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Posts about Culture
On December 5th
covering Culture, Music
This is a disturbing development. This is the account from BBC news.
Sergio Gomez, of the K-Paz de la Sierra band, was seized after a concert in the western state of Michoacan on Sunday. The motive for the attack is unclear but Michoacan has been the scene of gruesome drug-related violence. Several musicians have been killed over the year, including performers of the popular “narcocorrido” music whose lyrics centre on drug-trafficking. …Gomez was killed hours after another singer, Zayda Pena, was killed in the border city of Matamoros in Tamaulipas state. Pena, 28, was shot by an unknown assailant in hospital where she was recovering from a previous gunshot wound. The motive behind her murder is also unknown. Several of the murders of musicians over the past year are believed to be tied to organised crime and drug-trafficking. Read more »
On December 3rd
covering Culture, Leadership, Music
Last night the Future of Music Coalition threw a fundraising party for Sweet Home New Orleans. It’s an organization that helps musicians in New Orleans. Guests of honor were Al “Carnival Time” Johnson and Mike Mills of R.E.M.
There’s a lot of concern on the long-term impact on our culture from the Katrina debacle — the loss of the next generation of musicians that might not be nurtured in NOLA. This is consistent with the FOMC mission of creating economic and policy conditions that will allow musical culture to thrive.
It was a very relaxed affair, with informal but nice food and drink and easy mixing with the headlining guests. After a while Mike mounted the little bandstand and played a few songs supported by local musicians, including a lovely one about baseball — I believe it’s the one he composed for the Roberto Clemente tribute titled Gift of the Fathers. He finished with a stirring Don’t go back to Rockville, in tribute to our proximity to the suburban Maryland town. Then Mike stepped down to the edge of the bandstand to play backup when Al “Carnival Time” Johnson took the stage. Read more »
On November 30th
covering Culture, Music, Music Ensembles
When I write and speak about the human dimension of music groups, I usually fall back on calling them “bands”, an unsatisfactory and misleading term. I’m afraid it leaves out a lot of people, particularly chamber musicians.
I’m about to launch a project that I call “BandStories” but I really want it to be about any music groups. My main focus is on self-led groups, though I’m also interested in the social dynamics of orchestras. Read more »
On November 11th
covering Culture, Psychoanalysis
In Brian Bird’s lovely film Ratatouille, the gastronomically inspired rat Rémy creates virtuoso improvisations in the kitchen of Auguste Gusteau’s restaurant. The other cooks insist on rote repetition of the deceased great chef’s recipes as their attempt at continuing his legacy. Rémy is visited by Gusteau’s ghost, who urges him to innovate and take risks. It is clear that Rémy is far truer to — literally — the spirit of Gusteau than the other cooks, ironically by deviating from his recipes. The other cooks are well-intentioned in their desire to follow Gusteau, but instead of emulating his love of creation and discovery, they make his legacy a dead thing — a fetish. Read more »
On September 28th
covering Business, Culture, Leadership, Music, Music Ensembles
I’m at the Dewey Beach Music Festival in Dewey Beach, Delaware. I’ll be presenting tomorrow to musicians attending the conference.
It’s a nice conference, well worth attending. I like these regional music conferences. Earlier this year I was a panelist at the Hyperactive Music Festival in Albuquerque.
They are different in some important respects from psychoanalytic conferences. The dress code is a bit more casual, for one. The daytime is all business and after dinner it devolves into multi-venue pub crawl. Not for the faint of heart. I was impressed with the quality of young bands and artists trying to find an audience. These people are creating our culture. Read more »
