Joy Division: Tragedy and Synth

"... Even 'Love Will Tear Us Apart,' a track which featured a music video and peaked at number 13 on the UK's single chart, betrays some of Curtis's personal woes. 'You cry out in your sleep/All my failings exposed/ And there's a taste in my mouth/As desperation takes hold/Just that something so good just can't function no more,' he sings over a deceptively poppy synthesizer. Had those lyrics been written by another rock singer, the track could easily have been passed off as any of the myriad of mopey, hollow love songs which spewed out of the 80's. But with Curtis, who was quite likely being torn apart by love at the time he wrote the song, it was real."
WFMU: Joy Division: Tragedy and Synth (Video)

Art of Another Kind: International Abstraction and the Guggenheim, 1949–1960

"In the 1950s, the Guggenheim Museum's then-director James Johnson Sweeney championed what he called the 'tastebreakers' of his day—those individuals who 'break open and enlarge our artistic frontiers.' This decade witnessed the revitalization of experimental art and the advent of fresh and bold styles, a shift that was rather presciently documented and examined in 1952 by French critic Michel Tapié in his book Un art autre (Art of another kind) and an eponymous exhibition. Taking its title from that pivotal study, this collection-based presentation seeks to consider the artistic developments of the post–World War II period and draw greater attention to the lesser-known tastebreakers in the museum's collection alongside those long since canonized."
Guggenheim (Video)
Exhibition site (Video)

Lunch Hour NYC

"The clamor and chaos of lunch hour in New York has been a defining feature of the city for some 150 years. Visitors, newly arrived immigrants, and even longtime New Yorkers are struck by the crowds, the rush, and the dizzying range of foods on offer. Of the three meals that mark the American day, lunch is the one that acquired its modern identity here on the streets of New York."
NYPL: Lunch Hour NYC
YouTube: NYPL's Lunch Hour NYC

John Lincoln Wright

"John Lincoln Wright brought country music to the rock clubs of Boston and Cambridge from the 1970s into the ’90s, introducing audiences to honky-tonk music in performances that earned accolades during the heyday of his band, John Lincoln Wright & the Sour Mash Boys. As a songwriter, he drew inspiration from life in the Northeast, far from country music’s usual wellsprings. He declined to follow the lead of acts that build a local base, then decamp to Nashville to chase stardom that might require compromises."
Boston Globe
Music Museum Of New England
MUSIC SCENE: John Lincoln Wright was a country icon
John Lincoln Wright and the Sour Mash Boys
YouTube: Pine Tree John, Songwriters in the Round : John Lincoln Wright, October Days, Too Old To Die Young, Rockabilly Man, The Gandy Dancer, John Lincoln Wright 2007, john lincoln wright and the sour mash boys #5, One Who Cares, THE RED SOX SONG - 1976
W - Beacon Street Union
Boston Sound Home Page
Rising Storm (Video)

Zarina Bhimji

No Border Crossing, 2001-2006
"Zarina Bhimji (born in Mbarara, Uganda, 1963) is a Ugandan Asian photographer and film maker, who was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2007. ... In 2007, she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize for photographs of Uganda. Their theme is the expulsion of Asians from the country by Idi Amin and the subsequent loss and grief caused. The photos were in exhibitions at Haunch of Venison gallery in London and Zurich. Her Turner Prize display includes a film, Waiting, which was shot in a sisal-processing factory. This is on high-definition video, transferred from the original 35mm film."
Wikipedia
Zarina Bhimji
Whitechapel Gallery (Video)
Guardian - Echoing spaces: Zarina Bhimji at the Whitechapel Gallery – in pictures
Waiting, 2007 (Video), Out of Blue, 2002

