Thanks to everyone who joined us this weekend for our joyous "End of Summer Concert"! We love to do these every season as our thanks to you for being the best part of what we do! In case you missed it, here it is to enjoy and share with us. Buy the trio a coffee, here: https://account.venmo.com/u/Mitch-Ham...#jazz #haroldarlen #yipharburg #piano #steinway #trio #pianotrio #kennybarron #busterwilliams ##steelydan #blackfriday #donaldfagen #walterbecker #concerto #classical #funk #drums #bass #wizardofoz #cedarwalton theloniousmonk #sphere #blues #r&b #judygarland #celebrityseriesboston#jazz #music #piano #bass #drums #percussion #improvisation #composer #song #swing #rock #r&b #blues #classicalmusic #trio #1940s #1950s #1960s #1970s $1980s #1990s

Our guest Aaron J. Leonard is most unusual for an historian, or indeed any kind of guest. For a great deal of his adult life he was a member of arguably the most radical political organization in the United States, the Revolutionary Communist Party, something which he and many now admit is a cult.

His unique experiences as a thoroughgoing activist gives me great insight not only into the history of the United States working class economic cycles but developed in Leonard a knowledge about and sensitivity to the relationship of the state to free expression, censorship and political activity in the twentieth century. I really enjoyed our discussion for the uniqueness that only somebody of Leonard's life experience and scholarship could bring.

His Meltdown Expected is an exploration of the late 70s and he has authored books on the histories of radicalism in the United States.

More about Aaron, here:

Aaron J. Leonard is an author and historian with a particular focus on the interplay of radicalism and repression. He is the author of "Heavy Radicals: The FBI's Secret War on America's Maoists,” and "A Threat of the First Magnitude," pathbreaking books that revealed the untold story of the FBI's efforts in the 60s-early 70s against US Maoism.

Along with those works he, with colleague Conor A. Gallagher, published examinations based on secret information about the FBI's role in the killing of Black Panther Party member, Fred Hampton.

Following his first two books he turned to writing about contention in the cultural realm. In "The Folk Singers & the Bureau," and "Whole World in an Uproar,” he tracks the interplay of artists such as Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Sis Cunningham, Dave Van Ronk, Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, and a host of others who sparred with forces of the status quo in producing their music.

In May 2024 he will publish "Meltdown Expected: Crisis, Disorder & Upheaval at the end of the 1970s" (Rutgers Univ. Press), reframing the map of the end of the much-maligned Seventies decade. He is currently working on a history of the repression leveled at the Communist Party USA, which will also be published by Rutgers Univ. Press.

He has a BA in Social Sciences and History magna cum laude, from New York University. Originally from the Central New York town of Herkimer, Leonard lived most of his adult life in Brooklyn, but he now calls Los Angeles home.

Links to Aarons many wonderful works, here:

Website: http://www.aaronleonard.net/index.html

#Meltdown Expected #marxism #marxistleninist #newleft #oldleft #communism #capitalism #1970s #1960s #politics #activism #bobavakian #carldix #china #sds #blackpanther #maoism #feminism #culturalrevolution #industrialism #factory #christianity #islam #judaism #zionism #afghanistan #1978 #1979 #brucespringsteen #theclash #joestrummer #philochs #peteseeger #woodyguthrie #theweavers #beegees #disco #theghostoftomjoad #bornintheusa #revolution #mujahideen #taliban #iran #khomeini cpusa #earlbrowder #theinternational #scottsboroboys #eldridgecleaver #symbioneseliberationarmy #pattyhearst #richardnixon #georgejackson #hrapbrown #bobbyseale #california #joandidion #tomwolfe #newjournalism #inflation #energycrisis #jamesfallows #crisisofconfidence #iranhsotagecrisis #threemileisland #thechinasyndrome #janefonda jessejackson #rainbowcoalition #gushall #angeladavis #progressivelaborpart #revolutionarycommunistparty #jimjones #guyana #harveymilk #georgemoscone #danwhite #twinkiedefense #anitabryant #jerryfalwell #fundamentalism #opec #saudioarabia #stagflation #inflation #geraldford #christpherlasch #studentsforademocraticsociety #tomhayden #freespeech #stonewall

DISCLAIMER: Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. In this the 13th episode I introduce the topic of purely instrumental music while also discussing words and images and other matters to be announced in the episode, including more good stuff from pianist Hampton Hawes. Here are some additional learning links related to the stream!

