The Postcard Age

"In the decades around 1900, postcards were Twitter, e-mail, Flickr, and Facebook, all wrapped into one. A postcard craze swept the world, as billions of cards were bought and mailed, or just pasted into albums. Many famous artists turned to the new medium, but one of the great pleasures of postcards is how some of the most beautiful and interesting cards were made by artists whose names we barely know. This unprecedented exhibition traces how big historical and cultural themes of the modern age—enthralling, exciting, and sometimes disturbing—played out on the postcard’s tiny canvas. 'The Postcard Age' features about 400 cards by a wide variety of artists and publishers from throughout Europe and the Americas. It is arranged not by style or country, but by theme, with sections devoted to, among other things, urban life, the changing role of women, sports, celebrity, new technologies, the stylish collectors’ cards of the art nouveau, and World War I."
MFA
MFA: Preview the Exhibition
WSJ: Cards To Write Home About
amazon

Cabaret Voltaire - #7885 (Electropunk to Technopop 1978-1985)

"No story of the Sheffield music scene is complete without mention of Cabaret Voltaire, the post-punk outfit whose approach to electronic music was so feral it felt like you could hear it degrading in real time. The band formed in 1973, a time when one of their formative influences, Roxy Music, were in their Eno-inspired pomp. Fired up on a diet of J.G. Ballard, William S. Burroughs, and Brion Gysin, Cabaret Voltaire borrowed their name from a Zurich nightclub that was a gathering spot for pivotal figures in the Dada movement, and by 1974 settled into a steady lineup of Richard Kirk, Stephen Mallinder, and Chris Watson. Some of their abstract work from that period was gathered together on a three-disc collection, Methodology ‘74/’78, released by Mute in 2002. But their story really starts in 1978, with the band recording out of their own Western Works headquarters, where they adhered to a do-it-yourself ethos that would link them to the bracket of groups loosely banded under the post-punk banner."
Pitchfork (Video)
Mute Records (Video)
W - Cabaret Voltaire
YouTube: #7885 (Electropunk to Technopop 1978-1985)

Aspen no. 3 - The Pop Art issue

"Eleven items, all but two of them numbered (items 9 and 10 unnumbered in the original), plus loose advertisements. Designed by Andy Warhol and David Dalton. Published December 1966 by Roaring Fork Press, NYC."
Aspen no. 3

Black Hole Hunters

"Sheperd Doeleman’s project to take the first-ever picture of a black hole wasn’t going well. For one thing, his telescope kept filling with snow. For two weeks at the end of March, Volcan Sierra Negra, an extinct 15,000-foot volcano also known as Tliltepetl that looms over the landscape in southern Mexico, was the nerve center for the largest telescope ever conceived, a network of antennas that reaches from Spain to Hawaii to Chile. Known as the Event Horizon Telescope, named after the point of no return in a black hole, its job was to see what has been until now unseeable: an exquisitely small, dark circle of nothing, a tiny shadow in the glow of radiation at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. It is there that astronomers think lurks a supermassive black hole, a trap door into which the equivalent of four million suns has evidently disappeared. ..."
NY Times (Video)

The Fall of Paris: The Siege and The Commune 1870-71

"Alistair Horne's The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune, 1870-71 is the first book of Alistair Horne's trilogy, which includes The Price of Glory and To Lose a Battle and tells the story of the great crises of the rivalry between France and Germany. The collapse of France in 1870 had an overwhelming impact - on Paris, on France and on the rest of the world. People everywhere saw Paris as the centre of Europe and the hub of culture, fashion and invention. ... In this brilliant study of the Siege of Paris and its aftermath, Alistair Horne researches first-hand accounts left by official observers, private diarists and letter-writers to evoke the high drama of those ten tumultuous months and the spiritual and physical agony that Paris and the Parisians suffered as they lost the Franco-Prussian war. ..."
WordsWorth Books
W - Siege of Paris (1870–71)
Franco Prussian War (Video)
amazon

Jane Freilicher (1924-2014)

Studio on Long Island
"This week brought the very sad news that the artist Jane Freilicher has passed away at the age of 90. Freilicher was, of course, a major, founding figure at the heart of the New York School, who was central to the movement and community from its very beginnings in the early 1950s right down to the present. Some fine obituaries and appreciations have already appeared — in the New York Times and in ARTNews, among others — and I’m sure more are to come. Freilicher’s importance to the poets and aesthetics of the New York School is too great and extensive to encapsulate in a blog post. But I do want to note how often the word 'muse' comes up in discussions of Freilicher and New York School poetry. ..."
Locus Solus: The New York School of Poets
From the A.i.A. Archive: John Ashbery on Jane Freilicher (May-June 1975)
Painting the Hamptons
Jane Freilicher, Painter and Confidant of the New York School, Dies at 90
ARTFORUM

2014 February: Jane Freilicher

Sun Ra and His Aresktra - New Horizons (1956)

"In 1965, Sun Ra was emerging on the national scene from his home in Chicago as a preeminent progressive little big-band leader. The beginnings of a lengthy and fruitful career were based on the theory of 'living notes,"' and the premise that people wanted something different. New Horizons includes Ra's initial albums for the Transition (Jazz by Sun Ra and Jazz in Transition) and Saturn Research (Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth and Super-Sonic Jazz) labels, which have been reissued previously in part on Delmark, and more thoroughly from the Evidence label. The seeds of a diverse, expansive, revolutionary music style are all here, punctuated by Ra's witty charts and featuring explosive soloists like trumpeter Art Hoyle, tenor saxophonist John Gilmore, trombonist Julian Priester, and baritone saxophonists Pat Patrick and Charles Davis. Each of the 19 selections is bold, beautifully conceived, swings in the tradition, and only hints at things to come when Ra would completely stretch parameters and shatter boundaries. ..."
allmusic
Fresh Sound Records
YouTube: Call For All Demons, "New Horizons: Early Sun Ra"

