The History of Ska & Rock Steady

"The roots of Ska lie deeply in American music. Back in the fifties, the Jamaican youth would dance to the American R&B and hip jazz that would play on the radio that was broadcast from New Orleans, or from any DJs that had the hottest new tracks on 45s. Once rock and roll dominated the air waves, the kids quickly lost interest, and the people of Jamaica started recording their own music."
amazon, The History of Ska & Rock Steady - Part One (Linton Kwesi Johnson), Part 2

Finding Nighthawks

NYPL, 1938
"Much ado has been made recently of the triangular plot of land that juts like a shark fin between 7th Avenue South, Perry Street, and Greenwich. The MTA owns the property and recently proposed to build a faux-townhouse there to conceal their planned ventilation plant, a controversial development. Also known as Mulry Square, the triangle is famous for being the supposed location of the inspiration for Edward Hopper's most well-known painting, Nighthawks. But was it?"
Jeremiah's Vanishing New York - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Coda

Edward Dorn: Tribe, 1999

Switchman throwing a switch, Proviso yards, Chicago: Jack Delano, April 1943
"My tribe came from struggling labor
Depression South Eastern Illinois
Just before the southern hills start
To roll toward the coal country
Where the east/west morainal ridges
Of Wisconsin trash pile up
At the bottom of the prairie, socially
A far Midwest recrudescence of Appalachia"
Tom Clark Blog

Evergreen Review

Evergreen Review, Number 51, 1968: “The Spirit of Che”
Wikipedia - "Evergreen Review is a U.S.-based literary magazine founded by Barney Rosset, publisher of Grove Press. It existed in print from 1957 through 1973, and was re-launched online in 1998. Its diversity can be seen in the March-April 1960 issue, which included work by Albert Camus, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Bertolt Brecht and LeRoi Jones, as well as Edward Albee's first play, The Zoo Story."
Wikipedia, History of Evergreen Review, Evergreen Review Blog, RealityStudio, YouTube - Evergreen Review magazine #12, amazon - Evergreen Review Reader 1957-1966

We Jam Econo - The Story of the Minutemen

Wikipedia - "We Jam Econo - The Story of the Minutemen, is a full-length documentary about the influential 1980s punk rock band Minutemen, created by director Tim Irwin and producer Keith Schieron in association with Rocket Fuel Films. The film premiered on February 25, 2005 at the historic Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, California, after two years in production."
Wikipedia, amazon, we jam econo part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9

Apollo Theater

Wikipedia - "The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with African-American performers. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a nationally syndicated television variety show consisting of new talent. The theater is located at 253 W. 125th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, specifically in Harlem, one of the United States' most historically significant traditionally black neighborhoods."
Wikipedia, Apollo Theater, Biography - Video

Daniel Knorr

Scherben bringen Glück, 2008
"Daniel Knorr's work deals with the realationships between performance art, everyday life, public versus private space and the artist and the audience. Pursuing the principle of Conceptual Art, the artist explores the aspect of materialisation in art, calling it into question on various levels. Thoughts, ideas and feelings, but also identity, language and text all contribute to the realisation of his art."
e-flux, artnet, DailyMotion

Ari Up (17 January 1962 – 20 October 2010)

Wikipedia - "Ariane Daniele Forster (17 January 1962 – 20 October 2010), better known by her stage name Ari Up, was a German-born vocalist best known as a member of the English punk group, The Slits."
Wikipedia, Guardian - Ari Up: a punk with the courage to confront, Ari Up, The Slits Cut Review, New Age Steppers, YouTube - Typical Girls - The Slits, So Tough, Hated by many loved by a few, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Shoplifting, Cut, In the beginning there was rhythm, Animal space, Earthbeat, New Town, The New Age Steppers - Some Love The New Age Steppers - Love Forever, The New Age Steppers - Fade Away

Long Island Rail Road

Wikipedia - "The Long Island Rail Road (reporting mark LI) or LIRR is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York. It is the busiest commuter railroad in North America, serving approximately 83 million passengers each year. Established in 1834 and having continually operated since then, it is oldest US railroad still operating under its original name and charter."
Wikipedia, MTA Long Island Rail Road, LIRR

Steve Reich - Double Sextet

"Steve Reich - Double Sextet 1 - Asya Sorshneva (violin), Kseniya Bashmet (piano), Dmitry Schyolkin (percussion), Olga Demina (Cello), Marina Volkova (flute), Danila Musikhin (clarinet) x 2" = iCQ Project"
YouTube - Double Sextet 1, 2, 3

50 Years at Pace / Anniversary Exhibitions at The Pace Gallery, New York

"In celebration of its 50th anniversary, The Pace Gallery presents a multi-venue retrospective of the gallery’s history. 50 Years at Pace brings together some of the key masterpieces that have passed through Pace’s doors, featuring loans from important public and private collections worldwide."
Vernissage

Michael Aaron Williams

Michael Aaron Williams - "This series are all done on cardboard and depict the homeless. They are put up and are able to be taken down so that they can be taken home. They are therefore extremely delicate. Its interesting because just like the actual homeless, the people on the street ignore the pieces and many times see no worth in them. However, Some people have and are encouraged to take these home where the pieces can survive."
Wooster Collective, Michael Aaron Williams, YouTube

The Punk Rock Movie (1977)

"The Punk Rock Movie was assembled from Super 8 camera footage shot by Don Letts, the disc jockey at The Roxy club during the early days of the UK punk rock movement, between 1977 and 1979. The film captures the energy and vibrancy of this period, and features archive live footage of the bands The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Wayne County & the Electric Chairs, Generation X, Slaughter and the Dogs, The Slits, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Eater, Subway Sect, X-Ray Spex, Alternative TV and The Heartbreakers."
CALLE NOSTALGIA

Brian Eno - Small Craft On A Milk Sea

"When word arrived that Brian Eno would be releasing his latest works, “Small Craft On A Milk Sea” on the UK WARP label, smiles were seen throughout the music community. Eno’s placement on WARP was perhaps one of the more interesting moves in music of late – not only for integrity’s sake but for the benefit of listeners worldwide."
Selectism, Brian Eno - Small Craft On A Milk Sea, Wired, GEETA DAYAL

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