Friday, June 19, 2020

Juneteenth 2020

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Thoughts on Rooting Out Systemic Racism



"Systemic racism pervades every part of our society, including law enforcement — and we have to do the hard work to root it out. In January, I sat down with Jake, a field organizer on our campaign, to listen to what he had to say and discuss how we can move forward:" Joe Biden

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

House Judiciary Hearing - Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability





Watch @HouseJudiciary Committee Hearing Now - "Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability" #JusticeInPolicing Act
Tune in to hear from
@vanitaguptaCR @Sifill_LDF and others:
https://youtu.be/rxaShkaGrLY

Sunday, June 07, 2020

Michelle Obama's 2020 Commencement Address | Dear Class Of 2020



"So much has changed so quickly. And if any of you are confused or scared or angry—or just plain overwhelmed—I just want you to know that you aren’t alone. I am feeling all that, too. And I have a few things I want to say about it." - Michelle Obama

Saturday, June 06, 2020

Bye Ivanka: A Public Disservice Announcement

Welcome to Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC



 






Senator Kamala Harris at Black Lives Matter Plaza
June 5, 2020
photo by Douglas Emhoff

Wednesday, June 03, 2020

(Pt 10) Under the Blacklight: The Fire This Time

Build The Future | Joe Biden For President

General Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution

James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution
In an extraordinary condemnation in the Atlantic, the former defense secretary backs protesters and says the president is trying to turn Americans against one other. Full Statement Below:

IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH

I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.
When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.
We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.
James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that “America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.
Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.
We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another. The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country. We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Park. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s “better angels,” and listen to them, as we work to unite.
Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.
James Mattis

A conversation with President Obama: Reimagining Policing in the Wake of...

Black Lives Matter!

Springsteen Tells It Like It Is!






Sunday, May 31, 2020

Flag of Treason





No patriotic American should brandish or proudly celebrate the iconography of a rebellion that resulted in tremendous devastation, the loss of more than 620,000 American lives, and the continued subjugation of Black America.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach Live





Yo-Yo Ma performs Bach's complete solo cello suites live as a memorial for those we have lost and a tribute to our resilience. #songsofcomfort #withme


Sunday, May 17, 2020

Sunday Mood

Must Listen: Art Writer John Yau in Conversation with Hrag Vartanian





Wonderful John Yau Podcast Created BY HYPERALLERGIC

John Yau's "writing about contemporary art cuts through hierarchies and academic jargon while revealing his love of art and innovative ideas."

EPISODE NOTES

 John Yau, has been part of the Hyperallergic Weekend editorial collective since it debuted in 2012.
In this podcast John talks about "his life, how he got into art writing, stories from his childhood, and other influences that help us understand a writer who continues to challenge both himself and readers to look at art with fresh and informed eyes. This special two-hour interview offers a window into the world of one of the country's most respected art critics and poets."
A special thanks to Vinson Valega for providing the music for this interview. You can learn more about his music at VinsonValega.com.
Subscribe to Hyperallergic’s Podcast on iTunes, and anywhere else you listen to podcasts.

Important Message from Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

Frick Five, Nathaniel Silver interviewed by Xavier F. Salomon

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano for the Isolated

Friday, May 15, 2020

Director's Pick: Gregg Chadwick



The Other Art Fair

presents

Travels With
Gregg Chadwick

I am honored to have been chosen this week by The Other Art Fair Los Angeles director Nicole Garton as her Director’s Pick. 
Deep thanks to Nicole Garton, The Other Art Fair and Saatchi Art. Please take a journey with me in the paintings below.


Arrivals and Departures

On June 26, 2015 Marriage Equality became the law of the land and with hundreds of others we celebrated on the Supreme Court steps. Later on that glorious day, I chatted with President Obama’s photographer Pete Souza in front of the White House which was lit up in rainbow colors in celebration of the LGBTQ community.
While we watched, the Presidential Marine Corps air unit returned with President Obama from his moving speech at the memorial service for the church folks who were gunned down by a young white supremacist in South Carolina. President Obama sang “Amazing Grace” that day.
In her current Netflix film Becoming, Michelle Obama reflects upon that day as well. Michelle Obama describes how she and her daughter Malia sneaked outside that night, needing to share in the crowd’s joy after all the terrible grief in Charleston. They let the jubilation soften their anguish. Arrivals and departures. The struggle for equality for all continues.




Steps of Time

In the morning light, a young monk walks along a path that has been traveled by other monks for centuries. This moment is an accumulation of all the moments that have come before and will occur again.
For 20 years, I have painted artworks inspired by the aspirational nature of Buddhism. “Gregg Chadwick paints scenes from the life of Asia that reminds us of the monastic life of pilgrimage which has been all but lost in the West.”
-Ratnagarbha and Thomas Jones
from “Urthona: Journal of Buddhism and the Arts” Issue 20



Bookseller’s Night

I was inspired by a sojourn in Paris near Montmartre. That summer the light hung on late into the evening until the sky rolled into the blue hour. While walking the Parisian streets under those deep blue skies, I would often stop to glance at books spread out like magical treatises on art and life. We lived that summer in the shadow of Monet, Manet, and Caillebotte. Two of Manet’s last studios were on our street and nearby on the Place de Dublin, Caillebotte set his magical painting Paris Street; Rainy Day (Rue de Paris, temps de pluie). Nearby was the Gare Saint-Lazare which inspired Monet to create Turneresque images of trains and steam. I carried those memories with me as I painted Bookseller’s Night along with time traveling thoughts of San Francisco and New York.