A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders (1993)

"Though the abstract rappers finally betrayed a few commercial ambitions for Midnight Marauders, the happy result was a smart, hooky record that may not have furthered the jazz-rap fusions of The Low End Theory, but did merge Tribe-style intelligence and reflection with some of the most inviting grooves heard on any early-'90s rap record. The productions, more funky than jazzy, were tighter overall -- but the big improvement, four years after their debut, came with Q-Tip's and Phife Dawg's raps. ... A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders was commercially successful, artistically adept, and lyrically inventive; the album cemented their status as alternative rap's prime sound merchants, authors of the most original style since the Bomb Squad first exploded on wax."
allmusic
W - Midnight Marauders
Pitchfork
Soundcloud (Video)
UNCOVERED: The Making of A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders Album Cover (1993) with Art Director Nick Gamma.
Spotify (Video)
YouTube: Midnight Marauders (1993) [Full Album] 54:04

2011 May: A Tribe Called Quest, 2014 October: The Low End Theory (1991).

The Big Gundown - John Zorn plays Ennio Morricone (1985)

Wikipedia - "The Big Gundown is an album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn. It comprises radically reworked covers of tracks by the Italian film composer Ennio Morricone. The album is named after a 1966 spaghetti western of the same name, directed by Sergio Sollima, starring Lee Van Cleef, and scored by Morricone. ... In 1985 Zorn had been working in New York City's experimental music scene for almost a decade (the album was originally to be called 'Once Upon a Time in the Lower East Side'), but The Big Gundown launched him to wider prominence. In the notes for the 2000 reissued CD, Zorn describes The Big Gundown as representing a creative breakthrough as well for being the first time he worked extensively with multi-track recording, overdubbing and ornate orchestration. ..."
Wikipedia
allmusic
amazon
YouTune: John Zorn plays Ennio Morricone - The big gundown, Peur sur la ville (Fear Over the City), The Sicilian Clan, Erotico (The Burglars), Once Upon A Time In The West, Svegliaffi & Uccidi, Milano Odea, Battle of Algiers

2009 March: John Zorn, 2010 August: Spillane,  2011 October: Filmworks Anthology : 20 Years of Soundtrack Music, 2012 September: Marc Ribot, 2013 January: Bar Kokhba and Masada, 2013 September: Masada String Trio Sala, 2014 January: Full Concert Jazz in Marciac (2010), 2014 March: "Extraits de Book Of Angels" @ Jazz in Marciac 2008.

Heroes of the Blues Boxed Trading Card Set by R. Crumb

"Blues music laid the foundation for rock and roll. Some of the most well known musicians of early rock such as Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis borrowed heavily from the blues both lyrically and melodically. In this wonderful card set, thirty-six early blues musicians are lovingly depicted by famed cartoonist R. Crumb, with concise biographies on reverse. Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Memphis Minnie, Charley Patton, Jaybird Coleman, Blind Willie Johnson, the Mississippi Sheiks, Sleepy John Estes, Roosevelt Sykes & many others, both giants in the field and obscure. These are printed on heavy card stock and housed in a very cool gift box."
amazon

2008 August: Robert Crumb, 2010 October: Comics No. 1, 2011 October: Pioneers of Country Music Trading Cards, 2012 August: R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection, 2015 May: R. Crumb Describes How He Dropped LSD in the 60s & Instantly Discovered His Artistic Style.

Battle for Brooklyn (2011)

Wikipedia - "Battle for Brooklyn is a 2011 documentary that follows the stories of a Brooklyn neighborhood as the residents fight to save their homes from being destroyed by an impending real estate project. The film attempts to show the unjust outcomes that are possible when moneyed interests partner up with government entities to outweigh the rights of citizens. Set in the years between 2003 and 2011, the story follows graphic designer Daniel Goldstein, the last defiantly remaining homeowner in his building, as he battles Bruce Ratner’s Forest City real estate company and their plans to complete the Atlantic Yards Project in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The massive building project - according to the filmmakers, the densest real estate development in U.S. history - required the procurement of 22 acres of land, and would bring a sports complex to house the New Jersey Nets along with 16 high-rise buildings to the heart of Brooklyn. Initially tasked with filling the behemoth 22 acre complex was architect Frank Gehry, who NPR calls 'American architecture's prince of wasted space'. ..."
Wikipedia
NPR: Lawful Land Grab Sparks A 'Battle For Brooklyn'
NY Times: Barclays Center (Atlantic Yards)
New documentary 'Battle for Brooklyn' details the fight over the Atlantic Yards project
YouTube: Trailer: Battle for Brooklyn, The Battle For Brooklyn: Eminent Domain Abuse Gone Wild

Jacobin

"Jacobin is a leading voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture. The print magazine is released quarterly and reaches over 10,000 subscribers, in addition to a web audience of 600,000 a month. 'The appearance of Jacobin magazine has been a bright light in dark times. Each issue brings penetrating, lively discussions and analyses of matters of real significance, from a thoughtful left perspective that is refreshing and all too rare. A really impressive contribution to sanity, and hope.' — Noam Chomsky"
Jacobin
W - Jacobin (magazine)
NY Times: A Young Publisher Takes Marx Into the Mainstream
New Left Review
facebook, twitter
YouTube: Jacobin: Stretching the boundaries of the Liberal Left Critique, Bhaskar Sunkara: Beyond the Welfare State

