May never was the 'art surfer' of love.
For May is full of flowers;
But rather April, wet by kind,
For love is full of showers
- Robert Southwell
QUOTE: No art ever yet grew by looking into the eyes of the public. - Ezra Pound.
miniQUIZ: True or False: a pencil can draw a line 35 miles long. (Answer later.)
BEST PLAYS OF THE CENTURY: A British poll named these 3 plays as best of the century: Waiting for Godot (I'm spoiling the ending - he never shows up!) Death of a Salesman (celebrating its 50th anniversary this year) & A Streetcar Named Desire. What are your choices?
MUSEA REMEMBERS THE PASSING OF THESE ARTISTS: Dusty Springfield - soulful 60's singer - my favorite of her's was the Bacharach song The Look Of Love, and yes she had a dusty /husky sort of voice... Newspaper and TV Film Critic, Gene Siskel - thumbs up!... Master Film Director, Stanley Kubrick - Dr. Strangelove, 2001 A Space Odyssey, etc.....British writer Iris Murdock - Under The Net, A Severed Head, etc..... & Classical violinist, Yehundi Menuin.
BEST FILM SHOT ON TV dept.: Have you seen that Chevy ad where a camera is patrolling a rainy road, it goes through the front window of the Chevy, circles inside the car as the Mom driving and kid in the back seat, are leisurely talking, then exits out the back window ALL IN ONE CAMERA SHOT! Very cool. Some filmmaker ought to use it in his next epic for sure...Best quote from a zine about TV: "We were just like the kids on '90210" except we were poor and ugly." - West Virginia Surf Report ... For discussion: 3 walls is like theater - the audience is the 4th wall. 4 walls is like film where the point of view changes. Q. Why are all TV sitcoms 3 walls and all dramas 4? Would Western Civilization fall if sitcoms had 4 walls and dramas 3? ... Best line on a sitcom this month: "We should go on a 2nd honeymoon ... How many transfers you think it takes to get to Hawaii? The PJ's.
Answer to miniQUIZ is TRUE
MUSIC : Woody Stock tells us that back in the 60's (when bands were called combos and rock & roll was not the tired 45 - year - old music of the establishment) there were 4 songs that EVERY band worth its salt would learn. They were: House of the Rising Sun, Louie Louie, Gloria, & Johnny B. Goode. Anybody want to add some others?
GEM FROM THE PEN: This one from the master, Janet Kutner / DMN: "Mathew McCaslin's Pride of Place - a hodgepodge tower of video monitors, draped with hardware-store paraphernalia, sits in a wheelbarrow, with test - pattern numbers spinning across one screen while other screens show incongruous images of race cars speeding around a track and cows chewing their cud." (& the usual disclaimer: I am not making this up. ) Art S Rev. says, "When Modern Art becomes so esoteric that it can't be understood then it stops being art!" ... Now speaking of real art; When I was first learning about painting, I didn't much like this artist - he wasn't a cool, rebel, Impressionist. Instead he painted the posh and rich. But after awhile you just succumb to the beauty and skill of the American portrait painter, John Singer Sargent best known for his scandalous portrait, Madame X. Anyway the reason I bring this up is that the National Gallery of Art in D.C. is showing a Sargent retrospective thru May 31. Check it out and tell us what you think.
BEST MUSIC ON TV: Though the "Grannies" was definitely a yawn, with (as usual) all the awards going to the most MOR performer in each category (I mean Lauryn Hill best rapper? Yeah and Chet Atkins is the best heavy metal guitarist!) there was a magic moment when Pavoratti sang Nessum Dorma (does anyone know what opera that came from?) His version put the punk opera singer, Bocelli to shame. Check out Andrea Bocelli's version on his PBS special. ... And speaking of TV theme songs (we were a few months ago) Jenny Makovsky of the zine, Have You Seen The Dog Lately tells us her list: Twin Peaks, Peanuts (does that count?), The Greatest American Hero, Batman, and Mary Tyler Moore.
DANCE: I think this is clever: choreographer Bill T Jones stripped naked then digital artists taped 24 motion sensors to his body and recorded his movement. They then transformed the movements into animated sketches. If you have net access, check it out at www.cooper.edu/art/ghostcatching. (Newsweek) ... And this quote from noted local dancer/choreographer, Peggy Lamb on advice for just-starting-choreographers: See lots of dance concerts. All different kinds; jazz, modern, tap, ballet etc. and analyze the elements. How does the choreographer use space, time, flow, focus, group work, solo work, dynamics. There are some good books on the subject; a classic is Doris Humphrey's The Art of Making Dances. Then just plunge in and make up a dance and keep in mind the aim "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly at first" . Usually people take a course in college, but you don't have to. I choreographed several pieces before I ever took a composition course. Watching dances and making note of what struck you, what engaged you is invaluable. Getting feedback from other artists is also essential in the learning process of what works, what doesn't work and why." (The Word)
ENDER: It's anagram time. That's when you take your name and rearrange the letters to spell out something different. Art S Rev's real name is Tom Hendricks. That in anagram is ROCKS THE MIND or MOCK, THEN RIDS. Ain't that fun! Thanks for reading and stay revolutionary!