New Books In Dance

John Garrison's Red Hot + Blue (33 1/3 Series) (Bloomsbury, 2024)  is a meditation on music's capacity to find us, transform us, and help us make sense of our historical moment. In a narrative that blends memoir and history, Red Hot + Blue explores Garrison's coming out at the height of the AIDS crisis alongside the history of the music industry's response to the epidemic. The book's centerpiece is a major 1990 effort by musical artists to break through the silence and stigma about the disease. The resulting tribute album drew inspiration from the life and work of the legendary composer Cole Porter, who himself wrestled with the joy and sorrow that accompanies love in a judgmental society. Leading musicians, including Debbie Harry, Annie Lennox, Sinead O'Connor, Iggy Pop, and U2, interpreted some of Porter's most iconic songs - “Don't Fence Me In,” “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” “Night and Day”- offering not just a joyful tribute to a composer and a community, but a shared vision of survival. Red Hot + Blue ret