Spring Reader (Botanical Garden)

I am honored to have my painting The Reader (Botanical Garden) up for auction in this year’s Venice Family Clinic Art Walk and Auction. I’ve donated a painting to the cause for 15 years now and am excited to have this sensitive artwork in this year’s auction. To pick up a book and be transported to another world is one of life’s great pleasures. In my oil on panel painting, a woman sits with quiet dignity and reads on a spring day. One can almost smell honeysuckle in the air and feel a cool breeze on a warm day.


The Other Art Fair Online Studios can be found at the link https://www.saatchiart.com/studios/theotherartfair/los-angeles

The Airborne Toxic Event - Live Stream Concert Announcement

NURSES COVIDian Rhapsody

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Cocktails with a Curator: Bellini's 'St. Francis in the Desert'





In the first episode of "Cocktails with a Curator," Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, hosts us for happy hour at his apartment. The subject of tonight's presentation is the Frick's beloved painting "St. Francis in the Desert," by Giovanni Bellini, and the complementary cocktail is the Manhattan.

To see this painting in detail, please visit our website:
https://collections.frick.org/objects/39

Robert Pinsky & Bruce Springsteen Recite Pinksky's "Jersey Rain"








Now near the end of the middle stretch of road
What have I learned? Some earthly wiles. An art.
That often I cannot tell good fortune from bad,
That once had seemed so easy to tell apart.
The source of art and woe aslant in wind
Dissolves or nourishes everything it touches.
What roadbank gullies and ruts it doesn't mend
It carves the deeper, boiling tawny in ditches.
It spends itself regardless into the ocean.
It stains and scours and makes things dark or bright:
Sweat of the moon, a shroud of benediction,
The chilly liquefaction of day to night,
The Jersey rain, my rain, soaks all as one:
It smites Metuchen, Rahway, Saddle River,
Fair Haven, Newark, Little Silver, Bayonne.
I feel it churning even in fair weather
To craze distinction, dry the same as wet.
In ripples of heat the August drought still feeds
Vapors in the sky that swell to smite the state --
The Jersey rain, my rain, in streams and beads
Of indissoluble grudge and aspiration:
Original milk, replenisher of grief,
Descending destroyer, arrowed source of passion,
Silver and black, executioner, font of life.


On May 5, 2010, David Daniel put together Robert and Bruce for a conversation with Wesley Stace to explore the relationship between poetry and music and the "popular" and "literary" arts in general. What followed was a wonderful conversation and collaboration between two great artists, born in the same hospital a decade apart, who had never met until an hour before the show. In this clip, they perform "Jersey Rain" and "Promised Land" together. There were about 350 students and faculty in the audience, and both Robert and Bruce donated their time because, well, it was a really good idea. I had that idea three years before, when I put together the first WAMFEST: The Words and Music Festival with the idea of breaking down the barriers between the arts of the people and the arts of the academy in order to provide a model for my students in the creative writing program at FDU. Since then, I've produced over thirty performances along those lines. With a special thanks to Barbara Carr and Jan Stabile at Jon Landau Management, Inc. for their support and permission.

pTV--Poetry TV--is devoted to presenting collaborative work by poets, writers, songwriters, and visual and performing artists. Please subscribe. The rest of this hour and a half show along with many others will be released periodically. For more information, please contact David Daniel at fortheloveofitall@gmail.com.

Saturday, May 09, 2020

Swans For Relief





32 premier ballerinas from 22 dance companies in 14 countries perform Le Cygne (The Swan) variation sequentially with music by Camille Saint-Saëns, performed by cellist Wade Davis, in support of Swans for Relief.

Organized by Misty Copeland and Joseph Phillips, 100% of the funds raised will be distributed to each dancer’s company’s COVID-19 relief fund, or other arts/dance-based relief fund in the event that a company is not set up to receive donations. To donate please visit,
https://charity.gofundme.com/SwansFor...

Ballet companies are largely dependent on revenue from performances to pay their dancers and fund their operations, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, all performances have been halted.

Consequently, many dancers are unable to depend on paychecks and are facing the hardship of paying rent and/or buying food and other necessities.

