JaZzArt en València

A veces vemos una obra supuestamente de arte y decimos «qué mierda» y quizá lo sea, pero es que hay obras de arte que realmente son de mierda. Si no lo sabias te invito a que veas el vídeo…

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How many times have we looked at a supposed artwork and thought it was complete shit? Many… But did you know that some art is really shit? Well, take a look at the video…

CHEERS

Welcome to the 2025 edition of FEATURES by VALENCIARTIST, a limited series. And you are welcome to participate. If you are in the arts in any manner or literature, you can be a protagonist. All you have to do is reply to this posting with your email address and we will send you the information.

Today we are proud to feature a man who has been a writer, broadcaster, actor, director and much more throughout his career which has spanned over fifty years. Rich Brase was born in Brooklyn, New York (one of my favourite cities) and now lives in my hometown, Valencia, Spain. And I have had the privilege of knowing him now for the last six years. I think you will find this interview very interesting, so let me know what you think.

RICH IN HIS OWN WORDS

THE INTERVIEW

V: Rich, you have an extensive background in theatre, television, radio, management and many other aspects of the network news business as well as in the creative arts, so if I would ask you to place yourself within the world of the arts, where would you place yourself? How would you describe yourself?

Rich: . I am a classic introvert. Before I entered college, I had trouble talking on the phone, was uncomfortable meeting people and had never been out on a date. Then, I started working as an actor and then a theatre director and had a daily radio show which helped bring me out of my shell. Performing and public speaking gave me confidence. I got the most joy being a sportscaster and radio dj, by far. Unfortunately, I had little confidence and did not see myself earning a living the rest of my life behind the mic. Being on-air and on stage is fun, but I found my true calling when I ultimately moved behind the camera as a television writer and producer, which is how I will always see myself. I was a television creative director for over forty years, so I always tell people that my first love was creating programs and promos that people watched. Within that world, I am proud to say the stations I worked for received new heights in ratings, revenue and creativity. Seeing those stations and networks succeed and developing young writers and producers made me happy, and a lot of those people are still thriving today.

V: So far you have led a very interesting life, so do you have any plans to write anything about your experiences, say your memoirs?

I don’t think I´ve led a life more interesting than anyone else. It is what it is and I have always pursued things that make me happy and avoided things that don´t, often to my detriment. For instance, I don´t drink coffee, smoke or play golf, and that has often kept me on the outside of certain work circles. I have worked with a lot of famous and creative people, and have loved being with (almost) every one of them. I can’t think of anything I have ever done that would be interesting enough for someone to spend their time or hard-earned money to learn more about, so my life is best left undiscussed, except for my family, who are required to be impressed.

That being said, our move to Spain in 2018 has inspired me to write a highly fictionalized movie about moving from being American to expat in Spain. The script is currently a slog, and may never see the light of day, but any American (or Brit) who makes a move to a country where they have to learn a new language surely is a comedy in the making.

V: In this highly politicised world that we live in, everybody seems to have an opinion and everybody wants to correct the problems of the world, especially those difficulties that most, if not all, countries seem to be going through at this time. Do you think that writers, poets, artists and other trained professionals of the arts should engage in public dialogue, giving their opinions about the politics of their nation and proffering alternatives to the paths taken by their governments?

A great question, but the real question is how can artists, whether they are writers, painters, actors, musicians or anyone with a creative bone in their bodies help change the world. I think it is imperative that creative people make their voices heard and opinions known through their art. It´s clear to me that leaving running the world exclusively to politicians, businesspeople and bureaucrats is a bad idea. The world runs on great ideas, music, inventions, art and design. It’s up to those artists to make their opinions known and help shape public policy. This is the way it´s been since the beginning of civilization.

I´ve been interested in politics and how people react to policy since I was a teenager in New York. We do indeed live in turbulent times, and having a weekly radio show with a co-host who encourages me to speak my mind on American politics is a blessing. I´ve always felt I was an artist as well as a businessman and leader. Because of this, having an outlet for my opinions here in Spain has been perfect, not to mention fun. I hope all artists (not just Americans) of any medium always feel free to make their opinions known.

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT RICH BRASE

Rich Brase has lived a blessed life as a writer, broadcaster, actor and director for the past 50 years in stations and networks from Toledo, Ohio to New York City, and now Costa Blanca, Spain.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised on Long Island before he moved to the Midwest to go to college. That is where he developed his love of musical theatre, broadcasting and scriptwriting for the stage and screen. As a student at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, he performed in a dozen plays and wrote and directed a musical comedy. He also had a daily radio show for three years and was the hockey play-by-play voice of the BGSU Falcons for two years.

After graduation, he worked as an on-air personality at radio stations in Ohio and Michigan before receiving his MA in Screenwriting and Film from the University of Michigan.

Over four decades, he became a promotion writer, producer and creative director at a dozen stations from Boise, Idaho to New York City, winning multiple Emmy Awards. For nine years, he served as a board member of PROMAX International, and was the organization´s Chairman in 1995. For decades, he has served as an ambassador for everyone working as marketers of television, radio and movies.

