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Mimi’s Suitcase - PolySHAMory - The Violins of Hope

This week on Open Air, KALW’s radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, host David Latulippe talks with multilingual playwright and actor Ana Bayat , about her one-woman show, Mimi's Suitcase , an autobiographical story about identity, immigration, women’s rights, and involuntary displacement.




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The Pianist of Willesden Lane - Will Eno’s ‘Wakey, Wakey’ - 12th Mostly British Film Festival

This week on Open Air, KALW’s radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, host David Latulippe talks with concert pianist, actor, and author Mona Golabek, about her one-woman show The Pianist of Willesden Lane , presented by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts (500 Castro St.) in Mountain View, through February 16.




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The Case of the Vanishing Firefish - California Symphony: Brahms Fest - Snapshot @ West Edge Opera

This week, on another web-exclusive edition of Open Air, KALW’s weekly radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, host David Latulippe talks with co-founder and director Vinita Sud Belani from theatre company EnActe Arts, about The Case of the Vanishing Firefish , a fantasy fiction voyage inspired by both Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code .




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Tiny Beautiful Things - Born in East Berlin - Just Ahead is Darkness - Philippa Kelly

This week on Open Air, KALW’s weekly radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, host David Latulippe talks with Susi Damilano (pictured, left), star of the new production of Tiny Beautiful Things at SF Playhouse - and also the company’s producing director. Performances are through March 7 at SF Playhouse (450 Post St.) in San Francisco.




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The SpongeBob Musical - 'Chicago' in San Jose - Il Trovatore - MindTravel @ Aquarium of the Bay

This week on Open Air, KALW’s weekly radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, host David Latulippe talks with actors Lorenzo Pugliese and Daria Pilar Redus (pictured), who play the parts of SpongeBob SquarePants and his squirrel girlfriend Sandy Cheeks, in The SpongeBob Musical , which is in town through February 16.




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Mads Tolling ~ Left Coast Chamber Ensemble ~ Pacific Musical Competition

This week, you'll hear about the 2020 Pacific Musical Competition, whose finalists perform at the Live Finals and Winners Showcase, which will be held on March 8, 2020 in the Main Hall at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco from 10am to 7pm. For over a century, the Pacific Musical Society & Foundation has nurtured the growth of gifted musicians by awarding merit-based scholarships to promising students in the Bay Area and surrounding regions. Each year they hold a competition for instrumentalists, pianists, vocalists, chamber groups, and composers in various age categories. --- A talk with two-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Mads Tolling , about his upcoming show at Yoshi’s in Oakland (510 Embarcadero West), together with his Mads Men (Colin Hogan on keys, Daniel Lucca Parenti on bass and Eric Garland on drums). Featured guest artists are vocalists Kim Nalley and Kenny Washington. ---- From the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble , a talk with flutist Stacey Pelinka and artistic




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Bay Area Performing Artists Cope with COVID-19

On this week's Open Air, a talk (by phone) about what the cancellation of virtually all performing arts venues have on various artists, including a talk with conductor Martin West about the San Francisco Ballet, with Bill English, co-founder of San Francisco Playhouse, and with freelance musicians Mads Tolling and Matt Szemela. Plus regular contributor Peter Robinson shares possible home and outdoor activities during "shelter in place". RESOURCES and diversions: The San Francisco Symphony's award winning "Keeping Score" video series The Metropolitan Opera streaming archive The Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall From our friends at KQED: "Emergency Funds for Freelancers, Creatives..." The Actors' Fund The Santa Cruz Symphony Musician Relief Fund Listen to the March 19, 2020 broadcast of Open Air with David Latulippe anytime!




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West Edge Opera Festival Full Steam Ahead - Mezzo-Soprano Leandra Ramm

This week on Open Air, KALW’s radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, host David Latulippe talks, appropriately socially distant, with Mark Streshinsky, general director of West Edge Opera , about the annual summer festival, thus far going full steam ahead from July 25th through August 9 th at The Bridge Yard in Oakland.




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Valley of the Moon Music Festival - Joshua Kosman - Opera San Jose - Classic Hollywood Musicals

This week on Open Air, KALW’s radio magazine for the Bay Area Performing Arts in Times of Corona, host David Latulippe talks, appropriately socially distant, with Eric Zivian and Tanya Tomkins (pictured), directors of Valley of the Moon Music Festival (VMMF), about how they are coping with the current crisis.




