Cesare Pavese

Wikipedia - "Cesare Pavese (9 September 1908 – 27 August 1950) was an Italian poet, novelist, literary critic and translator. He is widely considered among the major authors of the 20th century in his home country. ... Pavese moved in antifascist circles. In 1935 he was arrested and convicted for having letters from a political prisoner. After a few months in prison he was sent into 'confino', internal exile in Southern Italy, the commonly used sentence for those guilty of lesser political crimes. (Carlo Levi and Leone Ginzburg, also from Turin, were similarly sent into confino.) A year later Pavese returned to Turin, where he worked for the left-wing publisher Giulio Einaudi as editor and translator. Natalia Ginzburg also worked there. Pavese was living in Rome when he was called up into the fascist army, but because of his asthma he spent six months in a military hospital. When he returned to Turin, German troops occupied the streets and most of his friends had left to fight as partisans. ..."
Wikipedia
Poetry Foundation
thoughts on two Cesare Pavese poems
amazon

Drone And Dusted: Tony Conrad Interviewed

"Although Tony Conrad is now firmly ensconced as a legend in minimalism and avant garde performance, playing shows at leading festivals and high profile gigs around the world, it is very nearly a story that did not happen. For many years his early recordings in the Theatre Of Eternal Music with his also legendary cohorts – La Monte Young, Angus MacLise, John Cale, Terry Riley, Marian Zazeela – were merely a rumour. These batches of unreleased reels were lost somewhere in the 1960s slums of New York, and Conrad himself became a lost figure, his whereabouts mainly unknown within the music world even though his artistic activities continued. ..."
The Quietus
Bomb — Artists in Conversation
Wikipedia
Tony Conrad: Holder of Parking Karma & Drip Coffee Skills

Hugh Mundell - Africa Must Be Free By 1983 + Dub (1978)

"The teenaged Hugh Mundell cut Africa Must Be Free by 1983 under the tutelage of the legendary producer Augustus Pablo in the mid-'70s, and had a Jamaican hit with the title track. Mundell's artlessly fervent singing is attractive far out of proportion to his technical skill. It's the sincerity and devotion in his voice that make successes of songs like 'Let's All Unite' and 'My Mind' -- that and the rock-solid instrumental backing of Pablo's studio band, which at this time included bassist and trombonist Leroy 'Horsemouth' Wallace and guitarists Earl 'Chinna' Smith and Jeffrey Chung. The CD issue of this album includes dub versions of six of the original album's eight tracks, as well as several other miscellaneous dub tracks. Like too many of Jamaica's best reggae musicians, Mundell died young -- in an almost creepy irony (given the title of his hit song), he was shot and killed in 1983 at the age of 21."
allmusic
YouTube: Africa Must Be Free By 1983 [Full Album], Africa Must Be Free by 1983 Dub [Full Album]

2010 September: Hugh Mundell, 2009 December: Augustus Pablo, 2011 November: King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo and King Tubby, 2011 May: East of the River Nile, 2013 January: King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown, 2015 April: Valley of Jehosaphat (1999), 2015 June: Hugh Mundell & Augustus Pablo - Jah Will Provide + Hungry (Dub Version).

Greene Street Project

"The entirety of Greene Street in SoHo is pretty short, as New York City streets go -- just five blocks long. Walk along it today between Houston and Prince Streets and you’ll pass an Apple Store, a Ralph Lauren store, and a variety of other high-end retailers. A hundred and forty years ago, you’d be walking by brothels. A new website, The Greene Street Project: A Long History of a Short Block, covers more than four hundred years of that one block section -- just 486 feet long -- illustrated with photographs, maps, newspaper clippings, survey data, and charts. - zarq"
Greene Street Project
The Economics Lessons in a Single New York City Block
Wired: From Brothels to Luxury, Mapping 400 Years on One NYC Block
Subway Map Floating on a NY Sidewalk
NYC’s MOST UNUSUAL SUBWAY MAP

2012 July: 112 Greene Street, 2012 November: Alternative Histories New York Art Spaces, 1960-2010

Lisa Tan

"Waves" (2014–15)
"The videos in this series unfold like conversations. Seemingly inconsequential things pop-up and take hold. A phone call interrupts, the sun starts to set, a stranger asks a question, translations are needed, and the ocean meets the shore. Each work narrates my engagement with enigmatic writers, with close friends, with histories, technologies and geographies that I know, in order to mediate those that I don't. I filmed in places and at times that exist at some threshold, such as where sea meets land, and while traversing above and below the surface of the earth, and during the time when day gives way to night. ..."
Lisa Tan: Current (Video)
Lisa Tan
The Intimate Art of Active Reading
Interview: Lisa Tan
vimeo: Waves (6.5 minute excerpt)

