Entertainments

A Concert: Shakti's 50th Anniversary Tour

The fusion music of the group Shakti featured at a concert at our local concert space, Hill Auditorium that we attended last Thursday. The University Musical Society of the University of Michigan presents a whole series of concerts each year: this was the first of the 2023-2024 season. The Shakti musicians are: John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadevan, Ganesh Rajagopalan, and Selvaganesh Vinayakram. The opener by Béla Fleck was also great.

Béla Fleck getting ready to play the banjo. I loved his version of “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Shakti — fantastic music! It’s Indian. It’s rock music. It’s indescribable.

A New Classic Film: Barbie

When Barbie drinks, there's no water in the cup -- it's all pretend play!

 A Ghost Story: Silver Nitrate

Silvia Moreno-Garcia really knows how to write scary stories!
Silver Nitrate is fun to read. Detailed review NOW HERE.

Remembering Fernando Botero (1932-2023)

Fernando Botero, "Mona Lisa," 1979. (source)

Fernando Botero, the Columbian artist, died this week. I remember him especially for his parodies of Mona Lisa. His obituary in the LA Times said that his "depictions of people and objects in plump, exaggerated forms became emblems of Colombian art around the world." (source)

UPDATE:  I posted a more detailed summary of the man and his work HERE.

 Fernando Botero, "Mona Lisa, Age 12," 1959. (source)

The NY Times described one of his early successes: 

"In 1961, the New York curator Dorothy Miller bought a Botero work, “Mona Lisa, Age Twelve,” for the Museum of Modern Art. It was a surprising choice, since Abstract Expressionism was then the rage, and Mr. Botero’s sketchy portrait of a chubby-cheeked child seemed out of place. It was placed on exhibit while the original Mona Lisa was being shown uptown, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." (source)

Reviews and photos © 2023 mae sander.

Shared with Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz.

Shared on Monday with Elizabeth's Blog Party.