See you all soon and thanks for watching! http://www.interlochenreview.org/jack-driscoll

https://jaymcinerney.com/

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/hampton-hawes-best-songs-feature/

https://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2016/05/raise-up-off-me-portrait-of-hampton.html

#filmtok #film #HamptonHawes #piano #MitchHampton #aesthetics #podcast #AllAboutAesthetics

The sixth episode of our series on Hannah Arendt's Life Of The Mind continues with the discussion of volume 2, Willing, in which religious intellectual history is discussed as well as much else!

Season 6 , “Book Lunch”, Hannah Arendt's The Life Of The Mind, Volume 2, “Willing”

This, the fifth episode of our miniseries on Hannah Arendt's The Life Of The Mind, will mark the beginning of our discussion of Volume 2, Willing.

This is a significant moment, of course, for our series as well as Arendt's text in general. I anticipate that we will need an additional episode after this one - as I hope to give, as best as I can, equal amount of attention to both volumes.

More background on this ongoing special series, here:

Book Lunch: Series: Hannah Arendt's “The Life Of The Mind”

Hannah Arendt's The Life Of The Mind is the last published work from Arendt. It is unfinished as it was to be in three volumes titled according to what were for her the three parts of all human mental activity: Thinking, Willing and Judging. We only have “Thinking and Willing”, finally published in 1977.

Mary McCarthy, one of Arendt's closest friends (and author of the famous The Group) was the editor of this unfinished masterpiece.

Accordingly, I will not only discuss Arendt'a text but the work of McCarthy as well, the meaning and significance of their friendship. (I might even discuss Nora Ephron and read from McCarthy's fiction. We shall see)

I will have some help from a discussion of Margarethe von Trotta's biopic Hannah Arendt, (starring Barbara Sukowa and Janet McTeer) including judicious clips throughout the series. (One of the precious few excellent biopics in a by now overcrowded genre)

This will be a series with many episodes; I will try my best to grapple with the complexity of Arendt's text and include, where appropriate. other work by her and others.

Although I have been reading and studying Hannah Arendt for close to forty years, as I have changed over the decades in both my political and other views, so has my relationship with her as an author. Throughout all of this my estimation of her has never been without a great deal of love.

The method I will use will be a variation of the "close reading" one in which I was trained and I have actually used to discuss practically everything I have covered on this podcast.

Joan Didion was trained in this same method and she claimed it made her both a better writer as well as politically savvy even though it is primarily an aesthetic method.

My interest in this series will be less in trying to evaluate Arendt in terms of whether she is ultimately "correct" or not but in terms of what it means for her to have written and thought in the way that she did.

As will hopefully be clear, I see The Life Of The Mind an aesthetic work of imaginative prose that happens to be non-fiction, with the language and terminology of philosophical and theological traditions.

#hannaharendtcenter #bardcollege #germany #shoah #holocaust #democracy #totalitarianism #ww2 #nyc #judaism #plato #philosophy #kant #christianity #psychology #newschool #columbia #augustine #socrates #plato #fascism #communism #marxism #politics #rogerberkowitz #samantharosehill #marymccarthy #edmundwilson #brooksbrothers #sidneylumet #1930s #1940s #1950s #1960s #1970s #candicebergen #thegroup #lillianhellman #dickcavett #noraephron #janetmcteer #barbarasukowa #hansmorgenthau #newyorker #newyorktimes #margarethevontrotta #newgermancinema

For the twelfth episode of “All About Aesthetics” Mitch Hampton continues with the discussion of style, perhaps the most important element in aesthetics.

He will introduce elements of visual culture into the discussion while retaining some emphasis on written prose.

As in the preceding episodes he will try and represent aesthetics from the most commercially successful areas of life as much as the relatively obscure.

