creativity – Page 3 – Manifold Recording / The Miraverse

Garrison Keillor plays the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC)

Because we are blessed with the best public radio station in the country (WUNC), we frequently receive the best that public radio has to offer, live and in person. Earlier this month, A Prairie Home Companion came to Durham, North Carolina to produce and broadcast a show at our new state-of-the-art Performing Arts Center (DPAC). As I settled into my fourth-row seat, I flipped through the program, it was a darned good thing I was sitting down when I read these words written by Garrison Keillor:

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The Obamas transform the White House into a Salon

In the comic strip Doonesbury, the White House is an iconic representation of all that is wrong with America and American power, the ironic home of presidents who, one way or another, come to represent the very evil they have sworn and affirmed their duty to defeat.

First Lady Michelle Obama Candidate Obama ran his campaign on a platform of change, and every day the Obamas surprise and delight with the changes they are bringing, not just to American politics, not just to Washington, but to the White House itself. Earlier this week, the Obamas hosted what the Washington Post believes to be the first-ever poetry jam at the White House. Somewhere from his living room in Heaven, Langston Hughes is nodding in approval as many gather to sing a new song. It is a joy to see what happens when we have a President who is willing to let America be America again.

And so we have a President who is willing to listen to both rhyme and reason, to both the arts and science. And we have a First Lady who is willing to bring people with something to say, something to listen to. What a change!

And so for one night at least, the East Room has become a Salon.

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Construction and Deconstruction

Michael Pollan Pulseoptional While I have been fairly diligent about maintaining my construction blog, I have neglected to blog about much else since January, which could mislead the reader into believing either that nothing else of interest is happening, or, worse, that nothing else has been interesting me, both of which are false. But this past week, two creative works—one a book and the other a CD—were so interesting that I was compelled to respond to both in manifold ways.

Now, for the blog, how to begin?

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Ben Folds makes my day

Ben Folds may claim “You Don’t Know Me”, but actually the truth is he doesn’t…know me…yet.

And yet, it’s like he does.

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WUNC highlights the creative importance of the Public Domain

WUNC is a fantastic resource for all manner of news and analysis, and I’m not just talking about the excellent NPR programming they carry.

The State of Things is one of North Carolina’s local treasures—valuable because it uncovers daily the local treasures of our state. Professor Jamie Boyle is one of the great thinkers, writers, and speakers about the topic of copyright, culture, and the Public Domain. Here’s the blurb for today’s show:

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Why Dissonance is the new Harmony (a lesson in Authenticity)

I’ve always had a soft spot for Youth Radio on NPR, but What’s is the new What? has taken that affection to a whole new level. The story Dissonance is the new Harmony prompted me to set a bookmark that day and commit to blog it when I had the chance. Now I have the chance…

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My first five minutes with James Taylor

James Taylor has been a blessing to me since hearing his records in high school more than 20 years ago. While I did also listen to music that was louder (Jimi Hendrix) or bigger (Led Zepplin) or more highly produced (The Beatles), his voice, his guitar playing, and the lyrics he sang combined to create for me a touchstone of musical purity and beauty that actually sustained me through some deep and dark noreastern winters. So James, if you are reading this, thank you!

This year James Taylor is promoting Covers, a new album of old music he didn’t write. And as he explains in the liner notes of his CD, that’s nothing new. And there’s yet more “everything old is new again” as he talks about his recording process…

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In Defense of Piracy (Larry Lessig)

Larry Lessig is always writing great blog postings, and I have him in my blogroll so that his ideas are easy to access. However, I’m blogging his essay In Defense Of Piracy specifically because it was picked up by the Wall Street Journal, meaning that perhaps some of the people who should be reading his work might have seen it. I think he’s spot-on.

And I think his essay exemplifies, in a more contemporaneous way, the ideas I put forward as part of my Ars Electronica paper.

Go read both!

The Art of Possibility

Book: The Art of Possibility A few years ago my wife Amy was encouraged on short notice to attend a lecture by Benjamin Zander; due to non-existent publicity for the event they needed seat fillers at UNC’s Memorial Hall.

Despite the limited audience (Zander writes that he is equally enthusiastic when speaking to five people as he is 1500), Zander’s message of enthusiastic optimism and positive tranformation had her calling me on my cell phone before she even got home.

I read the book from which the lecture was given shortly thereafter, and I, too was moved by its inspirational messages. Last night, as I prepared to listen to James Ehnes play the solo role in Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky’s always-dazzling Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 35 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thompon Hall, I thought again about the many lessons of Zander’s work and how they are more relevant than ever.

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Jazzin the Piedmont?

Jazzin the Black Forest Last month at the Ars Electronica 2008 conference and festival, I had a chance to discuss with a number of very smart folks both my physical studio project, Manifold Recording, and my approach to creating a new recording environment/context, the Miraverse. In the course of those discussions, a number of people mentioned Jazzin the Black Forest, a Book/DVD combination that documents the amazing history of the German MPS label.

The letters MPS stand for “Most Perfect Sound”, and as John Kelman writes…

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