silversand

This beautiful and sad article from the LaFayette Sun was recently posted to the Fasola discussion list. The article, written by an educator and leader in the black community of Chambers County, describes the decline and recent cessation of the seven shape singing conventions in the area. The article was not available online, so I have published it to a web page on my shape note music web site.

Please read:

• Shape Note Singing: A Lost Tradition (LaFayette Sun)

Each year for the last few years, Will Fitzgerald, a Sacred Harp singer from Kalamazoo, Michigan and NASA scientist in his spare time has published a list of the frequency of tunes led at Sacred Harp singings over the previous year, compiled by examining the published minutes of Sacred Harp singings worldwide, made available by the Sacred Harp Publishing Company. His lists

• For 2005
• 2003-Present along with other Sacred Harp info from Will

are straightfowardly presented without analysis, but are fun to peruse. They offer some surprises (to me) both at the top and the bottom and a wealth of information (for folks similarly obsessed with stuff like this) throughout.

This year Glenn Latimer, a new singer from McDonough, Georgia, has duplicated Will’s efforts and produced a similar list (though there are minor discrepancies), I think by entering the minutes by hand! Glenn has gone ahead and compiled lists as well for the frequency of songs sung from other popular shape note tunebooks as they appear in the Sacred Harp minutes, and has provided some interesting analysis, including lists of the most common opening, closing, commemorative, and memorial committee songs. Rather than publish the complete listing, Glenn has chosen to focus on the top and bottom of the list, though he as published the entire listing on the fasola singings and discussion listservs.

A Minnesota singer has posted Glenn’s findings to his web site:

• F.S.S.H.S. (frequently sung Sacred Harp songs)

Aside from the casual interest I have in these lists as a singer, I suspect there’s some interesting work to be done tracking the changing popularity of songs over the years. David Ivey recalled at Camp Fasola this year that Sardis, a relatively popular tune but one that certainly does not make the top 25, was one year the tune sung most often. More localized analysis could track disparities in the frequency of different songs being led accross different regions, or from year to year at particular singings. I would be interested in tracking, for example, the occurence of songs by new composers added to the 1991 Revision, to examine how, when, where, and to what extent these songs were taken up by singers, and seeing what, if any, interesting patterns emerge.

What would make analysis of the richest sort possible would be the dissemination of an Excel spreadsheet containing all of the information compiled in the Minutes book. (something like this may already be available, or at least, in the hands of the minutes book committee. If so … uh … cool!) Generating lists like Will’s and Glenn’s would be a fairly straightforward for someone armed with such a spreadsheet, but more specific and finely textured analysis would also be possible, since these lists would index the leaders and singings associated with each particular incidence of a song being led.

Well, looks like I haven’t posted to this blog since advertising the June Albany All-Day singing in, well, June [Doh, May]. Now it’s August. That makes this blog about as close to dead as it’s ever been.

Since I last posted I went on a 10-day trip to Alabama for Camp Fasola and a bunch of wonderful and varied Sacred Harp singings, had a great experience holding a singing school and performance/assembly with Carrie at Widow Jane Mine in Rosendale, NY, sang in the Newport Folk Festival, and did tons of other things that merit posting.

I do have time to write blog posts, but ever since I made the decision to keep personal information to a minimum in March of last year, I’ve felt less and less motivated to take the time to write here.

• If you want to follow my thoughts on politics and various other matters by looking over my shoulder as I persue the Internet, then be sure to check out my del.icio.us bookmarks, which I obsessively organize and post to quite regularly. (This, no doubt, has also contributed to the dirth of content here, in particular, the absence of political writing.) My del.icio.us bookmarks are also available from this site, via links in the sidebar.
• I’m also slightly better about updating the news section of my art portfolio with information about upcoming events and reports on shows and performances in my art life than I am about making such announcements here.
• I also update my art portfolio and my shape note music web site with documentation of art projects and scores to new tunes on a fairly regular basis.

So, I’m not ready to declare this blog dead. I hope I find some reason in the near future to pick it up again and start posting. I’m writing this to acknowledge the reality that I have effectively stopped posting. Please keep me in your RSS reader, if you can spare the space. Hope to be back soon.

I will be serving as chair this year of the Albany-Area New York State Regional All Day Singing. This is the only All-Day Sacred Harp singing in Eastern New York, and is held in the Old Songs Building, an 1880s structure in Voorheesville, NY with excellent acoustics (and the site of my thesis show in March). I hope many of you can come to the singing. It’s a good strong singing that usually draws around 60 people, but it’s cozy enough not to be too intimidating. And, you’ll have plenty of chances to lead! Official announcement follows:

Dear singing friends,

Come join us for the Albany Area New York State Regional Sacred Harp Singing on Saturday, June 10, from 10 AM to 4 PM with pot luck dinner at 12:30 PM at the Old Songs building, 37 South Main Street, Voorheesville, New York.

No experience is necessary. Tunebooks will be available. Come for as much or as little of the singing as you wish.

Voorheesville is a short 20 minute drive from New York Thruway exit 24 or Crossgates Mall in Albany and an easy drive from neighboring Schenectady or Troy. Boston and New York City are less than 3 hours away.

