Ai Weiwei

Wikipedia - "Ai Weiwei ... born in 1957 in Beijing, is a leading Chinese artist, curator, architectural designer, cultural and social commentator."
Wikipedia, YouTube, St. Paul Street Gallery, flickr

The Grass Roots

Wikipedia - "The Grass Roots are a U.S. rock and roll band that charted between 1966 and 1975 as the brainchild of songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri."
Wikipedia, The Grass Roots, YouTube, (1), (2). (3)

Pedro Matos

"My name is Pedro Matos and I am a 20 year old Painter/Street Artist. I was born in Santarém and I am currently living, working and studying in Lisbon, Portugal. I've grown up as a skateboarder and at the age of 16 that made the connection to Art and I started painting and drawing."
Pedro Matos, myspace

Ebbets Field

Wikipedia - "Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League."
Wikipedia, Ballparks, Baseball Statistics, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

Jim Campbell

"In 'Memory Recollection Transformation', Jim Campbell creates a digital interactive art form that uses advanced computer-driven custom electronics and video to pose questions about the ways in which we structure and access the information we call memory."
art scenecal, Jim Campbell

The Letter Repository

"The LETTER REPOSITORY is a database of historical personal letters from the early 1700s through to the 1940s. This covers many interesting time periods including the Great Depression, the American Civil War, World War One and Two, the Napoleonic wars as well as many other world events."
The Letter Repository

Tarot

Wikipedia - "The tarot (first known as tarocchi, also tarock and similar names) ... is a pack of seventy-eight cards, used from the mid fifteenth century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Italian Tarocchini and French Tarot."
Wikipedia

Conceptual art

One and Three Chairs, Joseph Kosuth
Wikipedia - "Conceptual art is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions."
Wikipedia

Beat Generation

Wikipedia - "The Beat Generation is a term used to describe a group of American writers (led by Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac) who came to prominence in the 1950s, and the cultural phenomena that they wrote about and inspired (later sometimes called 'beatniks'). Central elements of 'Beat' culture include a rejection of mainstream American values, experimentation with drugs and alternate forms of sexuality, and an interest in Eastern spirituality."
Wikipedia, Literary Kicks Opinions, Observations and Research, The Beat Generation Archives, Empty Mirror Books

Scientist

Wikipedia - "Scientist, born Hopeton Brown in Kingston, Jamaica, 1960 (sometimes known as Overton Brown), was a protégé of King Tubby (Osbourne Ruddock), one of the originators of dub music."
Wikipedia, W - Scientist in the Kingdom of Dub, MySpace, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)

Ramparts

Wikipedia - "Ramparts was an American political and literary magazine, published from 1962 through 1975. ... Unlike most leftist publications, Ramparts was expensively produced and graphically sophisticated. It reached an audience that may have been put off by the grittier 'movement' publications of the time."
Wikipedia, Hippy

John Chamberlain

Hatband 1960
"He is best known for creating sculptures from old automobiles (or parts of) that bring the Abstract Expressionist style of painting into three dimensions. He currently lives and works in Shelter Island, New York. Since the 1950s, Chamberlain has worked with steel ribbons to create his sculptures."
Wikipedia, artnet

Galaxy Zoo 2

"The Galaxy Zoo files contain almost a quarter of a million galaxies which have been imaged with a camera attached to a robotic telescope the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, no less). In order to understand how these galaxies — and our own — formed, we need your help to classify them according to their shapes — a task at which your brain is better than even the fastest computer."
Galaxy Zoo 2

A Chronicle of New York’s Darks and Lights, Captured by Savvy Street Photographers

"Last winter, when the art economy was looking especially dark, a group of Manhattan photography dealers got together and decided to put on a spirit-lifting show: 'New York Photographs,' a summertime tribute to the greatest city on earth. Thirteen galleries agreed to mount exhibitions — some dedicated to individual artists, some to subjects like sex or music — of which six are currently up."
NYT, Gothamist, Yancey Richardson

