Lavender Lake

"The Gowanus Canal is located in the heart of Brooklyn, bordering the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens and Red Hook. When the canal opened in 1866, it quickly became the nation’s busiest commercial waterway and also the most polluted. The resulting growth of foundries, oil-storage facilities, dye works, printing plants, cement factories, tanneries, coal yards, chemical plants, paint and ink factories produced so much pollutants that the waterway was dubbed 'Lavender Lake' by locals, inspired by the opaque bluish-purple color of the water."
Charles Le Brigand (Video), Forgotten NY

Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life

"A philosophical road comic about two unemployed robots on an improvised interplanetary voyage of self discovery."
Bohemian Drive, The Webcomic Overlook #134: Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life

Jungle Brothers

Wikipedia - "The Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop group that pioneered the fusion of jazz and hip-hop and also became the first hip-hop group to use a house-music producer. The group began performing in the mid-1980s and released its first album, Straight Out the Jungle, in July 1988. With Afrocentric lyrics and innovative beats, the Jungle Brothers were critically acclaimed and soon joined the influential Native Tongues collective."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Straight out the Jungle, Doin' Our Own Dang (Remix), I'll House You (The Gee St.Reconstruction), Because I Like It Like That, Brain, On The Run

Get Happy!! - Elvis Costello the Attractions

Wikipedia - "The fourth album by Elvis Costello, his third with the Attractions, Get Happy!! is notable for being a dramatic break in tone from Costello's previous 'trilogy' of commercially successful albums, and for being heavily influenced by R&B and soul music. The cover art was intentionally designed to have a 'retro' feel, to look like the cover of an old LP with ring wear on both front and back. The title may be a reference to gospel music, where 'getting happy' is synonymous with receiving the Holy Spirit (a meaning that Costello himself hints at in the liner notes to the 2003 edition of the album). The title may also refer to the Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler song of the same name."
Wikipedia, YouTube - High Fidelity, I Stand Accused, I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down, Possession, New Amsterdam, Love For Tender

Misty Woodford: Polaroids

'Pat with New Clothing Form'
"Misty Woodford is a writer and photographer. More of her Polaroids, taken on a 1967 land camera, can be seen here."
The Paris Review, far-afield

Tex Williams

Wikipedia - "Sollie Paul Williams (August 23, 1917–October 11, 1985), known professionally as Tex Williams, was an American Western swing musician from Ramsey, Illinois. He is best known for his talking blues style; his biggest hit was the novelty song, 'Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)', which held the number one position on the Billboard charts for six weeks in 1947."
Wikipedia, B-Westerns, YouTube - Smoke Smoke That Cigarette, That's What I Like About The West, Every Night, The Talking Boogie, Let's Go Rockabilly

Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–1990

WET magazine, 1979. April Greiman and Jayme Odgers.
"Of all movements in art and design history, postmodernism is perhaps the most controversial. This era defies definition, but it is a perfect subject for an exhibition. Postmodernism was an unstable mix of the theatrical and theoretical. It was visually thrilling, a multifaceted style that ranged from the colourful to the ruinous, the ludicrous to the luxurious."
V&M. Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–1990.

Graffiti Taxonomy: Paris, 2009

"A study depicting the stylistic diversity found in Parisian graffiti tags. Now on display at Fondation Cartier’s Born In The Streets – Graffiti exhibition until November 29, 2009. Over 2,400 graffiti tags were photographed from April 24 to April 28, 2009, from each of Paris’s 20 districts. All photographs were archived, tagged and sorted by letter. The ten most commonly used letters by Paris graffiti writers were identified for further study (A,E,I,K,N,O,R,S,T and U). From each letter grouping, eighteen tags were isolated to represent the diversity and range of that specific character."
Graffiti Taxonomy: Paris, 2009 (Video), Graffiti Taxonomy

Dollars Trilogy

Wikipedia - "The 'Dollars Trilogy' (Italian: Trilogia del dollaro), also known as the 'Man with No Name Trilogy', refers to the three 'Spaghetti Westerns' starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)."
Wikipedia, A Watershed Role for Clint Eastwood, A Ground Breaking Film for Sergio Leone..., amazon, YouTube - A Fistful Of Dollars, For A Few Dollars, The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Andy Denzler

