DFW makes a return visit to Charlie Rose’s show and has a characteristically far-ranging conversation, while on the tour circuit for the release of his book of essays: “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again”.
Videos
RICHARD DIEBENKORN:profile/interview, CBS Sunday Morning, December 27, 1988,
In this report for “Sunday Morning,” which originally aired on December 27, 1988, correspondent David Browning visited Diebenkorn’s studio in California’s Sonoma County, to discuss the artist’s “trial and error” approach; and New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where Diebenkorn was being celebrated by a one-man show of his drawings.
CARL STONE :: SHING KEE, 1986
CarlStone (born Carl Joseph Stone, February 10, 1953) is an American composer, primarily working in the field of live electronic music. His works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the Near East.
Stone studied composition at the California Institute of the Arts with Morton Subotnick and James Tenney and has composed electro-acoustic music almost exclusively since 1972. As an undergrad at CalArts, he had a work-study job in the Music Library, which had many thousands of LP records in the circulating collection (this was 1973). The collection included a lot of western classical music of course but also a really comprehensive world music collection, avant-garde, electronic music, jazz and more. Because the librarians were concerned that the LPs, many of which were rare, would soon become unlistenable at the hands of the students and faculty, his job was to take every disc and record it onto cassette, a kind of back-up operation. He soon discovered that he could monitor the output of any of the recordings he was making and even mix them together without disturbing the recordings. So, he began to experiment, making musical collages, and started to develop habits of combining disparate musical materials. In addition to his composition and performance schedule, he is a faculty member in the Department of Information Media, School of Information Science and Technology at Chukyo University in Japan. – wikipedia Continue reading CARL STONE :: SHING KEE, 1986
THE PAINTING TECHNIQUES OF MARK ROTHKO: No 16, (Red, Brown & Black), 3.5 min., MOMA
Corey D’Augustine (educator and independent conservator) discusses the techniques Mark Rothko used in the course of making his paintings.
filmed by Plowshares Media
Images courtesy of Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Music by Chris Parrello
Chris Parrello, Ian Young, Kevin Thomas, Ziv Ravitz
© 2010 The Museum of Modern Art
RAM DASS ON THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
The term “dark night (of the soul)” was originally used in Roman Catholicism for a spiritual crisis in a journey towards union with God, like that described by Saint John of the Cross. It has since been adopted by many spiritual practitioners across many modalities of spiritual practice and refers to a turbulent period of darkness encountered along the spiritual path.
“I reserve the expression ‘dark night of the soul’ for a dark mood that is truly life-shaking and touches the foundations of experience, the soul itself. But sometimes a seemingly insignificant event can give rise to a dark night: You may miss a train and not attend a reunion that meant much to you. Often a dark night has a strong symbolic quality in that it points to a deeper level of emotion and perhaps a deeper memory that gives it extra meaning. With dark nights you always have to be alert for the invisible memories, narratives, and concerns that may not be apparent on the surface.” – Thomas Moore, A Dark Night Of The Soul And The Discovery Of Meaning Continue reading RAM DASS ON THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
ROBERT FROST :: THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost
JOSEPH CAMPBELL AND THE POWER OF MYTH, episode 1: The Hero’s Adventure, 57 min.
Episode 1 of the 1988 PBS documentary: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, originally broadcast as six one-hour conversations between mythologist Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers.
- Episode 1: The Hero’s Adventure (first broadcast June 21, 1988 on PBS)
About Campbell, hero types, hero deeds, Jesus Christ, the Buddha, Krishna, movie heroes, Star Wars as a metaphor, an Iroquois story: the refusal of suitors, dragons, dreams and Jungian psychology, “follow your bliss,” consciousness in plants, Gaia, Chartres cathedral, spirituality vs. economics, emerging myths, “Earthrise” as a symbol.