Below are the featured ballerinas and their respective companies:

•Stella Abrera
American Ballet Theatre, USA

•Precious Adams
English National Ballet, England

•Nathalia Arja
Miami City Ballet, USA

•Isabella Boylston
American Ballet Theatre, USA

•Skylar Brandt
American Ballet Theatre, USA

•Misty Copeland
American Ballet Theatre, USA

•Monike Cristina
Joburg Ballet, South Africa

•Ashley Ellis
Boston Ballet, USA

•Greta Elizondo
Nacional de Danza Mexico, Mexico

•Nikisha Fogo
Vienna State Ballet, Austria

•Angelica Generosa
Pacific Northwest Ballet, USA

•Sarah Hay
Freelance Ballerina, USA

•Frances Hayward
The Royal Ballet, England

•Robyn Hendricks
The Australian Ballet, Australia

•Whitney Jensen
The Norwegian National Ballet, Norway

•Yuriko Kajiya
Houston Ballet, USA

•Maria Khoreva
Mariinsky Theatre, Russia

•Ako Kondo
The Australian Ballet, Australia

•Misa Kuranaga
San Francisco Ballet, USA

•Stephanie Kurlow
Freelance Hijabi Ballerina, Australia

•Sara Mearns
New York City Ballet, USA

•Ginett Moncho
Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Cuba

•Katherine Ochoa
Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Cuba

•Hannah O'Neill
Paris Opera Ballet, France

•Denise Parungao
Ballet Philippines, Philippines

•Tiler Peck
New York City Ballet, USA

•Tina Pereira
The National Ballet of Canada, Canada

•Ida Praetorius
The Royal Danish Ballet, Denmark

•Jemima Reyes
Ballet Philippines, Philippines

•Ingrid Silva
Dance Theater of Harlem, USA

•Bianca Teixeira
San Francisco Ballet, USA

•Xu Yan
The National Ballet of China, China

Le Cygne (The Swan) with music by Camille Saint-Saëns, performed by cellist Wade Davis (USA),


choreography by Michel Fokine

Cocktails with a Curator: Constable's 'The White Horse'

Cocktails with a Curator: Turner's 'Harbor of Dieppe'

Friday, May 08, 2020

Livestream Saturday, 5/9 at 9pm ET: Aoife O’Donovan Performing The Album "Nebraska"




Livestream Saturday, 5/9 at 9pm ET: Aoife O’Donovan Performing The Album "Nebraska"

Banner
During a 2011 residency at Rockwood Music Hall in New York, Aoife sang Springsteen’s Nebraska album front to back. She's doing it for a second time this Saturday. A portion of the proceeds will benefit MusiCares Covid-19 Relief Fund. 

Thursday, May 07, 2020

Bob Dylan - False Prophet (Official Audio)

Bob Dylan - False Prophet (Official Audio)

Waitin' On A Sunny Day #WeAreAsburyPark





Please support the Asbury Park Music Foundation:
https://asburyparkmusiclives.org/donate

Written by:
Bruce Springsteen

Performed by:
Patty C
Jarod Clemons
Matt Cook
Tara Dente
Rachel Ana Dobken
Luke Dowler
Kevin Duggan
Brian Erickson
Natalie Farrell
Matt Fernicola
Owen Flanagan
Ryan Gregg
Zach Kornhauser
Ray Laux
Bobby Mahoney
Mark Masefield
Jessie McCormick
Ashley McKinley
Chad Morales
Lou Panico
Joe Pomarico
Avery Rose Puryear
Nick Ryan
Zack Sandler
Dillon Schindler
Deseree Spinks
Mike Squillace
Marc Tappan
Taylor Tote
Max Viner

Produced by:
Joe Pomarico at Telegraph Hill Records

Check out more Asbury Park music at Telegraph Hill Records Website:
https://www.telegraphhillrecords.com/

Email for Press:
Promo@TelegraphHillRecords.com

Playlist of Cast:
https://telegraphhillrecords.helpgive...

#WeAreAsburyPark

Real presidents lead. Reality TV presidents don’t.

Monday, May 04, 2020

Mourning in America



Please VOTE for Biden in November!

Michelle Obama's "Becoming" Premieres on Netflix on May 6

Sunday, May 03, 2020

Yo-Yo Ma Plays Elgar's "Salut d'Amour."

Friday, May 01, 2020

Missing Sounds of New York



















The New York Public Library along with creative agency Mother New York has created an aural love letter to NYC: "an album of audio landscapes that evoke the sounds of New York City."
The NYPL explains:
"The New York we know and love is one click away: cabs honking, pigeons cooing, bike messengers whizzing by, strangers gossiping, the hum of a local library. Anywhere you are can now become the city—all you need is Missing Sounds of New York, The New York Public Library’s new album. Missing Sounds of New York, connects New Yorkers around the familiar sounds of urban life that they love and miss during this unprecedented time of social separation.Each track uses a combination of sounds to create familiar, ambient canvases on which mini stories are placed: a glass breaking in a bar, a dance performance on the subway, an overly enthusiastic baseball fan. Missing Sounds of New York reminds us of what makes New York so special for so many people."
Spotify users can head here to listen (listening on Spotify requires using or creating a Spotify account, including free accounts). Or you can take a listen above!