Blessed - Lucinda Williams

"As heard here, Lucinda Williams’ voice seems to be losing shape, a battered piano, muddled at some places, strangely fitting at others, wearing out in its own unique way. Matched with pedal-steel guitars as on 'Copenhagen,' the voice bleeds like watercolor, threatening to lose form and wear out the paper. At such points, the words matter more than ever. On this release, we get mixed signals."
off Beat, Interview: A Conversation With The Legendary And Prolific Lucinda Williams - No Depression, amazon, YouTube - Buttercup, Blessed, BLESSED Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Born to Be Loved, Ugly Truth, Kiss Like Your Kiss

Kling Klang - Kraftwerk, 1971

"Ralf Hütter: piano elèctric, teclats, instruments electrònics casolans, caixa de ritmes, baix elèctric, xilòfon, armònica. Florian Schneider: flauta travessera, violí, xilòfon, instruments electrònics casolans."
YouTube

Gilbert & George: The Urethra Postcard Art of Gilbert & George

Gilbert & George, Buses, 2009
"In 2009, nearly four decades after their first exhibition of POSTCARD ART, and twenty years since their last group of pictures to be made in the medium of postcards, Gilbert & George returned to the form to make the epic and dazzling group of 564 new pieces that comprise THE URETHRA POSTCARD PICTURES. This is the single largest group of art works made by Gilbert & George, and in turn comprises seven individual groups of new POSTCARD PICTURES. White Cube Mason's Yard will exhibit 155 of these works."
White Cube, Independent - Gilbert & George: Urethra Postcard Art, YouTube

Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris. Liberty Hall, Texas, 1973.

Wikipedia - "...Before recording, Parsons and Harris played a preliminary three show mini-tour as the headline act in a Warner Brothers country-rock package. The backing band included Clarence White, Pete Kleinow, and Chris Etheridge. On July 14, 1973, the legendary White was killed by a drunk driver while loading equipment in his car for a concert with the New Kentucky Colonels. At White's funeral, Parsons and Bernie Leadon launched into an impromptu touching rendition of 'Farther Along'; that night, the distraught and drunken musician reportedly informed Phil Kaufman of his final wish: to be cremated in Joshua Tree. Despite the almost insurmountable setback, Parsons, Harris, and the other musicians decided to continue with plans for a fall tour."
Wikiedia, YouTube - Streets Of Baltimore, Big Mouth Blues, Sin City, The New Soft Shoe / 6 Days on The Road, Love Hurts

March 2008: Gram Parsons

Cézanne's Card Players

The Card Players, 1890–92, Paul Cézanne
"This exhibition unites for the first time the works from Cézanne's series of Card Player canvases together with their associated oil studies and drawings. Also included is a carefully selected group of Cézanne's related paintings of peasants, several of which depict the same local models who appear in the Card Player compositions."
Met Museum, (1), (2), Slate, YouTube - Cézanne's Card Players

Koko Taylor ft. Little Walter – Wang Dang Doodle

"'Despite the antiseptic setting and lackluster backing, this is a valuable clip. Any blues performance from the ’60s is a relative rarity, and this gives us a look at Koko Taylor when she was young and in her prime, plus a fleeting glimpse of Little Walter near the end of his life. This took place in Copenhagen, 11 Oct, 1967. The guitar player is a young Hound Dog Taylor. Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee are in the foreground awaiting their moment to go on. Since Willie Dixon adapted the lyrics of 'The Bulldyker’s Ball' to create 'Wang Dang Doodle,' I always thought it appropriate that a woman should do a successful cover of it. Just as the clip is a rarity, so was Koko herself. There were far too few women in the postwar Chicago blues scene.' – JS"
East Portland Blog (Video)

Adrian Ghenie

The red is on fire, 2008
"Adrian Ghenie is a young Romanian painter whose works demonstrate his fascination with history and the trauma of dictatorship. The sources for his images are derived from a combination of his own personal memories and from historical books, archives and both documentary and fictional film."
re-title, Saatchi Online, e-flux, vimeo