The Kids in the Hall's Scott Thompson on Why Their Comedy Is Timeless

"... One entry you should definitely include, and probably would want to rank fairly high on said list, would be the Canadian-born sketch show The Kids in the Hall, which ran on television both in the Great White North and here in the states for six or seven seasons and had a definite influence on comedy in the late '80s and early '90s. The often-absurd and decidedly hilarious show – which featured the members of the Canadian comedy troupe of the same name – is sometimes overlooked compared to other sketch heavyweights like SNL (both were created and produced by Lorne Michaels) but carved out its own offbeat niche with such unique characters as Simon and Hecubus, Gavin the Annoying Boy, Cabbage Head, The King of Empty Promises, and Mr. Heavyfoot."
Phoenix New Times (Video)
The Kids in the Hall: Better Together
10 episodes that take you inside the weird world of The Kids In The Hall
YouTube: Kids In The Hall Season 1 Episode Pilot

2011 July: Kids in the Hall, 2013 January: The Kids in the Hall - Into the Doors

Musée d'Orsay

Wikipedia - "The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. It houses the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin and Van Gogh. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume prior to the museum's opening in 1986."
Wikipedia
Musée d'Orsay
YouTube: Paris Musée d'Orsay, Musee d'Orsay - the best online documentary

2013 December: Guide to the Musee D'Orsay

Eddie Boyd

"Few postwar blues standards have retained the universal appeal of Eddie Boyd's 'Five Long Years.' Cut in 1951, Boyd's masterpiece has attracted faithful covers by B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Buddy Guy, and too many other bluesmen to recount here. But Boyd's discography is filled with evocative compositions, often full of after-hours ambience. Like so many Chicago blues stalwarts, Boyd hailed from the fertile Mississippi Delta. The segregationist policies that had a stranglehold on much of the South didn't appeal to the youngster, so he migrated up to Memphis (where he began to play the piano, influenced by Roosevelt Sykes and Leroy Carr). ..."
allmusic
W - Eddie Boyd
Rockabilly
amazon: Eddie Boyd
Spotify: The Complete Recordings 1947-1950
YouTube: Drifting, Kilroy Won't Be Back, Five Long Years (Live), I Had To Let Her Go, Just a Fool, Nothing But Troublea>, Too Bad, Please Help Me, She's The One, Picture In The Frame, Come Home!, Save Her Doctor

Pascal Comelade ‎– La Catedral D'Escuradents

"Unique music from a unique musician. Comelade is a French/Catalan musician who started in electronic music but for over 30 years has specialized in a personalized music that usually features toy instruments. Using simple tools, he always seems to be able to hit the point of a melody. This is a collection from a decade of his work: 1992-2002, taken from many, many otherwise unavailable recordings. Also of interest is that there's always a few famous guests on his albums. If you enjoy his work (I have for many years) and there are gaps in your collection, then this is a great bet. If you are baffled by a grown man and toy pianos, then you should probably move along..."
Wayside Music
Discogs
iTunes
YouTube: The Blank Invasion Of Schizofonics Bikinis, Russian Roulette

2014 June: Pascal Comelade, 2014 September: September Song (2000), 2014 November: El pianista del antifaz (2013), 2015 April: L'argot Du Bruit (1998).

Stéphane Mallarmé

Édouard Manet, Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé, 1876
Wikipedia - "Stéphane Mallarmé (... 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism. Stéphane Mallarmé was born in Paris. He worked as an English teacher and spent much of his life in relative poverty but was famed for his salons, occasional gatherings of intellectuals at his house on the rue de Rome for discussions of poetry, art and philosophy. "
Wikipedia
amazon: Stéphane Mallarmé
Creating a New Language: The Poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé

Believe In A Land Of Love: New Order's Low-Life 30 Years On

"'It's bollocks.' The time is a May Saturday night in Slough in 1985. The scene is the kind of house party that will force the host's parents to question their decision to go away for the weekend. All around is evidence of the evening's excess: crumpled beer cans, overflowing ashtrays, red wine leaving its damage on a carpet. Hapless lads are being rebuffed by girls who know they can do better, and the usual scuffles are occurring at the stereo as compilation tapes struggle to get played in their entirety. Meanwhile, I'm enthusing about New Order's recently released third album, Low-Life to my friend Henry and he's having none of it. ..."
The Quietus (Video)

2009 February: New Order, 2011 May: Movement, 2011 October: Low-Life, 2011 December: Brotherhood, 2012 May: Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division, 2012 September: Power, Corruption & Lies (1983).

Art on Camera: Photographs by Shunk-Kender, 1960–1971

John Baldessari (American, b. 1931). Hands Framing New York Harbor from Pier 18. 1971.
"The photographers Harry Shunk (German, 1924–2006) and János Kender (Hungarian, 1937–2009) worked together under the name Shunk-Kender from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, based first in Paris and then in New York. Shunk-Kender photographed artworks, events, and landmark exhibitions of avant-garde movements of the era, from Nouveau réalisme to Earth art. They were connected with a vibrant art scene that they captured through portraits of artists and participated in through collaborative projects. The roles played by the duo varied from one project to the next. In some cases, Shunk-Kender worked as documentarians, photographing Happenings and performances; in other instances, they were collaborators, acting alongside other artists to realize works of art through photography. ..."
MoMA
Various Artists Pier 54

Patti Smith Polaroids of Artifacts from Virginia Woolf, Arthur Rimbaud, Roberto Bolaño & More

"Polaroid photography has seen a new wave of interest over the past decade, in large part from young photographers looking to do something different from what they can with the digital technology on which they grew up. The other modern practitioners include no less a creator than Patti Smith, who have personally witnessed the format’s appearance, fade, and return. A few years ago, her Polaroid photography reached the galleries, becoming shows and installations in Connecticut and Paris. ..."
Open Culture
amazon: Patti Smith: Camera Solo
Land 250 Polaroid Photographs (Video)