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Open Air’s Corona Radio Theater presents: Word for Word & Tobias Wolff’s ‘Firelight’ – on Zoom

Regular contributor and critic at large Peter Robinson explores how My Fair Lady turned Shaw’s Pygmalion into a fine musical. ===================== his week on Open Air, KALW’s live radio magazine for the Bay Area Performing Arts in Times of Corona, we raise the virtual curtain for the first installment of Open Air’s Corona Radio Theater . Featuring this week is theater company Word for Word ; renowned for bringing short stories from the page to the stage, fully theatricalized; and their reading - on Zoom - of Tobias Wolff's story, Firelight .




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Up Next in Open Air’s Corona Radio Theater: San Francisco Playhouse & ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’

This week on Open Air, KALW’s live radio magazine for the Bay Area Performing Arts in Times of Corona, the virtual stage of Open Air’s Corona Radio Theater features San Francisco Playhouse , and their production of one of the most celebrated plays in the history of American radio, Lucille Fletcher’s Noir thriller Sorry Wrong Number .




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Fundraising Principles for Your Band Boosters

AUTHOR: Stuart Pompel | TWO OPTIONS: Tuesday, May 26, 2020 (6 pm) or Tuesday, June 9, 2020 (12 pm) In this training, Stuart Pompel, introduces some of the fundamental principles of nonprofit fundraising, and how they can be applied to make fundraising more effective -- and fun! -- for your band booster club.




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Visual Instruction for Marching Band

AUTHOR: Rudy Ruiz | DATES: May 20, May 27, June 3 | TIME: 6 pm each day In this three-part training, Rudy Ruiz, addresses the art of quality visual instruction. From fundamental principles, to teaching strategies, to finding a teaching gig, Rudy addresses all aspects of this topic over three one-hour webinars.




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Pacific Crest Campaign to Raise $210,000

Pacific Crest is a recognized leader in the marching arts community. We are here today because of supporters like you. We will survive these harsh times, and we are eager to build on 2019’s historic success. But we need your help to get there. When DCI cancelled the 2020 season, we got right to work: […]




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Of Note: Philip Glass' Composition Metamophosis is 'Like Color Coating a Glacier'

When violinist Anne Akiko Meyers embarked on a new interpretation of Philip Glass' "Metamorphosis ," the composer directed her to his longtime collaborator Michael Reisman. Turns out Reisman was already collaborating with Meyers in her new release in an arrangement of Arvo Pärt's "Fratres." These two meditative pieces on Meyers' album Mirror in Mirror (itself a reference to Pärt) contribute to a whole characterized by haunting beauty—featuring lullabies and sunken ships. "You have to create this beautiful sonic world full of color and movement and breath, and to make it sing, yet while sculpting these long, slow notes," says Meyers of Reisman's adaptation. "It felt to me like color coating a glacier." Listen to the full conversation between Of Note's Katy Henriksen and violinist Anne Akiko Meyers by clicking on the streaming link above.




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KUAF Arts Beat: Light, Sound and Boxes Blur the Line Between Artist and Audience

Inspired by a desire to make sound interactive, artist Craig Colorusso created “Sun Boxes ” and “CUBEMUSIC.” Both installations are up now at Fenix Gallery in Fayetteville as part of their new exihibit “Our Universe.” “I loved going on tour, but there’s always that barrier between the audience and the performer. So I’ve always wanted to create something that didn’t have that,” says Colorusso about the inspiration for the two pieces. “I wanted to make something that people could literally feel like they’re part of.” In addition to “Sun Boxes ” and “CUBEMUSIC," Colorusso also performs from his work "Butterfly Cathedral," written for bowed guitar this Friday, June 21, at the Trillium Salon Series Block Party in South Fayetteville. Listen to the full KUAF Arts Beat conversation in the streaming link above.




