Daily Archives: November 26, 2020

Drum is a virtuoso in the electro-acoustic harp. The Utopia Within opens on a soothing note with the hypnotic "Entering Shangri-La" and it is followed by the lengthy yet gorgeous "Ancient Memories," which feels like a story within a story (which would be perfect for a vintage vinyl record), as well as "Tribal Dance," which has a stirring groove to it. He picks up the pace with the progressive "Orbital Adventure."After the uplifting "Sunrise," it closes with the atmospheric "New Day Dawning," where he leaves his listeners wanting to hear more harp music.The Utopia Within is available on Amazon Music, Spotify, and Apple Music.The VerdictOverall, Gary Drum delivers on his second studio album The Utopia Within. He is able to pacify his listeners with this six-track, eclectic collection, as well as paint a vivid picture through his harp chords. Each song has its own identity and it earns 4.5 out of 5 stars. There is something in it for everybody, and fans that enjoyed Undiscovered Realms will certainly love The Utopia Within. Grab a bottle of wine and let Drum and his harp playing lure you in.Read More: Digital Journal's Markos Papadatos chatted with Gary Drum about his harp music.

Gary Drum playing the harp

Photo Courtesy of Gary Drum

Continued here:

Review: Gary Drum shines in his enthralling 'The Utopia Within' album (Includes first-hand account) - Digital Journal

A friend was asking the other day for books in which no bad things happen, because sometimes you want your reading to be all upbeat. But yet, there arent many books where nothing bad happens. Myself, when I want comfort reading, Ill settle for everything all right at the end which leaves me a much wider field. Nothing bad at all is really hard. I mean, you have to have plot, which means conflict, or at least things happening, and once you have obstacles to defeat theres almost certain to be something bad.

Keep reading, because I do actually think of some.

Childrens books, suggests one friend.

Ha ha, no. Apart from the fact that some of the scariest things Ive ever read have been childrens booksCatherine Storrs Marianne Dreams and William Sleators Interstellar Pig for exampleI realised some time ago that I am never going to be able to read Louise Fitzhughs Harriet the Spy without crying. I mean I am never going to be grown up enough to get over it, there is no mature state in which I am still me where I will be able to read Ole Gollys letter without bawling. Gary Schmidt, a childrens writer I discovered recently, is absolutely wonderful, but terrible, terrible things happen in his books, and its not even reliably all right at the end. Hes the person who made me think you have to earn your unhappy endings just as much as your happy ones. And William Alexanderagain, terrific writer, terrible things happen.

There are some childrens books that almost qualify. One of my comfort reads is Arthur Ransome. He wrote a long series of books about kids messing about in sailboats on lakes in England in the 1930s, and nothing actually bad happensexcept theres a fog on the hills once, and theres the time when the boat sinks in Swallowdale and John is so humiliated, and there is the scary bit where they get swept out to sea in We Didnt Mean To Go To Sea. (And its the 1930s, so their father in the Navy is going to be in WWII, and every adult in the books is complicit in appeasement and there are terrible things happening in Germany already) But just on the surface, thinking about that little sailboat sinking, it makes me think you have to have bad things to overcome or you have no story.

So how about picture books for tiny kids?

Nope. In Martin Waddell and Barbara Firths Cant You Sleep, Little Bear? the Little Bear cant go to sleep and the Big Bear consequently cant settle down and read his book, and all this is because Little Bear is afraid of the dark. Being scared of the dark is a bad thing, even if it gets happily fixed by the end of the story. In Penny Dales The Elephant Tree the elephant gets sadder and sadder on his quest to find his tree, until the children make a tree for him and make him happy. Dont even think about Dr. Seuss and the terrible anxiety of having your house turned upside down by the Cat in the Hat or being forced to eat icky things by Sam-I-Am. (I dont believe he actually liked them. I used to lie like that all the time when forced to eat things as a kid.) Then theres Raymond Briggs The Snowman, which confronts you with mortality and the death of friends, thank you very much no. When I think of the picture books that are actually fun to read, they all have conflict and bad things. They certainly come into my category of all OK in the end, but they definitely have bad things.

Incidentally, apart from the fact theyd be very boring stories, I think kids need those bad things to learn from, and sometimes those awful moments are the most vivid and memorabletheres a moment in Susan Coopers The Grey King which will be with me always, and its a bad moment.

But there are some stories that qualify, I think.

Romance. Pretty much all genre romance is everything is OK at the end but bad things happen in the meantime. But some Georgette Heyer has plots that work because bad things seem about to happen and are avertedthis is different from everything being all right in the end, the bad things never occur, they are no more than threats that pass over safely. Cotillion does this. Two people are separately rescued by the heroine from iffy situations that could potentially become terrible, but they dont. I think this counts. (Its funny too.) That makes me think of Jane Austens Northanger Abbey in which the worst thing that happens is somebody exaggerates and somebody else has to go home alone on a stagecoachthats really not very bad. Right up there with the bear who cant go to sleep.

Then theres Good King Wenceslas. Somebody notices an injustice and sets out to redress it and succeeds. (OK, the page gets cold, but that also gets instantly fixed.) Zenna Hendersons Love Every Third Stir is a version of this, though what the story is about is discovering the magic. Im sure there are also old clunky SF versions of this. I want to say Clarkes Fountains of Paradise. But I think there are others: person invents thing, everything is solved. Mostly more sophisticated versions of this are it creates new problems.

Utopiasomebody visits utopia and it really is. So Mores Utopia and Bacon, and Callenbachs Ecotopia and other early naive utopias of this nature. Which makes me think about Kim Stanley Robinsons Pacific Edge but the way that book works without being naive is to have the actual story be sadthe softball team loses, the boy doesnt get the girl, the old man dies in a storm. The worst thing that happens is gentle regret, but thats bad too. But check out older utopias.

And now, my one actual real solid in-genre example of a book where nothing bad happens!

Phyllis Ann Karrs At Amberleaf Fair is about a far future where people have evolved to be nicer, and theres a fair, and a woodcarver who can make toys come to life, and there is sex and love and nothing bad happens and everything is all right. Its gentle and delightful and I genuinely really like this odd sweet little book, and unless Im forgetting something I dont think anything bad happens at all.

If you have any suggestions please add them in commentstheres at least one person actively looking for them.

Originally published in March 2020.

