Happy Halloween!! October was not a good month for me. It was mostly Tricks and few Treats! The tricks were that I was recovering from an appendectomy and after two weeks of that, I caught a virus and then a bacterial infection and was sick for 2 more weeks. My motivation is now at all time low and I have no desire to write or even buy as my energy level is completely wiped. I haven’t written much at all this past month and don’t know when I will get back in to a full time mode, if I ever do. It was hard enough to even put this simple post together, but I am trying.
This month might be my smallest number of purchases in quite some time, but doesn’t mean it doesn’t have what I think are some really sweet Treats! I did get to one record store during the month on the sole day in between recovery and illness where I felt good. It didn’t last that long because by the afternoon, it all went down hill. Noble Records was having their 3rd Anniversary Drop and what a drop it was. I picked up a Kiss Bootleg. More to come on this one down the road, but this is a 1981 reissue of a 1978 bootleg of Kiss My Axe 1978.
While there I picked two albums I had reviewed in my You Pick It Series that won for albums I had never heard before. I grabbed Frank Zappa’s Hot Rats and George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass which was the owners personal copy. It is so clean and even includes the poster!!
Then I picked up a classic I had been wanting for ages, Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak. Nothing I need to add to that…
And lastly, I picked up the 12″ Maxi Single for Billy Idol’s White Wedding. I had been wanting it for ages due to the cover. Pretty great!!
And that was it from Noble, but what a haul it was. I also picked up a couple Matt Nathanson CD Promotional Singles that I have been collecting. I think I only have 4 more to get and I will have everything out there that I know exists…
That wasn’t all. I grabbed a Joel Hoekstra’s 13 debut Dying to Live. I bought this because I forgot that Jeff Scott Soto sang on half the songs…duh!! How could I not have remembered that!!
And lastly, the only new release I have bought and it is Richard Marx’s Storyteller. 20 songs and broken up in to four categories, Pop, Rock, Country and Ballads. Some great stuff as the man can write a song!
And that is everything. I told you it wasn’t much. Here is all of it in one shot!!
Thanks for stopping by and have a great month of purchases!!
Phillip Edelman is an associate professor of music education and the current director of the School of Performing Arts at the University of Maine. Having joined UMaine in the fall of 2016 Edelman works not only with students to help ensure their progression as performers but also with future teachers who are planning to enter the field.
Starting his music education career in 2006 Edelman was a middle school music teacher in Goddard, Kansas. He has always been interested in teaching music ever since he was in 5th grade when his band teacher got him interested in the subject. He believes that music education in schools is underrated as they can create outstanding and memorable learning experiences for students involved.
“I think that the value of having a comprehensive music program at, let’s say, any given public school, is sometimes taken for granted and not appreciated. And what music does for students is often not appreciated,” Edelman said.
In 2013 he began working toward his Ph.D. at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, where he taught courses surrounding education methods and music technology. On top of earning his Ph.D. in music education he has also earned degrees from Kansas State University and the University of New Hampshire.
Currently Edelman teaches courses in music education and conducting at UMaine. This includes teaching future music instructors the necessary skills they need to succeed in their level of education. He also teaches music pedagogy which refers to the study of teaching and learning new instruments in order for aspiring music teachers to apply them in an educational environment.
The most fulfilling aspect of teaching for Edelman is seeing the growth of music players as they learn new instruments or other valuable skills over the course’s duration.
“I see a ton of growth because these are people who have never played whatever it is that we’re teaching at the time. So right now I’m teaching a double reach pedagogy course. So these are, you know, trumpet and blue horn players who have never played a bassoon before, who now can pretty convincingly play the bassoon after a couple of weeks, and that’s really rewarding,” Edelman said.
Edelman is also the director of the UMaine Concert Band, which allows him to get involved with more students of vast music backgrounds. The UMaine Concert Band plays a variety of concert band literature in both on and off-campus environments and is involved with performing and raising money for charities such as Champion the Cure from Northern Light Health.
“Oh, it’s so much fun. It’s the best. We’ve got students from every major on campus; it feels like we’re about 100 students in any given year. We do concerts that raise funds for local charities and local organizations that do excellent work. And we just have a really great time,” Edelman said.
On top of his past and current teaching experience Edelman has served as a conductor for the New Horizons Music band in Roeland Park. The New Horizons International Music Association is an organization that brings music to older adults who are learning for the first time or want to relearn instruments they played from years prior. Edelman believes that music education has the ability to create a strong sense of community between each player.
“If you look across our society right now we’ve got people hating each other for all sorts of reasons. But when you put everyone sort of in the same room and working on the same task and making beautiful music together, it’s really hard to hate the person next to you because you have to sound good,” Edelman said.
Edelman is also a member of various music-based organizations such as the National Association for Music Education, the College Band Directors National Association and the American String Teachers Association.
“Those are our professional groups. So we have conferences, we talk about policy, we do research, we communicate with our members in the field. We talk about different methodological approaches to teaching and learning,” Edelman said.
Whether it be upcoming music teachers, music students, non-music students or even older adults, the importance of a music environment is essential for learning the art form and for harboring a strong sense of community.
“Learning is the advice I give to all professionals within or without music education. And the most rewarding aspect of teaching within the program is getting to see the current students we have become teachers, and then influence the next generation of music makers,” Edelman said.
Posted in Events By Katie Simning On October 30, 2022
Welcome to This Week in Geek, your guide to events of interest to the Minnesota geek community for the week of Monday, October 31, to Sunday, November 6.
(Jump to In-Person Events)
Virtual Events
Kid Koala: Music to Draw To
What: Music, Meetup When: Monday, October 31, at 7:00 p.m. Where: Virtual via Crowdcast
This free virtual version of the long-standing event series in Montreal provides a cozy atmosphere for attendees to make art and work on projects quietly toge12ther with a calm soundtrack of ambient music performed live by Kid Koala.
Virtual Pub Quiz Trivia Night
What: Trivia When: Monday, October 31, at 8:00 p.m. Where: Virtual via Twitch
Get your trivia on from the comfort of home with Geeks Who Drink’s online trivia night. Prove your mettle, and maybe learn a little something! Watch for other Monday-night virtual pub-trivia events going forward.
