Aesthetic Arrest Podcast: Little Richard, Ahmad Jamal, Diogenes, Natalie Merchant & Ursula

“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. Cheers to that!

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Ryan Wildstar’s Recommendations:

Reading: Sayings and Anecdotes by Diogenes the Cynic (trans. Robin Hard)

Purchse here.

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Listening: Keep Your Courage by Natalie Merchant (feat. Abena Koomson-Davis)

Purchase or stream via Bandcamp or multiple platforms

• Official Site of Natalie Merchant

• Official Site of Abena Koomson-Davis

• ‘It made me wish I had made more records’: Natalie Merchant on returning to music after losing her voice (via The Guardian)

• Natalie Merchant on album 'Keep Your Courage' (via NPR)

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Looking: The Art of Ursula [aka Ursula Schultze-Bluhm]

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• Current Exhibition: Ursula—That's Me. So What? (March 18 – Ju­ly 23, 2023) at Museum Ludwig in Köln, Germany

• Late Female Surrealist Ursula’s Fantastical Paintings Are Gaining New Recognition (via Artsy)

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Viewing: Little Richard: I Am Everything (directed by Lisa Cortés)

Watch in theaters (buy tickets here) or stream at home (multiple platforms).

Theatrical one-sheet for LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Little Richard in LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Little Richard in LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

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Tasting: Diogenes Restaurant (Athens, Greece)

• Diogenes Restaurant on Instagram

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Ryan Elston’s Recommendations:

Reading: Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems by Wanda Coleman (ed. Terrance Hayes)

Purchase here.

• Click here to read “American Sonnet (95)” by Wanda Coleman

• Click here to read “Notes of a Cultural Terrorist 2” by Wanda Coleman

• Click here to read “Things No One Knows” by Wanda Coleman

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Listening: The Music of Ahmad Jamal (July 2, 1930 – April 16, 2023)

• Jazz Piano Innovator Ahmad Jamal Is Dead at Age 92 by Ted Gioia (via The Honest Broker)

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Looking: The Art of John Craxton

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• Official Site of The Estate of John Craxton

• Fame finally calls for British painter John Craxton, friend of Lucian Freud and lover of all things Greek (via The Guardian)

• John Craxton - A Rebellious 20th Century Artist by Ian Collins

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Viewing: My Name is Ottilie — documentary about Ottilie Patterson, featuring Dana Masters (BBC & Sky)

• ‘We paved the way for the Rolling Stones’: Ottilie Patterson, the forgotten first lady of British blues (The Guardian)

• Dana Masters on uncovering the lost voice of Comber's Ottilie Patterson, 'the Amy Winehouse of her day' (via The Irish News)

• My Name Is Ottilie At The Queen's Film Theatre + Q&A (Via AllAboutJazz)

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Tasting: Lolos Restaurant [Ο Λόλος] (Athens, Greece)

Smoked Mackerel at Lolos Restaurant (Athens, Greece) [Photo by Ryan Wildstar]

Fried Calamari at Lolos Restaurant (Athens, Greece) [Photo by Ryan Wildstar]

Fried Smelt at Lolos Restaurant (Athens, Greece) [Photo by Ryan Wildstar]

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That’s it for this week! But we want the dinner party to continue! So each week we are asking a “dinner party” question for everyone joining us here at our table. Last week we asked: “What's one of the best live performances YOU'VE ever seen?” Here are some of the great responses from the comments:

• Christina saw Roxy Music live in concert!

• kde saw David Bowie live in concert!

• Andrea Engstrom saw a live performance of the Jabbawockeez dance group!

Thank you everyone for your wonderful responses! That was last week . . . but we don't want this week's dinner party to end either!

So here is this week's question for the table:

You know we love documentaries. And this week, we recommended two documentaries about musicians whose contributions should be more widely known. So here's this week's dinner party question for everyone listening right now: Who is someone YOU wish would get a documentary made about their life? Your choice could be anyone from any profession or field of achievement, from the present to the distant past. Tell us your choice in the comments, and we'll share some of your responses on next week's podcast!

Cheers to that!