June 11th, 2008
Recommended Reading: June 11, 2008
Still cleaning up my backlog of unread online articles, here’s some more stuff I should have told you about last week…
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THE LIBRARY IN THE NEW AGE
nybooks.com—May 27, 2008
Writing in the New York Review of Books, Robert Darnton looks at the Internet and what it means to the future of information: what is to become of the research library when the World Wide Web so famously makes information instantly accessible—and more prone than ever to becoming misinformation? Drawing on examples ranging from his own experience as a cub reporter in the 1950s to the works of Shakespeare and Voltaire, Darnton makes a persuasive argument that information is neither spiraling into instability nor becoming less reliable—because it was never stable or reliable to begin with. Rather, the printed word has always and inevitably been subject to the vicissitudes of interpretation, error, or overt manipulation. Continuing to buck the treds of popular opinion, Darnton then goes on to outine the eight reasons he believes Google and its ilk are making the research library more important than ever.
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WHO KILLED JAZZ AND WHEN?
jazzwax.com—May 30, 2008
Why, in the middle of the 20th century, did jazz suddenly cease to be mainstream music in the United States? Was it the rise of rock & roll, the shift of jazz from entertainment to art music, or something else entirely? Marc Myers pondered these questions on his JazzWax blog a couple of weeks ago, moving the focus from Elvis and the Beatles to an earlier stage, when jump blues and R&B began tearing up the scene in the late 1940s, and arguing that jazz musicians themselves bore much of the responsibility for the fall. As you might expect, the comments on this one are as good as the article.
Today, Myers follows up that post with a broader view, reassessing some of his earlier comments in the context of technological, demographic and cultural shifts. Again, be sure to read the comments.
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BRUBECK AND THE BLACK HAWK
artsjournal.com/rifftides—May 29, 2008
I often regret that I came on the scene too late to experience some of the legendary jazz haunts, like San Francisco’s famed Black Hawk nightclub. Drummer Shelly Manne recorded a series of outstanding sets at the Black Hawk in the late 1950s, and the club was the setting for classic albums by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Mongo Santamaria soon afterwards.
You can catch a glimpse of the club in this cool YouTube clip of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, filmed for a failed television pilot in 1958 and hosted by Mort Sahl. Introducing the clip on his Rifftides blog, journalist Doug Ramsey waxes nostalgic about the room and provides some nice context.
Read the article »
Watch the video »
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QUICK HITS
- Ben Ratliff reviews Aaron Parks at Smalls (New York Times, May 30)
- A labor of love: producing a Jack Sheldon documentary (Los Angeles Times, May 30)
- Robert Ryan tours Paris for jazz lovers (The Sunday Times, June 1)
May 24th, 2008
Graphic Content
Since I should be working on the layout of Jazz Notes right now, but instead I’m goofing off, let me at least pay tribute to graphic design through some blog linkages I’ve been sitting on for a few days…
A Day in Brands
In an interesting twist on consumerist culture, Dear Jane Sample maps out a “typical Friday” entirely through the logos of products Jane interacts with (well, almost entirely). It’s clever, fascinating, and highly revealing. I don’t think I’ve ever had a Friday evening quite like that, but hey, more power to Jane. [found via Brand New]
R.I.P., Everything
Richard Watson, author of Future Files: A History of the Next 50 Years, created this extinction timeline for the years 1950-2050 [PDF]. Some entries are serious (Great Barrier Reef, extinct in 2030), others more tongue-in-cheek (Rocky films, 2032). It’s disappointing to think that we might have to deal with Paris Hilton for another 15 years before she finally falls into well-deserved obscurity, but at least we’re pretty much done with “mending things” ... oh, wait, that’s not a positive, is it? [found via DO]
Hosuton, I Think We Have a Cliché
My wife and I have a running dialogue going about trends in book cover design, which will have to be the subject of another post. But that conversation made this collection of book and movie between-the-leg shots even funnier. It is, as one of the pulp covers says, “Sweet Agony”. [found via DO]
May 23rd, 2008
Friday Video Party: May 23, 2008
Here are three very entertaining videos to get your holiday weekend started right…
Louis Armstrong & Danny Kaye!
Reg Kehoe & His Marimba Queens!
And for you hockey fans…
The Red Wings Guys and Barack Obama!
May 16th, 2008
Presidential “character” revealed by fonts?
Design Observer points out a nifty ABC News story about the typefaces being used by the Obama, Clinton and McCain campaigns and what those fonts says about the candidates. Sure, it’s a bit fluffy, but if you’re a type geek, how could you not have noticed when Obama chose Gotham? I sure did… but there is one problem with this piece, as DO points out: the Obama campaign uses two fonts: Gotham for the slogans, Perpetua for his name. And while Brian Collins is talking about Gotham in his analysis, the video is showing… the wrong font. Oh, well. The points made are still valid.
And while you’re pondering the impact of placard design on political history, take a look at this cool collection of Presidential Election Logos, 2008-1960!
But wait, there’s more! Right after posting this, I stumbled onto a Crain’s Chicago Business video about design firm Sender LLC and the creation of the Obama logo. [spotted on Quipsologies]
March 14th, 2008
Today’s Top Story…
All of the frustrated writers/editors in my office are simply agog over this headline from Scotland’s Daily Record (actually from July 4, 2007… I guess the news travels slow from Scotland). Prepare yourself and click through…
http://guterman.com/2008/03/im-not-half-bad-headline-writer.html
Spotted by Jimmy Guterman, who was spotted by Elkit.
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