Havana Sugar Kings

Wikipedia - "The Havana Sugar Kings were a Cuban-based minor league baseball team that played in the Class AAA International League from 1954 to 1960. They were affiliated with Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds, and their home stadium was El Gran Estadio del Cerro (sometimes called Gran Stadium) in Havana, Cuba. The Sugar Kings began life in 1946 as the Havana Cubans, founded by Washington Senators scout Joe Cambria. They played in the old Class C (later Class B) Florida International League. In 1954, Roberto 'Bobby' Maduro bought the team, moved it to the International League, and renamed it the Sugar Kings. ..."
Wikipedia
NY Times: In Havana, Remembering a Minor League Championship
Havana’s Forgotten Baseball Team Played A Key Role In U.S.-Cuba Relations
ESPN - SC Featured: Sugar Kings (Video)
vimeo: Documentary about the Havana Sugar Kings., 1959 Junior World Series: Havana Sugar Kings vs. Minneapolis Millers

20116 May: Almendares Alacranes - 1878 to 1961, 2016 May: The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball - Roberto Gonzlez Echevarria (1999)

Music Word Fire and I Would Do It Again: The Lessons - Robert Ashley (1981)

"Music Word Fire and I Would Do It Again: The Lessons (1981), from Robert Ashley’s Perfect Lives, an opera commissioned and produced for television by The Kitchen. Principal collaborators are Peter Gordon (Music Producer), John Sanborn (Video Director), Carlota Schoolman (Producer for The Kitchen), and 'Blue' Gene Tyranny (Music Collaborator). Perfect Lives features the extraordinary keyboard inventions of “Blue” Gene Tyranny and the singing of Robert Ashley, Jill Kroesen and David Van Tieghem. ..."
Lovely
Discogs
YouTube: Isolde (Marie Isolde), Raoul de Nogel (No-Zhay), Buddy, The Captain of the Football Team (Donnie)

2008 March: Robert Ashley, 2012 April: Sonic Arts Union, 2012 July: Various - Lovely Little Records, 2013 October: The Old Man Lives in Concrete, 2014 March: Robert Ashley, 1930-2014, 2016 March: Perfect Lives (1977-83).

Disguise: Masks and Global African Art

Zina Saro-Wiwa, The Invisible Man (detail), 2015.
"Disguise: Masks and Global African Art connects the work of twenty-five contemporary artists with historical African masquerade, using play and provocation to invite viewers to think critically about their world and their place within it. By putting on a mask and becoming someone else, artists reveal hidden realities about society, including those of power, class, and gender, to suggest possibilities for the future. ... Masks have long been used by African artists to define relationships―between individuals, communities, the environment, or the cosmos―and, sometimes, to challenge the status quo. However, once masks were removed from their original performance context, they were transformed into museum objects, and their larger messages were often lost. ..."
Brooklyn Museum
SAM Invokes New Spirits in the Ambitious Disguise: Masks and Global African Art
The Brooklyn Museum Is Rethinking The Concept Of “African Masks”

John’s Sloan, "Spring Rain," 1912

"Looking at John’s Sloan’s foreboding 'Spring Rain' makes me feel as if I’m right behind this woman as she walks the slick pavement of an almost empty city park. That’s exactly the point. 'In his 1912 painting Spring Rain, he placed the viewer on a wet path in Union Square by filling the lower edge of the picture—the front edge of the picture plane—with rain-soaked pavement,' writes Nancy Mowll Mathews in Moving Pictures. 'Then Sloan moved the journey diagonally up through the painting as the path recedes into the space of the park. We too seem to be standing on the walkway watching the back of a young lady as she moves though the park. Through the artist’s hand the viewer experiences what it is like to cross the empty park in the mist of a spring rain.' Red stockings: a fad at the time?"
Ephemeral New York
[PDF] John Sloan'S Urban Encounters

Traffic Continues - Fred Frith (2000)

"For the past quarter century the varied recordings of musical renegade Fred Frith have provided a far-flung tour of the worldwide avant-garde fringe. On Traffic Continues, he composes for and plays guitar with Ensemble Modern, the venerable 21-piece German new music assemblage. This handsomely packaged CD is one of the strongest statements of Frith's career, a finely balanced work that contains concert hall and street sensibilities in equal measure. There are two lengthy pieces, the 29-minute 'Traffic Continues' and the 35-minute 'Traffic Continues II: Gusto (for Tom Cora),' an homage to the phenomenal cellist who with Frith was a member of the avant rock band Skeleton Crew. ... The closing elegiac minutes of this CD prove that even the most cutting-edge new music is most meaningful when there is emotional resonance at its core."
allmusic
Fred Frith - Ensemble Modern: Traffic Continues
W - Traffic Continues
YouTube: Traffic Continues 21 videos

