A moment of self serving, here is my contribution to the musical feedback loop.  Please hit the plus sign and vote for me  :) 

Radiohead allows fans to remix the song Nude. I went for the dusty campfire approach since everyone else seemed to have the techno covered

In this video of dolphins blowing rings and playing with them, you can’t help but notice they themselves look at them in wonder like some people look at art, and interact with them in interesting ways that lack any real purpose.  Some definitions of art boil it down to objects or performances created with no practical purpose, but only for aesthetics or the affect on the artist and other viewers.  

Heidelberg University in Germany has solved the long asked question “who is the Mona Lisa?”

In margin notes of a book by Cicero, Florentine city official Agostino Vespucci, a friend of Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa was identifiend as Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy silk merchant.

More from The New York Times and ABC News.

In Bethlehem, artists from all over the world, including local artists, have been making art on the barrier wall separating Israel and Palestine.

Video from the BBC:

Read more from
The Washington Times
National Public Radio

Support for the filmmakers…

Last week, David Byrne interviewed Thom Yorke of Radiohead for Wired, about their battle with record companies and their ultimate decision to produce and distribute their own music. This was punctuated a few months ago by releasing their latest album, In Rainbows, through their own site, and allowed fans to name their own price for the album. In the interview I am particularly happy with Thom Yorke’s invocation of the book No Logo by Naomi Klein.

At the same time, David Byrne wrote an amazing piece about being a musician in the digital world. As someone who has owned his own label and been a musician himself under different levels of label control, he has perspective to see the good and bad from all the types of musical situations available. This piece is the most concise and informative I’ve seen on the music business. If you are a musician it is a great read. The only option I think he leaves out are services like TuneCore, who allow you to place music on iTunes and other digital services with no withholding whatsoever. You just pay the hosting fee per year and per song (not very much) and they get you on the music stores.

Read: The music industry article for musicians by David Byrne or
David Byrne’s interview with Thom Yorke

Buy work by Radiohead, Thom Yorke or David Byrne (and Talking Heads).

Get No Logo by Naomi Klein.

On The Muppet Show, Animal battles Buddy Rich. Until I saw this clip, I didn’t know the musician who performed Animal’s drumming was Ronnie Verrell. This is some amazing drumming.

Get The Muppets.

As with Parkour, Yamakasi and Freerunning, here is another endeavor that blurs the line between performance art and sport.

New suits that give the wearers the aerodynamics of sugar-gliders or flying squirrels allow people to do flying feats never seen before. Currently people must tackle landing with a parachute, but flyer and basejumper Jeb Corliss is trying to change that. Watch this incredible video.

Flying:

Jeb Corliss basejumping:

Read the related story from the New York Times.

I’ve noticed for quite some time that most media web sites and newspapers do not have an Arts section. The closest you find is Entertainment. The meaning of these two is of course very different, not because art can’t be entertaining, it can be. But art often has more purpose to it than that. By sticking only to “Entertainment,” the media avoids discussion of any of the other reasons for art, or the cultural criticisms it might be presenting. It takes the easy route, sticking to celebrity gossip and celebrity fashion, and not a bigger cultural context, or inclusion of any artwork whose main purpose may be something other than Entertaining.

If your TV station or newspaper covers only Entertainment and not the Arts, write them and ask why, and ask them to change it (not just the name of the section, but what they cover.)

Some examples of “Entertainment” and no “Arts”:

• Google News
• ABC News
• CBS News
• NBC News
• BBC News
• CNN
• Chicago Sun Times
• San Francisco Gate
• Seattle Times

Some great papers that still have an Arts section:

• The New York Times
• The Los Angeles Times
• The London Times
• The Washington Post

Very beautiful, from Dark Roasted Blend.