio de Janeiro offers a multitude of options for climbers, trekkers and rappelling enthusiasts. The variety of trails – there are over 100 of them in the Tijuca Forest alone – and the natural obstacles take the sportsmen to different scenarios, including the top of benchmarks such as the Sugar Loaf and the Corcovado. The most popular destinations are Morro da Urca – about 40 minutes walking – and Pedra da Gávea, taking up to four hours, depending on the route chosen. Going with a group or a guide is recommended.
Surfing in RioSURFING AND KITESURFING - With a gigantic coastline facing the Atlantic, it is obvious that surfing would be a popular sport in Rio. In the 80’s and 90’s, the city was renowned for a number of surf wear brands that sprang up. The beaches of Arpoador, Pepê, Diabo, Prainha and posto 5 and 6 at Barra are famous for the quality of the waves and have hosted world championships. The strong and constant winds which are dominant in Barra da Tijuca make the beach the perfect setting for kitesurfing. On weekends, the sport lovers showcase their moves in Postinho.
Hang gliding above Rio de JaneiroHANG GLIDING AND PARAGLIDING - A world reference in gliding, Rio is certainly one of the most beautiful cities to fly. For the bravest, flying out of Pedra Bonita is incredible. It is one of the most beautiful landscapes in Rio – maybe of the world. For those who have never experienced, there is tandem hang gliding and paragliding, with accredited and experienced pilots. The adventure takes between 10 and 15 minutes and reveals panoramic views of Ipanema, Lagoa, Barra da Tijuca, the Guanabara Bay, the Sugar Loaf and Christ, the Redeemer.
February 16, 2019
Japanese Taiko Drumming Sensation Kodo Return to Toronto March 21 2019
From a media release:
Japanese Drumming Sensation, Kodo, Presents Final Production
by Celebrated Artistic Director Tamasaburo Bando in
– One Earth Tour: Evolution –
World-renowned Japanese taiko drumming ensemble returns to Toronto with exhilarating masterpiece of percussion and performance
• Buy Tickets
Toronto, ON – Japan’s internationally acclaimed drumming phenomenon Kodo makes their highly anticipated return to the Toronto stage with One Earth Tour: Evolution, March 21, 2019 at Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Directed by legendary Kabuki performer and Kodo Artistic Director Tamasaburo Bando, One Earth Tour: Evolution marks the 35th anniversary of the renowned drumming ensemble, and the final production with Bando at the helm. The thrilling program forges a new direction for this vibrant living art form, placing Kodo’s signature work alongside audience favourites from their latest core repertoire and new compositions specially created for this production.
The result is a rousing whirl of energy that promises to drive the company’s next generation to new heights of creative expression.
Having premiered One Earth Tour: Evolution in August 2016 in Tokyo, to commemorate the company’s 35th anniversary, the production represents the culmination of Kodo’s ever-evolving artistic journey, which boldly displays the future of taiko on stage. It is the latest iteration of their more than three-decade long One Earth Tour, which embodies Kodo’s desire to transcend language and cultural boundaries and remind audiences of the universal bond we share as human beings. The program integrates well-known works from their immense repertoire such as O-daiko and Monochrome, which have become synonymous with Kodo over the years, alongside the presentation of more recent work such as Kusa-wake and Colour. New pieces including the intricate and uplifting Ayaori and the climactic Rasen will be performed for the first time in North America as part of this all-encompassing production. Rasen, which means spiral, closes the performance with a helix of sound and spirit that connects Kodo’s history to its present, while driving the ensemble headlong into the future.
In Japanese, the word “Kodo” holds a double meaning. It can be translated as both “heartbeat,” the primal source of all rhythm, and “children of the drum,” reflecting the group’s desire to play the drums with the simple heart of a child. Since their debut 1981, Kodo has given more than 6,000 performances in 50 countries on five continents under the banner One Earth Tour. Praised for their “primal power and bravura beauty” (Chicago Tribune), they have gained recognition the world over as a group dedicated to the preservation and re-interpretation of traditional Japanese performing arts, especially taiko drumming.