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Of Note: From Bach to Beyoncé, Artosphere Orchestra Goes 'Off the Grid'

Several local bars and coffee shops in downtown Fayetteville will get a little Artosphere Festival Orchestra pop-up action, thanks to this year's "Off the Grid" this Thursday, June 27. “It’s not that concert hall, tuxedo formal at all,” AFO violist Carl Larson said. “It’s just a great raw, raw way to listen to music and clink a beer.” This annual classical pub crawl, along Dickson and Block, concludes at Smoke and Barrel when AFO conductor Corrado Rovaris joins the musicians to perform, perhaps, an entire movement of a symphony. Click the streaming link above to listen to the full interview with Of Note’s Katy Henriksen.




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Of Note: Classical Music & Cinematography Collide in 'The Moon,' Artosphere's Finale Concert

Musical and cinematic storytelling collide in "The Moon," Artosphere Festival Orchestra's finale concert this Saturday, June 29, at Walton Arts Center . The concert, featuring music from Richard Strauss, John Williams, Debussy and more, pairs live classical music and narration with the George Melies' 1902 silent film “A Trip to the Moon.” Artistic director Francesco Micheli’s vision for "The Moon" project was born from his passion to explain music in other ways. “We try to build a journey by means of the music. We can say that we are on the Artosphere airlines, able to make an incredible journey between the starts and on the moon,” he said. Click on the streaming link above to listen to hear Micheli's full interview with Of Note’s Katy Henriksen.




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Of Note: SoNA Hits the Big Stage for their July 4th Fireworks Spectacular

The Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA) gets the rockstar treatment in their upcoming 4th of July concert at the Walmart AMP . With more than 5,000 people in attendance, it's definitely the biggest concert they perform each year. "We don't often have the experience of a jumbotron on either side of us and fantastic lighting and a huge sound system," explains Paul Haas, SoNA's Music Director. "It's a real thrill for us." The symphony's patriotic performance of "greatest hits" from the likes of John Williams to Aaron Copland begins at 7:30 p.m. The night concludes with a brilliant fireworks show at 9:15. More information is available here . Listen to the full conversation between Haas and Of Note's Katy Henriksen by clicking on the streaming link above.




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Of Note: When Cello History Repeats Itself through Bach

For his latest effort, Amit Peled tackled "the Bible" of cello repertoire by recording the Bach cello suites using Pablo Casal's cello-- the very same cello he originally heard the suites performed on as a child. "I waited for this jewel for so long because I wanted to make sure that the cello allows me to bring out who I am, and not what I have in my mind or in my ear," Peled said. Despite history repeating itself with the same repertoire on the same instrument, Peled's own interpretation continues to embody who he is as a musician. As a world-renowned Israeli-American cellist and professor at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, Peled's recording of the Bach cello suites will go down in history along with his legacy. Hear the full conversation with Of Note's Katy Henriksen in the streaming link above.




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Of Note: When the Past Becomes Present with Composer Reiko Futing

Composer Reiko Futing redefines contemporary composition with the incorporation of early music. In Futing's newest international portrait album "distantSong," he draws on music of the past to reflect on the art and culture of today. Futing was inspired by a professor at the Hochschule fur Musik in Dresden to incorporate early music into his own compositions. Futing says this led him to produce a subtle, yet noticeable, marriage of past and present musical languages for something completely new, yet familiar. Listen to the full interview with Of Note's Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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Of Note: A Smile to Charlie Chaplin's Dichotomous Compositions

A new recording from Philippe Quint and Marta Aznavoorian proves Charlie Chaplin is as relevant today as he was in his heyday. His legacy in visionary musical genius continues to be celebrated with "Chaplin's Smile," a collection of Chaplin's songs arranged for violin and piano. "He has a very amazing spin on a melody," says Aznavoorian, who was inspired by Chaplin's emotional and character-driven compositional style. "There's an incredible dichotomy of happiness and sadness in his melodies, and that is mirrored by what's happening in his films." Listen to the full interview between Quint, Aznavoorian and Of Note's Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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KUAF Arts Beat: Infringing on Peoples' Environments Through Sidewalk Concerts