The Radical Agreement Project
What: Comedy & Theater, Educational When: Tuesday, November 1, at 3:00 p.m. Where: Virtual via Zoom
Learn a new improv exercise in this series of 30-minute Zoom improv classes. This event is free, but participation is critical, so attendees will be required to turn on their cameras and microphones to join in.
Minnesota Zoo Virtual Yoga
What: Sports & Fitness When: Wednesday, November 2, at 7:45 a.m. Where: Virtual via Zoom
Start your morning with yoga at the zoo! Each week, the instructor teaches a yoga routine live from exhibits around the zoo. These classes are appropriate for both beginners and experienced yogis. Each class is $8 for nonmembers, with reduced rates available for zoo members or when registering for multiple classes at the same time. Sessions are recorded and available to view during the week for those who are unable to tune in live.
Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium Live Stream: What’s Up?
What: Educational, Science & Tech When: Wednesday, November 2, at 7:00 p.m. Where: Virtual via Facebook Live
Learn about current astronomical events and get your space questions answered by staff from the Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium at the University of Minnesota—Duluth. This virtual session is free.
Weird & Wonderful Wednesday Watchalongs
What: Movies When: Wednesday, November 2, at 7:00 p.m. Where: Virtual via Discord
Enjoy a free screening of an obscure film with Miss Emmy Martian and other cinephiles on Discord, every Wednesday night.
What: Educational, Science & Tech When: Thursday, November 3, at 5:45 p.m. Where: Virtual via Zoom
The Smithsonian Institution, home to famed museums and world-class research centers, is bringing educational programs and art courses online for all to enjoy. At this event, learn about how new audio technology is being used by scientists to study nature, including uncovering sounds beyond human hearing, regenerating species, building non-human dictionaries, and exploring the impacts of noise pollution on plants and animals. General-admission tickets are $25. Check out the streaming series webpage to see the many other upcoming events this week.
Twin Cities Geek Art Club
What: Arts When: Thursday, November 3, and Sunday, November 6; at 7:00 p.m. Where: Virtual via Discord
The Twin Cities Geek art club meets every Thursday evening from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on the Twin Cities Geeks Discord. Hop on voice or video and chat while you create art, then share your finished pieces on the #art-club channel! This event is open to all. You can join by visiting twincitiesgeek.com/discord.
Air and Space Adventures
What: Family, Gaming When: Saturday, November 5, at 11:30 a.m. Where: Virtual via GooseChase
Join the National Air and Space Museum every month for a free virtual game! This family-friendly game is open for three hours and features a mix of missions, photo challenges, and activities. Players will need to download the free GooseChase app to participate, which is available on both iOS and Android.
In-Person Events
Please note: Due to the risks from the ongoing pandemic, we urge all readers to take appropriate safety measures when choosing to attend in-person events, such as masking, physical distancing, and frequent handwashing. We also urge all eligible Minnesotans to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and to wear a mask in indoor settings even if vaccinated. If you believe you have been exposed to COVID-19 or are experiencing symptoms, please get tested and follow Minnesota state guidelines on isolating from others. See our COVID-19 resources page for more information on vaccination, health and safety, financial and other assistance, and more.
While government and business policies change frequently and we cannot guarantee the safety of anyone attending an event we are not affiliated with, we do avoid featuring organizers or venues we believe to be following unsafe practices. If you feel something in this column does not meet those criteria, we encourage you to contact us at [email protected] with your concerns.
Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular
What: Family, Community When: October 1, through November 5 Where: Minnesota Zoo
This is a chance to explore a trail of artistically carved glowing pumpkins at the Minnesota Zoo. This year’s theme is a “Night at the Library,” and features new artists’ creations. Tickets range from $18–24, and members receive $2 off.
Six: The Musical
What: Theater & Comedy, Music When: Thursday, October 27, through Sunday, November 6 Where: Ordway
The wives of Henry VIII bring their stories out of the King’s shadow and give them a pop-diva remix in Six: The Musical. This Tony Award-winning Broadway show features an all-woman cast and band. Tickets start at $60.50.
Twin Cities German Film Festival
What: Movies When: Thursday, November 3, through Sunday, November 6 Where: The Main Cinema
The first annual Twin Cities German Film Festival will explore the theme of “Reel Women” through six films featuring narratives of women changing lives. Screenings will be at the Main Cinema, formerly the St. Anthony Main. Check out the website for a full list of films and screening times. Individual film tickets are $8–12.
Kate DiCamillo, A Very Mercy Christmas
What: Books, Family When: Thursday, November 3, at 4:00 p.m. Where: Red Balloon Bookshop
Author Kate DiCamillo will be signing copies of her latest children’s book, A Very Mercy Christmas. Attendees can also get her previous books signed when copies are purchased through Red Balloon Bookshop, including The Tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn-Dixie, and the Mercy Watson series. Tickets are $22.58 (with fees) and include a copy of A Very Mercy Christmas.
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
What: Meetup When: Thursday, November 3, at 5:30 p.m. Where: Dayton’s Bluff Library
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is here! Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have taken up the challenge to write 50,000 words in just one short month. Are you one of them? This weekly meet-up invites local NaNoWriMo participants of all ages out for an evening of writing and camaraderie.
Sci-Fi Book Club
What: Books When: Thursday, November 3, at 6:30 p.m. Where: Nokomis Library
The Nokomis Branch of the Hennepin County Library hosts a monthly science-fiction book club where patrons discuss new and interesting sci fi. Lending copies of the books can be picked up at the information desk of the library. For November, the club will discuss The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield. See the event listing for upcoming titles.
Reverend Matt’s Monster Science: Kill You as Soon as Look at You
What: Comedy & Theater, Educational, Family When: Thursday, November 3, at 7:00 p.m. Where: Bryant Lake Bowl
Reverend Matt’s Monster Science, a recurring comedic lecture series with a focus on monsters, returns this month to take a close look at the creatures who can kill with just a glance including Medusa, basilisks, and Baba Yaga. Tickets are $12.