2012 November: Patti Smith: Camera Solo

The Weather Underground (2003)

"In October 1969, hundreds of young people wielding lead pipes and clad in football helmets marched through an upscale Chicago shopping district, pummeling parked cars and smashing shop windows. Thus began the 'Days of Rage,' the first demonstration of the Weathermen, later known as the Weather Underground. Outraged by the Vietnam War and racism in America, this group of former student radicals waged a low-level war against the United States government through much of the 1970s, bombing the Capitol building, breaking Timothy Leary out of prison and finally evading the FBI by going into hiding. In THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND, former Weathermen including Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Mark Rudd and David Gilbert speak frankly about the idealist passions and trajectories that transformed them from college activists into the FBI’s Most Wanted. ..."
PBS (Video)
Slate: Notes From the Underground
NY Times: A Trip Back to the Contradictions of the Stormy 60's
W - The Weather Underground (2003)
snagfilms: The Weather Underground (2003) 1:30:00
amazon
YouTube: The Weather Underground - Trailer

Roseanne Cash - King's Record Shop (1987)

Wikipedia - "King's Record Shop is the sixth studio album by American country music singer Rosanne Cash. Released in 1987, it produced four number 1 singles on the Billboard country singles chart. They were 'The Way We Make a Broken Heart', 'If You Change Your Mind', 'Tennessee Flat Top Box' (which was written and originally sung by father Johnny Cash), and 'Runaway Train'. The album is named after King's Record Shop in Louisville, Kentucky, which was owned by Pee Wee King's younger brother, Gene. A photograph of Rosanne Cash standing in the shop's doorway is featured on the cover, though she was never actually at the shop for the photo. Veteran steel guitarist Hank DeVito took the photo of the record shop and one of Rosanne standing as she is in the photo."
Wikipedia
allmusic
Spotify
YouTube: Runaway Train, The Real Me, Run Away Train, Tennessee Flat Top Box, The Way We Make a Broken Heart, If You Change Your Mind

2010 March: Rosanne Cash, 2012 January: Black Cadillac, 2012 April: "I Was Watching You"  , 2012 July: The Wheel, 2012 February: Live From Zone C, 2014 February: The River & the Thread (2014), 2014 August: Rules of Travel (2003).

Pere Ubu - Street Waves / My Dark Ages (1976)

Street Waves: "I ride a street wave right by her side / And I can hear the city city comin' 'round The things I say hit the air and seem to fall apart / And I can see the faces faces fallin' down / And then I'm gone, gone, gone by her heart // I get a picture of what it'll be like/ I turn the channel round to Channel 43 / I see electricity jump and spark / I see electricity uh real and stark / And then I'm gone, gone, gone by her heart // I ride a street wave right by her side /And I can hear the city city comin' 'round / The things I say hit the air and seem to fall apart / And I can see the faces faces fallin' down / And then I'm gone, gone, gone by her heart / And then I'm gone, gone, gone by her heart"
Song Lyrics
YouTube: Street Waves (Theatre 140, Brussels 1978-05-05), My Dark Ages (I Don't Get Around)

2008 April: Pere Ubu, 2010 July: Pere Ubu - 1, 2012 November: David Thomas And The Pedestrians - Variations On A Theme, 2013 February: Dub Housing, 2014 September: Carnival of Souls (2014).

Cuneiform Press

"For over a decade, Cuneiform Press has specialized in publishing poetry, artists’ books, and books-about-books in the tradition of the independent press. Cuneiform is committed to publishing enduring (and occasionally ephemeral) works that negotiate critical and creative thinking, merging the latest industry trends with historically-informed typographic practices to foreground the state of the book in our contemporary cultural climate. ..."
Cuneiform Press
Catalog: Cuneiform Press
W - Kyle Schlesinger

Russian Modernism: Cross-Currents of German and Russian Art, 1907-1917

Woman in Garden, 1912, Gabriele Münter.
"This exhibition is dedicated to modernist movements in German and Russian art at the beginning of the 20th century. Their development was parallel and often intersected. This is the first exhibition at an American museum to focus exclusively on the important artistic links between these two countries, featuring works by artists Natalia Goncharova, Erich Heckel, Alexei von Jawlensky, Vasily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Mikhail Larionov, and Gabriele Münter, among others. The show will be on view through August 31, 2015. ..."
Neue Galerie
WSJ
NY Times: Review: ‘Russian Modernism’ at Neue Galerie, Figurative Focus With Amorphous Results
amazon

Horace Andy's Dub Box: Rare Dubs 1973-1976

"... Not only is this collection of golden voice reggae icon Horace Andy one of our favorite dub records of all time, it just might be one of our favorite records PERIOD, dub or otherwise...  So rare and rad for someone who continually makes quality and moving music for as many years as Horace Andy has to keep getting better, and pushing boundaries. This record finds Andy at his dubbiest and best. Recorded at all the great Jamaican studios like Channel 1 and King Tubby's with production by Bunny Lee and a band of bad ass and out of control heavyweights: Sly & Robby the rhythm section, Augustus Pablo on keyboards, Tommy McCook on Sax, Earl 'Chinna' Smith on guitar, that's so far beyond simply an all star ensemble."
Aquarius Records
amazon
YouTube: Horace Andy's Dub Box: Rare Dubs 1973-1976

2012 March: Horace Andy + Sly & Robbie - Livin´ It Up, 2013 September: Horace Andy Meets Naggo Morris/Wayne Jarrett -- Mini Showcase (2002).

