Vision • Strategy • Impact
In my book Digitopia Blues – Race, Technology and the American Voice, I described Dylan's impact this way: Dylan signaled the triumph of oral poetry for white America, the reconciliation of the word and the body, of the singer and the song, of the poet and the community. From here on in, it was a... Continue Reading →
Oral Culture = OS1 Literate Culture = OS2 Networked Culture = OS3 The rise of Donald Trump can be usefully understood as a product of the disruptive collision of oral, literate and digital cultures, or what I call OS1, OS2 and OS3, aka the Operating Systems (OS) of human civilization. That collision is the defining... Continue Reading →
This is the fourth in a series of new posts that explain how you can apply the lessons of jazz to collaborate successfully. * Never Say No “It’s impossible for me to feel like there’s only one way to do a thing. There’s nothing wrong with having one way of doing it, but I think... Continue Reading →
The Walrus Talk at the Canadian Museum of Nature on Thursday night took The Arctic as its theme, and the evening was as inspiring and illuminating as previous events in this ambitious national series. It also demonstrated with stunning clarity the conflict between communications cultures that is my main topic on this blog. As usual,... Continue Reading →
It took only 10 minutes for Sheila Barry of Groundwood Books to tell me she loved my story and wanted to publish it, but it has taken 4 years for the final product to arrive in bookstores! Happily Friend or Foe is now out and it has garnered some sweet reviews. "...a simple and utterly... Continue Reading →
This is the third of a series of new posts that explain how you can apply the lessons of jazz to collaborate successfully. * Make Room "Only play what you hear. If you don't hear anything, don't play anything." Chick Corea A collaboration is a set of relationships and as in any relationship both parties... Continue Reading →
Listen to One Cylinder by the Backtalk Organ Sextet https://ia801509.us.archive.org/2/items/backtalk2017-02-10.ca-14.flac16/backtalk2017-02-10d2t08.mp3 Scene Where: Irene's, Ottawa Who: Backtalk Organ Sextet Don Cummings - Hammond Organ and leader Mike Essoudry – Drums Chris Swain – Guitar Ed Lister – Trumpet Zakari Frantz – Alto sax Me – Tenor sax Report Risk Factor: 7 (my first gig with this... Continue Reading →
This is the second of a series of new posts that explain how you can apply the lessons of jazz to collaborate successfully. Listen “My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener.” Pat Metheny Collaboration is all about listening. Listening for needs, listening for opportunities and listening for cues. Jazz... Continue Reading →
I read with interest this thoughtful article by Diane Ragsdale about the challenges posed by digital tools to arts audiences, as well as the many excellent comments that followed. I added my own comment, which I will post here as it was fairly substantial: This is a fascinating topic, but I would argue that our... Continue Reading →
