The Crystals

Wikipedia - "The Crystals are a New York City singing group and are considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era of the first half of the 1960s. Their 1961—1964 chart hits — including 'Uptown', 'He's A Rebel', 'Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)' and 'Then He Kissed Me' — featured three successive female lead singers and were all produced by Phil Spector."
Wikipedia, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

J. D. Salinger

Wikipedia - "Jerome David "J. D." Salinger (... January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010) was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980."
Wikipedia, W - The Catcher in the Rye, W - Nine Stories, W - Franny and Zooey, W - Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction, Dead Caulfields, NYT - J. D. Salinger, Literary Recluse, Dies at 91, NYT - J. D. Salinger, NYT - Walking in Holden's Footsteps

Dance with Camera

"In the 1937 musical film Shall We Dance, Fred Astaire's character falls in love with a flip book, or rather, the woman depicted on its pages: a popular dancer played by Ginger Rogers. 'That's grace, that's rhythm,' he swoons over the photographs. The camera, it almost need not be stated, captures things that move."
UbuWeb

Tomás Saraceno

Flying Green House
"Tomás Saraceno pushes the conventions of art and architecture and their capacities to invoke inventive solutions to complex questions about how we inhabit and coexist in the world."
Walker Art Center, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Design Boom

Howard Zinn

Wikipedia - "Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922 – January 27, 2010) was an American historian and professor emeritus in the Political Science Department at Boston University. He was the author of more than 20 books, including A People's History of the United States (1980). Zinn was active in the civil rights, civil liberties and anti-war movements in the United States, and wrote extensively on all three subjects."
Wikipedia, Howard Zinn, Discover the Networks, amazon, “War and Social Justice” - Democracy Now, A People's History of American Empire - YouTube, Howard Zinn and Woody Harrelson - YouTube, (2), (3), (4), (5), (6). Vote for Obama but direct action needed - YouTube

The Complete Rooftop Concert

"The Beatles were going to make a documentary film of themselves producing a TV show and writing a bunch of new songs for their next album, which was to be a return to their roots of the rocking days."
The Complete Rooftop Concert, YouTube, (1), (2)

History of the museum - Musée d'Orsay

"The history of the museum, of its building is quite unusual. In the centre of Paris on the banks of the Seine, opposite the Tuileries Gardens, the museum was installed in the former Orsay railway station, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. So the building itself could be seen as the first 'work of art' in the Musee d'Orsay, which displays collections of art from the period 1848 to 1914."
Musée d'Orsay

Andrei Tarkovsky

Wikipedia - "Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ... (April 4, 1932 - December 29, 1986) was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist and opera director."
Wikipedia, W - Andrei_Rublev, YouTube, YouTube - Best Of Andrei Tarkovsky Tribute, (1), (2), (3), (4 - part 1), (5 - part 2)

Cemetery

Wikipedia - "A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term cemetery (from Greek κοιμητήριον: sleeping place) implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed. These ceremonies or rites differ according to cultural practice and religious belief."
Wikipedia

The Trashmen

Wikipedia - "The Trashmen are a rock and roll band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1962. The group's lineup was Tony Andreason on lead guitar and vocals, Dal Winslow on guitar and vocals, Steve Wahrer on drums and vocals, and Bob Reed on bass guitar. The group played surf rock which included many elements from garage rock."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube

gridface

UB313 - Trak 6 (Echospace Dub Mix)
"House and techno were both heavily influenced by prep dance scenes. Some of the biggest and earliest parties were held at upper-middle-class schools. Chicago and Detroit DJs played artists like James White & The Blacks and The B-52’s without irony while New Wave music was at the height of its popularity. For lack of a better term, I’m calling these rock, punk, and synth-pop tunes 'left-field,' but in Chicago they were all called 'house'."
gridface

