88.5 WFDD - Arts

Teen bands 2 A.M. at Denny's and Headcase The Band Caroline McConnico With music venues closed due to COVID-19, teenage bands everywhere found themselves trying to figure out what this new normal would look like for them. Radio 101 reporter Caroline McConnico spoke with members of local bands 2 A.M. at Denny’s and Headcase the Band about how the pandemic affected them. The Hive programs' theme song was composed by Alan Poltorak. Additional music for this story by Blue Dot Sessions. Story does not include AP content #radio 101 #youth radio #arts #music #teen bands Arts & Music Normal Tweet

In this 2010 file photo, a woman meditates on the beach in Miami Beach, Fla. Mindfulness and meditation can ease chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. Dr. Sam Gladding says journaling or listening to music can also help boost mental health during difficult times. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File) 2020 has been full of events that could take a toll on a person's mental health. Between the pandemic, racial tensions, natural disasters, a recession, and bitter political battles, is it any wonder that many Americans are feeling down? Wake Forest University professor of counseling Dr. Sam Gladding spoke with WFDD’s David Ford about this convergence of negative events and its impacts, but also about how to keep moving forward. He says that being overexposed isn't good in photography or life, so limiting yourself to a certain amount of toxicity each day is probably a good thing. Gladding says spending time outdoors in the fresh air, away from screens of any kind provides some perspective. He adds that hiking, gardening, and walks in the neighborhood all lend themselves to looking ahead, and envisioning where in life you’d like to be in the future. Interview Highlights On how the arts can combat depression:  One is music. I always say that you can’t listen to good classical music and be depressed because there’s an uplifting beat. You can’t listen to ABBA and be depressed. It’s just got too much of a good beat for you to just be depressed. You can’t. Journaling has also been found to help people move out of fear, depression. If you journal regularly, it clarifies thoughts. Or, if you write letters to people — not email, write letters — you are better yet because you are being thoughtful, you’re being purposeful, and you’re thinking outside of who you are and into who they are and what you can do for them. On the power of humor: When you’re laughing, your brain chemistry even changes a bit as well as your physical self. Your lungs are filling up then you’re getting some breathing. It’s a wonderful counterpart to anything that might be occurring that’s negative in your life. So, during this time, my wife and I have been watching a lot of comedy, and we feel better. And it gives us something other than bad news or politics to talk about. On the need for empathy: Try to empathize with people that you even disagree with, trying to take their perspective. You may not agree with it — that would not be the point. The point would be to try to see the world through their eyes so that you understand them better and don’t demonize them just because you disagree with them. For the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here. WFDD wants to hear your stories — connect with us and let us know what you’re experiencing. Editor’s Note: This transcript was lightly edited for clarity. Story does not include AP content #sam gladding #wake forest university #counseling #depression #humor #arts Health & Safety Normal Tweet

"Quiet City" is a collaboration between Winston-Salem Symphony, Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, and John Jordan Films. Dancers Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen move through the film while never touching. Screen capture from Aaron Copland: "Quiet City" courtesy of Winston-Salem Symphony's YouTube page. With music venues and auditoriums closed for the foreseeable future, many artists have turned to virtual performances. But that makes collaboration tough. In the spirit of working together, the Winston-Salem Symphony created Etherbound, a new series of online performances. It’s launching with a video response to the COVID-19 pandemic called Quiet City, which brings together the worlds of film, dance, and music. Composer Aaron Copland originally wrote "Quiet City" for a play in the 1930s. The show was a flop, but Copland reworked the original score as a standalone piece of music. Winston-Salem Symphony Music Director Tim Redmond has a decades-spanning history with "Quiet City." Years ago he played it as an oboist, and it was the first piece he conducted while at university. “There’s something about Copland’s music that's just so gorgeously, beautifully appealing,” says Redmond. “I find it endlessly wonderful just to delve into that sound world. It’s a sort of nostalgia for a time that never was.” As the film begins, you see small sections of the orchestra, wearing face coverings and spaced apart, playing on the stage of The Ramkat, a downtown Winston-Salem music venue that has been closed for months. The lights and the vibe are familiar, but it's different, lonelier, and the music hall is empty. Amanda LaBrecque is a featured soloist in the symphony, playing the English horn. “It’s one of those pieces where it's really easy to get into your own head and get into your own personal, inner-emotions. I think the beginning was probably one of my favorites, just because it is so stark. I mean, you’re just completely alone, as far as the English horn just coming out of a string chord essentially; it’s just so naked,” she says. Musicians in a symphony are used to working together, feeding off each other’s performance, and tuning to each other. But to follow social distancing rules, the players were kept separated until it was time to perform.  