Ecstatic Music Festical

The Ecstatic Music Festival with Simone Dinnerstein, piano, and Tift Merritt, vocals and guitar, was quite the musical journey between the worlds of classical and folk music. On their own, they are both well accomplished artists, but together we are able to see how these supposedly very disparate musical worlds have much more in common than most of us realize.

It was a lot of fun to listen to the two genres blend together and even create new soundscapes all-together. It was great to see Simone Dinnerstein, a Juliard classical pianists from Brooklyn, step out of her comfort zone and open up the piano to play from inside it. As an audience member it was a lot of fun to see just how much Dinnerstein and Merritt pushed each other to grow as artists.

The Merkin Concert Hall was the perfect venue for such an eclectic night of music. The sound was amazing. The space was intimate, and I loved the way they set up the stage as more of a living room than a simple concert.

Overall a great night of music and I hope we see more collaborations like this. You can listen to their new album Night by clicking here.

 

 

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Bears

Bears is a delightful little piece of theatre. Jonathan Dickson (Growl Bear) and Nick Abeel (Timmy Bear) set the stage perfectly as two zoo bears living in a post apocalyptic America. The dialogue is quick witted and fun with lots of laughs. But there are also some really poignant and serious scenes with Growl Bear (Jonathan Dickson) reminiscing about times past. Jenna Panther does a wonderful job playing Susie Wild Bear, scoffing at the "civilized" nonsense of her zoo bear companions.

The tensions between wild and civilized are thoughtfully and creatively played out between the three bears. Civilization has broken down and yet there's still an effort to hold on to the past, to maintain and hopefully pass it on. But the stark reality of a life where food is no longer easy to come by and the pangs of hunger are all to real makes the wild life of a bear greatly appealing.

Throughout it all there's lots of great dialogue between the bears who use English but don't necessarily understand it. Growl Bear figures out how to use a radio but he doesn't quite get why the radio gets quieter over time (dead batteries).

The only minor criticism I have is that Nick Abeel (Timmy Bear) seemed to forget or stumble over his lines a number of times. This was only a minor distraction and I have to say he was great at never missing a beat. Despite the stumbles he repeatedly made it work, and I have no doubt he'll get past that in future shows.

Overall this is a wonderfully crafted, well written show with a talented cast. It was a joy to watch with plenty of laughs throughout. You'll definitely want to catch this gem of a play at 59 East 59th Street Theatres. It runs from now to March 31st. You can find ticket information by clicking here.

 

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Are Americans too Smart for Representative Democracy?

The anti-democratic pundits like to point out how stupid we are. In Joshua Holland's latest piece at AlterNet he asks, "Are Americans too Stupid for Democracy?" Of course key to such a piece is to leave out what democracy really means, but he does provide a "defintion" of what the oxymoron "representative democracy" means:

The way representative democracy is supposed to work is pretty simple: you protect the fundamental rights of the minority (so it doesn't become two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner), and then the majority of citizens, acting in their own rational self-interest, elect representatives who will pursue the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens.

I've previously written on this notion of minority rights here, but it should suffice to point out that the only minority that is seriously protected by our system of government is "the minority of the opulent" to borrow a phrase from James Madison.

Democracy is a wonderful invention by the people of the world to fight back against oligarchs, plutocrats, despots and other forms of ruling class dominance. It's based on the idea that we should have a substantive say in decisions in proportion to how we are affected by those decisions. And, yes, we have plenty of wonderful historical examples of it working in the large and small scale from the Spanish Revolution of the 1930s where tens of millions of people came together and took over factories and farms and ran them democratically to more modern movements like Occupy Wall Street and the People's Assemblies in Greece.

 

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I'm Back

I've been on again, off again blogging for over a decade now. I guess I started way back when AOL introduced journals. Most of what I've written has been political, but I've also strayed into other areas like art and theatre. I've tried to do some more overtly spiritual stuff, focusing on my Buddhist practice. But what I've realized that I'm just not good at compartmentalizing my life. I'm all those things and more and that's what I really would like to write about: Politics, photography, pets (my two amazing Chihuahuas), exercise, cycling and music. The list goes on and on, but basically my life. I want to write about whatever without feeling that this blog isn't that or isn't the right place.

So I'm back to blogging. I need this outlet to write. To express my thoughts and opinions. And since it's been so long since I've actively done it hopefully I don't have any readers!

 

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Weekly Film Screenings

Tonight marks the launch of a


free weekly film screening with both local and international film makers. Every Sunday in January, doors open at 7pm and the reels start spinning at 7:30. Tonight's opening sounds fantastic:

An evening of shorts filmed at Ace Hotel New York with Massify and Killer Films, followed by "Cold Weather" by Rooftop films - plus a Moscow Mule drink special.

It's taking place all January. You're sure to see some amazing films. For more information check out their calendar.

Location:Flushing Ave,Brooklyn,United States

Shifting the Gaze

"Shifting the Gaze" is another great exhibit at the Jewish Museum. It's a feminist exhibit that, in the words of the curator:

...explores how social revolutions take place not only in the realm of ideas and politics, but in style and form.

You can find the exhibit on the second floor. They have some really incredible feminist artists like Joan Semmel, Louise Fishman, and Melissa Meyer.

Miriam Schapiro's "Fanfare" from 1958 was my favorite piece:

Don't forget the Jewish Museum is free on Saturdays!




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Unplugged at the Manifesta Loft

Looking for some fun this Wednesday (January 12, 2011)? You won't want to miss this: Out of the Basement Film Fest at the Manifesta Loft.  The night will start out with short films put together by Chris Clavin of Ghost Mice followed by a rare unplugged show with some of the best radical artists at the Manifesta Loft in Brooklyn!