My late father Ken was a great writer who spent much of his career working in educational TV. He started writing for Nelvana back in 1975, when the global animation giant was just a gleam in the eye of its founders. He wrote or contributed to many series for them over the years, and many... Continue Reading →
This is the first in a series of posts about Empathy and Technology. The next installment will be on Surveillance -- As you may know, I have been following the Leveson inquiry into media ethics in the UK and it continues to yield amazing entertainment and insights. Among other things it demonstrates how very little... Continue Reading →
Today, after almost 18 months in solitary confinement, having been denied access to lawyers, to family, to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, and even having been denied clothes, Bradley Manning will for the first time face a judge. At his pre-trial hearing he will be formally charged with - among other things - "Aiding... Continue Reading →
A couple days ago I posted a recording called Where The Bears Go by my duo The John Waynes (so named because it consists of John Sobol (me) and Wayne Kelso). Today I posted a second recording by The John Waynes called The Evil I. For those keeping score, Where The Bears Go is a... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iJYd2M3Ul4 The Evil I by The John Waynes John Sobol (vocals) & Wayne Kelso (piano) All words and music in this piece are 100% improvised. No plans, no paper, no second takes. From the unreleased CD TRUCE. Image by Kiyotei Hear Where the Bears Go by The John Waynes Read about Improvised Poetry and Our... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ3Ptb04er0 Back in 2004, when I was running Digifest, I met an amazing musician and digital artist named Wayne Kelso. One day I went to his studio in the woods and we spent an afternoon improvising music and poetry. Wayne recorded our two 45-minute jam sessions. From those and a few other extended collaborations we... Continue Reading →
Jazz was - among other things - a century-long political conversation between Black Americans and White Americans. It was a musical, intellectual and spiritual conversation within a highly politicized social context whose axes were language, race and power. Jazz was also a conversation about technology, and about techno-cultures. To be specific, in jazz the conflict... Continue Reading →
Last week a friend sent me a link to this provocative blog post by famed jazz trumpet player, Nicholas Payton, who argues that jazz is dead. To me this isn't news, since I wrote the same thing in a lengthy piece in Toronto's eyeweekly back in 1992. And like Payton, who is being berated by... Continue Reading →
YOU ARE YOUR MEDIA 