Category — Cafe Lite

I always appreciate a healthy dose of Christmas carol humor around this time of the year. Thanks to Rhett and Link and YouTube for this gem.

Johann Sebastian Bach has inspired Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and a dueling game set to the tempo of music.

Johann Sebastian Joust. The new favorite icebreaker for music camps everywhere.

Weekly roundup of (mostly) arts-related chatter around the web:

• Thick chowder and strong coffee: This Washington Post article on marketing and consumer preferences has me thinking. (via Cranach)
• From Concert Halls to Cafes: Just heard about the Classical Revolution movement a few weeks ago. Nice NY Times write-up!
• Fauxgo: A fun Tumblr site that catalogues logos created for fictional companies.
• Hannah Coulter Free Download: This recommendation convinced me to download Christian Audio’s free August giveaway, Wendell Berry’s Hannah Coulter.
• Ben Shive Free Download: And this free Ben Shive download has me looking forward to his new album coming later this month.
• Typography in 7 Minutes: Interesting mini-documentary from PBS Arts.
  

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It’s been a crazy week between gearing up for our chamber music concert next Saturday and traveling to Toronto for a wedding. A highlight of the long trip back home was telling the customs officer I was a harpist and having him suddenly and intensely air-harp in response. Made my day!

• Enjoy your flight: Speaking of traveling, I got a laugh from this piece in The Curator on how to travel.
• A Symphony in Nine Innings: Says the NY Times’ classical music critic, “For most fans attending a baseball game is a summer diversion, an addiction, an act of devotion. I’m a music critic, so for me it’s something else too: an immersion in bustling, jumbled, enveloping sound. And if you think of the Yankees as an athletic orchestra, the team has a comfortable and acoustically lively new concert hall. What if I treated a game as a kind of outdoor musical piece?” Read Anthony Tommasini’s review here.
• Awkward Classical Music Photos: A favorite diversion for the past couple of months. If you’re planning to get promotional shots done anytime soon, consult this site prior to your photo shoot.
• The Modern Cover Man: Alex Steinweiss, known as the inventor of the modern album cover, passed away last week: “In 1940, as a youthful first art director of Columbia Records, where he had been hired to design the label’s advertising materials, the Brooklyn native hit on the idea of replacing the plain brown paper wrapping of 78s with something far more eye-catching — and his work was pure genius. Steinweiss revolutionized how music was sold.” Check out some of his iconic designs.
• Boogity Boogity Boogity, Amen! That viral Nascar prayer has been autotuned…

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I’m generally a hot-coffee-only person, but yesterday’s 100+ Toronto weather warranted exception! Here are some links to enjoy while you’re inside trying to escape the heat wave (unless you’re in Seattle…):

• Facebook and Narrative Media: In a thought-provoking essay Paul Ford, asks if Facebook and other social media signals the end of endings. It’s also worth reading Justin Roddy’s response.
• Kremer quits Verbier: The famed violinist Gidon Kremer has pulled out of the major Swiss music festival Verbier, and not for health reasons, as previously reported: “I simply want to distance myself from the hype of “eventful gatherings”. My goal has always been to SERVE music and composers, and it will always remain to be. To please crowds, promoters and managers is another issue…”
• Overstreet’s Picks: Author / critic Jeffery Overstreet offers his list of film picks for the last decade. Good for filling up the Netflix queue, if you haven’t fired the company yet…
• Kickstarter for arts groups: Some helpful suggestions for using Kickstarter to fund your next arts project without sounding like yet another kid selling candy bars.
• Les Twins: These guys are amazing. Will someone please get them together with the Sulic & Hauser duo a la Lil Buck and Yo Yo Ma? (Les Twins video via Kottke)
  

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Weekly roundup of (mostly) arts-related chatter around the web:

• Extraordinary church buildings: 50 seriously impressive/unique structures. I like #4, #30, and #40.
• Sounds of Savannah: A few great concerts from the Savannah Music Festival are available in their entirety, including the Ebene String Quartet playing Debussy, Faure, and Ravel.
• Harry Potter, Jesus, and Me: A beautiful reflection by Andrew Peterson on the Harry Potter series and its impact on his own life.
• Letter to a Young Musician: Charlie Peacock writes, “Ask yourself how your musical life might cooperate with God in restoring rightness, doing justice, and showing mercy. Wonder out loud how music might remove impairments to healthy functioning. See your musical life as one faithful way to care for God’s creativity — people and place, and all of creation. Be in perpetual dream mode about how music might exist for the good of people and to proclaim God’s excellence as Creator.” Read the whole letter.
• Wimbledon, Typographied: This has been around awhile, but it’s still impressive every time I see it. The last match of last year’s Wimbledon between Nadal and Federer, reimagined.
  

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Weekly roundup of (mostly) arts-related chatter around the web:

• An evening with C.S. Lewis: “This one-man show by David Payne gives a good feel for C.S. Lewis as a man and as a thinker.”
• Biggest Mahler 8th ever? In Slovenia, Valery Gergiev recently conducted Mahler’s 8th with 1,140 musicians/singers — possibly the largest group ever. Here’s a spectacular set of photos from that performance.
• Charles Wesley Modern Hymns: A group of musicians have put out Love Divine, a collection of modern takes on Charles Wesley hymns. You can sample it online. Bob Kauflin also has a helpful review.
• Fungus-Treated Violin Outdoes Stradivarius: In a blind sound test, that is. No word on who was in the audience, though.
• Singing bird pistols: This has to be one of the strangest ways to spend ~6 million.
  

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Can’t set off fireworks where you are? How about a flame-throwing trombone instead?

Caution: according to the video description, “It can be difficult to play since it has a recoil.”

Happy Canada Day to my friends up north, and an early happy 4th to my fellow Americans. Here are some links for your holiday weekend:

• Seat saving as an art form: I suspect this happens a whole lot at Christian music concerts, not to mention many churches.
• The Beauty of Maps: If maps intrigue you, check out this BBC program, which explores the history behind some old gems.
• Contemporary Music: The Cultural Medium and the Christian Message: D.H. Williams asks, “What kind of Christians do contemporary services produce?” A thoughtful article worth reading.
• Playing with Food: Artist Judith G. Klausner takes playing with food to a whole new level. See her takes on toast, Oreos, and cereal.
• Tchaikovsky Competition: The results are in. The competition was not without controversy, but from what I saw the results aren’t surprising. The archives are still available so you can judge for yourself.
• Splitscreen: A Love Story: A sweet, short video shot entirely on a Nokia N8 mobile phone:
  

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Summer may have officially begun; but here in Seattle it’s hard to tell. We’ve had a couple gorgeous days along with an intense rainstorm this week. Ah well.

• Kind of screwed: Designer Andy Baio recently paid over $30,000 to settle a lawsuit over a pixel art cover created from a famous Miles Davis photo. He writes about what he had to endure in this informative though more-than-slightly disheartening article. An important read for anyone in the creative industry these days.
• The Revelation App: Artist Chris Koelle has released a beautiful app that illustrates the Book of Revelation.
• Hand-Hacking: “Want to learn a musical instrument, but can’t find the time to practise? A device now under development [in Japan] can take control of your hand and teach you how to play a tune.” It’s called…ahem…PossessedHand.
• Midcentury Modern Retirement Gear: Eames Eiffel Walker or La-Z-Boy Womb Chair, anyone?
• Love & War & The Seat In-Between: The versatile musician Josh Garrels has a lovely new album out, and it’s free! Check out the animation for the first track, White Owl, as well.
• The Human Orchestra: Before X-Men and Green Lantern special effects, there was this:

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