Rodney Graham

Untitled (no. 1-8), 2004
Wikipedia - "Rodney Graham (born January 16, 1949) is an artist and musician born in Abbotsford, British Columbia. He is most often associated with the Vancouver School. Coming out of Vancouver’s 1970s photoconceptual tradition, Rodney Graham’s work is often informed by historical literary, musical, philosophical and popular references."
Wikipedia, artnet, ICA, YouTube

Roots Archives

"The purpose of this website is to bring you a comprehensive and searchable database of Jamaican Roots Reggae Albums from 1970 to 1985. This site is a completely free source of information for all reggae lovers and collectors."
Roots Archives

The Tower of Babel

Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Tower of Babel. 1563
Wikipedia - "The Tower of Babel ... according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built at the city of Babylon ..., a cosmopolitan city typified by a confusion of languages, also called the 'beginning' of Nimrod's kingdom. According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, participated in the building."
Wikipedia, Lambert Dolphin, Google

Passim

Wikipedia - "Club Passim is a folk music club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was opened by Joyce Kalina (now Chopra) and Paula Kelley in 1958, when it was known as Club 47 (based on its then address, 47 Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge; it moved to its present location on Palmer Street in 1963), and changed its name to simply Passim in 1969."
Wikipedia, Club Passim

The Lord of the Rings

Wikipedia - "The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by philologist and Oxford University professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit (1937), but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, much of it during World War II."
Wikipedia - The Lord of the Rings, W - The Hobbit, W - J. R. R. Tolkien, video

Recommended Records

Wikipedia - "Recommended Records (RēR) is a British independent record label and distribution network founded by Chris Cutler in March 1978. RēR features largely 'Rock in Opposition' and related music, but it also distributes selected music released on other independent labels."
Wikipedia, ReR

In Sugar Hill, a Street Nurtured Black Talent When the World Wouldn’t

"New York is a city of blocks, each with its own history, customs and characters. Yet from these small stages spring large talents. Anyone who doubts that need look no further than a stretch of Edgecombe Avenue perched on a bluff near 155th Street."
NYT

Spiraling Out of Control: The Greatest Spiral Stairs in the World

"Recently the Loretto Chapel was entered into the Atlas. The chapel is known for a very cool looking set of spiral stairs built in 1877 by a mysterious stranger. With no central support the stairs are said by the sisters of Loretto Chapel to be miraculous in construction."
Atlas Obscura

4′33″

Wikipedia - "4′33″ (pronounced Four minutes, thirty-three seconds or, as the composer himself referred to it, Four, thirty-three) is a three-movement composition by American avant-garde composer John Cage (1912–1992). It was composed in 1952 for any instrument (or combination of instruments), and the score instructs the performer not to play the instrument during the entire duration of the piece throughout the three movements (the first being thirty seconds, the second being two minutes and twenty-three seconds, and the third being one minute and forty seconds). Although commonly perceived as 'four minutes thirty-three seconds of silence', the piece actually consists of the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed. Over the years, 4′33″ became Cage's most famous and most controversial composition."
Wikipedia, Solomons Music, Classical Notes, John Cage, «4'33''», 1952, YouTube, (1) - David Tudor, (2)

Nick Gentry

"This represents a big shift away from physical, real world objects, driving towards a human existence that is ultimately governed by billions of invisible data files. This release of information from the physical form allows personal data and identities to now be revealed and infinitely shared online. At the same time many of us consider individuality and privacy to be more precious than ever. Will humans be forever compatible with our own technology?"
Nick Gentry

Art of Noise

Wikipedia - "Art of Noise (also The Art of Noise) were an avant-garde synthpop group formed in 1983 by producer Trevor Horn, music journalist Paul Morley, and session musicians/studio hands Anne Dudley, J.J. Jeczalik, and Gary Langan. The group's mostly instrumental compositions were novel melodic sound collages based on digital sampler technology, which was new at the time."
Wikipedia, last.fm, HipOnline, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)

