Angel Hair / Joe Brainard


"A sampler of writing selected by Jacket editor John Tranter from the 630-page Granary Books anthology of material from the collection of Angel Hair magazine and books edited by Lewis Warsh and Anne Waldman (photo, left) between 1966 and 1978."
Jacket 16, MimeoMimeo, Granary Books

The Tornado History Project


April 1, 1974 Alabama Killer Tornadoes
"The Tornado History Project is a free, searchable database of all reported U.S. tornadoes from 1950-2009*. There are over 53,000 tornadoes currently in the database, each with its own map and forum. The project's main goal is to combine historical data with user submitted items (eyewitness memories, photos, videos, etc...) to recreate the history of as many tornadoes as possible."
The Tornado History Project, Blog

Hank Williams


Wikipedia - "Hank Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953), born Hiram King Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as among the greatest country music stars of all time. He charted eleven number one songs between 1948 and 1953, though unable to read or write music to any significant degree. His hits included 'Your Cheatin' Heart', 'Hey Good Lookin'' and 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry'."
Wikipedia, Lost Highway Records, last.fm, Hank Williams, YouTube - Lovesick Blues, Hey good lookin', Cold, Cold Heart, Lost Highway, Move it on Over, Jambalaya on the Bayou, There's a tear in my beer, Lonely Tombs, Please Don't Make Me Love You

Shot Heard 'round the World


Wikipedia - "In baseball, the 'Shot Heard 'round the World' is the term given to the game-ending home run hit by New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca at the Polo Grounds to win the National League pennant at 3:58 p.m. EST on October 3, 1951. As a result of the 'shot' (baseball slang for 'home run' or any hard-hit ball), the Giants won the game 5–4, defeating the Dodgers in their pennant playoff series, two games to one."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Shot Heard 'round the World, Video - Bobby Thomson Dies At Age 86, NYT - Bobby Thomson Dies at 86; Hit Epic Home Run, W - "Pafko at the Wall", Don DeLillo

A Collection a Day, 2010


"This is a blog documenting a project that will span exactly one year, from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. On each of those 365 days, I will photograph or draw (and occasionally paint) one collection. Most of the collections are real and exist in my home or studio; those I will photograph. Some are imagined; those I will draw or (occasionally) paint."
A Collection a Day, 2010

Carl Stone


Wikipedia - "Carl Stone (born Carl Joseph Stone, February 10, 1953) is an American composer, primarily working in the field of live electronic music. His works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the Near East."
Wikipedia, Carl Stone, kalvos, last.fm, YouTube - Schindler House, L'os a Moelle, ResBox, Ear Meal, Makino Takashi, Wall Me Do

Shirley Ellis


Wikipedia - "Shirley Ellis (born Shirley Marie Elliston, circa 1941, The Bronx, New York) is a soul music singer and songwriter of West Indian origin. She is best known for her novelty hits 'The Nitty Gritty' (1963) (U.S. #8), 'The Name Game' (1965) (U.S. #3) and 'The Clapping Song' (1965) (U.S. #8)."
Wikipedia, W - The Name Game, YouTube - The Name Game, The Clapping Song

B movie


Wikipedia - "A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature."
Wikipedia, AMC, GreenCine, Modern Times, Brians Drive In Theater

The Trojan Box Set series


Wikipedia - "The Trojan Box Set series is a range of various artist triple CD box sets, periodically released by the British reggae record label Trojan Records since 1998. The series covers a wide variety of reggae subgenres, styles and themes."
Wikipedia, The Trojan Box Set Statistics Page, YouTube - The Viceroys Rise, The Revolutionaries, The Four Aces, Tommy McCook & The Supersonics, Delroy Wilson, Desmond Dekker, Owen & Leon Silveras, Joe White

Decay Music


"From 1968 to 1976, Michael Nyman worked as a music critic for various magazines (Studio International, Time Out, Tempo, The New Stateman or The Spectator). He studied 16th and 17th c. baroque music in the mid-1960s, composing only a handful of musical pieces prior to the present 'Decay Music' in 1976, the real starting point of his carreer as a composer."
UbuWeb, Obscure #6: Michael Nyman ‘Decay Music’