Live music takes to the streets with “Live at the Five and Dime,” a series of intimate sidewalk concerts presented by the University of Arkansas Music Departmenton the downtown Bentonville Square. “It’s a really great opportunity to infringe on people’s environment. That’s honestly where [music] belongs,” upright bassist Garrett Jones says about incorporating passers-by. “Art’s all around you on a day-to-day basis. Music is up the same alley.” Spearheaded by Alan Gosman, the department's associate chair, this intimate outreach effort features a local musicians performing a wide array of sounds including jazz, classical, Latin, and more. The intimate concerts are a collaboration with The Walmart Museum and Downtown Bentonville Inc. “Live at the Five and Dime” performances continue throughout the summer on Wednesdays from 6-8 p.m. in front of the Walmart Museum in Bentonville, with the Jake Hertzog Trio set to perform Aug. 21. Speaking of jazz, there's now a program to offically study it




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Of Note: Pianist Navigates Piano's Evolution through Haydn

Pianist Roman Rabinovich's deep dive into the Haydn sonatas brought him revelations. Because Haydn's life bridged both the Baroque and Classical periods, his compositions reflect how the technology of the piano constantly progressed. "Instruments really changed like computers today, at that pace," Rabinovich said. Uzbeki-born, Israeli-trained Rabinovich continues to reflect Haydn's compositional invention since the Haydn project's debut at the Lincoln Center by performing the sonatas internationally. To listen to the full interview with Of Note's Katy Henriksen, click on the streaming link above.




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Of Note: Painting an Expansive Vista with A Capella

Voces8 has once again found a way to represent the world's magnificence by using their voices-- and nothing else. The a capella group's latest album, "Enchanted Isle," pays homage to some of the members' inspirational European homelands. "Many of my formative musical memories come from my town there," says Barnaby Smith, the ensemble's music director. "A lot of the first music I heard as a child came as I was looking at that vista." Listen to the full interview between Barnaby Smith and Of Note's Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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Of Note: Expressing American Rapture with Fluid, Childlike Composition

Harpist Yolanda Kondonassis’ newest album “dreams, soars and levitates” through an intricately flowing compositional architecture with the inclusion of a newly commissioned harp concerto by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon . “The idea was the interplay and the precociousness, and the childlike wonder,” Kondonassis elaborates on how Higdon encompassed her emotions in the composition. “She really impressed upon us that this is fluid and full of wonder, rather than the somnambulant kind of experience.” Kondonassis’ album “American Rapture” expands upon how North American compositions have developed through three generations and features the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Ward Stare. Listen to the full interview between Kondonassis, Stare and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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Of Note: SoNA’s Upcoming Season Promises Extravagant Performances of 'Bucket List Pieces'

The Symphony of Northwest Arkansas ’ upcoming season promises to be their best yet, honoring Beethoven’s 250 th birthday with “bucket list pieces” such as “Carmina Burana” and “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Paul Hass, SoNA's music director, credits the orchestra’s success to its familial atmosphere. “It’s so exciting to be a part of something like this that’s constantly growing,” Haas says. “It really is like a family—we all care about each other. This is something special; not every community has this.” SoNA’s upcoming season will feature multiple collaborations including the SoNA singers for “Carmina Burana” and violinist Jennifer Frautschi for “Beethoven’s Violin Concerto”. SoNA will also perform a premiere of Haas’ new composition, Angelique . Listen to the full interview between Haas and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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Of Note: A Musician’s Deep Dive into Vulnerability at the 'Edge of Youth'

On a journey of musical and personal self-discovery, violinist Janet Sung dove into vulnerability to produce her latest album “Edge of Youth,” which represents who she is as an artist through personal expression. “In order to really convey what all of the works were really offering, I would have to really look deeply and be utterly convinced of the thing that I was trying to communicate,” Sung explains about her individual interpretation. “It really starts to become something that comes from within yourself.” The album also features Missy Mazzoli’s Dissolve, O my Heart , which spins off of Bach’s Partita in D Minor to build and unravel, breaking with the recognized Bach tradition to further Sung’s unique expression. Listen to the full interview between Sung and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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Of Note: Fort Smith Symphony Goes Hollywood in Upcoming Season

The Fort Smith Symphony’s upcoming season promises film scores and more, but it’s not your average John Williams programming. Music Director John Jeter picked film scores of Hans Zimmer and Bernard Herrmann to take center stage. “Now, there is a whole series of composers who have kind of taken over that mantel, and we wanted to kind of celebrate that different approach to film scoring,” Jeter says. All but the more traditionally programmed opening concert will include 20 th century music, most of which presents itself as film scores for movies such as Interstellar , Avatar and Pirates of the Caribbean . The Fort Smith Symphony’s opening concert will feature pianist Drew Petersen on Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 . For their closing concert, the symphony will accompany a showing of the movie North by Northwest with a performance of the full film score by Bernard Herrmann. Listen to the full interview between Jeter and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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Of Note: Bach as a 'Wide Open Field' of Expressive Possibilities

