Shows
Musical SpaceMusical Space: They Sold Their Souls For MusicBlues guitarist Robert Johnson is said to have gotten his musical talent by selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads close to the famous Dockery Plantation in the Mississippi Delta. The same story was told earlier about another bluesman named Tommy Johnson.
2020-03-2402 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: They Sold Their Souls For MusicBlues guitarist Robert Johnson is said to have gotten his musical talent by selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads close to the famous Dockery Plantation in the Mississippi Delta. The same story was told earlier about another bluesman named Tommy Johnson.
2020-03-2402 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Vinyl CrisisA fire destroyed an obscure factory in California a few weeks ago. Apollo Masters Corporation ran one of only two plants in the world that supplied lacquers, crucial components in the creation of vinyl records. The source of three-quarters of the world’s lacquers is now gone. I had never thought much about this process before, but the prospect of a lacquer shortage has given me a new appreciation for the arcane art of making records. Music: Bo Diddley, “Make a Hit Record,” The London Bo Diddley Sessions (1973) A lacquer is a disc coated with a proprietary material and shipped to cut...
2020-02-2621 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Vinyl CrisisA fire destroyed an obscure factory in California a few weeks ago. Apollo Masters Corporation ran one of only two plants in the world that supplied lacquers, crucial components in the creation of vinyl records. The source of three-quarters of the world’s lacquers is now gone. I had never thought much about this process before, but the prospect of a lacquer shortage has given me a new appreciation for the arcane art of making records.
2020-02-2621 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: ColdWinter is dragging on, and I’m not a fan of the cold. Freezing weather brings pain, a lingering kind that you sit and ruminate over. Add to this the uncertainty. January temperatures in Wichita have ranged from -15 to 75. The weather might blow from the Texas Gulf or from North Dakota. The fickleness builds hope, only to destroy it. Songwriters agree: Winter is misery, which is probably why there is so much music about the cold.
2020-01-2823 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: ColdWinter is dragging on, and I’m not a fan of the cold. Freezing weather brings pain, a lingering kind that you sit and ruminate over. Add to this the uncertainty. January temperatures in Wichita have ranged from -15 to 75. The weather might blow from the Texas Gulf or from North Dakota. The fickleness builds hope, only to destroy it. Songwriters agree: Winter is misery, which is probably why there is so much music about the cold. Music: Iron and Wine, “Faded From Winter.” The Creek Drank the Cradle (2002) - From his first album Songs can’t only be about happy th...
2020-01-2823 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Public DomainTomorrow - New Year’s Day - a number of works written in 1924 will have outlived their legal copyright status and enter public domain. This means anyone can record and perform these old songs and symphonies without having to pay royalty fees to estates or publishers.
2019-12-3119 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Public DomainTomorrow - New Year’s Day - a number of works written in 1924 will have outlived their legal copyright status and enter public domain. This means anyone can record and perform these old songs and symphonies without having to pay royalty fees to estates or publishers. Ninety-five years is longer than any composer can hope to benefit from their work while alive, but Congress has repeatedly extended the term, much to the benefit of rights holders like Disney and Time Warner. The latest extension, Sonny Bono’s law, also called the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, gave 20 years of added income to p...
2019-12-3119 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Room AcousticsWith the cold weather season driving us indoors, it’s a good time to consider how room acoustics affect our sonic space.
2019-12-0322 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Room AcousticsWith the cold weather season driving us indoors, it’s a good time to consider how room acoustics affect our sonic space.
2019-12-0322 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: 'Lab Girl'This year’s NEA Big Read book is Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, and you’ve probably heard about all the local celebrations of this botanist’s memoir. The book drew me into Jahren’s joy of uncovering secrets and finding connections with plants. As a musician, this is a subject dear to my heart — Lab Girl underscores how the music world relies on the diversity of tree species. I wouldn’t have a decent double bass if it weren’t for a bizarre array of woods and a history of people who discovered how to use them. The top of my instrume...
2019-11-0616 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: 'Lab Girl'This year’s NEA Big Read book is Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, and you’ve probably heard about all the local celebrations of this botanist’s memoir. The book drew me into Jahren’s joy of uncovering secrets and finding connections with plants. As a musician, this is a subject dear to my heart — Lab Girl underscores how the music world relies on the diversity of tree species.
2019-11-0616 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: BrexitWatching a country tear up its continental agreements has gotten me thinking about how music is an international industry. The U.K. exports more than three billion dollars worth of recorded music a year. Its artists make another billion from live tours, acting as goodwill ambassadors in the process. A lot of this success comes from British artists’ abilities to freely sell their records and live music to other EU countries. But it seems 10 Downing Street has forgotten both how important music is culturally and its part in offsetting the mounting English trade deficit. [Music: Foals, “On the Luna,” Everything Not Sa...
