This evening Judy, Rick, and I went to the Englert Theater in downtown Iowa City for a reading from The Oxford Project, a new book from Peter Feldstein and Stephen Bloom. Peter is a friend of ours, and has been a friend of Judy's for years. The book gives an intimate and honest portrait of the small town of Oxford, Iowa, through photographs of people taken 21 years apart and through candid interviews with them. The reading tonight was in a theatrical style, with individuals reading the things that townspeople have said. Very effective, quite touching, and a wonderful look at small-town America. As Bloom said this evening, when you want to understand the real history of America, you won't get it from Sarah Palin or Barack Obama -- you'll get it from understanding the lives of people like these. A remarkable project about a very real town and the very real people in it.
Showing posts with label arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arts. Show all posts
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Oxford Project
This evening Judy, Rick, and I went to the Englert Theater in downtown Iowa City for a reading from The Oxford Project, a new book from Peter Feldstein and Stephen Bloom. Peter is a friend of ours, and has been a friend of Judy's for years. The book gives an intimate and honest portrait of the small town of Oxford, Iowa, through photographs of people taken 21 years apart and through candid interviews with them. The reading tonight was in a theatrical style, with individuals reading the things that townspeople have said. Very effective, quite touching, and a wonderful look at small-town America. As Bloom said this evening, when you want to understand the real history of America, you won't get it from Sarah Palin or Barack Obama -- you'll get it from understanding the lives of people like these. A remarkable project about a very real town and the very real people in it.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Amana artisans studio tour today
There was a tour of artisans' studios in the Amana Colonies this weekend, and Rick went with us today to look around. It was a lovely warm not-quite-fall day, and a great excuse to be out. There were a number of places on the tour, but -- this being the Amanas -- some of them weren't open on Sundays. We ended up visiting a glass studio (mostly layered glass), a tinsmith who was both making new objects and re-creating antique pieces, a broom and basket shop that had some wonderful art baskets, and a coppersmith who mostly made oversized insects and frogs-with-martini-glasses. I really didn't get it on that last one...
At the broom and basket shop we found this hard-working fellow connected to a windmill that kept him going. There was a large woodpile out behind the basket show, so he must have put in a very productive summer. Wind power for the worker, firewood for winter -- sounds like a localized solution to energy problems to me!
At the broom and basket shop we found this hard-working fellow connected to a windmill that kept him going. There was a large woodpile out behind the basket show, so he must have put in a very productive summer. Wind power for the worker, firewood for winter -- sounds like a localized solution to energy problems to me!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Die Dreigroschenoper
For years I've been a fan of Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) by Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill. I have a CD of an original production with Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife, for those of you who only know her in "From Russia with Love"), and I've learned just about all the German in the original 1931 script.
Recently I found the movie in the Coralville Library and had great hopes for it. It was directed by the great G. W. Pabst and Lenya was Jenny, as in the original production, but it wasn't the same -- the production just didn't have the kick of the original, and some of the best songs were left out. But as a piece of history it was interesting; German movies of the early 1930s have a flavor that American and other European films of the time don't.
Recently I found the movie in the Coralville Library and had great hopes for it. It was directed by the great G. W. Pabst and Lenya was Jenny, as in the original production, but it wasn't the same -- the production just didn't have the kick of the original, and some of the best songs were left out. But as a piece of history it was interesting; German movies of the early 1930s have a flavor that American and other European films of the time don't.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Music we remember
On a long flight recently I heard some music that took me back to my younger days. We all have those pieces or songs, of course, and they differ by generation and by kinds of music we prefer. Mine were on the classical music channel on the plane, of course, though the channel was a "pops" channel (*sigh*)
Three of the pieces brought back memories for me. One was a movement of the Schubert 5th Symphony, one of only two classical 78s that my parents had. I cut my musical teeth on that one, I suppose. One was from a radio/TV show I recall; it's the Dona Deana Overture by Resnicek that I first knew as the theme music from Seargent Preston of the Yukon. And the third was the Warsaw Concerto from one of the 1940s "Disturbed Composer writes his Concerto" movies. I don't know what this collection says about me, but I leave you to draw your own conclusions!
Three of the pieces brought back memories for me. One was a movement of the Schubert 5th Symphony, one of only two classical 78s that my parents had. I cut my musical teeth on that one, I suppose. One was from a radio/TV show I recall; it's the Dona Deana Overture by Resnicek that I first knew as the theme music from Seargent Preston of the Yukon. And the third was the Warsaw Concerto from one of the 1940s "Disturbed Composer writes his Concerto" movies. I don't know what this collection says about me, but I leave you to draw your own conclusions!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Deanne's Teaching
Deanne Brown, our daughter on Judy's side, was with the Joffrey ballet company for ten years. She now is studying physical therapy and teaching dance when her studies permit. She's had several interesting teaching gigs, including teaching ballet to the Celine Dion dancers in Las Vegas. But last week she started a truly remarkable teaching assignment -- teaching ballet to Maria Tallchief's granddaughter. It's sort of like teaching Mario Andretti's grandson to drive. Congratulations, Deanne!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Happy Birthday, Wolfgang Amadeus!
Yesterday, Sunday, January 27, was Mozart's 252nd birthday. I hope everyone celebrated it in some appropriate way. We've been in Washington for the weekend after my NSF panels, and we went to a chamber music concert at the Kennedy Center that had two pieces by Mozart on the program. (There were also two pieces by Stravinsky, but it isn't his birthday.)
We went to the concert with my longtime friend, Tim Fossum. Tim's doing a rotator year at NSF in the same area I did, and it was great to spend the day with him on Saturday, visiting the National Building Museum and the National Gallery and then going to a movie in the evening. I think that contributing to the NSF review process and seeing really good ideas is only half the value of doing panels; the other half is getting to Washington to see the city. And the third half is meeting new people and seeing old friends on panels.
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