The Gust of Wind - Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1872)


"The Gust of Wind (French: Le grand vent), alternatively titled Le Coup de Vent or High Wind, is an oil-on-canvas painting completed in 1872 by the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The composition portrays wind sweeping across the hilly terrain in the Île-de-France region. It is part of Renoir's plein air landscape series from the 1870s, during the height of the Impressionist movement, and is currently housed at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Scholars generally attribute The Gust of Wind to the summers of 1872 and 1873, a time frame described as classic Impressionism, and a period marked by Renoir's collaboration with Monet. While debates persist regarding the precise date and location of the painting's creation, it is thought to either depict the specific Saint-Cloud area, or the general region of Île-de-France. ..."



Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Self-Portrait, 1875
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The Battery


"The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a 25-acre (10 ha) public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling Green to the northeast, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. The park contains attractions such as an early 19th-century fort named Castle Clinton; multiple monuments; and the SeaGlass Carousel. The surrounding area, known as South Ferry, contains multiple ferry terminals, including the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal; a boat launch to the Statue of Liberty National Monument (which includes Ellis Island and Liberty Island); and a boat launch to Governors Island. ..."



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The Gang of Four song that attacked a 19th-century philosophy for the history of humankind

Jon King, Hugo Burnham, Sara Lee, Andy Gill of Gang of Four in the 1980s.

"Post-punk was always a lot more literate and well-read than its snotty and brutish predecessor. The emergence of bands like Wire and Swell Maps in the late 1970s were signifiers of a shift towards discussing socio-political issues from a more academic standpoint rather than aiming to shock with its puerile denouncements of the establishment. It would attempt to tackle injustice head-on by educating listeners on atrocities that were happening both at home and overseas. Among this crop of acts were Leeds-based Gang of Four, who incorporated elements of disco, funk and dub into their version of punk and whose political ideologies formed a huge backbone for their lyrical content, often adopting a Marxist stance on issues such as sexism, war and bringing an end to fascist rhetoric. ..."





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Neil Young’s 10 best songs of the 1970s


"Most of the biggest artists in the world get to where they are by taking risks. As much as some paying customers might want to hear the same thing that you did on one classic album, it’s important to keep things fresh and stay true to your heart rather than do something because that’s what people expect. And since Neil Young never had an inauthentic bone in his body, his 1970s work is still a treasure trove of classics. While this was the decade where he became known as the folksy rock and roll icon, Young had a lot more going on in his tunes than what the John Denvers of the world had to offer. ..."


2008 February: Neil Young, 2010 April: Neil Young - 1, 2010 April: Neil Young - 2, 2010 May: Neil Young - 3, 2010 October: Neil Young's Sound, 2012 January: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History, 2012 June: Like A Hurricane, 2012 July: Greendale, 2013 April: Thoughts On An Artist / Three Compilations, 2013 August: Heart of Gold, 2014 March: Dead Man (1995), 2014 August: Ragged Glory - Neil Young + Crazy Horse (1990), 2014 November: Broken Arrow (1996), 2015 January: Rust Never Sleeps (1979), 2015 January: Neil Young the Ultimate Guide, 2015 March: Old Black, 2015 September: Zuma (1975), 2016 January: On the Beach (1973), 2016 April: Sleeps with Angels (1994), 2016 November: Eldorado (EP - 1989), Long May You Run - The Stills-Young Band (1976), 2017 June: "River Of Pride" / "White Line" (1975), 2017 July: "Thrasher" [Live at the Cow Palace, 1978], 2017 November: Words (Live at Red Rocks, 2000), 2020 November: Neil Young Releases a Never-Before-Heard Version..., 2022 January: Time Fades Away (1973)

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Trump’s Victory Could Mean End of Inquiry Into N.Y.P.D. Sex Crimes Unit

The administration of Donald J. Trump, who was found liable for sexual abuse, will decide whether to seek reforms in the New York Police Department unit that investigates such attacks.

"For President Biden’s administration, fixing the New York Police Department’s storied, but scandal-scarred sex crimes unit was a response to the #MeToo movement and part of a broader agenda of improving American policing. But the outcome of that effort, along with 11 similar efforts in other jurisdictions, may be decided by Donald J. Trump, who was re-elected last week after vowing to end the sweeping scrutiny of the police that Mr. Biden embraced. The Department of Justice two years ago began investigating whether missteps by the sex crimes division, known as the Special Victims Unit, amounted to discrimination against women. Prosecutors cited more than a decade of public complaints about the unit being understaffed and about investigators mistreating victims and failing to take basic steps to investigate cases. ..."

***Waking Up Trans in Trump’s America - Gabrielle Bellot

*****NY Times: Manhattan D.A. Suggests Freezing Trump’s Case While He Is President  

*****NY Times: Trump Defies the #MeToo Movement With Cabinet Picks Facing Accusations

Leslie McFadden said the collapse of the investigation into her rape left her carrying an unjust burden of guilt.

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John Sayles’s Matewan on the Criterion Collection


"Nine years after Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven, on which Haskell Wexler accomplished some of his most celebrated work in tandem with Néstor Almendros, the cinematographer brought a similar feel for landscape shooting and natural light to the West Virginia valleys of John Sayles’s Matewan. ... This startling scene, including others like the final standoff, offer punctuation in a film otherwise more rousing in its talk than its action, as Sayles charts the gradual awakening of a community’s conscience in the face of corporate oppressors. Matewan opens as an influx of black and immigrant workers are shipped from Alabama to West Virginia by the Stone Mountain Mining Company in an attempt to weaponize racial resentments and, in turn, weaken the strike that’s happening up north. ..."







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Gavin Bryars Shares his Creative Process

"... Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play? For the last 30 years virtually all my work has been commissions. So the clear impulse is the need to deliver on time! But within that minor constraint I find ways to locate things that are of interest to me – other than the course or subject of the commission. Occasionally I have written a piece as a gift to, or in memory of, a friend. An example would be Cadman Requiem following the death of my sound engineer Bill Cadman in the Lockerbie air crash in 1988 or Incipit Vita Nova for the birth of a friend’s first child, who was called 'Vita'. ..."



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Handy's Lunch


"When a restaurant stands the test of time they must be doing something right. In the case of this Vermont eatery, friendly service, a nostalgic atmosphere, and delicious food have kept their loyal fans returning again and again for more than 70 years. But their secret weapon is serving the best breakfast sandwiches.Handy's Lunch is a family owned and operated restaurant that opened in 1945. This Burlington institution is world famous for their enormous and oh-so-tasty breakfast sandwiches. The renowned breakfast sandwiches are combinations of eggs, meat, and cheese layered between yummy pieces of French toast. Order a simple version. Or a more complex and much bigger sandwich."




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Trump’s Reckless Choices for National Leadership

"Donald Trump has demonstrated his lack of fitness for the presidency in countless ways, but one of the clearest is in the company he keeps, surrounding himself with fringe figures, conspiracy theorists and sycophants who put fealty to him above all else. This week, a series of cabinet nominations by Mr. Trump showed the potential dangers posed by his reliance on his inner circle in the starkest way possible. For three of the nation’s highest-ranking and most vital positions, Mr. Trump said he would appoint loyalists with no discernible qualifications for their jobs, people manifestly inappropriate for crucial positions of leadership in law enforcement and national security. The most irresponsible was his choice for attorney general. To fill the post of the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, the president-elect said he would nominate Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. Yes, that Matt Gaetz. ..."

NY Times: Opinion | Editorials 
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Wes Anderson’s feature films ranked in order of greatness

 2022: "There are few directors in the history of cinema with a style so uniquely their own. Wes Anderson’s meticulous eye for detail and visual aesthetic has seen him quickly become one of the most beloved filmmakers around. There is never a bad time to dive into the mysterious, curious and all round intriguing world’s that Wes Anderson has created over his astonishing career. So, we thought we would take a look back through his 10 films and rank them in order of greatness. When you have a director as wholly idiosyncratic as Anderson, it can be a very challenging thing to do. ..."