2019-10-2218 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: BrexitWatching a country tear up its continental agreements has gotten me thinking about how music is an international industry. The U.K. exports more than three billion dollars worth of recorded music a year. Its artists make another billion from live tours, acting as goodwill ambassadors in the process. A lot of this success comes from British artists’ abilities to freely sell their records and live music to other EU countries. But it seems 10 Downing Street has forgotten both how important music is culturally and its part in offsetting the mounting English trade deficit.
2019-10-2218 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Oil BoomHistoric events can shape the course of music. This week marks the anniversary of the Kansas Oil Boom, when a well just east of Wichita struck crude in 1915.
2019-10-0819 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Oil BoomHistoric events can shape the course of music. This week marks the anniversary of the Kansas Oil Boom, when a well just east of Wichita struck crude in 1915.
2019-10-0819 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: The Storming Of Area 51I have no plans to help storm Area 51 on the 20th of this month. I’m referring to a joke Facebook event that some UFO enthusiasts have taken seriously: Their motto is “They can’t stop all of us.” There are also plans for an impromptu, unlicensed music festival in a nearby village.
2019-09-1023 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: The Storming Of Area 51I have no plans to help storm Area 51 on the 20th of this month. I’m referring to a joke Facebook event that some UFO enthusiasts have taken seriously: Their motto is “They can’t stop all of us.” There are also plans for an impromptu, unlicensed music festival in a nearby village.
2019-09-1023 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: John PeelAllow me to bring to your attention the British DJ John Peel, whose posthumous 80th birthday is this Friday. Peel worked for an offshore pirate station outside of London before moving in 1967 to the BBC, bringing with him an attitude of independence and iconoclasm. For 37 years he programmed music he thought people should hear, regardless of charts or market research, and in doing so defined what it means to be a music curator, and what can happen when a truly good one comes along.
2019-08-2721 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: John PeelAllow me to bring to your attention the British DJ John Peel, whose posthumous 80th birthday is this Friday. Peel worked for an offshore pirate station outside of London before moving in 1967 to the BBC, bringing with him an attitude of independence and iconoclasm. For 37 years he programmed music he thought people should hear, regardless of charts or market research, and in doing so defined what it means to be a music curator, and what can happen when a truly good one comes along. The quantity and quality of music that John Peel discovered for his listeners is staggering. He...
2019-08-2721 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Once Upon A Time... In HollywoodEvery Quentin Tarantino film is a musicological event — a study in the use of soundtrack music — and his latest is particularly interesting, because he limits himself only to music heard when the movie takes place, in 1969. So, without divulging spoilers or trying to be a film critic, I really have to talk about Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood.
2019-08-1322 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Once Upon A Time... In HollywoodEvery Quentin Tarantino film is a musicological event — a study in the use of soundtrack music — and his latest is particularly interesting, because he limits himself only to music heard when the movie takes place, in 1969. So, without divulging spoilers or trying to be a film critic, I really have to talk about Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood. Most striking is the film’s many layers. It’s a movie about making movies: actors playing characters playing characters, history distorted through camera lenses as seen through camera lenses. The confusion allows Tarantino to live out a fan-fiction fantasy; he even get...
2019-08-1322 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Artist VisasA couple years ago I was playing in an opera production; a famous Hungarian singer was slated to star — except that his visa application was held up because of a backlog, he couldn’t legally fly to the states, and the company had to hire a last-minute substitute. This kind of thing has been happening lately to international musicians, authors, dancers and filmmakers wanting to present their art in the U.S. using a special visa, the same kind used by athletes to compete and scientists to present at conferences. The paperwork is cumbersome and the decisions can be arbitrary. For...
2019-07-1618 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Artist VisasA couple years ago I was playing in an opera production; a famous Hungarian singer was slated to star — except that his visa application was held up because of a backlog, he couldn’t legally fly to the states, and the company had to hire a last-minute substitute. This kind of thing has been happening lately to international musicians, authors, dancers and filmmakers wanting to present their art in the U.S. using a special visa, the same kind used by athletes to compete and scientists to present at conferences. The paperwork is cumbersome and the decisions can be arbitrary. For...
2019-07-1618 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: The End Of iTunesIt looks like Apple is killing its music app iTunes. Introduced when mp3s were becoming the new medium, iTunes was a brilliant move for Steve Jobs, and perfect for the revolutionary iPod, and it soon made Apple the world’s largest music seller.
