The Responsive Eye (1966)

"A short film documenting the opening night of an OP ART exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1966. It contains many interesting art works, contemporary at the time of filming, and even some quick interviews with some of the artists, such as David Hockney. Sometimes it comes across as a poke at the so-called art experts and New York in-crowd."
UbuWeb

Bottom Line

"The Bottom Line was a music venue at 15 West Fourth Street between Mercer Street and Greene Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. During 1970s and 1980s the club was a major space for small-scale popular music performances."
Wikipedia, THE BOTTOM LINE (15 West Fourth Street)

Bukka White

Wikipedia - "Booker T. Washington White (November 12, 1909 – February 26, 1977[1]) was a delta blues guitarist and singer. 'Bukka' was not a nickname, but a phonetic misspelling of White's given name Booker, by his second (1937) record label (Vocalion)."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Aberdeen Mississippi Blues, Poor Boy Long Way from Home, Got Sick And Tired, Bukka White and Howlin' Wolf - Blues at Newport, Baby You're Killing Me, Jelly Roll Blues, Sic 'Em Dogs On

Rupert Garcia

"Rupert Garcia is an artist committed to creating artwork not only as a means of achieving aesthetic ends, but also as a viable way of addressing social and political concerns. Through his bold silkscreens and layered pastels and paintings, Garcia hopes to catalyze discussion and debate in a broad audience about the pressing issues that have faced the late twentieth century (and the beginning of the twenty-first)."
Magnolia Editions, Rena Bransten Gallery, YouTube

"The Harvesters", Pieter Bruegel the Elder

"This is one of six panels painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder for the suburban Antwerp home of the wealthy merchant Niclaes Jongelinck, one of the artist's most enthusiastic patrons—Jongelinck owned no less than sixteen of Bruegel's works. The series, which represented the seasons or times of the year, included six works, five of which survive."
Art Projece, Google - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, YouTube

Brian Eno & David Byrne "Strange Overtones"

"I wake up every morning
I hear your feet on the stairs
You're in the next apartment
I hear you singing over there--"
YouTube

Gang Of Four

"Gang Of Four is one of the most radical, and radically important, rock groups of the last 30 years. Their music, starting with 1978’s ‘Damaged Goods’ EP, offered a danceable solution to the problem of where four-piece guitar bands could go next after punk. They also provided the perfect answer to the question: how to be polemical without being po-faced, ponderous, banal or doctrinaire?"
Gang Of Four, YouTube - To Hell With Poverty, I Love a Man in Uniform, He'd Send In The Army, Damaged Goods, Anthrax, Not Great Men

June 2008: Gang Of Four

...OUT OF HERE: The Veterans Project

"For three decades, Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko has addressed timely political, social, and psychological issues in his artwork, creating over 80 large-scale public projections around the world. In these works, he transforms the stories, voices, and gestures of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances by projecting them onto public monuments and landmarks. In a new, projection-based work for the ICA, Wodiczko focuses on veterans engaged in active combat in Iraq, as well as Iraqi civilians."
ICA, (1), Galerie Lelong, NYT

The Boatman's Call

Wikipedia - "The Boatman's Call is the tenth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1997. The album, which is entirely piano-based and a departure from the band's post-punk catalogue, remains one of the most critically-acclaimed releases of Nick Cave's career."
Wikipedia, amazon, YouTube - Into My Arms, Lime Tree Arbour, People Ain't No Good, Brompton Oratory, There Is a Kingdom, Are You The One That I've Been Waiting For, Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere, West Country Girl, Black Hair, Idiot Prayer, Far from me, Green Eyes

The Hanged Man

Wikipedia - "The Hanged Man (XII) is the twelfth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination."
Wikipedia

Passages from James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" (1965-67)

"A half-forgotten, half-legendary pioneer in American abstract and animated filmmaking, Mary Ellen Bute, late in her career as an artist, created this adaptation of James Joyce, her only feature. In the transformation from Joyce's polyglot prose to the necessarily concrete imagery of actors and sets, Passages discovers a truly oneiric film style, a weirdly post-New Wave rediscovery of Surrealism, and in her panoply of allusion - 1950s dance crazes, atomic weaponry, ICBMs, and television all make appearances - she finds a cinematic approximation of the novel's nearly impenetrable vertically compressed structure."
UbuWeb

Fela Kuti Live

"What more can I say, this man is a legend, I'm not sure what year this was but as with Fela music, they are timeless. Enjoy."
YouTube - Fela Kuti Live pt.1, pt.2, pt.3, pt.4, pt.5, pt.6, pt.7, pt.8

Concrete poetry

Sigrid
Wikipedia - "Concrete poetry or Size poetry is poetry in which the typographical arrangement of words is as important in conveying the intended effect as the conventional elements of the poem, such as meaning of words, rhythm, rhyme and so on. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has evolved to have distinct meaning of its own, but which shares the distinction of being poetry in which the visual elements are as important as the text."
Wikipedia, A Brief Guide to Concrete Poetry, Google

Tsunamis: A Primer

"For those who saw video footage of it, the tsunami that hit Japan’s north coast on Friday and then moved inland with overpowering force was a terrifying sight. Three days later, this wall of water, generated by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake offshore, is blamed for thousands of deaths and untold destruction in Japan. I am neither an oceanographer nor a hydrodynamicist, but I have learned a little about the physics of tsunamis that I would like to share. More learned readers will no doubt have corrections."
NYBooks, Tom Clark: But Not to Worry, Tom Clark: Theodor Adorno: The Veil of Technology, Tom Clark: The Genie in the Bottle, The Nation: "From Hiroshima to Fukushima", Jonathan Schell, NYT: "Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami", NYT: "Map of the Damage From the Japanese Earthquake", NYT: "Video: Japan’s Natural and Nuclear Disasters"

Fresh Stuff From BR1 in Torino italy

"BR1art hasn't created any galleries yet."
Wooster Collective, flickr

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