Wang Qingsong: When Worlds Collide

"This exhibition will mark the first U.S. solo show of Beijing artist Wang Qingsong, one of China's most highly regarded contemporary artists. Trained as a painter at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Art, Wang Qingsong turned to photography in the late 1990s in order to convey a distinctive and often acerbic vision of Chinese society during the country's current economic boom."
ICP, Wang Qingsong, artnet, YouTube: Propaganda

Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story of 1970s Funky Lagos

"Today I went back to the Amoeba Music store in Hollywood and gushed my gratitude to Lance the clerk for strongly recommending that I pick up a copy of Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story of 1970s Funky Lagos. He smiled knowingly and gestured towards the sky: it just so happened that it was this very album that was blasting out from the speakers above. I gave him his props, then turned to survey the store. The African music section was thronged with the curious, ears ablaze, their eyes eagerly searching out the source of these throbbing grooves."
must hear, amazon, Nigeria 70 - Eniaro (Igbo) by Ofo & The Black Company, Rex Williams - You Are My Heart, William Onyeabor - Better Change Your Mind, The Funkees - The Dancing Ti

Raï

Wikipedia - "Raï ... is a form of folk music that originated in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds, mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms, which dates back to the 1930s. Singers of raï are called cheb (shabab, young) as opposed to sheikh (shaykh, old), the name given to Chaabi singers. The tradition arose in cities like Oran, Relizane, Oujda and Mostaganem, primarily among the poor. Traditionally sung by men, at the turn of the 20th century, female singers became common. The lyrics of raï have concerned social issues, such as disease and the policing of European colonies, that affected native populations."
Wikipedia, Planet Folk, Raï - Rebel Music from Algeria

BBC - Rai music in Oran and the Kasbah of Algiers (Video), Cheb Mami, a tribute to Cheb Mami in Pictures of Historical Algeria, Rai History Part 1 (France), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Laurie Anderson - Home studio (late 80's)

"Laurie Anderson - Home studio (late 80's). Collected Videos (1990)."
YouTube - Home studio (late 80's) - 01, 02

"I Want You" - Bob Dylan

Wikipedia - "'I Want You' is a 1966 song recorded by Bob Dylan which appeared on the album Blonde on Blonde. It was also released as a single with a live version of 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues' in June, reaching number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 and number sixteen in the UK."
Wikipedia, "I Want You" - Bob Dylan, PLAYBOY INTERVIEW: BOB DYLAN, YouTube, videos

Helen Caldicott

Wikipedia - "Helen Mary Caldicott (born 7 August 1938) is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate who has founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons proliferation, war and military action in general."
Wikipedia, Helen Caldicott, Google

Art Project

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Garden, John Constable
"Explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces."
Art Project, YouTube - Visitor Guide, Behind the Scenes

The Holy Forest

"Robin Blaser, one of the key North American poets of the postwar period, emerged from the 'Berkeley Renaissance' of the 1940s and 1950s as a central figure in that burgeoning literary scene. The Holy Forest, now spanning five decades, is Blaser's highly acclaimed lifelong serial poem. This long-awaited revised and expanded edition includes numerous published volumes of verse, the ongoing 'Image-Nation' and 'Truth Is Laughter' series, and new work from 1994 to 2004."
University of California Press - The Holy Forest, Both Both Series - Feb 15, 2007, interview with Robin Blaser that originally appeared in The Poker #5, amazon, Google: The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser

November 2007: EPC
November 2009: Robin Blaser (1925 - 2009)
March 2010: The Moth Poem, Les Chimeres

Glenn Branca - "The Ascension"

"The Ascension was written in 1980, but this reissue also contains a video clip of Glenn Branca playing electric guitar in 1978. Branca bangs his head wildly, thrashing at his guitar. The actual sounds produced, however, seem to bear a closer relationship to Branca’s proximity to his overdriven amp than to what he’s actually playing."
Dusted Magazine, W - The Ascension (Glenn Branca album), amazon, The Sirens Sound, YouTube - The Ascension Part 1, Part 2

