Hello and welcome back to Circles In Space for Five Bullet Friday, where each Friday I share some interesting stuff I collected during the week.
Good morning and happy Friday all! This morning is a cloudy day in the 50s here in New York City with some rain expected today and tomorrow. Spring is finally here and has brought warmer temperatures this week.
Thanks to a reader (you know who you are!) for submitting this week’s first bullet on labyrinths. I’m excited to share this piece of info as it combines art and NYC history, as well as archaeology and anthropology - labyrinths go back thousands of years and can be seen as petroglyphs carved into rock. When I clicked on the submitted link, a lightbulb exploded in my mind - something I’d seen many times before but never recognized it’s significance.
This idea is behind the name of this newsletter - Circles In Space - which signifies the philosophy that as we move through our lives, rather than moving from point A to point B in a linear fashion, we instead move in circles. Through this circular movement we may revisit things we’ve seen or experienced before and see them in a new light. Like when you hear a song for the first time but it doesn’t grab you until years later and it feels like the perfect moment to have heard it again. (More on this at a later date).
This week’s bullets:
I wasn’t even aware that my local park, Maria Hernandez Park, is home to a labyrinth! I thought it was just an interesting design set into the stone at the park’s center but didn’t realize it had a name and served a function. The Gothamist’s New York City is filled with labyrinths - if you know where to look takes a closer look at several of the city’s labyrinths, including The Battery Labyrinth for Contemplation and Riverside Church's labyrinth, modeled after France’s Chartres Cathedral. Next time you see a labyrinth, take some time to walk through it - though their historical use is unknown, they are now used for meditation and contemplation.
Earlier this week, American aid worker Jeffery Woodke was released after being captured by militants in Niger in 2016. The Sahel region of Africa is a common operating ground for terrorists and militant groups. For more on the situation in this part of the world and a look at the United States’s involvement, check out Caitlin L. Chandler’s article Over the Horizon.
On March 23, 1839, the Boston Morning Post printed the initials ‘o.k’ - an abbreviation of ‘oll korrect’, a common misspelling of ‘all correct’. Later, ‘O.K.’ was used to refer to Martin Van Buren as Old Kinderhook (Van Buren’s hometown was Kinderhook, NY) during the 1840 presidential election. Here’s a deeper dive into the origins of 'o.k'.
I acquired an old copy of the Civil War Times magazine which contains an article on the music of the Civil War (I can’t find the actual article online). Drums, fifes, and trumpets or bugles were used to relay battle commands to the troops because these instruments could be heard over the noise of war. Civil War musicians, usually age 14 years or younger, were expected to learn over four dozen pieces of music. Two musicians were assigned to each regiment in case one was injured or killed. In addition to battle commands, such as charge or retreat, musicians also dictated the regiment’s schedule while camped. Reveille was played at the beginning of each day, and Taps, played at day’s end to signal ‘lights out’, was a new piece of field music to emerge from the Civil War and is still in use today.
Two of my favorite musicians have teamed up on a new album : the Krasno Moore Project, featuring guitarist Eric Krasno (Soulive, Lettuce) and drummer Stanton Moore (Galactic, Garage-a-Trois) released Book of Queens, an instrumental cover album of songs by women in music including Nina Simone, Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones and more. Krasno’s soulful guitar, Moore’s New Orleans-infused beats, and organ (covered by Eric Finland) lends a fresh jazz-funk sound to these tunes. The trio is joined by guests Brandford Marsalis, Cory Henry, and Robert Randolph. I’ve had this album on repeat all week.