Cuban Baseball Cards

Fermin Guerra
"As in the United States, Cuban Baseball Cards began as Trade Cards, Cabinet Photos and promotional giveaways with Tobacco products. But instead of cardboard being the main printing media of choice in Cuba it was a thinner paper with cards made mostly to paste into accompanying albums. Cuban Baseball Cards are some of the rarest and most difficult for collectors to find."
Cuban Ball, Cuban Baseball Cards, npr - "Baseball Cards Tell Story Of Negro, Cuban Leagues"

Jules Bastien-Lepage

Les Foins, 1878
Wikipedia - "Jules Bastien-Lepage (November 1, 1848 – December 10, 1884), French painter, was born in the village of Damvillers, Meuse and spent his childhood there. Bastien's father grew grapes in a vineyard to support the family. His grandfather also lived in the village; his garden had fruit trees of apple, pear, and peach up against the high walls."
Wikipedia, Google

Bruce Nauman - Raw Material (2005)

"Bruce Nauman is one of the most important artists of our time. Early in his career, he abandoned painting in favour of sculpture, performance, installation, film, video, photography and neon. This restless exploration of different media reflects a continual questioning and reinvention of his artistic practice."
UbuWeb

Life After God

Wikipedia - "Life After God is a collection of short stories by Douglas Coupland, published in 1994. The stories are set around a theme of a generation raised without religion. The jacket for the hardcover book reads 'You are the first generation to be raised without religion.' The text is an exploration of faith in this vacuum of religion. The stories are also illustrated by the author."
Wikipedia, amazon

Kerouac's Copies of Floating Bear

"Jack Kerouac does not appear in a ton of mimeos. Unlike Burroughs and Ginsberg, Kerouac did not flood the little mag circuit with material. He liked to get paid. Kerouac appears most often in Beatitude. He also appears in Issue 34 of Floating Bear ('How to Meditate')."
MIMEO MIMEO

Jean-Léon Gérôme

The Caravan
Wikipedia - "Jean-Léon Gérôme (May 11, 1824 – January 10, 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax."
Wikipedia, Getty

Freedom Tunnel by Carlito Brigante

"Under Manhattan’s Upper West side, runs the 'Freedom' Tunnel. Built in the 30’s by Robert Moses, the passage boasts legendary graffiti murals and piles of debris remaining of the past homeless city era."
Wooster Collective

Nathan's Famous

Wikipedia - "Nathan's began as a nickel hot dog stand in Coney Island in 1916 and bears the name of co-founder Nathan Handwerker (June 14, 1892, Poland – March 25, 1974), who started the business with his wife Ida Handwerker. Handwerker, an employee of Feltman's hot dog stand, was encouraged by celebrity clients Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante to go into business in competition with his former employer."
Wikipedia, Nathans Famous

Astor Piazzolla Remixed

"Perhaps more surprising, but fitting in its own way, is the recent embrace of nuevo tango by a global army of dance-club deejays, many of whom appear on Astor Piazzolla Remixed. After all, tango was originally born as a dance between two men in the bordellos of Buenos Aires, and the deejays on Remixed--hailing from New York, London, Paris, Stockholm, and Helsinki--are simply reclaiming the music’s past while simultaneously propelling it into the future."
amazon, YouTube - Calambre, Vuelvo al sur (Koop remix), El Tango (piazzolla Remixed), Duo De Amor - remixed by Ricochet

Stoop ball

"Stoop ball (also spelled 'stoopball') is a game that is played by throwing a ball against a stoop (stairs leading up to a building) on the pavement in front of a building. ... Historically, it has been popular in Brooklyn and other inner cities. It first became popular after World War II." W - "A Spalding Hi-Bounce Ball, often called a Spaldeen, is a small pink rubber ball, somewhat similar to a racquetball, supposedly made from the defective core of a tennis ball without the felt."
Wikipedia, W - Spaldeen, SI - "Confessions Of A Stoop Ball Champion", The Big Apple

Patti Smith & Christoph Schlingensief

Christoph Schlingensief & Patti Smith
"On the occasion of the premiere of Christoph Schlingensief’s Africa project Remdoogo – Stunde Null. Via Intolleranza II after Luigi Nono at the Munich Opera Festival 2010, Galerie Sonja Junkers shows photographs and film fragments by Christoph Schlingensief from Burkina Faso and Namibia, where he shot his film The African Twintowers, and selected photographs by Patti Smith."
Patti Smith & Christoph Schlingensief, MySpace, Galerie Sonja Junkers, Schlingensief

