Here are five clips from the latest episode of my radio show, THE ART MOVEMENT, the weekly radio show hosted/produced by arts presenter Matt Micucci. The show revolves around art and culture, and where all art forms and free thoughts are allowed.
(To listen to the full show, scroll to the bottom of the page.)
Ingrid Berlin has died.
Prague’s art exhibition space is expanding.
The time Frank Zappa took a shot of Becherovka.
How environmentalism facilitated Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution of 1989.
Ancient Egyptian love poems.
Lots more where that came from! You can listen to the full epsiode of THE ART MOVEMENT (including the music) via the player below.
A partial transcript of Episode 18 of THE ART MOVEMENT. To listen to the full radio show, CLICK HERE.
“That was the music of Frank Zappa. I remind you that for a full list of the songs played on the show, you can head on over to inartematt.com, where I post a full list of the songs during the week.
I love me some Zappa but I also played him for another reason. As I mentioned, the Historical Building of the Museum of Prague had that exhibition on the Velvet Revolution and among other incredibly cool things, including the democratic election Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright, to president, Czechoslovakia named Frank Zappa as a cultural ambassador.
The reason why he has been on my mind quite a bit lately is because in that exhibition, on one of the screens showing images of people celebrating the rise of democracy in the country and everybody just happy to be alive in such a beautiful historic moment, there was footage of Frank Zappa being passed a bottle of Becherovka and actually taking a good swig of it. Which was shocking to see, given that Zappa did not drink — he was a renowned teetotaler — and yet here he was.
The atmosphere was so infectious that he too had to take a swig of alcohol and join in the frenzy. I think that goes to show just how amazing it must have been in Czechoslovakia at the time.
But that’s the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and of course, democracy had been a long time coming in the country. In 1968, there had been a Prague Spring, an odd period of liberalization that was, however, short lived when the Soviet Union decided to strengthen its stronghold on the country once again and resign it to the purgatory-like state that it had been under since the hell of Nazi German occupation.
The 20th century truly was a tough time for a land that was once one of the wealthiest jewels in the world.”
Here’s the list of songs played on the last episode of THE ART MOVEMENT – the weekly radio show about arts and culture, where all art forms and free thoughts are allowed, hosted by Matt Micucci. (To listen to the full show, scroll to the bottom of the page.)
Here are five clips from the latest episode of my radio show, THE ART MOVEMENT, the weekly radio show hosted/produced by arts presenter Matt Micucci. The show revolves around art and culture, and where all art forms and free thoughts are allowed.
(To listen to the full show, scroll to the bottom of the page.)
Ennio Morricone has died.
Future shock and the challenge of promoting art in the internet age.
Nabwana IGG talks about the Ugandan film studio Wakaliwood.
Prague’s “9 Museums in 5 Days” initiative.
Art content creators and burnouts.
Lots more where that came from! You can listen to the full epsiode of THE ART MOVEMENT (including the music) via the player below.
Here’s the list of songs played on the last episode of THE ART MOVEMENT – the weekly radio show about arts and culture, where all art forms and free thoughts are allowed, hosted by Matt Micucci. (To listen to the full show, scroll to the bottom of the page.)
A partial transcript of Episode 16 of THE ART MOVEMENT. To listen to the full radio show, CLICK HERE.
Ennio Morricone passed away during the week. And we all know of him as one of the greatest film composers who ever lived. Incredibly prolific and creator of some of the most memorable music that ever graced the big screen.
Celebrated for his long standing collaboration with Sergio Leone, which truly was a one of a kind type of collaboration in the history of cinema, and for creating music for an endless number of films including Cinema Paradiso, The Untouchables, The Hateful Eight and countless others — I’m not just about to list all the memorable films that he worked on because it would take the full length of the show.
Of course, The Hateful Eight was the film that he finally won the Oscar for a handful of years ago, after getting an honorary one years before then. Crazy to think that he could have been one of the most important figures to have never one one of those god awful statuettes, given the fact that he truly helped elevate the status of film music to something that suited the tastes of both the highbrow audiences and the pop audiences. That’s very rare indeed for a film composer.