The Cultivist’s Top 12 International Hidden Art Gems

Leighton House Museum
"The women at the helm of the Cultivist, a members’-club-cum-concierge-service for art enthusiasts, are just the kind of people you would want to e-mail before taking a trip. They’re well traveled, well connected and able to suggest places to visit that won’t be glutted with tourists — as well as the secret spots tucked away in even the world’s best-known museums. ... Membership in the first year of the Cultivist’s existence is limited to 1,000, and perks of membership include free, skip-the-line access to 70 museums — with three guests each — and over 30 art fairs, as well as a number of member events, worldwide. With the explicitly international scope of the project in mind, we asked Verhoeven and Peat, along with three of their colleagues in the Cultivist’s programming and membership departments, to share a dozen favorite, far-flung art destinations — that haven’t yet been Instagrammed to death. ..."
NY Times

David Borden - Music For Amplified Keyboard Instruments (1981)

"While working at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. during the late '60s, composer David Borden met Robert Moog, who was then refining his first commercial voltage-controlled synthesizer, what we would now refer to simply as a Moog. Freshly returned from a stint as a Fulbright student in West Berlin, Borden had an open mind toward new ideas in music but knew very little about synthesizers, which were then fairly bulky and esoteric. According to the composer, this made him an ideal test subject for Moog, who allowed Borden to experiment with his prototypes as a way to proof the designs for regular consumers. Not long after, Borden would found Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company, a keyboard trio that performed works by then-emerging composers like Terry Riley, Robert Ashley, and Steve Reich. ..."
Pitchfork
Spectrum Spools
amazon
Spotify
YouTube: Esty Point, Summer 1978, The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Pt. 9, Enfield in Winter, The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Pt. 6

Beastie Boys - New York State Of Mind (Mixed By DJ Green Lantern) (2007)

"As anyone knows, the Beastie Boys made their greatest album in 1989, Pauls Boutique, as funky party album filled with nonstop samples and no filler. Well New York State of Mind is like Paul's Botique 15 years later. DJ Green Lantern is an exxcelent DJ, and he makes all the tracks feel as fresh and catchy, if not catchier, as when they were first released. Some moments on this album are absolute, indescribable strokes of genius, such as putting Biggie Smalls on the hook for 'Hey Ladies,' Ludacris rapping 'When I move you move' during the chorus of 'Body Movin.' ... However, that track is also excellent and from the beggining to end, New York State of Mind is undeniably an absolute hip-hop masterpeice, perhaps even matching Pauls Botique."
amazon
Soundcloud: Beastie Boys - New York State Of Mind (Mixed By DJ Green Lantern)
YouTube: DJ Green Lantern's NY State Of Mind MixTape

The Backyard Astronomer's Guide

"The newest edition of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide includes the latest data and answers the questions most often asked by home astronomers, from beginners to experienced stargazers. Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer provide expert guidance on the right types of telescopes and other equipment; photographing the stars through a telescope; and star charts, software and other references. They cover daytime and twilight observing, planetary and deep-sky observing, and much more. With over 500 color photographs and illustrations, The Backyard Astronomer's Guide is one of the most valuable, beautiful and user-friendly astronomy books ever produced. ..."
amazon: The Backyard Astronomer's Guide
Company7
Sky & Telescope: How to Start Right in Backyard Astronomy
Backyard Astronomy

2015 July: Pocket Sky Atlas By Roger W. Sinnott

The Women of the Avant-Garde: An Introduction Featuring Audio by Gertrude Stein, Kathy Acker, Patti Smith & More

Kathy Acker
"The story of the avant-garde is never just one story. But it tends to get told that way, and we tend to think we know how modernist and post-modern literature and music have taken shape: through a series of great men who thwarted convention and remade language and sound in ways their predecessors never dreamed. ... Instead of a history, Goldsmith gives us something of a constellation of artists, many of them clustered tightly together in time and space. New York poets, writers, and musicians who came of age in the 70s and 80s—Kathy Acker, Lydia Lunch, Laurie Anderson, Patti Smith, Eileen Myles—all feature in Goldsmith’s account. ..."
Open Culture (Video)