FAR OUT (Video)

2013 November: Wes Anderson Honors Fellini in a Delightful New Short Film, 2013 November: Rushmore (1998), 2013 Decemher: Hotel Chevalier (2007), 2014 March: Wes Anderson Collection, 2014 April: The Perfect Symmetry of Wes Anderson’s Movies, 2014 July: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), 2014 August: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), 2014 December: Welcome to Union Glacier (2013), 2015 January: Inhabiting Wes Anderson’s Universe, 2015 July: Books in the Films of Wes Anderson: A Supercut for Bibliophiles, 2015 November: Moonrise Kingdom (2012), 2015 December: Chapter 8: "The Grand Budapest Hotel", 2016 June: Here's pretty much every song used in a Wes Anderson film, 2016 November: Watch Come Together, Wes Anderson’s New Short Film...., 2018 September: Isle of Dogs (2018), 2020 May: Honest Trailers - Every Wes Anderson Movie, 2020 July: Exploring Wes Anderson’s wonderful cinematic commercials, 2020 September: Steal Like Wes Anderson..., 2021 October: In the Company of Wes Anderson,  2022 May: An Architect Breaks Down the Design Details of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel

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Black Artists Group


"The Black Artists Group (BAG), formed in St. Louis, Missouri in 1968, is often seen as a junior stepsibling to Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), which launched a few years earlier. But while the AACM was focused entirely on music, BAG was a multidisciplinary arts organization that included writers and poets, dancers, actors and painters. Because of this, many BAG performances featured elements of all of these in combination, and albums often combined jazz with poetry and theater. One of the albums released by a BAG collective, Children Of The Sun’s Ofamfa, featured the statement 'The dancers who worked with the group are Carolyn Zachary, Etta Jackson, Johadi, and Sandra Weaver' on the back cover. ..."


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the hum’s top ten from the free jazz underground – sixteen masterpieces missed by thurston moore


"It must be said before I begin, this kind of list is bound to fail. They are gestures of taste, and, as every music fan knows, it’s impossible to justice to any form of music, particularly one as sprawling and diverse as free jazz, with a slim number of picks. But they do some good – small illuminations (or reminders) in the dark. Inevitable failure is no reason to not try. Free jazz towers among my life’s great loves. It has carved a path through my years – the music which, despite the sprawling diversity of my tastes, resonates above all others – filled with fire, rage, politic, intelligence, stunning sensitivity, and range – creative heights and ambitions which few have reached. It is one of the greatest forms of music which has ever come to be. It is a beast. A monster. The voice of Black America planting its being and consciousness in the world. ..."

The Hum (Video)
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Elon Musk's Perfect Disinformation Machine


Oct. 15, 2024: "Elon Musk, billionaire manchild and lifelong beneficiary of the Myth of the Secret Genius, is a serial embellisher. While his ambitious vision (along with the scientists and engineers who carry out the work for his companies) has transformed space exploration and electric vehicles, he is convinced that every new product emanating directly from his overconfident brainbox is a revolution. Whether it’s the weird boxy deathtrap on wheels that steels insecure men from their midlife crisis by conquering rugged terrain (yet cannot withstand a journey through a vigorous carwash); or his long awaited futuristic underground Vegas transport fever dream that turns out to just be—gasp!—a car tunnel with colored lights, the ideas and products that Musk directly manages are often over-hyped. Until now. ..."

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What John Sloan saw one Saturday night - Bleecker Street

"... 'Bleecker Street, Saturday Night' is a 1918 painting by John Sloan. Born in Pennsylvania, Sloan but by this time was a Village denizen who famously depicted the ordinary street life of his new neighborhood—from the flower vendors on Sixth Avenue to the rush of the elevated train and crowds of commuters scurrying under the track. There’s a lot going on in this highly detailed image. Sloan introduces us to a cross-section of people, from young children to older adults, all going about their lives amid the Belgian block pavement and wood and brick buildings of a corner I wish I could identify. The rooftops get higher from right to left, shifting the perspective. The open basement doors add more drama. ..."

Ephemeral New York

2009 August: John Sloan, 2011  November: American realism, 2012 December: Old New York, 2015 May: Spectator of Life, 2015 October: Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York, 1897-1917, 2015 October: Tenderloin, 2015 October: McSorley's Bar - John Sloan (1912), 2015 December: "Red Kimono on the Roof," 1912, 2016 January: “The Hell Hole,” 1917, 2016 February: Gloucester Days, 2016 March: “Hanging Clothes,” 1920, 2016 May: "Roof, Summer Night," 1906, 2016 October: "Spring Rain," 1912, 2016 October: "The Lafayette" (1927), 2016 December: The Old House at Home by Joseph Mitchell (April 1940), 2020 September: Elevated rails, rooftops, and McSorley’s: How painter John Sloan captured 20th-century Manhattan, 2021 February: A snowstorm on Broadway in the Theater District, 2021 August: What John Sloan painted after “loafing about Madison Square”

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Between Harlem and home

Touba African Clothing, Harlem, New York City. 

"Saidu left his home in Senegal to pursue the elusive promise of a better life in New York—a solitary pilgrimage without the available support of family. He eventually made his way to Harlem, where he now shares a small apartment with three friends who also made the journey. In his first year, Saidu managed to find work as a security guard in Manhattan—one of the many jobs West African migrants often take up as they carve out new lives for themselves in the city. Harlem stands as a coveted enclave for West Africans, its streets echoing with the footsteps of those seeking the oft-clichéd “better life.” This historic neighborhood has become a beacon for those fleeing the legacies of colonial exploitation in search of new beginnings. ..."

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Slide Guitar Bottles, Knives & Steel Vol.1, Vol.2


"Organized roughly into chronological order, THE SLIDE GUITAR-BOTTLES, KNIVES & STEEL is an expansive selection of blues slide guitar playing from the late 1920s through the mid-1960s. Some well-known slide guitar players from the 1920s and '30s, including Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, and Blind Boy Fuller, are featured here. However, there are also number of lesser-known blues players from later periods, including Sister O.M. Terrell and Buddy Woods, who are deservedly featured on this recording. Though the sound quality on some of the older recordings is a little uneven and the Chicago electric slide of post-World War II Chicago blues--particularly that of Elmore James--is omitted in favor of a more intimate, raw blues sound, there is no shortage of first-rate blues playing here. The closing track featuring Son House is especially notable. House, who was recorded in the midst of the 1960's blues resurgence in a proper studio by legendary producer John Hammond, contributes a version of 'Pearline' which stands as a stirring reminder of the power of the blues, even when it's just a man and his guitar."



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Speaking with Colombian American Artist Felix Morelo on his “Good Luck Spots,” “Bad Luck Spots” and More


"Colombian American artist Felix Morelo is increasingly engaging and provoking passersby with his intriguing ephemeral chalk spots that surface in some of New York City’s most trafficked sites. We were delighted to recently have the opportunity to pose a few questions to the artist. When and where did you first hit NYC streets with your spirited chalk spots? I began in the summer of 2009 with a 'Good Luck Spot' in Union Square. What spurred you to do so? I was originally painting thousands of faces – mostly of children — on the city’s sidewalks. I thought of these faces as a community of spiritual seeds. An artist friend suggested that I take my concept further. I then came up with the idea of chalk spots that would directly engage the community. ..."


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Tommy Stinson - What's in My Bag?


"Tommy Stinson (The Replacements/Bash & Pop/Perfect) goes shopping at Amoeba Music in San Francisco. Bash & Pop's latest album 'Anything Could Happen' is available from Fat Possum Records. ..."


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As God Intended - Apollo Brown & Che' Noir (2020)


"Buffalo & Detroit are America’s broken dream. They are once thriving cities, now known for frigid temperatures and violent crime. The cities were birthed in a different era, forged in fire, built of cold steel. It follows that the rawest Hiphop in recent memory has bled from these two regions. No two artists exemplify this hard truth more than legendary Detroit producer Apollo Brown and Buffalo’s maverick emcee Che’ Noir. The two artists came together to create a sound as natural as calm after the storm. The soulful, head-nodding production of Apollo Brown has been a staple called on by some of the greatest to ever do it.






