tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13593902.post8676807706438089783..comments2024-02-11T09:55:50.468-08:00Comments on The Eastside View: Art as social commentaryCharles Sherehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13593902.post-61588090671320736132017-02-23T21:52:23.121-08:002017-02-23T21:52:23.121-08:00Symphonia" or chifonie was applied during the...Symphonia" or chifonie was applied during the 13th and 14th centuries, in the Latin countries more especially, to the hurdy-gurdy. "Symphonia" is applied by Praetorius to an instrument which he classed with the clavichord,[3] spinet, regal and virginals, but without giving any clue to its distinctive characteristics see more at -:<a href="http://symphoniabags.com/" rel="nofollow">SYmphonia Bags</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15963115483361584786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13593902.post-31278755564038083012015-04-08T12:26:55.293-07:002015-04-08T12:26:55.293-07:00As usual, much to think about here. Art was probab...<i>As usual, much to think about here. Art was probably once — in much earlier and less "sophisticated" cultures — as spontaneous and necessary as play. "Folk" music and dance and bedtime stories recall that. I believe the Ferlinghettis and their activity are close to that; certainly closer than the Jeff Koonses of the world. <br /><br />I saw the Ferlinghetti interview too: I was tickled when he referred to rich tech folks moving in to San Francisco "with bags of money and no manners." Yes: his lifestyle is sane.<br /><br />I leave Richmond and Mildred to their own serendipity…</i>Charles Sherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13593902.post-85212671928066839632015-04-08T01:53:43.613-07:002015-04-08T01:53:43.613-07:00Risking a frequent comment - I too enjoy all that ...Risking a frequent comment - I too enjoy all that you share through your writing - many of your choices are experiences I won't have, and I get to enjoy them through your descriptions, which broadens my own life. <br />On Ferlinghetti, I just saw an interview with him on the news I believe - I think it was about gentrification of SF, but honestly the topics/themes of things I take in without a lot of concentration often elude me after the fact these days. What impressed me though was the comfort he demonstrated in a simple lifestyle, and the encouragement he offers by continuing to think and create at this point in his life.<br />In contrast to a comment prior to mine, I think that anyone who is creating art in any form that you have the opportunity to explore and consider is offering the world a gift that is much needed, and probably essential really, given the times we are in. Even if it isn't technically brilliant, even if it isn't to your taste, despite flaws that can be listed with great accuracy, it still tethers us to the potential within us all that counters market, profit, and selfishness - sorry to be so harsh, but I feel more and more this way as I get older. <br />Re Mildred Howard, I'm pretty sure I've seen her work before, but again I CAN'T REMEMBER WHEN. I hope you share your thoughts with the Richmond Museum folks though about how they are treating the sculpture you reference, and that they might pass on your comments about her work as well. I would imagine she might want to respond to your thoughts about her work - just an intuition on my part.louannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16967764775123042458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13593902.post-41657838598341508202015-04-05T12:03:40.515-07:002015-04-05T12:03:40.515-07:00@Curtis: If Ferlinghetti had done nothing more tha...@Curtis: If Ferlinghetti had done nothing more than open and nurture the City Lights Bookstore and its satellite scenes over the course of seven decades, that would still make him one of the most important cultural figures in the world. In my occasional encounters with him as a stranger in North Beach, he also struck me as one of the least pretentious Legends I've ever met.<br /><br />@Charles: Your writing about art and theater and music is so good. I have no interest in seeing Shakespeare in Ashland, for instance, but love reading your accounts. Thanks for soldiering on.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13593902.post-15766287416885689182015-04-05T09:20:02.077-07:002015-04-05T09:20:02.077-07:00For an artist/writer whose sense of theme and miss...For an artist/writer whose sense of theme and mission is as limited as Ferlinghetti's has been, the issue of skill and technique is supposedly less crucial.<br /><br />A Coney Island of the Mind (which included work from his first book Pictures of the Gone World), depended upon both its counter-culture "Beat" quality (derived from models such as E.E. Cummings, James Joyce, Kenneth Patchen, Henry Miller, Mayakovsky and Prevert), as well as a light-hearted technical spirit, skipping down the page with apparent abandon. As I have noted elsewhere, this early work--clearly his best, despite a long career--formed a coherent, crucial component of the Beat/San Francisco Renaissance movement during the 1950's and after. <br /><br />The painting, on the other hand, raises again the issue of technique and skill. As with Henry Miller, also a lesser painter of some renown, the quality of execution seems to underlie the ultimate utility of the work's meaning. Both Miller and Ferlinghetti rely on the "amateur's" casual approach. <br /><br />Ferlinghetti was never either a great writer or a great painter. But the qualities that made his early writings important, aren't such as might have succeeded in painting. At any given moment, there are hundreds of thousands of amateur painters at work. The question will always remain--to what extent the foregrounding of the "avocational" second metier is even deserving, in the context of opportunity open to all the art that is being produced. <br /><br />I've never thought Ferlinghetti's art work deserved to be treated as respectfully as it has.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.com