The Prismatic Eye: Collages by Anne Ryan, 1948–54


Number 67. Collage. 8 ¾ × 7 ½ in.
"This installation presents twenty-three works by Anne Ryan (American, 1889–1954). Ryan was a self-taught writer, painter, and printmaker who took up her preferred medium, collage, at the age of fifty-eight. Even though she died a mere six years later, she managed to create approximately four hundred collages, mostly diminutive in scale."
Met Museum, NYT, tectónica, Wikipedia, Smithsonian Institution, Walker Art Center

Richard Pryor


Wikipedia - "Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful, vulgar and profane language, as well as racial epithets. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style."
Wikipedia, Richard Pryor, YouTube - Love, The African Jungle, BBC Documentry - Pryor Night, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6

Pictorial maps


Jean-Louis Rheault
Wikipedia - "Pictorial maps are a category of maps that are also loosely called illustrated maps, panoramic maps, perspective maps, bird’s-eye view maps and Geopictorial maps amongst others. In contrast to the regular road map, Atlas or topographic cartography, pictorial maps depict a given territory with a more artistic rather than technical style. The cartography can be a sophisticated 3-D perspective landscape or a simple map graphic enlivened with illustrations of buildings, people and animals."
Wikipedia, George Glazer, Illustrative Maps, Ephemera Press, mapformation

Blonde on Blonde (1966)


Wikipedia - "Blonde on Blonde is American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's seventh studio album, released May 1966 by Columbia Records. The album is believed to be the first significant double album in rock music, its length forcing it to two LPs. It is notable for injecting Dylan's brand of blues rock, fully established on Highway 61 Revisited, with a more eclectic sound and even more surreal lyrics. It also marked the end of an era for Dylan, who would soon be involved in a motorcycle accident, significantly changing his musical approach."
Wikipedia, amazon, W - Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35, W - Pledging My Time, W - Visions of Johanna, W - One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later), W - I Want You, W - Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again, W - Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat, W - Just Like a Woman, W - Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine), W - Temporary Like Achilles, W - Absolutely Sweet Marie, W - 4th Time Around, W - Obviously 5 Believers, W - Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.

Superman (1940s cartoons)


Wikipedia - "The Superman animated cartoons, commonly but somewhat erroneously known as the 'Fleischer Superman cartoons' were a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films released by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman. The first eight shorts were produced by Fleischer Studios from 1941 to 1942, while the final nine were produced by Famous Studios, a successor company to Fleischer Studios, from 1942 to 1943. Superman was the final animated series initiated under Fleischer Studios, before Famous Studios officially took over production in May 1942."
Wikipedia, amazon, Fleischer Superman cartoons "Superman (a.k.a. The Mad Scientist)" 1/8, "The Mechanical Monsters" 2/8, "Billion Dollar Limited" 3/8, "The Arctic Giant" 4/8, "The Bulleteers" 5/8, "The Magnetic Telescope" 6/8, "Volcano" 8/8

Semina Culture


"Semina Culture examines the work of the quintessential West Coast visual artist of the Beat era, Wallace Berman (1926–1976), and the community of creative people who coalesced around him."
NYU, Semina Overview, Wikipedia, Wallace Berman, Whitehot Magazine

Heroin


Wikipedia - "Heroin is a song by The Velvet Underground, released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Written by Lou Reed in 1964, the song is one of the band's most celebrated compositions, overtly depicting heroin use and abuse."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Heroin (acoustic live)

12 Angry Men


Wikipedia - "12 Angry Men is a 1957 American drama film adapted from a teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. Directed by Sidney Lumet, the film tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or innocence of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt. The film is notable for its almost exclusive use of one set: with the exception of two short scenes at the beginning and the end of the film set on the steps of the court building and two short scenes in an adjoining washroom, the entire movie takes place in the jury room."
Wikipedia, filmsite, amazon, YouTube - 12 Angry Men

Perseids


Wikipedia - "The Perseids (pronounced /ˈpɜrsiː.ɨdz/) is the name of a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are so-called because the point they appear to come from, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus. The name derives in part from the word Perseides (Περσείδες), a term found in Greek mythology referring to the descendants of Perseus. The stream of debris is called the Perseid cloud and stretches along the orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle."
Wikipedia, Dark Sky Finder, twitter, NASA