Zeppelin mail

Wikipedia - "Zeppelin mail was mail carried on zeppelins, the German airships that saw civilian use from 1908 to 1939. Almost every zeppelin flight carried mail, sometimes in large quantities; the covers usually received special postmarks, and a number of nations issued postage stamps specifically intended for use on mail carried by the zeppelins."
Wikipedia, Airships, YouTube

The Trans-Siberian Railway

Wikipedia - "The Trans-Siberian Railway or Trans-Siberian Railroad ... is a network of railways connecting Moscow and European Russia with the Russian Far East provinces, Mongolia, China and the Sea of Japan. Today, the railway is part of the Eurasian Land Bridge."
Wikipedia, YouTube

Roberto Clemente

Wikipedia - "Roberto Clemente Walker (August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a professional baseball player and a Major League Baseball right fielder. He was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, the youngest of seven children."
Wikipedia, Smithsonian Institution, American Experience

Passport Photos - Famous Artists

Ezra Pound 1922 - Passport Photo
"Passport photos gleaned from passport applications files of writers actors, poets, artists, photographers, etc. The quality is pretty gritty, but I find them interesting, not the least because they are glimpses of these people without their artistic personas showing. Just another traveller submitting to the demands of the state."
flickr

Kate McGarrigle 1946 – 2010

Wikipedia - "Kate McGarrigle, CM (February 6, 1946 – January 18, 2010) was a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter, who wrote and performed as a duo with her sister Anna McGarrigle."
Wikipedia, W - (1), Kate and Anna McGarrigle, NPR, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6)

kunst-by-rob

Clessé, France
"Saturday. January 9, 2010. Bergün, Switzerland (lower 3 images) I have been away from my scanner the last couple of weeks as we have been on vacation. The top image shows the location I mentioned earlier where we stayed with two other families for a few days. The second sketch was from a village near the chateau, and the final three sketches were done in Bergün, where we spent a week with several other families from Kandern."
kunst-by-rob

Arcadia

Thomas Cole, The Arcadian or Pastoral State, 1834
Wikipedia - "Arcadia (Greek: Ἀρκαδία) refers to a Utopian vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness. The Utopian vision, Arcadia, is associated with bountiful natural splendor, harmony, and is often inhabited by shepherds."
Wikipedia

Sound Sculptures

"Published by Wergo in 1985, Sound Sculptures is a gorgeous, state-of-the-art overview of Austria and West Germany's instrument builders and sculptors curated by composer and music critic Klaus Hinrich Stahmer."
UbuWeb

Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders

Wikipedia - "Wayne Fontana (born Glyn Ellis on 28 October 1945, Manchester, Lancashire), is a singer. In 1962, he formed his group Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders and got a recording contract."
Wikipedia, YouTube, (1)

Robert Watts

SafePost/Jockpost/K.U.K. Feldpost, c. 1962.
Wikipedia - "Robert Watts was an American artist best known for his work as a member of the international Avant-garde art movement Fluxus. Born in Burlington, Iowa June 14th 1923, he became Professor of Art at Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Jersey in 1953, a post he kept until 1984."
Wikipedia

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Wikipedia - "Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he has become a human rights icon: King is recognized as a martyr by two Christian churches."
Wikipedia, Seattle Times, Stanford U., YouTube

Berthe Morisot

Summer Days
Wikipedia - "Berthe Morisot (January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. Undervalued for over a century, possibly because she was a woman, she is now considered among the first league of Impressionist painters."
Wikipedia, WebMuseum

Marina Abramović

Wikipedia - "Marina Abramović (... born 30 November 1946, in Belgrade, SR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia, present day Serbia) is a New York-based Serbian and Yugoslavian performance artist who began her career in the early 1970s. Active for over three decades, she has recently begun to describe herself as the 'grandmother of performance art'."
Wikipedia, Sean Kelly Gallery, Seven Easy Pieces, artnet, Guardian, YouTube