song of the year

it isn’t time for any end of the year rankings but this song seeped into my life and stayed. and it was everywhere: on kcrw, as the theme to bbc’s luther and in commercials for the luxury hybrid lincoln mkz….

MASSIVE ATTACK – PARADISE CIRCUS (FEAT. HOPE SANDOVAL)
“but we like it when we’re spinning….”

LED ladies dancing


video of “ann dancing” from a late night walk last month in indianapolis

One of my favorite times of the day is the wee hours of the night. In cities near and far, I take late night walks to get a feel for the area and view the landscape via shadows, neon and car lights. Last month when I was in Indianapolis, I did this on a few occasions. There were things I wanted to see in the dark. The top item on my night viewing list was a neon sculpture I first saw during the daylight while on a ride from a friend’s house 26 blocks north of downtown, away from the frenzy of the Women’s Final Four taking place in town.

I was not expecting “Ann Dancing” or the surrounding area of hip shops just north of downtown on my bus ride that morning. At first I thought it must have been some sort of advertisement for a dance club and I expected words to start scrolling across the screen, advertising ladies night specials and two-for-one well drinks. But no, it was just four LED ladies dancing. The sculpture is a rectangular piece with four panels, each displaying an animated image of a woman swaying from side-to-side in a way that is absolutely mesmerizing any time of day but especially at night.

Welsh artist Julian Opie created the sculpture in 2007. A former trustee of the UK’s Tate, Opie has also created other LED artwork in including “Walking Down O’Connell Street” in Dublin, Ireland. “Ann Dancing” is a part of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, a public art project in the city.

It was a cold night when I used the video capabilities of my digital camera to try and capture undulating memories. The bars and restaurants in the area were closed. All was deserted except a few cars going back and forth every once in a while and one random dude on a bike that I graced with a stare of death…just in case, I do not play.

Anyway, in all this desertion were four light-emitting diode ladies of the night, coyly beckoning but forever unapproachable. Fucking brilliant.

“I am really happy that ‘Ann Dancing’ will be in Indianapolis and become part of the street fabric. As I sit in my studio in London I think of her endlessly dancing for the passing traffic.” – Julian Opie

Thank you Mr. Opie.

RIP Lady T

Interviewer: There are no white artists who have had the kind of appeal among African-Americans like you have. Why do you think you’ve always been so embraced by the black community?

Teena Marie: My thoughts are so sincere that they come through musically. I have a white mother that gave birth to me and I have black mother that nurtured me as well, who was always there by my side and explained a lot things to me that I didn’t understand as a young girl. I’m just very true to who I am and the music that I love — I think people can feel that sincerity. I think they know that it’s not contrived; this is the way that I live. I think God wanted me to bring people together through music and you shouldn’t have to be a certain color to sing a certain type of music.
—Teena Marie from Teena Marie: Ultimate Soul Diva

Chatting about sports journalism, bloggers and credentialing

I’ll be on this chat panel on Monday:

The press release:

Although many major news organizations have found homes on the Internet, some reporters who cover sports online still struggle to get access to the events they write about.

At the same time, traditional media outlets continue to fight for access for their reporters while sports leagues and teams, often with their own media outlets and stakeholders, control access to events.

Those competing responsibilities, differing outlooks and resulting decisions about who can and cannot officially cover events will be addressed at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 18, during the first online chat conducted by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism.

“Who Should be in the Press Box and Why? Issues in Credentialing Bloggers and Journalists” is free and may be accessed at http://comm.psu.edu/sports/live-chats online.

Participants include:
– Michael Signora, vice president of football communications for the NFL;
– Jerry Micco, sports editor of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette;
– Cheryl Coward of Hoopfeed.com; and
– Malcolm Moran, the Knight chair in sports journalism and society and director of the Curley Center.

Marie Hardin, associate professor of communications at Penn State and associate director of the Curley Center, will serve as moderator for the hour-long session.

The Curley Center explores issues and trends in sports journalism through instruction, outreach, programming and research. The center’s undergraduate curricular emphasis includes courses in sports writing, sports broadcasting, sports information, sports, media and society, and sports and public policy, which is cross-listed with the Penn State Dickinson School of Law.