Delroy Williams - Think Twice, Babylon Boys, Dubplate style Ft Augustus Pablo (1979)

"... Babylon Boys is the side. Think Twice is nice true, the No Entry rhythm is a steppers blueprint, but Babylon Boys is out there, pure mystical vibes, impenetrable Bible lyrics and fervent vocals from Delroy and Ricky Grant... awesome! ..."
Blood and Fire
YouTube: Delroy Williams - Think Twice (Extended 12"), Babylon Boys 12', Think twice (Dubplate style Ft Augustus Pablo's No Entry) Roots dub

Why ‘Transcending Race’ Is a Lie

"I was born in the shadow of the 21st century, so I never knew O. J. Simpson as an athlete or as an actor. I wasn’t quite a year old on Jan. 1, 1989, the day Simpson beat his wife, Nicole Brown-Simpson, so badly that she fled their house screaming, 'He’s going to kill me!' I was only 6 on June 17, 1994, when the N.B.A. finals broadcast cut away to a shot of Simpson’s white Ford Bronco creeping down a California highway, escorted by a line of black-and-whites, as if in a funeral procession. That was four days after Brown-Simpson, 35, and her friend Ronald Goldman, 25, were found dead in pools of blood, nearly decapitated. Some of my earliest memories are of that white Bronco, and of the 'Trial of the Century' that followed, and of my parents’ happiness when Simpson was acquitted. ..."
NY Times
ESPN - Athletes, domestic violence and the hurdle of indifference
ESPN - O.J. Simpson: The patient zero of athlete privilege
The Atlantic - O.J.: Made in America Is Vital Storytelling
Why the director of O.J.: Made in America included graphic crime photos, but not Kato Kaelin (Video)

2016 April: The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Floating Piers, Lake Iseo, Italy

"For sixteen days – June 18 through July 3, 2016 (weather permitting) – Italy’s Lake Iseo is being reimagined. 100,000 square meters of shimmering yellow fabric, carried by a modular floating dock system of 220,000 high-density polyethylene cubes, undulate with the movement of the waves as The Floating Piers rise just above the surface of the water. Visitors can experience this work of art by walking on it from Sulzano to Monte Isola and to the island of San Paolo, which is framed by The Floating Piers. The mountains surrounding the lake offer a bird’s-eye view of The Floating Piers, exposing unnoticed angles and altering perspectives. Lake Iseo is located 100 kilometers east of Milan and 200 kilometers west of Venice. ..."
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Floating Piers, Lake Iseo, Italy
NY Times - Christo’s Newest Project: Walking on Water (Video)
NY Times - Next From Christo: Art That Lets You Walk on Water
YouTube: MAKING OF "THE FLOATING PIERS" BY CHRISTO // ISEO LAKE // ITALY // JUNE 2016

2007 November: Christo & Jeanne-Claude, 2009 November: Jeanne-Claude, 2010 April: Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence, 2010 September: Christo and Jeanne-Claude - The Gates, 2010 November: Over The River - Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 2012 January: 5 Films About Christo & Jeanne-Claude, 2012 June: The Pont Neuf Wrapped, 2013 January: Wrapped Floor and Stairway, 1969, 2015 April: New Christo Work to Temporarily Bridge Italy’s Lake Iseo, 2015 October: Next From Christo: Art That Lets You Walk on Water.

The Journey from Syria, Part Two - Ben Taub

"In the first episode of 'The Journey,' Aboud Shalhoub travelled from Turkey to Greece aboard a small dinghy packed with refugees that puttered across the Aegean Sea under the cover of darkness. Now, having reached Athens, Shalhoub hikes up to the Acropolis, in the center of the city. 'We’ve reached a country where there’s real freedom,' he tells the filmmaker Matthew Cassel. 'I’m speaking from the birthplace of democracy.' ..."
New Yorker: The Journey from Syria, Part Two (Video)

