Joseph’s BrainWeek in Review [7/13/20]
READING:
Required Reading:
NYT: OPERA CAN NO LONGER IGNORE ITS RACE PROBLEM (link here) by Josh Barone
Russel Thomas:
“Stop allowing white people to tell Black people about the Black experience,” he said. “That, to me, is outrageous. Don’t tell me about how I should feel to be Black and how I should move.”
Karen Slack:
“I’m not asking for your seat. I’m asking that you move over so I can sit in mine, and you be OK with that.”
I’m still on my David Shields kick. I’ve moved on to The Trouble with Men: Reflections on Sex, Love, Marriage, Porn
<DAVID SHIELDS, from The Trouble With Men:…
This quote felt sort of relevant this week as we launched. Moving the interior into the external world, to see if it can be embraced.
LISTENING:
I finally started my seasonal playlist for the summer on Apple Music: SUMMERY2020 I enjoy collecting things I hear that I like here, even if it’s just for myself (though the playlist links DO have the most clicks in my instagram linkr.ee )
The songs that started it for me were Throw Stones by Nana Adjoa and Let It Go by Summer Walker. Barnes Courtney’s Hard to Be Alone hits different right now, doesn’t it? I’ll keep adding, mostly as I hear things I like on my go-to listening streaming radio station Eclectic 24
WATCHING:
Cincinnati Opera released their 100th Anniversary special for streaming on YouTube this week. I was particularly moved by this excerpt from Danielpour’s Margaret Garner, text by Toni Morrison, sung by a great artist and friend Victoria Okafor at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
A friend sent on this amazing video of Nicole Chevalier singing Elettra’s aria from Mozart’s Idomeneo in Peter Sellers’ production at Salzburg Festspiele conducted by the incredible Teodor Currentzis. SO COOL. She gives it all and is totally committed but has enough to sing high C at the end! She supports the madness so well - I think it’s a great example of sustained, thoughtful intensity and measured freedom on stage. That scream, tho.