The company’s 30 performing members, including 22 men, eight women, and five junior members, ranging in age from 21 to 64, perform with traditional taiko drums made from wood and animal hide, as well as fue (bamboo flute) shamisen (Japanese banjo), koto (harp) and narimono (metal percussion instruments), along with dance and vocals. Since 1971, Kodo has made their home on the idyllic Sado Island situated off Japan’s eastern coast.
From their 2014 tour:
Japanese Drumming Sensation, Kodo, Presents Final Production
by Celebrated Artistic Director Tamasaburo Bando in
– One Earth Tour: Evolution –
World-renowned Japanese taiko drumming ensemble returns to Toronto with exhilarating masterpiece of percussion and performance
• Buy Tickets
Toronto, ON – Japan’s internationally acclaimed drumming phenomenon Kodo makes their highly anticipated return to the Toronto stage with One Earth Tour: Evolution, March 21, 2019 at Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Directed by legendary Kabuki performer and Kodo Artistic Director Tamasaburo Bando, One Earth Tour: Evolution marks the 35th anniversary of the renowned drumming ensemble, and the final production with Bando at the helm. The thrilling program forges a new direction for this vibrant living art form, placing Kodo’s signature work alongside audience favourites from their latest core repertoire and new compositions specially created for this production.
The result is a rousing whirl of energy that promises to drive the company’s next generation to new heights of creative expression.
Having premiered One Earth Tour: Evolution in August 2016 in Tokyo, to commemorate the company’s 35th anniversary, the production represents the culmination of Kodo’s ever-evolving artistic journey, which boldly displays the future of taiko on stage. It is the latest iteration of their more than three-decade long One Earth Tour, which embodies Kodo’s desire to transcend language and cultural boundaries and remind audiences of the universal bond we share as human beings. The program integrates well-known works from their immense repertoire such as O-daiko and Monochrome, which have become synonymous with Kodo over the years, alongside the presentation of more recent work such as Kusa-wake and Colour. New pieces including the intricate and uplifting Ayaori and the climactic Rasen will be performed for the first time in North America as part of this all-encompassing production. Rasen, which means spiral, closes the performance with a helix of sound and spirit that connects Kodo’s history to its present, while driving the ensemble headlong into the future.
In Japanese, the word “Kodo” holds a double meaning. It can be translated as both “heartbeat,” the primal source of all rhythm, and “children of the drum,” reflecting the group’s desire to play the drums with the simple heart of a child. Since their debut 1981, Kodo has given more than 6,000 performances in 50 countries on five continents under the banner One Earth Tour. Praised for their “primal power and bravura beauty” (Chicago Tribune), they have gained recognition the world over as a group dedicated to the preservation and re-interpretation of traditional Japanese performing arts, especially taiko drumming.
The company’s 30 performing members, including 22 men, eight women, and five junior members, ranging in age from 21 to 64, perform with traditional taiko drums made from wood and animal hide, as well as fue (bamboo flute) shamisen (Japanese banjo), koto (harp) and narimono (metal percussion instruments), along with dance and vocals. Since 1971, Kodo has made their home on the idyllic Sado Island situated off Japan’s eastern coast.
From their 2014 tour:
February 14, 2019
Art Pop: David Browning - Now You See Me (Independent / 14 January 2019)
Art Pop:
David Browning - Now You See Me
(Independent / 14 January 2019)
• Stream it on Spotify
Vancouver based musician David Browning teamed up with Grammy Award winning produce Ian Prince for this EP, his solo debut in the pop music world. David has the perfect voice for his brand of thoughtful and atmospheric pop - a nimble tenor range, with that slight edge of wistfulness and melancholy that matches the tone of the music.
Stay Over is danceable ear worm material, with some nice changes and unexpected chord progressions inside radio-friendly edm. He builds his songs in layers, with clever lyrics, and changes in the music that follow the words. While love and its usual vagaries are the subject, he manages to offer an unexpected angle. From Call Me When You're Single:
Remember the days in chemistry class
When our chemicals mixed and we created a blast
And the whole school was on fire...?
Always Inside takes the energy down a notch with a more mellow anthem to strings and keyboards, his voice clear in the higher range. There's a nice mix of three different moods on the EP.