LaBrecque says she waited backstage in the green room while she heard her colleagues playing, and it was strangely nerve-wracking and reminiscent of an orchestra audition. “Which actually was really kind of hard to get out of my own head and be like, ‘ok this isn’t an audition, I have nothing to be nervous about, I don’t know why my adrenaline is starting to pump,’ you know?” says LaBrecque. The music was being recorded in a truck outside of the venue and streamed to Tim Redmond in London, where he conducted the symphony via video conferencing. “Anything collaborative like this has to have flex,” he says. “There’s got to be flow in how the thing is put together. That was key to this whole project. And one of the fascinating things about this is it highlights that in each of our disciplines, we have a slightly different approach to how we view the art that we make.”  The visual storyline of the work comes via a pair of dancers. They move through some iconic locations in Winston-Salem, mirroring and reacting to each other’s movements, but never touching — almost like magnets of the same polarity, pushing together but always apart. This concept points to our inability to make physical contact with those outside of our most intimate circles during the coronavirus pandemic.  The dancers, Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, a married couple from Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, improvised their movements. Heather Maloy is the company’s artistic director. “They are remarkable improvisational artists,” Maloy says. “We liked this idea of having the two of them be close to each other with this connection, but lacking the ability to be able to touch, like so many of us. So that final moment where they touch was so beautiful.” Indeed, at the culmination of Quiet City, the dancers hands touch, ever so briefly, but the effect is electric. That moment was captured by John Jordan, who shot 17 hours of dance and music footage for a film that clocks in at just under ten minutes. “My biggest challenge was filming all those different sections of the music in a way that was as cinematic as possible. I wanted it to be immersive, I wanted it to feel like you were in the room with those people, experiencing that as it was happening. I wanted to bring them to life,” Jordan says. According to Music Director Tim Redmond, when the early cuts of the project were shared with others, people had an emotional reaction to the work. “Everybody who looked at it said they were blinking back tears at what it represented,” he says. “And that’s one of the things that art can do. Without the need for words, it reassures us, it challenges us, it soothes us, somehow it comforts us.” For the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here. WFDD wants to hear your stories — connect with us and let us know what you’re experiencing.   Story does not include AP content #symphony #quiet city #etherbound #arts #winston salem #dance #film #terpsicorps #aaron copland #performance #covid-19 #coronavirusnc Arts & Music Music & Culture Normal Tweet

The UNC System Board of Governors appointed Cole as chancellor on May 20, 2020. He previously served as interim chancellor at UNCSA since August 2019. Image credit: Wayne Reich The UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem has a new chancellor — sort of. Brian Cole was recently elevated to the permanent position after having served as interim chancellor since August of 2019. He takes over his official duties amidst a pandemic, leading an educational tradition built around artistic collaborations done in close proximity. Cole spoke with WFDD’s David Ford. Interview Highlights On the unique challenges UNCSA faces from COVID-19: So much of what we do in the arts is predicated on a certain proximity to each other and contact in some cases. And so, it might have been an easier transition for other kinds of institutions. For us it was a difficult one, but it's amazing how smoothly it went. Certainly I don't mean to indicate that there weren't a lot of difficulties for people and for our students in terms of not just the experience, but, you know, going back to their homes. And there's a lot of equity issues of being able to — just an Internet connection or accessing online things — so, we worked really hard. A lot of the early part of this was figuring out the difficulties that individuals had — helping students and parents deal with the very difficult sudden departure from the campus. But then once people got back, what do they need to be able to access all these things? So, in some cases, it was pushing out technology and devices to people. There's a lot of different things. And then, of course, supporting the faculty in the same way. They're creating that content and having to get that out to students.  