Art. Nature. Thought. Serendipity.

I originally wanted to name this blog "ants," but some kind soul had already taken the name. Nonetheless, I encourage readers to think in acronyms. Enjoy ANTS.

[artnaturethought]

I stumble across this Brecker album in my library from time to time, and I always find myself wondering why it's been so long. Numerous features, both musical and extra-musical, combine to make this a stunning album. For one, it's Brecker's last; he died shortly thereafter of a bone disease. Further, the "sidemen" are giants in their own right: Metheny, Mehldau, DeJohnette, Hancock, and Patitucci. The compositions are incredibly infectious, and there's a lot of technique on display.

However what I love most about Pilgrimage is that it pairs musicians who don't normally play together, and as a result everyone's playing is elevated to a level that it doesn't necessarily reach in each musicians' respective personal projects. There's a long precedent for albums like this in the jazz canon; for example, much of the Blue Note discography features incidental collaboration of several musicians who likely had not played together before. Still, there's some special essence in Pilgrimage that sets it in it's own class. Maybe it's Brad Mehldau's shifty piano solo on "Tumbleweed," with right hand and left hand melodies weaving in and out of a crazy two hand rhythmic pattern. It's the kind of solo Brad would never play with Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard (although, I guess it was Jorge Rossy at this point).

I'd like to believe that this diversity comes from the musicians' different backgrounds. Though Brecker obviously demonstrates that he can destroy a more straight-ahead setting, he's evidently a product of the jazz/funk/rock scene. Mehldau has his own curious path through the Young Lions like Joshua Redman. Patitucci's background is admittedly unknown to me (I suppose I'll have to do further research), but DeJohnette brings his experience with Jarret and his various fusion forays to the table. Then, of course, there's Metheny's flirtations with minimalism. All of the these elements mix in a very appealing way on Pilgrimage.

[artnaturethought]

I recorded something!

[artnaturethought]

[betterbooktitles]

Reader Submission: Title and Redesign by Dylan Jonasse

Sarah Palin: Going Rogue

[marierioux-deactivated20160213]

Imagine a city of 11 million inhabitants stripped of all its advertising. It’s nearly impossible when the clutter and color of our current urban landscapes seem inextricably entwined with the golden arches of McDonald’s or the deep reds of Coca-Cola. 

Yet for the residents of São Paulo, Brazil, this doesn’t require imagination: city dwellers simply have to walk down the street and look around to see a city devoid of advertisements.

In September 2006, São Paulo’s populist mayor, Gilberto Kassab, passed the so-called “Clean City Law,” outlawing the use of all outdoor advertisements, including on billboards, transit, and in front of stores.

Before being enacted, the law triggered grave alarm among city businesses and other economic constituents. Critics worried that the advertising ban would entail a revenue loss of $133 million and a net job loss of 20,000. Fears that the city would look worse without the mask of the media alarmed residents. Despite the concerns, the law passed and the 15,000 billboards cluttering the world’s seventh largest city were taken down.

Five years later, São Paulo continues to exist without advertisements. But instead of causing economic ruin and deteriorating aesthetics, 70 percent of city residents find the ban beneficial, according to a 2011 survey. Unexpectedly, the removal of logos and slogans exposed previously overlooked architecture, revealing a rich urban beauty that had been long hidden.

“São Paulo’s a very vertical city,” said Vinicius Galvao, a reporter with Folha de São Paulo, Brazil’s largest newspaper, in an interview with NPR. “That makes it very frenetic. You couldn’t even realize the architecture of the old buildings, because they were just covered with billboards and logos and propaganda. And there was no criteria.”

No longer covered in homogenous and imposing signs, the unique character of São Paulo was able to resurface. Admittedly, not all of the revelations proved beautiful: shantytowns that pepper the city’s streets, once hidden under massive signs, revealed gross inequalities. But bringing the situation to light incited residents to improve conditions and begin discussing solutions. No longer could actual problems be masked by artificial solutions.

In today’s synthetically colored cities, people assume that vibrancy derives from neon lights and advertising campaigns. The ban in São Paulo reminds the world that it’s a city’s inhabitants and cultural heritage that bring the true flavor.

“My old reference was a big Panasonic billboard,” Galvao told NPR. “But now my reference is an art deco building that was covered [by the massive sign]. So you start getting new references in the city. The city’s now got new language, a new identity.”

Hopefully one day, communities throughout the world can adopt this new language and new identity and focus on the unique aspects of their communities, instead of on mass-produced ones.

[artnaturethought]

Hm.

[artnaturethought]

George Washington Bridge.

[artnaturethought]

[chrisbattleart]

Actual poster from the mid-50’s issued by Senator Joseph McCarthy at the height of the Red Scare and anti communist witch hunt in Washington.  All artists were suspect.

[traverse-our-universe]

Gran Paradiso at Night (by a galaxy far, far away…)

[oliphillips]

Book Igloo

by Miler Lagos

[artnaturethought]

[expose-the-light]

Publicity picture of Nikola Tesla sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his “Magnifying transmitter” generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla’s notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)

[artnaturethought]

Dizzy Gillespie for President!

[artnaturethought]

A guy from my high school recently made this clip in college. It's an intriguing short.

If you like it, check out Gus Pewe's Vimeo page for more.

[artnaturethought]

[artnaturethought]

English: "In a mixture of primary colours, the quantity and quality of each being given, to know the colour of the compound."

Throughout Opticks, Newton compared colours in the spectrum to a run of musical notes. To this purpose, he used a Dorian mode, similar to a white-note scale on the piano, starting at D. He divided his colour wheel in musical proportions round the circumference, in the arcs from DE to CD. Each segment was given a spectral colour, starting from red at DE, through orange, yellow, green, blew [sic], indigo, to violet in CD. (The colours are commonly known as ROY G BIV.)

The middle of the colours—their 'centres of gravity'—are shown by p, q, r, s, t, u, and x. The centre of the circle, at O, was presumed to be white. Newton went on to describe how a non-spectral colour, such as z, could be described by its distance from O and the corresponding spectral colour, Y.

[courtesy of Wikipedia]