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  Van Gogh

  Jp. A. Calosse

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  Vincent van Gogh’s life and work are so intertwined that it is hardly possible to observe one without thinking of the other. Van Gogh has indeed become the incarnation of the suffering, misunderstood martyr of modern art, the emblem of the artist as an outsider. An article, published in 1890, gave details about van Gogh’s illness. The author of the article saw the painter as “a terrible and demented genius, often sublime, sometimes grotesque, always at the brink of the pathological.” Very little is known about Vincent’s childhood. At the age of eleven he had to leave “the human nest”, as he called it himself, for various boarding schools. The first portrait shows us van Gogh as an earnest nineteen year old. At that time he had already been at work for three years in The Hague and, later, in London in the gallery Goupil & Co. In 1874 his love for Ursula Loyer ended in disaster and a year later he was transferred to Paris, against his will. After a particularly heated argument during Christmas holidays in 1881, his father, a pastor, ordered Vincent to leave. With this final break, he abandoned his family name and signed his canvases simply “Vincent”. He left for Paris and never returned to Holland. In Paris he came to know Paul Gauguin, whose paintings he greatly admired. The self-portrait was the main subject of Vincent’s work from 1886c88. In February 1888 Vincent left Paris for Arles and tried to persuade Gauguin to join him. The months of waiting for Gauguin were the most productive time in van Gogh’s life. He wanted to show his friend as many pictures as possible and decorate the Yellow House. But Gauguin did not share his views on art and finally returned to Paris. On 7 January, 1889, fourteen days after his famous self-mutilation, Vincent left the hospital where he was convalescing. Although he hoped to recover from and to forget his madness, but he actually came back twice more in the same year. During his last stay in hospital, Vincent painted landscapes in which he recreated the world of his childhood. It is said that Vincent van Gogh shot himself in the side in a field but decided to return to the inn and went to bed. The landlord informed Dr Gachet and his brother Theo, who described the last moments of his life which ended on 29 July, 1890: “I wanted to die. While I was sitting next to him promising that we would try to heal him. [...], he answered, ‘La tristesse durera toujours (The sadness will last forever).’”

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  Kevin Doyle: 30 Year Old Virgin

  Kevin Doyle

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  Growing up in a devoutly Christian home, Kevin was saving sex for marriage. After moving to New York City to pursue a career as an actor, he quickly fell in love and got engaged. A month before his wedding, he called it off and found himself in a precarious position, a 30 year old virgin. A story of heartbreak and horniness that has been called a perfect combination of “brutal honesty and awkward hilarity” that is “one of the most intimate comedy shows” you’ll ever see.

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  Memorial Mania - Public Feeling...

  Erika Doss

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  In the past few decades, thousands of new memorials to executed witches, victims of terrorism, and dead astronauts, along with those that pay tribute to civil rights, organ donors, and the end of Communism have dotted the American landscape. Equally ubiquitous, though until now less the subject of serious inquiry, are temporary memorials: spontaneous offerings of flowers and candles that materialize at sites of tragic and traumatic death. In Memorial Mania, Erika Doss argues that these memorials underscore our obsession with issues of memory and history, and the urgent desire to express—and claim—those issues in visibly public contexts.Doss shows how this desire to memorialize the past disposes itself to individual anniversaries and personal grievances, to stories of tragedy and trauma, and to the social and political agendas of diverse numbers of Americans. By offering a framework for understanding these sites, Doss engages the larger issues behind our culture of commemoration. Driven by heated struggles over identity and the politics of representation, Memorial Mania is a testament to the fevered pitch of public feelings in America today.

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  Scott Stapp

  Steve Black

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  Steve Black interviewed former Creed vocalist, and current member of Art of Anarchy, Scott Stapp in 2017.

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  The Legacy of Chopin

  Jan Holcman

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  A fascinating survey of Chopin’s views on music, from composition theory to his philosophy of teaching, including explanatory notes from the author.   The Legacy of Chopin is a comprehensive study of the great composer’s views on music—including pianism, composition, pedagogy, music criticism, and more. Drawing on extensive research from a wide range of sources, Jan Holcman provides essential historical and musicological context for Chopin’s references and concepts, making his more esoteric ideas accessible to the general reader. An author and musicologist, Holcman shares his deep knowledge of Chopin’s life and oeuvre in this enlightening exploration of his theories, practices, and philosophies.

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  101 Amazing Facts about The...

  Jack Goldstein

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  What is special about the double bass compared to all other string instruments? What is the difference between a xylophone and a glockenspiel? How long is the tubing that makes up a trumpet? And what is the name of the world’s oldest surviving violin? In this fascinating audiobook, narrator Kent Harris answers all these questions and more as he takes us on an amazing tour of the symphony orchestra. We discover over one hundred amazing facts about strings, brass, woodwind, percussion and keyboard instruments as well as interesting information about the orchestra’s history and structure. This audiobook is perfect for anyone, whatever their musical ability!

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