The Novels of Renata Adler

Gary Indiana - "Renata Adler's newly reissued novels, Speedboat (1976) and Pitch Dark (1983), consist of anecdotes, vignettes, jokes, aphorisms, epigrammatic asides, and longer passages of prose—eclectic inventories of consciousness. Their immediate effect is that of a flea market in Samarqand or Ouagadougou, where the items on display (vintage clothes, military decorations, photo albums, broken appliances) are fractionally different enough, in style and provenance, from their cousins at the local swap meet to look like artifacts of an alternate universe. Adler’s eye and ear for the peculiar are unmatched in American letters. Adler herself is regarded as peculiar in literary circles; her reluctance to publish anything is almost as legendary as Fran Lebowitz’s writing block."
Bookforum
New Yorker: Welcome Back, Renata Adler
New Old Works by Renata Adler
The Believer

2012 September: Renata Adler

Banshee

Banshee (1897 painting)
Wikipedia - "The banshee .., from Irish: bean sí ('woman of the sídhe' or 'woman of the fairy mounds') is a female spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. In legend, a banshee is a fairy woman who begins to wail if someone is about to die. In Scottish Gaelic mythology she is known as the bean sìth or bean-nighe and is seen washing the blood-stained clothes or armour of those who are about to die. Alleged sightings of banshees have been reported as recently as 1948. Similar beings are also found in Welsh, Norse and American folklore."
Wikipedia

Barbara Nessim

"... Internationally-renowned artist, illustrator and educator Barbara Nessim has been a vital contributor and influential trendsetter in the art world over the past several decades. With an extensive resume of accomplishments and a portfolio of work that go beyond one's ability to mention, Barbara has always been visionary in her thinking, and unprecedented in her creativity. Inspired by her mother, a clothing designer, Barbara put herself through college by supporting herself as a freelance fashion illustrator in the Garment Center."
Barbara Nessim
W - Barbara Nessim
Guardian: Barbara Nessim at the V&A - in pictures
NYT: Illustrating Her Own Narrative
vimeo: Barbara Nessim: An Artful Life

Sly & Robbie Taxi Connection live 1986

"Sly & Robbie Taxi Connection live 1986 with Ini Kamoze, Half Pint and Yellowman. Live on The Tube in the UK 1986."
YouTube: Sly & Robbie Taxi Connection live 1986
amazon

Golden Age of Science Fiction

Wikipedia - "The first Golden Age of Science Fiction — often recognized as the period from the 1938 to 1946 — was an era during which the science fiction genre gained wide public attention and many classic science fiction stories were published. In the history of science fiction, the Golden Age follows the 'pulp era' of the 1920s and 30s, and precedes New Wave science fiction of the 1960s and 70s. The 1950s are a transitional period in this scheme; however, Robert Silverberg, who came of age in the 1950s, saw that decade as the true Golden Age."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Isaac Asimov Recalls the Golden Age of Science Fiction (1937-1950), The Golden Age Of Science Fiction -- Jive Aces

Acts of Voicing: On the Poetics and Politics of the Voice

Tim Etchells: "Void Story", 2012
"... Acts of Voicing deals with the aesthetic, performative, and political significance of the voice from the vantage point of visual art, dance, performance, and theory. The exhibition centers on the agency and performativity of the voice. The aim is to examine the resistive the disciplined, and the disciplining voice—those voices that are heard and others that are not. Fighting to have one’s voice heard is as much of a topic as the power to silence someone or to force them to speak."
e-flux
Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart
Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart: Press Pictures
frieze
YouTube: [1973] "Not I" (Samuel Beckett)

2012 March: “fathoms from anywhere”
2009 November: Samuel Beckett
2010 April: A Piece of Monologue
2011 June: Film (1965) - UbuWeb

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

Wikipedia - "The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. It was also the second deadliest disaster in New York City – after the burning of the General Slocum on June 15, 1904 – until the destruction of the World Trade Center 90 years later. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged sixteen to twenty-three; of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was Providenza Panno at 43, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and 'Sara' Rosaria Maltese."
Wikipedia
The 1911 Triangle Waist Factory
NYT: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911)
PBS - Photo Essay: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
YouTube: The Triangle Fire

Oskido

"The son of a Zimbabwean politician and born in the Oukasie township (near Brits, South Africa) in 1967, little Oscar was schooled in his father's home country (Rhodesia at the time), only returning to SA in 1987. The early 90's found him selling boerewors sausage rolls outside the Razzmatazz nightclub in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, sneaking his way inside the club to spin the closing sessions and slowing down American house tracks to a tempo that 'Africans could dance to'. One night, the resident DJ didn't pitch up... and the rest is history."
RA
YouTube: Oskido presents Black Motion ft Jah Rich "Banane Mavoko", Dj Fisherman ft Dr Malinga, Oskido, Mampintsha, Danger, & Dj Tira "izinja sondela", Oskido ft Candy & Mabhiza "Tsa Mandebele, Professor " Jezebel " ft. Oskido, Dr Malinga ft Oskido " Jika "

Little Johnny Taylor

Wikipedia - "Little Johnny Taylor (born Johnny Lamont Merrett; February 11, 1943 – May 17, 2002) was an American blues and soul singer, who made recordings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and continued public performances through the 1980s and 1990s. Born in Gregory, Arkansas, United States, he is frequently confused with his contemporary and near namesake Johnnie Taylor, especially since the latter made a cover version of the song that Little Johnny Taylor was most famous for, 'Part Time Love' (1963), and the fact that both men began their careers as gospel singers."
Wikipedia
amazon: Little Johnny Taylor
YouTube: Somewhere Down The Line, Everybody Knows About My Good Thing, Pt. 1 & 2, I Smell Trouble, ZIG ZAG LIGHTNING, You'll Need Another Favor

Rap Lyrics Become Street Poetry. For Reals.

"How’s this for the realness; remember when Q-Tip rapped, 'Street poetry is my everyday'? Well you can thank street artist Jay Shells for taking that sentiment to its logical conclusion with his series of so-simple yet so-fresh street signs featuring rap lyrics at their specific geographic locations. More than 30 in all, the rap quotables by Jay-Z, Nice & Smooth, Mos Def and more were captured by ANIMAL in all their lyrical glory. This is right up our alley."
egotripland (Video)

Gardner Museum Heist Case Might Crack

"Twenty-three years ago this week, two thieves walked into Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and made off with thirteen works of art valued at a half-billion dollars, including paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Manet, and sketches by Degas. The FBI calls it the largest property heist in history, and it remains officially unsolved. But the agency used the anniversary to announce developments in the case."
Studio360
amazon - The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
WSJ: Clearer Picture of Art Heist (Video)
W - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The Meters

Wikipediav - "The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977. The band played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists, including Lee Dorsey, Robert Palmer, and Dr John. While The Meters rarely enjoyed significant mainstream success, they are considered, along with artists like James Brown, one of the progenitors of funk music and their work is highly influential on many other bands, both their contemporaries and modern musicians working in the funk idiom."
Wikipedia
amazon: The Meters
YouTube: Live 1974 - Look-Ka Py Py / Jungle Man, Ain't No Use, Chicken Strut, Cissy Strut, Hey Pocky A-way, Funkify Your Life

Pina Bausch - "The Seven Deadly Sins"

"The Dance Session is strictly speaking not the session of dance. 'The Seven Deadly Sins' by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht and her dance company have come up with the most destructive show one could have ever imagined to see on the German stage. It goes without saying they are doing this quite consciously. This show is not only absolutely unpretentious in terms of scale or humor. It totally lacks any outward luster. This performance is poor, infinitely sad and yet charged with enormous energy… In contrast with Brecht who spoke about seven mortal sins, Pina Bausch focuses on one – renting out female flesh. It is by no means limited to the all too old theme of a woman’s degradation to a sellable pleasure article that can be obtained through fluttery or by force. Neither has it anything to do with emancipation. - Die Welt, June 18, 1976"
"The Seven Deadly Sins" by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht
Tanztheater Wuppertal - Die sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins)
NYT: "The Seven Deadly Sins" and "Don't Be Afraid"
W - The Seven Deadly Sins (ballet chanté)
[PDF] Brechtian Traces in Pina Bausch's Choreographic and Cinematic Work
blip: Dance Not Dance: Pina Bausch (Video)

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

Outsider Art

Wikipedia - "The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut, 'raw art' or 'rough art'), a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by those on the outsides of the established art scene such as insane-asylum inmates and children. While Dubuffet's term is quite specific, the English term 'outsider art' is often applied more broadly, to include certain self-taught or naïve art makers who were never institutionalized."
Wikipedia
What is Outsider Art?
NYT: Feeling Right at Home on the Fringe
Philadelphia Museum of Art
YouTube: The Outsider Art Fair 2012

Spalding Gray (Monologue) "A Personal History of the American Theatre"

"Spalding has all his early summer stockplays, and experimental works on large cards, shuffled. He chooses one at a time and tells an associated story. Very low key and Excellent! ... jb. Alive From Off Center."
Spalding Gray
UbuWeb (Video)

2011 November: Spalding Gray

The Path of Nature: French Paintings from the Wheelock Whitney Collection, 1785–1850

"In 2003 the Metropolitan Museum acquired a significant group of paintings spanning a key period in European history, beginning with the advent of the French Revolution and concluding with the reign of Louis-Philippe. ... The Whitney collection is remarkable for its concentration of plein-air oil studies by artists ranging from Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes to Camille Corot. This is complemented by a strong representation of finished landscapes, history subjects, genre, and portraiture: in short, the full scope of painting that one could expect to find in a Parisian cabinet d'amateur, or private collection, in the first half of the nineteenth century."
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Video)
NYT: The Great Outdoors

Robert Burley

"As an artist working in photography, Robert Burley has sought to describe and interpret the built environment in which he lives. Burley’s photographs have been extensively published and exhibited, and can be found in numerous museum collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Musée de l’Elysée, George Eastman House–International Museum of Photography and Film, Canadian Centre for Architecture, and the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal."
Robert Burley
The Disappearance of Darkness (vimeo)
NYT: Picturing the End of Analog
amazon: Robert Burley
vimeo: The Disappearance of Darkness

R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders

Wikipedia - "R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders are an American retro string band playing songs from, and in the style of, the 1920s: old-time music, ragtime, 'evergreen' jazz standards, western swing, country blues, hokum, vaudeville and medicine show tunes. Their three 33⅓ rpm albums, all recorded in the 1970s on the Blue Goose label, were titled R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders (1974), R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders No. 2 (1976), and R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders No. 3 (1978); the latter two have been reissued on the Shanachie label as Chasin' Rainbows (No. 2) and Singing In the Bathtub (No. 3)."
Wikipedia
amazon: R.crumb And His Cheap Suit Serenaders
allmusic: The Cheap Suit Serenaders
YouTube: Cheap Suit Special, My Girl's Pussy, Fine Artiste Blues, Alabama Jubilee, I'm Gonna Get It, Hula Girl, She lived down by the Firehouse

Bruce Odland

"Bruce Odland — sonic thinker, composer, and sound artist — is known for his large scale, public space sound installations which transform city noise into harmony, real-time. In 2004 he and Sam Auinger (O+A) altered the harmonic mix of the World Financial Center Plaza using the moon, tides, harmonic tuning tubes, and cement loudspeakers ('Blue Moon'). Together they have changed the sonic character of man public spaces around the world. His many collaborations include work with Laurie Anderson, Dan Graham, Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn, Peter Sellars, Joanne Akailitis, Robert Woodruff, Tony Oursler, Peter Erskine, and the Wooster Group. He has contributed ideas and energy to projects in theatre, film, dance, public art, festivals, radio, and museums."
Bruce Odland
vimeo: Bruce Odland
Soundcloud: bruceodland (Video)
kickstarter: SAVE THE TANK (Video)

Ebo Taylor - "Ayesama"

"The music video for 'Ayesama' takes us to Ebo Taylor’s homeland of Saltpond, Ghana. Ghanaians, young and old, cooking, dancing, and going about their daily business give a comforting feel of Taylor’s town. And is the perfect visual to the afrobeat and highlife treasure that is Appia Kwa Bridge, which is out now!
YouTube: Ayesama

2011 August: Ebo Taylor

The Celluloid Records Story

"The story of Celluloid Records is a complicated one, and one that goes deeper than the music. Vivien Goldman did a fantastic job of outlining some of the label's history and context in her liner notes for Change The Beat, and now we have the pleasure of learning even more from some of the key players in the label's storied history. Filmed in Paris and New York City, this two part series features producers and musicians Bill Laswell and DXT (formerly Grand Mixer DST) and founder / owner Jean Karakos. Part two in the series will be posted shortly."
strut (YouTube) The Celluloid Records Story
Test Pressing
Change The Beat – The Celluloid Records Story (YouTube)

2010 June: Celluloid Records

March Madness 2013

"Hate 'em or love 'em, these are the storylines to track. As much as we'd love to let the games decide the storylines, that's never the case. Most results can and should and will dictate the things you read and what you react to, but before we tip off with the 64 squads in place, there are a few awesome angles to consider. Let's list them out. And I'm sparing all the possible second- and third-weekend match ups, because while Kansas-VCU meeting again would be fun to see, it's far from a guarantee. So let's not get ahead of ourselves. Over the next five days, here will be the on-the-surface talking points. And then the games will give us another two dozen to consider. That's the best part!"
CBS: The biggest and best storylines unfolding with the tourney
BR: 25 Greatest Moments in NCAA Tournament History
Grantland: The Most Hated College Basketball Players of the Last 30 Years

CBS
ESPN
Bleacher Report
SI
Wikipedia

I Am The Walrus Time - Stretched

"‘I Am The Walrus’ is one of The Beatles’ crappier songs. But time-stretched and slowed-down by 800%, it becomes something eerie, ambient and very much Sigur Rós-esque. Set to the 1960s cult short film Vertige by Jean Beaudin. Described by Dangerous Minds as 'a mix of LSD imagery, candy-colored sets, go go dancing, Vietnam war and horror movie stills and clips'."
vimeo: Walrus
YouTube:Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles 800% Slower, The Long and Winding Road, The Fool On The Hill, Yesterday

14th Street (IND Sixth Avenue Line)

Wikipedia - "14th Street is a local station on the IND Sixth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan, it is served by the F train at all times, and by the M train on weekdays. This underground station opened on December 15, 1940 along with the rest of the IND Sixth Avenue Line from West Fourth Street – Washington Square to 47th–50th Streets – Rockefeller Center. Free transfers are available to Sixth Avenue on the BMT Canarsie Line (L train), which is directly underneath the extreme south end of this station, and a walkway from the Canarsie platform provides a transfer to 14th Street on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line (1, 2 and 3 trains)."
Wikipedia
14 Street/IND 6 Avenue Line

Blues for Smoke

"Blues for Smoke is an interdisciplinary exhibition that explores a wide range of contemporary art through the lens of the blues and blues aesthetics. Turning to the blues not simply as a musical category but as a field of artistic sensibilities and cultural idioms, the exhibition features works by over forty artists from the 1950s to the present, as well as materials culled from music and popular entertainment."
Whitney
Whitney: Images
Whitney: Video
NYT - Mood Indigo: A Playlist for the Mind
GalleristNY
Blues for Smoke, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Murray the K

Wikipedia - "Murray Kaufman (February 14, 1922 – February 21, 1982), professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. During the early days of Beatlemania, he frequently referred to himself as the fifth Beatle. ... Murray the K reached his peak of popularity in the mid-1960s when, as the top-rated radio host in New York City, he became an early and ardent supporter and friend of The Beatles. When the Beatles came to New York on February 7, 1964, Murray was the first DJ they welcomed into their circle, having heard about him and his Brooklyn Fox shows from American groups such as the Ronettes (sisters Ronnie and Estelle Bennett, and their first cousin, Nedra Talley), also known as Murray's 'dancing girls'."
Wikipedia
Murray the K
The Murray the K Collection

Under An Alias

"Under An Alias is the new big fairytale of nerdworking, a digital historical expression. This time our story takes place in a small German town; Weimar. The effect of a small town with the population of 65,000 people on the world concerns all of us, a city where the majority of its income is from culture. Weimar is a meeting and creation point for eminent intellectuals of our current times. This town, where Goethe wrote his masterpieces, where the music of Franz Liszt could be heard. This is where its republic of Germany was founded in 1919, whose legacy was subsequently marred by the establishment of a Nazi concentration camp in 1937. Weimar, a city that currently merges art and architecture in Bauhaus university, has many untold stories."
vimeo: Under An Alias

Charles Dellschau

"... It turns out that the drawings/watercolors were the work of one Charles August Albert Dellschau (1830 - 1923). Dellschau was a butcher for most of his life and only after his retirement in 1899 did he begin his incredible career as a self-taught artist. He began with three books entitled Recollections which purported to describe a secret organization called the Sonora Aero Club. Dellschau described his duties in the club as that of the draftsman. Within his collaged watercolors were newspaper clippings (he called them 'press blooms') of early attempts at flight overlapped with his own fantastic drawings of airships of all kind."
Design Observer
Wikipedia
Charles Dellschau - Images
ART BRUT

Nina Katchadourian

World Map Scandinavia
"I made this map in college in response to an assignment, and it marks the beginning of my work with maps. Using a blade, I took apart a paper map, moving pieces over to a large piece of paper which I watercolored the same blue as the ocean in the original map. Gradually, the world was reconfigured. I often reconstructed words using presstype in places where the names of countries had gotten truncated. There were switches based on historical or geopological factors (Western Europe inserted into West Africa); others were based on formal correspondences or quirks of the map itself. Australia and Alaska had the same green border color, for example, and fit perfectly together due to the distortion of scale that occurs towards the poles."
Nina Katchadourian: World Map
W - Nina Katchadourian
Nina Katchadourian: Sorted Books project
YouTube: Nina Katchadourian: "Seat Assignment"

Rare Live Footage Documents The Clash From Their Raw Debut to the Career-Defining London Calling

"For all their leftist political fervor, musical richness, and fiercely uncompromised delivery, The Clash still suffered accusations that they sold out when they signed what looked like a relatively lucrative deal with CBS records in 1977. Those charges came from grassroots fans and critics like Mark Perry, who wrote in his seminal British punk fanzine Sniffin’ Glue that 'Punk died the day The Clash signed to CBS'. ... If debut album The Clash was mostly raw, gritty punk rock with sprinklings of reggae, and the follow-up Give ‘Em Enough Rope a little too polished for some fans (at CBS’s insistence), the double album London Calling surely marks the band’s writing and recording apex. It tops so many critics’ 'top' lists that I hardly need say more about it to introduce the high-quality film above of a February 27, 1980 Paris show."
openculture (Video)