The Wheels Of Steel: An Ode To Turntables

"The turntable is more than just a hi-fi music player for the home. To the DJ, it's also a creative tool for remixing music in real-time. The turntable gave birth to a culture of disc jockeys and is an important element of hip-hop; it also plays a role, quite literally, in the evolution of electronic music."
Schillmania, Wheels Of Steel, YouTube - Wheels Of Steel Prototype - Cue Points (Sampling) Demo, Wheels Of Steel Prototype - Cueing, Pitch and Beat Matching / Mixing (scratch/demo routine). YUIBlog, A JavaScript Sound API supporting MP3, MPEG4 and HTML5 Audio

Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, et al 1950

"This is one of two surviving sound films of Charlie Parker playing (and certainly the longest; the other is only 52 seconds long). Until recently, this film was a rumor, and only still photos of it existed. Watch Bird's amused expression as he watches Hawkins solo, and also how he cuts off the older Tenor man's solo. Although the musicians are filmed playing against tracks recorded earlier, it's still a fascinating and rare look at Bird on film."
YouTube - 1 of 2, 2 of 2

Impressionism

Woman with Parasol by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1875
Wikipedia - "Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s. The name of the style is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satiric review published in the Parisian newspaper Le Charivari."
Wikipedia, WebMuseum, YouTube - Impressionist painters

"Poet Among Painters" by James Schuyler

"I first met Frank O'Hara at a party at John Myers' after a Larry Rivers opening: de Kooning and Nell Blaine were there, arguing about whether it is deleterious for an artist to do commercial work. I was most impressed by the company I was suddenly keeping."
In Which The Clouds Get Enough Attention As It Is - This Recording, Poets: Meditations in an Emergency

Tom Gauld

"Tom Gauld is a cartoonist and illustrator. He draws a weekly cartoon for the Guardian newspaper and has created a number of comic books. He lives and works in London."
Tom Gauld, Cabanon Press, flickr, Angry Robot, The Tools Artists Use

Anne Theresa De Keersmaeker FASE at Walker Art Center

"Interview with Anne Theresa De Keersmaeker –overview of her dance career and her group, Rosas and specifically, FASE: Four Movements to The Music of Steve Reich with excerpts from the dance directed by Thierry De Mey."
vimeo

Mikey Dread

Wikipedia - "Michael George Campbell (born 4 June 1954 in Port Antonio, Jamaica - died 15 March 2008 in Connecticut, United States), better known as Mikey Dread, was a Jamaican singer, producer, and broadcaster. He was one of the most influential performers and innovators in reggae music. His abilities, technical expertise, and unique vocal delivery combined to create a unique sound that tells the listener emphatically that it is the 'Dread at the Controls'."
Wikipedia, Mikey Dread, Roots Archives, YouTube - Money in my pocket, Bankrobber, Rasta in Control, Choose me, The Master Recordings [Dub], Tricky Track (Dub), Break Down The Walls

A Salty Dog - Procol Harum

Wikipedia - "A Salty Dog is an album by the Rock band Procol Harum, released in June 1969. Having an ostensibly nautical theme, as indicated by its cover (a pastiche of the famous Player's Navy Cut cigarette pack), interspersed with straight rock, blues and pop items A Salty Dog showed a slight change of direction from its predecessors, being thematically less obscure. The title track itself was the first Procol track to use sound effects and an orchestra, as would be referred to in the live album performance some three years later."
Wikipedia, YouTube - A Salty Dog, Pilgrim's Progress, Too Much Between Us, The Devil Came From Kansas

John Ashbery - Postcard Collages

"JOHN ASHBERY’s most recent book of poems was Where Shall I Wander. His next, A Wordly Country, will be published this winter. He is a Leo, born the same day as Marcel Duchamp and Gerard Manley Hopkins, as well as film comedian Joe E. Brown. The collages reproduced in the current issue were all executed in the early 1970s."
Sienese Shredder Editions, Tibor De Nagy

"Brooklyn Bodega" - Fresh Stuff From Spektor in Paris

"The piece above, entitled Brooklyn Bodega, was hand painted with brush on the streets of Paris. It coincides with the opening to Spektor's first solo in Paris at since/upian
'things change'."
Wooster Collective, Specter Art

The Cradle Is Rocking

"The Cradle Is Rocking was directed by Frank DeCola who died in the early 1970s, shortly after this film was made."
folkstreams

Marshall McLuhan

Wikipedia - "Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist. McLuhan's work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory, as well as having practical applications in the advertising and television industries."
Wikipedia, W - The Medium Is the Massage, W - Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Marshall McLuhan, McLuhan Project, UbuWeb

Marshall McLuhan Speaks (Video), Introduction by Tom Wolfe, Hot and cool media (1965), Etc., Vision of the future (1965), Etc., My definition of technology (1965), Etc., Old versus new assumptions (1960), Etc., TV as a depth medium (1960), Etc.

