"It may seem like there isn’t a whole lot to be positive about in 2018, but amidst all the chaos there’s hope. David Byrne believes there are actually a lot of encouraging things going on around the world—they’ve given him hope and inspired a new record, and he’d like to share them with you. He’ll be presenting them live, by way of a talk and visual presentation.
Just like that Ian Dury song of the same name, Byrne’s Reasons to Be Cheerful use individual examples of positive action to give us a refreshing reminder that, despite the troubling times we live in, there are still a lot of great, inspiring things happening in our communities and around the world. Whether it’s a tech breakthrough or a musical act, a personal story of struggle against adversity or a major urban planning initiative – the good news is there’s a lot of it. This talk forms just one part of Byrne’s prolific output that centres on this idea of hope—a rubric that ties together everything he does, from his new album American Utopia, to his writing, live shows, videos and even music playlists."
​And eggs are like Jesus, his son."
I think we all have a core that's ecstatic, that knows and that looks up to wonder. We all know that there are marvelous moments of eternity that just happen. We know them.
"I imagine, like a lot of you who look back over the past year, it often seems as if the world is going straight to Hell. I wake up in the morning, I look at the paper, and I say to myself, "Oh no!" Often I’m depressed for half the day. It doesn’t matter how you voted—on Brexit, the French elections or the U.S. election more than a year ago—many of us of all persuasions and party affiliations feel remarkably similar. This feeling is not confined to one side of the political spectrum. As a kind of remedy to this, and possibly as a kind of therapy, I started collecting news that reminded me, "Hey, there's actually some positive stuff going on!" I will share thoughts, images and audio relating to this initiative and I’ll welcome contributions from others. "
David Byrne: theopoetic explorer who may or may not have theopoetic faith, but who is indeed a theopoetic tourist, who invites countless forms of theopoetic spirituality, some of which are cheerful.
​"This album is indirectly about those aspirational impulses. Sometimes to describe is to reveal, to see other possibilities. To ask a question is to begin the process of looking for an answer. To be descriptive is also to be prescriptive, in a way. The act of asking is a big step.
The songs are sincere—the title is not ironic. The title refers not to a specific utopia, but rather to our longing, frustration, aspirations, fears, and hopes regarding what could be possible, what else is possible. The description, the discontent and the desire—I have a feeling that is what these songs touch on."
"If you're not familiar with color guard, you're not alone: Byrne told the New York Times he estimated it was "completely unknown to 98 percent of New Yorkers." For the uninitiated, color guard is a form of beautifully melodramatic flag-waving, saber-tossing choreography. (Virginia's McLean High School has a helpful introduction in the form of its color-guard recruitment video.)"