On remote learning in a conservatory setting: UNCSA Chancellor Brian Cole leads the school orchestra. Photo credit: Ken Bennett. From a music standpoint, hooking up at a given time with cameras is one thing, but then there's also the audio. And how do you create audio connections on both sides for the teacher and the student to where you can really hear each other? And in terms of dance, which would seem to be one of the most difficult things because of the space involved, just what the dance faculty and under the leadership of Susan Jaffe have done is just extraordinary — some through video assets that teachers will record and send to students so that they at any given time kind of asynchronously can watch and take on their own. Students recording themselves and sending that to teachers. And then there's times where it's synchronous feedback, whether it's technique, classes or style or in some cases, you know, warm ups throughout the day. I think some of the most interesting examples were in things that are more asynchronous. It kind of makes you to ask the question, what are the things, the core things that we absolutely have to be together for? You know, there's no substitute for. And of course, we would like everything to be. But when you ask the question of how am I going to do this, how are we going to do this, what are the things that we absolutely have to be together for? And let's figure out a way to do that synchronously. And then what are the things that we don't have to be together for, the things that are processing information or reading or viewing media, things like that. And let's figure out a way to do that and support people.  On surpassing its $65-million capital campaign goal and future fundraising efforts: Now we're presented with an entirely extra new set of needs related to not just the institution and resources we'll have to plan for in the fall and beyond, but the needs of students, which have changed in a lot of cases. Scholarships have always been incredibly important, but they're even more important now because the financial situation of students has changed because of what's happened to their parents potentially and their employment status. There are other technological things that we want to increase our infrastructure for the future. Once we get past this, down the road, something else that happens, you know, all of our lives are going to be different in terms of how we approach things and how we approach cleaning and sanitizing and disinfecting things, not just in terms of the pandemic, but from now on. I think we're all we look at things differently and those all have a cost, not just money, but other kinds of resources that we have to find and people and expertise to help us do it. So, we're in a good place. The campaign has helped us go a long way in addressing some of those needs and challenges. But there are more. We're going to keep going and then we're working very hard to address all these new challenges that have come up because of COVID-19.  Editor's Note: This transcript was lightly edited for clarity. For the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here. WFDD wants to hear your stories — connect with us and let us know what you’re experiencing.     Story does not include AP content #coronavirusnc #uncsa #arts #remote learning #dance #music #theatre #brian cole #chancellor Arts & Music Education Health & Safety Normal Tweet

Filmmaker and musician Blitz Bazawule, aka Blitz the Ambassador. His film "The Burial of Kojo" will be screened Thursday, June 20, 2019, at The Ramkat. It's part of the Artists Unite celebration that aims to commemorate Juneteenth through an exploration of culture and arts. Photo courtesy: One Rpm Studios. Artists Unite is bringing creative people from around the globe to The Ramkat in downtown Winston-Salem this Thursday and Friday to mark the Juneteenth celebration. Juneteenth commemorates the announcement to abolish slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, spreading the word that the war had ended and slaves were now free. Musicians appearing at Artists Unite include Alfred Clements from the worlds of R&B and Gospel, and rapper Demi Day. There’s also a screening of a film that’s been getting some critical praise. It’s called The Burial of Kojo. Filmmaker Blitz Bazawule — aka Blitz the Ambassador — made the film in Ghana with an all-Ghanaian cast and crew. Noted for its color rich visual palette, the movie will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, moderated by Dr. Melva Sampson from Wake Forest Divinity School and Dr. Kimya Dennis from Salem College. Blitz the Ambassador, who was born in Ghana but grew up in Brooklyn, New York, will perform with a musical ensemble the following night. Darrick Young is one of the organizers of Artists Unite. He says they have a clear goal in mind. “The city’s tagline is ‘city of arts and innovation.’ Some see that tagline being exercised or put forward; some kind of beg to differ," says Young. "Our goal is to really make Winston-Salem and Forsyth County a cultural hub.” This is the first Artists Unite that’s connected with Juneteenth. The last one was held in 2016 on the inauguration of President Trump. Part of the significance of the association is that this year marks the 400th anniversary of the first African slaves in Virginia.  Eddie Garcia: garciaea@wfu.edu   Story does not include AP content #artists unite #juneteenth #slavery #blitz the ambassador #darrick young #winston salem #arts #culture Arts Race Normal Tweet