The possibilities of artistic expression are limitless with every piece of music, but composer and pianist Craig Swanson took it to another level with the release of his album “The French Suite Kit.” Swanson was inspired by pianist Glenn Gould to create multiple unique variations of Bach’s French Suite No. 4 in Eb Major , giving listeners more control over how they prefer to hear Bach expressed. “Part of the joy of music is its improvisatory nature, and trying to find all of the potential expressions that are worthwhile in your music,” Swanson says. “It seemed to me that there was a wealth of possibility not limiting yourself to one particular way or one particular approach.” Listen to the full interview between Swanson and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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Of Note: Balancing Emotion and Form in Israeli Compositions

Violinist Itamar Zorman navigated exotic Israeli scales and modes to release his newest album “Evocation,” which highlights distinctive works by German-born Israeli composer Paul Ben-Haim. “There is a really delicate but wonderful balance between the emotional content and the technical form of the piece, and the analytical part of it,” Zorman explains about reflecting Ben-Haim’s multi-cultural influenced compositions. Listen to the full interview between Zorman and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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KUAF Arts Beat: A Conversation with the U of A School of Art's First Ever Executive Director

The University of Arkansas recently welcomed Gerry Snyder as the School of Art's first ever executive director. He will play an instrumental role in cultivating the newly minted School of Art's role at the university and beyond following the $120 million gift from the the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation and $40 million gift from the Windgate Foundation to develop an art and design district. “The fact that [this gift] has been given to education, and specifically to art, is visionary in my mind,” Snyder says. “If you look at life, even in its most challenging circumstances, creativity is important. Art is central to almost any civilization or culture.” Snyder hopes to create a strategic plan in this upcoming year for how to use the gift to represent the UA and the local community, while foremost furthering art education. Listen to the full interview between Snyder and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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Of Note: Music as 'a Medium for Something Human'

Women composers and performers united to create art from the human condition with pianist Lara Downes’ latest album “Holes in the Sky,” named for a poem by Georgia O’Keeffe. In addition to representing women in music, “Holes in the Sky” also served to support human welfare efforts, including PLAN International to support impoverished children. “These are stories about the power of the expressive urge, the creative urge, to come forward,” Downes says about the potential of music. “It will come forward, despite anything else trying to constrain it.” Downes will represent women’s contributions to the past, present and future of American music by performing music from “Holes in the Sky” 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art as part of the Van Cliburn Concert Series . Listen to the full interview between Downes and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.




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KUAF Live CD 2019

During our winter fundraiser, December 9th through the 13th, KUAF will once again offer a collection of performances recorded for Ozarks at Large throughout the year. KUAF Live 2019 is a double CD of 23 performances, all recorded live at the KUAF studios, the Carver Center for Public Radio or at Fayetteville Public Television. Most were recorded in the Firmin-Garner Performance studio and all tracks were recorded for Ozarks at Large in 2019. We'd like to thank the artists who agreed to partner with us on this project and all the donors who make a project like this possible. We look forward to offering another KUAF Live CD in 2020! Learn more about the artists featured on the KUAF Live 2019 CD below: Disc 1 - Nick Shoulders JD Clayton Kalyn Fay Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster Jordan Moser Serrano-Torres Candy Lee The Time Burners Statehouse Electric The Lark and the Loon Dandelion Heart The Vine Brothers Disc 2 - U of A World Music Ensemble Dawson Hollow Becky Vintage Pistol Me Like Bees




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Literary legends set for top Ayewrite Glasgow book festival

BOOKER Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo, Joanna Trollope and Maggie O’Farrell are among the authors expected to appear at a literary festival in Glasgow.




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Here's how Glasgow Science Centre is catering for us online

GLASGOW Science Centre closed its doors to the public this week, but the team decided they couldn’t let science boffins miss out.




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Glasgow comedian Larry Dean on how to self-isolate in style

Even in self-isolation, we can learn something new every day.




