Seen/Unseen

A few weeks ago, I happened upon a (admittedly rather poorly made) documentary about Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery.  There is nothing particularly new or special about this: Richmond loves its history and, in particular, its Civil War history.  What struck me as interesting was the bit of "filler" regarding sculptor Edward Valentine.

Valentine was most famous for his work memorializing popular Confederate figures (the Robert E. Lee Memorial at Washington and Lee University, J.E.B. Stuart, etc.), as well as busts of Edwin Booth and Beethoven.

I found it incredibly interesting that Valentine was, as the second son, encouraged to pursue his art in Europe.  He returned to Richmond after the death of his father and set up a shop on E. Leigh Street.  His studio became a major destination for artists and politicians (Woodrow Wilson and Oscar Wilde to name a few).

Even more interesting is the fact that Valentine created stunning grave monuments like "Grief" (seen here:)

And yet his own burial marker is a simple inset stone with just his name and his birth and death dates.  There is something incredibly compelling about someone who creates the kind of beauty that Valentine created, but who chose not to mark his final resting place.

Valentine elected to leave his work as his monument--placing less emphasis on his final (physical) resting place. We are left with the reminders of his creative life rather than his physical one.

Like Music?

Check out my recent research collaboration with flamenco/guitar historian John Patykula in the newest issue of Soundboard (The Guitar Foundation of America's Journal).

A huge thanks to John for letting me help out with his amazing research.  And here is our very own VCU Guitar Ensemble playing Lecuona's Malaguena!

Time and How It Changes

I was reading the NYT a few days ago when I stumbled across an article (dateline: Inverness) dealing with time and daylight. I found myself unaccountably fascinated by the notion of legislating time and government mandated daylight (to say nothing of the incorporation of the phrase "horological management").  In short, British politicians want to move British time (UK-wide) forward by an hour for the whole year (ordinarily, British clocks are at Greenwich Mean Time in the fall "and an hour ahead of that in spring.")

All of this seems simple enough, until you bring to bear the Scottish geography and temperament.  Inverness is one of the northern-most cities in the UK and the change in time would essentially mean "winter mornings with sunrises as late as 10 a.m."  The government mandated time change is being seen (by some) as an infringement of London politicians on Scottish citizens.

Contention over time is nothing new...

According to the article, adoption of the Gregorian calendar caused rioting in the streets in 1752.

There was still more dissent in 1907 when William Willett published "The Waste of Daylight".

There was even MORE dissent when the UK formally eliminated "British Summer Time" (BST) in 1981 to follow the standardized time for the EU.

What really interests me are the myriad responses to time legislation.  Some citizens became concerned that the government was moving dawn and dusk.  Others protested that the government was robbing them of sunlight, or of time itself.  When the Gregorian calendar was introduced, the rioters screamed "Give us back our 11 days!" (Because of the timing of the move, September 2 was followed by September 14).  Citizens didn't actually lose time, but they perceived that they did...in the same way that British citizens don't lose daylight, it's moved to a later time in the day.

The wider issue at play is if Scottish citizens should hold on to older, "traditional" notions (i.e. Greenwich Mean Time which is based on the monarchical past), or adopt newer, more progressive notions (i.e. a single time all year-round, which is based on the "home rule" present).

Or is it just too much hassle to change your clocks twice a year?

Beyond all of this, it strikes me that there is an enormous potential for dramatic material here...