Renée Elise Goldsberry will appear as the keynote guest for "The Arts of Leading" conference on Feb. 1 at Wake Forest University. Courtesy: Renée Elise Goldsberry Tony Award-winning artist Renée Elise Goldsberry, perhaps best known for her role as Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway smash, Hamilton, will appear in Winston-Salem Friday. She's coming to kick-off a conference at Wake Forest University called “The Arts Of Leading.” The weekend-long event is an effort to highlight the importance of the liberal arts in leading others, instead of the fields that typically showcase leadership, like politics or the military. WFDD’s Sean Bueter got a chance to speak with Goldsberry ahead of her appearance. Interview Highlights On how entertainers and artists can lead the way: I believe that artists are hugely influential in forming conversations and reflecting attitudes and shaping them, and awareness of that is so important so that artists are more responsible with what they do. And I think the consumers of art should be aware and responsible with the power that, you know, what we listen to, what we watch has over the way we think and the way we act. So I think we can never minimize even what "entertainment" means. On her responsibility as a role model for young women: I do feel responsible when it comes to what I do and the influence it has on women that come after me. And it's exciting to me that this young woman [15-year-old Ella Klein, who submitted this question] would be interested in anything I would have to say. I look at it as an opportunity, and I don't know how long it will last. But while somebody is tuned in to me, I'm excited about the possibility of just seeing them and celebrating them and lifting them up. I am inspired by women that love themselves and that see beauty in all kinds of women. And I think great things happen to people so that you can share those things with other people. These things that have happened to me in my life could have happened to anybody. So if they happen to me, I feel really responsible about sharing them with as many people as possible. On what being an artist does – and doesn't – mean when it comes to influencing others: I don't know that there's something unique to being an artist. I think there is an opportunity to be a role model no matter what you're doing. Even if you're not in a Broadway show that people love, there's an opportunity to lift people up in whatever circle you're in. I guess that might be the biggest thing I would want to share with people is to recognize how important we all are. Really the most influential people are people that recognize, wherever they are and whatever they are doing, there is an opportunity to lift someone else up and to listen to someone else and to try to be an example for somebody else and to do whatever they're doing with excellence. These things are really important, whether you're doing it at the senior center, or whether you're doing it in the office, or whether you're doing it on a stage. I don't think that my life, my struggles and my triumphs are more valuable. And so I hope that other people are aware of that and if they are, I think we have a real opportunity to really change and impact other people's lives in a positive way. Renée Elise Goldsberry's keynote and performance will take place Feb. 1 at 6:00 p.m. at Wait Chapel on the WFU campus. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.  (Ed.: This transcription has been lightly edited for clarity.) Story does not include AP content #hamilton #musicals #arts #wake forest university #leadership #interviews #music Arts Education Human Interest Normal Tweet

Jump, Little Children from L to R: Evan Bivins, Ward Williams, Jay Clifford, Jonathan Gray, and Matt Bivins. Credit: Valerie & Co Photographers. The North Carolina-based rock band Jump, Little Children is returning to Winston-Salem for the first time in over a decade. The group, having reunited after an extended hiatus, has hometown ties with the city - four of the band’s members grew up there. They recently released the album Sparrow, their first in 14 years, and will be playing a concert at The Ramkat on Saturday, December 22. They’ll be accompanied by a string quartet, playing two sets of songs from their discography. WFDD’s Eddie Garcia spoke with the band’s multi-instrumentalist, Matt Bivins. Interview Highlights On getting Jump, Little Children back together: The first little tour was all about being a reunion band. Then we sort of didn't really know what was going to happen, and our friends Carry Ann [Hearst] and Michael [Trent] of Shovels & Rope asked us to be a part of their first High Water Festival. We played a show and it was fantastic, and we were watching them play and just sort of looked at each other and said, "We know that we can't keep being a reunion band. That's not something that we would want to do. Should we make a new album?" And right then and there at High Water Festival we decided to see what it would take to start creating again. On how their songwriting approach changed: A lot of the songs - well, all of the songs in the past - out of necessity had sort of developed live. We were on the road all the time, and so songs would be written, and we would perform them live. So we kind of knew them before we went into any kind of studio environment. But this time, none of us live in the same town. We had to write from afar, so we would send each other tracks, and we didn't actually learn the songs until we went into the studio. And honestly, it was a lot more fun than the old way. And in a lot of ways, I feel like the songs became even more 'us' in some ways. On playing live with a string quartet: Since we went to [The University of North Carolina] School of The Arts, I mean it's hard to take the art school kid out of the musician. And I think that we've always had this very orchestrated element to what we do, writing pop songs. And Jay Clifford (vocals, guitar), in fact, in the 10 years that we weren't together, became an arranger for orchestras [and] rock bands. Sparrow itself has a lot of string elements, but throughout the entire band's history we've always had a section of the year where we would go on tour with either a quartet, a quintet, or a small orchestra. So this is kind of a return to form for us, and it's always, by far, our favorite shows to do in the year because it makes things [sound] very rich. And Jay has grown so much as a composer. The parts are even more intricate, nuanced, and mature, so it's gonna be really great. (Ed.: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.) Story does not include AP content #jump little children #music #live music #the ramkat #string quartet #winston salem #uncsa #arts Music & Culture News Normal Tweet