South African born and Canadian based, David Browning's twin passions of making music and a mecial career have taken him across the world. He's played on a Disney cruies ship and recorded music at a studio in Bali. Today he has a practice as a Family Physician in Vancouver, where he continues to write music. He composed the soundtrack to the award-winning LGBT short lm 'Meet Cute.'
Track List:
1. Stay Over
2. Call Me When You're Single
3. Always Inside
Personnel: David Browning: Vocals and Keyboards; Ian Prince: Keyboards and programming
Stay Connected:
https://www.davidbrowningartist.com/
https://www.facebook.com/davidbrowningmusic
https://www.instagram.com/dpbrowning/
https://twitter.com/davidpbrowning
David Browning - Now You See Me
(Independent / 14 January 2019)
• Stream it on Spotify
Vancouver based musician David Browning teamed up with Grammy Award winning produce Ian Prince for this EP, his solo debut in the pop music world. David has the perfect voice for his brand of thoughtful and atmospheric pop - a nimble tenor range, with that slight edge of wistfulness and melancholy that matches the tone of the music.
Stay Over is danceable ear worm material, with some nice changes and unexpected chord progressions inside radio-friendly edm. He builds his songs in layers, with clever lyrics, and changes in the music that follow the words. While love and its usual vagaries are the subject, he manages to offer an unexpected angle. From Call Me When You're Single:
Remember the days in chemistry class
When our chemicals mixed and we created a blast
And the whole school was on fire...?
Always Inside takes the energy down a notch with a more mellow anthem to strings and keyboards, his voice clear in the higher range. There's a nice mix of three different moods on the EP.
South African born and Canadian based, David Browning's twin passions of making music and a mecial career have taken him across the world. He's played on a Disney cruies ship and recorded music at a studio in Bali. Today he has a practice as a Family Physician in Vancouver, where he continues to write music. He composed the soundtrack to the award-winning LGBT short lm 'Meet Cute.'
Track List:
1. Stay Over
2. Call Me When You're Single
3. Always Inside
Personnel: David Browning: Vocals and Keyboards; Ian Prince: Keyboards and programming
Stay Connected:
https://www.davidbrowningartist.com/
https://www.facebook.com/davidbrowningmusic
https://www.instagram.com/dpbrowning/
https://twitter.com/davidpbrowning
New Music Detroit: Smoke: Music of Marc Mellits (Innova Recordings - June 22, 2018)
New Music Detroit: Smoke: Music of Marc Mellits
(Innova Recordings - June 22, 2018)
Composer: Marc Mellits
Performers: New Music Detroit; Shannon Orme; Erik Ronmark; Gina DiBello; Adrienne Ronmark; Samuel Bergman; Una O'Riordan; Gyan Riley; Vicky Chow; Ian Ding; Daniel Bauch
• Buy the CD
New Music Detroit (NMD) and composer Marc Mellits are long time collaborators.Artistic Director and percussionist Ian Ding is quoted in a media release,
"Marc is one of our oldest friends and collaborators so it was only natural to feature his music on our first official album. We were especially excited to record 'Smoke', which was commissioned and premiered by NMD."
It's fresh and exciting music. Three of the compositions have never been recorded before, and in NMD, Mellits has found a good home for his idiosyncratic compositions.
In Smoke, the results are eclectic and compelling, a mix of good old Detroit groove with sophisticated rhythms and melodic patterns, fleshed out with energy and a sense of abandon to the music. The instrumentation reflects the musics multi-genre roots. Smoke is performed on saxophone, guitar, marimba, and percussion, with some sections as driving as any radio-friendly song, only to veer into unexpected harmonic territory. The final movement breaks out a growly guitar rock vibe, layered over with patterns played on the marimba and syncopated percussion.
The name of the movements in Red tell you what to expect: I. moderately funky; II. fast, aggressive, vicious...and so on. In a piece written for two marimbas, Mellits extracts a surprising range of moods and modes out of the limited instrumentation. The effect is hypnotic.