BBC - Your Paintings

"Your Paintings is a website which aims to show the entire UK national collection of oil paintings, the stories behind the paintings, and where to see them for real. It is made up of paintings from thousands of museums and other public institutions around the country."
BBC - Your Paintings, Your Paintings - Tagger, YouTube - Your Paintings

Johanna Drucker

Wikipedia - "Johanna Drucker (b. May 30, 1952) is an author, book artist, visual theorist, and cultural critic. Her scholarly writing documents and critiques visual language: letterforms, typography, visual poetry, art, and lately, digital aesthetics."
Wikipedia, The Work of Johanna Drucker, EPC, PennSound, EPC:
A Chronology of Books from 1970 to 1994

Avant-Garde Art in Everyday Life

"Nearly one century ago, progressive artists in central and eastern Europe demanded that true art revolutionize the objects and habits of daily life. Their new ideas responded to the innovative rhythms and images of the industrial marketplace, the nascent mass media, and urban popular culture. For the first time in the museum's history, this vibrant and critically important moment in east-central European modernism is comprehensively explored in this exhibition of nearly 300 works of photography, photomontage, and photographically illustrated posters and books, as well as rare examples of porcelain and glassware by six of the period's most influential international artists."
The Art Institute of Chicago, (1), (2), (3)

The Illuminated Mixtapes 2007 – Present

"I am currently the Design Director for BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn, so Gigawatt is on hiatus. I would still love to hear about any projects or collaboration opportunities you might have, even if just to be able to suggest a talented colleague who would be perfect for it."
The Illuminated Mixtapes

Gil J Wolman

Métagraphie, 1954
Wikipedia - "Gil Joseph Wolman was a French artist, born in Paris in 1929 and dying there in 1995. His work encompassed painting, poetry and film-making. He was a member of Isidore Isou's avant garde Letterist movement in the early 1950s, then becoming a central figure in the Letterist International, the group which would subsequently develop (without Wolman himself) into the Situationist International."
Wikipedia, Gil J Wolman, Independent, art tattler, YouTube - "Gil J Wolman. I am immortal and alive" Notes by Bartomeu Marí, Lettrisme, letterism, letrismo, poesia sonora, "La mémoire" - from Mégapneumes

UB40

Wikipedia - "UB40 are a British reggae band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success."
Wikipedia, UB40, YouTube - Can't Help Falling In Love, Red Red Wine, Kingston Town, Here I Am Baby

The making of "Tender Buttons"

"Tender Buttons is enigmatic on its own, but to add to its legend, few readers know that the manuscript was untitled until the final few weeks before publication, that Stein almost did not have the book reach publication at all, and that she would not publish another book until eight years later. A brief history of the publication of Tender Buttons can provide insight into Stein’s focus on composition, and offer some new directions for reading it."
Jacket2, Tender buttons: objects, food, rooms (1914), amazon

Wikipedia, The Poetry Foundation

2007 November: Gertrude Stein

Word Above the Street

"Imagine the opportunity to engage millions of people through the transformative power of art, with the purpose of raising awareness of Water as one of our most precious resources. Word Above the Street seeks to combine forces with sponsors whose commitment in the area of environmental sustainability is in harmony with our goal of drawing worldwide attention to Water."
Word Above the Street

Roy Chicago & His Rhythm Dandies

Wikipedia - "Roy Chicago (John Akintola Ademuwagun) (d. February 5, 1989) was an indigene of Ikare-Akoko in Ondo State, Nigeria. He was a musician and band leader who played in the Highlife style, introducing talking drums into the musical style. He moved to Lagos from Ibadan in the late 1950s, and was most popular during the 1960s. In contrast to Victor Olaiya, whose music was based on Ghanaian melodies and progressions, Roy Chicago based his music on Nigerian indigenous themes and folklores. He was one of the highlife musicians who changed his name to a purely Western form, perhaps to make it sound more cool."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Roy Chicago & His Rhythm Dandies - Ranti Ola, Maria / Iyawo Pankeke, Onile Gogoro, Olubunmi

The Kids in the Hall

Wikipedia - "The Kids in the Hall is a Canadian sketch comedy group formed in 1984, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson."
Wikipedia, IMDb - Video, YouTube - Sarcasm at its best, or worst., Buddy Cole, Chicken Lady: Blind Date, My Pen!, French Fur Trappers, Crushing your head, "How the hell could I know?" (Guest Party), Comfortable High, Gavin and the Evangelists

Christian Marclay's Video Quartet

"A few minutes of Christian Marclay's 13-minute music/video installation Video Quartet, as shot on DV at the Tate Modern in London. Christian Marclay (born 1955) is a visual artist and musical composer based in New York, who is exploring the pattern languages connecting sound, photography, video, and film."
YouTube - Excerpt #1, Excerpt #2

