It is a good week for music and the entire creative scene in Oklahoma City. There is a great article about Wayne Coyne in the New York Times that highlights, among other things, his house and his love of duct tape. Be sure and read the article and you can also check out Coyne’s tour of Oklahoma City posted a couple weeks back. Then take time to consider how much Coyne and the Flaming Lips have contributed to the creative culture of our city, a city which seems to have a growing reputation as a “cool” place to be.

NEW OKC SCHOOL OF MUSIC

And beyond the vibe, concerts, parades, and alley names that they have contributed to the city already, the news today that UCO has partnered with Britain’s Academy of Contemporary Music to create a school of music in Bricktown should also be attributed in some part to the Flaming Lips’ and their commitment to our city. This project was helped by the Lips’ manager Scotty Booker who was said to be instrumental in the process of introducing the parties and bringing together the partnership. The school is a significant addition to not only Bricktown, but the city as a whole, and the long-term impact of this on the city’s cultural vitality should not be underestimated.

So a big thank you to Wayne Coyne and the Flaming Lips who have stayed loyal to their hometown and done so much to help us create a creative cultural in OKC!

1986: “A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself a failure.”

– Margaret Thatcher

2008: The Mayor in London proudly sent their red Buses to Beijing to receive the flag for the 2012 Olympics.

It appears to have shifted in London and many other major metropolises throughout the world. One can only speculate as to how perceptions are changing in OKC, as the current level of transit service is so poor that perceptions cannot be said to affect ridership.

So what do you think? If service was better would “successful” people – however you define it – be found riding public transit in Oklahoma City?

Richard Florida has been preaching about the importance of shaping cities that attract the young creatives since his 2003 release The Rise of the Creative Class. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in creating great cities. Actually, lets make it a must-own, because my copy has waited patiently on the bookshelf for two years and I have yet to read it, but so it goes. Anyway, recently Florida gave a lecture in Larvik and based on that lecture Norway artist Torhild Eide Torgersen was able to create this beautiful graphic diagram to summarize Florida’s ideas on Why Place Matters!

Click on the image to enlarge:

Aaron Koblin produces some amazing data visualizations that blur the line between data and art. One of my favorites is Flight Patterns where he visualizes the flight traffic data for the United States to create a time lapse video that tells an amazing visual story. Also, I should point out that his images make excellent desktop backgrounds!

Click on the picture to see the time lapse video: