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Jon Batiste

Jon Batiste with his wife Suleika Jaouad

Jon Batiste is a man that beats to his own drum, literally. Born from modest circumstances into a family of renowned musicians in Louisiana, (his Dad was a bassist, and his mom insisted on classical piano lessons for him and his sister), Batiste, who plays multiple instruments, defies any categorization. In his own words, "I don't even think genre exists. Self-curation and the free exchange of information and content creates a lack of genre adherence. That kind of diversity and access changes listening habits and changes the way people perceive music."

He's an ambitious guy. With an undergraduate and master's degree from Juiliard, it was clear right away that he was going to forge his own path. Defying convention, Batiste played in subways, at times on his cartoon-like harmonium, and was more interested in integrating the community into his music rather than playing in more conventional settings.

All this is made clear in American Symphony, an Academy Award nominated documentary by Matthew Heineman (produced by Michelle and Barak Obama as part of their Higher Ground film series), available on Netflix. The film covers the making of Batiste's first full length symphony involving over 200 sounds and musicians, a patchwork of American diversity and musical traditions which culminated in a one night production at Carnegie Hall in 2022.

As fate would have it, many things happened in the life of Jon Batiste that year of 2022. Aside from winning five grammys including Album of the Year. He married his wife Suleika just as she suffered from a reoccurence of cancer. And he indeed did perform his symphony at Carnegie Hall, complete with a brief power outage in the middle of it! All this is beautifully illustrated in Matthew Heineman's film, well worth seeing. It is a musical journey as well as a touching love story and a tribute to a man who believes music has the magnificent power to bring us Americans together as a nation to save our democracy...

Bernard Langlais

Bernard Langlais, Courtesy *Photographer David Hiser, and the Georges River Land Trust, Rockland, Maine*

So many good artists in the world and many of them were born and/or live(d) in Maine! Meet Bernard Langlais (1921-1977), although you will have to know him through his art since he is no longer alive. I have seen his work before but recently came upon it again on the top floor of the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine. Langlais makes these really cool raw wood sculptures. He began as a painter in oils but soon became fascinated with sculpture and wood as he was renovating an old barn in Cushing, Maine, after getting fed up more or less with the New York City art world. He soon changed to working in that medium and called his process "painting with wood." Langlais's subject matter is often images from the animal kingdom although he has done figurative sculptures as well.

Children’s Book, part of the Maine Art Series for Young Readers

Pro-Choice Women Candidates

I don't usually like to get too political in this blog but some things are just too important to ignore. This is probably the most crucial year in the history of the United States--will we remain a democracy or will we succumb to dictatorship and autocracy? This is no election to sit out and I encourage all of us, myself included, to get involved in any way or we can.

Let's start with these women, all of them running for the house of representatives, all actively pro-choice and fighting for our right to control our own bodies.

Painting of the Week

Charity of the Week:

About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by the Hammond Museum's Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.