University of Minnesota Writers Series: Eloisa Amezcua and Tracy K. Smith Reading
What: Books When: Friday, November 4, at 7:00 p.m. Where: Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota
Every fall, the University of Minnesota hosts a series of free readings and talks from award-winning writers, poets, and graphic novelists. This week features readings from Eloisa Amezcua and Tracy K. Smith. Amezcua is an award-winning poet and author of Fighting Is Like a Wife and From the Inside Quietly. Smith is a Pulitzer Prize recipient and author of Life on Mars, Wade in the Water, Duende, and more. To see other upcoming events in the series, head over to the university’s English department website.
Spektral Quartet: Enigma: A 360° Experience
What: Music When: Friday, November 4, and Saturday, November 5, at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Where: Bell Museum
The Grammy-nominated Spektral Quartet is bringing their new audio-visual concert, Enigma: A 360° Experience, to the Bell Museum. The performance will feature music from Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, along with immersive visuals by Sigurður Guðjónsson playing on all 360-degrees of the museum’s planetarium. Tickets are $33.50.
Free First Saturday: Offerings
What: Arts, Community, Family When: Saturday, November 5, at 10:00 a.m. Where: Walker Art Center
Celebrate art and community on the first Saturday of every month with free gallery admission and special events at the Walker Art Center. This month’s theme is “Offerings,” which will include Día de los Muertos art activities, a scavenger hunt, screenings of the short film For Estefani, Third Grade, Who Made Me a Card, and a reading of From the Top of the Trees with author Kao Kalia Yang.
Spotlight Science: Brain Power
What: Science & Tech When: Saturday, November 5, at 10:00 a.m. Where: Bell Museum
Spotlight Science is an event series that brings the current science happening at the University of Minnesota to the community through interactive experiences and special guests. This month’s topic is all about brains, featuring activities that explore their functions, how they change, and the impacts of brain injuries and addiction. There will also be planetarium screenings of the animated film Mysteries of Your Brain. This event is included with regular admission; adult general admission is $12 and there are multiple offerings for reduced rates.
Drawn to Nature!
What: Arts When: Saturday, November 5, at 1:00 p.m. Where: Fort Snelling State Park
Head over to Fort Snelling State Park for an afternoon of nature sketching! A naturalist will be on site to point attendees toward picturesque areas of the park. Check out the event calendar on the Department of Natural Resources website for more outdoor events in state parks throughout Minnesota.
Funlab: STEAM for Ages 7–11
What: Educational, Science & Tech When: Saturday, November 5, at 2:00 p.m. Where: Dayton’s Bluff Library
FunLab is an event for kids 7–11 to learn STEAM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) principles through fun in a drop-in session with crafts, games, projects, experiments, and movies. The event is free, and will serve kids so long as supplies last.
Shieldmaiden Sunday
What: Gaming, Meetup When: Sunday, November 6, at 12:00 p.m. Where: Source Comics and Games
Shieldmaiden Sundays are a dedicated space for female-identifying (including trans women/femme) and nonbinary nerds and geeks at Source Comics and Games. This is a recurring weekly event providing a space for women to play games, chat about comics, cosplay, or just enjoy the company of other geeks. Be sure to check out the Source calendar for additional events!
The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society
What: Theater & Comedy When: Sunday, November 6, at 7:00 p.m. Where: Bryant Lake Bowl
Enjoy a night of horror, comedy, and suspense in the style of a vintage radio broadcast, including old-time commercials and sound effects. Programming will include The Shadow Over Innsmouth, Smee, and Runestones are a Girl’s Best Friend performed by Joshua English Scrimshaw, Shanan Custer, Eric Webster, and Tim Uren. Tickets are $18.
(Jump to Top)
So, which of these events will you be attending? What events would you like to see featured in the future? Let us know in the comments section below or contact us via email. And don’t forget to add your events to the Twin Cities Geek Community Calendar!
In the agenda according to the UCSB Arts & Lectures’ Hear and Now series, rising young classical phenoms and fresh “now-ish” ideas are granted a spotlight in the warming ambience of Hahn Hall on the Music Academy’s Montecito campus. That general agenda gets twisted only slightly with the arrival of much-acclaimed young harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, on Friday, November 4.
For the evening’s entertainment, the keyboardist dips back into 18th-century baroque annals and presents the complete Goldberg Variations of J.S. Bach. The principal difference here is his period-correct use of the proper tool — the harpsichord of Bach’s day, versus the piano version made famous in the 20th century by Glenn Gould and other grand pianists.
Jean Rondeau | Credit: Clement Vayssieres
Something of a charismatic figure and radical virtuoso well-known for his dynamic live performances, the 31-year-old Frenchman is one of the current bright lights of the global harpsichord scene. He has recorded several albums, including a recent, meticulously faithful rendition of the Goldberg Variations on the Erato label, met with critical hosannas; and 2017’s Bach Dynasty. He has ventured into contemporary music, as well, giving the 2018 world premiere of the solo harpsichord piece Furakèla by the fascinating French keyboardist-composer Eve Risser, whose music deftly cross-talks between classical and jazz.
The iconic Goldberg opus has very much been in Rondeau’s hands and on his mind lately. In the wake of the album’s release, his Santa Barbara debut on Friday is part of a busy U.S. tour with the Variations as his sole focus, culminating in an appearance in the midtown Manhattan classical music temple and proving ground that is Carnegie Hall.
Last June, Rondeau presented the world premiere of the two-piano and percussionist piece UNDR, co-composed by himself and percussionist Tancrède Kummer, drawing direct inspiration from the Goldberg Variations.
Never mind that a harpsichord recital in Santa Barbara is, in itself, an all-too-rare occasion. The chance to audience with one of the great living practitioners on the instrument, on the theme of one of the premiere jewels from J.S. Bach’s repertoire, no less, is an opportunity not to be missed.
The 7 p.m. event at Hahn Hall also includes a pre-concert talk by Derek Katz, UCSB Associate Professor of Musicology, at 6 p.m. (free to event ticket holders).
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TOWN OF WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – It was a festive weekend in the North Country.
“They were like ‘Mom, we have to be Chucky for Halloween’ and that started in March,” said Fort Drum resident Zhazha Prieto.
Prieto and her family are four versions of the Good Guys Chucky Doll.
“Each one of us represents a different movie because of our weapons,” said Prieto.
