May 24, 2012 at 10:50 pm by Michael Eck by Michael Eck ALBANY – One of the most intriguing aspects of music is its ability to change and adapt, to mean different things to different people at different points in their lives. Of course, it’s actually the people that are changing, but it’s still a wonder that a happy tune from childhood can bring a tear years on, or that a simple lyric from the past can take on the weight of the world when one’s hair is thinning and ones knees are rickety. Glen Campbell’s hair is thinning and his knees are rickety. Campbell is also suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, but that has not prevented him from taking one last go round and bringing ... Continue reading →

I established a Facebook account in 2008. My motivation was ignoble: I wanted to distribute my journalism more widely. I have acquired since then just over four thousand “friends”—in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, the Middle East, and of course, closer to home. I have discovered the appeal of Facebook’s community—for example, the extraordinary emotional support that swells in virtual space when people come together online around a friend’s illness or life celebrations. Through its bedrock appeals to friendship, community, public identity, and activism—and its commercial exploitation of these values—Facebook is an unprecedented synthesis of corporate and public spaces. The corporation’s social contract with users is ambitious, yet neither its governance system nor its young ruler seem trustworthy. Then came this month’s initial public offering of stock—a ... Continue reading →

A screengrab from Justin Halstead's Kickstarter web page for "The Perfect Color." Writer and director Justin Halstead is raising funds through Kickstarter for his short film “The Perfect Color,” which he plans to shoot in Albany. Halstead was inspired to start a campaign on Kickstarter, an online funding platform for creative projects, after reading a Times Union article about the dozens of feature films shown at the Tribeca Film Festival last month that were actually low-budget indie projects funded by Kickstarter. The money raised with Kickstarter will go toward the basic needs of production. However, the production will only be funded if at least $15,000 is funded by 8:57 a.m Tuesday, Jun. 19 or else the project will loose all the money raised so far ... Continue reading →

Twitter uses the t.co domain as part of a service to protect users from harmful activity, to provide value for the developer ecosystem, and as a quality signal for surfacing relevant, interesting Tweets. Back to Twitter Learn more Continue reading →

Charles Geiger's "Mutual Assurance," 2011, gouache and acrylic ink on paper. 44 x 55 inches (From Artinnewyorkcity.com) The Albany International Airport Art and Culture Program’s next exhibition, “More or Less,” opens Friday and runs through Jan. 6. The theme, as the title suggests, centers around the idea of life as a game of the pursuit of more in the face of scarcity. The artwork will explore this concept through a variety of mediums such as sculpture, photography, painting and drawing to illustrate how opposing forces of more and less reflect and impact people’s experiences of the world. The exhibition will display a diversity of artwork including geometric photography evoking connections between landscape and time, graphite drawings, tables built from scrap wood, and centuries-old method of ... Continue reading →

Jarel Davidow (The Lake George Dinner Theatre) The Lake George Dinner Theatre has completed casting for its 45th season production of Norm Foster’s comedy, “The Love List,” and will be introducing three new faces to audiences this summer. Heading up the cast is Jarel Davidow, who also appeared in the New York production of the play when it was produced at Manhattan Theatre Source. Davidow’s other New York City credits include “Of Mice and Men,” “Mail Order Bride,” “Room Service,” and “For Season Ticket Holders.” Joining Davidow are Rachel Cornish and Bill Saunders. Cornish’s stage credits include “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Awesome Dance,” and “Annie Bosh is Missing.” She is also the co-founder and co-artistic director of the Speranza Theatre Company in New York ... Continue reading →

May 23, 2012 at 12:32 am by Tresca Weinstein by Tresca Weinstein The audience at Cirque du Soleil’s “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour” Tuesday night at the Times Union Center—a group that appeared to be drawn from just about every American demographic—didn’t arrive at the theater needing to be won over. “Immortal” had them at hello. Whether it kept them over the course of the next two hours is another question. A fusion of tribute show, circus, rock concert and revivalist meeting, “Immortal” never quite built up the head of steam it needed to rouse a cheer louder than the one it got when the lights went down at the very beginning. Midway through the second act, the audience had to be essentially commanded ... Continue reading →

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