R. Crumb, The Art of Comics No. 1

"Robert Crumb asked me to say that he lives in Albania, to discourage would-be pilgrims from beating a path to his doorstep. He doesn’t, but his medieval hamlet is so far from the United States in every sense that it takes some perseverance to find, and upon locating it, I discovered that the streets of his walled village are too narrow to penetrate with even the tiniest French rental car. I mean, Albanian."
The Paris Review, Hammer

The Two Escobars

"While rival drug cartels warred in the streets and the country’s murder rate climbed to highest in the world, the Colombian national soccer team set out to blaze a new image for their country. What followed was a mysteriously rapid rise to glory, as the team catapulted out of decades of obscurity to become one of the best teams in the world. Central to this success were two men named Escobar: Andrés, the captain and poster child of the National Team, and Pablo, the infamous drug baron who pioneered the phenomenon known in the underworld as 'Narco-soccer.' But just when Colombia was expected to win the 1994 World Cup and transform its international image, the shocking murder of Andres Escobar dashed the hopes of a nation."
ESPN - 30 FOR 30

Lost Generation

Wikipedia - "The Lost Generation is a term used to refer to the generation, actually an age cohort, that came of age during World War I. The term was popularized by Ernest Hemingway who used it as one of two contrasting epigraphs for his novel, The Sun Also Rises. In that volume Hemingway credits the phrase to Gertrude Stein, who was then his mentor and patron."
Wikipedia

Alice Neel

Wikipedia - "Alice Neel (January 28, 1900 – October 13, 1984) was an American artist known for her oil on canvas portraits of friends, family, lovers, poets, artists and strangers. Her paintings are notable for their expressionistic use of line and color, psychological acumen, and emotional intensity."
Wikipedia, Alice Neel, NYT, YouTube - Alice Neel Documentary, YouTube - Alice Neel

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Wikipedia - "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world (the Wonderland of the title) populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic in ways that have given the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre, and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Alice in Wonderland (1903)

How Proust Can Change Your Life

Publishers Weekly - "Generally writers fall into one of two camps: those who feel that one can't write without having a firm grasp on Proust, and those who, like Virginia Woolf, are crippled by his influence."
amazon, YouTube - BBC - How Proust Can Change Your Life - Part 1/6, Part 2/6, Part 3/6, Part 4/6, Part 5/6, Part 6/6.

June 1, 2008 - Wikipedia, The New York Society Library, Marcel Proust's Search For Lost Time, New York Times, Marcel Proust: Ephemera Site, The University of Adelaide Library, Proust Said That, Mari's Proust Pages, Carleton, Cemetery Entrance Gates

Nira Pereg

Kept Alive
"Nira Pereg's work deals with ways that social structures intersect with the authority of the individual. Typically, her projects are documentary based, but transform reality into an quasi-theatrical events. Using complex editing techniques and various-scaled multimedia installations, Pereg's interest in socials schemes draws on a unique and personal perspective. 'Re-looking' is a primary concern in her work practice and her everyday life, and often builds on periods of intense travel and close observations."
Nira Pereg, YouTube - Artis Video Series: Nira Pereg

Janis Joplin: 1962-1965

"Done at a friends house in December 1962 its first song Janis ever recorded. Early Janis Joplin showing off a different side of her voice. Record Collector cites her intro to the song: Up steps a feisty young woman, one month short of her twentieth birthday."
YouTube - What Good Can Drinkin' Do - 1962, No Reason For Livin, Careless Love, Hesitation Blues, I'll Drown In My Own Tears, Brownsville, Turtle Blues, Codine, Down and Out, 219 Train, Combination Of The Two 1967, Down On Me 1967

Pafko at the Wall

Wikipedia - "Pafko at the Wall, subtitled The Shot Heard Round the World, was originally published as a folio in the October 1992 issue of Harper's Magazine. It was later (1997) incorporated as the prologue in Don DeLillo's magnum opus novel, Underworld, with minor changes from the original version, such as a new opening line. In 2001, Pafko was re-released as a novella, by Scribner (this is the same version as printed in Underworld). In Underworld this section is titled The Triumph of Death, in reference to the painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder."
Wikipedia, amazon, Google

New York City from the 1940s in color

Old Fulton Market
"Photographs of New York City from the 1940s in color via the Charles W. Cushman collection."
Old New York in Colour - Part 1 - Downtown, Part II - Downtown 1960, Part III - Lower East Side, Part IV - Round Robin Selections

"Howl" - Allen Ginsberg

Wikipedia - "Howl is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955 and published as part of his 1956 collection of poetry titled Howl and Other Poems. The poem is considered to be one of the seminal works of the Beat Generation along with Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957), and William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch (1959)."
Wikipedia, Howl, Parts I & II , enotes, amazon, Beat Epic: Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”, YouTube - Allen Ginsberg Reading Howl - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Mods and Rockers

Wikipedia - "The Mods and Rockers were two conflicting British youth subcultures of the early-mid 1960s. Gangs of mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a moral panic about British youths, and the two groups were seen as folk devils. The rockers adopted a macho biker gang image, wearing clothes such as black leather jackets."
Wikipedia, Mods and Rockers, YouTube - Mods & Rockers seaside clash 1960s

Step Across the Border - Fred Frith (1990)

Wikipedia - "Step Across the Border is a 1990 avant-garde documentary film on English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith. It was written and directed by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel and released in Germany and Switzerland."
Wikipedia, W - Step Across the Border (soundtrack), amazon, YouTube - Fred Frith - Step Across The Border 1, Pt. 2, Pt.3

Burning Spear: Marcus Garvey / Garvey's Ghost

"Easily the most overtly political of the great mid-‘70s roots reggae albums, Winston Rodney’s 1975 magnum opus Marcus Garvey is a strange beast, to say the least. One of those marvellously idiosyncratic albums that come along every now and then where the lyrical sentiment or vocal delivery happily and willingly contradict the mood or sound of the actual music (think Comus’ First Utterance, early Smiths, Panic at the Disco’s Pretty. Odd.). Musically, for the most part, Marcus Garvey is classic bouncy Jamaican period reggae: catchy, mellow and drowning in horns, with a groove to die for."
Pop Matters, YouTube - Black Wa Da Da, I and I Survive [Slavery Days (Dub)], Brain Food, Workshop

David Kimball Anderson

Winter Bouquet
"'David Kimball Anderson: to Morris Graves' is a body of work, and an exhibition, that represents a sculptor’s response to a painter. In paying homage to American artist Morris Graves (1910–2001), David Anderson has focused on the flower still lifes that Graves painted later in his life."
DKA, David Kimball Anderson, Linda Durham

Neil Young's Sound

Old Black
"A collection of articles on Neil Young's Guitars, Amps, Whizzer and Equipment on how he obtains his unique grunge and feedback sound. Neil's electric guitar sound has been described as like 'a jet plane in a thunderstorm' and those who have witnessed and directly felt in their chest the aural assualt that is known as 'Crazy Horse-style' know that which we speak."
Thrashers Wheat

The Woodcuts of Lynd Ward

"It seems natural now to think of Lynd Ward as one of America’s most distinguished and accomplished graphic novelists. He is, in fact, one of only a small handful of artists anywhere who ever made a 'graphic novel' until the day before yesterday. The ungainly neologism seems to have stuck since Will Eisner, creator of the voraciously inventive Spirit comic book of the 1940s, first used it on the cover of a 1978 collection of his seriously intended comics stories for adults, A Contract With God."
The Paris Review - The Woodcuts of Lynd Ward, amazon, Wikipedia

Echoes

Phil Strong
Wikipedia - "Echoes is a daily two-hour music radio program hosted by John Diliberto featuring a soundscape of ambient, space, electronica, and New Age music. The program features in-depth artist interviews and intimate 'living room' performances. Interview subjects have included Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, and Philip Glass. Live performers have included Yo-Yo Ma, Pat Metheny, Loreena McKennitt, Steve Roach, and many others."
Wikipedia, Echoes, Where You Can Hear Echoes

Roulette TV: David Behrman

"David Behrman has been active as a composer and artist since the 1960s. Over the years he has made sound and multimedia installations for gallery spaces as well as compositions for performance in concerts."
vimeo - Roulette TV: David Behrman

John Barleycorn

Wikipedia - "'John Barleycorn' is an English folksong. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal crop barley, and of the alcoholic beverages made from it, beer and whisky. In the song, John Barleycorn is represented as suffering attacks, death, and indignities that correspond to the various stages of barley cultivation, such as reaping and malting."
Wikipedia, YouTube - John Renbourn Group, Traffic, Steeleye Span, Joe Walsh

Haymarket affair

Wikipedia - "The Haymarket affair (also known as the Haymarket massacre or Haymarket riot) was a demonstration and unrest that took place on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at the Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a rally in support of striking workers. An unknown person threw a bomb at police as they dispersed the public meeting. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of eight police officers, mostly from friendly fire, and an unknown number of civilians."
Wikipedia, The Haymarket Riot Trial, Lucy Parsons Project, Chicago History Museum, YouTube - Haymarket Martyrs--Origin of International Workers Day Pt 1, Pt.2, Pt.3

Hotel Chelsea

Wikipedia - "The Hotel Chelsea (or, Chelsea Hotel) is a New York City hotel and landmark, primarily known for its history of long-term notable residents. The Chelsea has housed numerous writers, musicians, artists, and actors, including Bob Dylan, Charles Bukowski, Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Arthur C. Clarke, Dylan Thomas, Sid Vicious, Robert Mapplethorpe, Larry Rivers, and multiple people associated with Andy Warhol's Factory. It is located in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea, at 222 West 23rd Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues."
Wikipedia, Hotel Chelsea, vimeo - Inside: The Chelsea Hotel Photographed by Julia Calfee