Jo Walton is a science fiction and fantasy writer. Shes published two collections of Tor.com pieces, three poetry collections, a short story collection and thirteen novels, including the Hugo- and Nebula-winning Among Others. Her fourteenth novel, Lent, was published by Tor in May 2019. She reads a lot, and blogs about it here irregularly. She comes from Wales but lives in Montreal. She plans to live to be 99 and write a book every year.

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Searching for Books in Which No Bad Things Happen - tor.com

A Bill & Ted star unearths the holy grail of Mothers of Invention lore, albeit in miniature, in a new, most excellent documentary.

During the time Frank Zappa was fighting prostate cancer, to which he succumbed in 1993 at age 52, an old friend and fellow lifelong FZ obsessive generously invited me to accompany him to a couple of the margarita Fridays Franks staff had initiated as a therapeutic break from the composers otherwise strictly workaholic ways.

We drove to the Zappa familys home in the Hollywood Hills and chatted in the kitchen with his wife Gail before proceeding downstairs to Franks studio and workspace, a.k.a. the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen. Though obviously weakened by his illness, Frank couldnt have been more gracious and loquacious. He was a consummate host.

During one memorable evening, while eating Beef Stroganoff, he riffed sardonically about whatever atrocities were flickering on CNN. Afterward, he played his Synclavier magnum opus N-lite for us over a spectacular six-channel stereo system as we listened in awe to the densely maximal sound of a lifetimes worth of music distilled into 18 cosmic minutes (or at least thats how I heard it). And after a few hours, as we started saying our goodbyes, he insisted we hang out with him even longer simply because, I am an entertainer, and it is my job to entertain you!

Not only was Frank approximately twice as cool in person as I could ever have imagined (having checked my journalistic detachment at the door), he was both fully present and unexpectedly human. A scruffy beard had replaced his by then trademarked mustache and soul patch. At this point in his life, he was more serious composer than satirical rocker, more deeply informed political commentator than Sheik Yerbouti or The Man From Utopia. And that Frank Zappa, Im happy to report, is the Zappa I recognized in ZAPPA, a revealing new documentary by director Alex Winter.

A Hollywood actor best known for his starring role in the three Bill & Ted movies alongside Keanu Reeves, Winter made a midcareer pivot to documentarian a decade ago. Prior to spinning the correct spells and earning Gails trust in 2015and thus receiving the keys to the castle, as son Ahmet Zappa puts it during our three-way Zoom conversationWinter wrote and directed films such as Downloaded (which focuses on the impact of internet file sharing) and Deep Web (which explores bitcoin, Silk Road and the dark nets).

ZAPPA, however, had more emotion, drama and challenges to an order of magnitude beyond almost anything else Ive worked on, and Ive been in this business since I was nine years old, Winter says. I told Gail, straight up, that I was not a Zappa maniac. I didnt talk to her about the time signatures in Inca Roads; I talked to her about his relationship with Vclav Havel, his sexual politics and his art. And we talked about how he made films and revolutionized aspects of the musical recording process.

And what did Gail want from the worlds first authorized documentary about her husband? According to Ahmet: The most important thing for my mother was, How do you convey what its like to be a composer?

***

Most of this material has never been seen, read an early title card in ZAPPA. It suggests that the films real star may actually be the Vault, where Frank kept, well, everything.

My first holy-fuck moment, Winter says with a laugh, was when they opened its door. Those gummy YouTube videos do not do that thing justice. Having visited the Vault, I can attest to the floor-to-ceiling, row-after-row abundance of master (and minor) tapes, housed alongside a treasure-trove of visual ephemera. It was all stored in a massive climate-controlled subterranean facility excavated out of the Zappa familys front yard (real estate now owned by Lady Gaga). Franks life was down there, Winter says.

To even begin the film, that life had to be preserved. Winter and the Zappa Family Trust launched an elaborate yearlong Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $1.1 million to rescue a vast amount of endangered media. Most of that money was spent on predigitizing the material. Thats saving it so you can digitize it, Winter explains. And at the end of the two-year preservation process, we still had to find the money to make the movie.

They eventually found that funding, and a touching, profound and inspiring film bloomed into existence as the Vault gradually gave up its secrets. Bookended by Franks 1991 visit to Prague, where he helped celebrate the Velvet Revolution with Havel and company, ZAPPA properly begins with a bang. Frank, via voiceover, recalls his youthful fascination with explosives as editor Mike Nichols weaves together a rich, dizzying montage of surreal ephemera and home movies from Franks Baltimore childhood. Its a thrill to see Frank directing his younger siblings in an eight-millimeter kitchen zombie spectacular; youll gasp at his precocious adolescent editing skills, such as when he inserts Godzilla footage into his Sicilian parents 1939 wedding film.

Im a sucker for the stuff about the family, admits Ahmet, who discovered his own trove of previously unseen home movies in the Vault. (Mugging for the camera as a child, he resembles a baby Michael Cera.) Frank died while Ahmet was still a teenager, and he becomes emotional while expressing his gratitude to the fans on Kickstarter who brought these rare examples of Zappa family togethernesshis father often being on the road or self-isolated with workback into his life.

Gail approved Winters proposed film in June 2015, after which he interviewed her extensively at his own expense. In early October of that year, she died of lung cancer after a long illness. One thing Im very clear about is I married a composer, Gail explains in the movies only interview with an immediate family member. And to be an American composer, both she and Frank will emphasize, virtually guarantees an intimate relationship with failure.

Frank Zappas story is not a predictable arc of youthful talent and enthusiasm blossoming into commercial success and critical acclaim followed by a long, boring afterlife. Frank began composing as a teenager after hearing the rhythmically iconoclastic sounds of Edgard Varse, and well before picking up a guitar. In 1965, he formed the Mothers of Invention to support his composing habit. According to Paul McCartney, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band was directly inspired by the Mothers debut album, Freak Out!, which would have been rocks first double album if a different variety of freak out, Dylans Blonde on Blonde, hadnt arrived a week earlier. Have I mentioned that ZAPPA devotes surprisingly little screen time to Frank onstage with his various Mothers iterations? There are snippets galore, but dont stream this movie expecting previously unheard guitar magnificence or comedy-rock tomfoolery. Winter points out that you can easily find that sort of thing elsewhere, and thats definitely not the crux of this cinematic biscuit. A triple-CD companion soundtrack, meanwhile, delivers oodles of complete tracks along with composer John Frizzells unexpectedly discreet and complementary score for the film.

