Anderson@Large

Do men make passes at women who wear Google Glass?

All That Philly Jazz is Live

At last weekend’s Music Hack, a music-related hackathon, the All That Philly Jazz team, Mark Headd, Mike Lamond and the writer, developed the Philly Jazz App, an interactive  map where we will tell the story of Philadelphia’s rich jazz legacy.

All That Philly Jazz is mapping historic places and markers, Walk of Fame plaques and public murals. We will take visitors back to the days when jazz legends performed at the Uptown, the Royal, and the Earle and Lincoln Theaters. To contextualize the images, we will include data curated by Echo Nest and audio samples from Rdio. We’re jazzed that All That Philly Jazz won a one-year subscription to Rdio for the best hack.

Much of Philly’s jazz history has fallen victim to urban upheaval and urban removal. To preserve the history for future generations, we must tap the memories of Philadelphians and visitors. So All That Philly Jazz will be crowdsourced. We will use social media and traditional media, including community newspapers and radio, to ask folks to share their memories and photos.

We will also use technology, including Google Glass and Historypin, to breathe life into legendary jazz clubs like the Showboat, Pep’s, Blue Note, Up Jumped the Devil, Fantasy Lounge, and joints along West 52nd Street, aka “The Strip.” Clubs like the Aqua Lounge, Top Shelf, Mr. Silk’s Third Base and Foo-Foo Ragan’s.

Indeed, All That Philly Jazz is at the intersection of technology, art and civic engagement. To get involved, contact us via email or Twitter: @PhillyJazzApp.

All That Philly Jazz

The Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner famously observed: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” At this weekend’s music hackathon,  my team, All That Philly Jazz, will bring Philadelphia’s jazz legacy to the present.

 

The Philly Jazz App will map historic places and markers, murals and local venues to hear live jazz.

Looking beyond the hackathon, we will go back to the future and augment reality along South Street, Ridge Avenue and 52nd Street. Back in the day, those corridors were jumping with jazz clubs where legends like John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald and B.B. King hung out. I’m already fantasizing about the Fantasy Lounge, which was located across the street from the studios of Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International Records.

All That Philly Jazz is at the intersection of technology and art. It can serve as a model for how art can be used to motivate underrepresented minorities to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). While jazz appeals to an older demographic, a project on, say, Philly’s or Brooklyn’s hip-hop legacy would resonate with young people who are disconnected from the innovation economy.

For more information, send us an email or follow us on Twitter: @PhillyJazzApp.

International Jazz Day

Today is UNESCO’s International Jazz Day, a celebration of an American art form that has united people around the world.

Istanbul will host a daylong series of events, culminating in the International Jazz Day Global Concert, which will be streamed live on YouTube starting at 2:00 p.m. ET. The concert will feature an all-star lineup, including Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Ramsey Lewis, Eddie Palmieri, Esperanza Spalding, Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves, Joss Stone and Terence Blanchard.

Closer to home, Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy will host a lunchtime concert in the City Hall Courtyard. The concert will feature the world premiere of the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia. The orchestra is under the artistic direction of trumpeter Terell Stafford.

In an interview with Philadelphia City Paper, Stafford said:

The first premise is bringing folks together. Then it’s about representing the musical legacy of Philadelphia on the highest level possible because there’s some incredible musicians here and some incredible musicians who come from here.

Stafford added:

Philadelphia is a very soulful, passionate city, and the music that comes from the city is the same. It has this unique attitude, and there’s an intellectual side and a spiritual side to it. There’s so much talent and so much music that comes this people and people need to hear it.

Hear, hear. At next month’s Music Hack Day, my team will develop a mobile app to tell the story of Philadelphia’s jazz and blues legacy. We will map landmarks such as the John Coltrane House, historic markers and murals.

But it’s not just about the past. It’s also about hearing live jazz at venues like the Clef Club, the Philadelphia Jazz Project, Chris’ Jazz Café  and Ars Nova Workshop.

For more information, drop me a line or send me a tweet.

Earth Day 2013

 

STEM Puts a Dip in Your Hip, Glide in Your Stride

OK, not really. But the man who promised to put “more dips in your hips, more glide in your stride” reminded us that STEM is everywhere. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.

I grew up listening to Frankie “Hollywood” Crocker.

Back in the day, Hollywood went, well, Hollywood and appeared in five films, including Cleopatra Jones and Darktown Strutters.  In Five on the Black Hand Side, he played Rolls Royce, a numbers runner. Before state lotteries, folks played the numbers, the “poor man’s stock market”:

Once known as the “policy numbers game” in Harlem, playing the numbers was a way of making ends meet as well as a way of meeting other needs in the economically starved community. Playing the numbers, a game where players betted on a series of three digit numbers from 000 to 999, was considered the “poor man’s stock market.”

The numbers man carried the money and betting slips to the policy bank. Some were mathematical geniuses who didn’t need slips; instead, they memorized the numbers.

Today’s Black History Month lesson: From runaway slaves looking for the North Star to their descendants running numbers to make ends meet, STEM is in black folks’ DNA.

Students Dance and Get into Math Groove

I smiled as I read this PBS post, “How Math Got Its Groove Back”:

Carrie Lewis and Kelly Steele’s fifth grade students slide and spin across the classroom floor, doing the hustle, the robot and the running man. While it may look at first glance like goofing off, these students are actually dancing for a higher cause...math.

Lewis, a STEM specialist for Virginia’s Lynchburg city schools, and Steele, who teaches gifted education in Bedford County, Virginia, are both math enthusiasts eager to instill in their students a love of the subject. And dancing, they hoped, might be just the thing to help tackle a common fifth-grade learning deficit -- number patterns.

The “dance by numbers” lesson plan is at the intersection of art and math.

STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) is the sweet spot for the Philly Phresh Start Project, which will be launched in March. We will shake our groove thing as we show underrepresented minorities that STEM is everywhere. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter: @PhillySTEAM.