Black Music in America - ca. mid-1970's

"This tremendous educational documentary from the mid-1970's examines the priceless contributions of African-Americans to musical heritage, so closely tied to their unique history in the United States. From Africa upon slave ships captive immigrants brought with them melodies, cadences and rhythms that inarguably gave rise to music considered 'modern' today. Beginning with the genius Louis Armstrong's triumphant return to Ghana in the late 1950's, we trace the evolution of music from West Africa to the Virginia colonies of the early 1600's. Over the next 400 years, as this distinct root of American culture takes hold, incredible clips of filmed performances by Mahalia Jackson, Josephine Baker, Bessie Smith, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, and Duke Ellington illustrate the black experience."
YouTube - Black Music in America - ca. mid-1970's, Smithsonian Institution, amazon

The Kingston Lounge

"Guerrilla preservation and urban archaeology. Brooklyn and beyond."
The Kingston Lounge

Egypt Burning - Al Jazeera

"This film tells the story of five days in January 2011 when the people of Egypt broke through a barrier of fear they had known for a generation and rose in revolt against their president. Anger had long been brewing in Egypt - strikes, unemployment and sectarian tension were on the rise. Small networks of activists had been agitating against Hosni Mubarak's autocratic rule for years. But it was only when another Arab country, Tunisia, rose up against its tyrant that the Egyptian activists attracted mass support."
Egypt Burning - Al Jazeera, Egypt Dilemma - Al Jazeera

Greenwich Village

Wikipedia - "Greenwich Village ... in New York often simply called 'the Village', is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families. Greenwich Village, however, was known in the late 19th to mid 20th centuries as the bohemian capital and the East Coast birthplace of the Beat movement."
Wikipedia, the alleys of greenwich, YouTube - Video Tour of Greenwich Village, A 7 MINUTE TOUR of GREENWICH VILLAGE

Obscure Records

Wikipedia - "Obscure Records was a U.K. record label which existed from 1975 to 1978. It was created and run by Brian Eno, who also produced the albums (credited as executive producer in one instance). Ten albums were issued in the series. Most have detailed liner notes on their back covers, analyzing the compositions and providing a biography of the composer, in a format typical of classical music albums, and much of the material can be regarded as 20th century classical music. The label provided a venue for experimental music, and its association with Eno gave increased public exposure to its composers and musicians."
Wikipedia, Time Out, facebook, YouTube - Obscure Records favorites

Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe

Wikipedia - "Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe (March, 1936 — May 11, 2007), often referred to as just Osadebe, was an Igbo Nigerian Highlife musician from Atani. His career spanned over 40 years, and he is one of the most well known Igbo highlife musicians. His most popular hit was the 1984 'Osondi Owendi' (Igbo: One man's meat is another man's poison.), establishing him as a leader in the highlife genre being the most popular record ever in Nigeria."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube - Osondi Owendi, Ndi Ochongonoko, Yoba Chukwu, Ife Onye Metalu, Nwanne eje na eje na

William S. Burroughs, Word Horde 2.0

"A substantial archive of manuscript material, correspondence, and books and printed matter, mostly signed. The manuscript material comprises some hundreds of pages, mostly from the 1950s to the 1980s, much of it unpublished, including..."
William S. Burroughs, Word Horde 2.0

TNR's Egypt Coverage

"For almost two weeks, the world’s eyes, ears, and hearts have been focused on Egypt, where protestors have amassed to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorial regime. TNR has been covering the events closely, gathering some of the best commentary and on-the-ground reporting on this history-making event. Here, we have compiled our Egypt coverage, though look for more in the days and weeks ahead..."
TNR

Derrick Morgan

Wikipedia - "Derrick Morgan (born 27 March 1940, Mocho, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica) is a musical artist popular in the 1960s and 1970s. He worked with Desmond Dekker, Bob Marley, and Jimmy Cliff in the rhythm and blues and ska genres, and he also performed rocksteady and skinhead reggae."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Miss Lulu, Rudies Don't Fear, The Conqueror, Tougher Than Tough, Blazing Fire, Reggay Train

Dorothée Smith

"Seen On The Streets Of Paris (2004) - The photo above is from Paris, France in June 2004 (at the time of the European elections) it is from the same artist as 'Usher Simpson' shown in the Liberation Billboard section. The photographer of the photo is Dorothée Smith."
Wooster Collective, DOROTHEE SMITH, video

Etta James, Keith Richards, Robert Cray - "Hoochie Coochie Gal"

"Etta James has made it to her 73rd birthday: and for that, here she is with Keith Richards, Robert Cray, Chuck Berry and Johnnie Johnson on 'Hoochie Coochie Gal'."
YouTube

The Star

Wikipedia - "The Star (XVII) is the seventeenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination. A naked woman kneels by the water; one foot is in the water, one foot is on the land. Above her head a star shines out. In each hand she holds a jug. From one jug she pours a liquid into the water. From the other jug she pours a liquid onto the land. In other, older decks, a woman (or sometimes even a man) is simply looking and sometimes gesturing at a large star in the sky."
Wikipedia

September 2008: Rider-Waite-Smith

The New York School

Larry Rivers and Frank O’Hara, Portrait and Poet Painting, 1960
"In this week’s issue of the magazine, Peter Schjeldahl writes about the Tibor de Nagy Gallery and the time, beginning in 1950, when it served as a salon for the New York School of poets. “A deceptively easy-seeming urbanity marked the group, which projected New York as a new Paris of sociable aesthetic zeal,” Schjeldahl writes.
New Yorker - The New York School, New Yorker - Peter Schjeldahl

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