Saturday, April 30, 2011

Israelis Asked to Get Naked for the Environment

The Dead Sea, which unites Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians, is dying. A receding water level and diminishing shoreline means this beautiful contender for the New Seven Wonders of the World will one day vanish if people in the region do nothing to stop it. One artist thinks he knows how to help. [READ MORE HERE]

Friday, April 29, 2011

Enter Guitar Heaven

In 2000, it was decided by the Wisconsin Arts Board that art needed to be advanced in some official way in Portage County. An“Arts Assessment” was conducted to explore the best way to spend the $50,000 the state of Wisconsin was giving to the county for this very purpose. It took four years, but by the end of 2004 a board of directors was established as was a mission statement, which says the board will strive to “connect, promote, and illuminate artistic expression, artists and audiences across Portage County.” [READ MORE HERE]

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Always Be Training for the Writing Olympics

The International Writing Olympics was developed by a Peace Corps volunteer in the eastern European nation of Georgia in 2003. It is a program geared toward encouraging young people – both grade school age and university students – to write creatively. That makes no small mark on a culture dominated by post-Soviet ideology that stresses the technical forms of writing in education. [READ MORE HERE]

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

India Reaches Westward

On April 21st an organization called the Creative Services Support Group (CSSG) held a celebration of the arts in New Delhi. Local arts big wigs were in attendance at this cocktail party/performance which included a dance in the water of a hotel fountain. The celebration, says CSSG director Anand Kapoor, is a precursor to a planned festival called Indian Renaissance, to be held in Manchester, UK. [READ MORE HERE]

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Not Just Another Music Conference

It’s called Rethink Music, but it might also be called the Rethink Music Conferences Conference in its unique approach to broaching the subject of a music industry in crisis. This coopertive production of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Harvard Business school is set in Boston and bills itself as solutions-focused, pledging to facilitate a critical dialogue that offers more than just a complaint session. [READ MORE HERE]

Monday, April 25, 2011

Enter Gillian Best's World of Pigeon Racing

Description: Carbunckle’s Flight follows a dysfunctional family’s struggle to cope with father Charlie’s obsession with pigeon racing.

Excerpt:

When the bell rings Seamus Carbunckle rushes to the bike racks. He looks around for his best friend; through the crowd of hoodie-wearing, gum-chewing teens, he sees Lloyd in his usual hand-me-downs.

“Dude,” Seamus calls out. “You gotta tell your folks those pants are slowing you down.”

“I can tell them every day,” he says hitching up his over-sized trousers. “But it’s not going to change anything.”

Draping his lock across his chest, Seamus nudges his bicycle toward the street. “Today’s the day.”

“You’ve been saying that all week.”

Seamus pushes off the curb and looks right, left, and right again. There is a familiar lull in the traffic – when the lights a block north and a block south are both amber – that allows the boys to dart across the five lanes of rush-hour traffic. He hops the curb on the other side, swerving to avoid a tranny in training heels.

“Get off the sidewalk, you shit!” she shrieks. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter Controversy

For many, Easter is a holiday for children, a time for entertaining them with bunnies, eggs and candy. For millions around the world it is far more meaningful, as they celebrate the belief that Jesus Christ died in the place of all humanity to satisfy the penalty of our sin and came back to life, thereby conquering all death and offering eternal life in its place as He sits at the right hand of God. A central tenet of the Christian faith is that mankind must believe in Jesus and accept the gift of eternal life if we are to be with God, and that the alternative is to be separated from Him forever in a place or state of being called Hell.

Rob Bell has written a book called Love Wins, in which he says the Bible supports the view that all of mankind will eventually choose to pledge their allegiance to Jesus ... [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Arts Rule in SoCal in the Summertime

This summer you will have the privilege of paying just $19 to see all three big arts festivals in Laguna Beach, southern California. It would otherwise cost a bundle to visit the Art-a-Fair, Sawdust Art Festival and Festival of Arts if the Laguna Beach Visitors & Conference Bureau hadn’t teamed up with festival organizers this year to offer the “passport”. [READ MORE HERE]

Friday, April 22, 2011

Put Your Writing Where the Contest Is

We’re all writers to some degree. Everybody who has gone through public school or earned the equivalent of a high school diploma has been required to learn the fundamentals of putting words together to communicate a message for others to read. Some of us, however, take to the written word like an anvil to the floor and find we could not remove it from our lives even if we wanted to. And we don’t.

Canada holds an annual National Capital Writing Contest with a different theme each year. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Parents, Uncover Your Ears

Indie rock for kids – “kindie rock” – is keeping parents from losing their minds. Bands like They Might Be Giants, The Barenaked Ladies and now even The Verve Pipe are out on a mission to entertain children, moms and dads all at the same time. With catchy tunes and mature instrumentation, these musicians are saving parents from the sensation of wanting to tear their own ears off that was common during the Barney and Friends dominated era of children’s music.

Dan Zanes is one of many mainstream artists jumping on thekindie rock gravy train. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

One Man's Trash ...

