Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Bach, Johann Sebastian
Revered for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty, Bach's works include the Brandenburg concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the Magnificat, The Musical Offering, The Art of Fugue, the English Suites, the French Suites, the Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo, the Cello Suites, more than 200 surviving cantatas, and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
While Bach's abilities as an organist were recognized and highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, he was not particularly well-known as a composer. His adherence to Baroque forms and contrapuntal style was considered 'old-fashioned' by his contemporaries, especially late in his career when the musical fashion tended towards Rococo and later Classical styles. A revival of interest and performances of his music began early in the 19th century, and he is now widely considered to be one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Lee Asher in Malaysia
Time: 5.30pm
Duration: about 2.5 hours
Venue: Bangkok Jazz, KL
Please visit: http://www.magicgarage.org/lee-asher-lectu…3.html?cPath=40
Friday, July 16, 2010
The Summer Jams 2010: Europopped!
The French band Superbus has style to spare and a great sound. Ultra-slick and hooky, not totally unlike No Doubt when they were at their best. The video for “Mes Defaults” may not be all the summery but I want to hear this song on my radio when I hit the beach later this month
Monday, July 12, 2010
Jay-Z and the Occult Connections
Jay-Z takes aim at all those who have questioned his spirituality on the new Rick Ross song "Free Mason". At the top of the year, while on New York radio, Jay dismissed rumors that he was a member of the illuminati, worshiped the devil and had Satanic images in the video for "On to the Next One".
"I was a roadie on the Blueprint 3 tour for a few dates," Ross said in May of how the song came about. "It started off in St. Louis. I was just messing with everybody, kicking it with everybody, letting Jay hear my ideas and concepts. When you get the deluxe version of this album, we documented when I played the record. I played the track and my first verse," Ross recalled. "I put in the PS3 behind the stage.
"Played it, [Jay] listened to it," he continued. "We played it, backed it up, played it again. Played it, backed it up, played it again. Backed it up, and he spit his verse. It's gonna be magic for people to see Jay do his 'Rain [Man]' when he's rubbing his head, like he pulling his rhymes outta his mind. Just to see somebody come up with a verse that potent in less than two or three minutes ... 'cause it was just a snippet. The beat may have played for a minute and a half and started over," a process Ross says was repeated a few times as Jay composed. "He had his 16, an idea for the chorus. Trey Songz, all of us standing around in awe."
in addition
Jay-Z’s latest video called “Run This Town” (featuring Rihanna and Kanye West) contains occult symbolism relating to secret societies. It has been long rumored that Jay-Z is part of some sort of occult order (probably Freemasonry) due to the hints slipped in his songs and his imagery. ”Run This Town” certainly adds fuel to the fire. We’ll look at the symbolism in this song and in his clothing line, Rocawear.
Lady Gaga's Insurance Company Wants Nothing To Do With Lady Gaga
Rob Fusari, Gaga's former mentor and ex-boyfriend, is suing the star for $35 million, claiming he helped his former lover come up with her stage name and played a key part in landing her a record deal with Interscope.
Fusari maintains he held a 20 per cent share in his company with Gaga, Team Love Child LLC, and argues she failed to adequately compensate him for his shares in the firm once she gained worldwide recognition.
The "Poker Face hitmaker has hit back with a countersuit, accusing Fusari of taking advantage of her naivety as a wannabe pop star.
Now executives at her insurers Navigators Speciality Insurance Company have waded into the lawsuit. Lawyers representing the firm filed a motion in court on Thursday asking the presiding judge to issue a declaratory judgment because Gaga's policy does not cover breach of contract claims, reports TMZ.com.
The legal papers state Gaga's policy only pays for "an act or omission including personal injury in the performance of professional services."
Friday, July 9, 2010
Justin Bieber wants to 'stay pure and honour women'
She said: "He's expressed his desire to stay pure, and honour women, and treat women with respect. So hopefully that stays valid."
Speaking in his 'My World' TV special on E!, the 'Baby' singer admits he finds it difficult to meet girls who aren't interested in his newfound fame and fortune.
Because of this, Justin is happy playing the field and "having fun" for the time being.
He explained: "It's definitely hard to find a girl that really likes me for me. You gotta be careful.
"Right now, I'm like so busy anyway, so I just have fun, hang out with girls and stuff. Try not to take it too seriously."
Justin's ex-girlfriend Cailtin Beadles recently sparked speculation they have reunited after she spent time with him back in June during his photoshoot with Kim Kardashian in the Bahamas.
On returning from the trip, she tweeted: "What happens in the Bahamas stays in the Bahamas!"
Saturday, June 19, 2010
"Born Free" Banned From Youtube
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, better known as M.I.A., is no stranger to censorship. In 2007, her hit single "Paper Planes" was censored by MTV and "Late Night With Dave Letterman" due to its use of gunshots in the rhythm track. (In fact, the song itself is a response to the U.S. government denying her a visa in 2006). So she couldn't have been too surprised when the video for her 2010 single "Born Free" -- which showed red-headed youth being round up and brutally murdered -- was initially rejected by Youtube due to its violent content. Maya was not to worry; fueled by the controversy, the video spread across the Internet like wildfire.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Mission accomplished: L.A. Opera's 'Ring'
This opiate, invented in the 19th century by one Richard Wagner, is not, strictly speaking, a chemical substance. But it operates on the central nervous system like any other narcotic, altering perception, consciousness and sense of time. And, yes, it is highly addictive.