Music for 18 Musicians


Wikipedia - "Music for 18 Musicians was written for a cello, violin, two clarinets (both players double on bass clarinet), four pianos, three marimbas, two xylophones, a metallophone, and four women's voices. In the introduction to the score, Reich mentions that although the piece is named Music for 18 Musicians, it is not necessarily advisable to perform the piece with that few players due to the extensive doubling it requires."
Wikipedia, amazon, YouTube - Music for 18 Musicians, Music for 18 Musicians CD Trailer

Allen Ginsberg: The Art of Poetry No. 8


"INTERVIEWER. Do you feel you're in command when you're writing? GINSBERG. Sometimes I feel in command when I'm writing. When I'm in the heat of some truthful tears, yes. Then, complete command. Other times—most of the time not. Just diddling away, woodcarving, getting a pretty shape; like most of my poetry. There's only a few times when I reach a state of complete command. Probably a piece of Howl, a piece of Kaddish, and a piece of The Change. And one or two moments of other poems."
The Paris Review

Parisian sewer


Wikipedia - "The Parisian sewer system dates back to the year 1370 when the first underground system was constructed under 'rue Montmartre'. Since then consecutive French governments have enlarged the system to cover the city's population."
Wikipedia, Museum Chick, The Sewers of Paris: A Brief History, YouTube - Paris Sewer

Banksy


Wikipedia - "Banksy is the pseudonym of a prolific British graffiti artist, political activist and painter, whose identity is unconfirmed. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cites throughout the world."
Wikipedia, Banksy, flickr, BANKSY By Shepard Fairey, Guardian - Banksy, YouTube

Tonewheels


"The technology of synthesizing sound from light is a curious combination of research from the realms of mathematics, physics, electronics and communications theory which found realization in the industries of motion picture films, music, surveillance technology and finally digital communications."
Tonewheels

Moleskine Stories


"From creative minds and hearts that are aided by Moleskine journals come many uses. Here are but a few. Enjoy! Thanks to all submitters! And for those of you browsing, feel free to submit your art, drawing, writings, doodle, sketch, photo, short story, or snippet."
Moleskine Stories

Tellus #13 - Power Electronics (1986)


Joseph Nechvatal - "To begin; the basic premise behind 'Power Electronics' and 'Media Myth' was the exploration of the introspective world of the ear under the influence of the era's high-frequency electronic environment."
UbuWeb

Ladysmith Black Mambazo


Wikipedia - "Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a male choral group from South Africa that sings in the vocal style of isicathamiya and mbube."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube - Mambazo, Homeless, How Long, Music Legends

John Henry Twachtman


Landscape, 1889
Wikipedia - "John Henry Twachtman (August 4, 1853 – August 8, 1902) was an American painter best known for his impressionist landscapes, though his painting style varied widely through his career. Art historians consider Twachtman's style of American Impressionism to be among the more personal and experimental of his generation. He was a member of 'The Ten', a loosely-allied group of American artists dissatisfied with professional art organizations, who banded together in 1898 to exhibit their works as a stylistically unified group."
Wikipedia, John Henry Twachtman

Alice's Restaurant


Wikipedia - "The song lasts 18 minutes and 34 seconds, occupying the entire A-side of Guthrie's 1967 debut record album, also titled Alice's Restaurant. It is notable as a satirical, first-person account of 1960s counterculture, in addition to being a hit song in its own right. The final part of the song is an encouragement for the listeners to sing along, to resist the U.S. draft, and to end war."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Alice's Restaurant, Part 2

Prepared guitar


Wikipedia - "A prepared guitar is a guitar which has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques. This practice is sometimes called tabletop guitar, because many prepared guitarists do not hold the instrument in the usual manner, but instead place the guitar on a table to manipulate it."
Wikipedia, Keith Rowe - Prepared Guitar, keith rowe. live 2001, Keith Rowe in Czechia, Brno (festival Expozice nové hudby 2009), fred frith & camel zekri Luz 2005, Fred Frith / sound. at REDCAT pt. 1/2, REDCAT pt. 2/2, Steve Roden / sound. at the Schindler House pt. 1/3, Schindler House pt. 2/3, Schindler House pt. 3/3, Carl Stone/sound. at the Schindler House, Ear Meal with Carl Stone, Thomas Dimuzio / sound. at the Schindler House