After leaving the broadcasting in 2013, he worked in the non-profit world as the Marketing Director of The Vancouver (WA) Symphony Orchestra for 10 years, and even became a school bus driver.

In January 2024, Rich joined BayRadio International as the station´s US Correspondent, talking about American issues and politics.

He and his wife, Victoria, who is also a talented director/writer/producer moved to Valencia, Spain in 2018. Their daughter, Gillian, lives in the US and runs an art gallery in Manhattan.

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So, we start the year 2025 with a phenomenal protagonist which we appreciate greatly and thank happily for his participation and his friendship.

And remember, if you are a writer, poet, actor, playwright, musician or in any way connected to the arts, we want you! Be a protagonist on FEATURES by VALENCIARTIST! Simply send us your email address as a reply to this post and we will send you the information.

CHEERS – CHEERS – CHEERS – CHEERS – CHEERS

Hay que pensar, si no nos piensan…

LOVE IS BOURGEOIS

Love is bourgeois…
And happiness acts like a crazy bird
that flies solo thorough the clouds
sometimes making them to rain.

Nostalgia?
Nothing more than a mediocre pretension.
It pierces you with a knife,
stomps on your withered heart,
causing bad days and infections…

The rich eat the lazy…
The masses eat the lame…
But my teeth are sharp and I am thirsty,
and I’ve grown tired of this game.
I’ve cleaned up the wine stains,
cauterised the wound,
why should I then fall so disgraced?

Dinner time and we’re not hungry,
We’re sitting at the bar till it’s quite late,
glancing at friends that pass us by,
speaking little as we try,
to listen?
Not at all…
We’re ready and waiting for the fall…

Love is bourgeois…
Anger religious…
Forgiveness is a way of life,
with rounded edges like a dull, old knife,
which imitates the pain of holy sacrifice,
challenging our inhibitions.
and threatening us with lies.

(C.2021, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 05 JAN 2021, Valencia, Spain)

Behind your face, my face appears
then yours comes behind the clarity of mine
Valencia, we were ninots in a falla burning in the night
Images of papier mâché
Silver bodies dancing through the smoke and smell of sandalwood
On our palms the blood of mandarins
we stretch our arms between blue heavens
and a small, bewildered olive tree.

PLEASE CONTINUE READING AT LITERARY REVELATIONS (link below) THANK YOU

Valencia – poem by Gabriela Marie Milton and Francisco Bravo Cabrera

This was…and is…a southern rock kick-arse band, for sure! Love them! They were formed in Florida…

The band was formed in 1964 by singer Ronnie Van Zant, the guiterists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, drummer Bob Burns and bassist Larry Junstrom in Jacksonville, Florida. And the unique name came from the gymnastic professor of some of the boys in the band, good old boys that is…

Tragedy hit the group in October of 1977. A horrible airplane crash took the lives of Van Zant, Gaines and other members. This caused a sudden end to the band. But they regrouped in 1979 and later in 1987 with Ronnie’s little brother Johnny as lead vocals.

The above photo shows the band as it was before the crash in 1977. I tell you that I really enjoyed listening to this group and I still do. What do you think?

CHEERS

4) Romero Britto. Well Britto should take up a lot, if not most, of the slots in my ranking of my worst ten artists (my opinion). Really I should not even include him as an artist, because he is not. He is a mystery. I cannot understand why or who would purchase one of his atrocities. He stands next to the great bad ones like Miró and Kahlo. Yet those were simply bad artists, Britto is not an artist. And if you search, you find nothing about hi, He says he never studied art, and that is quite evident when you see his «works» which resemble a kindergartner’s colouring book. I will let you be the judge.

There really is no reason to put any more as they are all the same.

5) Jean-Michel Basquiat. The «enfant terrible» of the 1980’s. The boy-man who wanted to become famous and rich, and who managed it. I must say that I do respect him a bit more than most of the others, but I still consider him a terrible artist. His mother trained him in the arts and he profited from it, to a certain extent. He was a «graffiti artist» for a while, an abstract musician, a painter, a bohemian, a bum on the streets, and a spoiled brat who did not know how to live and ended up the way he did. Suicide by overdose of drugs. His works are uninspiring and quite cliché, boring to the max and do not, nor have they ever proffered anything to art history. The fact that he was always around the «greats» of his time contributed to his posthumous success. As to the value of his works, well, that is a mystery just like with Britto.

6) Damien Hirst. If anyone can be called a non-artist (besides the ones I have already mentioned) is Mr. Hirst. He thought he had invented the circles of colour, he put a shark in formaldehyde (which he did not mix well and the shark began to rot and had to be replaced) and he made a skull with diamonds who no one bought and who was secretly purchased by a group which included himself… He does not know anything about painting, drawing, well, nothing about art at all. Well, if I could put all the «artists» I have mentioned as number one on my list, I would.

CHEERS