String Quartet No. 3, Tapas, is carried by a strong rhythmic pulse. Mellits layers melody and rhythm, using the harmonic structure for momentum. Over eight short movements, the piece has a satisfying sense of emotional depth. It is perhaps the most conventionally classical piece in the European tradition on the release.
Prime, written for bass clarinet, baritone sax, two percussionists, and piano, is full of drama and jumpy energy. It has the brash drive of a jazz jam, albeit with an exacting precision, and eccentric touches like the marimba rhythms that pop out underneath the melody.
Jazz and new classical music afficionados will enjoy this highly original release.
New Music Detroit, founded in 2006, is a collective of musicians dedicated to performing groundbreaking musical works from the late-20th century to the present day. A highly flexible ensemble with a cast of core members and prominent guest artists, NMD performs new and adventurous classical music in a wide variety of settings, for a wide variety of people.
Composer Marc Mellits is one of the leading American composers of his generation, enjoying hundreds of performances throughout the world every year, making him one of the most performed living composers in the United States. From Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, to prestigious music festivals in Europe and the US, Mellits’ music is a popular mainstay on programs throughout the world.
(Innova Recordings - June 22, 2018)
Composer: Marc Mellits
Performers: New Music Detroit; Shannon Orme; Erik Ronmark; Gina DiBello; Adrienne Ronmark; Samuel Bergman; Una O'Riordan; Gyan Riley; Vicky Chow; Ian Ding; Daniel Bauch
• Buy the CD
New Music Detroit (NMD) and composer Marc Mellits are long time collaborators.Artistic Director and percussionist Ian Ding is quoted in a media release,
"Marc is one of our oldest friends and collaborators so it was only natural to feature his music on our first official album. We were especially excited to record 'Smoke', which was commissioned and premiered by NMD."
It's fresh and exciting music. Three of the compositions have never been recorded before, and in NMD, Mellits has found a good home for his idiosyncratic compositions.
In Smoke, the results are eclectic and compelling, a mix of good old Detroit groove with sophisticated rhythms and melodic patterns, fleshed out with energy and a sense of abandon to the music. The instrumentation reflects the musics multi-genre roots. Smoke is performed on saxophone, guitar, marimba, and percussion, with some sections as driving as any radio-friendly song, only to veer into unexpected harmonic territory. The final movement breaks out a growly guitar rock vibe, layered over with patterns played on the marimba and syncopated percussion.
The name of the movements in Red tell you what to expect: I. moderately funky; II. fast, aggressive, vicious...and so on. In a piece written for two marimbas, Mellits extracts a surprising range of moods and modes out of the limited instrumentation. The effect is hypnotic.
String Quartet No. 3, Tapas, is carried by a strong rhythmic pulse. Mellits layers melody and rhythm, using the harmonic structure for momentum. Over eight short movements, the piece has a satisfying sense of emotional depth. It is perhaps the most conventionally classical piece in the European tradition on the release.
Prime, written for bass clarinet, baritone sax, two percussionists, and piano, is full of drama and jumpy energy. It has the brash drive of a jazz jam, albeit with an exacting precision, and eccentric touches like the marimba rhythms that pop out underneath the melody.
Jazz and new classical music afficionados will enjoy this highly original release.
New Music Detroit, founded in 2006, is a collective of musicians dedicated to performing groundbreaking musical works from the late-20th century to the present day. A highly flexible ensemble with a cast of core members and prominent guest artists, NMD performs new and adventurous classical music in a wide variety of settings, for a wide variety of people.
Composer Marc Mellits is one of the leading American composers of his generation, enjoying hundreds of performances throughout the world every year, making him one of the most performed living composers in the United States. From Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, to prestigious music festivals in Europe and the US, Mellits’ music is a popular mainstay on programs throughout the world.
Jazz Single: Gabriel Vicéns 'Coming Back; (℗2019 Outside in Music - February 1, 2019)
Jazz Single:
Gabriel Vicéns - Coming Back
(℗2019 Outside in Music - February 1, 2019)
• Stream the Single on Spotify
• Check out his album Days
Jazz guitarist Gabriel Vicéns was born in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and currently makes his home base in New York City, where he's made a career composing and playing with the likes of jazz legend Eddie Gómez, David Sánchez, Will Vinson, John Benitez, Luis Perdomo, Joe Martin, and Henry Cole, among others.
He's just released a new single on the Outside In Music label called Coming Back. Gabriel describes it as, "an expressive blend of modern jazz with Afro-Puertorican folklore."
The piece revolves around a theme played on the piano, met first with a churning percussion line, then echoed by the horns. It's melodic and expressive, with a sense of the restrained energy of the rhythm section underneath the more languid trumpet solo. The sax offers a more kinetic improvisational stretch, bouncing off the piano, and the guitar a pattern of liquid gold.
Personnel: Gabriel Vicéns, Alex Sipiagin, David Sánchez, Jonathan Suazo, Bienvenido Dinzey, Dan Martinez, Leonardo Osuna, Paoli Mejias
Get Connected:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gabvicens
Instagram: http://instagram.com/gabrielvicensmusic
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/gabvicens
Website: www.gabrielvicens.com
Gabriel Vicéns - Coming Back
(℗2019 Outside in Music - February 1, 2019)
• Stream the Single on Spotify
• Check out his album Days
Jazz guitarist Gabriel Vicéns was born in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and currently makes his home base in New York City, where he's made a career composing and playing with the likes of jazz legend Eddie Gómez, David Sánchez, Will Vinson, John Benitez, Luis Perdomo, Joe Martin, and Henry Cole, among others.
He's just released a new single on the Outside In Music label called Coming Back. Gabriel describes it as, "an expressive blend of modern jazz with Afro-Puertorican folklore."
The piece revolves around a theme played on the piano, met first with a churning percussion line, then echoed by the horns. It's melodic and expressive, with a sense of the restrained energy of the rhythm section underneath the more languid trumpet solo. The sax offers a more kinetic improvisational stretch, bouncing off the piano, and the guitar a pattern of liquid gold.
Personnel: Gabriel Vicéns, Alex Sipiagin, David Sánchez, Jonathan Suazo, Bienvenido Dinzey, Dan Martinez, Leonardo Osuna, Paoli Mejias
Get Connected:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gabvicens
Instagram: http://instagram.com/gabrielvicensmusic
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/gabvicens
Website: www.gabrielvicens.com
Classical/Music for Dance Rick Baitz: Into Light (Innova Recordings - Aug 24 2018)
Classical/Music for Dance
Rick Baitz: Into Light
(Innova Recordings - Aug 24, 2018)
Composer: Rick Baitz
Performers: Joyce Hammann; Mary Rowell; Beth Meyers; Ashley Bathgate; Brian Shank; Christian Lundqvist; Jeremy Smith; Brian Shankar Adler; Rick Baitz; Ken Thomson; Jessica Meyer; Stephen Gosling
• Buy the CD
American composer Rick Baitz is perhaps best known for his film scores, along with pieces for concert and dance. Into Light showcases his talent for working with varied instrumentation
Chthonic Dances was written by Baitz for violinist Mary Rowell and her quartet, known as ETHEL at the time. It's easy to imagine movement as you listen to the piece, a sonic whirlwind where rhythms criss cross each other, and harmonic and melodic patterns emerge, only to subside again in the kinetic momentum that offers many changes in mood and tone.
In a media release, Baitz credits influences he gained during his early years spent living in Brazil and South Africa. “The healing energy of dance is a constant wherever I’ve lived. From South African township music to Brazilian samba, the juxtaposition of dance and story-telling creates catharsis – and if you’re down, the act of dancing your pain is a force in transcending it. So the dance of chthonic spirits brings out their complement, the spirits of light.”
Hall of Mirrors, commissioned by The Julliard School, uses interesting instrumentation, including mbiras, tabla, windwands, and electronic effects that add new dimensions to the sounds they make. The piece plays with rhythms and effects, including a drone that is sometimes present and sometimes not, and the result is whimsical and mesmerizing at the same time.
Into Light was composed in 1984, opening with an interplay of sparkling piano and mournful violin, with clarinet gradually entering the fray. It's a compelling piece that bilds a swirling web of sound. Like the other pieces, it lends itself to interpretation in dance.