They came out to the Nococon Halloween Costume Party hosted at the Town of Watertown Fire Hall which gave several an excuse to show off their costumes a day before Halloween night.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for us to get to know people in the community, but also enjoy some family fun stuff,” said Prieto.
Organizers of the event say community Halloween parties like this one need to become more popular.
“Let’s have a Halloween party that people can come to. Don’t get me wrong, I love haunted trails and haunted hay rides and all that stuff, but there needs to be more celebration,” said Nococon Co-Director Ember Belird.
The party didn’t stop in another fire hall cross county lines.
People with pumpkin hats danced in Copenhagen to the beat of the Black River Valley Fiddlers.
“It’s a beautiful day, and so many people have come just to have a good time and enjoy the old country music and the fiddlers,” said Juli Hebert, a Copenhagen Fire Department Auxiliary member.
This is a yearly tradition for these Lewis County residents who say it is a great way to enjoy the community.
Whether it’s dressing up or taking someone out to the dance floor, it always makes this time of year a skele-fun time.
When psychobilly and horror rock bands The House of Haunt, The Brains and Gallows Bound took the stage at This Ain’t Hollywood on March 12, 2020, little did music fans in Hamilton know It would be one of the city’s last live shows for some time.
The show would in fact be the final one for the venue. The iconic Hamilton bar was sold that spring, just as the pandemic started hitting the city’s arts and culture sector hard with closures.
“This Ain’t Hollywood was on the verge of closing for quite a while,” House of Haunt vocalist and guitarist Matthew ‘Fang Binite’ Vörös said, looking back.
“The strength of the scene and the strength of the people kept it alive.”
The venue’s closure ushered in a difficult time for the industry, but more than two years later, COVID restrictions on live music venues are fully lifted. Hamilton artists are emerging from a summer nearly back on track, after navigating a music scene deeply impacted by the pandemic.
Well-known venues in the city — The Casbah, Mills Hardware, Doors Taco Joint and Metal Bar, and Corktown Pub, to name a few — are back to near-regular programming.
Thousands of music fans caught many a live act on stage, as Supercrawl returned to James Street North in September.
The city has also seen new venues enter the scene, such as the Sonic Unyon Records-owned Bridgeworks, which opened last year. Underground DJ venue Sous Bas was sold to new owners, who relaunched it as Andthenyou in June.
But the industry which relies on live performances for revenue also saw many losses over the past few years. This Ain’t Hollywood and the Cat N’ Fiddle closed permanently. Absinthe also closed, although it hinted on Oct. 7 on Facebook that it was ready to re-open.
“I am very grateful for those venue owners that stuck around,” musician Andrew Adu Amoah said in an interview earlier this year. Amoah is the lead singer and composer of the Hamilton post-apocalyptic funk band Papa Skin Freak.
“Hats off to those who didn’t just quit. But who believed in musicians and artists and are architects of hope really,” he said.
The band went back to playing live throughout the spring and summer. This return included shows at Hamilton’s Corktown Pub and Toronto’s Supermarket. Looking back on the band’s performance at Corktown, Amoah said the show’s atmosphere reminded him of the magic of live performance.
“That interplay between the artist with the band members and the artist with the audience was beautiful to watch,” Amoah said. “It felt really good, especially because [the band played] original music. [The crowd] hadn’t heard [those] songs before and yet, we got people dancing.”
‘The world missed going out’
Performing allows artists to build relationships and connections within the music scene. The pandemic put a dent in that ability, as several Ontario artists told CBC Hamilton.
Kingston-based singer-songwriter and Hinterwood vocalist Sadie McFadden said the uncertainty of the pandemic made booking shows difficult.
“I remember when we were trying to book a show and the people who I once knew were no longer doing booking,” she said. “There’s a loss of connections that are really important to the music industry there, but there’s also the loss of money at the physical venues. With these things together, there’s financial hardship on the venues that also gets passed down to musicians.”
Hats off to those who didn’t just quit. But who believed in musicians and artists and are architects of hope really.–
Not only did the pandemic take a financial toll on venues and artists but McFadden, who has played Hamilton in the past, said the loss of longstanding venues has been emotional for artists like her.
Places like This Ain’t Hollywood are often “like home base for a lot of different musicians,” she said. “There’s a lot of places that, even if they didn’t close down, they might not be offering live music anymore. So, it’s a loss of community as well.”
Hinterwood vocalist Sadie McFadden says the pandemic cost her important connections in Hamilton’s music scene. (Kate Pichora/submitted by Sadie McFadden)
For Kitchener singer-songwriter Alyssa Mikuljan, who also goes by Alyssa DVM, venues like Corktown offer the space to bring a passion project to life. Over the last few months, Mikuljan has been teaming up with artists from across genres to put on a series of shows celebrating women in music.
“Unless you’re in the music industry, [the presence of women in music is] not something that’s really talked about,” Mikuljan said. “Everyone [who attended the first shows at Corktown] loved it, to my knowledge.”
McFadden, Mikuljan and Vörös all said they’ve noticed revitalized enthusiasm toward live music among audiences, even as some feel unsure of being in a crowd and interacting with performers.
“The world missed going out,” Vörös said. “They missed live music. I find shows are attended more post-pandemic than they were pre pandemic.”
Mikuljan says artists are more thoughtful about what they are offering an audience and are careful not to overbook a venue or city, so people still come out.
“You don’t want super close performance days at the same place,” Mikuljan said, adding it had been harder to draw in crowds as pandemic restrictions lessened. “People want new and unique experiences.”
As the winter months draw near, musicians like Mikuljan, McFadden and Vörös look to focus on writing and recording new songs. Amoah is also shifting focus towards developing Papa Skin Freak’s social media presence and, by extension, their audience.
“We will do a couple shows in the region,” Amoah said. “But as far as I’m concerned, we’re all full speed torpedoes, spreading the gospel and trying to get in the pockets of people from around the world who love that little bit of funk soul hybrid the way we do it.”
Mikuljan said she’s optimistic, despite the uncertainty the winter months may bring.
“I hope people will continue to support live music,” Mikuljan said, “because I’m glad that it’s back.”