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Coronavirus: Newlands junior football club starts support fund

Shops are closing. Newspaper sales are falling. But we’ve chosen to keep our online journalism free because it’s so important that the people of Glasgow stay informed during this crisis.




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Glasgow's funniest Granda Gary Meikle talks us through his coronavirus lock-down

WHEN the world first came across Gary Meikle, we met his eyebrows before his face.




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George Bowie to perform GBX anthems from Glasgow balcony in aid of CHAS

GBX DJ George Bowie will perform from the balcony of his Glasgow home via Facebook live tomorrow afternoon in aid of Children's Hospice Across Scotland (CHAS).




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For One U.S. Bike-Maker, Tariffs Are A Mixed Bag

Zakary Pashak is a rare breed. His company, Detroit Bikes, is one of the very few American bicycle makers. Most bikes come from China. At times, Pashak endured ridicule at trade shows. "I'd get kind of surly bike mechanics coming up and telling me that my products stunk. There's definitely a fair bit of attitude in my industry," he says. But last September, the industry's tune abruptly changed. The first round of U.S. tariffs, or import taxes, upped the cost of Chinese-made bikes by 10%, and companies saw Detroit Bikes as a potential partner. "All of a sudden I felt like the belle of the ball or something," Pashak says. Now a new round of tariffs set at 25% is hitting imports from China. Like many other American companies, Detroit Bikes is poring over the 194-page list of imported Chinese goods subject to the levies. Companies like Detroit Bikes rely on those goods, and now they face choices that will ultimately determine the prices consumers will pay. Pashak started the company when




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PHOTOS: The Powerful Faces Of Women Who Faced Danger

Fatima, now 17, was eating dinner with her family in Nigeria two years ago when she heard the gunshots. "Unknown to us, the village had been surrounded and was being invaded," she says. "We covered ourselves with [a] mattress and cried for help to no avail." Fatima and her mother fled into the bush, where they were separated; they didn't see each other again for 18 months. Fatima – and other women in conflict zones – are often perceived as victims. They may be in many cases, but they also hold multiple and sometimes conflicting identities: as fighters, breadwinners and leaders. Photographer Robin Hammond sought to capture the many roles they play in his series of portraits, "Making the Invisible Visible," which had its first public showing this past week at the Women Deliver 2019 Global Conference in Vancouver, Canada. Noraisa Macud, 52, fled the fighting between Philippine military forces and Islamic militants in Marawi, a predominantly Muslim city, in 2017. Hundreds of thousands of




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Trump: U.S., Mexico Reach Deal To Avoid New Tariffs

Updated Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET A day after U.S. and Mexico officials announced an agreement to avert tariffs — set to begin on Monday — affecting billions of dollars in imports from Mexico, President Trump took a victory lap on Twitter. Under a joint agreement released by State Department officials, Mexico will assist the United States in curbing migration across the border by deploying its national guard troops through the country, especially its southern border. The deal also expands a new program called Migrant Protection Protocols, allowing U.S. immigration enforcement officials to send Central American migrants to Mexico as their asylum claims are pending Mexico says those migrants will be offered jobs, health care and education, though critics question how safe migrants will be as they await the conclusion of their claims. In addition, the agreement says Mexican authorities will work to dismantle human smuggling operations. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador praised




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Trump: If Offered Dirt By Foreign Government On 2020 Rival, 'I Think I'd Take It'

Updated at 8:45 p.m. ET President Trump says he might accept dirt from another country on his potential Democratic rivals if offered, raising new questions and concerns about foreign influence on American elections. "It's not an interference, they have information — I think I'd take it," Trump said. "If I thought there was something wrong, I'd go maybe to the FBI — if I thought there was something wrong." Trump made the comments in an Oval Office interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos , after being pressed about the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 with Russians and Trump officials. Ahead of that meeting, which former special counsel Robert Mueller probed , the Trump campaign was offered damaging information on Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton.




