I am launching a monthly concert series in my new adopted hometown of Burritts Rapids starting on May 14. If you live nearby, come on down! Tickets available at the new website: http://www.bluemoonlive.ca
Blue Moon in Burritts Rapids
Do It Again by my new/old band SoundBytes
New Music Alert! Just before COVID I put my heart and soul into a new band. We played one thrilling gig and then the pandemic hit. We also recorded a few tracks that I intended to release as an EP. But it has been almost 2 years since then and I honestly don't know whether... Continue Reading →
My New Opera ‘Personal Pandemic’ Set to Premiere
I'm pleased to announce that a project that I conceived with composer Tim Brady over a year ago has come to fruition. Please be sure to check out Personal Pandemic – A Socially Distanced Opera which is set to premiere freely on YouTube and the official RISE website on June 28th 2021, 12 PM EST:... Continue Reading →
Rakestar CD Launch
New Music Alert! 10 years or so ago I was asked to come jam by a lanky fellow named Rory. I didn't know what to expect. Would we play Stones tunes? Jazz standards? Funk? Blues? To my surprise Rory – a drummer - just wanted to play. Free jazz. A beloved idiom but not one... Continue Reading →
Midsommar’s Horrifying Mirror of Truth
It was, strangely enough, Greta Gerwig's delightful Little Women, that cinematic ne plus ultra of wholesome domesticity, that tempted me to watch Midsommar, a 'horror' film whose breathless reviewers were united in calling 'disturbing' and 'bizarre'. More accurately it was Florence Pugh that drew me to Midsommar. Her performance as Amy in Little Women was... Continue Reading →
Kajillionaire by Miranda July – Shimmering Brilliance, Awkward Tragedies, Everyday Deities
I first heard the name Miranda July about 20 years ago, dropped casually yet reverentially from the lips of Sarah Sharkey-Pearce, one of the smartest, coolest young artists I knew. And so, although it would be a few years before I came across any actual artworks by her, Miranda July's name stayed with me. Brimming... Continue Reading →
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 →
Are digital technologies making politics impossible?
Earlier this year I came across a bold and inspiring new challenge called the Nine Dots Prize, which invited submissions to this important question: Are digital technologies making politics impossible? There were 700 entries and I did not win, but I am publishing my essay anyway because I think (hope!) it will matter to you.... Continue Reading →
TV Critics Too Jaded to Embrace Sense8’s Radical Empathy
I just finished binge-watching the fantastic first season of Sense8, the Netflix series written and directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski with Michael Straczyinski. It is extraordinary and totally worth watching. I don't usually write about TV shows on this blog but having watched the series I almost immediately went searching for intelligent critical commentary... Continue Reading →
Happy 2014 Update
Blogs ebb and flow like the tide, and this one is now flowing again. Here's a quick update about some recent activities as well as some of what I will be up to in 2014. Of course The Media League has been my main focus, with season 2 in full swing and producing some very... Continue Reading →
John Sobol 