Milton Babbitt

Wikipedia - "Milton Byron Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer. He was particularly noted for his serial and electronic music."
Wikipedia, NPR Music Premiere: New Documentary On The Late Composer Milton Babbitt, An interview with Milton Babbitt, G. Schirmer, Village Voice, OHM- The Early Gurus of Electronic Music - PERFECT SOUND FOREVER
YouTube - Lagniappe (1985), Composition for 12 instruments (1948), Arie da Capo, part 1 (1974), part 2, Fourplay, part 1 (1984), part 2, Composition for Guitar (1984)

Hip-Hop History Volume 5: 1983

"Jimmy Spicer – (Money) Dollar Bill Y’all
Fresh 3 MC’s – Fresh
Run DMC – Jam Master Jay
Fantasy 3 – It’s Your Back
Crash Crew – On The Radio
Lovebug Starski – Live at the Fever
Run DMC – Sucker MCs
Kevvie Kev – All Night Love (Waterbed)
Gigolette – Games Females Play
Sweet G – Games People Play
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – New York, New York
The B-Boys – 2, 3 Break
Treacherous Three – Action
Dimples D – Sucker DJ’s (I Will Survive)
West Side Mob – Break Dance – Electric Boogie
G.L.O.B.E. and Whiz Kid – Play That Beat Mr. DJ
The B-Boys – Cuttin’ Herbie
Africa Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force – Renegades of Funk
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – White Lines
The B-Boys – Rock The House
Run DMC – It’s Like That
Run DMC – Hard Times
Double Dee & Steinski – Lesson 2 The James Brown Mix"
The Rub

‘Tomorrow, to Tahrir Again’

"On Thursday evening, January 27, activists in Cairo were on Twitter discussing the second wave of protests, which were supposed to begin after Friday’s midday prayer. Two days earlier, tens of thousands of people had taken to the streets and, despite a violent response by police and thugs, succeeded in occupying Tahrir Square; this time, it was hoped, many more would join in the peaceful revolt."
NYR Books

The Last Poets

Wikipedia - "The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread. Their name is taken from a poem by the South African revolutionary poet Keorapetse Kgositsile, who believed he was in the last era of poetry before guns would take over."
Wikipedia, Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole, PERFECT SOUND FOREVER, last.fm, YouTube - Niggers Are Scared Of Revolution!, Last Poets with Pharoah Sanders, The Last Poets True Blue 1970s, Made in Amerikkka, The Last Poets (Full Version), When The Revolution Comes, Black People, What Ya'll Gonna Do?

Eugène Leroy

Poissons au bord de l'eau, 1997
"Eugène Leroy (1910-2000), with his singular identification to painting, expressed in a masterful manner the need to paint. The simplicity and natural style with which he pursued his research, the complexity and sheer scope of the pictoral range he offers spectators of his works, the generosity with which he treats the question of matter, which he confronts with his eternal search for absolute light and tone, all add up to make Eugène Leroy a unique painter."
e-flux, Museum Publicity, dailymotion

Paul Bowles: Halfmoon (1996)

"The exotic world of expatriate American writer Paul Bowles, artistic colleague of Beat poets and writers such as Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, is brought to the screen in this beautifully photographed anthology based on three of his short stories."
amazon, allmovie, Independent Film Quarterly

2008 August:Tellus #23 - Paul Bowles, UbuWeb
2007 November: The Authorized Paul Bowles Web Site

James Brown, Bologna Italy April 1971

JAMES BROWN - Sex Machine (1/3), Sunny (2/3), Give it up or turn it loose (3/3)

Flexi disc

Wikipedia - "The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet or sonosheet) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable. Flexible records were commercially introduced as the Eva-tone Soundsheet in 1960, but were previously available in the Soviet Union as roentgenizdat or bones, underground samizdat recordings on x-ray film."
Wikipedia, WFMU, Stylus Magazine, Polish Flexi-Disc Postcards, I Wish I Was A Flexidisc, YouTube - The Who - My Generation - 7" Flexi Disc, DJ Shadow works the FLEXI DISC on Product Placement Six Days, All My Loving - The Beatles - 1962-1966 Flexi-Disc Promo, Rolling Stones Exile on Main St. Flexi Disc, The Mr. BIl Show - Official Soundtrack Flexi Disc DJ