2016 June: The Journey from Syria, Part One

FOTR: DJ Spinna

"FOTR this week is BK’s own DJ Spinna. As one of the biggest purveyors of all things good music on the DJ/party circuit, Spinna continues to leave his lasting impression whenever and wherever he plays. He’s also an extremely accomplished producer with a very impressive discography spread out over years of releasing music and mixes with labels like BBE, Rawkus, Nite Grooves and many others. He’s carved out a name for himself in recent years as well doing tribute nights for the likes of Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and the recently deceased Prince. In honor of Prince, his birthday and his recently named 'Prince Day' in his native Minnesota, Spinna will be at Good Room in BK tonight for a celebration of Prince’s life and legacy. Check that out if you’re in the area and check out a recent (almost) 3 hour marathon set from the man below."
Its the Dub (Video)
DJ Spinna
vimeo: DJ SPINNA
YouTube: Sound Beyond Stars PROMO - DJ Spinna BBE Music

Southern Fried Funk (2006)

"An amazing set of funky 45s from New Orleans and other points deep south – with a mix of obscure bits and a few 'classic' Crescent City grooves! Southern Fried Funk is a collection of singles originally issued on regional labels such as Tou-Sea, Deesu, Quinvu, Budd, Gold Cup, Malaco, Milk and more – corralled here on CD by the reverent revivalists at Grapevine Records – who respect the more famous numbers, but also include plenty of other rare ones to keep the interest of more hardcore collectors! What we really love about this particular comp is the deep soul feel of the tracks – with all of the raw, thundering, sweaty funk elements in full force – but the material still has a soul feel underneath. ..."
Dusty Groove
Discogs
amazon
YouTube: Southern Fried Funk 1:01:19

C: A Journal of Poetry

"C: A Journal of Poetry first appeared in May of 1963, edited by Ted Berrigan and published by Lorenz Gude. It became an influential showcase for the work of New York School poets and artists — like Berrigan himself, along with Ron Padgett, Joe Brainard, Kenneth Koch, James Schuyler, John Ashbery, Dick Gallup, David Shapiro, and others — it was a predominantly male list, though Barbara Guest and a few others (including Alice B. Toklas!) made appearances. The Fales Library has only a partial collection of the journal; all of the images included below are from that archive. To match the scattershot nature of the image collection, this commentary will be a collage of quotes from friends and fellow poets of Berrigan's in Nice to See You: Homage to Ted Berrigan, edited and introduced by Anne Waldman for Coffee House Press in 1991. ..."
Jacket2
RealityStudio - Intro
RealityStudio - Index to the Contents of C: A Journal of Poetry
The Nation: When Poetry Was the Rage
MIMEO MIMEO: Kulchur on C: A Journal of Poetry

Solitary browsing on Fourth Avenue’s Book Row

"Manhattan has always had its neighborhoods of commerce and industry, from the Garment Center to the Pickle District. And like those two vestiges of the late 19th century city, a booksellers’ district also popped up, this one on the warehouse blocks along Fourth Avenue south of Union Square. 'That quarter-mile section of Fourth Avenue which lies between the Bible House [at Astor Place] and the vista of Union Square has been for more than forty years the habitat of many dealers of old books,' noted Publishers’ Weekly in 1917. ... Booksellers’ Row attracted bibliophiles and casual browsers for decades; in the 1950s, more than 40 general and specialty shops lured reader to their mazes of shelves. ..."
Ephemeral New York

Dion - "Runaround Sue" (1961)

"... Dion DiMucci: We used to have these parties in the Bronx in the late 1950s and early ’60s. They were held in the basement of an apartment building at 2308 Crotona Ave., where a friend was the superintendent. He turned space near the boiler room into a living room, with couches and chairs. One night in 1960, about 30 guys and girls from the neighborhood got together there to celebrate the birthday of a friend—Ellen. ... The bones of the song were already in place when Ernie got there. I had the song’s sound and breaks as well as some of the lyrics: 'She likes to travel around/ She’ll love you then she’ll put you down./ People let me put you wise/ Sue goes out with other guys.' After Ernie heard where I was going with the song, we went to work on the melody and lyrics. I had my guitar and Ernie was banging on the desk with his palms. I wanted the song to be about a girl we knew from the neighborhood who had broken every guy’s heart. ..."
WSJ: The Story Behind ‘Runaround Sue’
W - "Runaround Sue"
Genius
YouTube: Runaround Sue

