Domenico Scarlatti, a contemporary of J.S. Bach and Handel, was an Italian composer who spent much of his life entertaining and teaching Spanish and Portuguese royal families. He composed operas, cantatas, symphonias, and liturgical pieces, but he is most famous … Continued
Several months ago I was in a coffee shop catching up with one of A Life’s Work’s cinematographers, Wolfgang Held. I snapped this photo of this painting — I put it on my computer’s desktop. I looked at it everyday. I … Continued
I recently had a conversation with one of my fellow artists here at Ucross about studio portrait photography and this led to Mike Disfarmer. It reminded me of this post and the great comment left by one of his subjects’ … Continued
When I was at VCCA in October, I screened the A Life’s Work sample for my fellow residents. I introduce the sample as I always do, with a few caveats, including the big one: the ending is not the real … Continued
Here’s a post from the early days of the blog, December 2009. It was written at VCCA, where I am right now, though I am typing this in C2, a composer studio, and not in the corn crib. I think … Continued
I recently saw Los Straitjackets perform (with special guests the World Famous Pontani Sisters, a burlesque act) here in NYC. I’ve seen them several times before and they always manage to entertain. But somewhere in the middle of one of … Continued
1. Art Films Many years ago I gave a screenplay to a producer, a friend of a friend who had then just partnered with another producer known for making some pretty fantastic, critically acclaimed, NYC-based independent feature films. His response … Continued
Here’s a recent email exchange I had with Andy Bowley, one of the fine, fine cinematographers who worked on A Life’s Work. How we arrived at this point in our back and forth doesn’t matter. What matters is the content … Continued
[I met today’s guest blogger, Jessica Roth, at the Playa Artist Residency. While there I discovered that she had spent some time at Arcosanti, not as one of the Arcosanti “workshoppers,” but as a different kind of workshopper. I was … Continued
Steely Dan and A Life’s Work? Wha? A while back I was chatting with a friend about A Life’s Work and I said music influenced it, and all my work, in a big way. My friend asked me to elaborate … Continued