What the Hell Just Happened on Letterman?

"One night after M.I.A.'s disastrous Late Show performance, David Letterman welcomed 'experimental performance artist' (according to her Wikipedia) Laurie Anderson on the program to, well, do some weird ass spoken-word/repetitive thing involving experts, problems, and the oil spill? Video inside."
Gawker, The Awl -"Difficult Listening Hour: An Introduction to Laurie Anderson"

Café Pamplona

Wikipedia - "Café Pamplona, located at 12 Bow St. beside the intersection of Bow and Arrow Streets near Harvard Square, is an unusual and renowned café. When it opened in 1959 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it was the first café in the Square. The owner, Josefina Yanguas, claimed the café had the first espresso-maker in the city. Down a short flight of exterior stairs, past a patio with tables, customers enter the café's subterranean interior. The once austere decor includes bright yellow lights which make the thickly-plastered walls glow under low ceilings, and a black and white checked floor."
Wikipedia,

Streephers

Las Vegas, Nevada - Kenneth Kit Lamug
"We have the ambitious project, to collect, catalog and show images of the best today's Photoreporters and Street Photographers, from all over the world."
Streephers

Maggie May

Wikipedia - "'Maggie May' is a song written by singer Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton and recorded by Stewart in 1971 for his album Every Picture Tells a Story. 'Maggie May' expresses the ambivalence and contradictory emotions of a young man involved in a relationship with an older woman, and was written from Stewart's own experience."
Wikipedia - "Maggie May", W - "Reason to Believe", YouTube - "Maggie May", "Reason To Believe"

Pinball

Wikipedia - "Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible. Secondary objectives are to maximize the time spent playing (by earning extra balls and keeping the ball in play as long as possible) and to earn free games (known as replays).
Wikipedia, Magic City Pinball 1967 - vimeo, 1977 Gottlieb Vulcan Pinball - YouTube, 2010 Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show - vimeo

My Boyfriend's Back

Wikipedia - "'My Boyfriend's Back' was a hit song in 1963 for The Angels, an American girl group. It was written by the songwriting team of Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer. The recording was originally intended as a demo for The Shirelles, but ended up being released as recorded."
Wikipedia, W - The Angels, DailyMotion

Kulchur

"Onward, as Robert Creeley would say. Let’s move to Kulchur 4. What strikes me about this issue is Burroughs and Kerouac’s picture on the cover. Gilbert Sorrentino guest-edited this issue. In his essay in The Little Magazine in America collection, Sorrentino writes, 'Marian Zazeela, Marc Schleifer’s wife, gave me a snapshot of Kerouac and Burroughs taken in Paris about 1955, and that became the cover; the title page identifies it as a photograph of Inspector Maigret and Sam Spade.'"
Reality Studio - Kulchur 4, Reality Studio - Kulchur, Reality Studio - Kulchur 13, Kulchur magazine, The Little Magazine A Hundred Years On: A Reader’s Report

How To Listen To Dylan

"Those of us that are Dylan fanatics have heard various versions of the above objections throughout our whole Dylan-listening careers. To be sure, Bob Dylan, like great Scotch—is an acquired taste. Yes, his voice is “nasally.” Yes, his inflection is odd. Yes, he can be hard to understand and way off-key. Yet, his sound, his instrumentation and above all his songs can be salvation to the ears of those who learn to appreciate him."
How To Listen To Dylan

Moyra Davey

Greatest Hits
"For anyone in the Cambridge area, artist Moyra Davey's first museum retrospective is currently up at the Fogg Art Museum. Davey's quiet and often mundane subjects exist antithetically to the driving trends of contemporary photography, which promote digital manipulation, large scale printing and staged photography."
Exposure Project, Moyra Davey

Pet Sounds

Wikipedia - "Pet Sounds was created several months after Brian Wilson had quit touring with the band in order to focus his attention on writing and recording. In it, he wove elaborate layers of vocal harmonies, coupled with sound effects and unconventional instruments such as bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, the Electro-Theremin, and dog whistles, along with the more usual keyboards and guitars."
Wikipedia, last.fm, Beach Boys Fan Club.

W - Wouldn't It Be Nice, W - You Still Believe in Me, W - That's Not Me, W - Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder), W - I'm Waiting for the Day, W - Let's Go Away for Awhile, W - Sloop John B, W - God Only Knows, W - I Know There's an Answer, W - Here Today, W - I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, W - Pet Sounds, W - Caroline, No.

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