So we took in the "Andy Warhol - Larger Than Life" exhibit at the MacKenzie Art Gallery on Saturday. The best part of the experience was being with the Ashton family, especially Beth who is their "arts" child - now living in the BC lower mainland - who was back to visit for the Easter weekend. We miss her but it was good to catch up and fun to see art together and discuss it. I like Warhol because, for me, he made modern and abstract art more accessible. When it comes to fine art and visual stuff I'm pretty much a philistine in a trendy t-shirt. I will say that the exhibit is quite good, well conserved and displayed with interpretive tours available. I say it's worth the $12. So check it out. (BTW the pic on this entry is attributed to Warhol but it came from the World Wide Weird Web so who really knows.)
The CBC just took their radio orchestra (the last such ensemble in North America) out behind the barn and shot it according to a report I heard on CBC radio this morning. My fav quote was from an emotional and understandably upset orchestra member, "They're taking this away so they can pay banjo players!" (This isn't verbatim but it's the best my shaky memory can do.) I love all kinds of music, and music is supposed to be the universal language of acceptance and peace, but take away an oboe player's meal ticket and it's every sensitive artist for themselves. Banjo players vs. cello players, the brass section vs. the percussion section, vocalists vs. the strings, rockers vs. folkies.... Oh, the humanity! Where will it end?
And once again the CBC management manages to live down to the reputation they have earned for being insensitive, heavy handed, myopic and artless. As a final point, the annual budget for the radio orchestra is under one million dollars. That's about what Rick Mercer has in his spare change holder on his bedroom dresser. Let's add managerially inept to the descriptive list above. Monkeys could figure out a plan to keep the radio orchestra going inside the CBC budget. If the CBC worked like public TV does in the US - even just a little bit - the listeners in Canada could be approached to help fund this and I bet they would.
As most of you know my real love is music, and usually popular stuff, by I am an eclectic listener so here's an overview of what I'm listening to and looking forward to listening to:
The Luther College High School Choirs Home Concert is taking place on Sunday, April 20th at Christ Lutheran Church, 4825 Dewdney Avenue, Regina at 7:30PM. Simply put this is an exceptional night of music from a program that always impresses and delivers a truly musical experience.
Nils Lofgren, guitar virtuoso and perennial member of the E Street Band is the source of my favourite quote about "The Boss". In the 1996 video released to support the EP "Blood Brothers" Lofgren says something to the effect that, "He (Springsteen) always has half an album in his back pocket. He's always got a few tunes he's working on and they're always good. Really, really good! I hate him." Obviously tongue-in-cheek, yet poignant and truthful from someone who should know and who has suffered and benefited from a long-running and tempestuous relationship with the guy I like to call the "rockin' Dylan". Still, Lofgren and the rest of the E Street Band has come together on Bruce Springsteen's latest album, "Magic", and my friends, it is.
I'll simply say this, if rootsy rock 'n' roll infused with cinematographic lyrics, virtuoso musicianship, killer production and acute social sensibility is your cup 'o' tea then this is it. I got mine for $9.99 on sale at HMV and frankly it was a steal because there isn't a bad tune on the whole disc.
The unlikely pairing of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss for the making of "Raising Sand" was one of those musical experiments that I was frankly a bit dubious about, despite all of the critical acclaim. I was wrong! (Does admitting that make me a 'bigger man', and will that question be a source of schadenfreude-based humour for many of you at my expense? Wait, why do I care? Nobody's reading this anyway. Whew - relief!) Anyhoo, the "Raising Sand" CD has been one of my recent happy discoveries and it also suggests to me that not every current music critic is a vacuous gasbag bent on shameless self-promotion or the pursuit of the sound of their own voice. (Hey, am I in that group? Naaahhh!) "Raising Sand" - try it, you'll like it.
Susie and I just purchased tickets to see Mark Knopfler in concert at the Conexus Arts Centre on Wednesday, July 9th. We saw Mark once before in Edmonton when he was still doing the "Dire Straits rock 'n' roll band" as he described it. All I could say to anyone who asked me about the show was, "Oh yeah! The boy can play!" If you want to see one of the greatest living guitarists and a fine, fine songwriter doing his thing then get on board. Mark may not be the "top of the pops" these days, but that might actually be a GOOD thing!
Months ago we also obtained tickets to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in Edmonton in August. We've been listening to Tom and the boys since we got married, so this, like the Knopfler concert, will be a nostalgic experience. I guess we're just a couple of middle-aged rockers now. (Hey, Hey, Hey!! No jokes about furniture here! I heard that!)
So we're getting some art into our lives. I am always moved, and amazed, and challenged, and disturbed, and inspired by these artistic encounters. I truly, truly believe that if an artist - whatever kind of art they do - is honest and steadfast in pursuing the truth they will necessarily encounter God, because ALL truth is God's truth. And so I find God playing with His children and intimately involved in their process of making art in the most unlikely and likely of places. I hope you find Him around you too.
"Coming Soon" - a review and discussion of "Horton Hears a Who".
Shalom people.
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