Teju Cole is photography critic for the New York Times Magazine and the Gore Vidal Professor of the Practice of Creative Writing at Harvard. Photo credit: Martin Lengemann New York Times photography critic Teju Cole visits the Triad Tuesday night as part of the Voices of Our Time series at Wake Forest University. The author and photographer was born in the U.S. and raised in Nigeria. He currently lives in Brooklyn. Photo by Teju Cole. Zurich, October 2014, archival pigment print, printed 2017. Accompanying excerpt: “Switzerland is neutral now, serene, safe. But I begin to think of those new Swiss weapons, and all the places and bodies that had been blown apart…” DAVID FORD/WFDD   Photo by Teju Cole. Saint Moritz, July 2015, Archival pigment print, printed 2017. Accompanying excerpt: "Movement in the peripheral vision is easy to observe...However, if the peripheral stimulus is regular, it soon fades away, and becomes invisible." DAVID FORD/WFDD His most recent book, Blind Spot, is a genre-crossing work combining visuals and text. It was written following a medical condition that left Cole suddenly, and temporarily, blind. More than 30 images from the book and their accompanying text form the basis of the photography exhibition of his work hosted by Hanes Art Gallery. Cole recently spoke with WFDD’s David Ford. Interview Highlights On the intentionality behind Cole’s photography: It's important to me that none of this be phoned in. I mean, with a project like Blind Spot for example there's something quite delicate afoot which is to convey these low-pressure images and yet to have them be forceful in some way, to have them be cumulatively forceful. These are not the pictures that are necessarily going to get a lot of likes on Instagram or work for advertising or be approved by a photo editor at a popular magazine, because they're not images that are making their impact in an instantaneous way which is what advertising images need to do. And we're surrounded by such images. So, when you make the choice to go for low-pressure images— images that are, on some level, refusing many of the reassurances that images normally give us — well, then there's a lot of intentionality there. How do you control that? How do you do that in a way that the image does not have such a low pulse that it just dies, but it doesn't have such a pumping activity that it's superficial? On engaging the viewer: So, that's the struggle — hopefully for the work — and for me what helps [the photos] work is that they're not supposed to stand alone. They're supposed to be a rhythm of, ‘I've read the text. Now I'm moving to the next one,’ and by the time you read five of them there's already something watchful, brooding, but hopefully also sort of generous that's happening. There's something that is settling in where the person who has written this text and the person who's made these images is also inviting you into a space... That sort of slow motion arrival can be very pleasurable, but it requires preparation on the part of the artist, and it requires generosity and patience on the part of the viewer. On empathy: The exhibition of Teju Cole’s work in the Hanes Gallery, on Wake Forest’s Campus, will present 35 photographs following the format of his most recent book Blind Spot. DAVID FORD/WFDD I mean, empathy is really important. This is a book and a project and an exhibition. They've all arrived out of an experience of some physical frailty, you know, temporarily going blind in one eye. And then the vision is restored, and this work then comes out of a kind of gratitude for seeing. And so, they're very quiet, they’re very intent, but they're almost holy in a way that still life painting is holy, paying close attention to the ordinary world and the effect of light on the ordinary world. So, to open up myself to the viewer in that way and say, ‘Look this this life is fragile. Let's spend some quiet time looking at what's happening here.’ And then having that extend out, of course, to political questions...that's so important to me. And I think it's going to be even more present in the work I go on to do. (Ed.: This transcription has been lightly edited for clarity.) Story does not include AP content #teju cole #photography #blind spot #new york times #harvard #writing #arts Arts Normal Tweet