2011 March: Dion and the Belmonts

Borges and $: The Parable of the Literary Master and the Coin

"I fell in love with Jorge Luis Borges when I was a freshman in college. That year, full of hope and confusion, I left my hometown for the manicured quads of Brown University, desperately seeking culture—art, beauty, and meaning beyond the empty narrative of wealth building that consumes our world. It is easy to look back and see why Borges spoke to me. The Argentine fabulist’s short stories were like beautiful mind-altering crystals, each one an Escheresque maze that toyed with our realities—time, space, honor, death—as mere constructs, nothing more. With the beautiful prose of a poet-translator-scholar, he could even make money seem like mere fantasy. It was precisely the narrative someone like me might want. ..."
Longreads

2009 August: Jorge Luis Borges, 2013 May: Jorge Luis Borges - 1, 2013 October: Borges: Profile of a Writer Presents the Life and Writings of Argentina’s Favorite Son, Jorge Luis Borges.

Fintan Magee, Puerto Rico, and Rising Sea Levels

"Fintan Magee chose this water tower shape to feature a local San Juan boy carrying an iceberg – while the water levels rise and flood his world. Perhaps he is remarking on the fact that we are burdening the next generation of people with a host of ecological disasters to carry on their backs. The Australian artist has been merging his graffiti practice and studio practice on the streets in large murals in recent years and often he uses the opportunity to speak to social and environmental ills, many on a global scale. ..."
Brooklyn Street Art

Walker Evans: Labor Anonymous

"Walker Evans shot the photographs collected in Labor Anonymous as an assignment for Fortune magazine, which published a small selection of 20 images in its November 1946 issue, under the title 'On a Saturday Afternoon in Detroit.' Until now, however, the entire series of 50 photographs has never been reproduced. Evans’ extraordinary serial studies of the facial expressions and postures of Detroit workers walking the city’s streets are fascinating both as portraiture and as a surprising dimension of his photographic style. ... This book compiles the photographs, contact sheets, small-version printlets, Evans’ annotations to newspaper clippings, drafts for an unpublished text, telegrams and every available print Evans made, along with the Fortune spread as published. ..."
ArtBook
New Yorker: Walker Evans’s Typology of the American Worker

2011 June: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, 2011 May: A Revolutionary Project: Cuba from Walker Evans to Now, 2013 June: Cotton Tenants: Three Families, 2014 May: “Walker Evans and Robert Frank – An Essay on Influence by Tod Papageorge” (1981), 2014 October: Walker Evans: The Magazine Work, 2014 December: Walker Evans: Decade by Decade, 2015 August: Walker Evans: A Life's Work, 2015 October: Walker Evans’ “lineup of faces” on the subway.

Stuart Davis: In Full Swing

Owh! in San Pao, 1951
"Stuart Davis (1892–1964) is one of the preeminent figures of American modernism. With a long career that stretched from the early twentieth century well into the postwar era, he brought a distinctively American accent to international modernism. Faced with the choice between realism and pure abstraction early in his career, Davis invented a vocabulary that harnessed the grammar of abstraction to the speed and simultaneity of modern America. By merging the bold, hard-edged style of advertising with the conventions of European avant-garde painting, he created an art endowed with the vitality and dynamic rhythms that he saw as uniquely modern and American. In the process, he achieved a rare synthesis: an art that is resolutely abstract, yet at the same time exudes the spirit of popular culture. ..."
Whitney
NY Times - Stuart Davis: A Little Matisse, a Lot of Jazz, All American
W - Stuart Davis
amazon - Stuart Davis: In Full Swing
vimeo: Stuart Davis: In Full Swing

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm - A Tribe Called Quest (1990)

"One year after De la Soul re-drew the map for alternative rap, fellow Native Tongues brothers A Tribe Called Quest released their debut, the quiet beginning of a revolution in non-commercial hip-hop. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm floated a few familiar hooks, but it wasn't a sampladelic record. Rappers Q-Tip and Phife Dawg dropped a few clunky rhymes, but their lyrics were packed with ideas, while their flow and interplay were among the most original in hip-hop. From the beginning, Tribe focused on intelligent message tracks but rarely sounded over-serious about them. ... Restless and ceaselessly imaginative, Tribe perhaps experimented too much on their debut, but they succeeded at much of it, certainly enough to show much promise as a new decade dawned."
allmusic
W - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
Pitchfork
Genius (Video)
YouTube: I Left My Wallet In El Segundo
YouTube: People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (Full album)

