Speed of Life

I was a bit busy in March, so I missed this wonderful Tiny Desk Concert. Catching up now - Robin Hilton | March 17, 2023 It's hard to overstate the kindness and good-natured humor Bono and The Edge brought to the Tiny Desk. When they first arrived at the NPR Music offices, Bono spoke on an imaginary phone, "The talent's here! The talent's coming through," poking fun at their own fame, while carrying The Edge's guitar. (The Edge called Bono the best roadie he's ever had.) The two never stopped beaming, like two overjoyed newcomers thrilled at the chance to play for someone. The performance was a preview of U2's new album, Songs Of Surrender, featuring stripped-down versions of songs from across the band's catalog. To help pull off several reimagined songs from the 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind, Bono and The Edge invited a teen choir from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., to join them. During rehearsals, Bon...

From NPR: "As a rapper, Trina has been pushing P since before her successors were even sitting up in Pampers and her wild ride of a Tiny Desk concert, 25 years after making her rap debut, only further proves why she is the blueprint. Decked out in leather, diamonds and a wavy jet-black bussdown, the vet got comfortable behind the Desk quickly, ready to give fans the best of her sprawling discography. Trina temporarily fought back tears as she recited "Mama," a dedication to her late mother who died of cancer in 2019. The crew made the breakup anthem "Here We Go" feel even more aching. The energy in the space made a seismic shift when the band took on the bass-bumpin' classic "Da Baddest Bitch," infusing the live arrangement with nimble guitar, charismatic drums and background vocalists so entertaining, their delivery felt like epic narration from the chorus of an ancient Greek play or, just as epically, a group homegirls hyping up their friend at ...

From NPR: "Former first Lady Michelle Obama knows not everyone is motivated by her famous quote from her 2016 DNC speech. In fact, she knows some voters have been downright frustrated with her call to "go high."  In her new book, "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times," Obama acknowledges a generational rift in views over the pace of societal change and political action, in addition to opening up about other deeply personal details on how she's coped with changes – both in public, and in private. Generational shifts are a theme throughout the former first lady's latest book, which strikes a different tone from her 2018 book, "Becoming." In her first memoir, Obama peeled back the layers of her and her family's personal story, giving the world an intimate view. While "The Light We Carry" includes plenty of personal details, it serves as more of a guidebook in which Obama uses her own lived experiences to answer question...

My Anna portrait hangs in my new house now -- but here's where she resided during my first few months in this beautiful, sometimes brutal city. She reminds me to hold on to my ferocity. I still love staring at her unflinching gaze, depicted by fellow SoCal resident @greggchadwick pic.twitter.com/fOG89TaI7k — Ailsa Chang (@ailsachang) October 19, 2022 Anna May Wong 36"x48"oil on linen painting by Gregg Chadwick Ailsa Chang Collection 

Just purchased this painting of Anna May Wong, and I love how fierce she looks. Thank you @greggchadwick for your lovely note. My first art purchase for my new LA home — based on an LA woman by an LA artist who heard me interviewing his LA friend from my LA guest bedroom. pic.twitter.com/UKaJpzLMQ0 — Ailsa Chang (@ailsachang) July 2, 2020 Oh @greggchadwick I absolutely love it. Anna is going in my main hallway, where I can pass by her unflinching gaze everyday and channel her ferocity. — Ailsa Chang (@ailsachang) July 2, 2020

Gregg Chadwick American River (for Greil Marcus) 24”x36” oil on linen 2016 Audis Husar Gallery, Beverly Hills                  Bruce Springsteen has pre-released an album from his Springsteen on Broadway engagement. His  album announcement  is accompanied by a first taste of his  Broadway  recording: an acoustic version of his train metaphor song "Land of Hope and Dreams."  Lauren Onkey writes about the song on  NPR Music : "Land of Hope and Dreams" is the penultimate song of the Broadway show, an uplifting end to a night that features a lot of heartbreaking stories of characters — including Springsteen himself — who fall into isolation. Rooted in the gospel song "This Train" and The Impressions' 1965 gospel-soul hit "People Get Ready," "Land of Hope and Dreams" imagines a communal train where all are welcome — saints, sinners, whores, gamblers, thieves, lost souls, fools, kings, the brokenh...

by Gregg Chadwick Rocky Ground (Song by Song Review of Bruce Springsteen's New Album - Wrecking Ball)  ''The verses are the blues, the chorus is the gospel." - Bruce Springsteen in Conversation With Jon Pareles in  The New York Times  July 14, 2002 Gregg Chadwick The Luminist 12"x12" oil on linen 2010  As if reaching out from the past into the present, Bruce Springsteen's song  Rocky Ground  (Listen Here)  opens with a   ghostly voice calling out the refrain "I'm a soldier." This verbal fragment was culled from a historical performance of the Church of God in Christ Congregation's rendition of   I'm A Soldier In The Army Of The Lord ,  recorded by musical historian Alan Lomax in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1942*.  The song then shifts to the chorus, sung by the gospel singer Michelle Moore: We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground Only after this sp...