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The Athletic’s men’s college basketball 2024 preseason Top 25: Coach insights, key questions


"Six days away from tipoff of the 2024-25 men’s college basketball season, we’re rolling out our final Top 25 of the offseason. We’ve interviewed coaches, talked to scouts and used any preseason intel we could find to set a baseline for the season ahead, ranking teams through more of a long-term lens rather than a snapshot of where everyone stands right now. It’s easy to overanalyze charity exhibition and secret scrimmage results. Although they are data points worth considering, those games are not always treated like a regular season game. They can make us better informed than we were two weeks ago when the Associated Press preseason poll dropped. Next week, everything gets real. Click on each team below for the latest lineup projections and analysis from head coaches and scouts. ...."








RJ Davis

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TRUMP STORMS BACK

"Donald J. Trump rode a promise to smash the American status quo to win the presidency for a second time, surviving a criminal conviction, indictments, an assassin’s bullet, accusations of authoritarianism and an unprecedented switch of his opponent to complete a remarkable return to power. Mr. Trump’s victory caps the astonishing political comeback of a man who was charged with plotting to overturn the last election but who tapped into frustrations and fears about the economy and illegal immigration to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris. His defiant plans to upend the country’s political system held appeal to tens of millions of voters who feared that the American dream was drifting further from reach and who turned to Mr. Trump as a battering ram against the ruling establishment and the expert class of elites. ...  Now, Mr. Trump will serve as the 47th president four years after reluctantly leaving office as the 45th, the first politician since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s to lose re-election to the White House and later mount a successful run. ..." 

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Art colony

Ogunquit was the largest art colony in Maine for the better part of the 20th century. 

"Art colonies are organic congregations of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, who are often drawn to areas of natural beauty, the prior existence of other artists, art schools there, or a lower cost of living. They are typically mission-driven planned communities, which administer a formal process for awarding artist residencies. A typical mission might include providing artists with the time, space, and support to create, fostering community among artists, and providing arts education, including lectures and workshops. Early 20th century American guest-host models include MacDowell in Peterborough, New Hampshire and Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York. Two primary organizations serving artist colonies and residential centres are Res Artis in Amsterdam, and the Alliance of Artists Communities, in Providence, Rhode Island. ..."


An art colony of students at the Newlyn Art School in England in 1910
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A remnant of the late 19th century city at the corner of First and First in the East Village


"On the northwest corner of First Avenue at First Street, on the border of the East Village and the Lower East Side, is a handsome red-brick tenement. Five stories high (with a two-story, beach house–like penthouse on the roof, but that’s a subject for another post), it’s a typical, well-kept building likely on this corner since the early 20th century. But look up—what’s that two-sided panel affixed to the second-floor corner? It’s an address plate giving the corner’s cross streets, a not uncommon feature of tenement buildings in New York City. What was the purpose of these cross street markers? I’m not sure. But a clue might be found in how high up the sign is. From 1878 to its demolition in 1942 (above photo, looking south from 13th Street and First Avenue), the Second Avenue El would have traveled up First Avenue until it veered over to Second Avenue at 23rd Street. ..."



The Second Avenue El, looking south on First Avenue from 13th Street during its demolition in September 1942
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Various Artists – Swamp Blues


"To the southwest of Baton Rouge the french-music, i.e. the traditional native music of the Acadian region (Cajun Country), in the mid-twentieth century was no longer isolated as it until a few decades earlier, and was discovered influenced by the surrounding popular musical culture, from country music to rhythm and blues. ... It was in the little Crowley that the swamp blues developed and defined itself in its characteristic expression, and precisely in J.D's studio. Miller. A place or, it is appropriate to say, a genius loci that in those years became unrattled and contaminated with blues, cajun, zydeco, country, rock ‘n’ roll, for the passage of many local artists, many from towns in southern Louisiana and south-east Texas, from the Bayou Country, such as Church Point, Breaux Bridge, Rayne, Ville Platte, Lake Charles, Port Arthur, Eunice, Opels (e.g. from Lafayette to Beaumont and vice versa) represented by I 10, crossed from the east and west for his job opportunities, and on which Crowley casually pinned. In this album we find those five names of the Baton Rouge area listed on the cover in a mature phase, aware that the parable of the swamp blues, at least the one identified as 'Excello sound' and therefore that of commercial success, was accomplished. ..."




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