Art as Activism: Graphic Art from the Merrill C. Berman Collection

1936 American Labor Party poster
"Throughout much of the 20th century, political protests and calls for action reached the public on posters and broadsides. Long before digital technology made worldwide communication possible, graphic artists used the powerful tools of modernist art to inform communities, stir up audiences and call attention to injustice. American graphic artists, often drawing on European models developed in the 1920s to fight fascism or promote revolution, used brilliant colors and violent imagery to produce ephemeral artifacts aimed to inspire and energize the angry or disaffected. Posted on walls and bulletin boards, or slapped up on store windows and church doors, these bright, quickly produced images embodied the anger of the masses, ultimately serving as the wallpaper of public discontent. ..."
New-York Historical Society
NY Times: Seeing the Power of Political Posters

Obscure Records (1975-1978)

"Obscure Records was a U.K. record label which existed from 1975 to 1978. It was created and run by Brian Eno, who also produced the albums (credited as executive producer in one instance). Ten albums were issued in the series. Most have detailed liner notes on their back covers, analyzing the compositions and providing a biography of the composer, in a format typical of classical music albums, and much of the material can be regarded as 20th century classical music. The label provided a venue for experimental music, and its association with Eno gave increased public exposure to its composers and musicians. In their original editions, all albums used variations of the same cover art of a collage by John Bonis, covered up by an overprinting of black ink. The picture beneath the ink can be seen somewhat clearly under a strong light. ..."
UbuWeb (Video)
W - Obscure Records

Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources

"Edition 2015, No. 2. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources aims to document all given names recorded in European sources written between 600 and 1600. Looking for a particular name? Browse the entries. Wondering how to interpret an entry? See the guide. Want to know more? Read about the project."
Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources

Caravaggio

Boy with a Basket of Fruit, c. 1593
Wikipedia - "Michelangelo Merisi (Michael Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio (29 September 1571 in Milan – 18 July? 1610) was an Italian painter active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1592 (1595?) and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on Baroque painting. Caravaggio trained as a painter in Milan under Simone Peterzano who had himself trained under Titian. ... Caravaggio's innovation was a radical naturalism that combined close physical observation with a dramatic, even theatrical, use of chiaroscuro which came to be known as tenebrism (the shift from light to dark with little intermediate value). ..."
Wikipedia
National Gallery
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Guardian - Caravaggio: how he influenced my art
amazon: Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane, Caravaggio
YouTube: Who Killed Caravaggio?
YouTube: Caravaggio [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7]

Coffee Connections at Peddler in SoHo

"On a humid Monday in July, the corner of Houston and Lafayette was typically busy. Tourists and late-afternoon commuters rushed into the subway. Yellow cabs lurched in and out of the gas station, avoiding shoppers carrying bags from Uniqlo and Zara. In the commotion, you easily could have missed the coffee cart with a frayed, slightly cockeyed umbrella, around which the city’s motion pooled and slowed to an amble. Those who did notice gave it a sustained look. A trio of teenage girls walked past with wide eyes, transfixed either by the operation or by its sandy-haired Australian proprietor, Byron Kaplan, who watched the crowds from his station inside the cart. ..."
NY Times

2010 September: Espresso, April: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World, 2013 May: Coffeehouse, 2015 June: Barista.

Au Pairs - Peel Session 1981

"The complete session recorded by Au Pairs on 21 January 1981 for the John Peel show on BBC Radio 1 and broadcast on the 28th of that month. Tracklist: 1. We're So Cool (0:07) 2. Armagh (4:20) 3. The Set Up (8:08) 4. Headache For Michelle (11:38)"
YouTube: Peel Session 1981

2008 May: Au Pairs, 2012 October: Au Pairs @ Pinkpop 1982, 2014 August: Stepping Out of Line: The Anthology (2006), 2015 March: "Inconvenience" / Pretty Boys (12").

Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan (1974)

Wikipedia - "Blood on the Tracks is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 20, 1975 by Columbia Records. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia Records after a two-album stint with Asylum Records. Dylan commenced recording the album in New York City in September 1974. In December, shortly before Columbia was due to release the record, Dylan abruptly re-recorded much of the material in a studio in Minneapolis. The final album contained five tracks from New York and five tracks from Minneapolis. Blood on the Tracks was initially received with mixed reviews, but has subsequently been acclaimed as one of Dylan's greatest albums by critics and fans. ..."
Wikipedia
Searching For A Gem
Pitchfork - Invisible Hits: The Tangled Tale of Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks
amazon
Spotify
YouTube: Tangled Up In Blue (Live)
YouTube: New York Version 1974 Stereo. Tangled Up In Blue, Idiot Wind, If You See Her, Say Hello, Lily, Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts

Infographic explains “film noir” and finds the most noir film of them all

"The term 'film noir' is thrown around a lot to describe a great many films. Neo-noirs, film soleil, and other such spin-offs and mutations are also used to describe recent endeavors in everything from a Coen Brothers film to the latest season of True Detective. But just what is film noir? ... Film noir came out of the post-World War2 Hollywood but wasn’t named as such until a bunch of high-falutin’ French critics noticed a pattern in all these hard-boiled tales of deceit, betrayal, and morally vague characters. Many of them were based either directly or indirectly on lurid pulp tales of the time by the likes of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. But what are the cinematic ingredients that make up a film noir? And what is the most noir film out there by those criteria?"
AV Club

2009 January: Film noir, 2014 February: Crime Jazz: How Miles Davis, Count Basie & Other Jazz Legends Provided the Soundtrack for Noir Films & TV, 2014 June: The 5 Essential Rules of Film Noir.

The Air-Conditioned Nightmare - Henry Miller (1970)

"... After an introduction about Miller’s ex-patriate status at the time of his cross-country trip, each chapter addresses a particular American locale, and an emblematic person from each stop on his journey. Miller’s usual remarks about non-artistic people or places as dead is manifested throughout the book. While Miller’s prose vibrates with colorful insights and unusual words, he also issues summary judgments constantly. In that way, Miller is something of a moralist, a moralist in favor of the artistic-hedonistic lifestyle. Miller is a great champion for the bohemian life in both his life and work, but he often betrays his impatience with the lives of simpler folk. True, in the course of issuing so many judgments, he will arbitrarily single out certain simple folk for praise, but Miller’s work is so full of judgment, even as he protests, mock-modestly, about how little he knows. So The Air-Conditioned Nightmare is a collection of sketches, all infused by Miller’s endless judgments and generalizations, variously insightful, humorous, poetic, elitist."
The Satirist
Dark Satanic Mills: On The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
amazon
Google - The Air-Conditioned Nightmare

2010 March: Dinner With Henry (1979), 2011 December: Asleep & Awake (1975), 2013 April: Henry Miller, 2014 April: Henry Miller, Brooklyn Hater, 2015 July: Henry Miller Interviews.

Brooklyn: The Sane Alternative - Pete Hamill, July 14, 1969

"One cold spring I found myself alone in Rome, in a small room high up over Parioli, trying to write. The words came thickly, sluggishly, and none of them were any good. I quit for the day. For a while I read day-old copies of Paese Sera, the Communist daily, and the Paris Herald, and then, bored, I turned on the radio, lay down on the lumpy couch, and, half-listening, stared out at the empty sky. The music was the usual raucous Italian stew, mixed with screaming commercials, and I fell into a heavy doze. Then, suddenly, absurdly, I came awake, as an old song started to play. ... But I did not think about the hard young men of that old beachhead, or about their war, or even about cowboys in flight from homicidal girlfriends. I thought about Brooklyn. ..."
NY Mag

2015 November: Downtown: My Manhattan

The Belle Epoque Rail Band

"... Rail Band 2: Mansa [Belle Epoque, 2008]. Formed by the Malian government in 1970 to beguile visiting businessmen and long recognized as the equal of Orchestra Baobab and Étoile de Dakar, Bamako's Rail Band was sparked initially by future crossover pioneer Salif Keita, who quit shortly after the 1973 arrival of vocalist-instrumentalist Mory Kante. Its presiding genius is master guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, backbone of the three maddening double-CDs that now constitute the band's legacy. Each set is dominated by four-to-10-minute recordings from 1973 to 1977, with synthed-up '80s tracks snuck in here and there, and though it's possible true cognoscenti can fathom an organizational logic that goes unexplained in the notes, I cannot. My mind tells me that the first volume is the least accessible not because it's appreciably earlier but because it seeks out deep-Malian lyrical content. ..."
Robert Christgau
amazon: Belle Epoque
The Rail Band: Belle Epoque Vol. 3 - Dioba
Belle Epoque Volume 1: Soundiata
YouTube: Belle Epoque Vol. 1: Soundiata, Belle Epoque Vol. 2: Mansa, Belle Epoque Vol. 3: Dioba