BSA Images Of The Week 05.31.15

Maupal painted the map of a fictional town on a Wall in Rome.
"... Maupal created this fictional town on wall in Rome this month, and here he gives you a tour: 'As you can see from the picture, in #soulcity, life is depicted as it is a small city surrounded by 'the river of death' (il fiume della morte ). To enter the burg, you have to pass though the only one entrance of the town, the Arco della nascita, 'the Arc of birth' signed by an arrow. The Muro del parto ('the offstring-wall') divides what is life from what is not. From the moment when one comes to the world, there is only a single one way road that he/she can take, the Boulevard of Childhood (viale dell’Infanzia). From that point onwards, everybody can choose their own path to follow from several routes available.' ..."
Brooklyn Street Art

Park Slope and the Story of Brownstone Brooklyn

"Park Slope – or simply the park slope, as they used to say – is best known for its spectacular Victorian-era mansions and brownstones, one of the most romantic neighborhoods in all of Brooklyn. It’s also a leading example of the gentrifying forces that are currently changing the make-up of the borough of Brooklyn to this day. During the 18th century this sloping land was subject to one of the most demoralizing battles of the Revolutionary War, embodied today by the Old Stone House, an anchor of this changing neighborhood. In the 1850s, the railroad baron Edwin Clark Litchfield brought the first real estate development to this area in the form of his fabulous villa on the hill. By the 1890s the blocks were stacked with charming house, mostly for occupancy by wealthy families. ..."
The Bowery Boys: New York City History
W - Park Slope
A Walk Among the Brownstones of Brooklyn

2014 April: Brownstone

Public Image Ltd. - Metal Box (1979)

"PiL managed to avoid boundaries for the first four years of their existence, and Metal Box is undoubtedly the apex. It's a hallmark of uncompromising, challenging post-punk, hardly sounding like anything of the past, present, or future. Sure, there were touchstones that got their imaginations running -- the bizarreness of Captain Beefheart, the open and rhythmic spaces of Can, and the dense pulses of Lee Perry's productions fueled their creative fires -- but what they achieved with their second record is a completely unique hour of avant-garde noise. Originally packaged in a film canister as a trio of 12" records played at 45 rpm, the bass and treble are pegged at 11 throughout, with nary a tinge of midrange to be found. It's all scrapes and throbs (dubscrapes?), supplanted by John Lydon's caterwauling about such subjects as his dying mother, resentment, and murder. ... [Metal Box was issued in the States in 1980 with different artwork and cheaper packaging under the title Second Edition; the track sequence differs as well. The U.K. reissue of Metal Box on CD boasts better sound quality than the Second Edition CD.]"
allmusic
W - Metal Box
W - "Memories", "Another"
W - "Death_Disco"
Julian Cope presents ...
Guardian: How we made: Jah Wobble and Keith Levene on Public Image Ltd's Metal Box
amazon: Metal Box, Second Edition
Spotify: Metal Box
YouTube: Metal Box
YouTube: Memories, Death Disco, Swan Lake, Peel Session 1979: 1. Poptones (0:07) 2. Careering (4:39) 3. Chant (12:12)

John Sloan: Spectator of Life

Night Windows, 1910
[May 8, 1988] “There is a German saying that could serve as a motto for much of the work of the American artist John Sloan: 'The air of the city makes you free.' No doubt city air can also oppress, and Sloan's art finds room for some of its harsher and more desolating effects. But the sense of freedom is what comes across most strongly - freedom to be yourself, to stay up at all hours, to share the life of the street; freedom to stroll around and observe. Sloan (1871-1951) once described himself as 'a spectator of life,' and the organizers of a new Sloan exhibition have latched on to the phrase. 'John Sloan: Spectator of Life' is the largest New York show to be devoted to his work since the one mounted by the Whitney Museum 36 years ago, shortly after his death. ..."
NY Times: John Sloan's Bygone New York Depicted in All Its Splendor And Squalor
YouTube: John Sloan - Spectator Of Life

2009 August: John Sloan, 2012 December: Old New York, 2015 April: Ashcan School.

Lawrence Durrell — Caesar's Vast Ghost: Aspects of Provence

"To read Durrell's book is to wander through Caesar's vast ghost, Provence, and to become intimately familiar with its many Roman aspects. He writes of Provence as though it were a 2,000 year old suburb of Rome where its retired generals and consuls moved to escape the hurl-burly of city life. To wander through Provence is to quaff it heady brew: wine, that ubiquitous concoction - whether it be of 'poor contrivance' or a connoisseur's choice. ... And while you await passage to Provence, wherever you are, prop open this gorgeous book and imbibe large intoxicating draughts of its fragrant bouquet. In brilliant color and picturesque story, Caesar's vast ghost is proffered to be quaffed like a highly contrived dry red wine to stave off the prolonged drought before arrival on the sunny shores of the Rhone."
doyletics
Durrell's Cockerel: Caesar's Vast Ghost
Etsy
amazon

2011 December: The Alexandria Quartet - Lawrence Durrell, 2013 September: Villa that inspired Lawrence Durrell faces demolition, as Egypt allows heritage to crumble, 2014 August: Prospero’s Cell (1945), 2015 April: Bitter Lemons (1953–1956).