2011 May: A Tribe Called Quest, 2014 October: The Low End Theory (1991), 2015 June: Midnight Marauders (1993)

La commare secca - Bernardo Bertolucci (1962)

Wikipedia - "La commare secca (literally 'The skinny gossip', English title The Grim Reaper) is the 1962 Italian film written and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, based on a story by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It was Bertolucci's directorial debut at age 21. ... The film begins with the brutal image of a prostitute's corpse on the bank of the Tiber in Rome. We then see a series of interrogations of suspects by the police, all of whom are known to have been in a nearby park at the time of the murder. Each suspect recounts his activities during the day and evening, and each narrative serves as a slice of life story. A young man tells the police that he was meeting with priests in order to get a job recommendation, though we see that he and his friends spent the time trying to rob lovers in the park. ..."
Wikipedia
Criterion Reflections
NY Times
YouTube: Intervista a Bernardo Bertolucci

2008 July: Bernardo Bertolucci, 2011 November: The Last Emperor (1987)

William Glackens, "Crowd at the Seashore," 1910

"Glackens was known to visit Coney Island, and this canvas may depict the throngs that gathered there. The number and variety of beachgoers suggest the socioeconomic diversity of New York City and imbue the painting with an exuberant spirit. To heighten the scene’s electric energy, Glackens deployed vibrant color and vigorous brushwork, applying saturated blues and oranges in jittery dashes to evoke the midday sun’s heat and glare. The brilliance of 'Crowd at the Seashore' epitomizes the particular brand of Impressionism—inspired by Auguste Renoir—that Glackens adopted after about 1910."
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art - 1
Getting Lost in the Crowd

Mississippi Fred Mc Dowell - Mississippi Blues (1965)

"'Mississippi' Fred McDowell played simple, haunting blues with vivid, demonstrative passion and power. He wasn't a great guitarist, but his voicings and backings were always memorable, while his singing never lacked intensity or conviction or failed to hold interest. This 1965 set contains mostly McDowell compositions, with the exception of the set's final number, a nearly seven-minute exposition of Big Bill Broonzy's 'Louise.' Assisted only at times by his wife Annie, Fred McDowell makes every song entertaining, whether they're humorous, poignant, reflective, or bemused."
allmusic
Discogs
Lyrics - 61 Highway Blues
YouTube: Mississippi Blues
01 - Some Day Baby 02 - Milk Cow Blues 03 - The Train I Ride 04 - Over The Hill 05 - Goin' Down To The River 06 - I Wished I Were In Heaven Sitt 07 - Louise 08 - Germany Blues 09 - Some Sweet Day 10 - The Sun Rose This Morning 11 - When I Lay My Burden Down 12 - Goin' Down To Louisiana

2010 September: Mississippi Fred McDowell

How to Look at Art: A Short Visual Guide by Cartoonist Lynda Barry

"Despite the small, narrative doodle posted to her Tumblr a couple of weeks back, inspirational teacher and cartoonist Lynda Barry clearly has no shortage of strategies for viewing art in a meaningful way. She takes a Socratic approach with students and readers eager to forge a deeper personal connection to images. She traces this tendency back forty years, to when she studied with Marilyn Frasca at Evergreen State College. Could Frasca have anticipated what she wrought when she asked the young Barry, 'What is an image?' ..."
Open Culture
The Paris Review - Lynda Barry on ‘Picture This’ (2010)

2011 July: Lynda Barry

Dadaglobe Reconstructed

Francis Picabia. Tableau Rastadada. 1920.
"Dadaglobe Reconstructed reunites over 100 works created for Dadaglobe, Tristan Tzara’s planned but unrealized magnum opus, originally slated for publication in 1921. An ambitious anthology that aimed to document Dada’s international activities, Dadaglobe was not merely a vehicle for existing works, but served as a catalyst for the production of new ones. Tzara invited some 50 artists from 10 countries to submit artworks in four categories: photographic self-portraits, photographs of artworks, original drawings, and layouts for book pages. The exhibition brings together these photographs, drawings, photomontages, and collages, along with a selection of related archival material, to reconstruct this volume. Though never published, due to financial and organizational difficulties, Tzara’s project addresses concerns about art’s reproducibility that continue to be relevant today."
MoMA (Video)
W - Dadaglobe
U Chicago: Dadaglobe Reconstructed
WSJ: ‘Dadaglobe Reconstructed’ and ‘Dada Universal’ Review
NY Times: 36 Hours in Zurich
juxtapoz

