Brand from Home | December 17, 2020

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Music Playlists

Today's recommending listening is Steve Reich, Junior Mance, Miley Cyrus, and the Stax Blues Masters.

Here are some family fun holiday spoken word and music on Freegal, Hoopla and Music Online from Alexander Street:

Virtual Holiday Celebrations

The 61st Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration will be live-streamed and on TV on Wednesday December 24, 2020 from 3-6pm. It will be broadcast on PBS SoCal1 and streaming on the Music Center website

Los Angeles based Robey Theatre Company has a new virtual Kwanzaa Celebration. It aired live on December 11 but will be available on the Robey’s YouTube channel.

Mostly Kosher performed on the Brand Library Plaza Series in 2017. They have a new virtual Hannukah celebration available on the Skirball Cultural Center’s YouTube channel. They are a high energy group that is a lot of fun to see perform!

Read About Music

The American Music Series is from University of Texas Press. Brand Library currently has 8 titles in the series. As Acquiring Editor Casey Kittrell states the collection is “written for pop music enthusiasts of all stripes, books in this series treat important, enduring, and perhaps under-recognized aspects of our most dynamic art form.” Volumes focus on diverse musical icons such as Madonna, Merle Haggard and Los Lobos.

Art Online

Join Japan House Los Angeles for a virtual exhibition. Curated by architectural historian and critic, Igarashi Tarō, Windowology explores the ways in which windows frame our world, each bringing a completely unique perspective to our lives. Discover this vital cultural and architectural element through an exhibition filled with models, drawings, photographs, film, manga, books, crafts, and original artwork by renowned performance and installation artist, Tsuda Michiko.

The streets of cities around the country have become temporary galleries of artworks that remember victims of systemically racist police violence and call for justice, and in response to the Covid-19 global pandemic. The University of St. Thomas has decided to preserve these ephemeral statements in a database called Urban Art Mapping. The project began with a focus on Minneapolis and has expanded with every new submission.

Art Inspiration - Try It at Home

Make a 3D Origami Snowflake! This design, courtesy of Leyla Torres (Origami Spirit) requires 3 pieces of origami paper in the color(s) of your choice. Keep in mind that the folded corners of the paper are what will primarily show in the finished model.

The Module (make 3): Crease the paper from corner to corner and from opposite corner to opposite corner. Bring all four corners to the center and crease. Fold in half and crease.

Bring up one edge to the center crease and make a crease within that little central triangle shape. Repeat using the opposite edge. Using the creases as a guide, bring up each corner to the existing crease, as shown. Repeat for all four corners.

Using the existing creases as guides, raise each corner and then flatten the form with the corners raised.

Hold the module as shown and open it out (on both sides). You’ll notice that one side of the module has an opening.

Assembling the Snowflake: Once you have three modules, crease two of them down the middle as shown.

In one hand, hold the two creased modules together with their openings facing to the left. (In your other hand, hold the third module with its opening facing the right.) Intersect the “mouths” of the two modules with the “mouth” of the other module. (See below.) In math terms, you are “creating intersectional planes.” This is the sticky part of the project. The pieces will not want to slide into each other easily. (That’s actually a good thing! You need that intrinsic tension to hold this thing together!) Take it easy with the paper as you try to get everything to fit. It will look a little smooshed as you straighten everything out; keep calm and fold on. Carefully pick up the points just enough so that they stop catching on the opposing plane and hold the whole thing steady with one hand while you pull/push with the other. The goal is to get all these pieces to meet in the middle. The completed model, plus more snowflakes for inspiration.

Happy folding!

You can pick up supplies to give it a try as well as our previous origami project when you pick up your books through contactless services at Brand Library & Art Center.

Staff e-Recommendations

Polyphia: New Levels New Devils (2018). On Adam Neely’s November 30, 2020 YouTube Q&A session someone asked “is Polyphia the Limp Bizkit of modern prog?” Upon hearing that funny question I was compelled to listen to Polyphia for the first time! I think that question is a reference to Polyphia’s combination of instrumental progressive rock (“prog”) with hip-hop, EDM and funk. The band started out as a metal band that became gradually more progressive. New Levels New Devils is from 2018 and their latest release. It certainly has more clean guitar tones than distorted and they worked with hip-hop and EDM producers Judge and Y2K. A lot of their sound reminds me of the progressive rock and fusion of the 1970s but with an updated sound and lots of rhythmic twists. The predominantly clean guitar sounds in a higher range give the band a brighter sound than in their metal days. While the band has lots in common with Math Rock bands, their sound is more emotionally direct than most of the bands of that genre. There is plenty of guitar virtuosity on pieces such as Nasty, O.D. and Saucy. So Strange with guest singer Cuco is progressive pop. The closing track G.O.A.T. has some fun bass and drum solos and is my favorite piece on the album. If you need some fresh new sounds in your life this album might fit the bill. -BW