Reggae Soundsystem 45: The Label Art of Reggae Singles: A Visual History of Jamaican Reggae 1959-1979

"The 45-rpm seven-inch single is at the heart of reggae music, the main vehicle by which reggae music has been communicated to the public by the deejays in the dancehalls of Kingston, and to its worldwide audience beyond. Ever since the birth of the Jamaican music industry, over 60 years ago, and through to the present day, these idiosyncratic label designs have helped illustrate, signify and energize the music they accompany. Reggae Soundsystem 45! features 1,000 stunning 45-rpm single designs, reproduced full size, that span the history of reggae music."
ARTBOOK
amazon

WFMU in the Moroccan Desert: Alchemy At Zahar Festival in April 18-21

"In a never-ending quest to dig out the subterranean sounds from all corners of the earth, WFMU has hooked in with the first-ever Alchemy At Zahar festival for what's sure to be a most amazing event in the Moroccan desert province of Zagora on April 18-21st. ... Ahwach N Tferkine (traditional group from the Souss-Massa Drâa Region, featuring a choir of twelve female singers and four male percussionists), Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble (experimental/film noir European combo), Lee Ranaldo (w/Leah Singer, and his band), Pelican (post-rock Chicago metal ensemble), Brothers Unconnected (Alan and Rick Bishop of Sun City Girls, also performing solo sets), Master Musicians of Bukkake (playing the Totem Trilogy), AND the legendary Master Musicians of Jajouka, ethno-prog West Coast stalwarts Secret Chiefs 3, Portuguese psych band Black Bombino, Tinariwin d'Mhamid (young Tinariwen covers band!), Abraxas, and more (full lineup/updates here). A dream lineup for both stations."
WFMU
Alchemy At Zahar (Video)
facebook: (Video)

INTI New Mural In Valparaíso, Chile

"After a massive mural in Paris, France last year (covered), INTI is now back in Chile where he just completed this new piece on the streets of Valparaíso. The Chilean artist delivers a brilliant new piece entitled 'Resistencia NO es Terrorismo' which is featuring one his signature colourful characters."
Street Art News
facebook (Video)

"A Sailor’s Life" - Fairport Convention

Square rigger Monkbarns
Wikipedia - "'A Sailor’s Life' is an English language folk song which describes the attempt of a young woman to find her lover, a sailor. Eventually she hears that he has drowned and mourns him. ... It is probably from one of these sources that the song was learnt by Sandy Denny who sang it in her solo career and then brought it to the band Fairport Convention, where with Dave Swarbrick on violin and Richard Thompson on guitar, it was released on the band's 1969 Unhalfbricking album. The eleven minute version, regarded as a pivotal step in the development of British folk-rock, was recorded in one take."
W - A Sailor's Life
W - Unhalfbricking
YouTube: A Sailor's Life - Fairport Convention, Who knows where the time goes, Percy's Song, Genesis Hall, Si tu dois partir, Autopsy, Cajun woman, Million Dollar Bash

Being Flynn

"Being Flynn is a 2012 American drama film starring Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore and Paul Dano, released in select theatres in the United States on March 2, 2012. ... The film follows the story of twenty-something Nick Flynn (Paul Dano), who hopes to be a writer. He has an absent father, Jonathan (Robert De Niro), who considers himself a great writer and who hasn't seen Nick in years. The movie deals centrally with this strained relationship, but also with Nick's remembrances of his childhood with his now-deceased mother, Jody (Julianne Moore), and interactions with friend/lover, Denise (Olivia Thirlby)."
Wikipedia
NYT: Long Trip From Skid Row to the Screen
Focus (Video)
YouTube: Being Flynn

Mark Ward

"Mark Ward does his best to underplay his track, but it’s a wonderfully glitchy bit of atmospheric play, and shouldn’t be missed. In his post, he mentions trimming it down (but it’s still over five minutes long), and he limits his description to the following: 'Electronic babble, guitar drones and stretched voices.' That doesn’t get to the way the pitter patter, pixel-thin, razor-sharp beats prick at the light, ethereal drone of haze that he’s created. Nor does it begin to touch on the track’s structure, the way a deep lull intrudes midway through, tricking the listener into a dark space by suggesting the newfound quiet initially as a luxurious pause, when in fact it’s a tonal shift that flirts with willful, if artful, discomfort."
disquiet (Video)
Flotsam and Jetsam (Video)
Soundcloud (Video)

Ann Hamilton - Gemini GEL

"Ann Hamilton’s work is founded on the idea of the line – both in its material form as thread, fiber, and hair; and its conceptual form in written and drawn communication. From this deceptively simple beginning point, she creates subtle and profound worlds and objects that stretch our understanding of contemporary life in a technological age and touch upon the deepest reaches of what it means to be human – in particular, our ability to relate to others, build meaningful relationships, and share ideas through communication."
art21: Ink | Full Circle
Gemini G.E.L.
PDF: ann hamilton at gemini g.e.l.: a survey of works 2000 - 2012

2007 November: Ann Hamilton
2009 September: Songs of Ascension - Meredith Monk and Ann Hamilton
2010 March: Ann Hamilton - 1
2010 December: Ann Hamilton: An Inventory of Objects
2011 January: stylus
2011 April: indigo blue
2011 December: Objects
2012 November: phora

Harry Smith: The Avant-Garde in the American Vernacular

"Based on a 2001 symposium at the Getty Research Institute, Harry Smith: The Avant-Garde in the American Vernacular surveys the artist’s influence on American film, music, and the visual arts. Featuring color reproductions of Smith’s images, as well as essays by scholars, friends, and colleagues, the book explores the life of the 20th-century Renaissance man best known for his definitive Anthology of American Folk Music — a six-record compilation of commercial songs from 1926-1932 that helped facilitate the folk revival of the ’60s. The multifaceted mystic also achieved cult-hero status in the world of cinema for his experimental films, and received critical praise for his rare, freeform abstract paintings."
FLAVORWIRE
Mondo Blogo (Video)
Harry Smith Archives
amazon: Harry Smith: The Avant-Garde in the American Vernacular

2009 March: The Old, Weird America
2010 October: Harry Smith

The Lady of the Lake

Wikipedia - "The Lady of the Lake, Lady of Avalon, is the title name of the ruler of Avalon in the Arthurian legend. There are several related characters in the role which include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father. Different writers and copyists give her name variously as Nimue, Viviane, Elaine, Niniane, Nivian, Nyneve, Evienne and other variations."
Wikipedia
King Arthur & The Knights of the Round Table

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Wikipedia - "Pier Paolo Pasolini (... March 5, 1922 – November 2, 1975) was an Italian film director, poet, writer and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure. He demonstrated a unique and extraordinary cultural versatility, becoming a highly controversial figure in the process. While his work remains controversial to this day, in the years since his death Pasolini has come to be valued by many as a visionary thinker and a major figure in Italian literature and art."
Wikipedia
Pier Paolo Pasolini
mubi
The life and death of Pier Paolo Pasolini
The Criterion Collection
MoMA/PS1
Criterion: Trilogy of Life (Video)
YouTube: Pier Paolo Pasolini - The Filmmaker - Documentary (1/3), Documentary (2/3), Documentary (3/3)

Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers

Wikipedia - "Rex Garvin (b. circa 1937) is an American former R&B singer, songwriter, keyboard player and arranger. His writing credits include the 1957 US chart hit 'Over The Mountain, Across The Sea', by Johnnie and Joe, and his own 1966 recording 'Sock It To 'Em J.B.', later recorded by The Specials."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Sock it To'em JB - Part 1, Part 2, Emulsified, Believe It Or Not, You don't need no help, Raw Funky, Queen Of The Go-Go, Funky Broadway

Encyclopedia of the New York School Poets

"This ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK SCHOOL POETS—written and compiled by Terence Diggory — is my new (or one of) favorite book(s). Yes it's an expensive hardcover reference book, that could also be used as a textbook, part of the FACTS ON FILE LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE series. But it's also one of the best alphabet lists I've ever encountered (and as anyone who has read this blog for more than a few days knows, I love alphabet lists). And I find it totally engaging and—despite my widespread experience in this scene and connections with many involved in it as well as my deep reading of most of the works referred to in it — enlightening."
Lally's Alley
amazon
Google - Encyclopedia of the New York School Poets

TNIW [That Night In Williamsburg]

"Picture Made by Supralude (Shot with my Canon 5D mkII, edited and post produced with After Effects). Sound Made By Near Deaf Experience [Remix of Nine Inch Nails' 21 Ghosts].
"
vimeo: TNIW [That Night In Williamsburg]

WNET/Thirteen Experimental TV Lab

"... Before the Internet, questions about how to unleash the possibilities of new technology promising high definition images and/or multi-channel delivery, and about how to use the medium to innovate and bring new voices and new audiences to public television were asked — and answered spectacularly by the TV lab. The TV LAB was an earlier "digital revolution," though few called it that; it stirred innovation in public television because television engineers and artists invented synthesizers to manipulate the video signal and used the new digital time- base correcters to put portable small format video on the air. This first digital revolution nurtured video art, created reality television made with half-inch portable video equipment, and offered fresh local and global perspectives from new voices, whose influences are still felt."
WNET/Thirteen Experimental TV Lab (Video)
TV LAB: License to Create
Nam June Paik and the TV LAB -- License to Create (YouTube)
YouTube: TV LAB documentary trailer
vimeo: TV LAB Interview Excerpts

Trains and the Brits Who Love Them: Monty Python’s Michael Palin on Great Railway Journeys

"What is it with Britons and trains, anyway? Hardly just the title of collection of Irvine Welsh’s stories of heroin and degradation, the term 'trainspotting' actually refers to a real, and fervently pursued hobby; trainspotters exist, just as do birdwatchers and sports fans. In terms of obsession with the design and operational minutiae of their own trains, Britain falls second only to the even more densely rail-laden Japan. But we Americans, possessed of a train system few would call robust, can’t quite bring ourselves to believe it. Perhaps we just need to hear it from the mouth of Michael Palin, writer, comedian, television host, Python — and avowed trainspotter."
Open Culture (Video)
W - Great Railway Journeys

Hilma af Klint

Wikipedia - "Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) was a Swedish artist and mystic whose paintings were amongst the first abstract art. She belonged to a group called 'The Five' and the paintings or diagrams were a visual representation of complex philosophical ideas."
Wikipedia
Guardian: Out of this world
Things that Quicken the Heart: Artist
frieze
Pinterest

Caged/Uncaged - A Rock/Experimental Homage To John Cage (1993)

"Issued for the XLV Biennale di Venezia with support from The Institute For Contemporary Art, New York, Mudima Fondazione per l'Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy. All John Cage excerpts are from John Cage's Silence and A Year from Monday, recorded at 222 Bowery in New York City, December 1968 [wrongly on sleeve as 1986] and March 1969, courtesy of Giorno Poetry Systems."
UbuWeb (Video)

Lucinda Williams - "Can`t Let Go", "Pineola", "Changed the Locks"

"He won't take me back when I come around
Says he's sorry then he pulls me out
I got a big chain around my neck
And I'm broken down like a train wreck
Well, it's over, I know it but I can't let go"
YouTube: Can`t Let Go, Pineola, Changed the Locks

2008 January: Lucinda Williams
2010 May: Lucinda Williams - 1
2011 March: Blessed
2011 November: Austin, Texas, 1989
2012 May: World Without Tears
2012 October: Honky Tonk Women: The Changing Role of Women

Mad Men

Wikipedia - "Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. ... Mad Men is set in the 1960s, initially at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on Madison Avenue in New York City, and later at the newly created firm Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. The focal point of the series is Don Draper (Jon Hamm), creative director at Sterling Cooper and a founding partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and the people in his life, both in and out of the office. The plot focuses on the business of the agencies as well as the personal lives of the characters. As such, it regularly depicts the changing moods and social mores of 1960s America."
Wikipedia
AMC
Huffington Post
Salon
YouTube: Mad Men Opening Credits, How to Handle: an Insubordinate Employee, I Want You to Give Me One for Free, How to Handle: a Pretentious Intellectual, Don Draper Recites Frank O' Hara's Poetry, Mad Men: let's twist again

In the City - The Jam

Wikipedia - "In the City is the debut studio album of British mod revival/punk rock band The Jam. It was released in 1977 by Polydor Records and featured the hit single and title track 'In the City'. Weller's guitar style on the album is very much influenced by Wilko Johnson and Pete Townshend. The album includes two cover songs, 'Slow Down' and the theme to the 1960s television series, Batman, the latter of which had also been previously covered by The Who."
Wikipedia
W - In the City
Punk News
YouTube: In the City/Art School, In the City - Bricks and Mortar, Slow Down, Batman Theme, I Got By In Time, I've Changed My Address, Sounds From The Street

2009 March: The Jam
2011 December: Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
2012 November: "Going Underground"

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, Lithograph by Currier and Ives
Wikipedia - "The Brooklyn Bridge is a bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. With a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m), it was the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening until 1903, and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. Originally referred to as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge and as the East River Bridge, it was dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge, a name from an earlier January 25, 1867, letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and formally so named by the city government in 1915."
Wikipedia
Brownstoner - Past and Present: Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge
On "Proem: To Brooklyn Bridge"
Brooklyn Bridge Park
Brooklyn Bridge | PBS
YouTube: The Brooklyn Bridge
About: How to Walk the Brooklyn Bridge

Chalk-drawn Adventures of Sluggo

"Meet Sluggo – a green semi-subterranean inhabitant of Ann Arbor, Michigan. This strange little creature first appeared back in 2008 on a sidewalk, and since then started peaking out of walls cracks, chilling on ledges or doing his daily routines all over the town. Turns out, it was drawn by a local graphic artist David Zinn, using simple colored chalks. Calling himself an 'inveterate doodler and a shameless word nerd', David uses art as a problem-solving tool, even if the problem is a sad-looking street crack."
Bored Panda
Chalk Art by David Zinn

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - Kala Djula

"'Kala Djula' is a lovely instrumental number from the album 'Ali & Toumani'."
vimeo: Kala Djula
YouTube: Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté - Ali and Toumani

2010 November: Ali Farka Toure
2011 April: Original African Guitar Excellence - Zaiko & Ali Farka Toure

Palermo, Palermo - Pina Bausch (1989)

"... Human degradation, especially what men do to women, but also the infinite capacity of all peoples to harm themselves, is, in the end, Miss Bausch's underlying theme. 'Palermo, Palermo' is low on the simulated or actual violence that has made Miss Bausch controversial in the past. She has learned to inflict pain without striking. In one of the most forceful and resonant passages, a group of men in black suits rushes in carrying Beatrice Libonati, as uninhibited a Bausch veteran as any. They support her as they place a bottle of mineral water between her knees. The water pours out as immediately as the image of humiliation."
NYT: Pina Bausch's 'Palermo, Palermo' Explores a World Beyond Logic, September 30, 1991
Telegraph: Pina Bausch: Palermo, Palermo, Sadler’s Wells, review
Palermo, Palermo, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Sadler's Wells
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch – Palermo Palermo – London
Tanztheater Wuppertal - Pina Bausch
YouTube: Palermo Tanztheater Italia 1990 (Italia)
facebook: Bilder aus Stücken der Pina Bausch 1, 2

2008 May: Pina Bausch
2009 June: Pina Bausch 1940-2009
2012 August: Pina Bausch Costumes

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "We No Who U R"

"'The trees all stand like pleading hands,' dapper gloom-and-doomer Nick Cave sings on 'We No Who U R,' the lead single off Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' upcoming 15th studio album, Push the Sky Away (out February 19). If the crisply orchestrated track's lyric video didn't illustrate Cave's anthropo-horror-fic imagery clearly enough, the brooding sparkler now has a woodsy video to match. The four-minute clip, directed by French-based Argentine filmmaker Gaspar Noé, follows a shadowy figure as it stalks aimlessly through a forest."
Spin (Video)

2008 August: Nick Cave
2010 November: Henry Lee - Nick Cave & PJ Harvey
2011 March: The Boatman's Call
2011 December: B-Sides & Rarities
2012 January: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - White Lunar 

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum

"Opened in September 2012, Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum is home to the world’s largest collection of visual art, artifacts and printed materials relating to the starvation and forced emigration that occurred throughout Ireland from 1845 to 1850. Works by noted contemporary Irish artists are featured, as well as a number of important 19th and 20th-century paintings. Begun in 1997, this dynamic collection continues to grow."
Quinnipiac University
Ireland's Great Hunger Museum
NYT: Mournful, Angry Views of Ireland’s Famine
YouTube: Ireland's Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University

Garry Winogrand

World’s Fair, New York City, 1964
Wikipedia - "Garry Winogrand (14 January 1928, New York City – 19 March 1984, Tijuana, Mexico) was a street photographer known for his portrayal of America in the mid-20th century. John Szarkowski called him the central photographer of his generation. Winogrand was influenced by Walker Evans and Robert Frank and their respective publications American Photographs and The Americans. Henri Cartier-Bresson was another influence although stylistically different. Winogrand was known for his portrayal of American life in the early 1960s."
Wikipedia
10 Things Garry Winogrand Can Teach You About Street Photography
Getty Museum
MoCP
YouTube: Garry Winogrand - Part 1, Part 2

Desperate Straights - Slapp Happy / Henry Cow

Wikipedia - "Desperate Straights is an album by British avant-rock groups Slapp Happy and Henry Cow, recorded at Virgin Records' Manor studios in November 1974. It was the first of two collaborative albums by the two groups and was released in March 1975. Almost all of the album comprises Slapp Happy composed material and it is for this reason that it is generally regarded as a Slapp Happy album with backing by Henry Cow. The music is an unusual blend of avant-garde music and nostalgic pop, and the success of this collaboration led to the two bands merging."
Wikipedia
BBC Review
Pitchfork
YouTube: Bad Alchemy, Desperate Straights, Strayed, The Owl, Caucasian Lullaby, Some Questions About Hats, Apes in Capes

Gaia x Freddy Sam New Mural in Johannesburg, South Africa

" While we last heard from Gaia in Argentina (covered), the American artist is now in South Africa for the Acrylic Walls project. He teamed up with Freddy Sam to paint this large scale collaboration somewhere on the streets of Johannesburg. Check back with us soon for more by Gaia and Acrylic Walls."
StreetArtNews
flickr

Mass: Charles Olson

"This segment of Jim Dunn and Kevin Gallagher's feature, 'Mass: Raw Poetry from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,' focuses on Charles Olson, and includes contributions from James Cook, Anne Dewey, and Rachell K. Lerner. 'To find out for yourself"' - James Cook. Projecting Amy Lowell - Anne Dewey. Rexroth's 'The Dragon and the Unicorn' - Rachelle Katz Lerner."
Jacket2

2009 January: Charles Olson
2010 September: Charles Olson: The Art of Poetry No. 12
2010 December: "In Cold Hell, in Thicket", NET film
2011 July: Charles Olson: February 21, 1957
2012 April: A Trip to Charles Olson’s Gloucester
2012 June: In Which We Lather Our Sensibilities At Length