One of the interesting facts about him is that while composing and conducting was his favored occupation, he was also a brilliant trumpeter and in his early years, he played jazz in various ensembles in Rome. And you would think that a guy like him would have no time for improvisation but actually, he worked with a major ensemble for two decades that specialized in avant-garde experimental music that was named Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, which comprised other celebrated composers of ’60s through the ’80s from Italy.
In fact, I believe that his work with this particular group is what inspired the amazing opening sequence from Once Upon a Time in the West — a close collaboration between Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone that represents time coming to a standstill — the power of which is not only represented by the images but also by the sounds, which construct a one-of-a-kind experience that was very unusual to see in a major motion picture of the time. By the way, Once Upon a Time in the West, I would consider my favorite film of all time.
I’m not sad about his passing. The man lived a great life and was active until the very end, which by the way came at 91 years of age. Not bad! In fact, he must also have died a good death, surrounded by the people he loved, proved by the fact that he was able to write his own short obituary right before his death. You don’t hear of that happening much.
So, by all means it sounds to me that he lived a great life, celebrated as an international treasure, particularly by his own country of Italy, which also happens to be my country of birth. I am sure that many streets will be named after him over the next few years in that country and I am sure that several Ennio Morricone statues will be erected around the world, hopefully replacing some of the more controversial ones.
I’m not going to give you a biographical account of the man and his art here on this show, because I feel that has been done extensively but I do have to say that his music meant quite a lot to me. I do believe that in our lifetime we grow to love the works of countless artists but that there are finally only a few who really become a part of us.
And for me, Morricone was one of them, not only because it is the music of the birth of my own cinephilia but because it helped me connect with my own father, who also shared a love for Spaghetti westerns and Ennio Morricone at large. One of the few things that we could agree on.
I did get to see him a handful of years ago live in Dublin and despite the fact that I was sitting at the back, and it was an outdoor gig so it was raining, it was a deeply powerful experience for me. I remember at some point, while his orchestra played the main theme of Cinema Paradiso, I was so overwhelmed by memories that I just cried.
I would consider myself an “albums guy” and my taste in music is very varied. In this new feature, I list the albums that I listened to most intensely during the week. The list will include albums old and new, and the number of albums listened to every week will most likely vary on a week-to-week basis.
Frank Sinatra, The Voice of Frank Sinatra (1946, Columbia)
TRACKLIST (favorite tracks underlined): 1 – You Go To My Head; 2 – Someone to Watch Over Me; 3 – These Foolish Things; 4 – Why Shouldn’t I?; 5 – I Don’t Know Why I Just Do; 6 – Try a Little Tenderness; 7 – (I Don’t Stand) a Ghost of a Chance; 8 – Paradise.
Frank Sinatra’s first album. He really sings these ’20s and ’30s tunes like he means it. Axel Stordahl’s string quartet may seem a little too saccharine but it’s easy to eventually be charmed by it.
Whether you like this album or not will depend on the level to which you appreciate arena rock. Even then, there don’t seem to be enough songs with any proper songwriting weight to account of a 12-track program.
Jacky Terrasson, Reach (Blue Note, 1995)
TRACKLIST (Favorite tracks underlined): 1 – I Should Care; 2 – The Rat Race; 3 – Baby Plum; 4 – (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons; 5 – Reach – Smoke Gets in Your Eyes – Reach; 6 – Happy Man; 7 – First Affair; 8 – Just One of Those Things; 9 – All My Life.
A young Jacky Terrasson stretching out on his piano within a traditional trio format. Quite creative blend of jazz tradition and modern sensibilities.
A partial transcript of Episode 16 of THE ART MOVEMENT. To listen to the full radio show, CLICK HERE.
Music artists have been hit pretty badly by the pandemic. As the online editor of JAZZIZ Magazine, I get emails about news of concert, tour and festival cancelations on a daily basis. And that’s really the bread and butter for most of these bands. Because I know that people have misconceptions of what the life of a musician is like — a lot of boozing, partying, sex, drugs and rock and roll.
But actually, the life of a touring musician is one of the hardest lives you can have. It’s not for everyone, it’s really tiring, physically daunting and the financial returns from it tend to be pretty miserable.
Aside from that, record sales have been obsolete for decades now but have become the bread and butter for musicians during these difficult times. So, what I have been doing is, I have been suggesting to people — if they can — to buy albums of the artists from their local scene or artists who don’t have the type of following that mainstream, sponsored bands have.