2600: The Hacker Quarterly

Wikipedia - "2600: The Hacker Quarterly is an American publication that specializes in publishing technical information on a variety of subjects including telephone switching systems, Internet protocols and services, as well as general news concerning the computer 'underground' and left wing, and sometimes (but not recently), anarchist issues."
Wikipedia, 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, YouTube - "WikiLeaks is Not One Person" Hacker Magazine Editor Part 1, Part 2

Meredith Monk - "Impermanence"

"Meredith Monk has spent four decades challenging audiences and winning awards with her unusual fusion of song, theater, dance and film. She's won Obie Awards and a 'genius grant' from the MacArthur Foundation. For the most part, Monk composes with herself in mind as the performer. But lately she's begun to consider how her work will last after she's gone. In fact, her latest recording is called Impermanence."
npr - Meredith Monk: Of Posterity and 'Impermanence', ECM, amazon, All About Jazz, Meredith Monk - "Impermanence" (Video)

The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives

"Charlotte Brontë turned to her diary to escape stifling work as a schoolteacher; Tennessee Williams confided his loneliness and self-doubt; John Steinbeck struggled to compose The Grapes of Wrath; Albert Einstein worked out mathematical equations as he traveled the world; Bob Dylan sketched his way through a concert tour. This exhibition, drawn from the Morgan's own extraordinary holdings, presents these personal stories and many more. As today's diarists employ new forms—logging their thoughts outside the traditional notebook—the exhibition explores the enduring human desire to document our lives."
The Morgan Library & Museum, Introduction, See all diaries, Audio Guide, The Diary exhibition blog

Action painting

Jackson Pollock
Wikipedia - "Action painting, sometimes called 'gestural abstraction', is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical act of painting itself as an essential aspect of the finished work or concern of its artist."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Jackson Pollock

Santo & Johnny

Wikipedia - "Santo & Johnny were an Italian-American rock and roll duo from Brooklyn, comprising brothers Santo and Johnny Farina. They are best known for their instrumental 'Sleep Walk,' which became a regional hit and eventually reached #1 on the pop charts when it was released nationally."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Sleep Walk

Ray Johnson

Wikipedia - "Ray Edward Johnson (1927–1995) was a seminal Pop Art figure in the 1950’s and 60’s and an important early conceptualist, dubbed 'the most famous unknown artist', a reflection of his deliberate elusiveness."
Wikipedia, Ray Johnson, Father of Mail Art 1927-1995, The Ray Johnson Videos

Ted Berrigan - Two prose poems

"Don’t Forget Anger. Never hits us the day it’s lovely gathers us up in its name who pierced the shower 40 below the heel hidden shoes the ruined exercises the shine is all night again pleasure falling off parting the bed during the biting lust. Today we speak above the noise a spyglass littered with soot scenes from the ruins boys and partners before the big bite imitating that’s the penalty denial of gain through pranks the essence of belief. ..."
Jacket #16

The Best of David Lynch on the Web

"Today is filmmaker David Lynch's 65th birthday. Art Attack is a big fan, having seen The Elephant Man, Dune, Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart back in our teens, and we were smack in the middle of high school when Twin Peaks aired in 1990 and changed the game for what was possible on network television."
Houston Press

Fela Kuti - Coffin for the head of state

"Remix of Fela Kuti's Coffin for the head of state Pt.2 by Sneezing Eyes Pop-out Orchestra (Sepo). Footage taken from 'Music is the weapon' documentary."
YouTube

Maxwell Street

Maxwell Street, John Carroll Doyle
Wikipedia - "Maxwell Street is an east-west street in the heart of chicago as they say Chicago, Illinois that intersects with Halsted Street just south of Roosevelt Road. It runs at 1330 South in the numbering system running from 500 West to 1126 West. The Maxwell Street neighborhood is considered part of the Near West Side and is one of the city's oldest residential districts."
Wikipedia, Google, Maxwell Street, Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street
YouTube - Carrie Robinson, Chicken Man, Maxwell Street Polish, Old Maxwell Street Chicago

Maryanne Amacher

Wikipedia - "Maryanne Amacher (February 25, 1938 – October 22, 2009) was an American composer and installation artist."
Wikipedia, Maryanne Amacher, NYT, Chicago Reader, YouTube - Amacher & Moore 1/2, 2/2, Sound characters, Glasgow's Instal festival

Floor of the Forest (1970)