Thomas Mapfumo

Wikipedia - "Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo (born 1945) is a Zimbabwean musician known as 'The Lion of Zimbabwe' and 'Mukanya' for his immense popularity and for the political influence he wields through his music, including his sharp criticism of the government of President Robert Mugabe. He both created and made popular Chimurenga music and his slow-moving style and distinctive voice is instantly recognizable to Zimbabweans."
Wikipedia, Afro Pop, last.fm, YouTube - Moyo Wangu, Ndozvamaida, Marehwarehwa pt.1, Part 2, Part 3, Guestbook: Thomas Mapfumo

Christian Marclay: Festival

"Christian Marclay can make music out of almost anything. He's composed scores out of found objects, clothing, record covers, and restaurant menus. Now, the Whitney Museum is presenting Christian Marclay: Festival. The show focuses on Marclay's "graphic scores," which will be interpreted by a number of musicians, some of whom he has worked with in the past, including Anthony Coleman, Butch Morris, Elliott Sharp, and Mary Halvorson."
WNYC, NY Times, Daily Serving

Édith Piaf

Wikipedia - "Édith Piaf ... born Édith Giovanna Gassion (December 19, 1915 – October 11, 1963), was a French singer and cultural icon who became universally regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads."
Wikipedia, Edith Piaf's Paris, last.fm, DailyMotion - La Vie En Rose, Non Je Ne Regrette Rien, Milord, Padam Padam, La Foule

Atomic Surgery

"From my homeworld of Swar in the 30th century I bring you...The Knowledge of The Future!"
Atomic Surgery

Judy Mowatt

Wikipedia - "Judy Mowatt (born in 1952) is a Jamaican singer."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube - Black Woman, Slave Queen, Concrete Jungle, Joseph, Black Warrior Queen

The Spectacular Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme

After The Bath
"The J. Paul Getty Museum is the first of three venues to present The Spectacular Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme (June 15-September 12, 2010). This much-anticipated special exhibition, the first of its kind in nearly 40 years, features 99 works by the French artist (1824-1904) and important contemporaries."
Art Museum, The Spectacular Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme

Coming out in Lublin, Poland

"Around the city of Lublin Poland, on empty buildings as well as inhabited ones, in the alleys of the old city and on streets of the newer parts, I posted photos of different examples of Jewish people who lived on these streets in these houses of the center of Lublin in between in the nineteen twenties 'till 1941."
Wooster Collective

Prince Albert Hunt

"Originally titled Memories of Prince Albert Hunt, this film is a study of the wild short life of Prince Albert Hunt, a blues singer/fiddler from Terrell, Texas, who was murdered in 1931 by a jealous husband."
Folk Streams, The Old, Weird America, "Wake Up Jacob" - Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers, YouTube - Blues In The Bottle, Wake up Jacob

Bohemianism

George Sterling
Wikipedia - "Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits, with few permanent ties. Bohemians can be wanderers, adventurers, or vagabonds."
Wikipedia

Something Else Press

Emmett Williams. Anthology of Concrete Poetry, 1967. Something Else Press.
Wikipedia - "Something Else Press was founded by Dick Higgins in 1963. It published many important texts and artworks by Higgins, Gertrude Stein, George Brecht, Daniel Spoerri, Bern Porter, Emmett Williams and others. The Something Else Press was an early publisher of Concrete poetry and other works by Fluxus artists throughout the 1960s."
Wikipedia, Ubu

Grace Jones

Wikipedia - "Grace Jones (born May 19, 1948) is a Jamaican-American singer, model, and actress."
Wikipedia, the world of grace jones, last.fm, YouTube - Pull up to the bumper, I've seen that face before..., Walking in the Rain, Demolition Man, Corporate Cannibal, My Jamaican Guy, Libertango

George Schneeman

Collage by George Schneeman and Ron Padgett
"If George Schneeman was an 'unfairly obscure' painter, as The New Yorker once called him, he did not mind it very much. For Mr. Schneeman, making art was a deeply personal act, though also a highly social one. He was known in an intimate New York circle for his long, fruitful collaborations with a flock of well-known poets, among them Peter Schjeldahl, Anne Waldman, Larry Fagin and Ted Berrigan."
NY Times, CUE Art Foundation, Google

Cave paintings

Wikipedia - "Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest known European cave paintings date to Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the paleolithic cave paintings is not known. The evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living areas, since the caves in which they have been found do not have signs of ongoing habitation."
Wikipedia, Lascaux

