“Russian Old New Year 2012. Party!” on Friday the 13th Promises a Party

 Posted by  Kultur Clash  1 Response »
Jan 122012
 
"Russian Old New Year 2012. Party!" on Friday the 13th Promises a Party

And judging from Chervona’s Xmas video shoot a month ago, a good one too! In fact, most, if not all, of the good people who populated and helped shoot the video (below, includes American Robotnik in a snow-white ushanka) will be in attendance at Dante’s on Friday the 13th. Tickets may even still be available. According to Stephanie Salvey’s intro to the reprint [pdf] of my article about the video shoot on Oregon Music News, “Each year around this time the cheapest round trip to Russia is a ticket to Chervona’s Old Russian New […] Continue reading >

The NHL Winter Classic and the Invention of Tradition

 Posted by  New World, New Life  No Responses »
Jan 022012
 
The NHL Winter Classic and the Invention of Tradition

Inventing traditions is part and parcel of American culture, indeed a tradition in itself. Today’s exhibit: the NHL Winter Classic, the one and only outdoor game on the league’s schedule played on New Year’s Day (or the next day if the year’s first day falls on a Sunday). Traditions, as Eric Hobsbawm has shown in “The Invention of Tradition”, are cultural constructs. Underlining the strong commercial undercurrent of American culture, the motive for the NHL Winter Classic was business: the event originated at NBC Sports in an effort to boost the sport’s […] Continue reading >