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Ars Poetica
At the beginning of the score of his Valses nobles et sentimentales, composer Maurice Ravel placed a dedication based a quote from Henri de Régnier: “le plaisir délicieux et toujours nouveau d’une occupation inutile” (to the delightful and always novel pleasure of a useless occupation).
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Sing A New Song: Redefining the Christian Musician
When Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard first menaced the hardworking and God-fearing establishment of 1950s America, the prospect of rock ‘n’ roll retreating into stodgy conservatism must have seemed as ridiculous as the prospect of the Soviets giving democracy a shot. Thus, “Rock Hits Wall,” a recent Popmatters article about the decline of creative rebellion in popular music, made me wish I was one of those wide-eyed, plaid-clad adolescents of yore
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Resonant Silence
“Desperately Seeking Silence” is the title of an intriguing essay in the current issue of Cross Currents (Fall, 2007). The author, Brett Esaki, who identifies himself as a member of the Hip-hop generation, argues that the noise we hear in youth culture’s art forms is actually creating a meditative space of silence for those who have ears to hear.
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Good Art, Good Grief
I was supposed to turn this entry in approximately a week ago, and it was supposed to be about Bjork’s February 16th concert in Seoul, which I had been planning on attending—art, faith, mystery, and Icelandic wailing. Instead, God decided that my life should become infinitely stranger than even Bjork herself, and on the evening of the concert I was at home in Vancouver, B.C., mourning the loss of someone close to me.
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Auf Wiedersehen, Karl!
Recently, I was home sick catching up on my reading. Flipping through an accumulation of The Economist magazines, I began in the back with the obituaries...a singular and fascinating specialty of this publication. What greeted me was the obituary of German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who died December 5 at the age of 79.
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Current Issue
Issue 72
Memoir by Lauren Winner, Poetry by James Harpur, Art by Guy Chase and Adrian Wiszniewski
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