Monday

The doors aren't ready for the new format yet, but I will add the new elements as they are developed and tested. Substack is a great platform for newsletters; with all platforms, some changes take more work than others. Today, I wanted to return to the original style and bring back the highlights. The buildup of stories, spotlights, and sounds is pouring over the edge, and it's time to let it out.

Today is all about possibilities, whether in new technology enhancing art or poets constructing mental pictures using only the most essential words to convey a message. There is so much beauty in our potential.

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🤘We are here every day, and every minute you spend with us sends ripples of gratitude through our souls! 🤘

The Sphere in Vegas opened up last Friday; U2 took the Zoo T.V. Tour from the 90s and ‘sphered it.’ I'm highlighting a story from Morning Brew because the following line made me laugh out loud.

U2, who could teach all you kiddos a thing or two, has been innovating with music, live performance, and cutting-edge technology for 40 years, so yes, Dave, I am a parent, and they are a favorite. Follow this Google search for even more videos and information on the show. The early reviews are a mix of mind-blowing, and I will throw up. You be the judge.

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Every day, one recommendation from one newsletter might lead to a new website or story lead that delivers another recommendation. The more immersed you are in creatives and great art, the more credible the recommendations become. Over the last month, the engines, in all their great glory, have delivered something unexpected based on the stories we follow. Poetry, by definition, is a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience… (Merriam-Webster).

One of the reasons I like to read a book or listen to a song is the images and ideas I can weave into the stories and the songs I digest. Great poetry works the same way, and the care a good poet can put into a concise set of words takes that concept and filters it down to the lowest denominator. From there, a reader fills in the blanks, and as the words rush over them, the concepts can feel like the sand between your toes at a white sand beach on a hot summer day, with a cold umbrella drink in one hand and the absence of technology in the other. Here is a poem by W.S. Di Piero, who says it better.

Poems

September 18, 2023

Remember seeing the first movie trailer in the early 00s for the first Transformers movie? This Michael Bay masterpiece, for the time, took CGI to a new level, and like running the 4-minute mile, the barrier had been crossed, and the media wouldn't go back. Look at this display of A.I.-generated design work from Google's DeepMind. 

In a mix of creative people with powerful machines, the result is great art, and it's a possibility of the future of creative art. I am not a cynic when it comes to technology and art. Great writers, artists, and musicians will continue to make great art. New tools come along all the time, and each time, it expands the number of people who can create art. The creativity can be enhanced, but the source of the art and the editing and shaping of the art will continue to be developed by creative people. I say bring it!

None of us would have imagined 30 years after Blink 182 gave us Dammit, that a plane crash, cancer, and UFOs would bring us to tears listening to One More Time. Then again, I didn't think "Your parents favorite band…" would have me choking on my coffee this morning either.

She sucks my breath away.

Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.

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🤘We are here every day, and every minute you spend with us sends ripples of gratitude through our souls! 🤘

With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.

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