Rick Baitz composes for the concert hall, media, dance and theater. His film credits range from HBO’s The Vagina Monologues to a series of installations at the acclaimed Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Raised in Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and Durban, South Africa, Rick has worked as a deckhand on a dredger in Durban and (like Philip Glass) a cabbie in New York City. He received his DMA in Composition from Columbia, and bachelor’s and master’s from Manhattan School of Music. Formerly Faculty Chair of Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA in Music Composition, he continues to teach at VCFA as founding faculty. In 2018 Rick was honored with BMI’s esteemed Classic Contribution Award in recognition of his 10 years as Founding Director of their film scoring workshop, "Composing for the Screen." Rick composes and teaches out of his studio in New York City.
Rick Baitz: Into Light
(Innova Recordings - Aug 24, 2018)
Composer: Rick Baitz
Performers: Joyce Hammann; Mary Rowell; Beth Meyers; Ashley Bathgate; Brian Shank; Christian Lundqvist; Jeremy Smith; Brian Shankar Adler; Rick Baitz; Ken Thomson; Jessica Meyer; Stephen Gosling
• Buy the CD
American composer Rick Baitz is perhaps best known for his film scores, along with pieces for concert and dance. Into Light showcases his talent for working with varied instrumentation
Chthonic Dances was written by Baitz for violinist Mary Rowell and her quartet, known as ETHEL at the time. It's easy to imagine movement as you listen to the piece, a sonic whirlwind where rhythms criss cross each other, and harmonic and melodic patterns emerge, only to subside again in the kinetic momentum that offers many changes in mood and tone.
In a media release, Baitz credits influences he gained during his early years spent living in Brazil and South Africa. “The healing energy of dance is a constant wherever I’ve lived. From South African township music to Brazilian samba, the juxtaposition of dance and story-telling creates catharsis – and if you’re down, the act of dancing your pain is a force in transcending it. So the dance of chthonic spirits brings out their complement, the spirits of light.”
Hall of Mirrors, commissioned by The Julliard School, uses interesting instrumentation, including mbiras, tabla, windwands, and electronic effects that add new dimensions to the sounds they make. The piece plays with rhythms and effects, including a drone that is sometimes present and sometimes not, and the result is whimsical and mesmerizing at the same time.
Into Light was composed in 1984, opening with an interplay of sparkling piano and mournful violin, with clarinet gradually entering the fray. It's a compelling piece that bilds a swirling web of sound. Like the other pieces, it lends itself to interpretation in dance.
Rick Baitz composes for the concert hall, media, dance and theater. His film credits range from HBO’s The Vagina Monologues to a series of installations at the acclaimed Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Raised in Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and Durban, South Africa, Rick has worked as a deckhand on a dredger in Durban and (like Philip Glass) a cabbie in New York City. He received his DMA in Composition from Columbia, and bachelor’s and master’s from Manhattan School of Music. Formerly Faculty Chair of Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA in Music Composition, he continues to teach at VCFA as founding faculty. In 2018 Rick was honored with BMI’s esteemed Classic Contribution Award in recognition of his 10 years as Founding Director of their film scoring workshop, "Composing for the Screen." Rick composes and teaches out of his studio in New York City.
February 13, 2019
British Masterworks on Display for the First Time at the Denver Art Museum - Opens March 2 2019
From a media release:
Recently Gifted Collection of British Masterworks to be on Display
for the First Time at the Denver Art Museum
Opens March 2, 2019 Exhibition showcases groundbreaking new scholarship on major Tudor paintings
DENVER – Feb. 13, 2018 – The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is pleased to present Treasures of British Art: The Berger Collection, an exhibition showcasing about 60 paintings recently gifted to the museum by the Berger Collection Educational Trust (BCET) in 2018. The BCET’s gift is the largest gift of European old masters to the DAM since the museum received the Kress Collection in the 1950s. Organized by the DAM and curated by Kathleen Stuart, curator of the Berger Collection at the DAM, the exhibition will present a chronological selection of works ranging from the 1400s through the late 1800s, telling the story of Britain’s rich cultural history.
