Posts Tagged ‘John Philip Sousa’
“I don’t consider it my violin. Rather, I’m its violinist. I am passing through its life.”*…
Jennifer Sandlin is (perfectly understandably) blown away by cellist-turned-photographer Charles Brooks’ images of the interiors of rare musical instruments…
… Each instrument appears as if it’s straight out of a dream — some look like futuristic structures, some like fantasy castles, and others like secret lairs of fantastical creatures. It’s hard to believe they’re real, and I’m just in awe of Brooks’ photography talent.
The photographs are part of Brooks’ “Architecture in Music” series, where, he explains, he “explore[s] the hidden spaces inside fine instruments” which have included a Steinway Grand Piano, the St. Mark’s Pipe Organ, and the Lockey Hill Cello (c. 1780, England), among many others…
Read on for more of the story: “Photographer captures the stunning interiors of rare musical instruments,” from @boingboing.net. See more of Brooks’ remarkable photos on his site. And hear him tell his story here:
* Ivry Gitlis (speaking of his 1713 Stradivarius violin)
###
As we cherish craftsmanship, those among us with a preference for reeds might note that today is Saxophone Day– a commemoration of the birth (on this date in 1814) of Adolphe Sax, a musician and inventor who created several new musical instruments (e.g., a redesigned bass clarinet still in use today), most notably the one that bears his name– the saxophone…
… while the brassier might celebrate the birthday (in 1854) of John Philip Sousa. A composer and conductor known primarily for American military marches (e.g., “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” National March of the United States of America. and “Semper Fidelis,” official march of the United States Marine Corps) he is widely acknowledged in the U.S. as “The March King.”
The press of unusually-intensive meetings is going to prevent posting tomorrow, so (R)D will be away for a day, returning on Saturday…
Video killed the radio star. Film, not so much…
Before MTV, and long before we could stream music videos on our cell phones, mid-1960s American hepcats gathered around 500-pound, 7-foot-high contraptions to watch 16-millimeter Technicolor films of B-list pop stars gyrating to their latest hits. The contraption in question was usually a Scopitone, one of several audio-visual jukeboxes found primarily in bars. Their reign, if you can even call it that, was brief, and by the end of the decade, the novelty of these then-high-tech devices had faded entirely…
Scopitone films were deliberately exotic, designed to appeal to a target audience of men on the prowl in bars. “They had to grab people’s attention from across a room… They are the only type of film produced for people who aren’t watching them. In general, nobody is choosing to look at the Scopitone machine. They’re mostly guys hanging out in a bar. The wild colors, suggestive dances, and bikini girls in the films were supposed to distract men from their drinking long enough to put more money into the machine to see what else might be in there.”
One Scopitone classic is Neil Sedaka’s “Calendar Girl.”…It’s just Neil in an ever-changing assortment of dinner jackets surrounded by a bunch of Las Vegas showgirls in very elaborate costumes, each themed for a different month of the year. It was guaranteed to get people’s attention in a bar in 1965…
The inside of a Scopitone machine: up to 36 films were mounted on a carousel, which rotated until the consumer's selection was aligned with the projector.
Read the entire Scopitone saga at Collectors Weekly… and check out more Scopitone “singles” at Bob Orlowsky’s Scopitone Archive.
As we make our selections, we might recall that this is the anniversary of different sort of public musical performance: on this date in 1892 “The March King” John Philip Sousa and his newly-formed band (post U.S. Marine Band) performed publicly for the first time, at the Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, N.J.
Sousa and his civilian band (source)
You must be logged in to post a comment.