(MANDATORY CREDIT Ebet Roberts/Getty Images) UNITED STATES – JANUARY 01: Photo of CULTURE CLUB … [+] (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns)
Redferns
By 1984, the two most popular British bands in America were Culture Club and Duran Duran. Although quite different from each other musically, the two rival acts had several things in common: they were extremely photogenic with their distinct looks and fashions; they consistenly scored hit singles and made eye-catching videos; and they attracted predominantly young female fan bases. Both Culture Club and Duran Duran were the two leading acts of New Pop—a term coined by journalist Paul Morley to describe the music of ambitious, style-minded British artists who made shiny and accessible pop music in the first half of the 1980s. Along with Duran Duran and Culture Club, those New Pop acts—such as the Human League, Soft Cell, Eurythmics, Spandau Ballet, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and ABC— achieved popularity first in the U.K. and later in the U.S.
The British music journalist Dave Rimmer documented this lively and colorful U.K. pop music explosion as it was happening with his 1985 book Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop. A writer for the British music weekly Smash Hits, Rimmer captured the zeitgeist of the movement through his fly-on-the-wall reporting on Culture Club—whose members consisted of Boy George, Mikey Craig, Jon Moss and Roy Hay—for about a three-year period. With his observations of Culture Club during their period of sell-out tours, intense media coverage and fan hysteria, Rimmer painted a portrait of a group at their absolute peak in his book.
Having been mostly out of print for decades, Like Punk Never Happened (whose title refers to the fact that most of the New Pop artists first emerged from the late 1970s punk rock era) has now been republished and expanded with a foreword by Neil Tennant (who was once a music journalist before he found fame as half of Pet Shop Boys) and the inclusion of Rimmer’s profile of Duran Duran from 1985 that originally appeared in the British culture magazine The Face.
Cover of ‘Like Punk Never Happened’ by Dave Rimmer.
credit: Faber and Faber
“It was Neil Tennant that put it in Faber’s head,” Rimmer, who is based in Berlin, explains about the book’s republication. “He was doing a book of his lyrics for Faber, and while he was talking to them, he said: ‘You should republish Like Punk Never Happened.’ The book had been kind of forgotten about at Faber a little bit—this made everybody read it again and they decided, ‘Hey, this is a good book. We should republish it again.’ I suggested that I write a new afterword and that they include the Duran Duran piece that’s in there. Although it’s not directly thematically linked to the book, it’s certainly part of the same period of work, so it seemed to fit really.”
Both working for Smash Hits in the early 1980s, Rimmer and Tennant decided that the story of New Pop should be told through the lens of a particular act—in this case, Culture Club. “It was never meant to be any kind of straightforward pop biography,” says Rimmer. “I found that idea rather boring. The idea was always to write the book about the whole phenomenon using one band as an example of what we were talking about—a combination of music journalist memoir, pop biography, and description of the cultural ecosystem all wrapped up in an episodic and chronological narrative with a generous sprinkling of mischief on top.”
The first time Rimmer met Culture Club occurred in December 1982 when he traveled with them to New York City on their first visit to U.S.; the band members were coming off the smash success of their hit single “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.” Of his initial impressions of Culture Club, Rimmer recalls: “George is quite a surprising character when you meet him. I always liked him, but he wasn’t the easiest person to get on with. Real temper, and he’d flip from one side of his persona to another quite easily. But it was clear that George was kind of like a force of nature, and then the people around him were trying to shape that, temper it a bit. It was Jon Moss who gave him focus on pop music. George’s initial impulse was to try and shock people, and he was sort of dissuaded from that by the other members of the band. In a way, that was an incredibly intelligent position to have a guy that looks vaguely shocking to a lot of people and then you do sweet pop music.
“I got to know them a lot better over the next couple of years and traveled with them to different places. Traveling with bands was always the best way to get to know them. You got more time with them, and then it also had the function of instead of being an outsider like coming in to interview them in some location they’ve been in England, you’d be traveling with them from England. So you become part of their entourage. You become part of the ‘us’ as opposed to the ‘them.’ It was definitely the best way to get to know people.”
As described in the book, between 1983 and 1985, Culture Club was one of the hottest pop groups in the world with such hits as “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” “Time (Clock of the Heart),” “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” and “Karma Chameleon.” With his off-the-cuff yet accessible personality and charming charisma—not to mention his unique look of dreadlocks, androgynous makeup and patchwork baggy clothes—George was the most ubiquitous media celebrity outside of Princess Diana.
(Original Caption) 12/1/1983-Hollywood, California: Joan Rivers interviews pop musician Boy George, … [+] of Culture Club, on “The Joan Rivers Show.” Rivers, appears to be making a point as she firmly places one finger on her desk as the colorful Boy George smiles.
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“It seemed to be kind of logical that they were successful,” Rimmer says of the band’s rise. “[George] was definitely a star. I may be surprised by how much America took to him. You got the impression a lot of American artists looked down on Britain as being too into clothes and the look and not enough into authentic rock and roll. So it was kind of a surprise that George went over so well in America. I guess part of that was because he was very good at doing interviews, coming over as an interesting character. Although that’s a fragile thing as well: if you build your career entirely on being a media personality, that can kind of turn against you quite quickly as well, which is what eventually happened to George.”
Heavily embedded with Culture Club during that period, Rimmer was a witness to the fan hysteria surrounding the group. “It was fascinating,” Rimmer recalls. “I was enjoying the excitement around it…I can remember at one point in Japan, there were loads of loads of Japanese fans who’d all come and did their own version of the Boy George look. I have to say that one very intelligent thing George did was that he made his look into something that people could do their version of. It wasn’t that difficult to kind of find some hair extensions and look a bit like Boy George.”
(MANDATORY CREDIT Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images) Culture Club Fans, London, United Kingdom, … [+] 1983. (Photo by Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images)
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With Culture Club and Duran Duran leading the way, the New Pop phenomenon reached its high point during the week of July 16, 1983, when seven acts of British origin had hits in the Billboard Top 10. Outside of Michael Jackson during his imperial Thriller reign, British artists were dominating the pop music scene. “A lot of it was down to MTV,” Rimmer explains. “American bands weren’t equipped to deal with this visual media in the same way that the British ones were. The British ones spent a lot of time looking at their look and how that worked and so forth. American bands would be wearing jeans and ‘this-that-and-the-other.’ They just didn’t have the same kind of visual panache that George or Duran Duran had at that time. Also, British bands weren’t ashamed of being pop bands. It wasn’t trying to be rock music, it wasn’t trying to be authentic. It was supremely well-crafted pop music.”