That said, Winter has unearthed the Holy Grail of Mothers lore, albeit in miniature. In 1966, the Mothers of Invention performed six shows a week, for five months, in the 300-seat Garrick Theater above the Cafe au Go Go in Greenwich Village. Sometimes usingand often abusingaudience members who returned night after night, Frank conducted the Mothers through improvised performances that juxtaposed extemporaneous theater of the absurd with tightly rehearsed compositions.

Unfortunately, the Vault contained little that documented this watershed run. We literally used every frame we could, Winter says of these very special yet frustratingly few minutes. Under other circumstances, he adds, I would have delivered a film to the Zappas and they would have asked, Why did you make a three-hour film about the Garrick Theater? And I would have answered, Because we found all the footage!

But ZAPPA is not a concert movie. And while Ahmet insists that Winter had every opportunity to use whatever live material he wanted, Franks onstage antics and air-sculpting guitar solos didnt fall in line with the director and editors overarching narrative notion. I felt very strongly that the film should be a story and not try to be the cinematic Wiki entry for Frank, Winter says. You could easily make a Ken Burns 10-part series on Zappa, but Im not that filmmaker and dont know whod finance it. Maybe someone somewhere in Italy.

Nonetheless, he says, I am interested in doing a more expansive, virtual-reality project that would allow the possibility for a more expansive deep dive. At which point, Ahmet, perhaps evincing some of the same techno-thusiasm that gave birth to The Bizarre World of Frank Zappa touring hologram show of 2019, hints that something along these lines is already underway.

***

ZAPPA is a big -hearted documentary, which is largely due to the onscreen presence of Ruth Underwood. The percussionist first caught the Mothers at the Garrick Theater and later played xylophone, marimba, vibes and other hittable objects on more than 20 Zappa/Mothers albums. In the movie, she tearfully recalls hand-delivering a letter of love and gratitude to Frank, whom she once considered distant and dismissive, during his cancer days. He gave her a hug in return.

Underwoods dazzling rendition of Franks famously challenging The Black Page #1, with drummer Joe Travers, is one of the films very few, more or less, complete performances. In another, the Kronos Quartet run through the crepuscular None of the Above, which they commissioned from Frank but only performed once due to its difficulty. Winter says, I reached out to Kronos [founder] Dave Harrington and his response was, Yes, in a year. I said, I guess you guys are busy, OK. But he was like, No, it will take us a year to get good enough to play it on film. I called them a year later and they were like, We could still use a little more time. But they set a date.

ZAPPAs finale consists of a choreographed version of G-Spot Tornado as performed by the Ensemble Modern at the 1992 Frankfurt Festival, where Franks music was featured alongside that of new-music icons John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. By Franks reckoning, it was the first time all the circumstances were designed to satisfy his creative needs, as opposed to thwarting them, 1988 Zappa-band utility infielder Mike Keneally told me recently. The Yellow Shark, which documented this concert, turned out to be the final album Frank released during his lifetime.

One of the movies many themes, Winter says, is this kind of gold ring hes chasing his whole life to hear his compositions played properly. Winter believes that it didnt particularly vex Frank that the classical community ignored his music. Why would he want to chase someones adulation? The work was more interesting than anything else, and thats what drove him.

***

A substantial chunk of ZAPPA is devoted to the musicians political interventions. Frank says, early on, that the most informative part of my political training occurred in 1965. An undercover member of the San Bernardino Sheriffs Department vice squad commissioned an audio porn tape for which Frank would spend 10 days of a six-month sentence in jail. Later, we see him cleaned up and besuited on Capitol Hill in 1985, speaking as a middle-aged Italian father of four against the infamous Parents Music Resource Centers attempt to censor pop music. In Prague, during the Velvet Revolution, he was hailed as a symbol of Western freedom and would be named the Czech Republics cultural and trade representative to the United Statesat least until Treasury Secretary James Baker, husband of a PMRC co-founder, said nyet.

Frank was moved to help the Czech people preserve their music, art and national spirit, Ahmet says. Who helps people like that today?

According to Winter, Zappas fascination with politics never flagged. Hours and hours of Vault tapes reportedly document Frank in his basement, quizzing experts about economics, trade and other matters. He wasnt vamping for an audience, or doing it for his ego, Winter says of this unscreened material.

As for his sexual politics, ZAPPA suggests that Frank was about as woke as the next boomer guitar hero, which is to say not very. Groupie raconteuse Pamela Des Barres both dishes about Franks on-tour proclivities and lauds him for giving his groupie friends a voice on the wonderfully bizarre GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously) album he produced and then released on his Straight label.

But if you want to stay married to your rock star, Gail suggests, dont have those conversations. Winter perceptively connects Franks entitled domestic arrangement with his more general disengagement with the feelings of others, including band members. In the film, Bunk Gardner attests to the disappointment that the original Mothers of Invention felt when he broke up the band in 1969. And how could they not, having basked in the intense glow of Franks early genius?

I loved Zappas charisma, loved his eloquence, loved his ability to walk into that Senate hearing and lay waste to that whole room, just by talking, Winter says. But its not what I wanted for this movie. I wanted the guy who was insecure, quiet, afraid and joyful. I found that going back to when he was a little kid, and it was a gold mine.

Frank may have never been more joyful than when performing, however. Thats where every part of his creative gestaltguitarist, composer, performance artist, ringmastercame together. He really just enjoyed blowing peoples mind onstage, Keneally says. Audiences expected to have their minds completely blown, and he took it as almost a sacred duty to make sure it went down that way.

Or, as he once said: I am an entertainer, and it is my job to entertain you!

Go here to see the original:

The Life and Times of Frank Zappa - Relix

Summary

Part Broadway performance, part concert but all David Byrne, all the time. A film that sparks joy and thought in equal measure and thats just the first five songs.

In 1984, David Byrne, Talking Heads and Jonathan Demme elevated the idea of the concert with withStop Making Sense. With this hybrid film, he joins forces with Spike Lee to elevate both theatre performance and modern music performance.

At its most basic level, this is a recording of David Byrnes Broadway show. Its a performance that features the former Talking Heads frontman, 11 musicians and 21 career-spanning songs. Thats a perfectly serviceable account of what happens in the 105 minute runtime, but to leave it at that would be selling this show monumentally short.

