White House Jams to Spoken Word

Mayda Del Valle, ELEW among invitees

(NEWSER) - Check off another campaign promise. President Obama is hosting the White House’s first-ever poetry slam, part of his vow to open up “the people's house” to artists, WNBC-TV reports. The 100 guests include actor James Earl Jones, writer Michael Chabon, jazz musician Esperanza Spalding, and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda. “To see our nation’s talent and be part of history is amazing,” says one guest. More»

What will we still be talking about next decade? Britney, for one

(NEWSER) - The ‘00s were full of important contributions to culture, but which ones will we still be talking about in another decade? Here are some of New York ’s picks:

• TV: The Sopranos for inventing quality cable, American Idol for changing the music industry, and of course all things Oprah Winfrey.
• Books: The Da Vinci Code for singlehandedly sustaining the book industry, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay for blazing the trail of combining geek lit with high lit.

His theory influenced Miles Davis, John Coltrane

(NEWSER) - Jazz innovator George Russell died at 86 yesterday in Boston of Alzheimer’s complications, the Globe reports. Russell developed a jazz theory that played a key role on landmark records like Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Russell’s theory “gives you a lot more freedom and space to hear things,” Davis said. More»

(NEWSER) - 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of jazz’s best year jazz ever, Martin Johnson writes for the Root. 1959 saw canonical discs from genre royalty: “Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come, Dave Brubeck’s Time Out and two by Charles Mingus, Blues and Roots and Ah-Um.” This was the era, Johnson writes, “when commercial success and artistic inspiration merged.” More»

Once subversive art form now embraced nationwide

(NEWSER) - Slam poetry has ballooned from a grassroots movement to a national phenomenon—and its founder isn’t happy about it. “People just want to write what the last guy wrote so they can get their face on TV,” Marc Kelly Smith, who started the genre in Chicago 25 years ago, tells the New York Times. “This show wasn’t started to crank out that kind of thing.” More»