The Harder They Come

Wikipedia - "The Harder They Come is a 1972 Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell. The film stars reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who plays Ivanhoe Martin, a character based on Rhyging, a real-life Jamaican criminal who achieved fame in the 1940s."
Wikipedia, npr, YouTube, (1), (2)

PennSound - John Ashbery

"PennSound's John Ashbery author page with a week's worth of PennSound Daily entries highlighting newly added recordings from the venerable poet."
PennSound

Richard Howe - The Manhattan Street Corners

"Manhattan’s streets and sidewalks are its greatest public commons. Everything else on and about the island connects to them: homes, offices, shops, newstands, restaurants, subways, train and bus stations, ferry docks, heliports, parking garages, police and fire stations, places of worship, schools, hospitals, gyms, theaters, museums, concert halls, parks and playgrounds, the rivers, the bay."
Richard Howe - The Manhattan Street Corners

Time-lapse Mandala

"Time-lapse video, shot from overhead, of Tibetan monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery creating a sand mandala over 5 days: Eight frames per second (1:30); Thirty frames per second (0:23)."
flickr, (1)

Art manifesto

Wikipedia - "The Art manifesto has been a recurrent feature associated with the avant-garde in Modernism. Art manifestos are mostly extreme in their rhetoric and intended for shock value to achieve a revolutionary effect. They often address wider issues, such as the political system. Typical themes are the need for revolution, freedom (of expression) and the implied or overtly stated superiority of the writers over the status quo."
Wikipedia

The Specials

Wikipedia - "The Specials (sometimes called The Special AKA) are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combined a 'danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude', and had a 'more focused and informed political and social stance' than other ska groups."
Wikipedia, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

Pittsburgh Crawfords

Wikipedia - "Stepping into an organizational vacuum, as the major African American leagues of the 1920s, the Negro National League and the Eastern Colored League, had fallen apart by late that year, Greenlee signed many of the top African-American stars, most notably Satchel Paige." Wikipedia, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

The Art of Nick Walker

"In 1992 I began to combine stencils with my freehand work which allowed me to juxtapose almost photographic imagery with the rawness which evolved from conventional graffiti styles."
The Art of Nick Walker, (1), MySpace, artnet

The Sugarhill Gang

Wikipedia - "The Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop group, known mostly for their biggest hit, 'Rapper's Delight"', the first hip hop single recorded to become a Top 40 hit. The song uses the instrumental track from 'Good Times' by Chic as its foundation."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

Henry Darger

Wikipedia - "Henry Joseph Darger, Jr. (April 12(?), 1892–April 13, 1973) was a reclusive American writer and artist who worked as a custodian in Chicago, Illinois."
Wikipedia, Henry Darger, Saraayers, YouTube, (1)

Sarah Ortmeyer

"It looked like the aftermath of a storm: the gallery’s black-painted floor was covered with splinters of pale poplar wood, none larger than a foot in length. If one crouched down for a closer look, the original form of the fragments became clear: shoes. Some pieces still had half a heel, others a bulbous toe."
frieze, artnet

Chicago Race Riot of 1919

Blacks leaving their houses after Chicago race riot, July 1919
Wikipedia - "The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 was a major racial conflict that began in Chicago, Illinois on July 27, 1919 and ended on August 3. During the riot, dozens died and hundreds were injured. It is considered the worst of the approximately 25 riots during the Red Summer of 1919, so named because of the violence and fatalities across the nation. The combination of prolonged arson, looting and murder was the worst race rioting in the history of Illinois."
Wikipedia, Jazz Age Chicago, Encyclopedia of Chicago

Thomas Kilpper

State of Control, 2009
"The new Tate Modern sends gleaming signals of wealth across the river Thames. But as you walk towards Orbit House, an abandoned 60s warehouse only a few blocks away, second-wave Modernity rapidly gives way to a fractured jumble of old buildings. Sooty brick houses, dented garage doors and new, cheap, office shoeboxes all come together in a confused mish-mash of railway bridges and dark side streets."
frieze, Philagrafika, Tate

Sound collage

delia derbyshire
Wikipedia - "In music montage (literally 'putting together') or sound collage ('gluing together') is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores. This is often done through the use of sampling, while some playable sound collages were produced by glueing together sectors of different vinyl records."
Wikipedia, Knowledge Rush, Scaruffi, MySpace

The Box Tops

Wikipedia - "The Box Tops were a Memphis pop music group of the second half of the 1960s. They are best known for the hits 'The Letter,' 'Neon Rainbow,' 'Soul Deep,' 'I Met Her in Church,' and 'Cry Like A Baby,' and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period."
Wikipedia, YouTube, dalealplay

Pietro Germi

Wikipedia - "Pietro Germi (14 September 1914 - 5 December 1974) was an Italian actor, screenwriter, and director. Germi was born in Genoa, Liguria, to a lower-middle class family. He was a messenger and briefly attended nautical school before deciding on a career in acting."
Wikipedia, Film Forum, NYT

John Brown

John Steuart Curry's John Brown Mural in the Kansas Capitol
Wikipedia - "John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was an American abolitionist, and folk hero who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to end all slavery. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas and made his name in the unsuccessful raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859."
Wikipedia, PBS, The Underground Railroad Site, The Trial of John Brown, Democracy Now, Washington Post - Harpers Ferry Marks 150th Anniversary of John Brown's Raid (Video)

Strat-O-Matic

Wikipedia - "Strat-O-Matic is a game company based in Glen Head, New York, that develops and publishes sports simulation games. It produces tabletop baseball, football, basketball, and ice hockey simulations, as well as personal computer adaptations of each, but it is primarily known for its baseball game."
Wikipedia, Strat-o-Matic, Sporting News