On a simple blue stage, surrounded on three sides by dangling chain links, all of the performers use wireless equipment. This allows the performers freedom of movement across the stage, liberating the band from the fixed positions were used to seeing. Plus, by removing everything from stage except what we care about, Byrne and his amazing ensemble strip away the clutter and present new songs and old in completely original ways.

Byrne sets the scene with Here a newer song written for AMERICAN UTOPIA and places us in another dimension/like the clothes that you wear. Yet Byrne immediately takes us on a journey through songs off Rei Momo (1989), Talking Heads: 77 (1977) and his 2002 collaboration with British House duo X-Press 2.

When This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) drops a mere five songs in, and Once In a Lifetime shortly after, you might wonder if hes peaked too early. Yet that would be also be forgetting just how many influential tunes this man has been involved with over the years. That said, one of the most powerful moments is a cover of Janelle Monaes Hell You Talmbout, a group chant that names people like Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sharonda Singleton and other black Americans killed by police.

The latter is the most direct link to Lees dramatic films, although it should be noted that he has been filming stage shows since at least since 1998s Freak. (Indeed, Lees next project is said to be a musical about the invention of Viagra!) The steady hands of Lee and regular cinematographic collaborator Ellen Kuras guide us through this world. The camera is no more static than the performers, finding new angles throughout and all culminating in the band marching through the audience like a Dixieland troupe.

At the end of a very long year, one that has served up some of the biggest hardships weve had to face as a generation, its wonderful to see something that is just a joy to behold. At times freewheeling, and at others marching to the beat of an unencumbered drummer, but its always tightly controlled. This isStop Making Senseon contemporary HBO money, and thats better than a bag ofchips.

2020 |US | DIRECTOR:Spike Lee| WRITER: David Byrne | CAST: David Byrne, Chris Giarmo, Tendayi Kuumba, Karl Mansfield, Angie Swan, Bobby Wooten III, Mauro Refosco | DISTRIBUTOR:Universal Pictures (AUS)| RUNNING TIME: 105 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 26 November 2020 (AUS)

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Review: American Utopia The Reel Bits - The Reel Bits

Fraser T Smith has had his name on a lot of hits. The numbers speak for themselves. He's worked on 18 number one albums, had two US number one singles, eight in the UK.

There's plenty of industry bling on his mantelpiece. Grammy? Check. Ivor Novello? Check. But it is the different styles he operates in that gives you a better idea of his sensibility, and it makes him all the more interesting as songwriter and producer.

Smith produced and co-wrote Adeles Set Fire To The Rain, has worked with Florence and The Machine, Sam Smith, and Gorillaz, yet brought bass, punch and the whiff of cordite to Stormzy's debut, Gang Signs & Prayer (more industry bling right there, with the 2018 Brit Award for Best Album).

As this 10 Songs... feature proves, this taste for eclecticism doesn't come out of nowhere. It is built up over time, influences siring new inspirations and passions.

A Kind Of Blue opened up a love of jazz for me, and showed me that in writing and soloing, less is definitely more and taste is everything

If the recorded works of Hendrix all but taught him how to play guitar then you've got Roddy Radiation opening his eyes to British multiculturalism's impact on popular culture, and Public Enemy igniting the potential for radicalism in song and verse.

That sense of radicalism is writ large in Smith's Future Utopia project, which makes its debut with 12 Questions. Heavy on the guests, with the likes of Dave, Idris Elba, Mikky Ekko, Arlo Parks, Bastille and more joining him in the studio, it is an audacious work of urban poetry and avant garde hip-hop.

The power of suggestion can be too seductive for its own good but looking at the 10 songs he has listed here, and the artists behind them, and you can hear their influence the cool jazz approach to structure, the unsparing moral fire of Public Enemy and the listless angst of Messrs. York, Greenwood, O'Brien et al.

Smith kicks things off with something more elemental, with a guitar player and an artist of nigh-on supernatural gifts...

I was 14, and used to jam with Tom Rowlands from the Chemical brothers in the school music room in our lunch breaks. He was the coolest kid in the year. He had a drum machine, longish hair, guitar pedals and a great taste in music. He gave me this album and it floored me.

Id never heard the guitar played like that, and I spent months learning the solo to Hey Joe after Id recorded Toms vinyl to my cassette recorder. I finally had it to where I could just about play along with the record, and was excited to see that Jimis performance at Monterey was being televised.

I watched it and my jaw hit the floor when it came to Hey Joe. Jimi played the first solo behind his head, and the second with his teeth. Back to the drawing board!

Growing up about an hour west of London wasnt particularly diverse in a musical or cultural way, so my record collection was a ticket out of the safe, predictable world Id been bought up in. The Specials were the first multicultural band Id ever listened to, and I loved the mix of punk, ska and rockabilly.

The lyrics took me a while to understand, but had a profound impact when I understood that the band were singing about the threat of racist attacks throughout the country, and, in this case, on the cold, hard streets of Coventry.

I grew up thinking that jazz was like an exclusive club, reserved for musical prodigies who would look down at anyone daring to play a song with less than five chords in it. Miles Davis changed this.

Cool jazz felt way easier to digest and I found myself able to explore John Coltrane and Bill Evans other work once Id understood this song and the album. It opened up a love of jazz for me, and showed me that in writing and soloing, less is definitely more and taste is everything.

Taken from Kanyes second album, Late Registration I still marvel at how groovy, menacing, cool and effortless the beat and Kanye and the Game's flows are on this record. Jon Brions musicality is all over this record too which affected me deeply realising that played instruments over Hip Hop beats could be a thing. This track and all of Kanyes music opens my eyes to endless possibilities in music. Truly inspiring.

How can you not be hugely affected by Frank Zappas music? I saw this album live on TV and then dug into the album Zoot Allures, the track, really stuck. Franks imagination, his ability to fuse jazz, rock and comedy together. The fact that it was so tongue in cheek, yet deeply rehearsed, deadly serious.

Theres an exuberance to Franks music that leaves its mark his dedication to music was unwavering throughout his career, forever pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo. His credits on the album read; Guitar, Bass, Lead Vocals, Synthesizer, Keyboards, and Director Of Recreational Activities.

Again, music affects you so much as a kid. My mum used to play this song over and over again, and to me the raw soul of Carols voice, the simplicity of the lyrics, the chords and strings have stuck with me ever since.

