Item 1: I’ve been listening to music on Tidal, and although it’s fulfilling it’s promise as an easy-to-use, better-sounding alternative to other online music platforms. I find that none of them quite satisfies every listening itch but Tidal seems to come closest with two caveats: first, subscribing through the Apple App Store will result in a more expensive subscription rate as Tidal passes their cost of doing business with Apple on to the subscriber. It’s cheaper ($5/month less for a hi-fi subscription) to sign up at the Tidal website and then download the apps and log in. Having signed up on my iPad, I’ll have to jump through a hoop or two when my free trial ends but they encounter this issue often enough that it’s a Frequently Asked Question. The second caveat is that I can’t tell if I know anyone else who uses Tidal. It looks like I can “find friends” once the trial is over but in the meantime, do you use Tidal? Let me know.
Item 2: There’s a deep tribute to trumpeter/composer Jacques Coursil at musicandliterature.org. He is new to me but I’ve so far enjoyed all of his music I can find. Vinyl versions are (inhibitively if not prohibitively) costly, CDs are around, and streaming varies from platform to platform. His Minimal Brass is especially up my alley right now and available from Tzadik.
Item 3: George E. Lewis published a terrific and thorough survey of Black composers at The New York Times, of whom he says, “If Black lives matter now more than ever, hearing Black liveness in classical music also matters.” The Times also recently featured interviews with several contemporary Black conductors, musicians, and composers on the subject of institutional racism in classical music.
Item 4: I recently read Sarah Kendzior’s Hiding in Plain Sight, the subject of which is the flagrant rise and eventual occupation of our Presidency by the Trump autocracy. Kendzior’s writing is clear and direct, and she manages her book with great skill: the key players and events are many, and a lesser or more self-conscious writer could easily make it all difficult to follow. Also recommended for better understanding of our current political climate: Ezra Klein’s Why We’re Polarized, Andrew Marantz’s Antisocial, and Eddie S. Glade, Jr.’s Begin Again.
Item 5: “We give lip service to acceptance, as though acceptance were enough. Then we go on to create super-people — super-parents, super-kings, and queens, super-cops — to be our gods and to look after us — to stand between us and G-d.” – Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower