Negro Leagues: New Postage Stamp Series Unveiled

"Almost all of them are gone now, fading memories kept alive through grainy photos and dog-eared newspaper clippings their children and grandchildren keep near. But now the black baseball players and their contributions to the culture and history of a country that once shunned them are being honored. The U.S. Postal Service released a set of stamps Thursday honoring early Negro Leagues players."
Books on Baseball, Kansas City

Laurent Grasso

"Born in France in 1972, Laurent Grasso has developed a fascination with the visual possibilities related to the science of electromagnetic energy, radio waves, and naturally occurring phenomena. Grasso also explores these sciences as they apply to paranormal activity, a favorite subject of 18th century scientists and philosophers, often used as parlor entertainment during the Victorian era."
Laurent Grasso, YouTube - Projection, 2005, Gakona at Palais de Tokyo, Fossil noise of the Big Bang

Agnès Varda

Wikipedia - "Agnès Varda (born 30 May 1928) is a French film director and professor at European Graduate School. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style."
Wikipedia, senses of cinema, NYT, YouTube - The Beaches of Agnes, The Gleaners and I, Cléo de 5 à 7, Salut les cubains (1962-63) Part1, Part 2, Le Bonheur, L'Opera Mouffe I, II, Interview, BBC Interview

White Dove Review

"In the late 1950s, Ron Padgett, Joe Brainard, Dick Gallup, the members of what John Ashbery called the 'Tulsa wing' of the New York School (Ted Berrigan was the fourth horseman of that group), started an magazine in Tulsa, Oklahoma while they were in high school called White Dove Review. It is one of the great magazines of the period, paved the way for the mimeo explosion that followed in New York City and ushered in the Second Generation of the New York School."
the top shelf

Anne Morgan's War: Rebuilding Devastated France, 1917–1924

"This exhibition brings to life the extraordinary work undertaken by a small team of American women volunteers who left comfortable lives in the United States to devote themselves to relief work in France during and after World War I. Their dynamic leader was Anne Morgan (1873–1952), a daughter of the financier Pierpont Morgan. As she rallied potential volunteers and donors on speaking tours across the United States, Morgan harnessed the power of documentary photography to foster a humanitarian response to the plight of French refugees."
The Morgan Library & Museum, W - 1

Village People

Wikipedia - "Village People is a concept disco group formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube - YMCA, Go West, In the Navy, Macho Man, New York City, San Francisco, Just a gigolo

Lee Friedlander

Wikipedia - "Lee Friedlander (born July 14, 1934) is an American photographer and artist. In the 1960s and 70s, working primarily with Leica 35mm cameras and black and white film, Friedlander evolved an influential and often imitated visual language of urban "social landscape," with many of the photographs including fragments of store-front reflections, structures framed by fences, posters and street-signs."
Wikipedia, artnet, YouTube

The Bazaar Years

"Man Ray was one of the greatest Surrealist painters and photographers of the 20th century. From 1934 to 1942, he produced a body of work for Harper's Bazaar, photographing personalities in the society, entertainment, and literary worlds as well as the fashions of Chanel, Schiaparelli, Molyneux, featured with his own artwork and those of his friends Constantin Brancusi and Alberto Giacometti. Man Ray had an immediate impact on fashion photography. His work made use of many of the innovative and unorthodox techniques he experimented with."
UbuWeb

Russian types

Washerwoman
"During the 1860s, several photographers based in Moscow and St. Petersburg produced series of cartes-de-visite showing Russian 'types.' These remarkable portraits provide a fascinating record of working-class townspeople, artisans, street vendors and peasants, some staged performing an activity, such as drinking tea or gaming, and some photographed in the performance of their occupation."
flickr

Canned Heat

Wikipedia - "Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, USA, in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists. It was launched by two blues enthusiasts, Alan Wilson and Bob Hite, who took the name from Tommy Johnson's 1928 'Canned Heat Blues', a song about an alcoholic who had desperately turned to drinking Sterno, generically called 'canned heat'."
Wikipedia, Canned Heat, last.fm, YouTube - Going up the country, On The Road Again, Let's Work Together, Shake and Boogie, World in a Jug

