How Steve Reich Made Music Out of White Complicity
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.In the spring of 1964, the New York Times reported that six young Black men were indicted for the murder of a shopkeeper. The article is short on context, clipped, half-said. Two years later, James Baldwin, in his essay “A Report From Occupied Territory,”…
Creativity in Quarantine: Dissonant New Music for the Birthday Blues
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Adapting creatively in quarantine is a challenge for artists everywhere, but today brings cause for celebration: the release of new music and the birthday of its composer. Happy release day and birthday to the relentlessly imaginative New York musician Stern. His new…
The Pulse of Jazz Grounded in Freedom Movements
John Coltrane at the Half Note in New York, 1965Adam Ritchie/Redferns via Getty For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.When it’s said that you can hear the history of freedom movements in John Coltrane’s 1963 “Alabama,” it’s more than metaphor: Coltrane patterned his horn lines after Martin Luther…
The Revolution Is in the Streets—And It Slaps
Demonstrators marching to defund the Minneapolis Police Department dance on University Avenue on June 6, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Stephen Maturen / Getty Images For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Jubilation doesn’t arise in spite of protest—it’s present at the root. Coverage of this year’s uprisings has rightfully focused…
Streams of N.W.A.’s “Fuck Tha Police” Skyrocketed As Protests Began
As protests against brutality sprung up around the country, listens of “Fuck Tha Police” skyrocketed. Before, N.W.A.’s 1988 protest song had averaged about 387 listens a day, according to data from music site last.fm, which collects users’ listening logs from places like iTunes and Spotify. On June 1, it peaked at 5,653 listens—more than 14…
Celebrate Bob Dylan, Sun Ra, and the Mortal Who Connected Them
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.This string of days in late March includes the birthdays of two of the greatest musicians of their times: Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman on May 24, 1941) and Sun Ra (arriving from Saturn, he says, on May 22, 1914). Both are…