David Byrne was on hand last week for Caetano Veloso's first show at the Nokia Theatre in New York, and he's written about the experience in his blog. In this excerpt, he describes how Caetano and his band allayed any concerns about the mix of styles in pairing the new songs in a set with the familiar older favorites. Riding home on his bike after the show, Byrne passed the brand-new home of the New York Times—a towering skyscraper designed by starchitect Renzo Piano—and took the occasion to muse on the state of journalism.
David Byrne was on hand last week for Caetano Veloso's first show at the Nokia Theatre in New York, and he's written about the experience in his blog. In this excerpt, he describes how Caetano and his band allayed any concerns about the mix of styles in pairing the new songs in a set with the familiar older favorites:
... [T]he older stuff is generally sweeter than this new batch of songs, more often filled with turmoil and testiness. But this initial feeling of disquiet leads inevitably to captivation—even the cries of “I hate you” [the translation of the song "Odeio" off Caetano's new record, Cê] were somehow beautiful. They weren’t snarled as a punk or Emo band would do, but sung almost sweetly, and with a bewildered sadness that somehow those heavily charged words and feelings are bursting forth—the sadness of watching yourself say you hate someone.
Riding home on his bike after the show, Byrne passed the brand-new home of the New York Times—a towering skyscraper designed by starchitect Renzo Piano—and took the occasion to muse on the state of journalism. The result is a fascinating essay pondering the future of news: who will report it, how it will be consumed, and how (or whether) it will be paid for.
You can read both entries at journal.davidbyrne.com.