History of Art in Three Colours: Gold

"Why do we cherish gold so much? Its value is essentially its colour, this glorious yellowness that never stops shining. It’s connected to the colour of the sun and in prehistoric cultures all around the world the sun was the most powerful divinity: the bringer of light and warmth to the world. Ancient peoples didn’t just think gold looked like the sun; they believed it was materially the same thing. For the ancient Egyptians, gold, with its eternal shine, represented the afterlife, and the skin of the gods was supposed to be made of gold. That’s why it was used for Tutankhamun’s funerary mask (above). By covering yourself in this immortal substance, you would yourself become immortal. ... - James Fox"
YouTube: History of Art in Three Colours: Gold

Tom Waits - Alice (2002)

"It's been long time since Tom Waits recorded an album as saturated with tenderness as this one. The carny-barker noise merchant who has immersed himself in brokenness and reportage from life's seamy, even hideous underbelly for decades has created, along with songwriting and life partner Kathleen Brennan, a love song cycle so moving and poetic that it's almost unbearable to take in one sitting. Alice is alleged to be the 'great lost Waits masterpiece.' Waits and Brennan collaborated with Robert Wilson on a stage production loosely based on Alice Liddell, the young girl who was the obsession and muse of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland books. ... Instead, this song cycle is, for the most part, steeped in jazz ballads, old waltzes, European folk songs, theatrical love paeans, and music not so easily identified. ..."
allmusic
Wikipedia
Pitchfork
Spotify
YouTube: Alice, Everything You Can Think Of Is True, We're All Mad Here, Reeperbahn, I'm Still Here, Watch Her Disappear, Poor Edward

2012 July: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, 2013 March: Burma Shave, 2013 May: "Ol' '55", 2013 July: The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), 2014 January: Blood Money, 2014 March: Telephone call from Istanbul (1987), 2014 November: Rain Dogs (1985), 2015 February: Mule Variations (1999), 2015 April: Swordfishtrombones (1983).

Peter Schjeldahl

"In the pantheon of art writers Peter Schjeldahl holds a special place near the top as one of our greatest living critics. He entered the New York scene in the ’60s, a poet and college dropout escaping a Lutheran upbringing in Minnesota. Over the decades his language has remained surprisingly fresh and unfailingly precise—the kind of effortless grace born of relentless practice, like a ballet dancer’s landing. Art critic for the New Yorker since 1998, he is alive to the nuanced movements of his own feelings, which he charts over the course of each review. This summer he met with the Rail’s Jarrett Earnest to discuss the interconnections between seeing, feeling, and writing."
Brooklyn Rail
New Yorker (Video)
Bookforum: Poetic Justice
Wikipedia
Interview Magazine
VOICE
amazon: Let's See: Writings on Art from The New Yorker

The Butterfield Blues Band - East-West (1966)

Wikipedia - "East-West is the second album by The Butterfield Blues Band, released in 1966 on Elektra Records, EKS 7315 in stereo, EKL 315 in mono. It was recorded at the famed Chess Studios on 2120 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago. ... Like the band's record debut, this album features traditional blues covers and the guitar work of Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop. Unlike the debut, Bishop also turns in some guitar solos, and drummer Sam Lay had left the band, to be replaced by Billy Davenport. The social complexion of the band changed as well; ruled by Butterfield in the beginning, it evolved into more of a democracy both in terms of financial reward and input into repertoire. ... Both reflected his love of jazz, as 'Work Song' had become a hard bop standard, and the title track 'East-West' used elements of modal jazz as introduced by Miles Davis on his ground-breaking Kind of Blue album. ..."
Wikipedia
amazon
Spotify
YouTube: EAST WEST (FULL ALBUM) 45:13

2014 January: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965)

News for Lulu (1988)

