BeyondGeography
BeyondGeography's JournalMusic critic David Hurwitz is brilliant, passionate, funny and never dull
That’s if you love classical music (check) and you’re still buying too much of it (check).
He’s also a great escape from the place we’re in. You can learn, be entertained and connect with someone who loves what he does and truly cares about enhancing your own understanding and enjoyment of great art. Yes, he tends to go on and on, but if you’re interested in the subject matter, you will have a very hard time not watching until the end. An example (there are many):
Ike & Tina Turner - I Smell Trouble (Soul to Soul, 1971)
This clip from the original Soul to Soul concert documentary held on Independence Day in Ghana shows up in AppleTV’s new 1971 music documentary with commentary from Kevin Griffin, a singer with Voices of East Harlem, who said that Ike spent the afternoon prior to the show getting wired on coke and trashing Tina:
“He belittled her. He talked about her like she was non-existent. Like she was a dog. He constantly verbally abused her and all she was doing was preparing herself to now deliver. She was the front person. She was the show. No person should have been able to deliver the performance that she delivered.”
(The Watch on YouTube link works.)
COVID died a little bit in Madison Square Garden tonight
Packed house. Old school raucous. What.a.blast.
https://twitter.com/TheBigFifteen/status/1397740270666629122
https://twitter.com/CoachMcCartan/status/1397736379749183491
'It has stood the test of time': was 1971 the greatest year in music?
...But for all their open-hearted admiration, the brilliance of their new project lies in the discipline with which they channel that spirit of fandom into a more studied form of cultural anthropology. The vast purview of their chosen year – John Lennon moving to New York, the Stones shacking up in the south of France, the Concert for Bangladesh, Joni Mitchell releasing Blue, the list of key events seems to go on forever – forced them to consider more thoughtful, creative methods of organizing the material. Though they worked from the basis of David Hepworth’s book Never a Dull Moment, the creative team wanted to move away from his straightforward chronology toward a structure shaped by overarching themes.
“When we got into the research, it became apparent what a seminal, transitional year this was,” Gay-Rees says. “The 60s had ended so badly – Kent State, Altamont, Charles Manson, the Beatles breaking up. It felt like there was a tonal shift to this golden age of paranoia. We all did a lot of reading around it, we being a team of 15 people beyond us, all in an open-plan office kicking around ideas all the time.
“It became really exciting when we realized there might be a different way to approach a music documentary, because we didn’t want to do the Behind the Music type thing. There’s a place for that, but it’s not our specialty.”
More at https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/may/22/asif-kapadia-1971-music-documentary-apple-tv?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Texas governor signs extreme six-week abortion ban into law
Source: The Guardian
Today, the Texas Republican governor, Greg Abbott, signed into law one of the most extreme six-week abortion bans in the US, despite strong opposition from the medical and legal communities, who warn the legislation could topple the state’s court system and already fragile reproductive healthcare network.
“This bill ensures that every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion,” said Abbott, flanked by several members of the Texas legislature this morning.
Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), passed by both chambers of the Republican-dominated Texas legislature, bars abortion at six weeks of pregnancy with no exception for rape or incest, amounting to a near-total ban as most women are not aware they are pregnant at this stage. While a dozen states have passed similar so-called “heartbeat” bills – bans on abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected – none have yet been enforced due to court challenges.
Unlike those measures, the Texas version absolves the state from enforcing the law. Instead it allows any private citizen the extraordinary authority to sue an abortion provider – they do not need to be connected to the patient or even reside in the same state, opening up the floodgates to harassing and frivolous civil lawsuits that could shut down clinics statewide.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/19/texas-abortion-ban-law-greg-abbott?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