Without a great song, no amount of production or studio wizardry is going to fix the record

Tapestry opened me up to Carols incredible catalogue of songs, but also James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and a lot of the great Laurel Canyon artists. It taught me so much about songwriting the pure essence of a hypnotising lyrics, and interesting turn of phrase... How, without a great song, no amount of production or studio wizardry is going to fix the record.

Theres some music which you can admire from a distance, but the best music draws you in and sometimes drags you down with it. Ian Curtis lyrics, vocal tone and the stripped back sound of drums, bass, guitar and the haunting synth line does just that to me. Its impossible not to feel haunted by the isolation and nihilism of Ian Curtis performance.

To me, the best bands make a single noise and its not about slickness or tightness per se, its a unified feeling, a oneness. And I always feel this from Joy Division. My wife and I got to see New Order play this live as the sun was setting one afternoon in Hyde Park, as a tribute to their friend and former frontman they rarely play it, so was a pinch yourself moment for everyone there.

I bought Ok Computer on CD, and went back to my parents house to listen. I listened to the album first on my Dads Bang and Olufsen oversized headphones, reading to every lyric. Id be lying if I said I enjoyed the first listen, or understood what the hell was going on. All I knew was that I wanted to hear it again and again.

Its since become my favourite album ever. The songs, the mood, the production, the engineering, the emotions, melodies, chords, instrumentation, freedom, angst I could go on.

Id be lying if I said I enjoyed the first listen, or understood what the hell was going on. All I knew was that I wanted to hear it again and again

From the intro of arpeggiated acoustic guitar with that weird processed percussion to Thoms intro line of, 'Please could you stop the noise? I'm trying to get some rest, from all the unborn chicken voices in my head,' I never grow tired of listening to this.

Its an epic piece, with different movements the cosmic Jonny Greenwood guitar solos, the outro section that feels more like Faur than a rock band from Oxford. Its almost too much to take in, yet never feels excessive, like all truly great art.

My mum used to play Hunky Dory a lot late at night. Id try to work out the lyrics as a young kid as I lay in bed. I still cant work a lot of them out, but Ive never stopped loving Bowies music. The chords seem to be impregnated within me.

I played guitar with Rick Wakeman in the late 1990s and shortly before a theatre tour he asked me if Id sing Life On Mars and Space Oddity with him and his son Adam during the tour.

Id never sang at these kinds of venues I was a pub singing graduate and to sing and play guitar with the man responsible for playing all the keys, mellotrons and organs on Hunky Dory was overwhelming. But I did it, and looked forward to it every night. When I listen back to the recordings, to me I sound like a very drunk Elvis Costello, but I think people liked it.

My friend suggested we go and see Spike Lees Do The Right Thing at the cinema. I came out a changed kid. Id never hear Public Enemy before and through Fight The Power was introduced to the power of music through the raw power of rap and hip hop music.

It was a game-changing moment, and to have worked closely with some of the best UK rappers, such as Kano, Dave and Stormzy, whove used their words to question, to change, to stir debate, has been a humbling experience, and reminds me of the spirit of It Takes A Nation Of Billions To Hold Us Back.

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Fraser T Smith 10 songs that changed my life: Its impossible not to feel haunted by the isolation and nihilism of Ian Curtis performance - MusicRadar

Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place every Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. You can find links to the posts for a particular event in the Tools for Broadband Deployment series on this post. You can also PARTICIPATE in the current Broadband Breakfast Live Online event. REGISTER HERE.

WASHINGTON, November 22, 2020 Broadband Breakfast detailed its updated agenda and timeline for its newest Broadband Breakfast Live Online webcast series, Tools for Broadband Deployment.

This series explores the way that geospatial data and asset management are shaping the future of rural network delivery and performance. In simple and concrete terms, the series will teach how market-leading fiber builders are using digital tools to map, analyze, manage and deploy new networks with a focus on rural success stories.

See At Launch of #BroadbandLive Series on Tools for Broadband Deployment, Panelists Tout Symmetrical Fiber, Broadband Breakfast, November 4, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated just how important high-speed symmetrical broadband is to Americas education, telemedicine, economic prospects and civic connectedness, said Broadband Breakfast Editor and Publisher Drew Clark. Rural America needs better broadband now more than ever, and there continues to be a strong prospect for broadband as a component of infrastructure deployment in the next Congress.

This new Tools for Broadband Deployment series will probe what fiber-builders need to know to get their projects planned, prepped, deployed and built in record time, said Clark.Broadband Breakfast Live Onlines Tools for Broadband Deployment is sponsored by Render Networks and ADTRAN.

As with all Broadband Breakfast Live Online events, the FREE webcasts will take place at 12 Noon ET on Wednesday. The schedule and registration pages are itemized below.

Broadband Breakfast has been runningBroadband Breakfast Live Onlinesince March 13, 2020. The high-quality programming is available for FREE and takes place every Wednesday at 12 Noon ET.

Spurred on by the coronavirus virus, the Washington-based Broadband Breakfast media community launched the series to address the impact of broadband on solving the problems caused by the pandemic, including discussions about thedigital divide, teleworking, distance learning, telemedicine, and network capacity.

Broadband Breakfast has also hosted additional Broadband Breakfast Live Online events focusing onSection 230: Separating Fact From Fictionin sponsorship with the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a series of events onDigital Infrastructure Investment in sponsorship with SiFi Networks and UTOPIA Fiber, its Champions of Broadband series featuring conversations with individuals who have devoted their careers to better broadband, and A No-Nonsense Guide to 5G sponsored by Samsung Electronics America.

Events inTools for Broadband Deploymentseries, which is sponsored byADTRANandRender Networks, include:

Tools for Broadband Deployment is sponsored by:

Render Networks

ADTRAN

SUBSCRIBE to the Broadband Breakfast YouTubechannel. That way, you will be notified when events go live. Watch onYouTube,TwitterandFacebook.

See a complete list ofupcoming and past Broadband Breakfast Live Onlineevents.

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Broadband Breakfast Live Online Event Series on 'Tools for Broadband Deployment' on Enhancing Rural America - BroadbandBreakfast.com

Good morning, BroadwayWorld!

Yesterday, the nominations for the Grammy Awards were announced. The awards honored six musicals from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and the West End - 'Jagged Little Pill,' 'American Utopia,' 'Little Shop of Horrors,' 'The Prince of Egypt,' 'Soft Power,' and Amlie.'

