Brand from Home | November 18, 2021

Music Playlists

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.

Here are some great streaming recordings to celebrate Native American Heritage Month.

Do you need some music DVDs to watch over the holidays? Check out these titles.

Podcasts

The Native American Music Association podcast is relatively new and has a couple of episodes posted. Hosted by Ed Koban it includes music interview, news and more.

Sheet Music

Musopen is a site with public domain sheet music and recordings. It aims to "set music free" by providing music to the public free of charge, without copyright restrictions

Art Exhibitions

Glendale Library, Arts & Culture and ReflectSpace Gallery is proud to present In Order to Control by NOTA BENE Visual: an interactive typographic installation that encourages conversations about ethics and violence. A multi-media exhibit that uses typography and digital technology to engage the audience, the installation takes place in a dark space where text is projected onto the floor in block paragraph form. The text is about a variety of topics like violence, imprisonment, ethics, law, societal norms, and other social justice issues. Using kinetics and interactive projection, the audience is able to interact with the text as they move through the space. This interaction and movement create a space in which conversations about the topics in the projected text can take place. NOTA BENE Visual is a multi-disciplinary studio based in Istanbul, focusing on video projection mapping, interactive experiences and installations. On view from Thursday, November 18, 2021 - Saturday, January 8, 2022 at the ReflectSpace Gallery in the Glendale Central Library.

Art on Orange! Storefront Art Project. Located at 250 N. Orange Street. Join us for the opening reception of Art on Orange, Friday December 10, 2021 from 6pm - 8pm! Enjoy an evening of incredible artwork installed by local artists, delicious desserts, and a special musical performance. RSVP here! The goal of Glendale's Storefront Art Program is to create professional quality art installations celebrating the surrounding community, thereby increasing the interest of passerby, enriching Glendale's cultural environment, and creating a strong community identity. Art on view through January 29, 2022 from Wednesday 2pm - 5:30pm, Thursday 2pm - 5:30pm. Stay tuned for information on our Closing Reception on Saturday, January 29 2022.

Beyond the Box: Utility Box Mural Art Program.

In July of this year, a Call for Artists was made to local and regional applicants for Beyond the Box, a mural project supported by the City of Glendale and the Glendale Arts & Culture Commission with funding from the Urban Art Program. The program goal is to bring beauty to unexpected places such as public infrastructure, in this case utility boxes. There are currently over 100 painted utility box murals in Glendale. This year, seven artists were selected to paint murals over the weekend of October 22-24, 2021. The theme this year was “Celebrating Mental Health Awareness,” a crucial topic as life begins to normalize following the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Glendale Arts & Culture Commission has an art map to guide you to all of our Beyond the Box murals.

Checkout some inspiration for a holiday meal from the library.

Can't find it at the library? Try out Link+ our network of 70 public and academic libraries from across California and Nevada. Just click on the link from the catalog or watch a tutorial to learn more.

Brand Library Staff Reviews

When asked if he writes mostly sad songs, Townes Van Zandt replies “I don't think they're all that sad. I have a few that aren't sad, they're like--hopeless.” What a perfect summation of the music of Van Zandt. Thanks to the wonderful LINK+, I was finally able to see the documentary on country legend Townes Van Zandt, Be Here to Love Me and oh boy was it just the bummer I thought it was going to be. Released eight years after his death, the documentary does a good job in not glorifying his frenzy of addiction, or his aimless wanderings. With interviews from friends and family, the documentary is intimate and painful, while still celebrating the troubled life of country’s lone beatnik. The interviews with his children, still reeling from the loss of their father, really helps the viewer see the legendary singer-songwriter in a personal light, and it engages you in a very different way. Next up on the tragic country singer documentary double feature: Karen Dalton: In My Own Time -GG

Robert Cenedella, described on his website as “the most widely written about unknown American artist,” is referred to as “Art Bastard,” and was the subject of the 2016 documentary film of the same name. You might remember the uproar he caused in 1997 for his painting depicting a crucified Santa Claus atop a pile of presents, a work known as “The Presence of Man.” In his early life, Cenedella was strongly affected by two events: discovering the man who raised him wasn’t his biological father, and the blacklisting of that man, Robert Cenedella, Sr., for refusing to denounce Communism during the McCarthy era resulting in significant distress for the family. He was able to make enough money to attend art classes at the Art Student League of New York but despite successes Cenedella still went through periods of depression. Abstract expressionism and pop art were popular in the ‘50s and ‘60s, not his brand of realism and satire. His artwork reflected his emotional processing of his childhood and everything else going on around him: New York art and culture, commercialism, politics and social justice in canvases filled with people in every day comedic, chaotic, and violent scenes. I’m unsure how I feel about the scorn he expresses for his contemporaries and marketing, but the documentary is funny and engaging. To learn more about Robert Cenedella and see his more current work, check out his website. -SB

Allan Holdsworth I.O.U. (1982). Allan Holdworth (1946-2017) was one of the most influential electric guitarists of the last 50 years and his music is a unique bridge of jazz and rock. He had an immediately identifiable sound and was always looking to innovate. His list of admirers included Frank Zappa, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Robben Ford, Yngwie Malmsteen and many many others. He had played with Soft Machine, Jean-Luc Ponty, Tony Williams, UK and Bruford. What is amazing about this 1982 solo album is that it is just guitar, bass, drums and vocals (with one or two piano and violin solos). The keyboard-like chord sounds are actually guitar and to achieve that effect he used a volume pedal and a delay. In his solos, he often stretched the fingers on his left hand to get more notes on every string and create an expressive legato effect. It’s a beautiful, virtuosic and mind-bending flurry of sound - the only word to describe it is otherworldly. He has an incredible backing band but Holdsworth is always the center of attention. My favorite pieces on the album are the instrumentals Shallow Sea and Where is One. An album that many guitarists know but everyone should hear as Holdsworth hit new innovative and inspiring heights.-BW