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19

May

The Star-Spangled Banner Rides a Creative Wave

by Sheron Long on May 19, 2014

If video does not display, watch it here. 

Minor Key, Major Creative Thinking

Just before the “Play ball” call goes out in baseball stadiums across America, fans pause to honor an American tradition. Hand over heart, many sing along with “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

It’s a warm day, a happy time, and the music is in feel-good major key.

Then along comes Chase Holfelder who, honoring the tradition of creative thinking that built America, decides to experiment. He sings the song in minor key and delivers a performance described by many as “hauntingly beautiful.”

First Burst of Creativity

In September 1814 during the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and amateur poet, began a poem on the back of a letter and thereby created what would become our national anthem. Originally titled “Defense of Fort M’Henry,” Key was inspired by seeing the US flag still flying after a night of heavy bombardment at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry.

The Star Spangled Banner flag that inspired the lyrics to the US national anthem in 1814 and whose music and lyrics have been impacted by the creative thinking of subsequent generations. (Image from the Smithsonian Institution Archives)

This Star Spangled Banner flag inspired the lyrics to the US national anthem during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. A linen backing added in 1914 indicates its original size that had been reduced by pieces cut off for souvenirs. Image from the Smithsonian Institution Archives

By November, the work had achieved popular acclaim—17 newspapers had printed the poem, and the Carr Music Company had published both words and music.

No Stopping the Flow of Creativity

By the early 1900s, several versions of the song existed. A panel of musicians, including  John Philip Sousa, standardized a major-key rendition that was adopted by Congress in 1931 as the US national anthem.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” was institutionalized at public sports events during WWII. Creative adaptations began with Jose Feliciano’s blues-style version during the 1968 World Series, causing both acclaim and controversy.

Since then, versions rock, show soul, speak country, follow a Latin beat, and more. So much so that critics have taken to choosing their top ten renditions.

 

Airmen presenting a 100-yard by 50-yard flag at the Las Vegas Bowl, 2006, while the audience sings "The Star-Spangled Banner," an anthem personalized over time by a century's worth of creative thinking. (Image © Stocktrek Images)

Airmen present a 100-yard by 50-yard flag during the national anthem at the Las Vegas Bowl, 2006.
© Stocktrek Images

 

When Creative Works Go Viral

With his minor key version, Chase Holfelder, a web producer and user experience designer, has now added his mark on the national anthem. Uploaded on April 22, 2014, it has already received over 1,200,000 views—a remarkable speed even in our age of social media.

While some protest what they call “tampering” with a patriotic icon, others are looking for a national vote to make the minor key version official. They hear it as a better fit for today’s America.

Holfelder’s audience see many creative possibilities:

“This needs to be on the new Godzilla soundtrack. I want to see this haunting tune set to slow motion depictions of soldiers and citizens fighting side-by-side for their lives as the sky burns and Cthulhu takes his throne.”

—Andrew Chason

“This should be the song Anthony and Joe Russo decide to use for the hopeful reunion of Steve and Bucky in Captain America 3.”

—Rachel Fortune

“I feel like this would be sung at Captain America’s funeral.”

—Alice Ampora

Meanwhile, another creative type has already remixed Holfelder’s version with the theme from Winter Soldier playing in the background. And Holfelder has gone on to release “Amazing Grace” in minor key.

Creativity builds on creativity.

Oh, I see. We may not know what’s next, but when it comes to creative thinking and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the one thing we do know is that there will be a “next.”

 

The World's Music/USA

17

Apr

Creativity’s Corner: Where Art Meets Wordplay

by Sheron Long on April 17, 2014

Creative painting and word play by John Langdon showing the word "ME" set against the sky and the word "YOU" formed by the spaces inside the letters M and E. (Image © John Langdon)

“US”
© John Langdon

Look . . . and Look Again at John Langdon’s Illusions and Ambigrams

In life (and at OIC), you often get the invitation to consider new perspectives, to see things from different points of view. Today’s invitation is to a place where the visual and the verbal play together in the work of John Langdon. And the souvenir you take home is a hidden, often deeper meaning.

Let the games begin: How does the painting above fit its title, “US”?

 

The World's Art & Design/Wordplay

03

Apr

Wordplay: The Power of One Little Letter

by Sheron Long on April 3, 2014

Reinvented book cover for Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code with new cover art showing a codfish and the title shortened to The Da Vinci Code, illustrating an example of wordplay for word lovers. (Image with thanks to @darth)

Dropping a letter changes a best-seller with a sophisticated “code”
into a new plot starring a slimy “cod.”
(image thanks to @darth)

Clever Words for Clever Word Lovers

What’s so attractive about words such that some people become logophiles (yep, that’s the official term for “word lovers”)?

