Sun Ra: 'Cosmic Swing' hide captionIn 1954, the artist legally known as Le Sony'r Ra founded the El Saturn record label, where he would release most of his extensive discography. Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead, of NPR's Fresh Air, presents a guide to appreciating Sun Ra. Pianist and bandleader Sun Ra has been both ridiculed as a charlatan and revered as an innovator of jazz theater and collective improvisation. His band, the Sun Ra Arkestra, ranged anywhere from 10 to sometimes more than 100 musicians, and embodied many sounds, styles and cultures. School certificates state that Sun Ra was born Herman Poole Blount on May 22, 1914 in Birmingham, Ala., but Sun Ra denied any connection to that name. While attending public school, Ra got his introduction to music and was given a piano as a birthday present; he claimed that playing the piano and reading music came to him as naturally as a bird learning to fly.
The Amazing Sculptures of Ji Yong Ho Dimensions: May/June 2001 By Leonard J. Aube The California Science Center in Los Angeles (formerly the California Museum of Science and Industry) is an institution undergoing major reinvention and expansion. Our board-adopted master plan calls for the addition, replacement, or renovation of all existing facilities—a total of some 700,000 square feet—in three phases over approximately 20 years. Like many institutions involved in lengthy and intense capital campaigns, we focused in Phase I on achieving our capital goal ($130 million), but gave the operating fund considerably less attention. Fortunately, we now have the opportunity to capture what we learned from Phase I and apply it to phases II and III. Anecdotes about transitions could easily fill this publication. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Equally important is a strategy for retaining staff beyond the first year. 9. Encourage senior staff to participate in other community organizations.
The Sun Ra Guide - Page 1 - Music It's as if Sun Ra planned the hopelessness of the task from the beginning. Pick the best of what might be an infinite number of recordings? Nobody has them all or knows how many exist. Find the recording dates of music made by people for whom time meant nothing, who often mixed together recordings from different years? Even the album titles are dicey, sometimes with a word or two wrong, or with the same title used on more than one recording, or with no title given at all. Sometimes there was no cover. Jazz in Silhouette [1958, Evidence] photo: Jack Vartoogian/Front Row Photos Sun Ra: No earthly birthplace Details Related Stories More About The wondrous thing about Sun Ra was always that you could never tell who his space circus was going to offend. Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy [1963 (1 967) , Evidence] Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow [1961 (1965) , Evidence] Once the Arkestra moved to New York City, it was a few years before Sun Ra could find work. The Magic City [1965 (1966) , Evidence]
Museo Franz Mayer Curatorial Method Curatorial Method "Zines and Do-It-Yourself Democracy" at the Knight Library was curated by a group of undergraduate and graduate zinesters in partnership with Doug Blandy and Robert Voelker-Morris. The curatorial method was first implemented by Doug Blandy and Kristin G. Congdon in 1987 at a Bowling Green State University exhibit "Boats, Bait, and Fishing Paraphernalia: A Local Folk Aesthetic" and is based heavily in folklore field work methods (1988). This curatorial method facilitates non-hierarchical relationships among exhibition participants (object makers, object holders, exhibition facilitators, exhibition designers, etc.). This model is based on pedagogical guidelines from Paulo Freire (1970, 1981) that focus on building non hierarchical and cooperative relationships among people, methods for critical inquiry, the importance of forging a common language, and a conception of culture that is dynamic. 1. 2. 3. 4. What are zines? Text panels associated with these sections included:
Sun Ra Reviewed on this page:Jazz In Silhouette - Visits Planet Earth - The Lady With The Golden Stockings - Angels And Demons At Play - Rocket Number Nine - Fate In A Pleasant Mood - We Travel The Spaceways - The Futuristic Sounds Of Sun Ra - Bad And Beautiful - Art Forms For Dimensions Tomorrow - When Sun Comes Out - Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy - The Heliotropic Worlds Of Sun Ra, Volume 1 - The Heliotropic Worlds Of Sun Ra, Volume 2 - Atlantis - Concert For The Comet Kohoutek - Space Is The Place - Friendly Love - Pathways To Unknown Worlds Though he frequently denied having been born and traced his lineage to Saturn, Sun Ra was born Herman "Sonny" Blount in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1914. By the time he finished high school he was playing piano in jazz combos, and soon formed the Sonny Blount Orchestra. Sure he's weird, you ask, but is he any good? Angels And Demons At Play (Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra: rec. 1956-60, rel. 1963?) Bad And Beautiful (Mr. Calling Planet Earth