"Avant-garde altoist John Zorn teams up with trombonist George Lewis and guitarist Bill Frisell to form a unique trio. Without the benefit of piano, bass, or drums, they interpret the hard bop compositions of Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Sonny Clark, and Freddie Redd, generally not even the better-known ones. The performances are quite concise (Dorham's 'Windmill' is covered in 40 seconds), respectful to the melodies, and unpredictable. There are hints of the avant-garde here and there, but also plenty of swinging, bop-oriented solos and coherent ensembles. Very intriguing music that is highly recommended to a wide audience of jazz and general listeners."
allmusic
allmusic - More News For Lulu
W - News For Lulu
W - More News For Lulu
Spotify - News For Lulu
YouTube: News for Lulu 1:04:26, More News for Lulu

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, 2015 June: The Big Gundown - John Zorn plays Ennio Morricone (1985).

New York City blackout of 1977

Wikipedia - "The New York City blackout of 1977 was an electricity blackout that affected most of New York City on July 13–14, 1977. The only neighborhoods in the city that were not affected were in southern Queens and neighborhoods of the Rockaways, which are part of the Long Island Lighting Company system. ... The blackout occurred when the city was facing a severe financial crisis and its residents were fretting over the Son of Sam murders. The nation as a whole was suffering from a protracted economic downturn, and commentators have contrasted the event with the good-natured "Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?" atmosphere of 1965. Some pointed to the financial crisis as a root cause of the disorder, others noted the hot July weather. (The city at the time was in the middle of a brutal heat wave.) Looting and vandalism were widespread, hitting 31 neighborhoods, including most poor neighborhoods in the city. Possibly the hardest hit were Crown Heights, where 75 stores on a five-block stretch were looted, and Bushwick, where arson was rampant with some 25 fires still burning the next morning. ..."
Wikipedia
PBS: Blackout (Video)
NY Daily: Pete Hamill: Cursing the darkness in the blackout of 1977
Was the 1977 New York City Blackout a Catalyst for Hip-Hop’s Growth? (Video)
NY Daily: Lightning strikes cause blackout in 1977

Super City: New York and the History of Comic Books

"A history of the comic book industry in New York City, how the energy and diversity of the city influenced the burgeoning medium in the 1930s and 40s and how New York’s history reflects out from the origins of its most popular characters. In the 1890s a newspaper rivalry between William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer helped bring about the birth of the comic strip and, a few decades later, the comic book. Today, comic book superheroes are bigger than ever — in blockbuster summer movies and television shows — and most of them still have an inseparable bond with New York City. What’s Spider-Man without a tall building from which to swing? But not only are the comics often set here; the creators were often born here too. Many of the greatest writers and artists actually came from Jewish communities in the Lower East Side, Brooklyn or the Bronx. ..."
The Bowery Boys: New York City History

The Clear Movie-Theater Dark

"Happy eighty-eighth to John Ashbery. Many of his poems from the Review are available online, but I wanted to share a meditative passage on film from 'The System,' a long prose poem published as fiction in our Spring 1972 issue. In 1971, Ashbery read from 'The System' at St. Mark’s Church, in New York. Someone captured his prefatory remarks on tape, and they’re pretty illuminating in suggesting an approach to the poem:

Oh. I don’t think I have the last page of it with me. Well, it doesn’t really matter, actually. I don’t … I do like the way it ends, but it’s kind of an environmental work, if I may be so bold. If you sort of feel like leaving at any point, it won’t really matter. You will have had the experience. You’re only supposed to get out of it what you actually get out of it. You’re not supposed to really take it all in … you know, think about other things. I am disturbed that it’s incomplete, but maybe that’s good.

You can read the whole thing in Issue 53.  ..."
The Paris Review

7 Female Bass Players Who Helped Shape Modern Music: Kim Gordon, Tina Weymouth, Kim Deal & More

Tina Weymouth
"If you follow music news, you’ll have read of late more than a couple stories about two former members of two highly influential bands—Jackie Fox of the Runaways and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. Fox’s story of exploitation and sexual assault as a sixteen year-old rock star comes with all the usual public doubts about her credibility, and sadly represents the experience of so many women in the music business. Gordon’s numerous stories in her memoir Girl in a Band document her own struggles in punk and alt rock scenes that fostered hostility to women, in the band or no. The discussion of these two musicians’ personal narratives is compelling and necessary, but we should not lose sight of their significant contributions as musicians, playing perhaps the least appreciated instrument in the rock and roll arsenal—the bass. ..."
Open Culture (Video)