'The Prom' is on its way to Netflix! Ryan Murphy's film adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical will bow on December 4th. Check out the character posters below!

Read more about these and other top stories below!

Want our morning reports delivered via email? Subscribe here!

1) VIDEO: Michael Ball & Alfie Boe Visit Backstage LIVE with Richard Ridge- Watch Now!by Backstage With Richard Ridge

Richard Ridge chats with Broadway and West End superstars Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, who just released a new album 'Together at Christmas,' available now!. (more...)

2) How to Watch the 2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Your All-Inclusive Guide!

While many prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving differently this year, so does The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, one of the nation's most cherished holiday traditions. . (more...)

3) Photo Flash: See Meryl Streep, Ariana DeBose, Nicole Kidman & More in THE PROM Character Posters

'The Prom' is on its way to Netflix! Ryan Murphy's film adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical will bow on December 4th. . (more...)

4) JAGGED LITTLE PILL, AMERICAN UTOPIA & More Nominated for Best Musical Theatre Album at the GRAMMY AWARDSby TV News Desk

The awards honored six musicals from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and the West End - 'Jagged Little Pill,' 'American Utopia,' 'Little Shop of Horrors,' 'The Prince of Egypt,' 'Soft Power,' and Amlie.' . (more...)

5) VIDEO: Kaitlyn Bristowe Dances to 'Sparkling Diamonds' from MOULIN ROUGE! on DANCING WITH THE STARSby Stage Tube

Kaitlyn Bristowe and Artem Chigvintsev dance Freestyle to "Sparkling Diamonds" From "Moulin Rouge" on the Dancing with the Stars Finale! . (more...)

Today's Call Sheet - Upcoming Online Events:

- Today at 2pm and 8pm, Seth Rudetsky will continue his Stars in the House series, featuring new Broadway stars performing and answering questions! Watch live on YouTube here!

- BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge chats with Patti Murin & Colin Donnell on Backstage LIVE today at 2pm! Tune in here!

- The Met continues its Live in HD broadcast series with Thomas's Hamlet, tonight at 7:30pm. Watch here!

Learn about more online streaming events happening today, and in the future, on our streaming calendar at /streaming-schedule/.

What we're watching: Josh Groban Performs 'The World We Knew' on THE TONIGHT SHOW

Musical guest Josh Groban performs "The World We Knew (Over and Over)" for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Social Butterfly: Watch Andrew Lloyd Webber and Carrie Hope Fletcher Have a CINDERELLA Bake-Off!

How would a bad Cinderella make a cupcake? Watch as star the future star of Cinderella, Carrie Hope Fletcher, and creator Andrew Lloyd Webber make some show-stopping cupcakes in honor of the Great British Bake Off. Who would you crown as Star Baker?

And a Happy Birthday shout-out to John Larroquette, who turns 73 today!

Larroquette last starred on Broadway in GORE VIDAL'S THE BEST MAN, and before that in HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING opposite Daniel Radcliffe, for which he won a 2011 Tony, Drama Desk and Theatre World Award for his portrayal of 'J.B. Biggley'. The actor also appeared off-Broadway in OLIVER PARKER! and made his stage musical debut in Dr. Seuss' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS as 'Old Max' in Los Angeles in 2009. He is well known for his Emmy-winning role as 'Dan Fielding' in the TV series NIGHT COURT, 'Mike McBride' in Hallmark's MCBRIDE, 'John Hemingway' on THE JOHN LARROQUETTE SHOW, 'Lionel Tribbey' on THE WEST WING and 'Carl Sack' in BOSTON LEGAL.

See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!

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Wake Up With BWW 11/25: GRAMMY Nominations, THE PROM Posters, and More! - Broadway World

By Fred Smoller and Michael A. Moodian | November 25, 2020

Here are four takeaways pertaining to Orange County from the historic 2020 general election.

Orange County is fortunate to have Neal Kelley as its registrar of voters. Several years ago, Kelley devised the vote center model, but because of resistance from the board of supervisors, he was not able to fully implement it until this year.

The registrar of voters mailed ballots to all voters about a month before the election. Voters could mail them back or drop them off in one of the countys 116 ballot drop boxes. Starting four days before Election Day, people could also vote at one of the 168 vote centers scattered throughout the county.

The vote-center model was an overwhelming success: Turnout shot up from an average of 73% of eligible voters for the four previous presidential elections to 87%one of the highest in county history, in the middle of a pandemic. Additionally, there was no systematic voter fraud. State turnout was 80%, and national turnout was 65%, the highest it has been since 1908. Increased mail voting and the higher turnout it engenders, ironically, is one of the good things that has come from the tragic coronavirus pandemic.

The vote-center model saves hundreds of thousands of dollars each voting cycle because there is no need to set up and hire staff for more than a thousand polling centers. Because the state adopted the OC vote-center model, taxpayers will save millions, perhaps billions of dollars, given how many elections are held in California.

Also, because the state allows mail ballots to be processed as they come in, we did not have the backlogs that caused reporting delays in places such as Pennsylvania.

Make it easier to vote and turnout surges. What a concept.

Vote by mail and early voting will be how Californiaand the nationwill vote. Our county, which has a national reputation for retrograde politics and one of the largest municipal bankruptcies in history, is the go-to county for early voting and vote by mail, the future of elections.

Many people have an emotional attachment to in-person voting. That the registrar of voters could make such a smooth transition to the vote-center model is impressive.

Hats off to Neal Kelley and his great staff. They and election workers across the nation are democracys heroes.

The results also show that Orange County, CA, is no longer the ultraconservative Red county that it once was. However, the county is not as liberal Blue as other coastal regions. Instead, Orange County is increasingly Purple, with more competitive races than in the pre-2016 election, when local Republicans were more worried about the Republican they would face in the primary than who their Democratic opponent would be in the Fall election. Politically, Orange County is looking more like the rest of the state and country.

Democrats have had lots to celebrate in the last few years. For the first time in 80 years, Orange County voted for the Democratic candidate for president in 2016 (Hillary Clinton). Then, in 2018, the Blue Wavewhich had been rising for yearswashed over the county. Democrats won all Orange County congressional seats that year. For the first time in modern history, Orange County Republicans had no representation in the House.

