Happy holidays, creative music fans! Here’s my Flotation Device, KBCS best-of list for 2015. This year I’ve organized the list into six categories, based on how the music seemed to enter the world. I hope you’ll find something here to enjoy. -JL Music that invokes stillness Morton Feldman: Clarinet and String Quartet (Saltern) Steven M. … Continue reading “Flotation Device: Best releases of 2015”
One piece of the puzzle for lowering worldwide carbon emissions is to end our energy reliance on the dirtiest of fossil fuels: coal. That’s an ongoing concern for us at Climate Solutions; but not so much for the energy companies that extract, ship, burn and export the stuff. So for April Fools’ Day this year, … Continue reading “America’s Diamond Future”
[written for Earshot Jazz] Among the many young ensembles creating action-packed music within Seattle’s productive jazz and creative music scene, the Syrinx Effect is a standout. Playing (usually) without a rhythm section, the soprano sax-trombone duo draws propulsive energy from the air like a wind turbine. The group’s second release, out this month, channels that … Continue reading “Review: Syrinx Effect, “Snail Songs””
I’ve accepted the position of Digital Communications Manager with Climate Solutions–a kickass climate and energy policy nonprofit based with offices in Seattle, Olympia and Portland. The organization has a great reputation for practical activism in the Northwest, with a theory of change that relies on (1) strong, progressive public policy on carbon emissions and investment … Continue reading “Hello, Climate Solutions!”
Every December, KBCS invites producers to prepare a list of the year’s best recordings, so each year my Flotation Device co-host John Seman and I prepare our own top 15 lists. This year’s list draws from the sound worlds we provisionally describe as creative and improvised music, experimental soundscapes, etc. Pacific NW artists are represented … Continue reading “Flotation Device top 15 recordings from 2013”
A progressive congregation (Valley and Mountain Fellowship) and a grassroots arts organization (Community Arts Create) are collaborating to launch a new space in Seattle’s Hillman City neighborhood. The prominent storefront is in a beautiful historical building anchoring the central intersection of Seattle’s Hillman City neighborhood. The space, dubbed the “Hillman City ColLaboratory,” includes a multipurpose … Continue reading “A New Community Space in Hillman City”
Medical textbooks are notorious for being large and expensive, and many if not most require annual updates. Many professors use their own, self-published course text in lieu of a primary textbook,giving them complete control over the book’s contents, and potentially saving students money. This fall, the University of Washington School of Medicine decided to make … Continue reading “Designing for E-PUB”
This article for Smart CEO Magazine was part of a recent freelance assignment, for which I was asked to examine how businesses are responding to the increasing trend of employees using their own personal computers, tablets and phones for work. This has been identified as a trend called BYOD–bring your own device–and there are positives … Continue reading “Talking to CEOs about Technology”
We do love co-ops, that’s a fact! Food co-ops, living co-ops, co-operative financial institutions and businesses, we love them all. As it happens, that’s also the theme of May’s Seattle Greendrinks–a monthly informal networking gathing for the local environmental community. It’s taking place at Second Use, an amazing wonderland of salvaged building materials, fixtures, architectural … Continue reading “We Love Co-ops!”
The fantastic independent filmmaker Sam Mayfield asked me to create a logotype and basic, extendable website for her forthcoming feature documentary, Wisconsin Rising. The film documents the popular uprising against Governor Scott Walker’s anti-worker agenda. In Sam’s words, what happened in Wisconsin “is a microcosm of what is at stake in America today, at a … Continue reading “Wisconsin Rising”