Expreso de Arte Mexicano Sun Ra Art and Culture Law - Guide to Art and Cultural Property Law Art law is a unique specialty area of the law. After all, art occupies many roles in our culture and serves many functions for businesses, governments, museums, families, and artists. Art can be a form of expression, it can be a decoration, it can be a currency, and it can serve as the basis for many careers. Common issues for art law include how works of art should be valued, how to protect intellectual property rights in art, free speech issues, authenticating and dealing with stolen artworks, and a variety of business issues related to the art industry. Art valuation is particularly important for determining tax consequences of dealing in art and for testamentary purposes. Intellectual property interests in art include protecting copyrights to various works and determining whether a piece was created independently or as a work for hire. Free speech issues in art often relate to whether something is art or obscenity. Copyright HG.org Know Your Rights! Art and Cultural Property Law - US
Sun Ra: Stranger from the Outer Space Sun Ra: Stranger from Outer Space by Mike Walsh In tomorrow's world, men will not need artificial instruments such as jets and space ships. Nothing about Sun Ra's six-decade musical career could be called normal. Sun Ra claimed that he was sent to earth from outer space to save humanity and bring harmony to the world. Mr. Sometimes the band members would take the stage to the chant of "Heigh-ho, heigh ho, it's off to work we go." The Arkestra members wore colorful, glistening outfits that were a combination of African tribesman garb and outer space suits. Jerry Gordon, who co-owns Evidence Music, which has re-issued twenty early Sun Ra albums on CD, remembers being overwhelmed by the first Sun Ra show he saw in the early 70s. "It was an incredible concert," he says. If you didn't get a chance to see Sun Ra perform, you should seek out Space is the Place, an early 70s movie starring the jazz master from Saturn himself. Sun Ra's costumes are extravagant, even for him. Sun Ra links:
Sun Ra Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, legal name Le Sony'r Ra;[1] May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993) was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a 1979 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. "Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial," critic Scott Yanow said,[2] because of Sun Ra's eclectic music and unorthodox lifestyle. Claiming that he was of the "Angel Race" and not from Earth, but from Saturn, Sun Ra developed a complex persona using "cosmic" philosophies and lyrical poetry that made him a pioneer of afrofuturism. From the mid-1950s to his death, Sun Ra led "The Arkestra" (a deliberate re-spelling of "orchestra"), an ensemble with an ever-changing lineup and name. Biography[edit] Early life[edit] For decades, very little was known about Sun Ra's early life, and he contributed to its obscurity.
Sun Ra & the Chicago Years 1946-1961 When Herman Poole “Sonny” Blount settled on Chicago’s South Side in 1946, he did so rather inconspicuously. Though studious and intelligent, Blount had dropped out of college. He had also spent some time in an Alabama prison for registering as a conscientious objector during World War II. By the time he left Chicago in 1961, eventually settling in New York and later Philadelphia’s Germantown, he was the leader of the Arkestra (a big band like no other in jazz), and a composer and arranger of some of the most avant-garde jazz of the time. Upon arriving in Chicago, Sonny Blount first worked as an arranger, writing for swing band leaders like Red Saunders and Fletcher Henderson, and sometimes sitting in on piano at club gigs. Sounds from Tomorrow’s World explores Sun Ra’s time in Chicago, it should be noted that this exhibit represents just a small portion of the collection’s full scope. The present existence of this collection is thanks to Mr. Selected Bibliography Sun Ra, James L.
New School Arkestra in Concert With Sun Ra Alumni Sun Ra Music CDs Space Is the Place (1972) / Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy/Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow (1992) Lanquidity (2000) / Angels & Demons at Play/The Nubians of Plutonia (1956, 1993) / The Magic City (1965; 1993) Super Sonic Jazz (1956; 1992) / Jazz in Silhouette: Music (1958, 1992) / The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1 (1965, 1999) / When Angels Speak of Love (2000) / Nuclear War (1982, 2001) / Visits Planet Earth/Interstellar Low Ways (1956, 1992) Sunrise in Different Dimensions (1980, 2007) / Atlantis (1967, 1993) New School Arkestra in Concert With Sun Ra Alumni The Cosmic-Myth Equations of Sun Ra Excerpts by David A. In an earlier interview, when asked about his religion, Sun Ra responded "Actually it's not really a religion, but I guess it's the nearest word you'll come to it on the planet" (Townley 1973: 18). This poem describes his equations in a way that might not be immediately understandable. Sun Ra has described some of the sources of his equations.