In 2019, Democrats overtook Republicans in party registration. The Democrats enjoy a nearly 40,000 registrant lead, which continues to grow as older white conservatives exit the electorate and younger voters and people of color replace them.

Democrats also had lots to crow about November 3 when Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by nearly twice as many percentage points (9%) as the amount Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by in 2016 (5%).

However, rumors of the OC GOPs demise are greatly exaggerated: Michelle Steel and Young Kim defeated Harley Rouda (48th) and Gil Cisneros (39th), respectively. Rouda and Cisneros were part of that 2018 congressional Blue Wave.

Steel survived a bumpy road en route to her victory. As chair of the board of supervisors, she failed to convey clear and consistent messaging about the importance of wearing masks, even as COVID-19 numbers in the county spiked. (Remember her infamous and bizarre species discrimination remarks?) She also drew controversy when a past speech she gave surfaced about pulling her daughter from college because her daughter believed in gay marriage. Even the conservative Orange County Register Editorial Board endorsed Rouda, the Democratic incumbent.

Despite this, Steel was a countywide voice calling for the reopening of the economy. Perhaps her messaging resonated with voters experiencing COVID-19 restriction fatigue. Her district, the 48th, is also the most Republican district in the county.

The GOPs incumbent assembly members also retained their seats, including Steven Choi, who received a stiff challenge from Irvine Councilmember Melissa Fox. Democratic incumbent Cottie Petrie-Norris was able to fend off Newport Beach Councilmember Diane Dixons challenge in the 74th assembly district.

However, local Democrats made gains in Californias upper house. UC Irvine law professor and political newbie Dave Min solidly beat state Senator and longtime Republican stalwart John Moorlach (SD 37).

The 29th Senate District seat has seesawed between the parties. Josh Newman (D) first defeated Ling Ling Chang (R) in 2016. Republicans saw his seat as vulnerable for a pickup, so they ran a successful recall against Newman for ostensibly voting for a gas tax and Chang won the Senate seat. Newman beat Chang again this year.

Increased partisan competition is also in officially nonpartisan races. Republican Andrew Do beat Sergio Contreras to retain his seat on the county board of supervisors in a district in which registration favors Democrats by nearly 16 points.

Orange Countys eight largest citiesAnaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, Huntington Beach, Orange, Garden Grove, Fullerton and Costa Mesaaccount for more than half (54%) of the countys population. Orange, Anaheim and Garden Grove have Republican majorities. Santa Ana, Irvine, Fullerton and Costa Mesa have Democratic majorities. Huntington Beach is split among three Democrats, three Republicans, and an independent. One of those newly elected Republicans is former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, who channels Donald Trump and hopes to become mayor.

Irvine voters replaced multitermer Christina Shea (R) with Farrah Khan (D) for mayor. Khan crushed the developer-friendly and very Republican Shea by nearly 12 points.

Democrats enjoy a 15-point registration advantage over Republicans in Irvine. The citys Democratic majority on the council includes veteran Larry Agran, the Energizer Bunny of Orange County politics who takes a lickin and keeps on tickin.

Democrats also retained their majority in Costa Mesa, with its Democratic Mayor Katrina Foley earning a solid victory. Costa Mesas council shifted from being a majority Republican council to Democratic in 2018.

Jesse Unruhs dictum Money is the mothers milk of politics was on full display in Anaheim. Disney spent more than $1 million backing resort-friendly candidates who won their respective races. This means that, along with Mayor Harry Sidhu, councilmembers backed by the resort industry will have a voting majority on the council.

The Democratic party says that as a result of the 2020 elections there will be more Democrats on school boards than Republicans or independents. That bodes well for the future of the party: City councils and school boards can be springboards for higher office.

Orange County has the largest Vietnamese enclave in the world outside Vietnam, and the broader Asian American community is a potent force in OC politics. Our elected officials increasingly represent OCs ethnic and partisan diversity. According to the latest Census data, individuals classified as Asian compose 22% of the countys population, and OCs Asian American community continues to gain political clout. Republican candidates such as Phillip Chen, Steven Choi, Andrew Do, Young Kim, Janet Nguyen and Michelle Steel; Democratic candidates such as Tammy Kim and Dave Min; and others were victorious November 3.

Young Kim and Steel are two of three Korean American women elected to Congress this year. The national GOPs Growth and Opportunity Project in 2013 set forth a multimillion dollar effort to connect better with minority communities. An original report from this endeavor specifically stated The RNC must actively engage Asian and Pacific Islander American (APA) communities to help welcome in new members of our Party.

The outgoing U.S. presidents racially polarizing rhetoric hurt efforts for Republicans to connect with minority communities during the past few years, but if former RNC Chair Reince Priebus were to look into a crystal ball seven years ago, he would likely be impressed with the gains Republican Asian American candidates made in Orange County in 2020.

Earlier this year, Jeff LeTourneau, who was the OC Democratic party vice chair at the time, shared a Facebook post on his personal page that praised Communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh. This outraged the countys Vietnamese American community (many of whom fled Communist Vietnam or are the ancestors of those who fled), drawing sharp rebukes from both parties and leading to LeTourneaus resignation. The 48th congressional district encompasses Little Saigon, and it is possible that this controversy made the difference in Roudas slim defeat (2%) to Steel.

California is a liberal state, but its residents voted down most of the progressive propositions on the ballot this year, perhaps as a result of the pandemic and the economic disruption it has caused.

OC voted with the state on all but three (14, 17, 19) of the 12 propositions. Again, once an outlier among coastal counties, Orange County, although still fiscally and socially conservative, is looking more and more like the rest of the Golden State.

Unlike the state, the fiscally conservative county said no to Proposition 14, which will provide $5 billion in bonds for stem cell research. State voters approved the sale of these bonds.

Also, OC voted narrowly (50.2%) against Proposition 17, which allows people who are on parole to vote. Fifty-eight percent of the state said yes, so it passed.

OC also parted company with the state on Proposition 19, which narrowly passed. It makes it easier for people older than 55 and others to take their property tax bills to other counties. OC voters turned it downperhaps because it removed Proposition 13 (what has been called the third rail of California politics) protections on inherited property. Folks who inherit property and who rent it out will pay property taxes based on the current market value of the property.

County voters sided with the state on other propositions. They rejected rent control, and they voted in favor of Uber and Lyft drivers remaining contract employees, in both cases by bigger margins than the state.