"This is performed in a twelve-foot by fourteen-foot pipe frame across which are tied ropes densely threaded with clothes - sleeves are woven beneath pant legs forming a solid rectangular surface. The audience is free to move around in the periphery of the grid as the performers dress and undress their way through this structure. A normally vertical activity performed horizontally and reshaped by the vertical pull of gravity."
Trisha Brown Company, whitney, YouTube

Massacre (experimental band)

Wikipedia - "Massacre was originally founded in 1980 in New York City by guitarist Fred Frith, bassist Bill Laswell and drummer Fred Maher as an improvising and experimental rock band. They performed live for just over a year and recorded a studio album, Killing Time (1981)."
Wikipedia, W - Killing Time, YouTube - Legs, Killing Time, Gate, Not Person We Knew

Debris from the Cultural Underground

"John Held, Jr. Debris from the Cultural Underground, chronicles four decades of involvement in the international cultural undergrounds of Fluxus, Mail Art, rubber stamp and zine cultures by the San Francisco artist, writer, collector, bibliographer and cultural historian."
ArtSlant, Art Forum Review - “Debris from the Cultural Underground”, Google

Patsy Cline

"Thanks to her vocal versatility, and with the help of Bradley's direction and arrangements, Cline enjoyed both country and pop success. Bradley's arrangements incorporated strings and other instruments not typical of country recordings of the day. He considered Cline's voice best-suited for country pop-crossover songs, and helped smooth her voice into the silky, torch song style for which she is famous."
YouTube - Walkin' After Midnight, Crazy, I've Loved And Lost Again, Lovesick Blues, I Fall To Pieces, Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray, How Can I Face Tomorrow, She's Got You, A Church, A Courtroom And Then Goodbye, So Wrong

June 2008: Wikipedia, Patsy Cline: Honky Tonk Angel, Patst Cline: The Lady, The Legend,

Fauvism

André Derain: Boats At Collioure (1905)
Wikipedia - "Fauvism is the style of les Fauves (French for 'the wild beasts'), a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. While Fauvism as a style began around 1900 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only a few years, 1904–1908, and had three exhibitions. The leaders of the movement were Henri Matisse and André Derain."
Wikipedia, ArtLex, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, YouTube - Fauvist Art - Part 1, Part 2.

Hip-Hop History Volume 4: 1982

"The Treacherous Three – Yes We Can-Can
Fearless Four – Rockin’ It
Fearless Four – It’s Magic
Cold Crush Brother – Weekend
Disco Four – We’re At The Party
Crash Crew – Breaking Bells (Take Me To The Mardi Gras)
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five – The Message
Pieces of A Dream – Mt. Airy Groove
Star Quality & Class – Betcha Got A Dude On The Side
Funky 4 + 1 More – Do You Want To Rock
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – Flash To The Beat (Live)
Jimmy Spicer – The Bubble Bunch
Malcolm Mclaren – Buffalo Gals
Just Four – Jam To Remember
Super 3 – Standing on the Top
South Bronx – Bottom Line
Nairobe & the Awesome Foursome – Funky Soul Makossa
Africa Bambaataa – Looking For The Perfect Beat
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – Scorpio
Africa Bambaataa The Soul Sonic Force – Planet Rock"
The Rub

Astral Weeks

Wikipedia - "Astral Weeks is the second solo album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in November 1968 on Warner Bros. Records. It was Morrison's first album after Warner Bros. had been able to free him from his contract with Bang Records. ... Employing a mixture of folk, blues, jazz, and classical music, Astral Weeks received critical acclaim immediately upon its first release and subsequently has been placed on numerous widely-circulated lists of best albums of all time."
Wikipedia, W - Astral Weeks, W - Beside_You, W - Sweet Thing, W - Cyprus_Avenue, W - The Way Young Lovers Do, W - Madame George, W - Ballerina, W - Slim Slow Slider

Astral Weeks by Lester Bangs from "Stranded" (1979), npr

YouTube - 1973.07.27 - Old Grey Whistle Test Interview, Van Morrison on Astral Weeks: why I had to go back to my soul classic, YouTube - TIME Magazine Interviews: Van Morrison

YouTube - Cyprus Avenue, live 1970, Cyprus Avenue (1), Beside You, Ballerina - Live