I Don't Need It, I Don't Want It, And You Cheated Me Out of It

Wikipedia - "You're the Guy I Want To Share My Money With is a double album released in 1981. The album is a collaboration by Laurie Anderson, John Giorno and William S. Burroughs, recorded during their 'Red Night' spoken word tour of 1981."
Wikipedia, Discogs, John Giorno

Kronos Quartet - "Requiem for a Dream"

"Kronos Quartet live in Bucharest (May 11, 2008). Clint Mansell's "Lux Aeterna", the soundtrack of "Requiem for a Dream". Video by Cezar Paul-Badescu."
YouTube - "Requiem for a Dream", W - Requiem for a Dream, amazon

Arman

Chopin's Waterloo, 1962
"The Centre Pompidou is to stage a retrospective devoted to Arman, one of the major figures of post-War art. The exhibition will bring together almost 120 works from leading museums and private collections to offer a new and distinctive take on Arman’s work, from the second half of the 1950s to the last years of the 20th century."
artdaily, Centre Pompidou Opens Arman Retrospective, ARMAN at Pompidou Centre, W - Iris Clert Gallery, Art Collage Assembly, Paris Update, Google

Patti Smith - A Reading Of Virginia Woolf

"Patti Smith pays tribute to Virginia Woolf, Fondation Cartier, 28 March 2008 [via Lauren Elkin and 3:AM Magazine]."
A Piece of Monologue (Video)

Marc Séguin

Ruin Angels
"There is a certain amount of dark magic involved in the work of Montreal- and Brooklyn-based artist Marc Séguin. As art critic James D. Campbell explains in our summer 2010 magazine feature “Ars Diavoli,” this underworld aura in Séguin’s work has much to do with the painter’s abiding interest in the mystical realms of the occult, the criminal and the insane."
Marc Séguin: Views from the Underworld, artnet, Charest Weinberg, Marc Séguin Interview

Dust Bowl

Wikipedia - "The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936 (in some areas until 1940). The phenomenon was caused by severe drought coupled with decades of extensive farming without crop rotation, fallow fields, cover crops or other techniques to prevent erosion."
Wikipedia, About The Dust Bowl, PBS - video, The Dust Bowl

The Blind Boys of Alabama

Wikipedia - "The Blind Boys of Alabama are a gospel group from Alabama that first formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind at Talladega, Alabama in 1939. The three main vocalists of the group and their drummer/percussionist are all blind."
Wikipedia, The Blind Boys of Alabama, YouTube - Vintage, Higher Ground, Living for Jesus, 'Down By The Riverside

"Rabbits" - David Lynch

Wikipedia - "Rabbits is presented with the tagline: 'In a nameless city deluged by a continuous rain... three rabbits live with a fearful mystery'. As with most of David Lynch's films, the score was composed by Angelo Badalamenti."
Wikipedia, YouTube - "Rabbits", David Lynch

JR at TED: Can Art Change the World?

"French photographer/street artist JR has garnered considerable media attention for his community-minded public art in recent years. Last week, for example, the New York Times chronicled his rise in an article titled “Supercolossal Street Art.” The Times and other news organizations care about JR because, back in October, the TED organization announced that it was awarding the artist with its annual TED Prize of $100,000..."
Thought Catalog (Video), NYT - "Supercolossal Street Art", Announcing the 2011 TED Prize winner: JR

The Shaggs

Wikipedia - "The Shaggs were an American all-female rock group formed in Fremont, New Hampshire in 1968. The band was composed of sisters Dorothy "Dot" Wiggin (vocals/lead guitar), Betty Wiggin (vocals/rhythm guitar), Helen Wiggin (drums), and later Rachel Wiggin (bass). The Shaggs were formed by Dot, Betty, and Helen in 1968 on the insistence of their father, Austin Wiggin, who believed that his mother foresaw the band's rise to stardom. The band's only studio album, Philosophy of the World, was released in 1969."
Wikipedia, The Shaggs, last.fm, "Better Than the Beatles (and DNA, Too)" by Lester Bangs, The Village Voice, Jan. 28-Feb. 3, 1981, YouTube - Philosophy of the world, My Cutie, It's Halloween, My Pal Foot Foot, Wheels