2019-07-0218 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: The End Of iTunesIt looks like Apple is killing its music app iTunes. Introduced when mp3s were becoming the new medium, iTunes was a brilliant move for Steve Jobs, and perfect for the revolutionary iPod, and it soon made Apple the world’s largest music seller.
2019-07-0218 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: O CanadaCanada Day is July 1, so I figured I’d send my browser to points north to find out what’s going on up there musically.
2019-06-1817 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: O CanadaCanada Day is July 1, so I figured I’d send my browser to points north to find out what’s going on up there musically.
2019-06-1817 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Upcoming Shows And The People Who Bring ThemI’m seeing all kinds of good concerts coming to Wichita this summer. And the lineup is surprisingly free of washed-up acts trying to squeeze the last dollars from their fleeting fame. Instead, we’re being treated to musicians with a lot of hipster cred, including some rising stars.
2019-06-0418 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Upcoming Shows And The People Who Bring ThemI’m seeing all kinds of good concerts coming to Wichita this summer. And the lineup is surprisingly free of washed-up acts trying to squeeze the last dollars from their fleeting fame. Instead, we’re being treated to musicians with a lot of hipster cred, including some rising stars.
2019-06-0418 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Wedding MusiciansWeddings are just about the only events where it is still traditional to hire a band. Sure, you can get by with a DJ or even a digital playlist, but live music is still classier - they’ll wear tuxedos for you - and this may be the only opportunity for your nephew to come face-to-face with a living, breathing, member of the ancient fraternity of professional musicians. So if you’ve hired a string quartet, jazz combo, or Top-40 band for your wedding, congratulations, you’re carrying on a thousand-year tradition.
2019-05-2118 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Wedding MusiciansWeddings are just about the only events where it is still traditional to hire a band. Sure, you can get by with a DJ or even a digital playlist, but live music is still classier - they’ll wear tuxedos for you - and this may be the only opportunity for your nephew to come face-to-face with a living, breathing, member of the ancient fraternity of professional musicians.
2019-05-2118 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Films About MusicI’ve been talking lately about good film music, but what about films about music? I imagine it’s difficult to do - what can a movie say about music that the music itself doesn’t already tell you? - but great directors have turned their cameras on music makers in lots of different ways.
2019-05-0724 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Films About MusicI’ve been talking lately about good film music, but what about films about music? I imagine it’s difficult to do - what can a movie say about music that the music itself doesn’t already tell you? - but great directors have turned their cameras on music makers in lots of different ways.Music biopics often fall flat for me - it’s hard to idolize a musician and tell an interesting story at the same time, but the Criterion Collection has some good ones: Sid and Nancy, about the Sex Pistols’ doomed bassist Sid Vicious and The Buena Vist...
2019-05-0724 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: The Music Of Notre DameThe recent tragic fire at Notre Dame got me thinking about that building, and others like it. Music history is tied to a thousand years of cathedrals being at the cultural center of every European city.
2019-04-2316 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: The Music Of Notre DameThe recent tragic fire at Notre Dame got me thinking about that building, and others like it. Music history is tied to a thousand years of cathedrals being at the cultural center of every European city.
2019-04-2316 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Movie MusicA lot of movies use music as sonic wallpaper - just background sound to fill silence and fit the genre - but bold, memorable films tend to have equally strong and unforgettable music at the forefront. Great filmmakers have a way of merging images and narrative with the visceral power of sound. It happens a lot in art-house films, like those you can watch on the new Criterion Channel. I’ve been perusing their catalog lately, and lots of titles have come to mind. Music can tie a film to a time and place: Punk Rock is what sets Repo Ma...
2019-04-0919 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: Movie MusicA lot of movies use music as sonic wallpaper - just background sound to fill silence and fit the genre - but bold, memorable films tend to have equally strong and unforgettable music at the forefront. Great filmmakers have a way of merging images and narrative with the visceral power of sound. It happens a lot in art-house films, like those you can watch on the new Criterion Channel. I’ve been perusing their catalog lately, and lots of titles have come to mind.
2019-04-0919 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: CriterionThere’s a lot happening in the movie biz: Disney just bought 21st Century Fox and will be launching their own streaming service later this year. More interesting to me, though, is what’s going on with the most important distributor of serious film - The Criterion Collection.
2019-03-2622 minMusical SpaceMusical Space: CriterionThere’s a lot happening in the movie biz: Disney just bought 21st Century Fox and will be launching their own streaming service later this year. More interesting to me, though, is what’s going on with the most important distributor of serious film - The Criterion Collection.
2019-03-2622 min