Arts & Culture

Henry V "On Stage" @ Toronto Reference Library

 

Please join us for the first in a series of four thought-provoking lectures presented by Toronto Public Library and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

The guest speaker will be Jane Freeman, University of Toronto.  The program takes place Tue Mar 06, 2012 from 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Admission is free but tickets are required. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Free tickets available starting Tuesday, Feb. 7. 

 

 

 

This is one of four free lectures that form part of the On Stage Performing Arts Theatre Series at the Toronto Reference Library. They are jointly presented with Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the talks will cover plays being performed in 2012.

Did you know we have ebooks for Henry V as well as audiobooks of the play?  There is even a "no fear" version of the play  that presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, with marginal notes and explanations and full descriptions of each character.

 

If you were doing research on Henry V, or other Shakespearean plays, did you know Toronto Public Library has an online Shakespeare article research database ?   It's free of charge and you can access it at any library branch Internet, or wifi or at home - you need to enter your library card and pin to access it.   Take some time to explore - it has the complete plays (Arden editions), criticism on Shakespeare's works and performance and also full-text scholarly periodicals.  Good for students or others and it's free to use with a TPL library card.

 

All four lectures are listed below:

• Henry V - Tuesday March 6 - 7-8 pm
• Cymbeline - Tuesday March 13 - 7-8 pm
• MacHomer - Tuesday March 20 - 7-8 pm 
• Much Ado About Nothing  - Tuesday March 27 - 7-8 pm 

 

I leave you, dear reader, with two youtube clips of one of the most famous speeches from Henry V:

 

 

and

 

 

 

 

YAOGUN 101 - A Taste of Chinese Rock Music @ Toronto Reference Library

YAOGUN 搖滾 is the Chinese word for "rock and roll", but it is much more that than, according to Torontonian Jonathan Campbell. He is a drummer, music agent and promoter who has spent the last ten years living in Beijing, China and has recently published a book about it all.

Please join us on Tuesday, February 14, 2pm, at Toronto Reference Library, the Beeton Auditoruim, to hear the insider's story and sounds of Chinese rock music during a multimedia discussion with Canadian author and musician Jonathan Campbell. He will present "Red Rock: The Long Strange March of Chinese Rock and Roll" (his first book published in October 2011) and will share from his own involvement in the local yaogun scene.

Curious about China's musical revolution? Everyone is welcome, no registration required.

 

 

“Rock and roll – rebellious, individualistic, explosive – seems incongruent with modern Chinese society. But as the music has evolved from a Western import into something uniquely Chinese, it has shaped and been shaped by China’s unique system and its relationship with the outside world. Red Rock looks at the people and events that have created Chinese rock’s unique identity, and tracks the music’s long journey from the Mao years to present. After boiling below the surface for over twenty years and now emerging from a thriving underground scene, Chinese rock may be ready to smash its guitars on the global stage." (Earnshaw Books)

 

 

"Yaogun’s story is not just that of the awakening and rise of the world’s newest superpower, but of the power of the music. The future of the nation will determine yaogun’s path, just as it defined its past. But if yaogun lives up to its potential, it just might change the nation --- and rock the world." (J. Campbell)

 

 

  [Midi Festival, Beijing, 2010, by Su Dong via Midi Festival website]

 

For more information about Red Rock: The Long, Strange March of Chinese Rock & Roll please visit:

• Open book Toronto recent interview with Jon Campbell.
• Earnshaw Books website - publishers of Red Rock.
• The author's website: www.jonathanWcampbell.com and blog - rich resource of information about "yaogun" with additional bonus songs, photographs, videos, research that is not in the book.
• YAOGUN: Chinese Rock N Roll in Ten (FULL) Songs (Jonathan Campbell's Yaogun Megamix, 40 min. of music), CBC Radio Day 6, Dec 31, 2011.
• China's Great Wall of Canadian Sound - Maclean's magazine talks with J. Campbell about Canadian musical impact in China, November 2, 2011.
• Yaogun 101: A Chinese Rock Primer (from J. Campbell's book website)
• Canadian TV network Fairchild interviews Campbell, Nov. 2011(conversation is in Chinese)

 

Listen to the following two songs suggested by Jonathan Campbell to illustrate yaogun from its early days 25 years ago to the latest bands:

 

A video for the title track from from Cui Jian's 1989 album "Rock and Roll on the New Long March" - considered the first Chinese rock album. Cui Jian is the first Chinese rocker.

 

 

The band Lonely China Day and their instrumental song "Rise Up" from the 2010 album "This Readily Assimilative People". Note the TTC playing a major role in this video that was produced by Stephen Imwalle and made in Toronto.

 

 

Do you listen to yaogun?  What other Chinese rock bands do you know?

Drawing Lessons

Would you like to learn to draw?  These books may interest you.

 

                      

 

                                  


Some books that I find inspiring include

 

                                  

 

Enthralling!