Original Photo by NRK P3 — Some Rights Reserved

Madonna’s not just the queen of pop; she’s the master of music trends.

Andrew Matson, a columnist for the Seattle Times, recently wrote a piece about Madonna’s current tour. As a set-up, he posted an amazing video exchange of Madonna and others from the New Music Seminar of 1984. The New Music Seminar has a history of bringing together leading minds in the art and business of making and promoting music.

Back in 1984, one of the discussions at the Seminar focused on the new kid on the block, MTV, and the transformation of video as an engine for growth and promotion.

Madonna might have been the youngest at the roundtable but that didn’t stop her from schooling her elders. Clearly, Madonna was not only aware of deepening her connection to her fans but also determined to inspire the next generation of artists. Neither of her aims, though, appeared good enough for John Oates of Hall & Oates. In addressing the proliferation of music videos, Oates smugly asks, “For the kids growing up, musicians have to now be actors?” He just wanted to be a musician.

Fair enough. However, isn’t it fair to expect an artist to think about their audience? And how to grow their audience? Is that why Madonna’s career has continued to grow, develop, and expand? After all, where is John Oates’ career?

Madonna countered Oates by pointing out that musicians aren’t just playing their music, they are performing their music. So the transition to putting that performance into a video could only enhance the experience for the audience.

We love the music of Hall & Oates. And, we loved their live performances. However, this small video snapshot captures a moment when one artist is clings to an old model and another sees an avenue for a new model.

The bottom line? When the focus is on connecting with an audience and broadening an audience, an artist is creating on the right avenue.

The kid who crossed music’s borderline is still leading the way.

- Bill Reichblum

Original Photo by Sean Jackson — Some Rights Reserved

This week, KadmusArts launches a new feature: Smile of the Day.

Every day, we’ll feature a video or festival photo on the home page that highlights a great performance from the archives. All the selections are from festivals, live performances, and our favorite moments from filmed productions. As always, let us know if you want to propose a smile-of-the-day-video or shot.

Upcoming feature choices include “Some Well Deserved R&R”, “Our Kind of Rock Anthem”, “If Only We Could All Sing Like This!”, “Join a New Dance”, and “Oh, It’s Good to Be on a Road to Nowhere.”

We hope each video or image gives you a reason to smile. After all, if you smile everyday you’ll know what it means to live a festive life!

- Bill Reichblum

As another festival season comes to a close, who can resist the temptation to try to keep the summer alive?

Cue – Beach Boys:

When it’s ice cream weather get the gang back together.
Roll down your windows and ride.
They’ll be sleeping in the sand dunes, dancing in the streets.
They’re just trying to keep the summer alive…

- Bill Reichblum

Pussy Riot has, thankfully, galvanized international support for freedom of expression and artists’ rights.

Each of the three members of the band (Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich) has been sentenced to two years in prison because they “committed hooliganism driven by religious hatred.” (Oh, how times have changed in Russia.)

They were arrested in March after a guerilla performance in the Orthodox Church’s main cathedral, Christ the Savior Cathedral, in Moscow. They sang a “Punk Prayer” asking for the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin. Their protest was inspired by the head of the church, Patriarch Krill, who had praised Putin as “God’s miracle” (Oh, how God has changed.)

You’ve read all about them, their verdicts, and their support. Now, take a little time to get to know their music and performances.

You’ll discover the reason why Punk will never go away. Maybe the world needs more Punk!

- Bill Reichblum

The Punk Prayer

Putin Has Pissed Himself

Putin’s Glamour Burns

Kropotkin Vodka
(dedicated to Pyotr Kroptokin, one of the founders of Russian anarchism in 19th century)

Putin Lights Up the Fires

Pussy Riot: An Interview

Bruce Springsteen is the Boss of artistic inspiration.

Last spring he gave the keynote address at SXSW, which provided amazing insight into his creative sparks and process and provided inspiration to the next generation of artists at SXSW.

Now, he is providing the kind of wisdom-from-experience that should reach into the hearts and minds of anyone who wants to create and perform. As posted in KadmusArts’ Daily Culture News feed, David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, recently wrote a feature piece on the life and career of Bruce Springsteen. This is the story of an artist who continues to grow, develop, change and explore. Remnick captures the essence of the rare rock ‘n roller who isn’t just playing the same ol’ hits, but one who keeps writing, keeps creating, and keeps connecting with audiences.

The key to Springsteen’s ongoing link with the audience is that he isn’t a performer who thinks it’s all about himself. Rather, for Springsteen everything is about the audience.

Here are a few of Springsteen’s words from Remnick’s article:

I want an extreme experience [for the audience]…with your hands hurting, your voice sore, and your sexual organs stimulated.

It’s theatre, you know… I’m a theatrical performer. I’m whispering in your ear, and you’re dreaming my dreams, and them I’m getting a feeling for yours. I’ve been doing that for forty years.

[As Springsteen’s bandmate Steve Van Zandt told him]: People don’t need you talking about your life. Nobody gives a shit about a your life. They need you for their lives. That’s your thing. Giving some logic and reason and sympathy and passion to this cold, fragmented, confusing world — that’s your gift. Explaining their lives to them. Their lives, not yours.

[On his recent more political songs]: They function at the very edges of politics at best, though they try to administer to its center. You have to be satisfied with that. You have to understand it’s a long road, and there have been people doing some version of what we’re doing on this tour going all the way back, and there will be people doing it after us. I think one thing this record tries to do is to remind people that there is a continuity that is passed on from generation to generation, a set of ideas expressed in myriad different ways: books, protests, essays, songs, around the kitchen table. So these ideas are ever-present. And you are a raindrop.

I worked harder than anyone else I saw.

Towards the end of the article, Remnick recounts seeing a sign in English at one of Bruce’s shows in Spain: “Bruce, Thanks for Making Our Lives Better.”

Springsteen has made more than our lives better; he’s doing the same for music, live performance, and for art.

- Bill Reichblum