Rococo and Revolution: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings

"Rococo and Revolution: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings features more than eighty exceptional drawings almost exclusively from the Morgan's renowned holdings. The efflorescence of the ancien régime and its eventual downfall provide the backdrop to a century of remarkable artistic vitality and variety that subtly chronicles the many changes taking place in eighteenth-century France."
The Morgan Library & Museum

Catchin' Up With Sten in Naples

"I was in Naples. The police arrested me and lex but after they recognize our stuff and they like it so much that they asked us to do something in the house of the Colonnello, Sergent of the police. So we painted the house of the police and they give us some money and didn't arrested us. It was the first time that we are friend of the police. Sergent Giorgio thank you."
Wooster Collective, flickr

Mission of Burma

Wikipedia - "Like many of their post-punk contemporaries, Mission of Burma's efforts are largely concerned with extending punk's original vocabulary without losing its essential rebellious spirit. Using rapid shifts in dynamics, unconventional time signatures and chord progressions along with tape effects, Mission of Burma challenges the prevailing idioms of punk while attempting to retain its power and immediacy."
Wikipedia, Mission of Burma, MySpace, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2)

Berlin Wall

Wikipedia - "During a revolutionary wave sweeping across the Eastern Bloc, the East German government announced on November 9, 1989, after several weeks of civil unrest, that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere."
Wikipedia, Newseum, Appropriate Software

Electric Junkyard Gamelan

"Originally inspired by the interlocking rhythms of traditional Gamelan music from Bali, today the group's music is influenced by a diverse range of sounds from eastern modal music to funk, klezmer to rock."
Electric Junkyard Gamelan, WNYC, NY1, YouTube, (1)

Charles Burchfield

Wikipedia - "Charles Ephraim Burchfield (April 9, 1893 - January 10, 1967), an American watercolor painter, was born in Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio. He is known for his visual commentaries on the effects of Industrialism on small town America as well as for his paintings of nature."
Wikipedia, Google

Steven Charles

wogracis
"I am interested in creating problems. Painting is a vehicle for me to dedicate myself to something I know won't work. Abstract painting is the most confusing dilemma I have encountered–it is this confusion that motivates me. I am not a believer. I am in search of holes and gaps. When I start a painting I don't plan or sketch, I just begin. The beginning could be simple drips, splashes or paint shot out of a squeeze bottle."
pierogi 2000, artnet, Marlborough Gallery

Raï

Wikipedia - "Raï (English pronunciation: /ˈraɪ/; Arabic: راي‎) is a form of folk music that originated in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds, mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms, which dates back to the 1930s and has been primarily evolved by women in the culture."
Wikipedia, lexicorient, U. Texas, last.fm, dailymotion, YouTube, (1), (2)

Techno Tuesday

"‘Techno Tuesday’ began as an exercise in drawing comics and complaining. In fact it still is, after it’s inception in January of 2006. The comic, which is based on technology and the modern world, originally appeared on the Fabrica blog."
Techno Tuesday, Google

Edward Burtynsky

Wikipedia - "Burtynsky's most famous photographs are sweeping views of landscapes altered by industry: mine tailings, quarries, scrap piles. The grand, awe-inspiring beauty of his images is often in tension with the compromised environments they depict."
Wikipedia, Edward Burtynsky, Google, TED

Giorno Poetry Systems

Wikipedia - "Founded in 1965, Giorno Poetry Systems was an American artist collective, record label, and non-profit organisation founded by poet and performance artist John Giorno with the direct aim to connect poetry and related art forms to a larger audience using innovative ideas, such as communication technology, audiovisual materials and techniques."
Wikipedia, W - You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With, NYT, UbuWeb, UbuWeb 1, Kelly Writers House CD, Poetry Foundation, Discogs, The Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation

Raymond Pettibon

Wikipedia - "Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn on June 16, 1957 in Tucson, Arizona is an American artist and sometime musician and lyricist. Known for his comic-like drawings with disturbing, ironic or ambiguous captions, Pettibon's subject matter is sometimes violent and anti-authoritarian."
Wikipedia, art:21, Raymond Pettibon, Google

N.C. Wyeth

Robin Hood and His Adventures
"Wyeth was a realist painter just as the camera and photography began to compete with his craft. Sometimes seen as melodramatic, his illustrations were designed to be understood quickly. Wyeth, who was both a painter and an illustrator, understood the difference, and said in 1908, 'Painting and illustration cannot be mixed—one cannot merge from one into the other.'"
Wikipedia, Google, N.C. Wyeth

Was (Not Was)

Wikipedia - "Was (Not Was) is an American eclectic pop group founded by David Weiss (a.k.a. David Was) and Don Fagenson (a.k.a. Don Was). They gained popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s."
Wikipedia, W - Don Was, MySpace, WorldWideWas, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

Crime comics

Wikipedia - "Crime comics is a genre of American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the 1940s and 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence and criminal activity."
Wikipedia, Crime Comic Books

Anselm Kiefer

Naglfar, 1998
Wikipedia - "Anselm Kiefer was born on March 8, 1945, in Donaueschingen. He is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Joseph Beuys during the 1970s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac."
Wikipedia, WebMuseum, artnet, Met Museum

James Castle

"James Castle: A Retrospective marks the first comprehensive museum exhibition of the work of James Castle (1899–1977), an artist from rural Idaho who, despite undergoing no formal or conventional training, is especially admired for the unique homemade quality, graphic skill, and visual and conceptual range that characterize his works."
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Tfaoi