Bill Morrison

Wikipedia - "Bill Morrison (born in Chicago, November 17, 1965) is a New York-based filmmaker and artist, best known for his experimental collage film Decasia (2002). He is a member of Ridge Theater and the founder of Hypnotic Pictures. He attended Reed College 1983-85, and graduated from Cooper Union School of Art in 1989. ... Eight of his titles have been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art. He has been commissioned to create films for some of the most important composers of his time, including John Adams, Gavin Bryars, Dave Douglas, Bill Frisell, Michael Gordon, Henryk Gorecki, Vijay Iyer, David Lang, Harry Partch, Steve Reich and Julia Wolfe."
Wikipedia
Bill Morrison (Video)
vimeo: Bill Morrison
YouTube: The Film Of Her (Bill Morrison, 1996)

Progressive rock

Wikipedia - "Progressive rock (also referred to as prog rock or prog) is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of 'a mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility.' John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just 'succeed the pop of the 1960s as much as take its rightful place beside the modern classical music of Stravinsky and Bartók.' Progressive rock bands pushed 'rock's technical and compositional boundaries' by going beyond the standard rock or popular verse-chorus-based song structures."
Wikipedia
Gibraltar Encyclopedia
Progressive rock (Video)
YouTube: BBC Prog Rock Britannia an Observation in Three Movements 1:28:47

Transit of Venus - Harry Crosby

"...And in addition to all that, today's also the exactly right and perfect time to specially celebrate a book of poetry named after the celestial event: Harry Crosby's Transit of Venus (Paris: Black Sun Press, 1928, revised editions 1929 and 1931)."
the glade of theoric ornithic hermetica
TRANSIT OF VENUS, 1928
W - Black Sun Press
amazon - Black Sun: The Brief Transit and Violent Eclipse of Harry Crosby

2009 January: Harry Crosby

Koo Nimo

Wikipedia - "Koo Nimo (born Kwabena Boa-Amponsem on 3 October 1934, baptized Daniel Amponsah is a leading folk musician of Palm wine music or Highlife music from Ghana. Born in the village of Foase, in the Atwima District of the Ashanti Region in Ghana, West Africa, he worked in various jobs in science and medical-related field while maintaining his interest in music."
Wikipedia
Koo Nimo: Ghana's leading folk singer
Ghana Speaks (IV): … and Koo Nimo plays guitar and sings (Video)
YouTube: Afrikafestival Hertme Koo Nimo Palmwine Quartet, Koo Nimo for Sounds from Ghana, Boniaye Kae Dabi

Before Air-Conditioning by Arthur Miller (1998)

"Exactly what year it was I can no longer recall—probably 1927 or ’28—there was an extraordinarily hot September, which hung on even after school had started and we were back from our Rockaway Beach bungalow. Every window in New York was open, and on the streets venders manning little carts chopped ice and sprinkled colored sugar over mounds of it for a couple of pennies. We kids would jump onto the back steps of the slow-moving, horse-drawn ice wagons and steal a chip or two; the ice smelled vaguely of manure but cooled palm and tongue."
The New Yorker

Can - The Lost Tapes

"Spoon Records and Mute are delighted to announce the release of Can – The Lost Tapes, the long awaited box set of unreleased studio, soundtrack and live material. The Lost Tapes, out on 18 June 2012, was curated by Irmin Schmidt and Daniel Miller, compiled by Irmin Schmidt and Jono Podmore, and edited by Jono Podmore. When the legendary Can studio in Weilerswist was sold to the German Rock N Pop Museum, they bought everything, including the army mattresses that covered the walls for sound protection, and relocated it to Gronau. Whilst dismantling the studio, master tapes were found and stored in the Spoon archive."
MUTE (Video)
feuilleton: Can’s Lost Tapes
EARMILK (Video)
Can Explain Where They Found ‘The Lost Tapes’
W - The Lost Tapes (Can album)
amazon
YouTube: Midnight Sky, Millionenspiel, A Swan is Born, Abra Cada Braxas, Messer, Scissors, Fork and Light, Dead Pigeon Suite. First Look: Can - The Lost Tapes UNBOXING

