48. One night on edge
I.
There was only one night available to bring together the biggest global stars of 1985 to record a charity single. That song is We Are the World, written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, produced by Quincy Jones. Virtually no one could say no to these names, except the reclusive Prince, and so over forty stars promised to leave their egos at the door and create a global hit together.
You can see how that went in the Netflix documentary The Greatest Night in Pop. The best bits are the footage of the recording sessions themselves. The pop stars are vulnerable without their entourages and can finally talk to one another like normal people. They are not the least of them: Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Harry Belafonte, Cindy Lauper, Paul Simon, Diana Ross. And so on. They are all on board to use their star power to support food aid in Africa.
It was a stroke of genius by Jones to have the artists sit in a large circle to record their short solos. It turns out that performing your bit in front of a few dozen other global stars is actually a bit more nerve-wracking than playing to a full house. In the documentary, we see how Huey Lewis is suddenly given a solo and almost succumbs to nerves. And Al Jarreau is actually already too drunk to perform at all. After a long concert tour, Springsteen sounds âlike a throat full of broken glassâ, someone says, but he delivers nonetheless.
As a Bob Dylan fan, I was particularly looking forward to seeing footage of him. It is well known that he was hardly at ease amongst the others. In The Greatest Night in Pop, you see him smile once or twice; otherwise, he makes as little contact as possible with the rest and mumbles along with the lyrics. He messes up his solo, according to the documentary because he doesnât know whether to sing like the others or like himself.
Itâs only when he practises with Stevie Wonder that things fall into place. Wonder does a spot-on Dylan impression, which suddenly reminds the real Dylan of how he sounds himself. âThat wasnât good,â he says after his part. And then Jones reassures him: âYes, it was perfect.â Perhaps he didnât want to put Dylan down, but I think he means it. In We Are the World, dozens of artists had to come together to convey a single message with their own sound, background and colour. And it worked, because whatever you think of the song, everyone is still singing along to it almost 40 years later.
---II.
It had been a while since I last visited the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. Since my last visit, it had undergone a makeover. With a different layout, more colour on the walls and a different selection of works. Iâm not a fan of everything; some rooms are so full that large paintings have to hang in narrow passageways.
I did see a few lovely things, though. Such as Charley Tooropâs Pear Tree. And The Staircase of the Painterâs London Home, a magnificent painting by Pieter Christoffel Wonder that is normally kept in the museumâs storeroom and can now be viewed behind an awkward fence.
And this weekend saw the opening of the new exhibition âOp Scherpâ. There are large paintings on display that look so real, they resemble photographs. Iâm not really a fan of that, because however clever it may be, you might as well just take a photo (and Iâm not keen on the airbrush). Still, there are a few stunning pieces on display. Such as the summer dress billowing in the wind in Torso by John Kacere. And the charcoal works by Vija Celmins, such as Untitled (Ocean).
Also hanging on one of the walls is a car door as seen from the inside of a car. This is the work Sawdy by Edward Kienholz. Behind the window hangs a photograph showing life-size sculptures. The white figures are castrating a black man in a car park. By framing the photograph with a car door, you, the viewer, become an unwitting witness.
---PS.
It has been almost two years since a hostage situation took place in the Apple Store on Leidseplein in Amsterdam. It turns out films are being made about it. A feature film is in production for Netflix (starring Loes Haverkort, Soufiane Moussouli and Marcel Hensema), and on 22 February a two-part documentary produced in collaboration with AT5 will be released on Videoland.
---Ryan Gosling has been trying to climb the water tower at Warner Bros. Studios for years. That 30-metre-high thing I know best from Animaniacs-intro. âWhen I moved to Los Angeles at sixteen and auditioned at Warner Bros., they wouldnât let me climb the water tower,â he tells Variety. âTen years later, when I was filming La La Land there, they wouldnât let me climb the water tower. But now something has happened, at this stage in my life and career, that means they will let me climb the water tower. So climb it while you can, because I donât know if Iâll be able to next time.â Congratulations, Ryan!
The final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm has started on HBO Max. In the first episode, Larry David is invited to a party and all he has to do is behave himself. I was in stitches again during a scene about trouser-pocket phones.
You can learn all sorts of things about the life of a painting by studying the back. The Museum of Modern Art demonstrates this using Pablo Picassoâs Three Musicians.
---Spec Ops: The Line has been removed from digital stores by developer 2K due to expired licences. Itâs one of the best shooters Iâve ever played. This video explains in detail why this game is so different from other war games.
---Canadian science fiction writer and journalist Cory Doctorow fell victim to phishing. A criminal posed as a bank employee and convinced Doctorow to hand over his credit card details. As a result, he was defrauded of $8,000. He writes about it on his blog. A reminder that this can happen to anyone, if youâre not careful for just a moment.
Kanye West has a new album. It is the first in a trilogy he will complete over the coming months. I wasnât particularly impressed by his previous album Donda (nor by his behaviour in recent years), but Vultures 1 does sound pretty good, though.
Thanks for reading! Iâd love it if you subscribed â youâll then receive this newsletter in your inbox every Sunday, free of charge.