Jon Batiste Piano Series
He just released three new albums all at once, part of the Batiste Piano Series, something he intends to work on as a lifetime project of conversations with different composers. The first album in this series, Beethoven Blues, was released in 2024, including my dad's favorite Moonlight Sonata.
The recently released albums I share with you here. I hope you are as blown away as I am by this beautiful music.
Black Mozart,
Monk Meditations
Monk Movements
If you would like to hear more from Jon Batiste, here is a brief interview which he gave on CBS This Morning and a more extensive one about his composer series from Lisa Witt on Pianote.
Once Upon a Bay Revisited
Mike has been an activist most of his life and spent decades protecting oceans, rivers, and bays. Along the way he founded San Francisco Baykeeper, which uses science, advocacy, and law to hold polluters accountable. He remains Baykeeper Emeritus and is actively involved in environmental causes on both coasts.
Mike & Kate met and spent 30 years together in Maine before deciding that Mike had more to say about San Francisco Bay. The couple now spends months every year in Mike’s old stomping grounds, camped out on a boat where they produce Once Upon A Bay. The podcast draws on Mike’s extensive knowledge, connections, and stories about this incredible body of water — an expression of his love for the place and hope that future generations will know its history and advocate to protect it.
At Mike’s 90th birthday two weeks ago (he looks and acts much younger!), Kate noted another aspect of the project: it reflects their delight in one another and the life they have shared. “My work on Once Upon A Bay,” she said, "is my way of thanking him for 30 wonderful years." I have written about them before in a previous blog post but I wanted to share an article that recently came out about them in a local California newspaper, written by journalist Joel Umanzor. It’s a wonderful example of how the work begun by one person can grow into an environmental movement that continues long after him.
Mary Oliver Poem
Here it is:
THE SUMMER DAY
By Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
The one who has flung herself out of the grass
The one who is eating sugar out of my hand
Who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
Who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
Into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
Which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
Photo of the Week
Private Collection, Ottawa, Canada. Untitled, mixed media on canvas, 50” x 80”
Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders
Book of the Week
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.