2011 September: Can

The Dial-A-Poem Poets: The Nova Convention

"[from Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs by Ted Morgan, New York: 1978, Henry Holt]: . . .[in 1978] a Columbia professor named Sylvere Lotringer had approached John Giorno about organizing some sort of 'homage to Burroughs,' bringing together European and American academics for a series of seminars. Lotringer saw Burroughs as they did in France, where he was acclaimed as a philosopher of the future, the man who best understood postindustrial society. Giorno discussed the idea with James [Grauerholz], and they saw it more as the gathering of the counterculture tribe which would enshrine Burroughs as its leader. There would be seminars, but there would also be music and entertainment, and star attractions."
UbuWeb - The Dial-A-Poem Poets: The Nova Convention (Video)

In Which We Lather Our Sensibilities At Length

"On July 23rd 1965 the poet Charles Olson took the stage at the University of California-Berkeley Poetry Conference, ostensibly to read a few poems. There was always an apprehension among Charles' friends whenever he attempted public speaking during his last years. The full text of Olson's remarks that evening runs over 60 pages, and it must have been evident to everyone in attendance that Olson, while somewhat cogent for him, would have to be dragged off the stage."
This Recording (Video)

2009 January: Charles Olson
2010 September: Charles Olson: The Art of Poetry No. 12
2010 December: "In Cold Hell, in Thicket", NET film
2011 July: Charles Olson: February 21, 1957
2012 April: A Trip to Charles Olson’s Gloucester

Alex Katz Prints

"Enter the world of glowing light and vibrant color of 'Alex Katz Prints.' Bold portraits, idyllic landscapes, scenes of sophisticated leisure—they’re all here in the works of the renowned contemporary artist. With arresting simplicity of line, color, and form, Katz distills his subjects down to their essence, with a powerful graphic punch."
mfa: Alex Katz Prints (Video)
Alex Katz
amazon - Alex Katz: Prints

2008 February: Alex Katz
2010 December: Life Imitates Art

Tommy James and the Shondells

Wikipedia - "Tommy James and the Shondells are an American rock and roll group whose period of greatest success came in the late 1960s. They had two No. 1 singles in the U.S. — 'Hanky Panky' (1966) and 'Crimson and Clover' (1969) — and also charted 12 other Top 40 hits, including five in the top ten: 'Crystal Blue Persuasion', 'Mony Mony', 'I Think We're Alone Now', 'Sweet Cherry Wine', and 'Mirage'."
Wikipedia
amazon: Tommy James and the Shondells
YouTube: Hanky Panky, Crimson And Clover, Mony Mony, I Think We`re Alone Now, Crystal Blue Persuasion,

Taxicabs of New York City

"The taxicabs of New York City, with their distinctive yellow paint, are a widely recognized icon of the city. Taxicabs are operated by private companies and licensed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). The Commission is a New York City government agency that is best known for its responsibility for the more than 13,237 taxis operating in the city. It also oversees over 40,000 other for-hire vehicles, including 'black cars', commuter vans and ambulettes. 'Medallion taxis,' the familiar yellow cabs, are the only vehicles in the city permitted to pick up passengers in response to a street hail."
W - Taxicabs of New York City
NYC Taxi Cabs
Taxi of Tomorrow
npr: Hail, Hail! 'Taxi Of Tomorrow' Arrives In NYC (Video)
How to Hail a Taxi Cab…Like a Man!
NYT: Painstakingly Reimagining City’s Cabs, Down to the Floor Mats
YouTube: How To Take a Cab in New York City, NYT: NYC's Next Taxi Cab? (Video), NYC's original last CHECKER CAB, Out From Behind The Wheel: New York City Taxi Drivers, Canada film on New York City Yellow Cab Driver. Two 4 minutes parts.

