jmc_bks

Want to own a Lucille-model guitar signed by BB King?  Then go to WRNR's eBay auction.  All proceeds are part of the Sanity Cause, which benefits a local Arts-in-Education non-profit, Young Audiences of Maryland/Arts for Learning.

Disclaimer:  I'm on the board of said NP. 

Tis Monday again.  Time to opine.  Then go tell Beth about it.

I don't have any bitchiness.  And very litle smartness.  But I have an opinion.

At Saturday's panel (From Classical to Hip-Hop -- Music Education in the 21st Century), Warren Zanes said something that clicked for me.  Talk about what you love.  Take it seriously.  He was talking about popular music and popular culture, and the divide between so-called high and low culture in the art world and in the approaches to teaching music.  But it really resonated with me in terms of the genre fiction that I read.  Made me feel kind of guilty.  Because outside of the online community, I don't talk about the books that I love best.  I talk about the nonfiction I read; I talk about the classics I read; I talk about literary fiction (what little I read).  But I don't really talk about the fantasy/SF that I read, except to those who I know also read F/SF.  I only talk about romance with other romance readers.  

I'm just slow. The parallels between the high-low debate in the art community and the publishing world never occured to me.  ::shrugs:: Sometimes it takes a sledgehammer.

I guess the cool thing is that there are people who do take what they love about romance seriously, as you can see at Teach Me Tonight and other blogs.  Who see it as a piece of popular culture and modern literature worth studying.  Cool.

And that's all the smartness I have this evening.  It wasn't much, was it?

While I like the idea of behind the scenes cooking stories and the idea behind his odyssey, I'm less enchanted with Bourdain's over-testosteroned voice and style. I suppose the camo shirt he's wearing on the cover should've warned me, shouldn't it? [Talk about the stereotyping and conclusion jumping I just did. Whew! I should be ashamed of myself.] Plus, travelogues are hit or miss for me. I like the idea of them much more than the execution...at least for the few I've read, like A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun.

Anyone wondering about that Third Space book in my Currently Reading field on the side bar? Yes, I'm stuck. It's nonfiction about arts-in-education written by a name in the local education and AIE scene. I'm supposed to be reading it in preparation for my next full board meeting. Somehow, I keep finding more fun stuff to read. You know I'll be up all night before the meeting finishing it. Ah, procrastination.

Tonight (last night since it is after midnight?) was Young Audiences' fundraiser/gala, A Taste of the Arts. There were five stations set up in a theater, with decorations, a performing artist and food from a different country/region: Africa, India, Europe, America, China. When you entered, you got a "passport" that you could get stamps in. Silent auction, live auction, artist and student performance, dessert and champagne. It was well attended, better than past fundraisers, in part because our honoree is active in the arts community but also the business community, and lots of people on his rolodex attended. Plus, two of the people on the committee were just awesome.

Students from the ACCE (don't remember what this stands for, but it's an afterschool program in the inner city) performed with Ssuuna, an African dance and drum artist (he's a master teacher, amazing, you can check out one of his songs on iTunes if you search by his name). The kids were incredible and got a standing ovation.

I bid on two things that I was interested in during the silent auction -- a gorgeous bead necklace and a goodie bag from Trader Joe's, but didn't win either. I put a starting bid on a big pot with a bunch of "gourmet" kitchen utensils, thinking someone else would pick it up. Nope. So I now have a bunch of stuf that I'll probably never use. Although a couple of things, like the wine saver and the exopat baking sheet will probably see some use.

There was a ring toss, too, onto empty wine bottles. I managed to toss a ring around the neck of a bottle, so I won a bottle of wine :)

For Beth, who likes to know what people ate, I had samples of: strawberry salad (yum), seared tuna, a meat pie/tart made of ground lamb and beef with beer, honey, nutmeg and other good stuff (also yum), a Senegalese dish of chicken and onions, and chocolate cake with cream cheese icing. The cake tasted good, but the best part of it was the decoration -- the decorator took one of the invitations and reproduced it in icing. The place that made the Senegalese dish is a new place in my neighborhood -- gotta check it out.

Gayle Danley, a slam poet on our roster, was nominated by our director as the YA Artist of the Year...and the national committee has selected her as Artist of the Year. Woo hoo! Gayle is absolutely amazing, and her performances have brought tears to my eyes.

And our president and long time board member is being given an award by the state arts council for his company's contributions to the arts. They haven't made the announcement yet, so I can't give the details. Another woo hoo! And yay to EP!