Gang Busters

Wikipedia - "Gang Busters was an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered as G-Men, sponsored by Chevrolet, on July 20, 1935."
Wikipedia

Young Marble Giants

Wikipedia - "The Young Marble Giants were a Cardiff post-punk band. A trio formed in 1978, their music was constructed around the powerful and minimal instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham supporting the naive untrained vocals of Alison Statton."
Wikipedia, MySpace, Young Marble Giants, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

Richard Diebenkorn

Ocean Park Series
"Richard Diebenkorn (April 22, 1922 – March 30, 1993) was a well-known 20th century American painter. His early work is associated with Abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. His later work (best known as the Ocean Park paintings) were instrumental to his achievement of worldwide acclaim."
Wikipedia, Diebenkorn, artnet

Wanda Jackson

"From 1956 to 1961, Wanda Jackson produced some awesome rock & roll. However, in the early 1960s events conspired to end her career in rock, and she turned to country music. But her rock & roll records remain as evidence that for a few years a young Oklahoma girl rocked as hard as anyone. She achieved a wildness and energy that was every bit as intense as her male counterparts, and today she ranks as one of the best rockabilly singers ever, male or female."
Mission Creep, Wikipedia, NPR, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

100 Abandoned Houses

"A note regarding the New York Times article about the 100 Abandoned Houses project: The last few sentences have made it sound, to some, as if I am angry that no one in Detroit has purchased a print, when in reality, the last sentence is supposed to refer to the reason I felt a Detroiter may not want to buy a photo of an abandoned house. If you live among abandoned houses, they are most likely not fascinating, but maddening and/or depressing."
100 Abandoned Houses

Nouvelle Vague

"On their debut, Nouvelle Vague took cherished tracks from the late 1970s and early 1980s by acts such as Joy Division, The Clash, The Cure, Depeche Mode and the Dead Kennedys and reworked them in a gentle bossa nova style. Sung by French female vocalists, some of whom had never heard the originals before, these cult hits had new life breathed into them, and their meanings became softly subverted."
Nouvelle Vague, Wikipedia, Films de France, French New Wave, YouTube, (Joy Division), (1), (New Order), (2), (PiL), (3), (The Clash)

Ludo

"Last time i had a break into a foreign countryside, i took the time to think about tagging, why doing it, blablabla ... .Being in the middle of nothing urban and where almost nobody will see your name, what real signification has to write it ? Is the appropriation of a virgin surface a motivation ? maybe. No way to care about style, nobody will notice it ! Is vandalism a big deal ?"
Ludo, wooster collective

The Pretenders

Wikipedia - "Hynde became known for dark bangs, dark eyeliner, and dark jeans. And due to, as the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide would say, 'her sheer authenticity as a three-dimensional woman whose sexuality is completely in sync with a superb rock sensibility,' she was able to escape many of the clichéd roles of women in rock music."
Wikipedia, W - Chrissie Hynde, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

Iran Inside Out

Shahram Entekhabi, Islamic Carding, 2007
"The groundbreaking exhibition features 35 artists living and working in Iran alongside 21 others living in the Diaspora. The result is a multifarious portrait of 56 contemporary Iranian artists challenging the conventional perceptions of Iran and Iranian art."
Chelsea Art Museum, NYT

Black Woodstock

"Besides Sly, the festival's roster included B.B. King, Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach, the Fifth Dimension, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Moms Mabley, Pigmeat Markham and more."
Smithsonian, Beat on the street harlem, npr, arthur, spartacus, Too Cool To Die, (1), contactmusic, Washington Times, Watt Stax

rhino

"Here at Rhino we try to treat all our releases with tender loving care. But we have to admit there are a few we care a little bit more about. Whether a classic album restored to its original glory, a comprehensive survey of an important artist or genre, or an album with that special something, there are a select few Rhino releases that can legitimately be called the 'Finest.' These are discs without which your life -- and any good record collection -- would be incomplete."
rhino

Primiti Too Taa: Kurt Schwitters

"The sonata consists of a written organization of phonetics, with notations in German. No notes, tempi, or formal dynamics are given, allowing the performer a bit of freedom."
UbuWeb, YouTube - Primiti Too Taa, PENNSOUND, EUNOIA, YouTube - The ABC's of DADA, (2), (3).