And another thing that I have been suggesting is that if they do buy records, that they don’t buy them off Amazon, unless it really is the only way to get said album because that too is a possibility. Amazon tends to exploit the artists by keeping so much of the money off sales for themselves and the reason why artists can’t snub them is because they are too big to snub — that’s the truth. It’s out of desperation.
But generally speaking, the best way to buy records — well, there are two ways. One, is to buy them directly off the artist’s website. And the second is to go on Bandcamp and see if the album is available there.
Bandcamp has been really awesome during this pandemic. For those unfamiliar, they are a radically decentralized online record store and they take a much lower cut off record revenues. In addition, throughout this entire pandemic, they have waived fees on several days — particularly on Friday. They have done it so many times that I have actually been unable to keep track of it!
Or, if you don’t want to buy the album, buy merch. Get yourself a t-shirt of your favorite band that nobody knows about, of a coffee mug or a key chain or whatever. Many of these independent artists actually make more money from selling merchandise than by selling records. It’s just an easy way to continue to support the arts in this time of need and to just thank your favorite band for being there when you needed them during a difficult time in YOUR life.
Here’s the list of songs played on the last episode of THE ART MOVEMENT – the weekly radio show about arts and culture, where all art forms and free thoughts are allowed, hosted by Matt Micucci. (To listen to the full show, scroll to the bottom of the page of CLICK HERE.)
SANTA ESMERALDA, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
GENEVIEVE ARTADI, Godzillaaaa
IMAGINE DRAGONS, Cool Out
KING KRULE, Easy Easy
JESSIE WARE, Ooh La La
PRINCE, 1999
THE SHIRELLES, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
LIAM GALLAGHER, Paper Crown
AMY WINEHOUSE, Love Is a Losing Game
LOUIS ARMSTRONG, Jeepers Creepers
Listen to the full show via the player below. You can also listen to it on Spotify, Podbean and IHeartRadio. Clips from the show are also uploaded on my YouTube channel.
A partial transcript of Episode 16 of THE ART MOVEMENT. To listen to the full radio show, CLICK HERE.
Speaking of music, earlier I talked about responsibility in terms of social distancing and I understand how difficult it is for some people. And I respect that. I really do. So, by all that, I don’t mean that people should stop hanging out but I think that if they do, they should be cautious.
For example, this past week, I went to my first live gig since the pandemic. A friend of mine, Lukos Hey, who is a painter and who I interviewed for my podcast and also documented in his studio for my Matt’s Long Take series on my YouTube channel, also plays the drums and he was playing a gig with this Brazilian singer/songwriter named AnniMa Moods.
Together, they played a light jazz slash Brazilian music tradition type of duo gig. And quite honestly, there would have been nothing particularly exciting about it had it not been for the fact that my ears needed it. My ears really craved to hear live instrumentation after so long, so much so that, as I was listening to the twang of the strings and the sound of each component of Lukos’ drum kit, my ears were going like “thank you! Thank you so much!”
They were thanking me for hauling ass. And here is what the scene looked like. The gig took place in this very upper middle class, histerish place called La Champagneria. I showed up a little late — which rarely happens because I’m the guy who put the punk in punctual! In any case, by the time they got there, the gig had moved from inside to outside because it was a lovely day but also because there were too many people inside.
And so, just outside of this Champagne joint, we all sat at tables, fairly spread out and there wasn’t too much mingling going on but we were all somehow aware of each other’s presence and we appreciated being strangers in relation to each other but united in just listening to the music and enjoying the generally good vibes.
We didn’t wear a mask and we were talking with each other but we were still careful, respectful and each individual group was never too large. It’s a little hard to explain but essentially, you feel that people are being mindful and that you and everybody else is pretty safe.
I should say that Prague was not as hard hit by the coronavirus as many other cities in Europe and around the world; strict measures taken early on prevented the outbreak from being very serious.
But also, I really felt that people were respectful of each other, like I said, enjoying the vibes, respecting the boundaries, drinking some cheap champagne in their nice clothes — except for me, I drank a coffee and a lemonade because my mind of alcohol right now is someone else’s nightmare. So, it is possible to hang out, have a good time and be responsible.
In Arte Matt 