The original edition of Like Punk Never Happened concluded in 1985, the same year as the massive Live Aid event that unofficially marked a turning point for the New Pop acts. By the end of 1986, the music scene had shifted from British New Pop to the emergence of dance music in the U.K., and the return of American music on the Billboard charts via such acts as Madonna, Prince and Bruce Springsteen. Meanwhile, Culture Club’s fortunes significantly changed following Boy George’s publicized drug issues and the group broke up soon afterward.
“It was always clear that George was holding himself back—that he didn’t want to kind of completely reveal himself or go wild for the sake of the band, for the sake of pop music,” says Rimmer. “On another level, before that, he had been very anti-drug and had a puritan side that Jon Moss very much reinforced. I think George having held himself back in order to be this kind of interesting but essentially harmless pop star… there was some part of him that was wound up really tight and about ready to let go.
“It surprised me more in a way that [Culture Club’s] songwriting tailed off so dramatically because their songs had been really good up to that point. Colour by Numbers [from 1983] is a great pop album. And then the one that follows it [1984’s Waking Up With the House on Fire] has like one good song on it or maybe one-and-a-half good songs. That in a way was more surprising to me than the fact that George’s public persona blew up and fractured.”
Much has changed in the decades after the New Pop phenomenon, especially with the advent of the internet and social media that have replaced the British music weeklies (nearly all of them now defunct) and MTV as the gatekeepers and influencers when it came to promoting acts. But the legacy of the New Pop artists continues to endure as Culture Club (who remain active following a late 1990s reunion), Duran Duran (who will be inducted into this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), and their contemporaries are still performing and making new music. “Culture Club had gone and come back again,” says Rimmer. “Duran Duran on the other hand have stayed together and are carried on performing all the time. Their tenacity is quite admirable.
AUSTIN, TEXAS – OCTOBER 15: (L-R) Roy Hay, Boy George, and Mikey Craig of Culture Club perform … [+] onstage during weekend two, day two of Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park on October 15, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/WireImage)
WireImage
“I’ve read the theory that you always like best the music that was popular when you were a teenager. I’m sure the people who were teenagers when this was going on and were into George, etc., at the time will naturally retain some kind of affection for [those artists] and that music because it meant so much to them.”
Rimmer acknowledges that New Pop might arguably be the last golden age of pop music. “I don’t know if it was the best one,” he says. “You have to compare it with the mid-’60s, really. It was certainly a completely lively era for that kind of stuff. I don’t know how you can directly compare [New Pop’s] impact with earlier or later generations. But certainly, there’s been nothing really like it since then.” As for what new readers should come away from Like Punk Never Happened, the author says: “I’d like them to take away a sense that there is much more to pop music than typically meets the eye, and that the much-maligned 1980s was way more complex and interesting than is commonly supposed.”
The new edition of Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop by Dave Rimmer, published by Faber & Faber, is out now.
18-year-old artist/songwriter Payday will be releasing her Trips to Venus EP next Friday, November 4.
To get you in the mood for that project, here is her latest single “Shadow Puppets”. This melancholic alt-pop track came in the company of an animated visual.
“Shadow Puppets” is a dark, candid take on loneliness and mental health. Paydays’ vulnerable lyrics and emotive vocals make the song so moving.
As a whole, the upcoming EP features a coming-of-age story delving into the highs and lows of young adulthood. Topics such as heartbreak, mental anguish, self-destruction, growing apart from friends and loss of identity are explored.
Listen to “Shadow Puppets” and ensure you dive into the whole EP when it drops next Friday. Check out Payday’s Instagram page.
Produced by LSDXOXO with additional production by Bambii, “Happy Ending” is Kelela’s newest release and it celebrates Black rave culture. Unlike the ambient-leaning track “Washed Away“—which came out last month; her first new music since 2017—”Happy Ending” is a club-ready banger, yet it still incorporates the Washington, DC-born artist’s sublime silkiness.
Sampa The Great feat. Angélique Kidjo: Let Me Be Great
Zambian artist Sampa The Great released her second album, As Above, So Below, last month and from it comes “Let Me Be Great” featuring the legendary Angélique Kidjo. Today, which happens to be Zambian Independence Day, the duo share the track’s music video directed by Pussy Krew. The animated, hyperreal CGI work shape-shifts between scenes, playing with motion, color and texture. The kaleidoscopic Afrofuturist aesthetic perfectly matches the two artists’ charming and triumphant performances.
Destroyer feat. Sandro Perri: Somnambulist Blues
A minimal, experimental composition from Toronto-based musician and producer Sandro Perri with spoken-word from pioneering indie-rock act Destroyer (aka Dan Bejar), “Somnambulist Blues” is a mesmeric, multi-dimensional and transportive track of precise, powerful components. “I come back to Sandro’s music as something to sing to at the crossroads moments of my life in music,” Bejar shares in a statement. “There is something about the landscape Sandro lays out—it’s a world in which things become imminently singable. A lotta room to roam, and all of it good.” The single debuts as part of record label Mexican Summer’s Looking Glass digital series.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra: I Killed Captain Cook
The demise of James Cook is legendary—especially in Polynesia and Australasia, where the English explorer was responsible for a tremendous amount of colonization. In 1779, Cook and his men attempted to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu—the chief of the island of Hawaii—under the guise of showing him their ship. Thousands of Hawaiian people gathered on the beach at Kealakekua Bay, a fight broke out, and Cook was stabbed in the neck by an islander (some stories say it was Kalaniʻōpuʻu himself). Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s frontman Ruban Nielson—whose mother is a Kanaka Maoli from Oahu, and whose father is Māori—wrote the minimal, acoustic “I Killed Captain Cook” from the perspective of that Hawaiian. With vulnerable, tender vocals, the track is set to be the lead single from UMO’s upcoming double album. The video incorporates footage of Nielson’s mother, Deedee Aipolani Nielson.
