Moonblog

Dover Beach, op. 29 by Samuel Barber

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:37:00 -0400

Conservatory students of the Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia) performed a concert on March 15, 2010 celebrating the centenary of American composer Samuel Barber’s birth, at the Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium. I captured the concert with a modest one-camera setup. The performers of this work are:

Thomas Shivone, bass-baritone
Jeoung-Yin Kim, violin
Rebecca Anderson, violin
Marina Thibeault, viola
Jeong Hyoun Lee, cello

“Dover Beach” (1867) is a Victorian poem by Matthew Arnold that the composer set in its entirety to music, as you will hear here. The text:

The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; —on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!

Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanch’d land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Ægæan, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl’d.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Day 0 (I am easily amused)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:14:50 -0400

Day 0 (I am easily amused)

Grinderman - When My Love Comes Down (Treacle Session) Source: vimeo.com The Treacle Sessions...

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:52:00 -0400

Grinderman - When My Love Comes Down (Treacle Session) Source: vimeo.com The Treacle Sessions feature Grinderman playing live in a tiny east London studio. The performance was filmed by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard. Grinderman are Nick Cave, Martyn Casey, Warren Ellis and Jim Sclavunos. www.grinderman.com

Bliss. The board of directors at work. Brilliant camerawork/editing by Forsyth/Pollard.

Hamac Cazíim Documentary Stills

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:54:00 -0400

Hamac Cazíim Documentary Stills:

Op-Ed Contributor - No Sex Please, We’re Middle Class - NYTimes.com Source: www.nytimes.com A...

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:18:45 -0400

Op-Ed Contributor - No Sex Please, We’re Middle Class - NYTimes.com

Source: www.nytimes.com

A “female Viagra” won’t cure what ails America’s bedrooms.

Another insightful op-ed piece by the brilliant Camille Paglia.

Chuck Close (and more) at the Corcoran

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:38:40 -0400

Chuck Close (and more) at the Corcoran:

Today (Sunday, July 18) is the last day of a wonderful convergence at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Although you would most associate the museum with “static” art, for the past few months…

Since Jobs and his cult have for years guffawed at Windows...

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:32:35 -0400

Since Jobs and his cult have for years guffawed at Windows crashes in public places (by their corporate manipulations that say the Mac OS is the reliable tool of artistes), this Apple meltdown in the Corcoran School showcase is good medicine

Laurie Anderson

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:28:27 -0400

Laurie Anderson:

The blog has been rather catatonic for the past few weeks, essentially fulfilling that stereotype of the medium: new blogs get-it-on for just a few months, because everything’s fresh - but after…

DOCS IN PROGRESS SCREENING IN WASHINGTON, D.C. R. Luke DuBois:...

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:56:00 -0400

DOCS IN PROGRESS SCREENING IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

R. Luke DuBois: Running Out of Time (26 minute rough cut)
by H. Paul Moon

R. Luke DuBois is a composer and visual artist in New York City. His creative output builds on notions of cultural and romantic memory, exploring how information can be accelerated for emotional impact. Among his latest works is an ongoing project of composing one musical work per day for one full year, begun September 10, 2009. This short documentary interweaves conversations with visuals, performance, and behind-the-scenes footage. Featured in the film are MIVOS quartet and the Fair Use Trio.

Willows in the Midst (15 minute rough cut)
by Steven Holloway

For Gerry Palmer, life growing up in the Sandtown neighborhood of West Baltimore was tough. When his mother was incarcerated, he at a young age had no choice but to find a way to provide for his two younger sisters. He turned to the streets and to dealing drugs, tragically witnessing two generations of his friends become victims of crime and drugs. Years later and now determined to give back, Gerry with the support his community, risks his life to open and run a modern “open-air” café in an effort to bring comfort and renewed hope to his hometown.

Downtown Silver Spring (30 minute rough cut)
by Henrik Gronhaug

What does it mean to be run a Mom & Pop in the shadows of the nation’s capital? This film looks at three small business owners who have struggled to keep their businesses alive and thriving in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland amidst competition from shopping malls and corporate chains, and the ups and downs of growth and change in the Washington DC suburbs.

WHEN?
Friday, July 16, 2010 from 7:00-9:30 pm.

WHERE?
George Washington University’s Media and Public Affairs Building
Lower Level Auditorium (B-07)
805 21st Street, NW (corner of 21st and H Streets)
Washington DC 20052

Closest Metro: Foggy Bottom. Limited street parking free after 6:30 pm. Garage parking nearby on H and I Streets.

TICKETS?
$10 suggested donation ($5 suggested for Docs Insiders). Cash only at the door. No advance RSVP required.

Production Stills from "R. Luke DuBois: Running Out of Time"

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:37:00 -0400

Production Stills from "R. Luke DuBois: Running Out of Time":

Wuksachi Lodge, Sequoia National Park

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:37:30 -0400

Wuksachi Lodge, Sequoia National Park

General Sherman, the largest tree in the world

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:24:30 -0400

General Sherman, the largest tree in the world

“The Sentinel” at Sequoia National Park

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:56:30 -0400

“The Sentinel” at Sequoia National Park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wedge_%28surfing%29

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 01:18:37 -0400

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wedge_%28surfing%29

Five satellite news trucks were joined by a crowd of hundreds to...

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:57:28 -0400

Five satellite news trucks were joined by a crowd of hundreds to see the rare spectacle

The waves were amazing today at the tip of Balboa Peninsula,...

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:35:50 -0400

The waves were amazing today at the tip of Balboa Peninsula, called “The Wedge”

Independence Day at Angels Stadium

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:10:25 -0400

Independence Day at Angels Stadium

A little while ago, I set my thirteen-year-old nephew up with...

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 01:28:59 -0400

A little while ago, I set my thirteen-year-old nephew up with some modest facilities for composing electronic music, in a redux of my sullen childhood. He came back with a “debut album,” so: for the occasion of his fourteenth birthday (and also to terrorize his younger sister, like any good uncle), I couldn’t resist cutting this short little video to his music. I had just filmed it in the small village of Tipón a few kilometers outside Cusco, Perú - the world’s “spiritual center” of cuy, at the particular haven best known for…what you’ll see in the video.

(Not for the squeamish, and definitely not for anyone who has guinea pigs as cuddly pets. Like my niece.)

How Wagner Called Hollywood’s Tune - Idea of the Day Blog - NYTimes.com Source:...

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:51:06 -0400

How Wagner Called Hollywood’s Tune - Idea of the Day Blog - NYTimes.com

Source: ideas.blogs.nytimes.com

Friday | Today’s idea: The composer Richard Wagner, pioneer of leitmotif and the grand synthesis of performance arts, is also the father of the modern film score, an article says. [http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/17/entertainment/la-et-wagner-movies-20100617“>Los …

Finland the first country in the world to make broadband access a legal right —...

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:51:06 -0400

Finland the first country in the world to make broadband access a legal right — Engadget

Source: www.engadget.com

We knew this was coming, but starting today, every citizen of Finland has the legal right to a 1Mbps broadband connection, meaning that providers are