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Music Playlists
Today's recommending listening is Nick Jonas, Hilary Hahn, John Lee Hooker, and TeaTroniK.
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.
Learn Music
Learn to play the Recorder! If you missed the beginning recorder class on March 23 there are still spots available for the March 30 class. Join this virtual workshop to learn how to play the recorder!
Read About Music
We are starting to receive volumes of the ambitious new On Track Series. Each book covers a band with “every album, every song.” The series is published by Sonic Bond Publishing and you can place holds on the volumes that are on order as well as the ones we have already received. Books on Kansas, 10CC, U2 and many others are on their way.
Did you know that the Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive has Billboard Magazine issues back to 1894? Variety issues back to 1905? Radio and Records issues back to 1973? Musician issues back to 1982? Login with your library card! Here is a fun article in Variety from Oct 19,1955: RCA Electronic Synthesizer: A Symbol of Things to Come.
Online Concerts
Performing Arts Live is a database of Southern California music, theater and dance events. Here is a free event with violinist Gil Shaham and the LA Chamber Orchestra on March 26.
Music Podcasts
Ear Snacks is a podcast for kids that’s fun, educational, and full of music. Episodes include subjects such as fruit, the US Census and the Notorious RBG and even have a Family Music Mixtape.
Author Talk
Join us for an Author Talk with John Lee, Ara Zada, and Kate Leahy discussing their book Lavash: The bread that launched 1,000 meals, plus salads, stews, and other recipes from Armenia. April, 1, 2021, 6:30pm.
In the book Lavash, the authors first show how to make this bread at home and then share the many dishes it enhances. Alongside recipes are essays and photography that offer windows into the Armenia of the 21st century.
Art Online
California-based artist Tucker Nichols discusses Flowers For Sick People, his pandemic-era “art and health” project of original flower paintings, some created by request for free. "Sickness can be a very isolating experience for everyone involved. Like many people, I’ve lived with illness for years. But there’s something about flowers—even if they are garish or they make you sneeze or they are hardly noticed—that can occasionally poke a tiny hole in the wall of isolation that separates sick people from their loved ones."
The Beauty directed by Pascal Schelbli is a poetic journey through the oceans, which are simultaneously stunning and filthy. Discover a world where concerns and fears dissolve into the mysterious depth of the polluted blue sea.
Explore the work of Chicago-based artist Nick Cave. Watch an interview on his cross cultural artwork installed at the U.S. Embassy in Senegal. Physically connecting pieces of both U.S. and Senegalese culture, the webbed, bas-relief sculpture symbolically stands as “a unifier that brings people together.” The installation, which weighs nearly 500 pounds, took Cave and ten assistants more than three months to complete. See more from Art in Embassies, a program led by the U.S. Department of State that fosters cross-cultural exchange through visual arts and spans more than 200 venues in 189 countries.
Check out art books from the library using our Contactless Pickup Services.
Brand Library Staff Reviews
The Case of the Three Sided Dream. The award winning documentary, The Case of the Three Sided Dream, explores the life and music of the brilliant, pioneering multi-instrumentalist jazz musician, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Featuring intimate interviews with his family and his musical collaborators, animated sequences, and extensive archival footage from live performances and home movies, the film provides a vivid insight into the magical, musical world of Rahsaan. The film title is a reference to the importance that dreams played in Kirk’s life, including the fact that the name Rahsaan came to him in a dream. Kirk played a variety of saxophones and other reed instruments, including modified saxophones, the “manzello” and the “stritch,” and routinely played three or more of these instruments simultaneously. He was a strong, activist advocate for more public exposure for jazz, which he referred to as Black Classical Music, and saw himself as a “journey agent” and his music as his “duty-free gift to the traveler.” At the height of his career, in 1975, Rahsaan suffered a debilitating stroke which left him with partial paralysis on one side of his body. His response was to modify his instruments so that he could play with one hand, and he continued to travel and perform until, two years later, when he suffered another stroke and passed away, at the age of 42, while traveling to his next gig. The performance of “Volunteered Slavery” is guaranteed to lift your spirits. The great bassist, Charles Mingus once said about Kirk, “This man is what jazz is all about. He's real.” - PR
Esperanza Spalding Junjo (2006). Twenty two year old jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding’s debut album started her on her rise to fame in 2006. Esperanza was born in Portland and studied at the Berklee School of Music. Since then she has released seven albums total to date and has won four Grammy Awards. She also has performed as a side musician for Patti Austin and Joe Lovano. There is lots of Latin influence on this album and her trio consists of Cuban pianist Aruán Ortiz and drummer Francisco Mela. The album is on the Spanish Avya record label. While the album bears her name, it is a group effort with all members of the trio. Most of the vocals on the album are wordless scatting and she has a beautiful voice and a fantastic musical imagination. My favorite tracks on the album are the title track Junjo, The Peacocks and her version of Chick Corea’s Humpty Dumpty. It’s an accessible and sunny album and the influences of Cuban music, soul, Bossa Nova and R&B are there as well. A fabulous album by an amazing talent and great for a bright spring day. Here is an interesting NPR article to help you get more familiar with Esperanza's artistry. -BW
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Covid-19 Resources
Reliable information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) is available from the World Health Organization, the California Department of Public Health, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, the City of Glendale, and the Library, Arts & Culture department.
Resources for Music Businesses And Industry Workers, Playing for Change, Sounding Point LA
Resources for Freelance Artists, California Arts Council, Americans for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts