“We have evolved to be clever enough to create massive amounts of choice in every field, but I, for one, have yet to evolve enough to know how to best make the necessary choices.” – The Guardian
The Astounding Pianist And Composer Who Was Born Into Slavery
Born without eyesight on a Georgia plantation in 1849, “Blind Tom” Wiggins learned to play piano by ear and became a prodigiously gifted player, improviser and composer, mixing and (mis-)matching tunes into sardonic collage compositions of the sort Ives and Shostakovich would come up with decades later. He became one of the country’s highest-paid performers — though he got little of the money himself, even after emancipation. – The New York Times
How Did Dr. Seuss Himself Respond When Criticized For Racist Caricatures?
Philip Nel, a Seuss scholar (yes, there is such a thing): “Yes, there are some examples of him revising in response to criticism, and you can give him credit for that — but I would only give partial credit! … I think what is surprising to people is that this was a guy who throughout his work tried to do anti-racist stuff. Think of Horton Hears a Who — one reviewer who read the book when it was published [in 1954] described it as an argument for the protection of minorities and their rights. … [But] Seuss wasn’t aware that his visual imagination was so steeped in the cultures of American racism. He was doing in some of his books what he was trying to oppose in others.” – Slate
How One Jazz Musician Figured Out How To Play Live With Friends Over The Internet
Usually it’s not possible because of slight (or more) lags in sound over the internet. But by tweaking software (and lots of experimenting) Dan Tepfer was able to figure out how to make it work. – The New Yorker
Changing Roles For Museums Mean Confusion In How They’re Supported
What does it mean for museums to be responsive to their communities? Is it museums’ mission to provide an educational experience or meet changing demands for entertainment? How can museums be all things to all people? In the span of six decades, broadly speaking, museums have shifted from indifference to visitors to dreaming up ways to lure a broader base. And, once again, how do they pay for it all? – ARTnews
A Tour Of Plays In Storefront Windows
Presented as a “walking tour with theatrical displays,” and running Feb. 19-21, the performance was not a traditional narrative play, but rather a collection of six short individual vignettes performed within the storefronts of six separate businesses in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. – American Theatre
Australia’s Big Festivals Try To Play During COVID – With Mixed Success
Adelaide’s festivals were luckier than most. On the final Friday of last year’s season it was announced gatherings of more than 500 would be banned the following Monday. The air that weekend was eerie. The crowds were small and uncertain. Being out was a risk – but no one knew how big or small. – The Guardian
Is It Really Possible To Crowdsource Misinformation On Twitter?
This is not a fact-checking program, exactly, because it will not involve trained fact-checkers. Instead, participants in the Birdwatch pilot can identify tweets they find to be “misleading,” then submit notes explaining their stance—ideally these should link to reliable outside sources, and provide helpful context—as well as a judgment of how much harm the misinformation is likely to cause. – The Atlantic
What Exactly Constitutes A Good Female Body For Ballet?
Gia Kourlas: “For [Lauren] Lovette, a member of New York City Ballet since 2010, this pause from performance has brought some clarity. ‘I’m not going to be dancing at 94 pounds anymore,” she said. ‘That’s not going to be me.’ Since the pandemic began nearly a year ago, similar questions have been spinning in my mind: How can body image, a fraught topic for any female dancer, no matter her size, be a source of strength rather than agony? Could this pause in live performance be an opening for the aesthetic requirements of ballet — especially extreme thinness — to change?” – The New York Times
Needed Corrections In Explaining How The Brain Works
“As a neuroscientist, I see scientific myths about the brain repeated regularly in the media and corners of academic research. Three of them, in particular, stand out for correction. After all, each of us has a brain, so it’s critical to understand how that three-pound blob between your ears works.” – Nautilus
What Happens To LA’s Black Culture When The Black Population Shrinks?
For many decades, Los Angeles had been known as a Black migrant “magnet.” Folks came for the promise and the sunshine. The Black population in L.A. has dropped 30% since 1990, according to census data. What happens when your population falls below a certain percentage? What’s the magic number? 10%? Nine? Seven? Slip below this and you fade away into a ghost. When do you — I — any of us become transparent? Lost to vision — of planners and the future. – LAist
Chris Barber, Trombonist Who Shaped Britain’s Jazz Scene, Dead At 90
“[He] was one of the most accessible and charismatic figures to emerge from the New Orleans-inspired jazz revivalist movement that played such a significant part in shaping British popular music between the late 1940s and mid-’60s.” – The Guardian
COVID Could Not Stop The Wooster Group
“They’re our holy fools, who — even when no one is watching — keep the art’s sacred fires burning. Rehearsal isn’t so much a preparation-to-show as it is a kind of religious practice — as endless, deliberative, and open to inspiration as a Shaker meeting.” Helen Shaw reports on what’s kept them busy through the pandemic: their own original translation and staging of Bertolt Brecht’s The Mother. – New York Magazine
Why Do Asian Actors Keep Getting Overlooked For Awards, Even As The Films They’re In Get Honored?
Parasite got six Oscar nominations and four awards, none of them for any of its actors. That case continued a pattern that has held even with Asian-led films in English: Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi, The Last Emperor, and so on right back to Flower Drum Song in 1961. And the pattern may be about to repeat itself with Minari. – The Atlantic
Small-Scale Indoor Performances To Return To New York In April
“[Gov. Cuomo] said that arts, entertainment and events venues can reopen April 2 at 33 percent capacity, with a limit of 100 people indoors or 200 people outdoors, and a requirement that all attendees wear masks and be socially distanced. Those limits would be increased — to 150 people indoors or 500 people outdoors — if all attendees test negative before entering.” – The New York Times
Louvre Gets Back 450-Year-Old Armor Stolen 39 Years Ago
“A military antiques expert alerted police after being called in to give advice regarding an inheritance in Bordeaux in January and becoming suspicious about the luxurious helmet and body armour in the family’s collection. … The [pieces] are thought to have been made in Milan between 1560 and 1580. They were donated to the Louvre in 1922 by the Rothschild family.” – Yahoo! (AFP)
The History Of ‘Madama Butterfly’ In Japan
“It was not the ‘alien’ music that disturbed the Japanese audience” at the Tokyo premiere in 1914 (there had been a Western music school in the city since 1890), “but the threat to traditional hierarchies between men and women. Later, in the 1930s, feminist writers such as Ichiko Kamichika and Akiko Yosano criticised the opera for promoting a ‘victim’ like Butterfly as something of a Japanese ‘paragon’. Somewhat ironically, Butterfly thus proved to be an effective catalyst for the emergence of a new model of womanhood in Japan. Moreover, the Japanese themselves gradually began to find Madama Butterfly exotic and alien.” – History Today