Ad Hoc Art

"Ad Hoc Art, a gallery in Bushwick, refers to itself as a 'creative fulcrum,' because it specializes in work more often found outside of the gallery scene, on streets, on bodies, underground. We found the work by street artists Gaia and Imminent Disaster very moving, especially the animals with hands and plaintive miens (a specialty of Gaia, apparently)."
We Heart New York, Ad Hoc Art

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot

Wikipedia - "Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (July 17, 1796 – February 22, 1875) was a French landscape painter and printmaker in etching. Corot was the leading painter of the Barbizon school of France in the mid-nineteenth century. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast output simultaneously references the Neo-Classical tradition and anticipates the plein-air innovations of Impressionism."
Wikipedia, ABC Gallery, NGA

Barbara Mensch

"Back then, there were many 'old timers' in the neighborhood. They were men who were retired from their jobs as ship captains, longshoremen, or workers at the Fulton Fish Market. They would just come around and drink at Carmine's or The Paris at certain hours of the day. I have pictures of some of them at The Paris, but I was not allowed to photograph inside Carmine's bar."
Luminous-Lint, Photographic NYC

Primal Snippets, on Vinyl

"A few months ago a peculiar item called “Favorite Recorded Scream” began to trickle into New York City record stores. Pressed on 12-inch vinyl in an edition of 500, it has little on its red cover except a list of 74 songs, each linked to a Manhattan record shop."
NYT

WOMAD

Wikipedia - "World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) is an organization founded in 1980 by Peter Gabriel, Thomas Brooman, and Bob Hooton. It was founded on the basis that many others would share their enthusiasm for music from other cultures, if only they had the opportunity to listen to some of the global sounds. The concept evolved from an idea Gabriel had at a concert involving an African group."
Wikipedia, Womad

Delta 5

Wikipedia - "The original members of Delta 5, Julz Sale (vocals/guitar), Ros Allen (bass) and Bethan Peters (bass), formed the band 'on a lark', but soon became a part of the thriving Leeds post-punk scene, and later added Kelvin Knight on drums and Alan Riggs on guitar. Combining feminist politics with a two-bass funk-punk sound (much in the style of another, more famous Leeds band, Gang of Four), they released in 1979 their debut single, 'Mind Your Own Business'."
Wikipedia, PERFECT SOUND FOREVER, last.fm, rhapsody, YouTube, (1)

Babar the Elephant

Wikipedia - "Babar the Elephant is a very popular French children's fictional character who first appeared in Histoire de Babar by Jean de Brunhoff in 1931 and enjoyed immediate success. ... Some writers, notably Herbert R. Kohl and Vivian Paley, have argued that, although superficially delightful, the stories are politically and morally offensive and can be seen as a justification for colonialism. Others argue that the French civilisation described in the early books had already been destroyed by the Great War and the books were originally an exercise in nostalgia for pre-1914 France."
Wikipedia, (1), The Morgan

Italian Models: Hébert and the Peasants of Latium

The Girls of Alvito
"As one of the events marking the centenary of the death of painter Ernest Hébert (1817-1908), the Musée Ernest Hébert in Paris and the museum in La Tronche are putting on an exhibition of Hébert's paintings of Italian peasants, a theme particularly dear to the artist."
Musée d'Orsay, Google

Donovan

Wikipedia - "Donovan (Donovan Phillips Leitch, born 10 May 1946, in Maryhill, Glasgow), is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music."
Wikipedia, Google, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)