Wikipedia - "Andy Denzler (3rd August 1965 in Zurich) is a Swiss artist. The art media he works with comprise painting, printing, screen printing, graphic design, sculpture and drawing. ... Andy Denzler’s works move between abstraction and reality. With the classic means of oil painting, the artist endeavors to fathom the borderlines between fiction and reality. He presents his own perception of the world in his pictures. They are snap-shots of events that take place, blurred, distorted movements, Freeze Frames that stylistically move between Photorealism and Abstract Expressionism. In his paintings Denzler frequently alludes to other media."
Wikipedia, Andy Denzler

Johnny Clarke

Wikipedia - "Johnny Clarke (born January 12, 1955), Whitfield Town, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae musician. Clarke grew up in the Kingston ghetto of Whitfield Town."
Wikipedia, Roots Archives, YouTube - SHALL ESCAPE THE JUDGEMENT, Marcus Garvey, Rude Boy, I've Got The Handle, Ten To One

Paul Cézanne

The Card Players
Wikipedia - "Paul Cézanne (...19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism. The line attributed to both Matisse and Picasso that Cézanne 'is the father of us all' cannot be easily dismissed."
Wikipedia, Paul Cézanne - The Complete Works, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kassav'

Wikipedia - "Kassav' (Antillean Creole for a local dish made from cassava root) is a Francophone zouk band formed in Paris in 1979. The core members of the band are Jocelyne Béroard, Jacob Desvarieux, Jean-Philippe Marthély, Patrick St. Eloi, Jean-Claude Naimro, Claude Vamur and Georges Décimus (who left to form Volte Face and returned). Kassav' have issued over 20 albums, with a further 12 solo albums by band members."
Wikipedia, YouTube - syé bwa, DOUBOUT PIKAN, Jean-Philippe Marthely Rété, Eva, Se Dam Bonjou

Big Mouth Billy Bass

Wikipedia - "Big Mouth Billy Bass is an animatronic singing prop, resembling a largemouth bass, popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The fish is made of rubber stretched over a mechanical frame; at first glance it closely resembles a mounted fish."
Wikipedia, YouTube

Roulette TV: David Gamper and Gisela Gamper

"Composer/performer David Gamper is an accomplished designer of electronic music studios and constructor of electronic music instruments. ... For their Roulette TV performance, David Gamper and photographer/visual artist Gisela Gamper create a microcosmic world that opens with images of water bubbles and small organic objects projected throughout the performance area. Small quasi-random sounds of a struck seashell, electric keyboard patterns, tiny bells and wood flute are processed electronically and accompany the visuals. The organic, water images begin to modulate into human hands moving around Tesla coils which in turn emit squiggly rays analogous to the organic images."
Roulette TV: Vimeo

A Bluegrass Music Classic - On The Porch

"It was back in 1964. New York City filmmaker, David Hoffman, age 22, was headed down with his new 16mm hand held camera (weight 49 lbs!) to spend three weeks driving the backcountry around Madison County, North Carolina, in the center of Appalachia, with the 82 year old founder of the pioneer Asheville Mountain Music and Dance Festival, Bascom Lamar Lunsford."
YouTube - A Bluegrass Music Classic - On The Porch, Bluegrass Musicians Let Loose in Classic Documentary

Wheel of Fortune

Wikipedia - "Wheel of Fortune (X) is the tenth trump or Major Arcana card in most Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination. To the right is the Wheel Of Fortune card from the A. E. Waite tarot deck. A. E. Waite was a key figure in the development of the Tarot in line with the Hermetic magical-religious system which was also being developed at the time, and this deck, as well as being in common use today, also forms the basis for a number of other modern tarot decks."
Wikipedia

Eric Burdon & War

Wikipedia - "War (originally called Eric Burdon and War) is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs 'Low Rider', 'Spill the Wine', 'The Cisco Kid' and 'Why Can't We Be Friends?'. Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae. The band also transcended racial and cultural barriers with a multi-ethnic line-up."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Tobaco Road, Brіght Lights, Bіg City аnd Mystery Train, Love Is All Around, Spirit, Spill The Wine

Del Short

"He’s been 'fooling around' with woodworking since he was a little kid, 74-year-old Del Short remembers, when his father 'first gave me a handful of nails, a block of wood and a hammer to play with.' That early pounding led through the decades to a vast array of projects, from practical to whimsical to nearly confounding."
The Register-Guard, YouTube - Del's Beautiful New Wooden Machine, Escapement Drive, 1985, Pedal-Operated Wooden Scroll Saw

