Richard Pryor

Wikipedia - "Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful, vulgar and profane language, as well as racial epithets. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style."
Wikipedia, Richard Pryor, YouTube - Love, The African Jungle, BBC Documentry - Pryor Night, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6

Pictorial maps

Jean-Louis Rheault
Wikipedia - "Pictorial maps are a category of maps that are also loosely called illustrated maps, panoramic maps, perspective maps, bird’s-eye view maps and Geopictorial maps amongst others. In contrast to the regular road map, Atlas or topographic cartography, pictorial maps depict a given territory with a more artistic rather than technical style. The cartography can be a sophisticated 3-D perspective landscape or a simple map graphic enlivened with illustrations of buildings, people and animals."
Wikipedia, George Glazer, Illustrative Maps, Ephemera Press, mapformation

Blonde on Blonde (1966)

Wikipedia - "Blonde on Blonde is American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's seventh studio album, released May 1966 by Columbia Records. The album is believed to be the first significant double album in rock music, its length forcing it to two LPs. It is notable for injecting Dylan's brand of blues rock, fully established on Highway 61 Revisited, with a more eclectic sound and even more surreal lyrics. It also marked the end of an era for Dylan, who would soon be involved in a motorcycle accident, significantly changing his musical approach."
Wikipedia, amazon, W - Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35, W - Pledging My Time, W - Visions of Johanna, W - One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later), W - I Want You, W - Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again, W - Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat, W - Just Like a Woman, W - Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine), W - Temporary Like Achilles, W - Absolutely Sweet Marie, W - 4th Time Around, W - Obviously 5 Believers, W - Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.

Superman (1940s cartoons)

Wikipedia - "The Superman animated cartoons, commonly but somewhat erroneously known as the 'Fleischer Superman cartoons' were a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films released by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman. The first eight shorts were produced by Fleischer Studios from 1941 to 1942, while the final nine were produced by Famous Studios, a successor company to Fleischer Studios, from 1942 to 1943. Superman was the final animated series initiated under Fleischer Studios, before Famous Studios officially took over production in May 1942."
Wikipedia, amazon, Fleischer Superman cartoons "Superman (a.k.a. The Mad Scientist)" 1/8, "The Mechanical Monsters" 2/8, "Billion Dollar Limited" 3/8, "The Arctic Giant" 4/8, "The Bulleteers" 5/8, "The Magnetic Telescope" 6/8, "Volcano" 8/8

Semina Culture

"Semina Culture examines the work of the quintessential West Coast visual artist of the Beat era, Wallace Berman (1926–1976), and the community of creative people who coalesced around him."
NYU, Semina Overview, Wikipedia, Wallace Berman, Whitehot Magazine

Heroin

Wikipedia - "Heroin is a song by The Velvet Underground, released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Written by Lou Reed in 1964, the song is one of the band's most celebrated compositions, overtly depicting heroin use and abuse."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Heroin (acoustic live)

12 Angry Men

Wikipedia - "12 Angry Men is a 1957 American drama film adapted from a teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. Directed by Sidney Lumet, the film tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or innocence of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt. The film is notable for its almost exclusive use of one set: with the exception of two short scenes at the beginning and the end of the film set on the steps of the court building and two short scenes in an adjoining washroom, the entire movie takes place in the jury room."
Wikipedia, filmsite, amazon, YouTube - 12 Angry Men

Perseids

Wikipedia - "The Perseids (pronounced /ˈpɜrsiː.ɨdz/) is the name of a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are so-called because the point they appear to come from, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus. The name derives in part from the word Perseides (Περσείδες), a term found in Greek mythology referring to the descendants of Perseus. The stream of debris is called the Perseid cloud and stretches along the orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle."
Wikipedia, Dark Sky Finder, twitter, NASA

Music for 18 Musicians

Wikipedia - "Music for 18 Musicians was written for a cello, violin, two clarinets (both players double on bass clarinet), four pianos, three marimbas, two xylophones, a metallophone, and four women's voices. In the introduction to the score, Reich mentions that although the piece is named Music for 18 Musicians, it is not necessarily advisable to perform the piece with that few players due to the extensive doubling it requires."
Wikipedia, amazon, YouTube - Music for 18 Musicians, Music for 18 Musicians CD Trailer

Allen Ginsberg: The Art of Poetry No. 8

"INTERVIEWER. Do you feel you're in command when you're writing? GINSBERG. Sometimes I feel in command when I'm writing. When I'm in the heat of some truthful tears, yes. Then, complete command. Other times—most of the time not. Just diddling away, woodcarving, getting a pretty shape; like most of my poetry. There's only a few times when I reach a state of complete command. Probably a piece of Howl, a piece of Kaddish, and a piece of The Change. And one or two moments of other poems."
The Paris Review