This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s

"This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s covers the period from 1979 to 1992. During this era, the political sphere was dominated by the ideas of former US President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the music scene was transformed by punk and the birth of hip-hop, and our everyday lives were radically altered by a host of technological developments, from the Sony Walkman and the ATM to the appearance of MTV and the first personal computers. In the United States, the decade opened with an enormous anti-nuclear protest in New York’s Central Park and closed with mass demonstrations against the government’s slow response to the AIDS crisis. This exhibition attempts to make sense of what happened to the visual arts in the United States during this tumultuous period."
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
LA Times
Huffington Post

Squeak Carnwath

Calendar, 2010
Wikipedia - "Squeak Carnwath (born 1947 in Abington, PA) is a contemporary American painter. ... Carnwath has a distinctive and recognizable style which combines diaristic and personal elements with universal or existential themes. Her paintings 'combine text and images on abstract fields of color to express sociopolitical and spiritual concerns.' She has described herself ironically as a 'painting chauvinist' due to an abiding preference for that medium, although she is also an accomplished printmaker and has created sophisticated Jacquard tapestries, artist books, and mixed media works in addition to her oil and alkyd works on canvas."
Wikipedia
Squeak Carnwath
Magnolia Editions
Melissa Morgan Fine Art
YouTube: Squeak Carnwath: Imagination Is The Mind's Freedom, Squeak Carnwath "Philosophy" Artist's Book

Peter Tosh – Equal Rights Lyrics

"What is your goal? 'To promote equal rights and justice for every man' What will happen when this goal is reached? "The flowers will bloom and the pollution will go away. There will be fresh air and no pestilence. Man has created these things for experimental purposes to promote death and advance technology. But soon the earth will tilt on its axis and begin to dance to the reggae beat to the accompaniment of earthquake. And who can resist the dance of the earthquake, mon?' - Peter Tosh (being interviewed by Eric Olsen), 1983. Click the orange lyrics for meanings to Peter Tosh – Equal Rights lyrics."
Rap Genius (Video)

2012 May: Peter Tosh

Ne Boltai! Collection of Soviet Propaganda

Mikhail Baljasnij, “Communism means soviets, plus the electrification of the whole country,” 1930
"Welcome to Ne boltai! This website provides thousands of selections from a large archive of political propaganda—mainly works on paper—produced by artists in the Soviet Union and its satellites."
Ne Boltai! Collection of Soviet Propaganda

The 1969 Bob Dylan-Johnny Cash Sessions: Twelve Rare Recordings

"Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash had formed a mutual admiration society even before they met in the early 1960s. 'Of course, I knew of him before he ever heard of me,' Dylan wrote shortly after Cash’s death in 2003. 'In ’55 or ’56, I Walk the Line played all summer on the radio, and it was different than anything else you had ever heard. The record sounded like a voice from the middle of the Earth. It was so powerful and moving.' When the young Dylan arrived on the scene in 1962, Cash was impressed."
The 1969 Bob Dylan-Johnny Cash Sessions: Twelve Rare Recordings (YouTube)

Astor Piazzolla- Tristezas de un doble A

"Live in Montreal '84."
YouTube: Tristezas de un doble A (Parte I), (Parte II)

2008 March: Astor Piazzolla
2010 September: Astor Piazzolla Remixed
2011 February: Adios Nonino
2011 April: Milonga del angel
2011 August: 1985. Utrecht, Netherlands

Railroad Turnbridge (1976) - Richard Serra

"One of the most important avant-garde films of this period, Richard Serra's Railroad Turnbridge attempts to grasp what Rosalind Krauss termed 'a relationship, a transitivity... The physical turnbridge is the support of this experience, not its subject.'"
UbuWeb (Video)