TENZIN GYATSO, H.H. XIV DALAI LAMA :: NO REGRETS-ADVICE FOR LIVING & DYING, 34 minutes
“Passing through life, progressing to old age and eventually death, it is not sufficient to just take care of the body. We need to take care of our emotions as well.” The Dalai Lama
“In daily life, before death actually happens, it’s important to accept that sooner or later death will come.” The Dalai Lama
In ‘No Regrets: Advice for Living & Dying’ His Holiness the Dalai Lama addresses the profound importance of preparing for dying & how to live a meaningful life. This video provides a rare insight in HHDL as he gives advice to the terminally ill, medical professionals & general public on issues, including grief & loss and emotional & spiritual support at the end of life. Filmed in Australia at Karuna Hospice Service, HHDL brings compassion, practical advice & wisdom to outline the path for a fulfilling life & a peaceful death. – Karuna Hospice Service, 2008
PICO IYER :: THE BEAUTY OF WHAT WE’LL NEVER KNOW, TED, 10 min.
Siddharth Pico Raghavan Iyer (born 11 February 1957), known as Pico Iyer, is a British-born essayist and novelist of Indian origin, best known for his travel writing. He is the author of numerous books on crossing cultures including Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk and The Global Soul. An essayist for Time since 1986, he also publishes regularly in Harper’s, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, and many other publications. Continue reading PICO IYER :: THE BEAUTY OF WHAT WE’LL NEVER KNOW, TED, 10 min.
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR :: MOYA (GORECKI) Live at The Metropolis, Montreal, 1.19.14
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian experimental music collective which originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. They release its recordings through Constellation, an independent record label also located in Montreal. Film loop projections are an important aspect of the group’s live show, explained by Efrim Menuck as “[putting] the whole into context”.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor was formed in 1994 in Montreal, Quebec, by Efrim Menuck (guitar), Mike Moya (guitar), and Mauro Pezzente (bass), taking its name from God Speed You! Black Emperor, a 1976 Japanese black-and-white documentary by director Mitsuo Yanagimachi, which follows the exploits of a Japanese biker gang, the Black Emperors. The band initially assembled after being offered a supporting act for another local band named Steak 72. Thereafter, the trio performed live on a few separate occasions, before ultimately deciding to produce an album. The cassette, All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling, was self-released in December 1994 and limited to thirty-three copies.
After the limited release of the cassette, the band quickly expanded and continued to perform live periodically. According to Menuck, joining the group was quite simple: “It was like if anyone knew anybody who played an instrument and seemed like an okay person, they would sort of join up.” In short order, the group’s numbers ebbed and flowed. Local musicians would often join the band for a handful of performances, then depart. The revolving door nature of the group’s membership frequently caused it strain before the release of F♯ A♯ ∞. After that release, the group stabilized around a nine-person lineup with Menuck, Moya and David Bryant on guitars, Pezzente and Thierry Amar on bass guitars, Aidan Girt and Bruce Cawdron on drums, and Sophie Trudeau and Norsola Johnson on violin and cello respectively. Moya would depart in 1998 to focus on HṚṢṬA, being replaced by Roger Tellier-Craig of Fly Pan Am.
Although various members of the band are often pinned down as anarchists, for a rather long time no one in the band explicitly subscribed to this label; however, as of 2014, Menuck was calling himself an anarchist. In any case, there is a strong political component to the band’s music. For example, the liner notes to Yanqui U.X.O. describe the song “09-15-00” as “Ariel Sharon surrounded by 1,000 Israeli soldiers marching on al-Haram Ash-Sharif & provoking another Intifada,” and the back cover of that album depicts the relationships of several major record labels to the military-industrial complex. Several of its songs also incorporate voice samples which express political sentiments, most notably “The Dead Flag Blues” (on F♯A♯∞) and “BBF3” (on Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada).
Members of the group have formed a number of side projects, including Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, Fly Pan Am, HṚṢṬA, Esmerine, and Set Fire to Flames.
-wikipedia, GSYBE, edited
Images: Ian Cameron, Mathieu Lavoie, Scott Thiessen, Yuani Fragata, Alex Leclerc
Sound: Saaela Abrams, Alex Leclerc, Scott Thiessen, James Parker
The Incubator 