February 24ths

2/24/2001

Idea: Stories or song lyrics based on letters ghost-written by a jailed poet for Illiterate inmates who want to communicate with lovers, family, and so on. [More]

According to Louis Armstrong, scat was born in 1926 when he dropped his lyric sheet in a recording studio and had to keep going. They didn't have the luxury of retakes.

2/24/2008 
            
The New York Philharmonic does a series of concerts in North Korea as cultural diplomacy. The audience looked either bored, agitated, or were nodding off. The choice of music was ironic as it comes—Dvorak’s New World and Gershwin’s American In Paris, suffused with sex and hedonism unbeknownst to the audience. This is as imperialist as anything the U.S. military has done. Next in the NK series—Eric Clapton. American culture can be more accurately described through pop culture and its genesis in the work of Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles.

2/24/2013 
            
If everyone could live forever, what age would we choose to begin living forever? If everyone was 21 how would we know the actual age of people? Interesting: The “experience” of time would make one feel old. (While you are stationary time is not).