2011 February: Hand Catching Lead (1968) - Richard Serra

John Fekner

Broken Promises
Wikipedia - "John Fekner (born in New York City) is an innovative multimedia artist who created hundreds of environmental and conceptual outdoor works consisting of stenciled words, symbols, dates and icons spray painted in New York, Sweden, Canada, England and Germany in the 1970s and 1980s."
Wikipedia (Video)
John Fekner
Eco Art Projects-Warning Signs 4U2C
JOHN FEKNER: 1950, Bronx, New York
John Fekner and Don Leicht at Welling Court (Video)
YouTube: South Bronx Fekner NYC Stencils, Street Art John Fekner Trail Markers, Street Art John Fekner City Squad Concrete People

Neil Young - Like A Hurricane

"'Like a Hurricane' is a song written by Neil Young in 1975 and first released on the album American Stars 'N Bars in 1977. The song was written in July 1975 with friend and La Honda neighbor Taylor Phelps in the back of his car, (a DeSoto Suburban), when Neil Young was unable to sing due to an operation on his vocal cords. Driven by Young's trademark fierce guitars, the song has been played on nearly every tour Neil Young has done since."
Wikipedia
YouTube

Drunk Texts from Famous Authors

"Jessie Gaynor studies poetry and ill-advised text messages at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop."
The Paris Review

!Women Art Revolution

"Through intimate interviews, art, and rarely seen archival film and video footage, !Women Art Revolution reveals how the Feminist Art Movement fused free speech and politics into an art that radically transformed the art and culture of our times."
!Women Art Revolution (Video)
Stanford University: !W.A.R.: Voices of a Movement
Woman, Art & Technology: Interview with Lynn Hershman Leeson
frieze: !W.A.R.

Misia, Queen of Paris

Félix Vallotton (1865-1925), Misia at Her Dressing Table, 1898
"Misia Godebska (1872-1950) was a legendary figure of the French art scene from the Belle Époque to the Roaring Twenties. At first she became known for her talent as a pianist. Her marriage in 1893 to Thadée Natanson, the editor of the journal La Revue blanche, propelled her to the centre of a group of creative artists who were champions of Symbolism and the decorative arts."
Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay - 1, 2, 3

The Underground New York Public Library

“Mars Trilogy: A Princess of Mars; The Gods of Mars; The Warlord of Mars”, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
"The Underground New York Public Library is a visual library featuring the Reading-Riders of the NYC subways. This library freely lends out a reminder that we’re capable of traveling to great depths within ourselves and as a whole. "
The Underground New York Public Library

½ Mensch - Einstürzende Neubaten

"Though it's a bit less intentionally noisy than previous Neubaten material, ½ Mensch is, in a way, the group's masterpiece. The inspired use of such 'traditional' instruments as a grand piano alongside the band's characteristic blazing percussion make for a record similar more to their compositional influences like Stockhausen than their nearest contemporaries, Throbbing Gristle or Cabaret Voltaire. The record that showed Einstürzende Neubaten could rise above the concept of noise for its own sake to reach another level of noise-oriented post-punk music, ½ Mensch is an excellent feat of industrial music."
All Music (Video)
W - Halber Mensch (film)
YouTube: Halber Mensch / 1/2 Mensch (1985) 57:50

2010 September: Einstürzende Neubaten

Barbe Bleue (1977) - Pina Bausch

Guardian - "Posted (in 12 parts) in its entirety, Bausch's 'tanztheater' piece based on Bartók's opera Bluebeard's Castle is typical of her assault-on-the-senses style of choreography. A meditation on male-female relations perhaps, the piece is interspersed with snatches of Bartók's opera, features a stage carpeted with dry leaves and a cast of 28, and opens with a scene of repeated attack/ravishment. Disturbing and engrossing in equal measure." 1984, BAM, Next Wave Festival.
W - Bluebeard's Castle
W - Béla Bartók
Even Cleveland
Bluebeard - n. A man who first marries and then murders one wife after another.
Blaubart.(Bluebeard – While Listening To A Taped Recording Of Bela Bartok´s “Duke Bluebeard´s Castle). A piece by Pina Bausch
YouTube: Pina Bausch : Barbe Bleue (intégrale 1 sur 12), (intégrale 2 sur 12), (intégrale 3 sur 12), (intégrale 4 sur 12), (intégrale 5 sur 12), (intégrale 6 sur 12), (intégrale 7 sur 12), (intégrale 8 sur 12), (intégrale 9 sur 12), (intégrale 10 sur 12), (intégrale 11 sur 12), (intégrale 12 sur 12)

