The Power of the Piano (and the People)

Put some musical instruments in public spaces, and musicians (even homeless ones) will come play them. An idea worth stealing! From The Denver Post:

There's lots of love downtown. The Downtown Denver Partnership began placing pianos along the mall in late 2009, said spokesperson Sarah Neumann. All of the instruments were donated; the partnership received many of them just by asking on Craigslist. They started with eight pianos but grew the roster to the current 17. All of them are painted to match the seasons by local artists.

A Break from Downer Posts

Sesame Street breaks it down from Wonderful Creative on Vimeo.

The Lessons of Lincoln

In The New Republic, John Judis argues that Obama needs to take a closer look at Lincoln and his uncompromising acts of courage.

Over the last four decades, the Republican Party has transformed from a loyal opposition into an insurrectionary party that flouts the law when it is in the majority and threatens disorder when it is the minority. It is the party of Watergate and Iran-Contra, but also of the government shutdown in 1995 and the impeachment trial of 1999. If there is an earlier American precedent for today’s Republican Party, it is the antebellum Southern Democrats of John Calhoun who threatened to nullify, or disregard, federal legislation they objected to, and who later led the fight to secede from the union over slavery.

He also argues for Obama to exercise the 14th Amendment option.

His comparison of the 2011 Republican Party with the antebellum South Democrats pre-Civil War is rather chilling. And of course, the fact that it is our first black president experiencing an "insurrectionary party" comparable to the 1860s is a bitter repetition of history.

The Faces Tell the Story

A Norwegian website has posted photos and bios of all those killed in the massacre. We are disappointed not to be able to read about them, but their beautiful young faces give us perspective on the magnitude and heartbreak of this tragedy.

A Lesson in Context

New York’s Niagara Falls have been lit with rainbow-colored lights at dusk since 1925.

In Honor of the Debt Ceiling Debate, er, Debacle

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo reminds us of the following in a blog posting called Hamilton's Dream:

Indeed, the national debt -- created through the federal assumption of state war debts -- was created to do precisely this: get the holders of bonds, necessarily wealthy and powerful people, to have a vested interest in the fixity and stability of the federal government.

And now we segue to writer and star of the Broadway musical “In the Heights,” Lin-Manuel Miranda performs "The Hamilton Mixtape" at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word:

The Future of Theater

Interactive, media-enriched, experiential, inventive, zeitgeistian (we're officially creating that adjective as of this post), this is a piece of theater/entertainment we can get behind. You must read the whole piece to understand how this works, but here's a graph from the New York Times:

“Red Cloud Rising: The Fifth Wall,” an innovative, genre-defying entertainment created by the director, producer and actress Gyda Arber. Call it an alternate-reality game played in primary reality. Call it avant-garde performance art. Call it whatever you want. I just call it brilliant.

And here's a slide show.

The show has been extended (no surprise)at The Brick (although it doesn't actually occur at the Brick).

The Revolution Will Be Photographed

Am greatly moved by these photos of the revolutionaries in Tahrir Square and other Egyptians in the New Yorker. So many artists and media folks among them. It really speaks to the need for artists and the creative thinking required to re-imagine a society, and to awaken the imaginations of a public hungering for change.

Watch the slide show.

The Art of Killing Yourself

As resources shrink, artists seldom adjust their ambitions or work habits. The work suffers, the artists suffers - usually both happen. Nancy Wozny in Houston Culture Map writes about fatigue in the art world:

There's work to be done, and if you don't have a staff to do it, it's usually you. It gets old. People get tired. Our labors of love can easily shift into labors of dread.

Arts vs. Facilities

Denver gets rid of Office of Cultural Affairs - consolidates cultural/entertainment agencies. From The Denver Post:

Anthony Radich, executive director of the Denver-based Western States Arts Federation, believes it is the wrong move at the wrong time. In what is becoming an increasingly competitive realm, more and more cities are promoting creative economic sectors and cultural tourism. "They are, if anything, really investing in the personnel and investing in the structure and organization of arts agencies at the city level. And here I see Denver disinvesting, and that is very troubling," Radich said.

Same as the Old Verse

The Dutch government led by a new center-right coaliation is making drastic cuts in arts funding. From The Art Newspaper:

Veen is also the founder and director of the Hermitage Amsterdam, which opened in 2009 with no government subsidy, and is widely admired as an entrepreneurial cultural manager. “I am holding a letter in which the state secretary for culture, Halbe Zijlstra, urges me to think more like a businessman in raising money for our institutions. This is about as much as I can take,” said Veen, who announced in March that he is retiring from both roles at the end of the year.

"About as much as I can take" indeed.

Introducing Presidential Candidate Thaddeus McCotter

From the New York Times:

"An intense man and an amateur guitar player, Mr. McCotter is a small-government, antitax conservative who most likely will try to align himself with the Tea Party movement."

Intermission Over

After more than 10 months on hiatus, Ticket to the Zeitgeist resumes its inspection of performance and politics. There seems to be no shortage of material as the 2012 US presidential extravaganza begins to erect its tents. (We may soon be adding a special section on the Michele Bachmann candidacy.)

The show must go on!