The Electric Prunes

Wikipedia - "The Electric Prunes are an American rock band who first achieved international attention as an experimental psychedelic group in the late 1960s. Their song Kyrie Eleison featured on the soundtrack of Easy Rider. After a period in which they had little control over their music, they disappeared for thirty years, reforming as a recording and touring band in 2001."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube - I Had Too Much To Dream, You Never Had It Better & I Had Too Much To Dream, Get Me To The Wor ld On Time

The CIVIL warS

Wikipedia - "The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down (rendered the CIVIL warS: a tree is best measured when it is down) is an opera created in the early 1980s by director Robert Wilson to music by Philip Glass, David Byrne, Gavin Bryars and others. The vast five-act work has never been performed whole."
Wikipedia, Nonesuch, amazon, Knee Plays - David Byrne

SoHo

Wikipedia - "SoHo is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan in the United States. Prior to the mid-20th century, the area was known as Hell's Hundred Acres, and was described as an 'industrial wasteland', busy with sweatshops and small factories in the daytime, but empty at night. Before that, it was an area with more bars and brothels than anywhere else in the city."
Wikipedia

W. S. Merwin - The Art of Poetry No. 38

"In the past thirty-four years, you have published twelve books of poetry, three books of prose, and at least fifteen books in translation. Yet you said recently that 'writing is something I know little about.' How is that possible?"
The Paris Review

DAIN

"After two very successful New York shows, Brooklyn born artist DAIN, makes his first solo show in europe at the Lebenson Gallery in Paris. His love for old Hollywood glam is evident in all his work. This, along with his roots in graffiti, create a gritty yet classy street art style."
Lebenson Gallery

Dust Bowl Ballads

Wikipedia - "Dust Bowl Ballads is an album by Woody Guthrie, recorded for Victor Records during Guthrie's time in New York City in 1940. It was Guthrie's first commercial recording and the most successful album he made. It is sometimes considered the first concept album."
Wikipedia, Woody Guthrie: Dust Bowl Balladeer, youTube -Dust Bowl Refugee, Talking Dustbowl Blues, Dust Cain't Kill Me

Julius Heinrich Bissier

Dongo, 1964
"From 1947, after long struggles, Julius Heinrich Bissier managed to reintegrate color in his artwork. He produced colored monotypes and from 1948 also woodcuts. A short period focusing on geometric pictures on canvas followed in 1953. Around the mid 1950s the artist discovered watercolor techniques. At the same time Bissier produced his 'miniatures' in egg-oil-tempera."
Julius Heinrich Bissier, art.com

Red Barber

Wikipedia - "Walter Lanier 'Red' Barber (February 17, 1908 – October 22, 1992) was an American sportscaster. Barber, nicknamed 'The Ol' Redhead', was primarily identified with radio broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four decades with the Cincinnati Reds (1934–38), Brooklyn Dodgers (1939–1953), and New York Yankees (1954–1966)."
Wikipedia, Radio Hall of Fame, npr, YouTube - Ernie Harwell and Red Barber, Red Barber on Jackie Robinson, Mel Allen and Red Barber on the 1947 World Series

Tellus #10: All Guitars! (1985)

"Tellus 'All Guitars' issue came out in 1985 and was curated by Tom Paine (Live Skull) and a cover art was created by Jane Bauman. As the title suggests, this is a collection of guitar pieces by various New York artists (and some of non-natives, as well). Thanks to UbuWeb sound archive, the compilation is available for download here."
I Heart Noise, UbuWeb

Juke joint

Cross Roads Store Bar juke joint. Melrose, Louisiana 1944
Wikipedia - "Juke joint (or jook joint) is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African American people in the southeastern United States. The term 'juke' is believed to derive from the Gullah word joog, meaning rowdy or disorderly. A juke joint may also be called a 'barrelhouse'. It could also derive from the Irish language 'deoch dionta' (drinking roofed place)."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Juke Joint, It Ain't A Juke Joint Without The Blues - Carl Sims, Fats Waller- This Joint Is Jump'in, Boogie Woogie Dream -Albert Ammons & Pete Johnson

Nurse with Wound

Wikipedia - "Nurse with Wound (or shortened as NWW) is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak. The band ranges in many genres such as avant-garde, industrial, noise, dark ambient, and drone."
Wikipedia, Nurse with Wound, lsat.fm, YouTube - The Bottom Feeder, I've Plummed This Whole Neighborhood, David Tibet live at Donau Festival, Trabendo, Paris - Part 1, Trabendo, Paris - Part 2