The Rings of Saturn - W.G. Sebald

"Early on in W.G. Sebald‘s strange and beautiful novel The Rings of Saturn, the erudite narrator (seemingly) offhandedly alludes to Albrecht Dürer’s 1514 engraving Melencolia I. Rings is larded with such references, stuffed to the gills with analysis of history and literature and art (and so much more), but the quick allusion to Melencolia I seems a particularly informative way of interpreting–or at least comprehending–Sebald’s grand, glorious book."
biblioklept, amazon, NYT: In the Company of Ghosts, A SHORT WALK THROUGH THE RINGS OF SATURN

Wikipedia - "Cape Breton Island (French: île du Cap-Breton—formerly Île Royale, Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Cheap Breatainn, Míkmaq: Únamakika, simply: Cape Breton) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany."
Wikipedia, YouTube

The Harrow & The Harvest - Gillian Welch

Wikipedia - "The Harrow & The Harvest is a 2011 album released by American musician Gillian Welch. It was Welch's first album in eight years and was released on June 28, 2011. John Dyer Baizley provided artwork for the album."
Wikipedia, amazon, YouTube - The Way it Goes, Dark Turn of Mind, Making of the Album Cover

Citizen Kane - Orson Welles

Wikipedia - "Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. The film is often considered the greatest of all time and is particularly praised for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film."
Wikipedia, Film Site, amazon, Roger Ebert, YouTube - Citizen Kane, Citizen Kane (1941) film 1st, How to Run a Newspaper

A.M. - Wilco

Wikipedia - "A.M. is the debut album of Chicago-based alternative rock band Wilco, released on March 28, 1995. The album was released only months after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo, an alternative country band that was the predecessor of Wilco. Prior to the release of the album, there was debate about whether the album would be better than the debut album of Son Volt, the new band of former Uncle Tupelo lead singer Jay Farrar."
Wikipedia, YouTube - I Must Be High, Casino Queen, Box Full Of Letters, Pick Up the Change, It's Just That Simple, Passenger Side, Too Far Apart

Songs of Acsension - Meredith Monk

"Songs of Acsension explores musical and spatial motifs that highlight rising sound and movement to convey the spiritual or otherworldly. With the architecture of a cathedral or tower as a metaphor, and historical grounding in the devotional practices and rituals that evoke ascension, Monk draws inspiration from the processionals of Buddhist stupas, Moses’ journey up the 4000 steps of Mt. Sinai, and the Tawaf around the Ka’Bah in Islam. Songs of Ascension is written for vocal ensemble and string quartet and was created in collaboration with multimedia artist Ann Hamilton."
Boosey & Hawkes - Video, amazon

Søren Kierkegaard

Wikipedia - "Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ...(5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel and The Church of Denmark. Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a "single individual", giving priority to concrete human reality over abstract thinking, and highlighting the importance of personal choice and commitment."
Wikipedia, W - Philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard, YouTube - Kierkegaard - Sea of Faith - BBC documentary - 1 of 2, 2 of 2.

Record Row: Documentary of major Chicago Soul labels

"Wonderful documentary here narrated by none other than Etta James, which chronicles the rise and subsequent fall of the early independent record labels from Chicago which provided the world with so much great Soul music ~ all from not much more than a stones throw from each other."
YouTube - Record Row Pt.1, Pt.2, Pt.3, Pt.4, Pt.5

The Structure of a Medieval Manuscript

"For more than a thousand years all manuscripts were written and illustrated by hand. By the Middle Ages, books were being made by folding sheets of parchment, arranging them into gatherings, and assembling and binding them together. This animation illustrates how medieval books were constructed—a feat of engineering that remains essentially the same today."
Art Babble - The J. Paul Getty Museum

West Fourth Street – Washington Square

Wikipedia - "West Fourth Street – Washington Square is an express station on the IND Sixth Avenue and IND Eighth Avenue Lines of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of West Fourth Street and Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It is served at all times by the A, D, E, and F trains; by the B and M trains on weekdays; and by the C train at all times except late nights."
Wikipedia, NYC Subway, YouTube - E train at West 4th Street-Washington Square #3

The Moon

Wikipedia - "The Moon (XVIII) is the eighteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination."
Wikipedia

Machito

Wikipedia - "Machito (died April 19, 1984), born as Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, was an influential Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music. He was raised in Havana alongside the singer Graciela, his foster sister. In New York City, Machito formed the band the Afro-Cubans in 1940, and with Mario Bauzá as musical director, brought together Cuban rhythms and big band arrangements in one group. He made numerous recordings from the 1940s to the 1980s, many with Graciela as singer."
Wikipedia, Machito, anazon, YouTube - MACHITO & HIS AFROCUBANS: EL BAILE DEL TORNILLO, NAGUE, TAMBO, Cubop City, Carambola, Sambia