Style will be discussed as a basis for creativity rather than as an honorific that persons or things possess or lack.

More on this ongoing, special series, here:

On this, the part of our ongoing, long term Aesthetics series, I continue with a discussion of the power of artistic and cultural change from the early and middle 20th century until our own.

The examples will come from music, prose and visual work, and from the commercial as well as the independent and alternative worlds.

#ballet #pottery #novels #architecture #cinema #film #indiefilm #independent #arts #sculpture #movie #hollywood #painting #ballet #jazz #tap #hiphop #rocknroll #rock #salsa #bossanova #samba #africa #afrocuban #latinamerica #southamerica #dance #philosophy #criticaltheory #literarytheory #digital #analog #book #popularmusic #pop #singersongwriter #folkmusic #jazz #africanamerican #needlepoint #comic #comedy #standup #improvisation #piano #woodwinds #brass #guitar

Inside this Episode with host, Mitch Hampton

I seem to never tire of saying that among my many missions on this podcast is to have guests that are quite different than myself. Although Christine and I are both musicians and in the music world, I can't carry a tune to save my life and my truly awful singing voice is one of the main reasons I decided to purely instrumental music in terms of my own performance.

Not only does our guest have one of the best singing voices in her for any field or genre of music but she also speaks five plus languages and is well versed in a remarkably diverse repertoire of music Indeed her newest release is representative of just the kind of eclecticism I always champion. I always love having guests on my show who have been in the "classical music" world as it is a genre most misunderstood at times by the public and always worthy of continuation and celebration. I sincerely hope you enjoy watching this episode as much as we did recording it.

Ms. Moore’s Bio : ( Full Bio on her website below)

Praised by the Leipziger Volkszeitung for her lush sound and powerful expression, soprano Christine Moore Vassallo is a versatile performer with equal command in opera, recital, and contemporary music.

The Sacramento, California native counts among her many opera roles Mimi in La Boheme, the title role Madama Butterfly, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Micaela in Carmen, the title role in Suor Angelica, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Judith in Bluebeard's Castle, Leonora in Il Trovatore (described as "velvety and luscious" by SongWordSight Magazine), the title roles in Aida and Ariadne auf Naxos with such companies as the Leipzig Opera, Central City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Institute, Utopia Opera, Create Opera, the Aldeburgh Summer Festival, Sacramento Opera, the Amato Opera and Lyric Artists of New York.

She curated and performed in the first ever concert of Arab composers, entitled "Nearer to East: Chamber Music from the Arab World" at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, which concert was lauded by the Library as one of the outstanding of the year. Christine speaks five languages and sings in ten, and has given numerous solo recitals featuring works of all genres of repertoire and languages, including in Granada and Madrid with Festival de Cancion Espanola, Trinity Concert Series in New York, the Library at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Old Stone House, Brooklyn. She made her UK debut in 2005 at the Paxton Chamber Music Festival in Scotland with Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire (praised by the Glasgow Herald) and has performed many new works by living composers, including the premiere at Merkin Hall NYC of Richard Thompson's song cycle The Shadow of Dawn as well as the NYC premiere of his opera The Mask in the Mirror, Andrew Rudin's Masha's Arias, and works by Michael Rose, Kareem Roustom, Halim El-Dabh, Richard Cameron-Wolfe, Steve Gerber and Zaid Jabri with the Brooklyn New Music Collective.

In 2016 she founded the singers collective Lyric Artists of New York, producing operas and concerts in the New York area. In 2023 she made her Weill Hall at Carnegie debut, and is currently collaborating on a project with composer and pianist Patricio Molina set to premiere in 2025 of his songs set to Arab women poets of the Andalus period.

Album webpage on the Meridian Records website:

https://www.meridian-records.co.uk/acatalog/CDE84647-From-Al-Andalus-to-the-Americas.html

Christine’s Website: www.christinemooresoprano.com

#middleeast #egypt #spain #oud #darbuka #andalus #soprano #classicalmusic #flute ##arabic #folkmusic #latinamerica #meridianrecords #istanbul #farsi #opera #newyorkcity #artsong