Communards’ Wall

Wikipedia - "The Communards’ Wall (Mur des Fédérés) at the Père Lachaise cemetery is where, on May 28, 1871, one-hundred forty-seven fédérés, combatants of the Paris Commune, were shot and thrown in an open trench at the foot of the wall. To the French left, especially socialists and communists, the wall became the symbol of the people's struggle for their liberty and ideals. Many leaders of the French Communist Party, especially those involved in the French resistance, are buried nearby."
Wikipedia, W - Paris Commune

"More Songs About Buildings and Food" - Talking Heads

Wikipedia - "More Songs About Buildings and Food is Talking Heads' second album, the first of a string of three co-produced by Brian Eno. The album was significantly more popular than their first, Talking Heads: 77. The band's blend of funky bass, bubblegum, country, reggae and punk influences, with David Byrne's unique voice, established the group as a critical success known for their live shows, but still with disappointing album sales."
Wikipedia, Salon, With Our Love, YouTube - Entermedia Theatre, New York, NY 8-10-78, "Uh Oh Love Comes to Town," "The Girls Want To Be With The Girls," "Found A Job," "The Good Thing," "Take Me To The River," and "Thank You For Sending Me Angel", "Stay Hungry", "Cities", "Artists Only", "The Great Curve", "Warning Sign"

Dennis Rodman

Wikipedia - "Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he was nicknamed 'Dennis the Menace' and 'The Worm' and was known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities. Playing small forward in his early years before becoming a power forward, Rodman earned NBA All-Defensive First Team honors seven times and was voted NBA Defensive Player of the Year twice. He also led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record seven consecutive years and won five NBA championships (1989, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1998)."
Wikipedia, Rodman bares soul in emotional entrance to Hall of Fame, NBA: Video, YouTube

Tribute To R. Crumb's Heroes Of Blues & Jazz

"Anyone who knows R. Crumb’s work as an illustrator knows of his passion for music. And all those who collect his work prize the Heroes of the Blues, Early Jazz Greats, and Pioneers of Country Music trading card sets he created in the early to- mid-1980s. Now they are packaged together for the first time in book form, along with an exclusive 21-track CD of music selected and compiled by Crumb himself (featuring original recordings by Charley Patton, 'Dock' Boggs, 'Jelly Roll' Morton, and others). A bio of each musician is provided, along with a full-color original illustration by the cartoonist."
amazon, (1), (2), (3), YouTube

Frank Film

Wikipedia - "Frank Film is a 1973 animated short film. The movie is a compilation of images co-creator Frank Mouris had collected from magazines interwoven with two narrations, one giving a mostly linear autobiography and the other stating words having to do with the images, the story the first voice is relating, or neither. Frank made the film with Caroline Mouris."
Wikipedia, ACMEFilmworks, UbuWeb (Video), Albany - FILM NOTES, YouTube - Coney (1975), Impasse (1978), Frankly Caroline (1998), Celebrity Spews

Talk to Me

"Talk to Me explores the communication between people and things. All objects contain information that goes well beyond their immediate use or appearance. In some cases, objects like cell phones and computers exist to provide us with access to complex systems and networks, behaving as gateways and interpreters. Whether openly and actively, or in subtle, subliminal ways, things talk to us, and designers help us develop and improvise the dialogue."
MoMA, MoMA - Interactives, blip.tv (Video)

Ebo Taylor

"Also this story starts many years ago. In 1957 while Ghana was obtaining independence with Kwame Nkrumah and the highlife orchestras were close to the new government for celebrating the birth of a country and of a continent. Ebo Taylor was more or less twenty and participated to the cultural movement playing in orchestras like Stargazers and Broadway Dance Bank of Takoradi. In 1962 the family sent him to study music in London, where he met Fela Kuti with whom he played more than once in nightly improvised jam sessions."
T.P. Africa, Analog Africa, YouTube - Afrikafestival Hertme 2010 - Ebo Taylor part 1, part 2, part 3, Guitar Virtuoso Ebo Taylor plays tribute to Ali Farka Toure, Odofo Nyi Akyiri Biara, Nga Nga