Rock-Paper-Scissors: You vs. the Computer

"Computers mimic human reasoning by building on simple rules and statistical averages. Test your strategy against the computer in this rock-paper-scissors game illustrating basic artificial intelligence. Choose from two different modes: novice, where the computer learns to play from scratch, and veteran, where the computer pits over 200,000 rounds of previous experience against you."
NYT

On-U Sound Records

Wikipedia - "On-U Sound Records is an English record label best known for releasing its own unique flavour of dub music since the 1980s. The label is owned by producer Adrian Sherwood and home to acts such as Tackhead, Dub Syndicate, African Head Charge, The London Underground, Little Annie, Creation Rebel, Mark Stewart, Gary Clail, New Age Steppers, Audio Active, Asian Dub Foundation, and the dub collective Singers & Players plus others."
Wikipedia, On-U Sound Records, YouTube - Gary Clail On-U Sound System - Human Nature, Bim Sherman - REVOLUTION mono - on U sound records roots reggae stepper 1982 10 inch, O.N.U. SOUNDS DUB SYNDICATE 1984 video, Beef- Gary Clail on-U Sound System (Bim Sherman), Depeche Mode Told you so (ON-U-Sound Dominatrix 1983 Remix), On-U Sound++

EVOL

EVOL, Wallflower, Multiple Choice, 2009
"EVOL's interests have focused on the overlooked and the refuse of urban society, offering visual comments and thoughts that remind us of the failure of modernism and its visions of an architectural utopia. EVOL draws our attention to the collective memory of places, a memory that is open ended, but in it’s decoding always seems to remain strangely personal. The artists’ exploration of urban sites and the visual ‘background’ noise of the city is a stark reminder of the transience of life as well as the certainty of death."
WILDE GALLERY, (2), EVOL

Pioneers of the Downtown Scene, New York 1970s

Laurie Anderson performing How to Yodel at Soup and Tart, the Kitchen Gallery, New York 1974
"This Spring Barbican Art Gallery presents Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown, Gordon Matta-Clark: Pioneers of the Downtown Scene, New York 1970s. This is the first major presentation to examine the experimental and often daring approaches – from dancing on rooftops to cutting fragments out of abandoned buildings – taken by these three leading figures in the rough-and-ready arts scene developing in downtown Manhattan during the 1970s."
Art Daily, Pioneers of the Downtown Scene: a walk on the wall side, YouTube - Laurie Anderson Trisha Brown and Gordon Matta-Clark Pioneers Of The Downtown Scene New York 1970

History of Hip-Hop Vol. 8: 1986

"Tracklist after the jump!
The Beastie Boys – Posse In Effect
Joeski Love – Pee Wee’s Dance
Rodney O & Joe Cooley – Everlasting Bass
Eric B. & Rakim – My Melody
Sweet Tee & Jazzy Joyce – It’s My Beat
Boogie Down Productions – South Bronx
MC Shan – The Bridge
Original Concept – Knowledge Me
Kool Moe Dee – Go See the Doctor
Salt ‘N Pepa – My Mic Sounds Nice
King Tee – Payback’s A Mutha
Run DMC – Dumb Girl
Ultramagnetic MCs – Ego Trippin
Just Ice – Cold Getting Dumb
Eric B. & Rakim – Eric B. For President
Biz Markie – Make The Music With Your Mouth Biz
Stetsasonic – 4Ever My Beat
Heavy D – Mr. Big Stuff
Kool G Rap – It’s A Demo
Steady B – Bring The Beat Back
Word Of Mouth feat. DJ Cheese – Coast To Coast
The Beastie Boys – Time To Get Ill
Run DMC – Peter Piper
Dj Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – Live At Union Square"
The Rub

Modulations: Cinema for the Ear (1998)

"Iara Lee's compelling documentary chronicles how sound technology has eclipsed traditional modes of performance in much recent pop music. Without passing aesthetic judgments, Lee focusses on how the manipulation of sound has allowed d.j.s and sound mixers to fill the spot once reserved for composers, sometimes with impressive creativity."
amazon, Modulations - Cinema For The Ear 1/8, 2/8, 3/8, 4/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 8/8

