Brand from Home | June 3, 2021

Contactless pickup services and limited in-person services are now available at Glendale Central Library, Brand Library, and Montrose Library.

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Music Playlists

Today's recommending listening is The Black Keys, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, MK xyz, West Side Story, P!nk, and works by Beethoven and Lutoslawski.

Here are some fun albums to get you ready for summer! Donna Summer, Jimmy Smith, Joe Jackson, Lars Albertsen, Stevie Wonder and Dakota Staton.

Listen to a streaming playlist from Freegal Music, Naxos Music Library, Naxos Jazz Music Library, Hoopla or Music Online from Alexander Street free with your library card. Alexander Street will ask for an academic institution, use Glendale Public Library.

Read About Music

We have a fun collection of kids art and music books. One interesting series is Pop Histories series by Matt Anniss. We have six volumes in the series so check them out!

Here are a few new music business books many of our patrons should find useful. Look for them in the library catalog.

Online Music Concerts

Jazz at LACMA continues online this summer on Fridays at 6pm. June concerts will include Abe Lagrimas Jr. Quartet, Ryan Porter Quartet, John Tegmeyer Quartet and the Otmaro Ruiz Quartet.

Sundays Live is the long running chamber music series at LACMA. The series will continue online until further notice. The concerts are 6-7pm on Sundays and June concerts will include the Lyris Quartet, pianist Inna Faliks, violinist Samuel Nebyu and more. Details are on the Sundays Live web site.

2021 Brand Associates Dance Series

This series, curated by acclaimed choreographer, teacher and producer Jamie Nichols, presents top dance companies from Southern California performing site-specific work in non-traditional performance spaces around Brand Library. This year performances will be streamed on our YouTube channel. The Dance Series includes interactive Sunday workshops with an opportunity to meet the artists.

Rangoli Dance Company features Bharatanatyam, the vibrant dance form that has its origins in south India. Drawing from the myth and spirituality of the cultural heritage, artistic director Malathi Iyengar creates dance landscapes that dwell in both traditional and secular, and rhythm and stillness.

Performance: Saturday, June 5 - 6 (watch here)

Live Workshop: Sunday, June 6, 11:00am - 12:00pm (register here)

For over 13 years, Versa-Style has promoted the empowerment, artistry, and value of hip-hop dance culture through full-length street dance theater productions, educational performances and deeply rooted social justice work in the community.

Performance: Saturday, June 19 - 20 (watch here)

Live Workshop: Sunday, June 20, 11:00am - 12:00pm (register here)

Mixed eMotion presents Gatsby Redux, a vintage yet contemporary dance experience. The audience is invited to join the garden party by dressing in 1920’s attire.

Performance: Saturday, June 26 - 27 (watch here)

Live Workshop: Sunday, June 27, 11:00am - 12:00pm (register here)

Checkout some dance films from the library in person or using our Contactless Pickup Services. Look for them in the library catalog.

Pride Festivals Online

City of West Hollywood’s One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival. Each year the City of West Hollywood celebrates pride with its One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival, which runs from Harvey Milk Day (May 22) through the end of June Pride month (June 30). In order to prioritize health and well-being, One City One Pride 2021 is taking place virtually/in a socially distant manner for 2021.

Explore workshops, performances, poetry readings, films and more.

LA Pride 2021 theme is “Thrive with Pride” Christopher Street West Association the nonprofit that produces LA Pride, presents its June Pride events, including a free streaming concert June 10, presented by TikTok, featuring Charli XCX and a showcase of up and coming LGBTQ+ artists, the Thrive with Pride Celebration one-hour special on ABC7, and LA Pride Makes a Difference, a new, month-long calendar of events focused on volunteering and community service around LA.

Art Online

San Francisco’s GLBT Historical Society presents virtual versions of two wonderful shows. In the first, Reigning Queens: The Lost Photos of Roz Joseph, photographs by Roz Joseph are assembled to document San Francisco’s drag culture in the mid-1970s. In the second, Outspoken: Angela Davis, rare posters and ephemera from the Lisbet Tellefsen Collection are brought together to showcase the life of queer Black freedom fighter Angela Davis.

Checkout some art books from the library in person or using our Contactless Pickup Services.

Brand Library Staff Reviews

Robert Kolker, journalist and author of the true-crime book Lost Girls, has recently released a new book, Hidden Valley Road. It is the story of the Galvins, a family of twelve children all born during the post-World War II baby boom who, in what could only be called extreme genetic adversity, saw six of the twelve Galvin children diagnosed with the same condition: schizophrenia. Because of the general lack of treatment and understanding surrounding their condition and insufficient anti-psychotic medication available at the time, the Galvin boys suffered frequent institutionalizations and the harsh side effects of the medication that was available to them. With aid from the two Galvin sisters, Margaret and Lindsay, Kolker was able to reconstruct this family’s history and uncover long-held secrets, and what could be a jumbled and confusing story is well-structured and nuanced, giving us insight into the devastating toll this takes on the entire Galvin family and the community. Although by no means an easy read, Hidden Valley Road is an insightful page-turner, particularly for those of us who suffer from mental illness, or have loved ones who do. -SB

Tron - original motion picture soundtrack (1982) Wendy Carlos. Wendy Carlos (b. 1939) was a groundbreaking musical figure who helped popularize the synthesizer. She studied music and physics at Brown University and composition at Columbia. She also worked with Robert Moog in the development of the Moog synthesizer. In 1968 her hit record of Switched-On Bach was one of the first synthesizer recordings to hit the charts influencing many popular music performers to use the Moog synthesizer. Before this many avant garde composers had used synthesizers but nothing as broadly influential. She also had composed scores for A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Tron. On the Tron soundtrack Carlos uses her Moog analog synthesizer, a Crumar digital synthesizer, performing with the London Symphony Orchestra and the UCLA Chorus. The score is a fascinating combination of electronic music and lush orchestrations. It all fits very well with the film that combines live action with computer animation. It might be hard to stop singing the Tron theme which appears in many clever guises throughout the soundtrack. The band Journey contributes a couple of songs to the album as well. We have the soundtrack on CD and streaming on Hoopla. There is also a 2020 biography on Wendy Carlos by Amanda Sewell at Brand Library. Carlos came out as openly transgender in 1979 in a Playboy interview. If you want to see the film Tron you can place a hold on the DVD. Also just for fun here is a 1982 review of the film in Variety. -BW

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