(From left) MC Ren, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and DJ Yella from N.W.A appear at the 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in New York. The group's debut album, Straight Outta Compton, is 30 years old this month. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) On August 8, 1988, artists Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E and the rest of the crew collectively known as N.W.A. released their blistering debut album, Straight Outta Compton, and changed hip-hop forever. The record ushered in the era of gangster rap, and although it’s combative and controversial, it’s also considered among the most influential albums of all time. WFDD’s Sean Bueter spoke with Winston-Salem State University professor Jack Monell to find out more about the lasting influence of the album. Interview Highlights On how Straight Outta Compton was different from much of the rap that came before: They were using their experiences to express what they witnessed every day. And quite frankly it wasn't pretty. It wasn't fluffy, it wasn't jovial. It was raw, uncut and unfiltered. But the reality of it was: so were the repercussions of what we saw in their community during that period. [Content Warning: The following video contains explicit language.] On how N.W.A.'s use of incendiary lyrics affected how the group's message was received: So you had, I would arguably say initially urban youth, but you even had suburban youth who gravitated to the music and the message, so to speak. But then you had the elders or the leadership – political or otherwise – who were offended by it. And the lyrics were incredibly inflammatory [and] misogynistic. And people interpreted the message as [if N.W.A. was] promoting the [gangsta] lifestyle. And I think, particularly when we look at politicians at that particular time, they were fighting the usage of how they described women, or talking about selling drugs, or shooting people. And then of course the hit, ["F*** Tha Police"], quite frankly, was really where many thought they crossed the line. On why the album is still relevant 30 years on: [It's] incredibly relevant. And you've got to remember, hip-hop artists, in theory, are griots, they're poets with music added...I mean, sadly, look at what we see today in our society. Racism is not a new phenomenon. It's always been there, whether it was hidden or suppressed or covert. We're seeing, unfortunately, African-American males being shot by police officers, [and] not even police officers: by civilians. So all the issues they were covering then, sadly, are still relevant today. [Ed.: This transcription was lightly edited for clarity.] Story does not include AP content #arts #music #rap #hip-hop #winston-salem state university #n.w.a #dr. dre Music & Culture Normal Tweet

Che Apalache band members from left to right: Martin Bobrik, Joe Troop, Pau Barjau, and Franco Martino. Photo credit: Mauro Milanich Joe Troop set off on his musical path at the age of 15. On a camping trip, he heard string-band music, and he was bitten by the bluegrass bug. He started banjo lessons in his hometown of Winston-Salem. By the time Troop was in college, he was studying abroad, and found a love for the people and culture of Argentina. For the past decade he’s lived in Buenos Aires, and he’s formed a band called Che Apalache, with members from Mexico, the U.S., and Argentina. The group puts a Latin American twist on traditional bluegrass, and they’ll be playing at the Blue Ridge Music Center this Saturday. Joe Troop spoke with WFDD’s Eddie Garcia. Interview Highlights On how Troop started connecting with music and musicians in Buenos Aires: I connected with musicians just the way I always do, just kind of poking around looking for people that I thought were cool and trying to become their friends. I mean, it was kind of a daunting task at the beginning because I didn't know anyone. I just showed up at one jam, one thing led to another, and I ended up meeting these guys that I eventually started playing swing fiddle with. I started playing Gypsy jazz down there and I also met this guy named Diego Sanchez. He was the only bluegrass musician at that time in Argentina and we formed a duo and I worked for seven years playing with him. He's an incredible double bassist and banjo player, and that whole time I was training younger musicians. I was living as a teacher, you know, I was teaching bluegrass and old time. And then after doing that for several years, my students, it was clear that they were going to be professional musicians and then, you know, when they got better than me I was like okay, time to start a band with these guys. And that's where Che Apalache was born. On where the idea of blending Appalachian and Latin music came from: I felt like it would be cool if Buenos Aires had a bluegrass band. It was a completely unknown music. You know, it’s world music down there ... But in 2016 at Galax I was approached by John Lowman of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. He just kind of started talking about his interests with the intersectionality of Latin America and Appalachia on a musical level. And I was like, 'Man, that's me, I can maybe help you with that.' So we dug into this concept and we just created our new identity, kind of like a phoenix rising out of the ashes. It was an amazingly creative moment. On how American audiences respond compared to audiences in Buenos Aires: Well, it's very different because a lot of the songs are in English, and they respond to those with hoots and hollers. We got up on stage in the States and people were laughing, reacting to certain words, screaming and shouting. I was like, 'Whoa, it's amazing.' But the inverse of that happens in Latin America ... we'll have those kinds of reactions to the lyrics in Spanish. It's interesting, you know, we get to see both sides of the equation. But American audiences are inquisitive; there's a lot of people that love music here. What I most appreciate