Parisian sewer

Wikipedia - "The Parisian sewer system dates back to the year 1370 when the first underground system was constructed under 'rue Montmartre'. Since then consecutive French governments have enlarged the system to cover the city's population."
Wikipedia, Museum Chick, The Sewers of Paris: A Brief History, YouTube - Paris Sewer

Banksy

Wikipedia - "Banksy is the pseudonym of a prolific British graffiti artist, political activist and painter, whose identity is unconfirmed. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cites throughout the world."
Wikipedia, Banksy, flickr, BANKSY By Shepard Fairey, Guardian - Banksy, YouTube

Tonewheels

"The technology of synthesizing sound from light is a curious combination of research from the realms of mathematics, physics, electronics and communications theory which found realization in the industries of motion picture films, music, surveillance technology and finally digital communications."
Tonewheels

Moleskine Stories

"From creative minds and hearts that are aided by Moleskine journals come many uses. Here are but a few. Enjoy! Thanks to all submitters! And for those of you browsing, feel free to submit your art, drawing, writings, doodle, sketch, photo, short story, or snippet."
Moleskine Stories

Tellus #13 - Power Electronics (1986)

Joseph Nechvatal - "To begin; the basic premise behind 'Power Electronics' and 'Media Myth' was the exploration of the introspective world of the ear under the influence of the era's high-frequency electronic environment."
UbuWeb

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Wikipedia - "Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a male choral group from South Africa that sings in the vocal style of isicathamiya and mbube."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube - Mambazo, Homeless, How Long, Music Legends

John Henry Twachtman

Landscape, 1889
Wikipedia - "John Henry Twachtman (August 4, 1853 – August 8, 1902) was an American painter best known for his impressionist landscapes, though his painting style varied widely through his career. Art historians consider Twachtman's style of American Impressionism to be among the more personal and experimental of his generation. He was a member of 'The Ten', a loosely-allied group of American artists dissatisfied with professional art organizations, who banded together in 1898 to exhibit their works as a stylistically unified group."
Wikipedia, John Henry Twachtman

Alice's Restaurant

Wikipedia - "The song lasts 18 minutes and 34 seconds, occupying the entire A-side of Guthrie's 1967 debut record album, also titled Alice's Restaurant. It is notable as a satirical, first-person account of 1960s counterculture, in addition to being a hit song in its own right. The final part of the song is an encouragement for the listeners to sing along, to resist the U.S. draft, and to end war."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Alice's Restaurant, Part 2

Prepared guitar

Wikipedia - "A prepared guitar is a guitar which has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques. This practice is sometimes called tabletop guitar, because many prepared guitarists do not hold the instrument in the usual manner, but instead place the guitar on a table to manipulate it."
Wikipedia, Keith Rowe - Prepared Guitar, keith rowe. live 2001, Keith Rowe in Czechia, Brno (festival Expozice nové hudby 2009), fred frith & camel zekri Luz 2005, Fred Frith / sound. at REDCAT pt. 1/2, REDCAT pt. 2/2, Steve Roden / sound. at the Schindler House pt. 1/3, Schindler House pt. 2/3, Schindler House pt. 3/3, Carl Stone/sound. at the Schindler House, Ear Meal with Carl Stone, Thomas Dimuzio / sound. at the Schindler House

Eileen Myles - Inferno

"Zingingly funny and melancholy, Inferno follows a young girl from Boston in her descent into the maelstrom of New York Bohemia, circa 1968. Myles beautifully chronicles a lost Eden: ‘The place I found was carved out from sadness and sex and to write a poem there you merely needed to gather.' -- John Ashbery"
DC'S, Poetry Foundation - Inferno, Eileen Myles - Inferno, YouTube - Inferno

Martha and the Vandellas

Wikipedia - "Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963-1967."
Wikipedia, History of Rock, YouTube - Heatwave, Dancing in the Streets, Nowhere To Run, Jimmy Mack

Busking

Nick. Chester, York, Bolton, Bury and Manchester.
Wikipedia - "Busking is the practice of performing in public places for tips and gratuities. People engaging in this practice are called buskers. Buskers may also be known as street performers, street musicians, minstrels, or troubadours. Busking performances can be just about anything that people find entertaining. Buskers may do acrobatics, animal tricks, balloon twisting, card tricks, caricatures, clowning, comedy, contortions & escapes, dance, singing, fire eating, fire breathing, fortune-telling, juggling, magic, mime and a mime variation where the artist performs as a living statue, musical performance, puppeteering, snake charming, storytelling or recite poetry or prose as a bard, street art (sketching and painting, etc.), street theatre, sword swallowing, and even putting on a flea circus."
Wikipedia

An Italian Journey: Drawings From the Tobey Collection, Correggio to Tiepolo

"The title suggests a leisurely Grand Tour, but An Italian Journey: Drawings From the Tobey Collection, Correggio to Tiepolo, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is more of a whirlwind trip. A couple of lines from Vasari, a map of Italy and you’re off, dashing through two centuries and at least eight cities in fewer than 100 works."
NYT, Met Museum, amazon, YouTube - The Handwriting of Artists and the Dating of Their Drawings: The Case of Parmigianino

