{"id":977,"date":"2016-09-12T10:47:24","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T14:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/?p=977"},"modified":"2016-09-12T10:47:24","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T14:47:24","slug":"big-brothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/2016\/09\/big-brothers.html","title":{"rendered":"Big Brothers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A dreamy child, I was given to extravagant fictions, imaginary journeys that scattered my mind and dimmed my perceptions.\u00a0 The benefit of these fanciful excursions was that I was never bored: there was always something fascinating to engage me in even the dreariest surroundings.\u00a0 The drawback: a tendency to drift, disconnected from the world of physical objects and human interaction.<\/p>\n

But there was a sure antidote to my abstractions.\u00a0 I had the great fortune and lovely challenge of having big brothers \u2013 five, to be exact \u2013 who pulled me out of myself with their endlessly intriguing attributes.\u00a0 They had the courage to attempt things I found terrifying.\u00a0 They understood the world in ways that were hidden to me. \u00a0They had muscles where I had rag-doll threads.<\/p>\n

In short, they were intimidating, at times frightening, but always captivating.\u00a0 And, in retrospect, though I didn\u2019t always realize it, they were a benevolent force.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow night, music@watson<\/em><\/strong> is presenting a performance of my Big Brothers<\/em>, a trio from 2004 that recreates that childhood dynamic.\u00a0 The first half is ambiguous, hazy, drifting.\u00a0 The second is more muscular, possibly a bit menacing, but ultimately cheerful, even boisterous, with a framing element of retro-funk.<\/p>\n

The performers are old and new friends: John R. Beck<\/a> on vibes, Robert\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Young<\/a> on saxes, David Winkelman<\/a> on piano.\u00a0 It\u2019s part of a fun concert with mixed ensembles featuring percussion: in addition to my piece there is music by Christopher Cerrone<\/a>, Kenneth Frazelle<\/a>, Gene Koshinski<\/a>, Ivan Trevino<\/a> and Chuck Mangione<\/a>.\u00a0 Details here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Big Brothers<\/em> is dedicated to my big brothers, and to all who find themselves providing an imposing, magnanimous influence on children.<\/p>\n

\"0f9396_a0406def66074953a4023e1d80dece68mv2_d_4272_2848_s_4_2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"john-beck-p\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A dreamy child, I was given to extravagant fictions, imaginary journeys that scattered my mind and dimmed my perceptions.\u00a0 The benefit of these fanciful excursions was that I was never bored: there was always something fascinating to engage me in even the dreariest surroundings.\u00a0 The drawback: a tendency to drift, disconnected from the world of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=977"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":982,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions\/982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/curves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}