Art is so often about seeing beauty where others see ugliness, potential where others see scrap. A canvas, after all, is just a piece of cloth that is ill-suited for clothing, too porous to cover a picnic table and it would make a horrible carpet to boot. Its purpose can really only be seen by the artist who will apply paint or ink to it with a view to present a graphic message. Such is the role of the visual artist with so many different media.

The Miami ReUse Center is a non-profit program that teaches kids this lesson using the most unlikely of materials. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

They Love it When You "Tell All"

Got the inside scoop? Are you or have you ever been privy to information that the world would be interested in reading about? If so, then you could make millions with your next “tell-all” book.

Frank Bailey, former aide to Sarah Palin, is soon to release one of his own called Blind Allegience to Sarah Palin, in which he shares his experiences working with the Alaska governor and McCain running mate. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Monday, April 18, 2011

Classic Rock Goes Indie with Modoc

“Imagine if Kings of Leon learned to play guitar from Led Zeppelin while growing up with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers reading stories to them,” (MTSU Sidelines) and there you would have one of Nashville’s newest and most promising rock groups, Modoc.

In 2007, Modoc left the cornfields of Indiana and set out to find a new place to call home. Nashville seemed like a natural fit for the band and so far they have been extremely well received by the local music industry and fans alike. Just one year after Modoc’s arrival in Music City, The Nashville Scene spoke to a handful of bloggers, writers, promoters and radio personalities about their favorite discovery of the year. Todd Sherwood, owner of The 5 Spot, said “[Modoc] put on a great rock ‘n’ roll show,” and that Modoc WAS his favorite discovery of the year. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Artist Celebrity

Visual art often paves the road to fame. Wherever people gather to look at something and in doing so create a buzz, an artist is poised to become the Next Big Thing. Sometimes this is well deserved and sometimes it is not. Art is at its best when it shares something of the world that resonates with our understanding of Truth, and it is at its worst when it exists only to titillate.

Judge for yourself “In Praise of Doubt”, a contemporary art exhibition at the Punta della Dogana gallery in Venice, Italy. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Johnny Cash Music Festival!

For the third year running, Ventura, CA will hold a tribute to the Man in Black this June. Ross Emery’sRoadshow Revival presents a tribute to Johnny Cash, described by spokeswoman Tara Finestone as “all things Johnny”, featuring cover bands that will play his cross-genre country, rockabilly and gospel music. A pin-up contest is a central event, in which women dress up like models from the 1950s and strut their stuff for a shot at becoming queen of the pageant. There’s a good chance that a few classic cars will make an appearance as they have in years past. This year the roadshow is June 18th.

But that’s not all Cash fans have to look forward to this summer. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Friday, April 15, 2011

Mystique of the Travel Writer

It isn’t so common anymore for nations to be captivated by their explorers and conquistadors, waiting with bated breath to hear tales of far away places and taking to heart the pride of their pioneer mascots. Today exploration is mostly of space and the oceans, and is a scientific venture involving robots more often than people. It is far easier for the layman to rediscover with fresh eyes places human feet have already trod. [READ MORE HERE]

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Past, Present and Future Clash in Russian Art

When the atheist Bolsheviks took power in Russia in the 1920s they approved a new art form with the intention of getting away from old-world relgious imagery. The art form,Palekh, is named after the 700-year-old village whose artists continue to produce it today. But these days it is becoming far less popular.

These papier-mache boxes painted with images from mythology or folklore, painstakingly gilded with real gold and varnished, once commonly sold for thousands of dollars. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Becoming a Musician: the First Step

If you’ve never made music before and you’re interested in giving it a try, you might consider heading to a music store during National Music Store Weekend, May 6th-8th. There’s a good chance you’ll find a killer deal on a new guitar or drum set during this time of year that could easily become the musical instrument market’s Black Friday.

The National Association of Music Merchants has been working to pique the interest they believe we all have hidden within us to make music for more than a century. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Art and Salvation

A beautiful thing is happening in Statesville, North Carolina. Two organizations that work toward the benefit of the human body, mind and spirit are joining forces to raise money to help the less fortunate. The funds raised at the “Art and Salvation: Fantastic Finds” event in June will be split evenly between the Salvation Army, which will use the money to pay the staff at their thrift store as well as help pay for social services, and the Iredell Arts Council (of Iredell County), which will use it in part to increase handicap accessibility at their arts center. [READ MORE HERE]

Monday, April 11, 2011

K.L. Williams' World of Assassins and Revenge

The Dispatcher – synopsis

My book focused on the characters of Tian and Asra, who are from completely different worlds but their fates become intertwined within this book. The land of Senon (the fantasy world where my book is based) is in the midst of a bloody feud that has been raging for centuries between the ruthless Masters and the rebel group The Guildan. One young Dispatcher (a type of assassin) Tian, is a tortured soul, who has given his whole life to the service of the Guildan in the desperate hope that one day he will be able to exact a terrible revenge on the Masters, who ruined his life in the past by destroying his family. Tian is given a daring mission meant to help the Guildan win the war against the Masters. He is to enter the Palace of Daganarth, in the Centre of the sprawling city of Minara, under the cover of darkness to kidnap the daughter of the Grandmaster, Asra. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Your Music Needs to Be Online