FIFA’s Sepp Blatter Has Finally Met His Match

"When I heard about the latest accusations of corruption against FIFA, the global governing body of soccer, my initial reaction was to think of Captain Renault’s disingenuous response to gambling at Rick’s Café in the movie 'Casablanca.' Like many other long-suffering soccer fans, I was 'shocked, shocked!' to learn that the U.S. Justice Department had charged nine FIFA officials with conspiring to enrich themselves through such practices as selling their services to the highest bidder, siphoning off millions of dollars in 'sports marketing contracts,' funnelling money through offshore shell companies, and, in some cases, receiving suitcases full of cash."
New Yorker (Video)
Slate: Soccer Superpower
NY Times: Crisis-Hit FIFA Prepares to Vote on Whether to Keep Sepp Blatter as Chief
NY Times: How the Indicted Officials Fit Into FIFA (Video)
NY Times: After Indicting 14 Soccer Officials, U.S. Vows to End Graft in FIFA (Video)
World Soccer: Sepp Blatter

Scissors Kick - Bill Davis

The Grinding Down by Paul Blackburn

"In the summer of 1963, poet Paul Blackburn wrote an essay in Kulchur 10 entitled 'The Grinding Down,' which mapped the contemporary landscape of the Mimeo Revolution and lamented for those beloved days of yore when Robert Creeley’s editorial vision surveyed the literary fringe from the lofty heights of Black Mountain Review (which itself rose from the broad shoulders and bushy brow of the 6 foot 7 inch Charles Olson). As Graham Rae would say, I am chuckling here. Let’s be honest, this is a dubious nostalgia. Black Mountain Review only folded six years earlier, a mere blip in terms of literary history. Although the beginnings of the Mimeo Revolution can be traced back to Waldport during World War II, things really only heated up when Black Mountain Review went down in flames in late 1957, along with the Howl Trial, the San Francisco Scene of Evergreen Review, and the publication of On the Road. ..."
Reality Studio

Skyping with the enemy: I went undercover as a jihadi girlfriend

"It was 10 o’clock on a Friday night in spring 2014 and I was sitting on the sofa in my one-bed Paris apartment when I received a message from a French terrorist based in Syria: 'Salaam alaikum, sister. I see you watched my video. It’s gone viral – crazy! Are you Muslim? What do you think about mujahideen?' A journalist, I had been writing about European jihadis in Islamic State for about a year. I created a social media account, using the name Mélodie, to investigate why European teenagers were attracted to Islamic extremism. I spent hours scanning feeds filled with descriptions of gruesome plans. I had spent that night on my couch, flicking from account to account, when I came across a video of a French jihadi who looked about 35. He wore military fatigues and called himself Abu Bilel. He claimed to be in Syria. ..."
Guardian

The Ngoni - Africa's History: Bassekou Kouyaté Interviewed

"Bassekou Kouyaté's innovation in expanding the possibilities of what can be done with the ngoni, a form of west African lute, cannot be underestimated. With his group Ngoni Ba he has developed a, literally as the name translates, 'powerful' sound for the instrument, with lead, rhythm and bass roles in the style of a traditional rock band with guitars. Kouyaté comes from a lineage of ngoni players and griot musicians in his family that dates back hundreds of years. ..."
The Quietus (Video)
Telegraph (Video)
Ngoni Pioneer Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba’s Forthcoming ‘Ba Power’ LP (Video)
Soundcloud: Siran Fen

Jim Shaw: Entertaining Doubts

"Since the 1970s, Jim Shaw has created a vast body of work spanning diverse media and reference points. Shaw’s work mines the essentials of American cultural detritus, from comic books, pulp novels, and album covers, to vintage advertisements, movie posters, and noise rock. Originating from these sources, the work often features recurring characters including himself, his friends, fictional superheroes, politicians, and film stars. Combining text and the painted figure with objects and drawings from his unconscious, Shaw’s works consistently illustrate purposely bad puns, while twisting politics, religion, and belief into one long dream sequence. ..."
MASS MoMA (Photo)
Jim Shaw’s subconscious runs amok at Mass MoCA
Jim Shaw: Entertaining Doubts at MASS MoCA

Bob Dylan - "I Threw It All Away" / "Drifter's Escape" (1969)

Wikipedia - "'I Threw It All Away' is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. ... 'I Threw It All Away' was one of the first songs written for Nashville Skyline and one of only two new songs that were definitely written prior to the recording sessions ('Lay Lady Lay' being the other). ... The song is about how someone is speaking about a love that they have lost by being cruel and angry. There has been some speculation on who Dylan is referring to in the song."
W - "I Threw It All Away"
W - "Drifter's Escape"
Open Culture: The First Episode of The Johnny Cash Show, Featuring Bob Dylan & Joni Mitchell (Video)
Rolling Stone: Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan Tape TV Number in Nashville
YouTube: I Threw It All Away~ Live on The Johnny Cash Show 1969, "Drifter's Escape"

Through Clouds and Water

"'The waves are best in the winter, when there's a bigger swell but you can come out with icicles hanging off your face,' says British documentarian Tom Elliott. 'We shot the film in December and January, when guys go in wearing 5mm-6mm thick neoprene suits, hoods, gloves and boots.' It's a long way from the beaches of Hawaii, California and Australia to the icy coastline of England's industrial North East. Better known for steel mills and chemical refineries than surfboards and Ambre Solaire, its cities seem an unlikely place to find men who live to ride the perfect wave. But it's here beside the goods-yards and the chimneys that filmmaking team Tom Elliott and Simon Reichel — known as A Common Future — have made a compelling discovery: the smokestack surfer dude. Driving past the port of Middlesborough one day, Reichel was reminded of a friend who had studied there but said he spent his whole time surfing. The coastline was a bleak mass of heavy machinery – could this really be the place? ..."
NOWNESS (Video)

Dexter Gordon - Our Man in Paris (1963)

"This 1963 date is titled for Dexter Gordon's living in self-imposed Parisian exile and recording there with two other exptriates and a French native. Along with Gordon, pianist Bud Powell and Kenny 'Klook' Clarke were living in the City of Lights and were joined by the brilliant French bassman Pierre Michelot. ... Gordon is at the very top of his game here. His playing is crisp, tight, and full of playful fury. Powell, who at this stage of his life was almost continually plagued by personal problems, never sounded better than he does in this session. His playing is a tad more laid-back here, but is nonetheless full of the brilliant harmonic asides and incendiary single-note runs he is legendary for. The rhythm section is close-knit and stop-on-a-dime accurate."
allmusic
W - Our Man in Paris
Graded on a Curve: Dexter Gordon, Our Man in Paris
YouTube: Our Man In Paris (1963)

