Our guest contributor's Top 9 for this month: art, exhibitions, books, films, websites, music - anything creative, anywhere in the world!
See previous Top 9: click on page archive at bottom of this page.
1968 - the year
The English language BBC World Service is currently examining the question: “Did the Year 1968 Change the World?” This is highly debatable, but there is no question that many notable and historic events happened in 1968. Student riots in Paris; assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King; the Russian invasion of Czechoslavakia; the music of Jimi Hendrix; escalating USA military build-up and growing public disillusionment with the Vietnam War; and, protests by athletes at the Mexico City Olympic Games.
One record issued in 1968 that captured the psychedelic mood and the themes of that year is Eric Burdon & the Animals’ ‘Every One of Us’ – some great songs, guitar solos and Burdon’s brooding passionate voice. Pictured is Burdon and Jimi Hendrix – the YouTube clip of 'The Immigrant lad', one of the songs on ‘Everyone of Us’.
The sound of Jimi Hendrix probably best evokes the period 1968 - 1970. He plays 'Hey Joe' and then a tribute to Cream - another band that evokes the era with Eric Clapton's guitar. Some clips from the period.
1968: the anti-war movement - recent filmed images
The anti-war movement of 1968 still has resounding influence on our thoughts on war. These war images are disturbing and graphic - they show graphically the horrors of war. http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=K3WS03jbq9M&feature=related
David Byrne - song
In a similar (war) vein is David Byrne's 'Psycho Killer'. Byrne plays at Hong Kong's Convention Centre in January 2009. Book tickets through HK Ticketing.
Michael Peppiatt : Francis Bacon: 'Studies for a Portrait' - book
Michael Peppiatt is an acknowledged authority on the great British artist Francis Bacon - this new book can be read in conjunction with the Bacon exhibition currently showing at the Tate in London.
Joern Utzen was the architect who designed the Sydney Opera House in Australia – one of the most iconic buildings of the last century and an indelible landmark on the Sydney skyline. A building that suffered controversial delays because the technology to build the roof shells and seal it with a scale-like cladding was only developed during the construction. Funding to build the Opera House was met in part by the famous Opera House Lottery Tickets. In a fitting tribute to Utzen’s memory, the Opera House spotlights were turned off and flags lowered to half-mast on the adjacent Sydney Harbour Bridge - a fitting tribute for this pioneering Danish architect.
Palladio, one of the most influential architects – especially influential on architectureal styles seen in England and Ireland - celebrates his birth 500 years ago. A major exhibition organised by the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio, Vicenza and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). It will open in Vicenza, (palazzo Barbaran da Porto, 20 September 2008 – 6 January 2009), it will then move to London (Royal Academy of Arts, 31 January – 13 April 2009) and will close in the United States of America in Autumn 2009. This exhibition “will seek to use both traditional and innovative media through which to present the full range of the work of this exceptional architect and his legacy. It will place Palladio within his contemporary historical context and will explore aspects of Palladio’s work which have not been adequately presented before. It will include an extensive selection of original drawings, as well as relevant paintings, medals and coins, architectural fragments, sculpture and books and manuscripts. This material will be complemented be large-scale architectural models, video and interactive computer animation”.
Dervla Murphy: 'The Island That Dared: Journeys in Cuba' - book
One of the great travel writers is the Irish writer, Dervla Murphy. Now aged in her 70s - this is her latest book covering two trips to Cuba. Published by Eland. The 'Guardian' article outlines a part of her life....
