ART MATTERS ! Now, more than ever

In time of crisis and isolation, the role of art becomes more central to our lives, whether we realize it or not. There are as many of us turn towards the arts for some explanation of these accursed times as there are turning towards the sciences.…
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INSIDE RIGHT LEFT OUTSIDE

I truly believe that Jimmy Cricket should be celebrated far and wide. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

your free WEEKEND WALKABOUT volume 1

Welcome to the first edition of WEEKEND WALKABOUT which picks up all the stories we hadn´t found space for on our daily blog. We are also grateful that Steve Cooke will share with us his UK column so that we will always have something to talk about wherever we meet along the sidetracks and detours, all across the arts.

FINALE: STEPHEN SONDHEIM

Norman Warwick reads a A WEST-SIDE STORY OF SONDHEIM An intimate portrait of a genius: the late Stephen Sondheim, is a series of illuminating and deeply personal interviews from the last years of his life that show the composer-lyricist…

STAGE A SIT-IN

Julie Hesmondhalgh has called on supporters of Oldham Coliseum to STAGE A SIT-IN as Steve Cooke reports From his all across the arts office in Rochdale Steve Cooke, (left) has updated his story that we published last week under…

LOOKING BACK AT BURT BACHARACH

Music can also follow sidetracks and detours and can integrate communities in any part of town: in the concert halls, the folk clubs, the country side, along the blues alleyways. Burt Bacharach songs can be heard in all of them, and many of them have enjoyed interpretations by musicians playing in the jazz joints of the UK.

CHEWING THE FAT WITH BUB

this is a book about listening closely to stories and songs, about leaving home in order to find home,
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BEFORE MUSIC

Discover how music is made in this survey of musical instruments from around the world. Organized by material--from wood to gourds to found objects and more--Before Music marries a lyrical core text with tons of informational material for curious readers.
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turning of the jazz MOON TO GOLD

It is far more certain that Moon To Gold is a jazz album. By Karla Harris and the Joe Alterman Trio (left), the album boasts beautiful Nat King Cole or Oscar Peterson sounding trills along the piano by Joe, strolling bass lines by Kevin Smith and exciting but always empathetic drums by Justin Chesarek. However, it also contains songs I consider to be real Americana and Karla delivers a lovely, sad and sultry performance of Blue Moon and her glorious version of Bridge Over Troubled Water, that great sixties folk song, or is it a blues, or a gospel or even a hymnal jazz song in disguise?

TALKING POETRY

Poetry is the echo of love, therefore, it seeks a language of peace, of tolerance. Behind the great poets there is an ethic that helps us to be above violence, war, discrimination or hatred. Poetry is a way of traveling through the territory of querencia, of recreating its hidden values of tolerance and dialogue, poetry, is what we sometimes think and do not dare to say because we can seem very naïve in a world of complex discourses, which shy away from simplicity.