Babygirl: Always
Babygirl—the Toronto-based outfit made up of Kiki Frances and Cameron Breithaupt—shares a haunting track about heartbreak, called “Always.” Soaked in candid lyrics of longing, soft vocals and quick guitar bursts, the new single is infectious yet melancholic, a quality the duo describes as “bubblegum emo.”
Mr Twin Sister: Resort
NYC band Mr Twin Sister has released their new EP, Upright And Even, and from it comes energetic track, “Resort.” While they often delve into a melange of avant-pop, electronic, dream-pop, chillwave and more, this new record is decidedly geared for the dance floor. “Upright sounds like nighttime after the shops have closed,” they share in a statement. “‘Resort’ is the centerpiece. It’s about the ecstasy of music triumphing over the bullshit of going out to hear it. Club music about club music. We didn’t want to release it back when nobody could be together in person, so we waited.”
Terry Emm: November Evenings
Hertfordshire-based Terry Emm channels vintage pop in “November Evenings,” a jangling folk-rock release with an Americana inflection. It’s Emm’s second single this year—and finds the singer-songwriter fusing thoughtful, emotion-driven lyricism with escalating lead guitar. “‘November Evenings’ is about that feeling when autumn changes into winter and we’re left reflecting on the year. It’s about jealously and a feeling of wanting more from life, when certain things are always just out of reach,” Emm shares in a statement, adding that the Lukas Drinkwater-produced song is “probably the second or third upbeat track I’ve ever released.”
Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel. Hero image by Alban Low, courtesy of Terry Emm
When visitors came to see the composer William Alwyn at his home in Blythburgh in Suffolk, they were always greeted by his wife, Mary.
Their house was silent, almost eerily so. Mary kept it that way so nothing would disturb William as he composed. She was completely dedicated to William and his work – guests remembered her as quiet and unassuming, and terrible at making tea.
Few realised that Mary Alwyn had once been a famous composer herself, and a quite different woman altogether. Born Doreen Mary Carwithen, she changed her name after she and William eloped to Suffolk in 1961, eventually becoming his wife in 1975. It’s at least partly because of this relationship that Carwithen’s name is still relatively unfamiliar today. She put her career aside to promote his.
Doreen Carwithen lived much of her life in the shadow of her husband, fellow composer William Alwyn
It was only after William died in 1985 that she allowed herself a small re-emergence as a composer, and in the 1990s oversaw the recording of her string quartets, Violin Sonata and some of her orchestral works. Carwithen’s fame has been slowly growing since then, and her centenary this year has been celebrated with the first ever festival dedicated to her, and country-wide performances including at the BBC Proms.
It’s unsurprising that Carwithen’s music is enjoying a renaissance. Her style is utterly captivating. She can just as easily write energetic, rhythmically driven music as she can intimate, introspective pieces built on luminous harmonies and lingering chords. And shining through in all her works is a pure, unadulterated love of melody. She never embraced atonality or experimentalism – she belongs to the same brand of 20th-century British composition as William Walton, Grace Williams and Benjamin Britten.
Carwithen received her first musical training from her mother, Dulcie. She had wanted to be a concert pianist herself, and gave music lessons to her two daughters, Doreen and Barbara. Both went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music, where Doreen started out as a pianist and cellist in 1941. Judging by her works that feature the cello and piano, she was clearly an accomplished performer on both instruments, but it was at the Academy that she began the harmony lessons that would change the direction of her life.
It was these classes that ultimately resulted in her shift of focus to composition – and they were also where she first met William Alwyn. He was assigned as her harmony tutor, and even though he was already married, the two began a passionate relationship that would be conducted in secret for nearly 20 years.
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Suffolk, where Doreen Carwithen and William Alwyn lived and which inspired her ‘Suffolk Suite’
Presumably, at least part of what attracted Alwyn to Carwithen was her obvious compositional talent. He recognised her abilities from the songs that she brought to her first lessons, and encouraged her to continue writing larger works. Much of her student pieces have been lost, but those which survive show that Carwithen had a remarkably assured, original voice from very early on. The 1943 Nocturne and Humoresque for cello and piano already have many of the trademarks of her later works – bold rhythms are mixed with piquant harmonies, always with an eye for virtuosic flair.
The most remarkable work of these years is perhaps the Piano Sonatina (1945-6). This is very much a pianist’s piece; its sprightly outer movements that whizz and snap along like firecrackers demand a formidable technique, but they are balanced by a meditative second movement that is so economically constructed that it allows the performer a real interpretative flexibility. The Sonatina was premiered by Carwithen’s classmate and lifelong friend, pianist Violet Graham. She was an important interpreter of Carwithen’s early works, and also premiered some of Carwithen’s songs with the soprano Elizabeth Cooper.
The Serenade for Voice and Piano (1945), and Three Songs to Poems by Walter de la Mare (1946) show quite a different side to Carwithen’s compositional personality. They are whimsical, romantic pieces, and bear the influence of Vaughan Williams more than anything else in Carwithen’s output. They are the closest she ever got to musical declarations of love – the Serenade was privately dedicated to Alwyn, the text proclaiming that ‘My true love hath my heart and I have his’.
After only three years of composing, Carwithen claimed the prestigious Alfred J. Clements Chamber Music Prize with her String Quartet No. 1 (1945). Her String Quartet No. 2 (1950) followed in its footsteps, awarded a Cobbett Prize in 1952. Carwithen considered the quartet to be ‘the most perfect of mediums’, and it shows in her writing. The quartets are among her most powerful works, exploring a more experimental harmonic and timbral palette than in her other chamber music. She began composing a third quartet in her final years, but sadly never lived to complete it. Who knows in what directions this ‘most perfect of mediums’ might have taken the older Carwithen, tempting her back to composition after nearly 15 years of silence?
Carwithen’s style
Cinematic
Carwithen writes extremely evocatively. In her orchestral works, everything from her orchestration to approach to melody is influenced by film composition.
Romanticism
Carwithen’s music is often balancing on the edge of modernism, particularly in her early works, but she was nonetheless heavily influenced by Romantic music and art.
Pastoralism
The English landscape was a continuous source of inspiration for Carwithen, particularly the rolling fields and wetlands of Suffolk. In her Suffolk Suite in particular, she presents an idealised vision of the county.