Dance notation

A Fouette-en-Tournant in Labanotation
Wikipedia - "Dance notation is the symbolic representation of dance movement. It is analogous to movement notation but can be limited to representing human movement and specific forms of dance such as Tap dance. Various methods have been used to visually represent dance movements including..."
Wikipedia, Baroque Dance, Dance Writing

Lenny Bruce

Wikipedia - "Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was an extremely influential and controversial American stand-up comedian, writer, social critic and satirist of the 1950s and 1960s, whose comedy revolved heavily around the social stigmas and taboos of the era in which he lived. His 1964 conviction in an obscenity trial was followed by a posthumous pardon, the first in New York state history."
Wikipedia, Lenny Bruce, Lenny Bruce without tears, All Alone, THE TRIALS OF LENNY BRUCE, YouTune - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The Grain Terminal

Red Hook
"On the far side of Red Hook Park’s soccer and baseball fields, locked-up behind a fence made of enormous concrete blocks, lays the last vestige of Red Hook's industrial grandeur: The New York Port Authority Grain Terminal. This massive 429-foot long and 12-story high beige-colored fortress was built in 1922 for the purpose of washing, drying and storing grain from the Great Lakes, before the grain was loaded onto freight ships and delivered to breweries, distilleries and flour mills. Ultimately, the terminal was built to invigorate New York State’s Canal System and compete with railroad-owned stationary elevators."
Wooster Collective, flickr

The Warriors

Wikipedia - "The Warriors is a 1979 American cult action/thriller film directed by Walter Hill and based on Sol Yurick's 1965 novel of the same name. Like the novel, the film borrows elements from the Anabasis by Xenophon."
Wikipedia, The Warriors Blog, Slant, Film School Rejects, YouTube, Warriors Vs. Baseball Furies, The Warriors Vs The Orphans Fight, Ready or Not (vs. The Fugees)
The Warriors Movie part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9

Tom Tom Club

Wikipedia - "Tom Tom Club is an American new wave band founded in 1981 by husband and wife team Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, both also known for being bandmembers of Talking Heads."
Wikipedia, Tom Tom Club, last.fm, YouTube - Genius of Love, Genius of Love - 1, Wordy Rappinghood

A Nightclub Map of Harlem

"I was at my friend Jojo’s house about a year and a half ago, watching some old VHS tapes of dance stuff she had. Among the home movies she had was a taped documentary featuring Cab Calloway. He was checking out this amazing cartoon map of Harlem from back in the 30’s and remembering all the places. Since then I’ve been trying to find a readable copy of it."
Mike Thibault, "More Jazz Maps", Big Think - "Go late!": A Night-Club Map of Harlem

McLaren & Meyer & Rotten & Vicious & me

"'I need you out here,' Russ Meyer told me on the phone in 1977. It was 6 a.m. He could not conceive that I might still be asleep. 'Have you ever heard of the Sex Pistols?' 'No,' I said."
Sun Times

Angel Hair / Joe Brainard

"A sampler of writing selected by Jacket editor John Tranter from the 630-page Granary Books anthology of material from the collection of Angel Hair magazine and books edited by Lewis Warsh and Anne Waldman (photo, left) between 1966 and 1978."
Jacket 16, MimeoMimeo, Granary Books

The Tornado History Project

April 1, 1974 Alabama Killer Tornadoes
"The Tornado History Project is a free, searchable database of all reported U.S. tornadoes from 1950-2009*. There are over 53,000 tornadoes currently in the database, each with its own map and forum. The project's main goal is to combine historical data with user submitted items (eyewitness memories, photos, videos, etc...) to recreate the history of as many tornadoes as possible."
The Tornado History Project, Blog