So law or no law, a clientele will return Tuesday when the second of three "Ring" cycles will begin. Once more the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion will become a darkened den in which "Ring" junkies while away the hours in the dreamy fantasies of Achim Freyer's fantastical production. The women are buxom. A hero's bulging pecs are blue before sex and red after. A parade of primeval improbabilities entices us and warns us. Steal from Nature, this saga makes evident, and she will destroy you.
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L.A. Opera has now accomplished what it set out to accomplish. The company has stubbornly overcome considerable musical, theatrical, acoustical and fiscal obstacles and mounted a notable "Ring." Not all dubious Wagnerites are Freyer converts, but when the director and his team took their bows Sunday night, they were greeted by bellowing bravos, underpinned by a significantly dimmer low-pitched roar of boos, which created a purposefully textured chord. The cast was cheered and cheered.
This "Ring" went well. There were no significant mishaps that I could detect. Wagner made his operas for huge voices powered by huge egos, for intrepid singers willing to surmount their physical limitations. Freyer, himself no small ego, takes a new step, requiring the singers to subsume their egos in his theatrical action paintings. Singers confronted by the steep rake of the stage, by cumbersome costumes and an unfriendly Chandler acoustic, seem to have negotiated their peace with the production and the place.
Wagner expected the "Ring" to be performed in a festival setting where for a week audiences would exchange normal lives for immersion in his fantasies. The hardy (and well-off) perfect Wagnerites still go to Bayreuth for that. In a sacrament of kinky public masochism, the most devout bring blindfolds to blot out the horrors of modern stagecraft.
The L.A. "Ring" better represents the cosmopolitan art world. Freyer's "Ring" is a vision and dialogue with Wagner and it will be known and long discussed as such. While there were plenty of musical pleasures — enough so that the "Ring" can be responsibly broadcast on radio, as KUSC is doing — a blindfold in the Chandler would have meant considerable sensory deprivation.
Central to Freyer's concept is time. With overly ambitious hopes for tourism (and reportedly the requests of singers for some two-day recovery periods), the L.A "Ring" is spread too long over nine days (six would be more like it). But that still was a condensed enough period to allow for the complicated unfolding of time in Wagner's long operas to be felt as a powerful force.
Taking place before the dawn of historical time, "Das Rheingold" is a light fair populated with curious creatures. In "Die Walküre," love-centered, characters can only be in the present when they touch circular time. Played out on a farfetched racetrack, "Siegfried" presents a hero in competition with his environment. Entropy takes over "Götterdämmerung." When the world collapses, Freyer breaks down the stage and leaves a mess.
Freyer had time on his side. The hours a "Ring" audience spends in his fantasy realm add up to the better part of a day, and many told me that after getting used to strange imagery the drug began to take effect.
Since each opera was individually produced over the past two seasons, the strengths and limitations of the cast were no surprise. In "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung," John Treleaven and Linda Watson are also beneficiaries of time. I found myself having grown fond of their voices. Treleaven finally fully throws himself fearlessly into comic book Siegfriedery. Watson is an unflappable Brünnhilde. Perhaps her ability to express righteous indignation is directed Freyer-ward (given some of her public comments), but maybe we have the director to thank for bringing out that essential part of Brünnhilde's character. Her strong "Immolation" scene moved me.
Seeing these operas together also helps account for the multiplicity of Freyer's dramatic techniques, be it masked characters needing to use their bodies and voices in ways to get beyond facial expression or all the magical symbols that may or may not have specific meaning.
James Conlon conducted as tirelessly as he bounces around town talking up Wagner. The orchestra fatigues more easily but should settle in better during the next two cycles.
We're not done yet. But the milestone has been reached. L.A. Opera has made an L.A. "Ring," a Freyer "Ring." The Wagner drug has a significant new formula.
But if this "Ring" is to also be appreciated as a new Los Angeles and Wagner landmark, it must be filmed for DVD, and so far we have found no sponsorship for that to happen. The "Ring" is about time, and time, which is far more tyrannical than Ordinance No. 181069, in this crucial regard has almost run out.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
ACL Festival 2009 Video
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Mountain Goats go on tour, providing John Darnielle a quick respite from penning tales of mankind's misery
Mountain Goats tourdates:
05.30.10 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir
05.31.10 - George, WA - Sasquatch
06.01.10 - Victoria, BC - Element
06.02.10 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre
06.04.10 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
06.05.10 - Missoula, MT - The Palace
06.07.10 - Calgary, AB - MacEwan Hall *
06.08.10 - Edmonton, AB - Edmonton Events Center *
06.09.10 - Saskatoon, SK - The Odeon Events Center *
06.10.10 - Winnipeg, MB - Garrick Centre *
06.12.10 - Iowa City, IA - The Blue Moose Tap House
06.13.10 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown
06.15.10 - Englewood, CA - Gothic Theatre
06.16.10 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
09.08.10 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club Leeds
09.09.10 - London, UK - Koko
09.10.10 - Dorset, UK - End the Road Festival
10.08.10 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits