“The aesthetic experience is a simple beholding of the object . . . you experience a radiance. You are held in aesthetic arrest.” - Joseph Campbell
Aesthetic Arrest is our weekly dip into the Epicurean pleasures we’ve been enjoying lately. Now with TWO ways to enjoy our curated splash of inspiration and culture! Cheers to that!
Click above to listen to our Aesthetic Arrest Podcast, featuring R&R discussing our reading, listening, looking, viewing and tasting recommendations of the week!
Take a deep-dive into our Aesthetic Arrest: Mid-Week Libation! Below is a splash of interesting cultural gems to explore — videos, music, art, articles, recipes and more. Something different every week!
Aesthetic Arrest: Mid-Week Libation
Wildstar’s Wednesday Libation: Havana Meets Normandy!
This cocktail creation was inspired by this week’s Viewing Recommendation (see below!), as the main character was drinking rum in almost every scene:
Ingredients: Havana Club 7 Year Old Dark Rum, Les Délices de Belle France Cidre Bouché Doux Normand (sparkling hard apple cider from Normandy), Brown Sugar Simple Syrup & a Red Apple Garnish
Reading #1: Poem of the Week — “October Evening” by Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962)
With autumn leaves on the ground here in Skopje, we can at last say that fall is finally here! This poem, by one of America’s great nature poets, seemed like a perfect accompaniment to a cold October evening . . . listen to the podcast above to hear Ryan Wildstar read this lovely poem!
October Evening
by Robinson Jeffers
Male-throated under the shallow sea-fog
Moaned a ship’s horn quivering the shorelong granite.
Coyotes toward the valley made answer,
Their little wolf-pads in the dead grass by the stream
Wet with the young season’s first rain,
Their jagged wail trespassing among the steep stars.
What stars? Aldebaran under the dove-leash
Pleiades. I thought, in an hour Orion will be risen,
Be glad for summer is dead and the sky
Turns over to darkness, good storms, few guests, glad rivers.To read more poems by Robinson Jeffers (including a free PDF of Roan Stallion, Tamar and Other Poems, where the poem above was found), check out the poetry page at the Robinson Jeffers Association!
Reading #2: Slaveroad by John Edgar Wideman
This week Ryan Elston chose John Edgar Wideman’s wonderful new book, Slaveroad, a fascinating hybrid of memoir, fiction, history and essay, to discuss on the podcast this week. Here’s how the author describes the book:
“Slaveroad is an effort to show how we—all human beings—connect: our individual connections, one to another; our histories and cultures that we make up as we go along, experiencing mysteries that time exposes us to. What feels known, unknown, unknowable as it surrounds us——surging, swirling, giving and ending life. Writing a book for me is an attempt, an opportunity, to put all of the above into accessible yet challenging words.” — John Edgar Wideman [Source]
Listen to an audio excerpt from the book here! (via Simon & Schuster)
Read an excerpt from the book here! (via Harper’s)
How ‘Slaveroad’ by John Edgar Wideman Got Made (via Publishers Weekly)
Listening: The Music of Cécile McLorin Salvant!
Last week we saw the *amazing* Cécile McLorin Salvant live in concert for the opening night of the Skopje Jazz Festival, where she performed at The Macedonia National Opera and Ballet! The concert was breathtakingly beautiful. In the words of Wynton Marsalis: “You get a singer like this once in a generation or two.”
We rave about the concert (which was the *embodiment* of aesthetic arrest) on the podcast above, but you can click below to check out her most recent album, Mélusine:
R&R’s Newest Playlist: Zing, Zing, Zing Went My Heart! (Featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Lizz Wright, k.d. lang, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Abbey Lincoln, Dianne Reeves & More!)
We just had to make a playlist inspired by the vibe of the concert, featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant alongside many of our favorite jazz (and jazz-adjacent) vocal divas, which you can listen to here:
Looking: First Major US Retrospective of Art Deco Icon Tamara de Lempicka Premieres at the de Young Museum in San Francisco!
One of our favorite modernist artists, Tamara de Lempicka, is the focus of a major new retrospective which opened at the de Young Museum in San Francisco this month! The exhibition is on view until February 9, 2025. It will then travel to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, from March 9 to May 25, 2025. Check out the great video and links below for more details:
Visit Tamara de Lempicka’s First U.S. Retrospective in San Francisco This October (via Colossal)
5 Things to Know about Art Deco Painter Tamara de Lempicka (via de Young)
Viewing: Mr Loverman (BBC One & BBC iPlayer)
We absolutely adored this wonderful new British TV Series, starring the great Lennie James, written by Nathaniel Price, and based on the novel of the same name by Booker-winning writer Bernardine Evaristo. The writing, the direction (by Hong Khaou) and the entire cast (including Ariyon Bakare, Sharon D. Clarke, Tamara Lawrance & Sharlene Whyte) are brilliant. Hopefully this series will be coming to the U.S. (most likely on PBS) very soon!
Have a look at this great video, featuring the stars and creators of Mr Loverman discussing this bold new series and the power of representation:
Mr Loverman Review – Magnificent TV That Will Tear Your Heart Open (via The Guardian)
‘Beautiful, Bittersweet’: Black Gay Men Respond to BBC’s Mr Loverman (via The Guardian)
Tasting: Our Divine Cocktails at Owl Mixology Bar and a Delectable Recipe for Halloween from Martha Stewart!
Before the Cécile McLorin Salvant concert, we stopped in for drinks at our new favorite cocktail bar in Skopje: Owl Mixology Bar! Ryan Wildstar had the “Skopje Mahattan” (rum, sweet vermouth & mountain herbs syrup, with an orange garnish). And Ryan Elston ordered the “Barbie Girl” (blue tea-infused vodka, gold demerara syrup, white peach syrup & lemon juice), which literally *sparkles* when you shine a light on it!
Next week is Halloween! And we found a delectable recipe from Martha Stewart that seems ideal for pumpkin season: Ruffled Pumpkin Milk Pie! Here’s how Martha describes it: “This ode to a classic Greek galatopita, or milk pie, will knock the socks off your friends who order pumpkin-spice everything. It's also the ideal project to start with if you're new to baking with phyllo: you simply brush sheets of it with clarified butter, scrunch them into accordion-like shapes, and arrange them in a spiral in the pan.” [Source]
Click here for the printable recipe! (via Martha Stewart)
So that’s it for this week! But in the tradition of our Mid-Week Libations, we’d like to end with this week’s words of wisdom, a quotation from poet Robinson Jeffers:
This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Robinson Jeffers
Thank you for joining us for Season 3 of Aesthetic Arrest!
Cheers to that!
Aesthetic Arrest: A Breathtaking Concert by Cécile McLorin Salvant, Art Deco Icon Tamara de Lempicka & The Astounding Lennie James in Mr Loverman!