Woodsmen and River Drivers

"Men and women who worked for the Machias Lumber Company before 1930 share their recollections of the logging industry in Maine when they cut trees by hand, hauled logs to the river with horses, and floated them down to the mill. Remarkable documentary footage from the 1930's illustrates this dangerous and exhausting work. The memoires include stories about death on the job and the ballad 'The Jam on Gerry's Rock'."
folkstreams

27 sounds manufactured in a kitchen - John Cage

"In his short film '27 Sounds Manufactured in a Kitchen,' legendary experimental composer John Cage (1912-1992), perhaps most famous for 4'33'', grabs your attention with some incredibly agile editing, then lectures you on the advantages of a macrobiotic diet. It's exactly how every rambly old person who is also an avant-garde artist should behave. (Artinfo)"
YouTube

Christian Marclay - Part I: Race to ‘The Clock’

"A three-part saga of trying to see the last day of Christian Marclay’s The Clock at the Paula Cooper Gallery."
The Paris Review - Part I: Race to ‘The Clock’, Part II: Escape to Newark, Part III: Time’s a Goon

Jammin' the Blues (1944)

"Jammin' the Blues is a 1944 short film in which several prominent jazz musicians got together for a rare filmed jam session. It featured Lester Young, Red Callender, Harry Edison, Marlowe Morris, Sid Catlett, Barney Kessel, Jo Jones, John Simmons, Illinois Jacquet, Marie Bryant, Archie Savage and Garland Finney. Barney Kessel is the only white performer in the film." Tinker Greene via Clu Inglehoffer.
YouTube - Jammin' the Blues (1944)

Stephan Balkenhol

"Since approximately 1982 the larger-than-life human figure and head, carved straight out of a block of wood, have determined the sculptor's creations. Stephan Balkenhol treats wood with traditional tools, always considering the wood as a living substance. Grooves, cracks, chips and fissures remain visible and document the sculpting process."
Art Directory, Brown, Contemporary Art Daily, Google

Julian Merrow-Smith - Postcard from Provence

The Road to Les Baux
"Postcard from Provence is a daily diary in paintings by British artist Julian Merrow-Smith, following the changing seasons of his adopted home in the Vaucluse, in the South of France. His still life paintings are inspired by objets trouvés, pottery and seasonal produce from the local markets whilst many of his landscape paintings represent scenes within walking distance of his studio."
Postcard from Provence, 1

Times Square of the 1980s: A Short Documentary

"Siegel captures a pre-Disneyfied Times Square at night two decades past. As seen from a teenager's point of view, the short film includes voice-over interviews with local teenagers. A great blast from the past and a reminder of the importance of an era where so many of our current influential artists gained traction."
Juxtapoz - Times Square of the 1980s: A Short Documentary

Dion and the Belmonts

Wikipedia - "Dion and the Belmonts was a leading American vocal group of the late 1950s. The group formed when Dion DiMucci, lead singer, (born July 18, 1939), joined The Belmonts - Carlo Mastrangelo, baritone, (born October 5, 1938), Freddie Milano, second tenor, (born August 22, 1939), and Angelo D'Aleo, first tenor, (born February 3, 1940) in late 1957."
Wikipedia, W - The_Belmonts, YouTube - I Wonder Why, A teenager in love, Donna the Prima Donna, Runaround sue, The Wanderer, Ruby Baby, Abraham, Martin And John

Simon Schama's Power of Art - Rothko

"A documentary about the american abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. A BBC program."
Simon Schama's Power of Art - Rothko, part 1 of 7, 2 of 7, 3 of 7, 4 of 7, 5 of 7, 6 of 7, 7 of 7

African Women Djembefola

"African women playing djembe in Guinea, West Africa"
YouTube

Joanna Neborsky

"The rise of the literary animation. As previously reported, Teleportal Readings has begun producing delightful animated videos of author readings. Also Electric Literature has been making beautiful animations of single sentences. One of our favorites was Joanna Neborsky‘s take on a line from Patrick deWitt‘s 'The Bastard'."
MobyLives, Joanna Neborsky, A Journey Round My Skull

In Your Dreams

"Shoveling snow away from the movie entrance, Chilicothe, Ohio: photo by Arthur Rothstein, February 1940"
Tom Clark: Beyond the Pale