There is definitely an old school and a new school when it comes to the music industry. The old school is an important foundation for today’s music scene: artists get their work out into the world through live performance, working with agents to make connections and eventually get signed to a label and supported by a marketing team. All this is still happening and still important, but one reason this method is beginning to get outdated is that it often relies on pre-digital customer behavior. Shows and strategic placement in record stores will drive CD sales, says the old school. Meanwhile the new customer asks (sarcastically), “So where’s the CD slot on my Android Smartphone?” [READ MORE HERE]

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Feminism, Art and Tina Fey

The Feminist Art Project is an international collaboration seeking to highlight the relevance of female contributions to the arts. It provides various resources for feminist education and Internet references and links women all over the world together in its common goal. According to its website, the Project “is a strategic intervention against the ongoing erasure of women from the cultural record”, claiming its leadership role in the feminist art movement. Themovement dates back to at least the 1970s, when 15 female students and their instructor Judy Chicago developed the first key strategies to highlight artistic successes of women using “female technologies” such as costume, performance and media critique.

Such a movement has come about over the last few decades for the purpose of putting a magnifying glass over the gender politics of our country and others throughout the world. But serious as the question of gender equality in the arts may be, sometimes the most powerful rhetoric comes in the form of a really good joke. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Friday, April 8, 2011

Fake Art Cheats Us All

The Kass/Meridian Gallery of Chicago is a 25-year-old establishment run by Alan and Grace Kass. According to their website, the Kasses have been extremely active, running a public gallery as well as dealing art privately, publishing art and participating in art fairs around the world. Such contributions to the art world ought to be celebrated. The news of Alan Kass’ indictment for art fraud yesterday, however, will have to put any praise on hold.

Along with Sawyer K. Cade (who goes by 2 other aliases) and John Panos, Kass is charged with 13 counts of mail and wire fraud. [READ MORE HERE]

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Award They Call "O"

MTV is about to have a brand new awards ceremony on April 28th called the O Awards. Unlike the VMAs, which clearly stands for Video Music Awards, the “O” in O Awards stands for … well, nothing at all. “O” is “open” for interpretation. “O” is “one” of a kind. “O” may just be the word people are supposed to say when they hear about this ultra-modern award ceremony.

The O Awards intend to “honor the migration of music to the digital space”, which leaves them purposelyill-defined. [READ MORE HERE]

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Most Famous Book in the World

One book has been referenced more than any other in literature, graphic art, music and just about every other genre of art. That book is the Bible, and it is being presented in a very special way at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art starting May 16th.

Biblical manuscripts which are some of the earliest on record, including Dead Sea Scrolls and other papyri, and some of the earliest Latin and Slavonic Bibles ever written are all to be offered up in an exhibition called Passages[READ MORE HERE]

-- 

GettingDiscovered.net

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Get Hip to Hiplife

D-black sounds like a name the would run alongside Snoop Dogg, Ice-T and Eminem in the music mags, but you’ll have to stray from the usual magazine racks to see this musician’s face. His name is scarcely heard here in the United States although he just received nominations for 5 different categories at the biggest music award ceremony his country has to offer: the Ghana Music Awards. In fact, D-black da Ghana Bwouy‘s (who also goes by Yes Boss!) album “Music, Love and Life” released last fall is the biggest hit Ghana has ever seen. [READ MORE HERE]

Monday, April 4, 2011

Follow Aimee Weed Down "The Road To Home"

The Road to Home: Mary’s Story

Synopsis:

Mary Lou Bryant is Seventeen-years-old when she hears news that her fiancé has been captured by the Union during the battle of Gettysburg. She steals her brothers uniform and runs away, traveling from her home in south Georgia to Point Lookout Maryland, determined to rescue him from certain death. [READ MORE HERE]

--
GettingDiscovered.net

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Hip Christians and Their Music

Next weekend Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan will be hosting their biennial Festival of Faith and Music (FFM). The festival promises live performances from folk, rock and other groups and will offer musical workshops as well.

Calvin College is a Christian institution, so will this be a festival of Christian music? Well, not exactly. [READ MORE HERE]

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Villains Beware, Here Comes the Governator

If you’re a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger – and even if you’re the furthest thing from it – you will want to check out the new comic book and television series The Governator next year. That’s right, after leaving office as governor of California, Arnold has decided to work with comic book legend Stan Lee to turn his real life as former governor into the material for the coolest fictional retirement ever. [READ MORE HERE]

Friday, April 1, 2011

Women in Writing

Penguin Group is a major player in the book publishing business, so their new partnership withBlogHer.com provides the 6-year old website supporting women in social media with a major boost. BlogHer has established itself as a publishing market leader serving women in social media. The company has forged a network of successful women who know how to reach their audiences online, and now that network is being harnessed to support writers and delight bibliophiles as well. [READ MORE HERE]