Performing Arts
Smithsonian Folkways' Sounds of the Civil Rights Movement
On the night of February 18, 1965, 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson attended a civil rights rally at Zion's Chapel Methodist Church in Marion, Alabama. But when the peaceful protesters exited the church, they were met with hostile reactions from the state and local police. Jimmie and his family tried...
November 17, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Wednesday Roundup: Space Suits, Diaries and Native Music
Inner Workings of the Space Suit: This week, the AirSpace blog exposes one of their spacesuits from the inside out using X-Ray imaging. Until now, the only way to glimpse the inside of these high-tech uniforms was to shine a flashlight down the wrist or neck of the outfit. But recently, Mark Avino,...
November 17, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Mining the Folkways Archives: How to Kick That Smoking Habit
We've all seen those public service announcements on television advising you to stop smoking—and some are quite compelling, such as this 1985 ad with stage and screen actor Yul Brynner whose life was drastically cut short by lung cancer. Smoking is the most common cause of cancer death in this coun...
November 02, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Wednesday Roundup: Podcasts, Warhol and Archives
Just Close Enough To The Sun—This week, the folks at the "AirSpace" blog treat us to a few photos of that fiery red giant near and dear to our hearts, the sun. Using a telescope from the Public Observatory Project made especially for looking into the sun's harsh light, solar imaging expert Greg Pie...
October 20, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Dino B-Movie Alert: Triassic Attack
Regular readers know that I can't resist cheesy dinosaur movies, and a new SyFy feature set to debut late next month will be the latest stinker to be heaped on the pile of bad dino cinema.Called Triassic Attack, this direct-to-video schlock features the reanimated skeletons of a pterosaur and a Tyr...
October 19, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Wednesday Roundup: Cute Lion Cub Pics, Kiwis and Hula Hoops
Name That Kiwi—On June 15, the National Zoo hatched a female brown kiwi, the second kiwi born this year. To pay homage to New Zealand, the flightless bird's motherland, they have decided to name the chick after the Maori, the indigenous people of the islands. They have chosen three Maori names, and...
October 06, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Elizabeth Mitchell Teaches the Kids to Sing
Think of children’s music, and costumed freaks might come to mind. Barney. The Wiggles. But songstress Elizabeth Mitchell is unassuming in appearance, and her voice is warm and inviting.Mitchell’s new album, Sunny Day, drops today on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label (go to their Web site h...
October 05, 2010 |
By Jeff Campagna
Dinosaur Drive-In: When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
If paleontologists have said it once, they have said it a hundred times: non-avian dinosaurs and humans never coexisted. Most people who insist otherwise are creationist cranks who believe that evidence of a living dinosaur would somehow undermine evolutionary theory, but I understand that Hollywoo...
September 21, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Debating on Television: Then and Now
Kennedy and Nixon squared off in the first televised presidential debate 50 years ago and politics have never been the same
September 14, 2010 |
By W. Barksdale Maynard
"The Rivals" Premieres on the Smithsonian Channel
Kids are back to school. Cravings for homemade chili and freshly picked apples kick in. And across the country, football season officially begins. (If you haven't seen high school and college players, strengthened by arduous two-a-days, suiting up for their season openers, you've surely witnessed o...
September 10, 2010 |
By Megan Gambino
The Smithsonian's Ambassador of Jazz
Music curator John Edward Hasse travels the globe teaching the genre that revolutionized American music
September 2010 |
By Erica R. Hendry
Dinosaur Drive-In: The Crater Lake Monster
Ah, The Crater Lake Monster, a film that repeatedly made me wonder, "why the heck am I still watching this movie?"Like the last Dinosaur Drive-In film featured here, Crater Lake Monster contains no actual dinosaurs (no matter how many times the scientists in the film call it one). Instead our mons...
August 25, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Wednesday Roundup: Spam, Apps and Anthropologists
The Secret Life of Anthropologists—Along with the entomologists, oceanographers, biologists, physicists and other scientists in the Natural History Museum are the anthropologists, who work furiously to research, curate and put order to the vast collections at the Smithsonian museums. Right now...
August 18, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Rio’s Music is Alive and Well
Brazil’s music scene may be known for beats such as bossa nova, but newer sounds are making waves on the streets of Rio
August 18, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Summertime for George Gershwin
Porgy and Bess debuted 75 years ago this fall, but a visit to South Carolina the year before gave life to Gershwin's masterpiece.
August 09, 2010 |
By David Zax
Wednesday Roundup-Shark Week, More Facial Hair and a Show in the Sky
Music Makeover: Smithsonian Folkways is offering free music downloads from three upcoming releases or reissues. One track each from Elizabeth Mitchell's new kid-friendly album Sunny Day and a reissue of bluegrass singer Ola Belle Reed's music called Rising Sun Melodies are available on the Folkway...
August 04, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Get a Lift From Folkways' Songs About Elevators
Being stuck in an elevator is never fun, but by and large when riding in one that's the biggest inconvenience you can expect.However, there was a time when these contraptions lacked the safety features we take for granted and were much deadlier. And let's face it, the notion of meeting your mortal ...
August 03, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Dinosaur Drive-In: Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds
When you get right down to it, most dinosaur movies are missing something. "Good special effects" might be one answer, and "a plot" is an even better one, but if "a trippy jazz-disco musical score" was your reply, then 1977's Japanese monster flick Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds may be just ...
August 03, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Tod Machover on Composing Music by Computer
The inventor and MIT professor talks about where music and technology will intersect over the course of the next 40 years
August 2010 |
By Erica R. Hendry
James Cameron on the Future of Cinema
The director of Avatar and Terminator talks about future sequels, 3-D television and Hollywood in 2050
August 2010 |
By Lorenza Muñoz
