Immersions
This week went by way too quickly. That tends to happen when almost every waking hour (and then some) are accounted for with work.
Community Update
In the spirit of demystifying Engagement Journalism for the larger world of journalists and humans let me give you an update about my project. The big news is that my community work has gone to the next level. I had a sit down with the core team of artists and administrators that run the Bronx Music Heritage Center and peel away more layers. The people who run BMHC were very clear that they need documentation to ensure that the work they do, especially around traditional art forms needs to survive for future generations to learn and engage. They also need to reach out to Bronx communities that they haven’t yet included, like Bangladeshis, Yemini and Albanians. I look forward to being a conduit for these efforts, identifying community leaders and spaces, figuring out who their artistic or cultural masters are and bringing them and their work into the BMHC fold.
The BMHC also needs help understanding their various communities’ information needs. As I’ve shared before they collaborate with a wide range of Bronx based groups including the military vets, college students, non profits that work with healthcare and voting and a host of other smaller organizations that represent groups like the indigenous Quechua people. I can say with some EJ pride that the BMHC hadn’t thought about asking their communities what they would need from them. They were very interested learning more about how I would put together a questionnaire or listening post to help them identify what their sister communities need. I’m really keen to apply the learnings from our Engagement Journalism classes and see if and how they work for the BMHC and beyond.
They want me to work with them on their existing corpus of media in various forms to see how it can be presented and exhibited for more people to see and learn. I also look forward to teaching people from the community how to make photos or short videos using their phone. Self determined storytelling is a very important part of my journey as a creative person. I believe that people when given the right tools and training can be very effective at telling their own stories. Who better than a person with lived experience to share their story. I can’t wait to get started on all these avenues and keep practicing being an engagement journalist.
For good measure, I’ve stumbled onto another music related community at the opposite end of the city down in Chinatown. Founded in 1991, “It specializes in “Downtown Music”, a recognized catchphrase for avant-garde jazz and contemporary composition, experimental, and improvisational music from around the world.” Bruce Lee Gallanter (68) is the founder of the store. Gallanter called himself a salesman but he’s an aficionado of improvisational and experimental music and sound art, a historian with an encyclopaedic knowledge of all kinds of music and the host of a weekly underground music scene that sees the tiny store transformed into an epic music venue. A place where musicians can be musicians, the world be damned.
Interestingly for us Engagement-J heads , Gallanter also writes a weekly newsletter on the music he loves and the store’s catalog. What began as a print run for 100 subscribers in the late 90s now has over 10,000 people online from all over the world. Every week he gets dozens of orders from his newsletter, some from regulars who have been ordering weekly for decades. He says this is what has kept the store and venue running for this long. When it comes to the “Downtown Music” scene Gallanter is a one man institution.
Less than a week ago, the BMG celebrated their 31st anniversary at the Artist’s Space a couple of blocks from the Canal street subway stop. What was supposed to be a celebration of a venue and a scene ended up being a celebration of the man behind it.
One after another some serious jazz musicians, including the underrated pianist, Paul Shaffer and the enigmatic genius, Tisziji Munoz (whom Gallanter helped save from obscurity), all paid tribute to Gallanter, heaping rich praise on the man, “who always came through for the scene and for the musicians.” Through the evening of veritably transcendent music, Gallanter was warmly embraced by dozens of concert attendees, friends and musicians. I was lucky to be present for one of the most transcendent musical experiences I’ve ever had and photograph it (next week’s post will have some of these photos)! At the depths of my soul I’m a music journalist and photographer.
I’ve also been hanging out at the store, something I like to do for long term stories to understand and peel away layers. If you peered in through the foggy window of the BMG at 5pm on Sunday, Oct 23, 2022, you would have seen Bruce with another middle aged man, their legs akimbo, eyes narrowed, heads bobbing, grooving hard to the incredible self titled Good God album, spinning on the record player. Full disclosure, the other man was me. Bruce was nailing solos and runs on various air instruments that comprised a truly epic album. Not a word was spoken as we listened to that whole album uninterrupted, speaking with our physical cues reacting purely to the music. It took me back to my heady young days, jamming to fully played albums with my dear late friend and fellow music-tragic, Angirus “Toto” Vellani. Gallanter, although much older, is how I would imagine Toto as an adult. Fully immersed in the music that was his life blood.
No one pays or gets paid in this scene but the musicians and patrons still come and participate, often with a lot of affection for Bruce. I felt an instant resonance with the man and the scene. Enough to start collaborating with Bruce on a short documentary film. At this point he says he is thinking about closing the store and shifting focus towards his personal collection. Gallanter has amassed over 100,000 rare records, CDs and cassette tapes that comprise his personal collection, along with almost 3000 concerts that he has recorded over the decades.
He wants to create a library that would house his collection of music after he passes on and serve as a repository for other collectors of his ilk. For him this is how music and musicians that would otherwise be forgotten, could be enshrined in the collective cultural memory. It’s the legacy he wants to leave behind. He needs someone to help him write grant proposals and help him contextualize the immense depth of love, passion and grit that has gone in keeping a scene and a venue alive, all in a tiny basement in Chinatown. If you think you can help please reach out to him or me.
Until then Bruce Lee Gallanter has a credo that he lives by, “Treat everybody nicely, treat everybody with respect, whether or not they’re going to buy something or not that doesn’t matter. Because the truth is if I treat them nice and I don’t have what they want they’re going to tell somebody else that the guy is knowledgeable and friendly and that’s what I am and I’m happy to be like that.”
Tresa Undem and the fallacies of polling
We’re fortunate that we get to interact with stalwarts outside our little echo chamber of journalism. This week we had a formidable lady speak to us in the most gentle way. Tresa Undem (who runs the research firm PerryUndem) is a force in polling. Not the poplar kind bandied about during every election cycle with skewed, leading questions and muddied results. This is the kind that takes into account the incredible diversity of perspectives, backgrounds and lived experiences of Americans.
Although not surprised, I was very disturbed when she clarified the deep levels of racism plaguing America. She told us that the top indicators that show how an American would vote are the issues of race (1) and gender (2). She said that one question revealed most accurately which end of the political spectrum a person will support. The question — “Agree or disagree with Black Lives Matter”. A telling and sobering reveal.
It was valuable to learn all this as an outsider just as the US is gearing up for mid term elections. It felt like we were given authentic insider information that sadly, few Americans will access.
She also speaks about how heavy handed and plain wrong most legacy publications are about vital issues like abortion and elections.
Here are few nuggets in her own words.
\\ Most polls end up viewing public opinion through a narrow lens
A lot of misinformation exists around abortion even with publications like the NYT.
Check out these services — youGov — data collection service, Qualboard
People DO want facts and information. There is a hunger and desire for the information.
Reporters often create the news, not report on it.
Which article gets clicked on a page? Usually it’s the one with the most real estate on the page.
Graphics are key. Most people are visual learners. Videos, multi sensory information works well.
When designing questions: Ask people how they think and feel — Do you think this way or do you not think this way?
When following up to a question say — “Tell me more” — instead of going specific or in one direction.
Use qualitative analysis to help frame the quantitative survey
Veer toward policy solutions and policy issues
Why aren’t they telling the racial story? Who is telling this story?
Most polls like Pew, Gallup, Upshot, ABC, WaPo, CNN are all horse race oriented.
All polls are very limited.
With any poll a spread below 10 points means you need to be careful. Below 5 points it’s impossible that the survey is correct and should be ignored.//