Sunday, January 6, 2013
Good Journalism, Worth Praising
An L.A. Times article today wonders whether classical conductors appreciate pop and rock music. Seems most do and even have favorites.
But I was stopped by a certain word in this sentence: "[F]or baby boom conductors such as [Marin] Alsop [Baltimore Symphony] and Fabio Luisi, principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, pop and rock was in the air during their formidable years."
The author surely meant "formative." I could write, challenge; yet no editors caught it??
But I'd rather compliment good writing. I did recently in an email to Christopher Knight, Times Art Critic. He had said about Alexander Calder's work: "In a mobile, wire provides an elegant one-dimensional line for two-dimensional abstract shapes to be suspended in complex three-dimensional compositions that bring motion's invisible fourth dimension of time and space into view."
"I've never seen a more perfect description of a mobile," I said, "Maybe it's not surprising no one's able to walk in Calder's footsteps." Knight thanked me, said he appreciated the feedback.
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Don:
ReplyDeleteAre you were aware that my daddy, Peter Gartlan, was once a journalist? I recall fantastic Irish tales from daddy about his short lived career as a journalist, post Korean War, in the Antelope Valley. Of course, at the time, there was not much in the Antelope Valley; a few tumbleweeds, wayward vagabonds, and a small, but budding military installation, better known as Edwards Air Force Base. Said base would later become a home base for many a NASA shuttle landing!
At any rate, daddy apparently reported something in regards to the military installation, and suddenly found himself behind bars, refusing to reveal his "source". Of course, I suspect now that daddy enhanced his "jail time" a wee bit, as any good Irishman would do. Daddy reported to us that he had a small tin cup, which he raked back and forth on the iron bars, screaming about his fraudulent imprisonment. What was reality and what was daddy's Irish wit is still a mystery.
When we were younger, daddy would gather us around the kitchen table, place the Los Angeles Times in front of us, give us each a section of the newspaper, and then instruct us..."find a typo, an improper word application, and then give me a current events essay...". Can you imagine 4 kids, sitting around a kitchen table (that was a cast off from Northridge Library, near CSUN and an old Taco Bell and Cupid's Hot Dogs) and staring wide-eyed at our daddy and his demand?
Perhaps it is that tradition that drove his 4 children to gain a unique and passionate love for the English language, journalism and the ability to write a story, whether long or short, and to be able to hold an audience, if only for a moment.
Your mention of an artistic mobile is captivating. Just yesterday, I recounted to John all things Salper. One of my memories includes a virtual tour of the mobiles that hang throughout your home. Each mobile shows hours of devotion, imagination, a story and a minute to stare! Even though John has yet to visit your home, he knows the house, vis-a-vis my intricate and detailed memory of mobiles, wooden dolls, a pink stove, a den full of books, love and Connie & you. These memories are encompassed inside each delicate mobile.
Much love and mobiles, Annabelle
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RIP Peter J. Gartlan - you shared your life with us for 69 years, and we are better people for that. xxoo your daughter Ann Corry Gartlan-McArthur