about being from the States is the amount of dedication that people have to music. On how audiences react to political references [building a wall along the southern U.S. border] in songs: ...At Galax we had a guy threaten us, and it was not pretty. It was just, you know, just a hothead, but I have no problem saying out loud that I think this whole situation is just a way to exacerbate social, racial and class tensions. It's just kind of a gross thing to watch. ["The Wall" is} not really that political of a song. None of us are politicians. We're just saying, you know, there's such a hatred for Latin Americans that's being fostered through this. People are really missing the point. There should be a message of unity. Latin American culture’s awesome. Let’s just learn from one another and hang out and be friends because that's a legitimate option. People are people, man. That's all that song really says.   Story does not include AP content #che apalache #joe troop #buenos aires #bluegrass #latin american music #arts #music Music & Culture Normal Tweet

Elaine Gustafason & camper Sanchit Shah Sanchit Shah Elaine Gustafson is the Curator of Collections at the Weatherspoon Art Museum on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where her areas of interest include photography and modern American art. Upon her arrival in June 2009, she served as production manager for the museum’s first significant catalogue on its collection. More recent projects include overseeing the renovation of the Weatherspoon’s storage vault, and strengthening the museum’s collection of photography. In January 2017, she organized Lucinda Devlin: Sightlines, the first retrospective for this significant American photographer. Elaine also works directly with UNCG faculty and students to develop exhibitions related to upcoming course curricula.  Radio Camper Sanchit Shah sat down with Elaine to learn more about what being a museum curator means. Story does not include AP content #radio camp #youth radio #arts Student Journalists Normal Tweet

Winston-Salem Symphony Music Director Robert Moody leads the orchestra during its first rehearsal of his farewell season. In 2018, Moody assumes his new post as Music Director of the Memphis Symphony. (DAVID FORD/WFDD) Ed. Note: This story was originally published on September 15, 2017.  It was back in 2004 that then 38-year-old conducting candidate Bob Moody joined the pool of five finalists to replace Maestro Peter Perret. Moody’s exciting public audition, and megawatt personality electrified the Stevens Center audience. A year later, he became the third full-time music director of the Winston-Salem Symphony. Principal percussionist John R. Beck says that week’s performance, and the rehearsals leading up to it, left a lasting impression on many of the musicians in the orchestra as well. Principal percussionist John R. Beck unpacks his mallets. (DAVID FORD/WFDD)“Bob brought an energy to the whole week that was really infectious. Regardless of what he was doing—classical, or the pops that he did—it was just really fun to play with him”, says Beck. “He brought an enjoyment that the other conductors didn’t necessarily.” Corine Brouwer is the longtime concertmaster of the orchestra. She recalls the conductor’s personal touch. “What really stood out was his willingness to interact with the orchestra, not just on the podium, but also off the podium,” she says. “He really wanted to get to know all of us as individuals as well as musicians, and that’s held true throughout his tenure with the orchestra.” Concertmaster Corine Brouwer warms up before rehearsal. (DAVID FORD/WFDD)Over the course of his 13 years in Winston-Salem, he expanded audiences through new educational programs, concert series and community outreach. In January, Moody announced that he will be stepping down in 2018 to focus on his work with the Memphis Symphony. On Wednesday, Moody led the first rehearsal of his farewell season. WFDD’s David Ford spoke with the conductor and has this look back.   Interview Highlights On what he has learned about himself over the past 13 years. When you are a young conductor, it’s very difficult to not let the primary focus be you. ‘What do I look like? How is my beat pattern? What are they thinking of me?’ You know, if the player in the orchestra rolled their eyes in my general direction twenty years ago, that would put me in the corner of my room in a fetal position the rest of the night—completely stressed out, worried about, ‘They think I’m a charlatan, hate my tempos, hate my approach to this piece.’ Now, I think to myself, number one, ‘They probably weren’t thinking about me at all when I happened to catch that expression’, and number two, ‘I believe in what I’m doing, so play my temp!' [laughs] How have you evolved as a conductor since you began as Music Director of the Winston-Salem Symphony?  