Brand from Home | March 11, 2021

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Music Playlists

Today's recommending listening is indie pop trio AJR, electronic dance with Steve Aoki, Mahler's Symphony No. 10, and jazz singer Nina Simone.

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.

Music Appreciation

An Introduction to Music Appreciation class is available for free from Universal Class using your library card number. It’s about 16 hours and has 41 exams and assignments. More info is available on the web site.

Minnesota Public Radio has a cool article "10 Contemporary Women Composers to Add to Your Music Rotation." The article includes sound clips and, of course, you can explore more from these outstanding composers in Naxos Music Library and Alexander Street.

Music Podcasts

Resident Advisor is a podcast for electronic music from top DJs and producers and has over 700 episodes so far. Carl Cox, Andrea and Off the Meds have been recently featured.

The Music Podcast for Kids. Mr. Henry and Mr. Fite, explain a different musical topic every episode. Whether its tackling rock, jazz or country, or instruments like the trumpet and electric guitar, this podcast explores the history, mechanics and application of every musical topic imaginable.

Music Concerts Online

Glendale Noon Concert Series. The next concert is March 17 with Asuncion Ojeda / flute, Paul Sherman / oboe and Traci Esslinger / piano performing music by Alan Hovhaness, Chinary Ung and Madeleine Doing. Certainly listen to this popular Glendale concert series if you haven’t already!

Garden Tours Online

Visit Versailles and find many treasures hidden around the extravagant gardens. Take a virtual walk around and experience this living work of art first renovated by Louis XIV in 1661.

Claude Monet lived for forty-three years, from 1883 to 1926, in his house in Giverny. With a passion for gardening as well as for colors, he conceived both his flower garden and water garden as true works of art.

Explore the Tropical Nursery at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, housing over 10,000 species. Here, Kew experts grow some of the world's most interesting tropical plants for research, conservation and their botanic gardens.

Instituto Inhotim is located in Brumadinho, 37 miles from Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, and the third largest metropolitan area in Brazil. Inhotim features an internationally relevant art collection, located within 346 acres of forests and botanical gardens.

Take a virtual tour of the U.S. Botanic Garden. You'll get a peek at the Conservatory, National Garden and Bartholdi Park. The United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. is one of the oldest botanic gardens in the country, founded in 1820.

Get Started in the Garden

Explore a guide for a water-wise garden from Glendale Water and Power. Get the whole family involved, check out some books to get you inspired.

Get some tips for gardening in Los Angeles County from the UC Master Gardeners. Try some artistic inspiration, start some seeds or just get propagating!

Make a bird friendly space with help from the Audubon Society. Growing bird-friendly plants will attract and protect the birds you love while making your space beautiful, easy to care for, and better for the environment. Get some help with plant choices from the California Native Plant Society.

Brand Library Staff Reviews

Sanctuary Road. This creation is a fusion of the African-American experience in America with European classical tradition. In the vein of such operatic monuments as Porgy and Bess, Sanctuary Road is an oratorio, a large-scale musical work for chorus, soloists, and orchestra. Normally oratorios are on sacred subjects, although many of us would argue that there nothing more sacred than the preservation of a people’s experience. The text for the work comes from The Underground Railroad, written by William Still, one of its conductors. A hero of the movement who helped over 800 people escape slavery before the Civil War, Mr. Still was an adept listener and observer, and an astute writer, jotting down every story he heard from the people he was assisting. Standout segments include the aria “The Same Train,” which tells the story of Ellen Craft, who passed herself off as an elderly slave owner traveling north with her assistant … who was actually her fiancée, and the frantic choruses of “Run.” In a class by itself is the powerhouse aria “This Side Up,” which tells the story of Henry “Box” Brown, who had himself shipped north in a crate, even writing “This Side Up” on the packaging to ensure safe travel. Unfortunately, the instructions were not heeded and he spent the majority of his journey upside-down. The soloists and instrumentalists are outstanding across the board, and the recording sparkles with skill and passion. -LD

D_Drive - Maximum Impact (2019). International Women's Day was on Monday March 8. I was reminded that Fender did a 2018 survey that found that half of beginning guitarists in the US and UK are now women. I immediately thought of D_Drive with their co-founding guitarist Yuki who has gained quite a bit of attention for her fantastic playing. D_Drive is a Japanese instrumental progressive rock/metal band consisting of Seiji and Yuki on guitars, Toshi on bass and Chiiko on drums. They are a very tight, polished, high energy band and members describe their sound as “driving rock.” Maximum Impact is on Marshall Records, a label founded in 2017 by the iconic British company Marshall Amplification. Fans of six-string pyrotechnics should love the virtuoso guitar team of Seiji and Yuki. Cassis Orange, Mr. Rat Boots and The Last Revenge are my favorites on the album. The only time they slow down on the album is on Unkind Rain which is a melodic power ballad and even that eventually picks up the volume and tempo. I would bet many of those young guitarists in the Fender survey would find this band very inspiring. They also have lots of fun videos on their official YouTube channel and here is an interview with leader and co-founder Seiji discussing the band and this album. -BW

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