  • Perhaps it’s the puzzle of wordplay games like Scrabble where an aha moment lights up the brain when you figure out how to use all seven letters.
  • Maybe it’s the social aspect of games like Words with Friends, when folks who choose a random opponent meet through the chat feature. Some even marry, putting two important words together: I do.
  • But for many word lovers, it’s simply the thrill of the challenge.  There’s power there, too, for people like @darth, whose creative reinvention of book covers (above) just might change the course of literary history.

Oh I see. One little letter makes a mighty big difference. It could be for the better; it could be for the worse.

Newlyweds kissing and wordplay below showing the change from "Yours" to "Ours" by deleting one letter in a game that fascinates word lovers. (image © Malsveta/iStock)

A marriage promise is for better or worse.
Which is it when just one letter moves things from “yours” to “ours”?
© Malsveta/iStock

The Oxford English Dictionary defines 750,000 words in the English language. Because languages are always changing and words have many different forms, Merriam-Webster reports that the number might go as high as one million. Either way, the English language is a big playground.

Warming Up

Myself a logophile and ready to play, I first improved some book titles in my kitchen:

—A favorite cookbook went from The Joy of Cooking to The Joy of Cooing. After all, isn’t that what romantic dinner conversation is all about?

—Losing an r from Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-seller, Eat, Pay, Love was next. Adding a T to Julia Child’s opus, Mastering the Tart of French Cooking led me to a good dessert.

Feeling my oats now, I turned my place into my palace and a sure-fire way to get a “yes” whenever I send invites to a bite of dinner.

A dilapidated house, labeled "My Place" next to an opulent house labeled "My Palace," illustrating a wordplay game for word lovers. (image ©AbleStock.com and ©pabkov/iStock)

Tiny change, big difference if you’re having a banquet
©AbleStock.com (L) and ©pabkov/iStock (R)

Imagination Kicks In

Just as books in the Harry Potter series suspend reality, so it is with wordplay and the title for the new underwater series: Harry Otter. Stealing an F leads to more fun and fantasizing about the plots in Animal Arm and Lie of Pi.

So it goes—whenever I play with words, my imagination runs wild. I start to picture scenes like these:

—An eerie atmosphere changes to an eerie catmosphere with eyes aglow and fur that turns to fury.

Cat eyes glowing in the dark, illustrating wordplay of changing an "atmospheric condition" to "catmospheric condition," a game enjoyed by word lovers. (Image © Eric Gevaert / Hemera)

The catmospheric condition of the universe
© Eric Gevaert / Hemera

—On stage at the Lincoln Center, a ballerina in a spotted leotard becomes a leopard stalking prey.

—In a low-lit Nairobi night club, a mean ole mamba does the mambo.

—At a soiree aboard the haunted Queen Mary, an almost ghost turns out to be the host.

—In a close encounter of another kind, a Purple Martin house transforms into a purple Martian house.

More for the History Books

Wordplay has a long, illustrious history.

  • Anagrams, in which the letters of a word like listen are rearranged into a new word like silent, became popular in Europe in the Middle Ages and may even date to the ancient Greeks.
  • By the 17th Century, Louis XIII appointed a royal anagrammatist whose job it was to entertain the court by creating anagrams of people’s names.
  • The venerable crossword puzzle, birthed by Arthur Wynne for the New York World, celebrated its 100th birthday on December 21, 2013. It has given millions of logophiles a century worth of fun.

It’s no wonder then that word lovers and wordplay are still going strong today, sometimes in a mash-up of modern days and history. To wit: When a dog friend of mine snatched an entire bag of chips, it brought to mind the Greek beauty Helen of Troy. Why?

Hers was the face that launched a thousand ships sparking the battle of Troy. His was the face that lunched a thousand chips barking at the dare of his ploy.

Face of a springer spaniel against a background of potato chips, illustrating wordplay when "the face that launched a thousand ships" turns into "the face that lunched a thousand chips" enjoyed by word lovers. (Image © Son GalleryTM / iStock)

Helen of Troy and this good boy have a lot in common!
© Son GalleryTM / iStock

What fun! And you, too, can play. Enjoy good times and many “Oh, I see” moments inventing new titles for 20 famous books. Download the list and start playing, but—remember—you can change only one little letter.

 

 

Book titles VIA Pleated Jeans with input from reader comments and tweets to #bookswithalettermissing.

Find all kinds of creative word games at Merriam-Webster. 

Scrabble, invented during the Great Depression, is now owned by Hasbro. Words with Friends, developed in 2008 by Paul and David Bettner, is now owned by Zynga.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

 

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