British School, Henry VIII, about 1513. Oil paint on panel, housed in its original frame; 15 x 9-3/4 in. Promised Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, inv. TL-17964.
Opening on Free First Saturday, March 2, 2019, the exhibition will invite visitors to immerse themselves in the places, personalities and events that shaped a nation over the course of five centuries. Select works in this DAM-organized exhibition previously traveled to five museums nation-wide in recent years.
“We are thrilled to honor the legacy of the collection’s founders—William M.B. and Bernadette Johnson Berger—with this historical exhibition,” said Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the DAM. “The Berger Collection represents one of the most remarkable collections of British art in America. We are delighted to present this gift from the Berger Collection Educational Trust in a way that honors the Bergers’ intention for the collection—namely that it serves as an educational resource to teach visitors about British art and culture.”
Treasures of British Art will present 500 years of British cultural history through the stories of its people, captured by the enduring brilliance of artists of the time. The exhibition will feature devotional images, portraits, landscapes and sporting scenes by the greatest artists of the British School—including Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Lawrence and John Constable—as well as non-British artists who spent significant time in Britain, such as the Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck and American artists Benjamin West and John Singer Sargent.
This exhibition will present groundbreaking results of recent research conducted on the collection’s renowned group of portraits from the Tudor era. Among the findings, conservators discovered—using dendrochronology (tree-ring analysis)—that the portrait of Henry VIII is one of five stylistically similar Tudor royal portraits painted on wood from the same tree. In an incredibly rare circumstance, this painting from 1513 remains in its original wooden frame. Additional details and analysis of the research will be unveiled when the exhibition opens in 2019.
George Stubbs, A Saddled Bay Hunter, 1786. Oil on panel; 22-3/4 x 19 in. (57.79 x 48.26 cm). Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, 2019.10
“We are immensely proud to present the results of this scholarly research undertaken by curators and conservators at the Yale Center for British Art, the Hamilton Kerr Institute at Cambridge University and the National Portrait Gallery in London,” said curator Stuart. “By employing state-of-the-art imaging techniques—digital x-radiography, infrared reflectography, ultraviolet fluorescence and x-ray fluorescence—the researchers uncovered new information about the artists, sitters and processes used to create some of the oldest and most important paintings in the collection.”
Beyond the groundbreaking forensic discoveries, visitors will be fascinated by the timeless relevance of artwork subjects featured in Treasures of British Art. The exhibition will display how international exchange influenced British art, history and culture. Visitors will recognize collection favorites such as The Radcliffe Family by Thomas Hudson and Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VI) by Hans Holbein and studio. Artworks rarely seen in recent years will also be on view, such as Papirius Praetextatus Entreated by His Mother by the Royal Academy founder Angelica Kauffman and Portrait of Three Girls by a follower of William Larkin. Not since the DAM’s 1999 landmark exhibition 600 Years of British Painting will so many works from the Berger Collection be on view.
Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), A Coastal Landscape, about 1782-84. Oil paint on canvas; 25-1/8 x 30 1/8 in. Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, 2019.13
Treasures of British Art will be on view on level 2 of the Hamilton Building. This exhibition will be included in general admission, which is free for members and youth 18 and under. A catalog accompanying the exhibition is already available in The Shop at the Denver Art Museum and through the online shop. A related academic symposium will be held at the DAM in September 2019. #TreasuresatDAM
THE DENVER ART MUSEUM
The Denver Art Museum is an educational, nonprofit resource that sparks creative thinking and expression through transformative experiences with art. Its holdings reflect the city and region—and provide invaluable ways for the community to learn about cultures from around the world. Metro citizens support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), a unique funding source serving hundreds of metro Denver arts, culture and scientific organizations. For museum information, call 720-865-5000 or visit www.denverartmuseum.org.
Recently Gifted Collection of British Masterworks to be on Display
for the First Time at the Denver Art Museum
Opens March 2, 2019 Exhibition showcases groundbreaking new scholarship on major Tudor paintings
DENVER – Feb. 13, 2018 – The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is pleased to present Treasures of British Art: The Berger Collection, an exhibition showcasing about 60 paintings recently gifted to the museum by the Berger Collection Educational Trust (BCET) in 2018. The BCET’s gift is the largest gift of European old masters to the DAM since the museum received the Kress Collection in the 1950s. Organized by the DAM and curated by Kathleen Stuart, curator of the Berger Collection at the DAM, the exhibition will present a chronological selection of works ranging from the 1400s through the late 1800s, telling the story of Britain’s rich cultural history.
