A Message to all Parents in the Age of COVID-19
I launch my new band: John Sobol’s Sound Bytes!
Life as a husband and dad, creative professional, entrepreneur, author and member of other people's bands has meant that getting my own band back together has taken me longer than I ever thought it would. But at long last the train has left the station I am one happy conductor. Our first gig is Saturday... Continue Reading →
Battle at Kruger and Akira Kurosawa: Watching the Watchers and the Origins of Storytelling
Battle at Kruger is an 8 minute 24 second long YouTube video with 80,156,648 views. Perhaps one of those views is yours. About 6 or 7 of them are mine, having watched it repeatedly with various friends and family members over the years. Battle at Kruger is one of the most extraordinary nature videos you... Continue Reading →
Remembering Cecil Taylor – Musical Mystic
On April 5th, the great American musician and poet Cecil Taylor passed away at the age of 89. An appropriate lifespan, perhaps, for the legendary free jazz pianist, so willing to push the boundaries of his instrument's 88 keys. During his long and rich life spent trespassing on the outermost frontiers of coherence and... Continue Reading →
Sense8 – Brilliant Series Finale Leaves Uptight Critics in Dust
I have posted previously about the extraordinary Netflix action drama that is Sense8, the thrilling, sexy and profound show by Lana and Lily Wachoswski that wrapped recently with a 2 and a half hour series finale. I have in those posts also noted the timidity, prudishness and arrogance of critics who responded to this artful... Continue Reading →
No Surprise: SLĀV and FIJM Are a Perfect Fit
You wouldn't think it possible, really. That in this day and age the world's largest jazz festival would commission a white theatre director to create SLĀV, a major dramatic work based on African American slave songs starring a white singer and featuring a predominantly white cast. And yet, as anyone following the cultural news knows,... Continue Reading →
Social Media and Democracy: What Can Be Done? A Response…
Last night I attended an excellent event put on by the Public Policy Forum called Social Media and Democracy: What Can Be Done? at which no less than 5 smart and highly informed guest speakers from journalism, government, academia, civil society and the tech sector discussed the state of the internet and the threat of 'surveillance... Continue Reading →
Remembering Sheila Barry
Last week I learned the awful news that my publisher and friend, Sheila Barry, recently passed away. Across Canada there are dozens if not hundreds of authors who share my sorrow at her passing, for she was a central figure in Canadian publishing, responsible for the publication of scores of extremely popular children's books, first... Continue Reading →
Reflections on the National Gallery of Canada Biennale
Last night Annie and I attended the opening of the Biennale. Its distinguishing conceit is that the work on display represents a selection of recent (2014-17) acquisitions by the National Gallery. So, not a truly contemporary biennale, but for all that a powerful one, featuring some exciting and intriguing artworks. The best work is –... Continue Reading →