2008 May: Pina Bausch
2009 June: Pina Bausch, 1940-2009

Prince Nico Mbarga

Wikipedia - "Prince Nico Mbarga (1 January 1950 – 24 June 1997) was a highlife musician, born to a Nigerian mother and a Cameroonian father in Abakaliki, Nigeria. He is renowned for his hit song 'Sweet Mother', recorded with his band Rocafil Jazz. He played the xylophone, conga, drums, and electric guitar in school bands and he made his professional debut as a member of a hotel band, the Melody Orchestra, in 1970."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Sweet Mother, Stella, Lucky marriage, Wayo In Law, Onye Ori Obi, adam & eve, Aki special, poligamyZ

History of Hip-Hop Vol. 11: 1989 (Mixed by DJ Ayres)

"Tracklist after the jump!

Jungle Brothers – Beads on a String
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – Truly Yours
The Bizzie Boys – Droppin It
LL Cool J – Big Ol Butt
Big Daddy Kane – Smooth Operator
Heavy D – You Ain’t Heard Nothing Yet
Gangstarr – Words I Manifest
Kwame – The Rhythm
Steady B – Serious
YZ – Thinking of a Master Plan
Chill Rob G – Court is Now In Session
Uptown – Dope on Plastic
Three Times Dope – The Greatest Man Alive
Public Enemy – 911 Is A Joke
3rd Bass – Steppin to the AM
Slick Rick – Mona Lisa
Digital Underground – The Humpty Dance
Beastie Boys – Hey Ladies
EPMD – So Watcha Sayin
NWA – Straight Outta Compton
Stop The Violence Movement – Self Destruction
Chubb Rock – Ya Bad Chubbs
Queen Latifah & Monie Love – Ladies First
De La Soul – Eye Know
Tuff Crew – Soul Food
Big Daddy Kane – Warm it Up Kane
Sugarbear – Don’t Scandalise Mine
Doug Lazy – Let It Roll
Young MC – Bust A Move
2 Live Crew – Me So Horny
Biz Markie – Just A Friend"
The Run (Video)

Woodward and Bernstein: 40 years after Watergate

"As Sen. Sam Ervin completed his 20-year Senate career in 1974 and issued his final report as chairman of the Senate Watergate committee, he posed the question: 'What was Watergate?' Countless answers have been offered in the 40 years since June 17, 1972, when a team of burglars wearing business suits and rubber gloves was arrested at 2:30 a.m. at the headquarters of the Democratic Party in the Watergate office building in Washington. Four days afterward, the Nixon White House offered its answer: 'Certain elements may try to stretch this beyond what it was,' press secretary Ronald Ziegler scoffed, dismissing the incident as a 'third-rate burglary.'"
Washington Post: Woodward and Bernstein: 40 years after Watergate (Video)
Washington Post: Watergate (Video)
Washington Post: Multimedia (Video)
Washington Post - Nixon: ‘I am not a crook’ (Video)
U. Texas: The Woodward and Bernstein Papers (Video)
amazon: The Final Days

Jean-Luc Godard Shoots Marianne Faithfull Singing “As Tears Go By” (1966)

"When you want to learn a thing or two about Jean-Luc Godard, you turn to New Yorker film critic Richard Brody. I do, anyway, since the man wrote the book on Godard: namely, Everything is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard."
Open Culture (Video)

2010 November: Marianne Faithfull
2008 August: Jean-Luc Godard
2011 April: Two in the Wave