Eileen Myles - Inferno


"Zingingly funny and melancholy, Inferno follows a young girl from Boston in her descent into the maelstrom of New York Bohemia, circa 1968. Myles beautifully chronicles a lost Eden: ‘The place I found was carved out from sadness and sex and to write a poem there you merely needed to gather.' -- John Ashbery"
DC'S, Poetry Foundation - Inferno, Eileen Myles - Inferno, YouTube - Inferno

Martha and the Vandellas


Wikipedia - "Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963-1967."
Wikipedia, History of Rock, YouTube - Heatwave, Dancing in the Streets, Nowhere To Run, Jimmy Mack

Busking


Nick. Chester, York, Bolton, Bury and Manchester.
Wikipedia - "Busking is the practice of performing in public places for tips and gratuities. People engaging in this practice are called buskers. Buskers may also be known as street performers, street musicians, minstrels, or troubadours. Busking performances can be just about anything that people find entertaining. Buskers may do acrobatics, animal tricks, balloon twisting, card tricks, caricatures, clowning, comedy, contortions & escapes, dance, singing, fire eating, fire breathing, fortune-telling, juggling, magic, mime and a mime variation where the artist performs as a living statue, musical performance, puppeteering, snake charming, storytelling or recite poetry or prose as a bard, street art (sketching and painting, etc.), street theatre, sword swallowing, and even putting on a flea circus."
Wikipedia

An Italian Journey: Drawings From the Tobey Collection, Correggio to Tiepolo


"The title suggests a leisurely Grand Tour, but An Italian Journey: Drawings From the Tobey Collection, Correggio to Tiepolo, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is more of a whirlwind trip. A couple of lines from Vasari, a map of Italy and you’re off, dashing through two centuries and at least eight cities in fewer than 100 works."
NYT, Met Museum, amazon, YouTube - The Handwriting of Artists and the Dating of Their Drawings: The Case of Parmigianino

99 Records


Wikipedia - "99 Records (pronounced Nine Nine) was an independent record label active from 1980-1984. 99 was run out of a record store with the same name, located at 99 MacDougal Street in New York City's Greenwich Village, and owned by Ed Bahlman."
Wikipedia, MySpace, YouTube - ESG-UFO, ESG - Moody, Liquid Liquid - Cavern, Maximum Joy - Stretch (Discomix & Rap), Rip Rig & Panic - Bob Hope Takes Risks, Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps, Glenn Branca - Lesson no.1 for electric guitar

Dick Tracy


"Dick Tracy is a long-running comic strip featuring a popular and familiar character in American pop culture. Dick Tracy is a hard-hitting, fast-shooting, and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror."
Wikipedia, Dick Tracy Museum

MTA - 60s, 70s, and 80s


"New York's MTA has a YouTube channel that features some pretty great historical videos from the 60s, 70s, and 80s."
YouTube - Metropolitan Transportation Authority, We're Coming Back TV Commercials (1989), Don't Do It (1988), Where Do We Go From Here? Part 1 (1970), Part 2, Part 3. Daily Miracle Part 1 (1961), Part 2, Part 3.

Time Waster


"Tonematrix by AM Laboratory is a very fun and easy-to-use music sequencing toy. It's a 16 x 16 grid of grey boxes, and clicking in a box will turn it on. Boxes that have been turned on go white, and you will quickly see that each line of boxes has its own individual tone."
Tonematrix, Andre Michelle

Fresh Stuff From Vinchen


"More from Vinchen here."
Wooster Collective, Vinchen

John Zorn / Spillane


"John Zorn, talking in his apartment about his file card composition Spillane, how TV and cartoon music inspired him and other stuff."
YouTube - 1, 2, amazon - Spillane, John Zorn

1934 West Coast waterfront strike


Bloody Thursday on the 1934 San Francisco General Strike
Wikipedia - "The 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike (also known as the 1934 West Coast Longshoremen's Strike, as well as a number of variations on these names) lasted eighty-three days, triggered by sailors and a four-day general strike in San Francisco, and led to the unionization of all of the West Coast ports of the United States. The San Francisco General Strike, along with the 1934 Toledo Auto-Lite Strike led by the American Workers Party and the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934 led by the Communist League of America, were important catalysts for the rise of industrial unionism in the 1930s, much of which was organized through the Congress of Industrial Organizations."
Wikipedia

Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance


2008 Image, Dia Art Foundation
"Much of contemporary photography and video seems haunted by the past, by ghostly apparitions that are reanimated in reproductive media, as well as in live performance and the virtual world. By using dated, passé, or quasi-extinct stylistic devices, subject matter, and technologies, this art embodies a melancholic longing for an otherwise irrecuperable past."
Guggenheim

Sun Ra - Disco 3000: Complete Milan Concert [1978]


"This is a remarkable live recording of Sun Ra playing various keyboards with a small ensemble that includes John Gilmore (tenor sax), Luqman Ali (drums), Michael Ray (trumpet) and June Tyson (vocals). Recorded during his brief stay in Italy in the winter 1977-78, it was originally released on Sun Ra's own Saturn label. Superb!"
Know Your Conjurer

All Creative Work Is Derivative (Minute Meme #2)


"Copyright control extends not just to verbatim copies, but to 'derivative works.' This has led to censorship on a grand scale. For example, the seminal German silent film 'Nosferatu' was deemed a derivative work of 'Dracula' and courts ordered all copies destroyed. Shortly before his death, author J.D. Salinger convinced U.S. courts to censor another author who transformed his characters. And so on. The whole history of human culture evolves through copying, making tiny transformations (sometimes called 'errors') with each replication. Copying is the engine of cultural progress. It is not 'stealing.' It is, in fact, quite beautiful, and leads to a cultural diversity that inspires awe."
All Creative Work Is Derivative (Minute Meme #2)

Electric Windows 2010


"On Saturday July 31st 2010, OPEN SPACE gallery and Burlock Home present Electric Windows 2010. 30 artists will converge in Beacon, NY to create live artwork and have their work installed on the exterior of a 19th century factory building. Electric Windows draws its name from the former electric blanket factory at the foot of Mount Beacon that will act as the backdrop for the event."
Electric Windows 2010

Dean & Britta “13 Most Beautiful… Songs For Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests”


"There certainly hasn’t been a lack of programming associated with the Wexner Center’s 'Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms' exhibition, especially of the musical variety. And for good reason, considering Warhol’s inseparability from the Velvet Underground."
Don't just do something, stand there, YouTube, Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed, Ingrid Superstar, Nico, Ann Buchanan, Dennis Hopper, Richard Rheem, Bob Dylan

Corinth Press


Anne Waldman & Eileen Myles; Lewis Warsh. Corinth Books, c1971.
"In the aftermath of my Floating Bear column, RealityStudio informed me that Jan Herman worked at the Eighth Street Bookshop and might have some facts about Corinth Press and the mysterious Bill Wilentz. According to Jan, Eli and Ted ran the bookstore and the press as I mentioned. No scoop on Bill Wilentz. Jan suggested I contact Bill Reed who also worked at the store and wrote a memoir entitled Early Plastic."
Reality Studio

The Silver Dream Machine: The synthesizer that accidentally changed the world


"They say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. By that reckoning, you certainly shouldn't judge a synth by it's cheap plastic casing. On first impressions you would probably not take much notice of this little silver box with it's array of silver knobs and switches scattered over its clumsy exterior."
The Silver Dream Machine, Google - Roland TB303 Documentary BASSLINE BASELINE by Nate Harrison

Orientalism


The Snake Charmer, Jean-Leon Gerome
Wikipedia - "Orientalism is primarily a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists. Since the 19th century, 'orientalist' has been the traditional term for a scholar of Oriental studies, however the use in English of 'Orientalism' to describe academic "Oriental studies' is rare; the Oxford English Dictionary cites only one such usage,'by Lord Byron in 1812."
Wikipedia, YouTube - On Orientalism, Edward Said, 1, 2, 3, 4

Blaxploitation


Wikipedia - "Blaxploitation is a film genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made specifically (and perhaps exclusively) for an audience of urban black people; the word itself is a portmanteau of the words 'black' and 'exploitation.' Blaxploitation films were the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music."
Wikipedia, Blaxploitation, African American cinema, Blaxploitation Jive, YouTube - Great Moments In Blaxploitation History, Shaft trailer (1971), Savage! - Blaxploitation Trailer