How You Can Help Members of the Creative Community Impacted by the L.A. Fires (Plus Links to Available Resources for Those Affected)
Last week’s podcast was recorded and scheduled before the devastating news of the L.A. fires had reached us here in Albania. A week has passed, the battle against the wildfires continues, and donations/resources are needed now more than ever. Here are some ways you can help, as well as links to resources available to support those in the creative community who have been impacted:
LA Wildfires: Resources for Finding and Offering Help (via KCRW)
How to Help Those Impacted by the L.A. Wildfires (via Billboard)
Here’s How You Can Help Fire-Affected Angelenos (via LitHub)
A List of Resources and How to Support Artists and Art Workers Affected by the Los Angeles Wildfires (via Artsy)
Find Resources and Support for L.A. Artists Affected by the Wildfires (via Colossal)
L.A. Wildfire Relief: Organizations Providing Assistance for Music Industry Workers (via Billboard)
Los Angeles Fires: Resources Available for the Music Community (via Rollling Stone)
Donate to ALA Disaster Relief Fund (for damaged or destroyed libraries)
Disaster Relief and Emergency Resources for L.A. Wildfires (via SAG-AFTRA)
The Los Angeles Restaurant Community Needs Your Help — Here's Where to Donate (via Food & Wine)
Fire Emergency Resources (via The Writers Guild Foundation)
Also, the family of our dearly departed soul-brother Ace Farren Ford - Shannon, Rose and Mars - need your help right now. Shannon and Rose’s tattoo shop, Shangri-La Tattoo, burned to the ground in Altadena, along with all of their equipment. Anything you can contribute to help these amazing artists and get them back on their feet would be greatly appreciated. Please donate if you can!
Donate to Help Shangri-La Tattoo Altadena Recover
“Shanngri-La Tattoo Altadena was more of a sanctuary than a tattoo shop. Please help Shannon and Rose recover from this total loss (burned to the ground in Eaton wild fire). Anything helps and will go directly to Shannon and Rose. This gofundme is being set up by friends of Shannon and Rose.” [Source]
“The aesthetic experience is a simple beholding of the object . . . you experience a radiance. You are held in aesthetic arrest.” - Joseph Campbell
Aesthetic Arrest: Mid-Week Libation
Wildstar’s Wednesday Libation: Kantina Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu Brandy (Durrës, Albania)
Reading: Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
(recently featured on Our Favorite Books of 2024!)
“A bold, innovative biography that offers a new understanding of the life, work, and enduring impact of Audre Lorde. … In Survival Is a Promise, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, the first researcher to explore the full depths of Lorde’s manuscript archives, illuminates the eternal life of Lorde. Her life and work become more than a sound bite; they become a cosmic force, teaching us the grand contingency of life together on earth.” [Source]
Listening #1: Lights on a Satellite by The Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen
(recently featured on Our 100 Favorite Albums of 2024!)
“Lights On A Satellite pays tribute to the life's work of Marshall Allen, who celebrated his 100th birthday on May 25, 2024. Recorded in Studio A at New York's Power Station on June 16, 2024, the album celebrates the exceptional musician's mastery as a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, bandleader, teacher and custodian of Sun Ra's legacy. … As a tribute to the life's work of Marshall Allen, Frank Kleinschmidt of IN+OUT Records invited the Sun Ra Arkestra into the studio with 24 musicians in the largest possible line-up, with the goal of documenting the music in its polyphony and expansion in space and time in the best possible way. It is not only the variety of instruments used, but also the fact that musicians from four generations come together with a repertoire that spans 100 years of jazz history.” [Source]
Official Website of the Sun Ra Arkestra / Instagram / Upcoming Tour Dates!
Sun Ra Arkestra: Lights on a Satellite Review – Fitting Tribute to a Century of Jazz (via The Guardian)
Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen – Lights On A Satellite (via Jazz Views)
Listen to a classic, swinging big band jazz number:
Listen to a soulful, juke joint blues ballad:
How about a comet-shattering cosmic cacophony? Let the Sun Ra Arkestra do what they do best and take you to space with the mind-blowing title track:
Listening #2: Who’s Afraid of…? by Boulanger Trio
(recently featured on Our 100 Favorite Albums of 2024!)
“The Boulanger Trio, celebrated for their exceptional sound and compelling concepts in albums such as Teach Me! and Wanderlust, is set to release a groundbreaking new album titled Who's Afraid of...? This project is a homage to female composers, spotlighting their powerful and often overlooked biographies. The album promises a robust musical statement paired with an even stronger sound. The repertoire spans a diverse range of eras, featuring works by composers from Fanny Mendelssohn and Lili Boulanger to contemporary artists like Lera Auerbach, Kate Bush, and Alicia Keys.” [Source]
Looking: The Outsider Art of Ron Gittins (Ron’s Place)
“Behind the unassuming red brick facade of a gable-roofed flat in Birkenhead, England, sits a home like no other. The only clue passersby would have had, until recently, was a pair of hand-sculpted figurative columns that flanked the wooden front door. But to step inside this corner flat near Liverpool is to be transported into the imaginative world of Ron Gittins. … In a ground floor rented flat, which he let in 1986, Gittins created monumental hearths in the shapes of a lion, minotaur, and relief-adorned Roman altar. He painted bright murals inspired by ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt, including a central hallway adorned with hieroglyphs. The columns at the front door were reminiscent of palatial stone depictions of pharaohs and deities.” [Source]
Viewing: All We Imagine as Light directed by Payal Kapadia
“The light, the lives, and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated by writer/director Payal Kapadia, who won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for her revelatory fiction feature debut. Centering on two roommates who also work together in a city hospital—head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and recent hire Anu (Divya Prabha)—plus their coworker, cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), Kapadia’s film alights on moments of connection and heartache, hope and disappointment. … Kapadia captures the bustle of the metropolis and the open-air tranquility of a seaside village with equal radiance, articulated by her superb actresses and by the camera with a lyrical naturalism that occasionally drifts into dreamlike incandescence. All We Imagine as Light is a soulful study of the transformative power of friendship and sisterhood, in all its complexities and richness.” [Source]
Tasting: Mushroom Julienne (recipe via Chef Alan Bergo) — inspired by our memories of the dish at the Dorian Gray Restaurant in Belgrade, Serbia
“Behold the julienne-a molten hot, cheese crusted, creamy mushroom extravaganza. Just about every hunter of Eastern European descent I've talked to has told me about this dish in some way shape or form, and for good reason.” [Source]
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 French playwright, poet and actor, Molière:
This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Molière (January 15th, 1622 — February 17th, 1673)
Thank you for joining us for Season 3 of Aesthetic Arrest!
Cheers to that!
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