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Congressional Hearing On Slavery Reparations Set For Wednesday

For the first time in a decade Congress will hold a hearing Wednesday on the subject of reparations for the descendants of slaves in the United States, a topic that has gained traction in the run-up to the 2020 elections. The hearing is set for June 19, also known as "Juneteenth," the day when in 1865 former enslaved people in Texas first learned that they had been emancipated two years earlier. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is holding the hearing on H.R. 40 , which calls for a commission to "study and develop reparation proposals for African-Americans," including a formal apology by the U.S. government "for the perpetration of gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves and their descendants." The hearing is scheduled to feature testimony from author Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose article "The Case for Reparations," published by The Atlantic magazine in 2014, is widely credited with re-igniting the




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Trump Backs Off Census Citizenship Question Fight

Updated at 6:55 p.m. ET President Trump announced Thursday he would sign an executive order to obtain data about the U.S. citizenship and noncitizenship status of everyone living in the United States. In a Rose Garden ceremony, Trump said he would drop efforts to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Instead, his executive order will direct all U.S. agencies to provide the Department of Commerce all information they have on U.S. citizenship, noncitizenship and immigration status. "We have great knowledge in many of our agencies," Trump said, flanked by Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. "We will leave no stone unturned." The executive order marks the administration's latest effort to obtain the information despite a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that bars the administration from including the question on the 2020 census for now. In backing down from the legal fight, Trump appears to be doing what the Census Bureau encouraged over a year




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WATCH: Trump Announces Push For Citizenship Data Apart From Census

Updated at 6:40 p.m. ET President Trump announced an executive order on gathering citizenship information, a shift from an earlier effort to get a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. Trump spoke alongside Attorney General William Barr, who praised his decision. Their remarks come after the Supreme Court blocked, for now, the addition of the question " Is this person a citizen of the United States? " on the annual headcount. Critics feared the question would lead to undercounts of immigrant groups and communities of color. Despite the justices' rejection, Trump had vowed to continue pushing for the change — even as printing of the paper forms has begun. The administration's persistence includes an attempt to change the Justice Department's legal team on the issue. But Trump's remarks Thursday indicate the administration is dropping the question fight in favor for a different avenue for getting a count of noncitizens in the U.S. Still, it's not clear what impact the executive




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'Shaken To My Core': Testimony Describes Conditions For Detained Migrants

Updated at 7:40 p.m. ET A House panel heard at times emotional testimony about conditions at facilities run by the Department of Homeland Security. The hearing of the House oversight committee grew heated as Democrats and Republicans on the panel argued over who bore responsibility for the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions at detention centers on the southern border. Republican lawmakers who represent border districts and Democratic lawmakers who have recently traveled to the border each testified. Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., disputed charges that some of those being held at a Border Patrol facility in Texas were forced to drink water from toilets. "Please, American public," Lesko said, "there is no one asking people to drink out of toilets." She referred to a video from the Arizona Border Patrol showing an agent touring a facility and drinking water from a sink above a toilet unit. But Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who made that accusation in a news conference after




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'Go Back Where You Came From': The Long Rhetorical Roots Of Trump's Racist Tweets

When President Trump tweeted his racist remarks Sunday, asking why certain Democratic congresswomen don't just "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came," he did not just take aim at the four women of color — three of whom were born in the U.S. He did so using a taunt that has long, deeply entrenched roots in American history: Why don't you just go back where you came from? The question doesn't always appear in those precise words, nor does it always surface in the same situations. And it doesn't always get directed at the same groups of people — far from it, in fact. But more often than not, it conveys the same sentiment: You — and others like you — are not welcome here. "There have been different phrases that have been used," says Michael Cornfield , a scholar of rhetoric at George Washington University , "but the idea that we don't have any more room for people, or those people don't look like us, this is a long, ugly strain in American




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Mueller On Russian Election Interference: 'They're Doing It As We Sit Here'

Updated at 4:56 p.m. ET Peril from foreign interference in American elections will persist through the 2020 presidential race, former special counsel Robert Mueller warned on Wednesday. Asked whether Russia would attempt to attack future U.S. elections, as it did in 2016, Mueller replied: "They're doing it as we sit here." Mueller didn't detail a prescription for how he believes Congress or the United States should respond, but he recommended generally that intelligence and law enforcement agencies should work together. "They should use the full resources that we have to address this," Mueller said. That warning came during hours of hearings, first before the House Judiciary Committee and then the intelligence committee, in which Democrats sought to underscore that Mueller had not cleared Trump of obstruction allegations and that he had found many contacts between Trump's campaign and the Russian interference in the 2016 election. "Did you actually totally exonerate the president?"