• We start with Waveland by Norm Pikelny.
• Then a smidge of N.Y.C. from the original Broadway cast recording of Annie.
• The Stars vs. Creatures by Colleen.
• Wiese by Roedelius & Arnold Kasar.
• Then there’s some chaos built out of Missing Piece from the score to Broken City, Fog Tropes by Ingram Marshall, Spindrift by Colin Stetson, and Longing for a Frozen Sky by Ernst Reijseger.
• That heads into Wake by Aaron Martin & Machinfabriek.
• Galaxies Like Grains of Sand by Hampshire & Foat.
• Finishing on Minuet for Cheap Piano by Winged Victory for the Sullen

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Nate DiMeo is the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Artist in Residence for 2016/2017. He is producing ten pieces inspired by the collection and by the museum itself. This is the fifth episode of that residency.

This residency is made possible by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Chester Dale Fund.

This episode is written and produced and stuff by Nate DiMeo with engineering assistance from Elyssa Dudley and research Assistance from Andrea Milne. Its Executive Producer is Limor Tomer, General Manager Live Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Art Discussed
* The Temple of Dendur.

Music
* As Much as Possible by Bing & Ruth.
* Parcel by Melanie Velarde.
* Field Hymn by Syrinx.
* Wawa by the Ocean by Mary Lattimore.
* Turning 16 and Trading Flags by Ben Sollee.

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• This piece has two selections from Saunder Jurriens and Danny Bensi’s score to Christine, Yes But and Back to Work.

Notes

• This very good article in the Museum of Hoaxes gives a nice overview and links out to the original article.
• Hampton Sides In the Kingdom of Ice has a nice telling of the story with a lot of background on the editor of the Herald.

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• We start and end with Daniel Berenboim playing Lizt’s 6 Consolations, S. 172: No. 3 in D flat minor.
• We hit up Yes But, from Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriens’ score to Christine.
• We return to the official Memory Palace love theme of William Henry Harrison, The Gentle Softness, Lalo Schiffrin’s score to The Last Dragon
• We cruise on the U.S.S. Princeton to Dispute by Yann Tiersen.
• Twist comes to Missing Pieces from the Broken City score.

Notes

• I read quite a bit about the Tylers, but really, one needs only to read “and Tyler Too,” by Robert Seager II.

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• I first heard about Hazel Scott while reading Rad American Women from A to Z to my daughter. It’s a wonderful book. You should buy it for any kid in your life.
• I read a lot about Hazel, but Karen Chilton’s biography, Hazel Scott: A Pioneering Jazz Pianist from Cafe Society to HUAC was essential.

Music

• Starts with Christope Beck and DeadMono’s theme to Charlie Countryman.
• Prelude for HS by Hakon Stene.
• Tezeta (Nostalgia) from Malatu Astatke, from Ethiopiques vol. 4, one of my favorite pieces of music in the world.
• Marian Lapansky plays Camille Saint-Saens “Le Sygne.”
• Which fights with Piero Umiliani’s Danza Primitiva.
• Warren Ellis rounds it out with his Lale’s Theme from his terrific score to Mustang (which you should totally see).
• The Hazel Scott pieces can be found here and here.

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This residency is made possible by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Chester Dale Fund.

This episode is written and produced and stuff by Nate DiMeo with engineering assistance from Kathy Tu and research Assistance from Andrea Milne. Its Executive Producer is Limor Tomer, General Manager Live Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Art Discussed
* John Vanderlyn’s Panoramic View of the Gardens of Versailles.

Music
* Falling Asleep with a Book on Your Chest and Brass Practice by Lullatone.
* Moonbow by aAirial.
* Pauvre Simon, L’approach Du Nuage, and The Tunnel from Sylvain Chauvau’s album Nuage.
* So Long to Scream from Joshua Moshier’s score to Good Enough.

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Music
* We start off and finish with Kola, Lighthouse Version by amiina.
* We hear their Leather and Lace as well.
* There’s Mountain Path, by WMD.
* We hear Prelude for Piano and Malaria by Worrytrain.
* We also hear Manny Returns Home from Bernard Hermann’s score to The Wrong Man.
* And Krolock on Sledge from the fantastic score to The Fearless Vampire Killers.

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Music:
* We start with Hush-Maker by Moon Ate the Dark.
* Roll on with Freudian Slippers by Chilly Gonzales.
* Hear Bibio’s Cherry Blossom Road a couple of times.
* Hit up Nice Dream by radio.string.quartet.vienna
* Hear Don Redman and his Orchestra play Blue Eyed Baby from Memphis.
* The centerpiece of the middle section is Snow Again by Lambert.
* We hear a couple of pieces by Dan Romer: An Old Fashioned Man and End of the World.
* We finish up on Lullatone’s Falling Asleep With a Book on Your Chest.

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* We start off with Wien, by Labradford.
* The guys head out to the work site to Piano 3, from Jon Brion’s score to Synecdoche, New York.
* Then we hear a bit of Metamorphosis by Vladamir Ussachevsky before being bombarded with bits of Fast Pasture by Todd Reynolds.
* There’s a long stretch of Fog Tropes by Ingram Marshall
* Followed by Fragment I by Library Tapes
* Before ending on Berceuse, by Alexandra Sileski.