The Old Songs building is fully handicapped accessible. It does have a refrigerator but no stove, so please bring food ready to serve.

You can find a map and detailed directions to the Old Songs building on the Old Songs web site.

From Route 20/Western Ave. take Route 155 south toward Voorheesville 3.2 miles; turn right on Voorheesville Ave. Follow into village (about 1/2 mile); turn right on S. Main St. (look for Stewarts Shop at that corner). 37 South Main is across from Stewarts. Parking is available behind Voorheesville Carpet Co., down the street on your right.

We hope to see and sing with you there.

Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg
Troy, New York

George & Jean Seiler
Stillwater, New York

If you’re anywhere near Troy this Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, this festival should be lovely. My friends Micah and Bethany are performing, and I’ll be there volunteering most of the weekend.

The Gilded Pony Performance Festival

Troy, NY — ATLAS Dance and FO (A) RM Magazine present The Gilded Pony Performance Festival May 19-21, 2006, in Troy and Valley Falls, NY.

A lively and multi-faceted event spanning 2 nights and 1 day, connecting the dots between dance, poetry, sound, physical comedy, video installation and performance art. Two original programs premiere at the theater of the Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy, NY, at 8pm on Friday May 19th and Saturday May 20th; installation and performance works will be shown in the context of a country picnic from 12pm-6pm on Sunday May 21st at The Old Brick Church in rural Valley Falls, NY.

Co-curated by Hélène Lesterlin of Troy and Bethany Wright of Valley Falls, this artist-led initiative aims to reimagine the way performers and audiences interact through a series of 24 pieces by 50 artists from throughout the Northeast, most of whom will be performing in the Capital Region for the first time.

The audience is invited to come early and bring their families to spend Sunday afternoon interacting with innovative artists and discovering hidden installations throughout the Church sanctuary and in the field outside, while enjoying a picnic in a peaceful village setting.

Admission for each day is $15 for adults, $12 for students and seniors. Weekend passes ($40/$35) may be purchased to cover all three days. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling 845-417-3845 or emailing gildedpony@gmail.com. Abundant street parking is available in downtown Troy and in Valley Falls.

Additional information and directions may be found on the Gilded Pony website.

Event Info

Event: The Gilded Pony Performance Festival, May 19th ­ 21st, 2006

Dates: Friday, May 19th & Saturday, May 20th, 2006
Place: The Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street,
Troy, NY
Times: 8:00-9:30pm
Tickets: $15/$12 or weekend pass $40/$35 (adult/students & seniors)

Date: Sunday, May 21st, 2006
Place: The Old Brick Church, 12 Emily Street, Valley Falls, NY
Time: 12:00-6:00pm
Tickets: $15/$12/$10 (locals discount)

About the co-producers of the festival

ATLAS Dance

ATLAS Dance is a contemporary dance and production company dedicated to the creation and performance of new work at the crossroads of improvisation, choreography, performance and film. Founded in 2005 by Hélène Lesterlin as a vehicle for her creative and curatorial projects, ATLAS Dance aims to create work reflecting the visual and sensual complexity of the world today.

FO (A) RM Magazine

FO(A)RM is an interdisciplinary magazine published once yearly. FO(A)RM encourage cross-genre methods and investigative projects, with a special focus on sound-art, experimental poetics and social sculpture. Each issue clusters around a given topic, gathering together a variety of perspectives, methods and articulations from the extravagant to the pedestrian (and the juncture between).

Addendum

Due to some unusual circumstances, it looks like I’m actually going to be performing tonight (Saturday) in the festival.

As an Elvis impersonator.

I kid you not.

I’m watching Joe Biden on C-SPAN. He’s giving a speech at the Galavants Ferry Stump Meeting in South Carolina so he’s speaking about religion. A choice quote:

The Republicans use religion as an organizing tool, we see it as the road to redemption. That’s the difference between us.

Clever.

I won’t be in this show since I’m graduating this semester. But most of my fellow grads will be. Come take a look!

“Empty-Set-Go!,” an exhibition of work by MFA candidates at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will take place on Sunday, May 7th from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM in the West Hall Gallery, Room 111, Sage Avenue, Troy, NY. Reception with the artists at 5:00 PM.

“Empty-Set-Go!” is a public exhibition of both works in progress and finished pieces with the artists themselves available to discuss their work; some of the work will be formally installed, performed or screened, and other pieces will be displayed in the artists’ studios. Their work covers diverse conceptual and aesthetic terrain and manifests through multiple mediums including sound, video, performance, and installation. Artists include Caterina De Re, Dara Greenwald, Will Lindsay, Noah Marchal, Vodstrup, Alex Chechile, Yael Kanarek, Boryanna Rossa, and Zulma Aguiar.

Additional information on the artists may be found in the student section at the RPI Arts web site. For more information call (518) 276-4829.

James Poniewozik wrote Wednesday that the Colbert speech is becoming “the political-cultural touchstone issue of 2006.” So it seems that thanks to the Internet, this speech may end up getting the attention it deserves. Maybe. Poniewozik writes for TIME, but this piece appear on his Tuned In blog for TIME.com. So while Poniewozik uses the trajectory of attention paid to this speech to demonstrate “how authority is fragmented and democratized in the Internet era,” I still haven’t seen much to convince me that authority has become democratized on any other media.

So, to the extent that the Internet actually matters, woo-hoo! But otherwise, it’s still the Bush/Bridges story and the ordinary, centralized, lack of critical reporting that carries the day.

• Read Stephen Colbert and the Death of “The Room” (TIME Tuned in blog)

It looks like some other people, some of them from mainstream media outlets, noticed the lopsided coverage of the White House press correspondents’ dinner. Since I wrote my previous post, a number of other bloggers, followed by a number of web sites associated with newspapers and TV shows (as well as major online magazines like Salon) have written on the Colbert speech, linked to video, or included full or partial transcripts of his address.

The general tenor of these articles has been to bracket attention given to Colbert’s speech with the observation that the media largely ignored it at first, but was cowed into acknowledging what happened by the blogosphere. In printing these reports the media is waking up, but it’s really just blinking its eyes and yawning once before falling asleep again. These articles are mostly commentary and opnion, not proper news articles like those devoted to the Bush/Bridges speech. Furthermore, many of the Colbert articles appear in the blogs associated with mainstream news outlets, so they may not have made it into print.

A Selection

• Ignoring Colbert: A Small Taste of the Media’s Power to Choose the News (Salon.com Daou Report blog)
• Chris Durang: Ignoring Colbert, Part Two (Huffington Post)
• All kidding aside (Washington Post White House Briefing blog)
• Colbert Still Digesting Correspondents’ Reactions (MSNBC)
• Comedy in the Eye of the Beholder (UK Guardian News Blog)
• Why Colbert Matters (Salon.com War Room blog)

Also, I didn’t link the Moderate Voice’s review of Colbert’s speech from my previous post because I was focusing on major news outlets. It’s just a blog, but it was pretty much led the pack on reporting the details of Colbert’s speech and the media’s response.

• Colbert’s White House Correspondent Dinner Performance Underscores Irony’s Power And Delicacy (The Moderate Voice)

Steven Colbert gave a dark and bitingly funny speech at last night’s White House press correspondents’ dinner. Colbert spoke after President Bush himself, who appeared with Bush impersonator Steve Bridges acting as the President’s internal monologue as the two delivered a speech. The Bush/Bridges duo was innocuous but uproariously funny. Colbert’s speech was much more sophisticated, very funny, and pretty darn edgy, and seemed to put off a good portion of the audience, as well as the President and Laura Bush.

After watching the speech I immediately wondered how the media would respond. The press correspondents’ dinner generally gets reported in the media, mostly because they are all there, but also because it’s a rare opportunity to see the President joking around (well … not really). Not surprisingly, the Bush/Bridges duo (or the “Double-You,” to quote the BBC) won the overwhelming majority of the coverage.

Only two United States news outlets devoted all, or a substantial portion of their article on the press dinner to Colbert, Editor & Publisher, the only article with a title that references Colbert, and USA Today, the only major circulation newspaper to discuss Colbert’s speech at any length:

• Bush, celebrities attend press corps dinner (USA Today)
• Colbert Lampoons Bush at White House Correspondents Dinner — President Not Amused? (Editor & Publisher)

Most major outlets devoted just a sentence or two to Colbert. AP and Reuters devoted just one sentence each to Colbert. Many of the papers who reprinted the wire stories actually excised the Colbert sentence, and other papers followed the AP/Reuters lead, mentioning Colbert only briefly:

• Bush skewers self at correspondents’ dinner (Reuters)
• Bush plays straight man to his lookalike (AP, reprinted in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• Celebs Join Bush for Reporters’ Dinner (AP, reprinted in Forbes)
• At Annual Correspondents’ Dinner, a Set of Bush Twins Steal the Show (No mention of Colbert at all in the New York Times)

This trend was only amplified abroad. UK papers made no mention of Colbert:

• ‘Double-You’ Bush delights media (BBC)
• Double Bush delights media (UK Telegraph)

If you haven’t seen it, watch Colbert’s speech, hosted by Crooks and Liars.

Addendum

The Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages has written an analysis of the media coverage of the correspondents’ dinner along the same lines as this post. They cite the Editor & Publisher article as the only thorough report on Colbert’s speech, pointing out that a Google News search reveals that over 300 news outlets have written on the Bush/Bridges act. (By my count that number is now approaching 400.) The article then lists a number of Colbert’s best and most biting jokes. They also link to video of Colbert’s speech with better resolution (though more compression) than the copy I linked above. Definitely worth a read. Check out:

• The truthiness hurts (Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages)

Also, while the New York Times article on the correspondents’ dinner makes no mention of Colbert, an AP video hosted on the Times site features one of Colbert’s jokes and Colbert’s name is mentioned in the copy to the right of the video. Take a look at A New Set of Bush Twins to watch the video.

And lastly, it seems that Lou Dobbs showed a clip from Colbert’s speech and devoted some time to a substantive discussion on his humor and its impact at the event on May 2.