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Arts and Entertainment

Book Review: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

Categories Arts and Entertainment Music in General Piano

“It really is a very odd business that all of us, to varying degrees, have music in our heads.” ― Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain   How much do you like music? How much of a role does music play in your life? Do you wish to be more musical? What if music is part of your being as the form of brain disease? What if music becomes part of you that cannot be turned off? Physician and professor of neurology Oliver Sacks wrote about fascinating stories about human brain; his The Man Who Mistook His … Read more

The Talented Mr Ripley: Musical Representation of Personality

Categories Arts and Entertainment Music in General

The Talented Mr. Ripley came out in 1999; it has a rating of 7.3/10 in IMDb and 83% in Rotten Tomatoes. I finally got to watch it recently in Netflix. I was pleasantly surprised by the music in the movie, so let’s talk about this movie! In this mentally-disturbing thriller, three men—Tom Ripley, Dickie Greenleaf, and Peter Smith-Kingsley—are caught in intense, complicated relationships. Of course, we are not trying to talk about the movie here, as this blog focuses on music and music only. The movie offers a great opportunity to talk about how the audience’s perception of music can … Read more

4th of July BBQ Playlist

Categories Arts and Entertainment Music in General Seasons and Reasons

There is nothing more American than celebrating the 4th of July with a day of hanging around outside, throwing some meat and/or veggies on the grill, and chilling with friends and family. We know you’ll need some tunes to accompany your beautiful summer day, so we at Liberty Park Music have prepared a Spotify playlist to entertain you and your guests. Below, we explain our picks. Some tracks are decades old, some were released last year. Some are American-themed, some are just good for the summer. One thing is certain, ALL of these songs are perfect for a 4th of … Read more

Tasty Listening: Ten New York Music Venues with Amazing Food

Categories Arts and Entertainment

Few things are more disappointing than going out to hear live music but paying too much for a dry tourist burger, bad wine, and a dessert that tastes like it came from the convenience store around the corner. This doesn’t have to happen to you! You can have your (freshly baked) cake and eat it too; that is, you can hear great music and enjoy delicious, reasonably priced food. Read on for 10 of the best places in New York City to make your time and money go as far as possible. 1. Ginny’s Supper Club at the Red Rooster … Read more

Coachella 2017 Preview: Our Top Picks!

Categories Arts and Entertainment Seasons and Reasons

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is just around the corner! Coachella is so big that this year it added a SECOND weekend to accommodate the people that want to attend the festival. Thousands will flock to Indio, California from April 14th to 23rd for music from the world’s hottest acts. Having started in part as a reaction to a dispute between Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster, the huge music and arts festival is now in its 18th year. Despite backlash over the link between Philip Anschutz—the owner of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the company that runs Coachella—and ultra-conservative, … Read more

The Best Songs from Oscar-Nominated Films of 2016!

Categories Arts and Entertainment Seasons and Reasons

Even before films had dialogue, they had music. In the silent film era, the music was necessary to emphasize emotions conveyed on screen. Today, different filmmakers use music in different ways. In musicals like La La Land or Moana, songs are necessary to advance the plot and communicate the the emotions of the characters. Take out a song from a musical and a piece of the story is missing. In documentaries, such as The 13th and Jim: The James Foley Story, original songs play an important role in setting tone and summarizing the thesis of the film. In non-musical, fiction … Read more

“What Is Christmas All About?”: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Categories Arts and Entertainment Music in General Seasons and Reasons

A Charlie Brown Christmas Aired on December 9, 1965 on CBS, A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first television special stemmed from the popular four-column comic strip, Peanuts. Although CBS was not particularly optimistic about the TV movie, in particular about its religious message, it was a great success. Almost half of America’s televisions tuned into the half-hour program, and letters poured into Coca Cola, the sponsor, to express the viewers’ gratitude. Together, the producer Lee Mendelson, director Bill Melendez, Charles M. Shultz, and composer/musician Vince Guaraldi created one of the most popular Christmas special in television history. The plot … Read more

Scary Movie Music: the Filmmaking Genius of John Carpenter

Categories Arts and Entertainment Seasons and Reasons

If you love being scared by horror movies, chances are Halloween is one of your favorite times of the year. Besides the new horror movies that come out during Halloween, this day is also a great time to revisit your old favorites: the classic horror movies that made you fall in love with being terrified by cinema. John Carpenter And His Horror Classics Few people have been as influential to the horror movie genre as John Carpenter, who essentially invented the horror sub-genre of the “slasher” movie when he wrote, directed, and debuted his aptly named classic, Halloween (1978). This … Read more

6 Hilarious musical moments from Family Guy

Categories Arts and Entertainment

The irreverent animated comedy Family Guy follows the exploits of the dysfunctional Griffin family. Seth Macfarlane, the creator of the show, says that the ultimate goal of Family Guy is to make the viewers laugh as much as possible in each episode. One of the main ways he accomplishes this is through the music. Fox Can you believe Seth had to fight for his musical vision? FOX executives did not think that Family Guy’s mostly male teenage viewers would appreciate the high level of music or the lengthy musical numbers in the show. For example, the network executives were against … Read more

Five Particularly Unusual Christmas Albums – A Musical Guide for the Weirdest Time of the Year

Categories Arts and Entertainment Seasons and Reasons

The earth managed to circle around the sun again and it is time for the winter holidays once more! If your Christmas routine is anything like mine, each year offers an abundance of eating, shopping, stressful travel, making conversation with estranged friends and relatives, uncomfortable sweaters, and frigid weather. Call me a cynic, but even in the most normal of holiday scenarios, I often find myself realizing that this is a strange ritual we humans take part in. Good, bad, or in between, Christmas time is always a little more unusual than the rest of the year. Personally, I believe … Read more