Notes
* This is a story I’ve been wanting to do forever. In fact, falling in love with the story of the Brooklyn Bridge was one of the things that sent me on a path to doing The Memory Palace at all. So, most of this stuff I just kind of already knew. But it was a particular pleasure to go back and read David McCullough’s masterful, lovely The Great Bridge. And to read a ton of contemporary accounts of its construction, particularly the New York Time’s piece where the reporter heads down into the Brooklyn Caisson.

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This piece is ideally consumed on site, in Gallery 742 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Written and Produced by Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace.

Musical score by Jimmy LaValle of The Album Leaf.

Executive Producer, Limor Tomer, General Manager of Concerts & Lectures, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Notes:

As you can tell with the story, there’re a lot of holes in the histories of Anita Corsini and Mkano. Here is a selected bibliography:

*I first stumbled upon their story while reading about Zazel, the human cannonball, in a book called Theatrical and Circus Life: or, Secrets of the Stage, Green-Room, and Sawdust, by John Joseph Jennings, published in 1892.
*I read many news articles. The one referenced in the New York Herald can be read here.
*I am particularly indebted to two excellent pieces of scholarship:
1. “Zulus Abroad: Cultural Representations and Education of Zulus in America, 1880-1945,” by Robert Trent Vinson and Robert Edgar, published in the Journal of Southern African Studies in 2007.
2. “Beyond the Exhibit: Zulu Experiences in Britain and the United States, 1879-1884,” a graduate thesis of Erin Elizabeth Barbara Bell submitted to Carleton University in Ottawa in 2011.

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* Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth’s Modesty Blaise score.
* The opening loop is from Mr. Knight from Coltrane Plays the Blues, which you should own.
* The violin piece is Occam II for Violin, a piece by Silvia Tarozzi, played by Pauline Oliveros.
* Next up is Mikuro’s Blues from the mighty David S. Ware’ mighty Go See the World.
* The amazing orchestral pieces is Triumph by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Carlos Nino from Fill the Heart- Shaped Cup
* Finally, there’s 13 Ghosts II by Nine Inch Nails from Ghosts I-IV

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*Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth’s great, ridiculous Modesty Blaise score.
*The recurring piano theme is Les Marionettes by Zbigniew Preisner from his score to La Double Vie de Veronique (And, have you seen The Double Life of Veronique? Man, that’s good)
*Eugenia’s dreamy little theme is Just Saying by Jamie XX off of In Colour
*That organ track is called Organ Track by Nicolai Dunger from The Cloud is Learning
*Al Davis’ dance theme is Watusi Bounce from Bo Diddly’s Ride On/The Chess Masters
*Helen watches Eugenia on the lawn at the Grand Hotel to the tune of To a Wild Rose by Patricia Rossborough from the collection Dainty Debutantes: Female Novelty Pianists of the 1930’s (And, ugh. Dismissive much?)
*The Judge drones over one of Scott Watson’s Six Solos for the Beginning Tuba Player from his 2008 album, Stepping Stones for Tuba, vol. 1 (like I need to tell you that)
*The ending piece is Mike Andrews lovely Library Chant from his score to Miranda July’s lovely Me and You and Everyone we Know

Notes:
I first stumbled across this story in my torn up copy of New York: Confidential! Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer’s truly mucky, muck-raking guide to the city’s underbelly from 1951. I read a ton of old news paper articles about the case (the New York Times covered it extensively, if you want to go back and read those).

The two most useful books I came across in the process were Joshua Zeitz’ Flapper and Lewis Erenberg’s Steppin’ Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture, 1890-1930

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The Footnotes: Since this episode was a total bear, I read a lot about and by Sidis while trying to wrestle it into submission. There’s a perfectly readable, proper biography called The Prodigy that’s out of print but probably at your local library. Turns out the Sidis fanatics (and they are legion) think the author is pretty harsh on W.J., but, you know, sure. To dive right into the deep end: run, don’t walk, to Sidis.net, a lovingly curated compendium of most things Sidis. Scans of many of his books and articles. Links to outside articles. It’s not one stop shopping, but it’s like the directory at the mall. Don’t be scared off by the fact that the web-design looks like someone clicked on the “Crazy Conspiracy Theory” template. It’s really well put together.

The Ephemera: If you do read some of his actual writings, Sidis comes off rather well. However singular and odd his interests and, I suppose, obsessions, are he writes clearly (he’s not raving) and he’s often kind of funny in a super-dorky way. “Notes on the Collection of Transfers” is unreadable. But that’s only because no one can care about transfers as much as the author does. I defy you to. But, that said, Sidis comes off like a genial, almost charming tour guide to the world’s most boring museum. It’s hard not to like the guy.

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Most of the details in this one come from Pretty-Much-the-Greatest-Book-Ever, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, by Robert Caro. If you read only one thirty five year old, thousand-some-odd page biography of an urban planner this year, make it that one.

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