2014 April: Night in Tunisia, Whats new, Blues Walk (Holland, 1964)

Adger Cowans

Sun and Trees, 1959
"... Even taking a photograph, for me, it's about a feeling, not what I'm seeing. Not even so much what I conjure in my mind. Because those images are only in my mind until they become a reality in the so-called real world. So it is the thought, and then you get these images, and you think about them, and sometimes you don't even think about them, they just happen in your mind. You have an experience and then you get something happening in your mind. You get a feeling, you get a picture, you get an idea, you get a thought, and maybe it materializes and maybe it doesn't. And then you have thousands and thousands of thoughts every day. Some of them go right by, but some of them, the ones you have the strongest feeling about, you might take reaction to them. I try to start my day, every day, with my meditating. That's the first thing. I empty my mind, and that's really hard, because there's a lot there that you have to deal with. But I think just sitting quietly for an hour every morning before I make any moves about the day is best."
BOMB
Adger Cowans
burgess fine arts collection

D.J. Rich Medina

"Please welcome Rich Medina, a D.J. , a poet, music producer and an amazing music collector. Q: What was your first record album? How did you get it? At what age? Can you describe that feeling and do you still have it in your collection? A: Believe it or not, the first record I bought with 'my own money' was a copy of the KISS 'Alive' Concert LP. I bought it at Crazy Eddie’s in Eatontown NJ, after making some chore money. It was 1980, and I was growing more and more into rock and roll, aside from actively participating in the complete spectrum of hip-hop culture. ... Q: Why vinyl? A: Vinyl is the origin of my personal love for music, aside from 8 track tape, my grandparent’s church, piano lessons, and 70’s radio. I was simply born during a time where these were the primary consumer mediums for music, so I really don’t know any better. I am not so much of a purist that I have bad thoughts or words for other mediums though. ..."
Dust and Grooves (Video)
D.J. Rich Medina (Video)
vimeo: Art of Turntables - Rich Medina Set Snippet II, All Rights Reserved
YouTube: D.J. Rich Medina, Rich Medina - Too Much feat. Martin Luther

How Things Break

"Sonny Liston landed on canvas below Muhammad Ali’s feet on May 25, 1965, and Neil Leifer snapped a photo. Afterward, several events unspooled. The photo languished unlauded—before it was (much later) recognized as one of the greatest sports photos of all time; Ali became the most hated figure in American sports—before he was (much later) named 'The Sportsman of the Century'; and Liston was subjected to intense scrutiny—before (not much later) he fizzled into a mostly forgotten footnote. Like many sports fans, I’d glimpsed this picture for years—in random Ali articles, atop 'best of' lists, even on T-shirts—but it wasn’t until doing my own research, excavating layers, that I discovered its most astounding attribute. Everything you’d initially imagine about the image is wrong. ..."
Slate (Video)
NY Times: The Night the Ali-Liston Fight Came to Lewiston (Video)

Louis (Blues Boy) Jones

"Louis Prince Jones, Jr. (April 28, 1931 – June 27, 1984), credited as Louis Jones or Louis (Blues Boy) Jones, was an American R&B singer, songwriter and musician who recorded in the 1950s and 1960s. He was born in Galveston, Texas, the son of Rebecca Prince Jackson and Louis Jones, Sr. He began singing with his mother in their church choir, and learned to play piano and drums. After attending Central High School in Galveston, he served as a medic with the US Army during the Korean war under the name Louis Prince, and worked as a longshoreman and shipyard worker. In the early 1950s he moved to Houston to live with his brother, and soon began singing backing vocals on recordings produced by Don Robey at Peacock Records. ..."
Wikipedia
YouTube: I Cried, I'll Be Your Fool, Come On Home, That's Cuz I Love You, Rock n' Roll Bells, I believe to my soul, All over, goodbye

Mapping the New York That Once Was

"Beneath the present-day surface that every city shows to the world, there are shadows of the city as it was in previous eras. In some places—Rome is a good example—that ghost city of the past lives side by side with the current one. In others, such as New York, it is more efficiently hidden, although it can show itself in surprising places. A newly launched website, OldNYC, reveals the New York City that once was. It’s the work of software engineer Dan Vanderkam, who has mapped some 40,000 photos from the collection of the New York Public Library, making it possible for you to click on a random street corner and see what once was there. ..."
City Lab
OldNYC

Bread and Puppet Cheap Art Posters

Dreaming winged horse poster
"Graphic images- chiseled into masonite, printed and painted on cloth, and paper- have been an integral part of Bread & Puppet Theater's shows since the very beginning in the early sixties. Peter Schumann, Bread & Puppet's founder, director and artist, created and continues to create, the contents- both pictures and texts- of nearly all our publications and posters. After moving to a farm in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, in 1974, we sold posters, banners and chap books, in our Museum Barn and at Bread & Puppet events. By the late eighties, Bread & Puppet Press was established, with an annual calendar and mail-order catalog, and in 2000, its own print shop building. (Until then, we had printed and painted, helter-skelter, in the Museum, chicken coops, and rehearsal and meeting spaces.) There, under Lila Winstead's able management, she and local volunteers, make all the hand-printed and -painted items for sale, including letterpress broadsides and handmade books. The Print Shop also produces the banners, flags, curtains and costumes, as needed, for specific shows and events."
Bread & Puppet
Bread & Puppet: Posters
Bread & Puppet: Postcards
Mythological Quarter (Video)
Left Matrix