The Outsiders

Wikipedia - "The Outsiders was an American rock and roll band from Cleveland, Ohio, that was founded and led by guitarist Tom King. The band is best known for its Top 5 hit 'Time Won't Let Me' in early 1966, which peaked at #5 in the US, but the band had three other hit singles in 1966 and released a total of four albums in the mid-1960s."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Time Won't Let Me, Respectable

Arnaud Maggs

Scrapbook (3), 2009
Wikipedia - "Arnaud Maggs (born 1926) is a Canadian artist and photographer. Born in Montreal, he lives in Toronto. Maggs is best known for stark portraits arranged in grid-like arrangements. After training and working as a graphic designer, Maggs turned to commercial photography in the 1960s. At the age of 47, he decided to become a visual artist concentrating on photography and conceptualism and focusing on such things as death notices and tags documenting child labour in French textile factories."
Wikipedia, Muse-ings, Arnaud Maggs, Arnaud Maggs: Contaminations and Other Conventions, YouTube - The Many Faces of Arnaud Maggs

Mance Lipscomb

Wikipedia - "Mance Lipscomb (April 9, 1895 – January 30, 1976) was an influential blues singer, guitarist and songster. Born Beau De Glen Lipscomb near Navasota, Texas, he as a youth took the name of 'Mance' from a friend of his oldest brother Charlie (Mance short for emancipation)."
Wikipedia, Famous Texans, YouTube - Jack of Spades, Can I Do Something, Ain't It Hard, All night long, See See Rider, Going down slow

Frank Selby

"ppoollooccee", 2009
"Most of my current work is based upon miscommunications, failures of communication and gaps in communication. Any conflict between people is always a linguistic entanglement and I work with versions of these dialogues and problematize them further. The images of riots, wars, uprisings and clashes found in my work are approached as instances of groups of people for whom a failure of language has created a crisis."
Frank Selby, Frank Selby at Gallery Jeanroch Dard

Clanking, Ponderous Rheingold: The Met's New Valhalla Machine

Robert Lepage
"What is it about the works of Richard Wagner that consistently inspire some of the most bizarre productions in all of opera? No doubt it is because Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (1848–1874) poses the nearly impossible challenge of making this monumental four-part music drama accord with ever-shifting notions of the mythic, which change as much as any other fashions."
NYR, NY Times - The Valhalla Machine, ARTINFO - Metropolitan Opera’s Valhalla Machine for Das Rheingold Disappoints, Wikipedia - Der Ring des Nibelungen

Philip Scott Johnson

"This is a video created by Philip Scott Johnson, who is a digital artist from St. Louis, Missouri. The amazing morphing animation is a video montage of famous Hollywood film entertainers through the years."
YouTube - Women In Film, Men In Film, Van Gogh, Women In Art, Famous masters, YouTube - Philip Scott Johnson

Scott Jordan

"I have been digging for New York's artifacts since 1969. My first dig was on Governor's Island, which was my father's duty station, and I stumbled upon a time capsule of New York's military history in the moat of old Fort Jay. In the dirt under the old drawbridge were relics dating from the War of 1812 all the way to the Civil War including buttons, musket balls and bullets, coins, pottery, and even a small cannon ball."
Urban archaeologist Scott Jordan, vimeo - Digging The Past

Harry Everett Smith

Wikipedia - "Harry Everett Smith (29 May 1923, Portland, Oregon – 27 November 1991, New York City) was an American archivist, ethnomusicologist, student of anthropology, record collector, experimental filmmaker, artist, bohemian and mystic. Smith is a well-known figure in several fields."
Wikipedia, Harry Everett Smith, History Link, YouTube - "Early Abstractions" (1946-57), Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4, Film #10: Mirror Animations (1957), Harry Smith's 11 (-1/3). Harry Smith & Angel Orensanz

Sun Ra on Artbeat

"WTTW, Channel 11's ARTBEAT piece on Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn & Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954-68, at the Hyde Park Art Center, October 2007, Curated by John Corbett, Anthony Elms, and Terri Kapsalis"
YouTube - Sun Ra on Artbeat

Joyce Kozloff

Boys' Art #2: Nagasaki
"Joyce Kozloff is a painter commonly associated with the Pattern & Decoration movement of the 1970s. The movement was an effort to challenge the stigma that modern art had put on ornamentation. The artists of this movement drew inspiration form arts and cultures outside the mainstream of modern art: Islamic, Celtic, and Arts and Crafts."
Layers of Meaning, artnet

The Poet's View -- John Ashbery

"I always wanted to go to France, ever since I was a child and read French fairy tales and writers like Balzac and Proust. It was just a thing I always wanted to do and ended up doing."
Poets

Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band

Wikipedia - "Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band is a pioneering American soul and funk band. Formed in the early 1960s, they had the most visibility from 1967 to 1973 when the band had 9 singles reach Billboard's pop and/or rhythm and blues Hot 100 lists...."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube - Express Yourself, Do Your Thing, Soul A Go Go

Seen on the Streets Of Basel, Switzerland

"Bustart was born in 1983 in Switzerland. His goal is to affect and touch. Be it surface or oppinions."
Wooster Collective, Bustart