Royalties for Charity

Yesterday I received a notice that Culann's Hounds is donating 100% of the royalties from their new single, "The Blackthorn Tavern" to the National Veterans Foundation. The band is using The Royalties Group, a MySpace group that only promotes artists who dedicate part of their royalties to charity. This is an excellent way for musicians to be part of their community, either locally or globally, while advertising their own work.

Tenure's hard

Just like Mozart, another famous personage is ground in the wheels of academic tenure.

The committee concurred that Dr. Jones does seem to possess a nearly superhuman breadth of linguistic knowledge and an uncanny familiarity with the history and material culture of the occult. However, his understanding and practice of archaeology gave the committee the greatest cause for alarm. Criticisms of Dr. Jones ranged from "possessing a perceptible methodological deficiency" to "practicing archaeology with a complete lack of, disregard for, and colossal ignorance of current methodology, theory, and ethics" to "unabashed grave-robbing." Given such appraisals, perhaps it isn't surprising to learn that several Central and South American countries recently assembled to enact legislation aimed at permanently prohibiting his entry.

Moreover, no one on the committee can identify who or what instilled Dr. Jones with the belief that an archaeologist's tool kit should consist solely of a bullwhip and a revolver.

Tuva! Tuva!

Tonight the whole family went to see Chirgilchin, a trio of Tuvan throat singers. This concert is part of DePauw's Artsfest, fitting well in this year's theme: The Silk Road. Although the website shows four members of the ensemble, Aidysmaa Koshkendey did not perform here. The control each of the singers had over his voice, especially Igor and Mongoun-Ool, was phenomenal. Besides the amazing melodies performed by combination tones (much like what I heard in the time-waster), the variety of colors created by the six types of throat singing and the various instruments was fabulous. Listen to this example of Igor Koshkendey singing while accompanying himself on the accordian for a good example of what we heard.

FriPod: Red to Remorse

Red and Black - Les Misérables Original Broadway Soundtrack
Red Clay - Freddie Hubbard
Red Top - Lional Hampton and Ken Kynard
Refusal - Ennio Morricone
Reiterfanfares - Johann Dismass Zelinka
Rejoice Greatly - George Friedrich Handel
Relax - Arturo Sandoval
Remember the Tinman - Tracy Chapman
Remember When - Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Remorse - Ennio Morricone

Things from my email box

First, Peter Kaye has spotted solfege in the wilds of popular culture: Family Guy. However, the crowds are not singing proper solfege. It is not fixed-Do (the Do starts on F), but it is not proper movable-Do either. They start Do on F, but the song is in Bb. Plus they use the fixed-Do "Si" rather than movable-Do's "Ti." Stupid football crowds.

Second, Keith Lockhart is trying to make more money. I got a press release on his new website and VIP ticket package. This package gives the buyer personal access to Keith as well as other bells and whistles. I'm torn, as I understand that marketing is important for financial success, but I'm afraid the art gets lost in these packages geared to wealthy individuals who value perks over performance.

Bresnick CD/DVD

Recent DePauw guest Martin Bresnick has a new CD/DVD being released by Cantaloupe Music on November 14, celebrating his 60th birthday. The Essential Martin Bresnick has performances by the Bang on a Can All Stars, Flux Quartet, and Jupiter Trio. The accompanying DVD has Bresnick's new work, For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise. This multi-media piece is based on William Blake's poetry, mixing speaking pianist Lisa Moore (also a recent DePauw guest) with animation by Puppetsweat Theater. When Martin was here, he showed part of his Pinocchio piece with Puppetsweat animation. It was very interesting, animation whose visuals demand thought and emotion where Disney and computer-generated images do not. The DVD also has a presentation by Harold Bloom on Blake and Bresnick.

I have an Amazon certificate burning a hole in my email box, I think I will spend it on this CD/DVD. (The information above comes from the Bang on a Can November 2006 newsletter.)

Press Release: Art of the States

BOSTON, MA, OCTOBER 24, 2006 -- Art of the States, WGBH Radio's international service of contemporary American music for 13 years, has now become an independent project produced in association with WGBH.

[...]

"We hope to work with WGBH to develop new ideas for collaboration," notes executive producer Joel Gordon, "as we continue to present the best of new music from throughout the United States to international audiences."

As of June 30, 2006, Gordon and producer Matthew Packwood produce Art of the States under the auspices of Musica Omnia, a classical music non-profit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Art of the States
Art of the States is an international radio and internet distribution service which presents contemporary American art music to audiences in the United States and worldwide. The only service of its kind, Art of the States curates monthly programs of contemporary music from across the US which are distributed to 75 major radio broadcasters in 50 countries, effectively reaching millions of listeners around the world. It presents the music online through its listening and educational website artofthestates.org, which currently features over 280 American works in high-quality streaming audio, amounting to over 60 hours of music. Art of the States is the recipient of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Broadcast Award in radio and awards from the Shanghai International Radio Music Festival.

About WGBH
Listener-supported WGBH 89.7 is Boston's NPR® arts and culture station. Bringing you the best for more than 50 years, 89.7 serves its wide-ranging audience with a menu of classical music, NPR news, jazz, blues, folk, and spoken-word programs. The station is an active participant in New England's vibrant music community, presenting more than 300 performances every year, including live broadcasts and remote recordings from such diverse venues as Tanglewood, the Lowell Folk Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival, and WGBH's own studios. WGBH 89.7 can be heard online anywhere in the world at www.wgbh.org, and can be heard on Nantucket at WNCK 89.5.