“Fight the Power” Producer Helen Bart on Exploring Hip Hop’s Explosive Power With Chuck D
Nearly fifty years ago in the Bronx, on August 11, 1973, Jamaican American DJ Kool Herc used two turntables to spin funky drum breaks at his sister’s back-to-school party. The event turned out to be hip hop’s big bang moment. In the decades that followed, the music became a politically charged platform empowering Black America ...
“Unsettled” Looks at LGBTQ Refugees Seeking a Home in America
June celebrations, even virtual ones in this pandemic year, commemorate the birth of the modern LGBTQ liberation movement and the progress made over five decades since Stonewall, from marriage equality to the recent Supreme Court ruling protecting LGBTQ rights in the workplace. But in many countries outside the U.S., LGBTQ rights mean only the right ...
Composer Vivek Maddala Underscores Discrimination in Asian Americans Documentary for PBS
The versatile composer Vivek Maddala recently shifted gears from his zany Emmy-winning music for Cartoon Network series The Tom and Jerry Show to score PBS’ somber documentary Asian Americans (debuting May 11). A musical prodigy, Maddala enrolled in Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music at age 15 with dreams of becoming a jazz drummer but ...
The Vietnam War Sound Designer on Enhancing Emotional Memories of the War
The Vietnam War was a harrowing conflict with ramifications that spread far from the fighting. It was the most divisive war of the 20th century that haunted veterans and civilians alike for decades. Cameras captured the brutal battles with unprecedented access. Piecing together hundreds of hours of archival footage and interviews with survivors, celebrated documentarians ...
Downton Abbey Season Six Fashions: The Times They Are A Changin’
The Crawleys and their downstairs gang will be roaring into the ‘20s bedecked and bejeweled in the latest in 1925 fashions thanks to Downton Abbey costume designer Anna Mary Scott Robins. Robins’ fashions are a vital character in this period drama, and serve the crucial function of moving us along in time. Gone are the conservative ...
Let’s All Weep While Watching Downton Abbey Trailer for Season 6
As the cast and crew of Downton Abbey prepare to open their home to us for the final time, we can’t help but get emotional. ITV has released the newest trailer for the final season and it does not make saying farewell any easier. We will miss (oh, will we miss) the Dowager Countess’s one ...