Hank Williams

Wikipedia - "Hank Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953), born Hiram King Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as among the greatest country music stars of all time. He charted eleven number one songs between 1948 and 1953, though unable to read or write music to any significant degree. His hits included 'Your Cheatin' Heart', 'Hey Good Lookin'' and 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry'."
Wikipedia, Lost Highway Records, last.fm, Hank Williams, YouTube - Lovesick Blues, Hey good lookin', Cold, Cold Heart, Lost Highway, Move it on Over, Jambalaya on the Bayou, There's a tear in my beer, Lonely Tombs, Please Don't Make Me Love You

Shot Heard 'round the World

Wikipedia - "In baseball, the 'Shot Heard 'round the World' is the term given to the game-ending home run hit by New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca at the Polo Grounds to win the National League pennant at 3:58 p.m. EST on October 3, 1951. As a result of the 'shot' (baseball slang for 'home run' or any hard-hit ball), the Giants won the game 5–4, defeating the Dodgers in their pennant playoff series, two games to one."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Shot Heard 'round the World, Video - Bobby Thomson Dies At Age 86, NYT - Bobby Thomson Dies at 86; Hit Epic Home Run, W - "Pafko at the Wall", Don DeLillo

A Collection a Day, 2010

"This is a blog documenting a project that will span exactly one year, from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. On each of those 365 days, I will photograph or draw (and occasionally paint) one collection. Most of the collections are real and exist in my home or studio; those I will photograph. Some are imagined; those I will draw or (occasionally) paint."
A Collection a Day, 2010

Carl Stone

Wikipedia - "Carl Stone (born Carl Joseph Stone, February 10, 1953) is an American composer, primarily working in the field of live electronic music. His works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the Near East."
Wikipedia, Carl Stone, kalvos, last.fm, YouTube - Schindler House, L'os a Moelle, ResBox, Ear Meal, Makino Takashi, Wall Me Do

Shirley Ellis

Wikipedia - "Shirley Ellis (born Shirley Marie Elliston, circa 1941, The Bronx, New York) is a soul music singer and songwriter of West Indian origin. She is best known for her novelty hits 'The Nitty Gritty' (1963) (U.S. #8), 'The Name Game' (1965) (U.S. #3) and 'The Clapping Song' (1965) (U.S. #8)."
Wikipedia, W - The Name Game, YouTube - The Name Game, The Clapping Song

B movie

Wikipedia - "A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature."
Wikipedia, AMC, GreenCine, Modern Times, Brians Drive In Theater

The Trojan Box Set series

Wikipedia - "The Trojan Box Set series is a range of various artist triple CD box sets, periodically released by the British reggae record label Trojan Records since 1998. The series covers a wide variety of reggae subgenres, styles and themes."
Wikipedia, The Trojan Box Set Statistics Page, YouTube - The Viceroys Rise, The Revolutionaries, The Four Aces, Tommy McCook & The Supersonics, Delroy Wilson, Desmond Dekker, Owen & Leon Silveras, Joe White

Decay Music

"From 1968 to 1976, Michael Nyman worked as a music critic for various magazines (Studio International, Time Out, Tempo, The New Stateman or The Spectator). He studied 16th and 17th c. baroque music in the mid-1960s, composing only a handful of musical pieces prior to the present 'Decay Music' in 1976, the real starting point of his carreer as a composer."
UbuWeb, Obscure #6: Michael Nyman ‘Decay Music’

The Prismatic Eye: Collages by Anne Ryan, 1948–54

Number 67. Collage. 8 ¾ × 7 ½ in.
"This installation presents twenty-three works by Anne Ryan (American, 1889–1954). Ryan was a self-taught writer, painter, and printmaker who took up her preferred medium, collage, at the age of fifty-eight. Even though she died a mere six years later, she managed to create approximately four hundred collages, mostly diminutive in scale."
Met Museum, NYT, tectónica, Wikipedia, Smithsonian Institution, Walker Art Center

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