On social issues, OC voted down proposals that would have reinstated affirmative action and allowed 17 year olds to vote, again, by greater percentages than the state. They also voted down Proposition 20, which would have toughened parole eligibility, increasing the prison population, and increasing state and local correctional costs by millions per year. Fifty-eight percent of OC voters rejected this.

Orange County, which has an airport named after John Wayne and was once a thriving far right utopia, has changed dramatically. We are Purple County.

Fred Smoller is an associate professor of political science at Chapman University, where he has been on the faculty since 1983. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. His major areas of interest are American politics, with an emphasis on local government and public administration. Smoller directs Chapmans annual local government conference and is the author of the 2018 book From Kleptocracy to Democracy: How Citizens Can Take Back Local Government. Contact Smoller at[emailprotected].

Michael A. (Mike) Moodian teaches for Chapman Universitys leadership studies program and is a professor of social science at Chapman-affiliated Brandman University. He is the editor of the textbook Contemporary Leadership and Intercultural Competence (Sage, 2008). Moodian is the former chairman of the World Affairs Council of Orange County. His website iswww.moodian.com, and you can contact him at[emailprotected]or via Twitter (@mikemoodian).

Smoller and Moodian direct the Orange County Annual Survey. Read their latest report here.

Opinions expressed in community opinion pieces belong to the authors and not Voice of OC.

Voice of OC is interested in hearing different perspectives and voices. If you want to weigh in on this issue or others please email[emailprotected]

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Smoller and Moodian: Four Takeaways From the 2020 General Election - Voice of OC

Speculative Architecture: Where are the Contemporary Equivalents of the 60s and 70s Radical Visions?

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As the forces shaping our built environment have shifted, engaging technology, networks, and complex systems, architects need to envision more than the physical space but produce narratives on how to best operate within this new societal landscape. In this context, speculative architecture seems to have never been more critical; therefore this article takes a closer look at the mediums that currently question the existing conditions of the built environment and explore new architectural possibilities.

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Speculative architecture investigates scenarios for the future, creating narratives around how different forms of agency shape space and culture. It relates, overlaps with or is synonym to several other concepts from architecture fiction, design futures, to radical architecture. Nonetheless, it is a discursive activity rooted in critical thinking, questioning the practice and different aspects of society and the built environment. When looking at the works of practices such as OMA, MVRDV, Diller Scofidio+Renfro, FOA, it is clear that the influence of radical architecture and its capacity to imagine different futures can generate architectural innovation. However, there is a historical transformation of speculative architecture discourse, with sustainability and technology as the main subjects for contemporary radical explorations.

It seems that in the conditions of contemporary society, utopian, speculative thinking has become more formalized. Explaining what speculative architecture can contribute to the practice, architect Liam Young references how Archigram has been a trigger for a significant cultural shift in architecture thinking, all through ideas expressed in a thought-provoking manner. He also argues that the Masters program he initiated at Sci-Arc is a form of establishing speculative architecture as a genre and career path, which is telling for why modern-day equivalents of architecture collectives like Archigram or Superstudio have now moved to academia. Young stresses the invaluable role of storytelling, saying A speculative architect should know how to tell stories about cities and spaces to launch these narratives into the world with such force that they find traction. In Liam Youngs work, the narratives transcend architectural design thinking and work within the realm of fiction, engaging with frameworks that operate at a global scale.

Further proof of the inclusion of speculative thinking into the formal structures of academia is the New Normal Speculative Urbanism think tank at Strelka Institute. Led by design theorist and author Benjamin Bratton, the scope of the program is to advance architecture so that it operates within a new paradigm, in tune with the new context set in motion by global computation, data analytics and algorithmic governance.

The proliferation of biennales and exhibitions created an outlet for architectural speculations outside of the day to day practice. However, architecture competitions and calls to imagine the future gather a myriad of visions that often get lost in this abundance of designs and submissions. It is perhaps a question of finding the right medium to disseminate ideas to a broader audience, escaping the echo chamber of the architecture profession. What is radical in contemporary architecture, what are the conventions architects try to unseat in todays rapidly changing world? This is precisely the set of questions that 40 emerging and established architects were invited to answer within the What is Radical Today exhibition organized by the Architecture Studio of the Royal Academy of Arts last year. Looking at the works presented in the exhibition, radical architecture today seems to be about raising awareness on certain topics like climate change as well as a redefinition of the role of the architect, alongside the apparent interest in techno-utopia.

What can be seen across all these contemporary manifestations of speculative architecture is that more than their historical precedents, they come accompanied by an array of evidence, data, and additional findings to back-up and validate the proposed scenario, no matter how feasible. As Lola Sheppard from Lateral Office revealed, the speculative architecture process begins with expansive research with the intent of uncovering hidden truths[]and much of (our) initial research originates outside the field. The Canadian experimental practice operates at the intersection of architecture, landscape, and urbanism using design as a research vehicle to pose and respond to complex, urgent questions in the built environment. The projects and subjects the studio chooses to pursue outside of commissions entail a different kind of operation and have the purpose of expanding the agency of the profession, as well as the spectrum of issues architecture engages with. Sheppard, one of the studios founders, admits that decision-makers and society at large undervalue the transformative role of architecture and explains their work as a fearless questioning of the mechanisms of todays world.

Other architecture firms have further developed parallel research branches, to satisfy the need for investigating new architectural paradigms. Running alongside the conventional architecture practice, OMA has developed its own research unit, AMO, an outlet for advancing architectural knowledge and interacting with other disciplines. The think tank has also produced commercial work, but it has generally served as a means to define a personal agenda and pursue different interests independently. Capturing the array of forces shaping society and investigating responses to certain conditions, AMO develops what Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf refer to as fieldwork, embodying the studios concern with facts, statistics, and data. The work of AMO usually culminates with a somewhat ironic visual and textual output, as the office is recognized for producing strong narratives.

As recent events have underlined the need for architecture to expand its agency, it is worth looking at speculative architecture as a means to embrace broader issues. The proposals that flirt with the utopian traditions of the past century, drawing from strong speculative resources represent a step towards reinventing urban environments and everyday life.

This article is part of the ArchDaily Topic: Young Practices. Every month we explore a topic in-depth through articles, interviews, news, and projects. Learn more about our monthly topics. As always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us.

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