British School, Henry VIII, about 1513. Oil paint on panel, housed in its original frame; 15 x 9-3/4 in. Promised Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, inv. TL-17964.
Opening on Free First Saturday, March 2, 2019, the exhibition will invite visitors to immerse themselves in the places, personalities and events that shaped a nation over the course of five centuries. Select works in this DAM-organized exhibition previously traveled to five museums nation-wide in recent years.
“We are thrilled to honor the legacy of the collection’s founders—William M.B. and Bernadette Johnson Berger—with this historical exhibition,” said Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the DAM. “The Berger Collection represents one of the most remarkable collections of British art in America. We are delighted to present this gift from the Berger Collection Educational Trust in a way that honors the Bergers’ intention for the collection—namely that it serves as an educational resource to teach visitors about British art and culture.”
Treasures of British Art will present 500 years of British cultural history through the stories of its people, captured by the enduring brilliance of artists of the time. The exhibition will feature devotional images, portraits, landscapes and sporting scenes by the greatest artists of the British School—including Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Lawrence and John Constable—as well as non-British artists who spent significant time in Britain, such as the Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck and American artists Benjamin West and John Singer Sargent.
This exhibition will present groundbreaking results of recent research conducted on the collection’s renowned group of portraits from the Tudor era. Among the findings, conservators discovered—using dendrochronology (tree-ring analysis)—that the portrait of Henry VIII is one of five stylistically similar Tudor royal portraits painted on wood from the same tree. In an incredibly rare circumstance, this painting from 1513 remains in its original wooden frame. Additional details and analysis of the research will be unveiled when the exhibition opens in 2019.
George Stubbs, A Saddled Bay Hunter, 1786. Oil on panel; 22-3/4 x 19 in. (57.79 x 48.26 cm). Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, 2019.10“We are immensely proud to present the results of this scholarly research undertaken by curators and conservators at the Yale Center for British Art, the Hamilton Kerr Institute at Cambridge University and the National Portrait Gallery in London,” said curator Stuart. “By employing state-of-the-art imaging techniques—digital x-radiography, infrared reflectography, ultraviolet fluorescence and x-ray fluorescence—the researchers uncovered new information about the artists, sitters and processes used to create some of the oldest and most important paintings in the collection.”
Beyond the groundbreaking forensic discoveries, visitors will be fascinated by the timeless relevance of artwork subjects featured in Treasures of British Art. The exhibition will display how international exchange influenced British art, history and culture. Visitors will recognize collection favorites such as The Radcliffe Family by Thomas Hudson and Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VI) by Hans Holbein and studio. Artworks rarely seen in recent years will also be on view, such as Papirius Praetextatus Entreated by His Mother by the Royal Academy founder Angelica Kauffman and Portrait of Three Girls by a follower of William Larkin. Not since the DAM’s 1999 landmark exhibition 600 Years of British Painting will so many works from the Berger Collection be on view.
Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), A Coastal Landscape, about 1782-84. Oil paint on canvas; 25-1/8 x 30 1/8 in. Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, 2019.13Treasures of British Art will be on view on level 2 of the Hamilton Building. This exhibition will be included in general admission, which is free for members and youth 18 and under. A catalog accompanying the exhibition is already available in The Shop at the Denver Art Museum and through the online shop. A related academic symposium will be held at the DAM in September 2019. #TreasuresatDAM
THE DENVER ART MUSEUM
The Denver Art Museum is an educational, nonprofit resource that sparks creative thinking and expression through transformative experiences with art. Its holdings reflect the city and region—and provide invaluable ways for the community to learn about cultures from around the world. Metro citizens support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), a unique funding source serving hundreds of metro Denver arts, culture and scientific organizations. For museum information, call 720-865-5000 or visit www.denverartmuseum.org.
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