I used to be a much more rhythmically based conductor. Everything for me was sort of, ‘Play with me here, right when I drop the downbeat. Don’t be a millisecond late.' In a rhythmic, mathematical way, that’s the way to hold together the ensemble. Now I think much more about the shape of phrase and much less about my own body and hands showing the typical textbook pattern. And in the past eight months, I’ve given up the baton. I feel there’s a lot more I can do to assist the instrumentalist in making their best creation without it in my hands. The Winston-Salem musicians prepare for the first rehearsal of the Maestro's Farewell Season. (DAVID FORD/WFDD)What’s one experience that stands out from your thirteen years here? When we brought Yo-Yo Ma to town a few years ago. For an encore, he grabbed my hand, and made me walk out with him. And because this was the celebration of my tenth anniversary here as Music Director, he said to the audience, ‘This is your Music Director. It’s your tenth anniversary. He’s a cellist, so, Bob you tell me what to play’. I thought, ‘I should think of some great piece, you know, difficult, technical cello piece’. But really what I wanted to hear Yo-Yo play, with me standing three feet from him, was the Bach G Major Prelude [from Bach’s Unaccompanied Cello Suites], the most maybe perfect of all cello works. And so I said, ‘Please play the Bach G Major,’ and he played the entire thing looking straight at me. I will never in my life—I could quit now. I mean I will never forget that experience. Story does not include AP content #robert moody #winston-salem symphony #wagner #ott #elgar #farewell season #music #arts Arts Normal Tweet

Image courtesy Greensboro Bound Starting Friday, Greensboro Bound will feature more than 75 authors and nearly 50 events over the following three days. The event was born in 2016 when a customer entered Scuppernong Books and said, "Greensboro needs a literary festival." What resulted was much more than that – including a literary nonprofit running year-round programming on writing and publishing and bringing authors into Guilford County Schools. WFDD’s Emily McCord spoke with Steve Mitchell and Brian Lampkin, co-owners of Scuppernong Books and members of the festival's steering committee.  Interview Highlights On what literary festivals provide to a community: BL: Writers, much like public radio hosts, are mysterious...no one knows what they look like. Really, no one has this opportunity to meet them in person. So what a festival allows is suddenly all these writers are in your city, in your midst and this amazing energy develops around a festival...all these people, all these strange writers together in one place, and it's exciting and this energy sort of develops. You go from event to event, and suddenly literature is super important to your city, to your state. It can be, if done well, an exciting, thrilling experience. Leesa Cross-Smith is one of many authors participating in Greensboro Bound this weekend. Photo courtesy Greensboro Bound SM: And the other thing about Greensboro Bound is that we've worked really hard to bring in writers from a lot of traditionally marginalized communities, so we have LGBTQ authors, we have Muslim authors, we have Latinx authors, we have undocumented authors, we have people who are representing lots of different parts of our culture in America. It gives us an opportunity as well to interact with those kinds of communities that we might not otherwise be able to or have a hard time accessing. On the financial viability of literary festivals: BL: Well you know, I think it is financial folly probably. But so what? Great things come out of folly. Steve Colyer has done an amazing job fundraising for the festival, and you know, the community of Greensboro has really supported it. So it's worked so far. We've gathered enough money [that] we can pull it off; we can make a festival happen. You know the risky parts of it are, well, as a bookstore, can we sell enough books to make it worthwhile for us? You know we've invested a year and a half into this and there are lots and lots of costs associated with it. Will it be something that makes sense to us? We think it's going to work. We hope it's going to work, we plan on doing this well into the future. Folly or not, we want to be free. We want it to be accessible to everyone, you know, we want writing and writers to be part of everyday life. John T. Edge will join over 70 other authors at the first annual Greensboro Bound Literary Festival. Photo courtesy Greensboro Bound On what Greensboro Bound attendees can expect: SM: Over 80 authors over 50 events and...they're all free. Unbelievable. It's scattered over downtown Greensboro, but it's all walkable. We've got about six or seven venues. We have late-night programming as well with slam poetry and music and all kinds of other stuff going on. So there are children's events and middle grade events and panel discussions and author talks. BL: And three keynote events...each night culminates in one event. So Friday night our keynote speaker is Daniel Pink, and Saturday it's the novelist Kevin Powers, and the whole weekend culminates at 6 p.m. on Sunday with Nikki Giovanni.  On the vision for Greensboro Bound moving forward: SM: I think we want to carry forward this idea of, how does a book festival interface with its community? How does a book festival work within its community as a mutually supportive kind of thing? And like with anything Brian and I talk about it all starts to sound very romantic. BL: I think we're all sort of informed by this amazing moment in each of our lives where you first meet writers, where you first meet people you've read and loved and what an amazing experience that is. So we want to just keep that sense alive, that Greensboro, North Carolina, can be a place where you can have this transformational experience. You can meet these people you almost don't even believe exist behind these books. And I think that's something that is thrilling into the future, that that will keep happening over and over. Story does not include AP content #greensboro bound #literary festival #scuppernong books #writers #books #greensboro #literature #arts Books Music & Culture Normal Tweet