Choreographer Pina Bausch - April 2009

"Pina Bausch is regarded one of the most influential artists on the European dance scene. Two years ago, Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal visited Beijing with a show at the Tianqiao Theater featuring 'Cafe Muller', one of her signature works.
Over the years, Pina Bausch has developed her own dance theater. It's become union of genuine dance and theatrical methods of stage performance. It creates a new dance form that distinguishes itself through an intended reference to reality."
Dance Tech (Video)

Pop art

Andy Warhol - Marilyn Monroe, 1962
Wikipedia - "Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art. Pop removes the material from its context and isolates the object, or combines it with other objects, for contemplation. The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes that led to it."
Wikipedia, Google, YouTube - Introduction to Pop Art

X-Ray Spex

Wikipedia - "X-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976. During their first incarnation (1976–79), X-Ray Spex were 'deliberate underachievers' and only managed to release five singles and one album. Nevertheless, their first single, 'Oh Bondage, Up Yours!', is now acknowledged as a classic punk rock single and the album, Germ Free Adolescents, is widely acclaimed as a classic album of the punk rock genre."
Wikipedia, YouTube - Oh Bondage! Up Yours!, Identity, World turned dayglo, Germ Free Adolescence

Ergo Phizmiz

Created a Posthuman Dadamix, based Andrei Codrescu
"Over the past twelve years Ergo Phizmiz has become one of the most defiantly single-minded and uncategorisable artists in the world. Across pop music, opera, radio-art, puppet theatre, film scores, cover versions, sound-collage, installations, sound-poetry and electronic music, he has built a body of work that exceeds 300 hours."
Ergo Phizmiz, (1), Ergo Phizmiz Blogspot, WFMU: Ergo Phizmiz's Opera The Third Policeman on Tour (YouTube - Video), Eloise My Dolly, Ergo Phizmiz (feat. MC Erik Bumbledonk) - Anna Boom, Now That's What We Pump At The Party, People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz - Snow Day, The Travelling Mongoose - "Low Commotion"

Bode Museum

"Sometimes on a whim I stop into the Bode Museum here to commune with a tiny clay sculpture of John the Baptist. It’s in a corner of a nearly always empty room, a bone-white bust, pretty and as androgynous as mid-1970s Berlin-addled David Bowie. The saint’s upturned eyes glow in the hard light through tall windows. Attributed to the 15th-century Luccan artist Matteo Civitali, the sculpture is all exquisite ecstasy and languor."
NYT: Has Sculpture Become Just Another Pretty Face? (Multimedia), Wikipedia

David Cox

"A couple of days ago, self-appointed 'dub artist' David Cox got in touch to share his latest work 'Rub A Dub – Modern Art Version'. I really liked what I saw and asked him to send me some more information on him and work from him..."
SEEN, YouTube - STARS DUB, RUB A DUB, Soundcloud: David Cox

Village Voice

Wikipedia - "The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper in New York City, United States featuring investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts reviews and events listings for New York City. It is also distributed throughout the United States on a pay basis. It was the first and is arguably the best known of the arts-oriented tabloids that have come to be known as alternative weeklies, though its reputation has been unstable since a recent buyout by publishing conglomerate New Times Media."
Wikipedia, Village Voice

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup

Wikipedia - "Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup (August 5, 1905 — March 28, 1974) was a Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known outside blues circles for writing songs such as 'That's All Right' (1946), 'My Baby Left Me' and 'So Glad You're Mine', later covered by Elvis Presley and dozens of other artists."
Wikipedia, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, YouTube - That's All Right, Who's Been Foolin' You, So Glad You're Mine, Rock me Mama, Death Valley Blues (1941), Any Time Would Be The Right Time, Hey Mama, Everything's Alright, Black Pony Blues (1941), She's got no hair (1954)

Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell

Rue du Coq d'Or, 5th Arrondissement
Wikipedia - "Down and Out in Paris and London is the first full-length work by the English author George Orwell (Eric Blair), published in 1933. It is a memoir in two parts on the theme of poverty in the two cities. The first part is a picaresque account of living on the breadline in Paris and the experience of casual labour in restaurant kitchens. The second part is a travelogue of life on the road in and around London from the tramp's perspective, with descriptions of the types of hostel accommodation available and some of the characters to be found living on the margins."
Wikipedia, amazon, Down and Out in Paris and London, BBC: On the trail of George Orwell’s outcasts, Emma Jane Kirby