The best of Fela Kuti mix by DJ Ras Sjamaan

"Tracklist: Water No Get Enemy, Mr Follow Follow, Observation I No Crime, Kalakutashow, Excuse O, Trouble Sleep and Yanga Wake AM. Fela Kuti also known as Fela Anikulapo Kuti or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre, human rights activist, and political maverick. ... Afrobeat is characterized by a fairly large band with many instruments, vocals, and a musical structure featuring jazzy, funky horn sections. A riff-based 'endless groove' is used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted West African-style guitar, and melodic bass guitar riffs are repeated throughout the song. Commonly, interlocking melodic riffs and rhythms are introduced one by one, building the groove bit-by-bit and layer-by-layer. The horn section then becomes prominent, introducing other riffs and main melodic themes. ..."
YouTube: The best of Fela Kuti mix by DJ Ras Sjamaan (Video) 1:14:09

NIKE FRANCE | SPARK BRILLIANCE

"It all begins with a flash of genius. For Blaise Matuidi, it was a move from PSG’s legend: Jay-Jay Okocha. Now, it’s Blaise who is setting the game on fire, not just on the pitch, but throughout French popular culture. Known to the kids as The Charo (the vulture), he has sparked an entire phenomenon called Charo Life. Which in turn, became the spark for our campaign for France, host nation of the Euro Champs 2016."
Stéphane Missier (Video)

The Crumbling Glories of Kolkata

"Bengalis have always believed Kolkata to be one of the best cities in the world. It is, after all, home to Nobel prize winners, mathematicians and scientists, movie directors, writers, and artists. These people make up the essence of what famous Indian journalist Vir Shangvi called the 'city with a soul.' But the buildings also have their own story to tell. When I was about eight or nine years old, my father often took me out for walks in the northern part of the city. I remember looking at the crumbling aristocratic mansions that stood at almost every corner there. I always felt fearful looking at them; they looked like haunted houses. My father would try and explain their history but his lessons didn’t stick, and when I left Kolkata for modern cities like Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai, I almost forgot this part of my hometown. ..."
Roads and Kingdoms

Tour the West Village’s Neon Signs with New York Neon Author Thomas Rinaldi

"Greenwich Village is blessed with an especially dense concentration of vintage neon signs. Signs like these advertised businesses large and small throughout the city beginning in the 1920s and 1930s. They fell out of favor in the 1960s due to rising costs, restrictive zoning ordinances, and the appearance of less costly forms of outdoor advertising. In recent years, they have all but disappeared as old, independent businesses across the city have succumbed to rent hikes and old age. This new tour on July 7th at 7:30 pm with Thomas Rinaldi, author of New York Neon will take us past about a dozen signs dating to the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, marking the locations of some of the neighborhood’s most stalwart restaurants, bars and small businesses. ..."
untapped cities

Crowds Are Out, Crates Are In as Louvre Takes Flood Precautions

"The square at the center of the Louvre, dominated by I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid, was desolate early Friday morning, save for a few tourists taking selfies. The museum was closed to visitors, as Paris experienced its worst flooding since 1982 — but inside, staff members and volunteers had worked around the clock to remove artworks from the threat of the rising waters of the Seine River. I was part of a small group of journalists whom the French culture minister, Audrey Azoulay; the museum’s president, Jean-Luc Martinez; and other officials took on a tour of the strangely vacant museum on Friday afternoon. ..."
NY Times (Video)
BBC - Paris floods: Louvre and Orsay close to protect exhibits
Wired - The Plan to Save the Louvre’s Art From Floods: Pumps, Dams, and Evacuation (Video)
Guardian - Paris floods: 'There's something terrifying about it' (Video)
Independent - Paris floods: River Seine reaches highest level in decades as Louvre museum closed 'for precautionary reasons' (Video)

DJ Cam - Liquid Hip-hop (2014)

"In an effort most worthy of discussion for 2004’s 'Best Of, but Barely Mentioned' lists, DJ Cam achieves every goal of the successful DJ record itinerary in Liquid Hip-hop. He makes room for his impressive scratching on almost every soulful track, and rolls out incisive vocal samples over smooth electronic soundscapes, or spikes dusty breaks with piano loops and cuts of brass. All of this magic is credited on the record sleeve to the French beatmaker, of course, but he also attributes his work to the MPC 3000. ..."
popmatters
allmusic - DJ Cam
YouTube: Liquid Hip Hop (Complete album)