Timbre
Timbre is all-important in Carwithen’s work, even in her chamber music. Vaughan Williams loved her String Quartet No. 1 except for her use of sul ponticello (keeping the bow near the bridge), which he described as a ‘nasty noise’.
Where Carwithen really made her name, though, was as a film composer. In 1947 she became both the first woman and the first student from the Royal Academy to be selected for the J Arthur Rank Apprenticeship Scheme, which trained composers to write for cinema. The Rank Organisation was Britain’s largest production company, producing such greats as Brief Encounter and Laurence Olivier’s Henry V.
Carwithen couldn’t have hoped for a better platform in the film industry, and she received her first solo credit in 1948 for a short drama called To The Public Danger, about the perils of drink-driving. She went on to score diverse features ranging from the borstal drama Boys in Brown (1949) starring Richard Attenborough and Dirk Bogarde, to the swashbuckling adventure movie Men of Sherwood Forest (1954). And in 1953 she was also selected to score Pathé’s film about Elizabeth II’s coronation, Elizabeth is Queen, which was awarded a BAFTA Certificate of Merit.
As one of the first women in the UK to score films (her contemporaries included Elisabeth Lutyens and Grace Williams), Carwithen was certainly a pioneer, but this also meant that she had to navigate considerable prejudice in a male-dominated industry. Despite her work on Elizabeth is Queen, for example, she was listed not as the composer but as the conductor Adrian Boult’s assistant. And she found it impossible to get an agent to represent her, which resulted in her having to work harder for lower pay than her male counterparts. But when she tried to raise the issue of equal pay after discovering she was being paid less than men for the same amount of work, she was simply told ‘Don’t you think you’re doing very well for a woman?’ Her commission was not increased.
It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that one of her most creatively fruitful collaborations was with the female director Wendy Toye. Not only did Toye treat Carwithen fairly as a professional, but music was integral to her movies. Usually, composers were brought in at the last moment once the edit was complete. But Toye worked with composers from the outset, carefully choreographing sound and visuals. This resulted in some of Carwithen’s favourite films, including The Stranger Left No Card (1952), Three Cases of Murder (1955) and On the Twelfth Day (1955).
Doreen Carwithen: Life and times
1922 Life: Doreen Mary Carwithen is born on 15 November in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire. Her musical talents are encouraged from an early age by her mother Dulcie, a highly talented pianist. Times: Led by Andrew Bonar Law, the Conservatives win the General Election. A group of the party’s newly elected MPs form a dining club which will later become known as the 1922 Committee.
1941
Life: A fine pianist and cellist, she wins a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. One of her teachers there is the 35-year-old composer William Alwyn.
Times: Thousands die and many more are made homeless during the Blitz, in which the German Luftwaffe carries out a series of bombing raids on major British cities, from Plymouth to Glasgow.
1953 Life: Now a successful film composer, she works day-and-night on the score for the documentary film of the coronation of Elizabeth II, released just three days after the event itself.
Times: Designer Laura Ashley and her husband Bernard start a new business by selling Victorian-style headscarves printed on a machine that he has built in their attic flat in Pimlico, London.
1964 Life: Having moved with Alwyn to Blythburgh, Suffolk, in 1961, she composes her Suffolk Suite, commissioned by nearby Framlingham College for the opening of its new concert hall.
Times:Top of the Pops is broadcast for the first time on BBC TV. Dusty Springfield opens the show with ‘I Only Want To Be With You’ and other appearances include The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.
1975 Life: She marries Alwyn who, despite their decades-long relationship, has only recently divorced his first wife, Olive. Disliking the name Doreen, she adopts the married name Mary Alwyn.
Times: Ross McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, is shot dead by the Provisional IRA for having offered a £50,000 reward for information that might lead to terrorist convictions.
2003 Life: Paralysed on one side by a stroke in 1999, she dies in Forncett St Peter, near Norwich, on 5 January. She is buried alongside her husband in Holy Trinity Churchyard, Blythburgh.
Times: Concorde makes its last ever flight, departing from Heathrow Airport, flying south over the Bay of Biscay and then returning to the UK to land at Filton Airport in Bristol.
Carwithen’s prowess as a film composer is evident in her orchestral music for the concert hall. She composes pictorially, almost narratively, producing scores so vivid that it sometimes seems as though you are hearing a sequence of audible scenes passing before your ears. She burst onto London’s concert scene in 1947 with her overture ODTAA (One Damned Thing After Another), which caused a storm when it was performed by Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Reviewers loved her ‘genuine melodic invention and … feeling for bright and forceful rhythms and brilliantly effective orchestration’.
This critical enthusiasm stretched into the 1950s, with her 1952 overture Bishop Rock receiving similarly warm reviews when it premiered at the Birmingham Proms. Inspired by the lighthouse on the westernmost point of the Isles of Scilly, Bishop Rock is an unashamedly theatrical piece. It opens mid-tempest with a repeated horn motif that symbolises the lighthouse beam blazing out over the Atlantic, complemented by imaginative orchestration that evokes the waves crashing against the rocks. Again, reviewers sang the praises of Carwithen’s ‘vivid and original’ score.
By all accounts, Carwithen was flourishing as a composer in the 1950s. She had regular film commissions, her work was well received, and her pieces were winning awards. And yet she began to step back from composition in the latter half of the decade. Her relationship with Alwyn had finally taken its toll on her career. Trying to live a double life was intensely stressful for both of them: Alwyn drank heavily and Carwithen chain-smoked to get through the day, often forgetting to eat.
They had to avoid one another at the film studios where they both worked, and they lived in fear of colleagues finding out about the affair and ostracising them. So they made the decision to escape to Suffolk, where Doreen Carwithen became Mary Alwyn. With her support, Alwyn went on to compose major works including two operas. She penned just two more pieces – the 1964 Suffolk Suite, and Seascapes for cello and piano in the 1970s.
Carwithen’s output may not have been large, but as the performances this centenary years are showing, what she did write was exceptional. As her music becomes better known, perhaps Mary Alwyn can once more be known first and foremost as Doreen Carwithen, a formidable composer in her own right.