99 Records

Wikipedia - "99 Records (pronounced Nine Nine) was an independent record label active from 1980-1984. 99 was run out of a record store with the same name, located at 99 MacDougal Street in New York City's Greenwich Village, and owned by Ed Bahlman."
Wikipedia, MySpace, YouTube - ESG-UFO, ESG - Moody, Liquid Liquid - Cavern, Maximum Joy - Stretch (Discomix & Rap), Rip Rig & Panic - Bob Hope Takes Risks, Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps, Glenn Branca - Lesson no.1 for electric guitar

Dick Tracy

"Dick Tracy is a long-running comic strip featuring a popular and familiar character in American pop culture. Dick Tracy is a hard-hitting, fast-shooting, and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror."
Wikipedia, Dick Tracy Museum

MTA - 60s, 70s, and 80s

"New York's MTA has a YouTube channel that features some pretty great historical videos from the 60s, 70s, and 80s."
YouTube - Metropolitan Transportation Authority, We're Coming Back TV Commercials (1989), Don't Do It (1988), Where Do We Go From Here? Part 1 (1970), Part 2, Part 3. Daily Miracle Part 1 (1961), Part 2, Part 3.

Time Waster

"Tonematrix by AM Laboratory is a very fun and easy-to-use music sequencing toy. It's a 16 x 16 grid of grey boxes, and clicking in a box will turn it on. Boxes that have been turned on go white, and you will quickly see that each line of boxes has its own individual tone."
Tonematrix, Andre Michelle

Fresh Stuff From Vinchen

"More from Vinchen here."
Wooster Collective, Vinchen

John Zorn / Spillane

"John Zorn, talking in his apartment about his file card composition Spillane, how TV and cartoon music inspired him and other stuff."
YouTube - 1, 2, amazon - Spillane, John Zorn

1934 West Coast waterfront strike

Bloody Thursday on the 1934 San Francisco General Strike
Wikipedia - "The 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike (also known as the 1934 West Coast Longshoremen's Strike, as well as a number of variations on these names) lasted eighty-three days, triggered by sailors and a four-day general strike in San Francisco, and led to the unionization of all of the West Coast ports of the United States. The San Francisco General Strike, along with the 1934 Toledo Auto-Lite Strike led by the American Workers Party and the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934 led by the Communist League of America, were important catalysts for the rise of industrial unionism in the 1930s, much of which was organized through the Congress of Industrial Organizations."
Wikipedia

Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance

2008 Image, Dia Art Foundation
"Much of contemporary photography and video seems haunted by the past, by ghostly apparitions that are reanimated in reproductive media, as well as in live performance and the virtual world. By using dated, passé, or quasi-extinct stylistic devices, subject matter, and technologies, this art embodies a melancholic longing for an otherwise irrecuperable past."
Guggenheim

Sun Ra - Disco 3000: Complete Milan Concert [1978]

"This is a remarkable live recording of Sun Ra playing various keyboards with a small ensemble that includes John Gilmore (tenor sax), Luqman Ali (drums), Michael Ray (trumpet) and June Tyson (vocals). Recorded during his brief stay in Italy in the winter 1977-78, it was originally released on Sun Ra's own Saturn label. Superb!"
Know Your Conjurer

All Creative Work Is Derivative (Minute Meme #2)

"Copyright control extends not just to verbatim copies, but to 'derivative works.' This has led to censorship on a grand scale. For example, the seminal German silent film 'Nosferatu' was deemed a derivative work of 'Dracula' and courts ordered all copies destroyed. Shortly before his death, author J.D. Salinger convinced U.S. courts to censor another author who transformed his characters. And so on. The whole history of human culture evolves through copying, making tiny transformations (sometimes called 'errors') with each replication. Copying is the engine of cultural progress. It is not 'stealing.' It is, in fact, quite beautiful, and leads to a cultural diversity that inspires awe."
All Creative Work Is Derivative (Minute Meme #2)

Electric Windows 2010

"On Saturday July 31st 2010, OPEN SPACE gallery and Burlock Home present Electric Windows 2010. 30 artists will converge in Beacon, NY to create live artwork and have their work installed on the exterior of a 19th century factory building. Electric Windows draws its name from the former electric blanket factory at the foot of Mount Beacon that will act as the backdrop for the event."
Electric Windows 2010

Dean & Britta “13 Most Beautiful… Songs For Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests”

"There certainly hasn’t been a lack of programming associated with the Wexner Center’s 'Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms' exhibition, especially of the musical variety. And for good reason, considering Warhol’s inseparability from the Velvet Underground."
Don't just do something, stand there, YouTube, Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed, Ingrid Superstar, Nico, Ann Buchanan, Dennis Hopper, Richard Rheem, Bob Dylan