2009 October: The Bread and Puppet Theater, 2013 September: Peter Schumann on 50 years of the Bread and Puppet Theater

Popol Vuh - Agape-Agape (1983)

"Two years after the issue of Sei Still, Wisse ICH BIN, Agape-Agape (Love-Love) offers a deeper view of the same animal. Still utilizing a choir for Gregorian chant-like ethereal intensity -- though they sing in Byzantine scales -- pianist Florian Fricke, guitarist/percussionist Daniel Fichelscher, guitarist Conny Veit (who came back to the fold after a prolonged absence), and vocalist Renate Knaup delve deeply into the drone world of Fricke's sacred music muse. There are eight pieces on this set, the longest of which is the final one, 'Why Do I Fall Asleep.' But they are all of a single theme, even Fichelscher's 'They Danced, They Laughed, As of Old,' which is an extended retreatment of 'Kleiner Kreiger' from the Einsjäger & Siebenjäger album. Fricke only comes to the fore on the title track with his shimmering, insistent mantra-piano, but the twin guitars of Fichelscher and Veit more than compensate elsewhere as they entwine and slip through and around one another. Once again, though the music might seem formulaic, it is in the subtleties and dynamics that Fricke's compositional growth is revealed, and Agape-Agape is a worthy, devastatingly beautiful outing."
allmusic
W - Agape-Agape
Cosmik
The Essential… Popol Vuh
YouTube: Why Do I Still Sleep?
YouTube: Agape-Agape Love-Love (1983) FULL ALBUM 37:33

2008 August: Popol Vuh, 2010 December: Aguirre, the Wrath of God, 2011 May: Abschied (1972), 2013 May: Fitzcarraldo - Werner Herzog, 2913 September: Hosianna Mantra (1972), 2014 April: Revisited & Remixed 1970-1999 (2011), 2014 August: Letzte Tage-Letzte Nächte (1976).

Man in Profile: Joseph Mitchell of The New Yorker by Thomas Kunkel

"In his salad days as an uncommonly dapper reporter for The New York Herald Tribune and The World-Telegram, Joseph Mitchell wrote about celebrities, crimes and the quotidian disasters of city life during the Depression: He covered the Lindbergh kidnapping trial ('a mess'), witnessed the electrocution of six men, and watched a woman who had been stabbed in the neck bleed to death while he tried to make her lie still. ... The advice helped transform Mitchell from a competent beat reporter with a graceful prose style into, arguably, our greatest literary journalist — a man who wrote about freaks, barkeeps, street preachers, grandiose hobos and other singular specimens of humanity with compassion and deep, hard-earned understanding, and above all with a novelist’s eyes and ears. ..."
NY Times
NYBooks: The Master Writer of the City - Janet Malcolm
WSJ: Writing the City, Block by Block
New Yorker: The People You Meet
New Republic: Why Joseph Mitchell Stopped Writing
amazon

2014 August: Joseph Mitchell

DOURONE

"Fabio Lopez aka DOURONE was born in Madrid and raised in the countryside, soaking up the 'art and affection' provided by his family. In 1999, he began displaying his creations in the streets under the name DOURONE that he retains today. His self-taught style reflects on his experiences in the world, which captures real-life moments that stand out for their beauty. His works are often defined as figurative illustration, classical, and surreal. He draws nspiration from artists like MC Escher, Mohlitz Philippe, Jean Giraud (Moebius), Giovanni Battista Piranesi. ..."
DOURONE (Video)
Brooklyn Street NYC: BSA Film Friday: 05.22.15, 1. Rap Quotes ATL: Dirty South Edition 2. Narcelio Grud – Cinetic Graffiti 3. DourOne in South Park LA by Phil Sanchez 4. Haeler Keeping Detroit Alive (Video)

The Story of Funk - One Nation under a Groove (2014)

"In the 1970s, America was one nation under a groove as an irresistible new style of music took hold of the country - funk. The music burst out of the black community at a time of self-discovery, struggle and social change. Funk reflected all of that. It has produced some of the most famous, eccentric and best-loved acts in the world - James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, George Clinton's Funkadelic and Parliament, Kool & the Gang and Earth, Wind & Fire. During the 1970s this fun, futuristic and freaky music changed the streets of America with its outrageous fashion, space-age vision and streetwise slang. But more than that, funk was a celebration of being black, providing a platform for a new philosophy, belief system and lifestyle that was able to unite young black Americans into taking pride in who they were."
BBC
YouTube: The Story of Funk - One Nation under a Groove 59:04

Van Gogh and Nature

Iris, 1889
"From his earliest letters to his last great works of art, Vincent van Gogh showed an extraordinary fascination with the natural world. Youthful studies of trees, flowers, and heath-land were accompanied by verbal descriptions of the changing seasons, while increasingly ambitious pictures showed the Dutch landscape in all its aspects. His travels to England, Belgium, and France brought new encounters with nature and a shift from biblical perspectives to modern attitudes influenced by contemporary literature and science. In Arles and Saint-Rémy, most notably, Van Gogh painted elemental landscapes in snow, wind, rain, and sunshine, while making incisive images of insects, leaves, and rocks that reflect his knowledge of illustrated natural history publications. Van Gogh and Nature will be the first exhibition to explore this subject in depth. Some forty oil paintings and ten drawings will survey the artist’s developing relationship with his natural surroundings. ..."
The Clark
Van Gogh Museum
NY Times: Van Gogh in Pastoral Mode, at the Clark Art Institute

2010 March: Van Gogh Museum, 2010 May: Why preserve Van Gogh's palette?, 2012 April: Van Gogh Up Close.