Y Pants

Wikipedia - "Y Pants were an all-female No Wave band from New York City active from 1979 to 1982. The trio, made up of photographer/musician Barbara Ess (previously of Disband and collaborator with Glenn Branca both in The Static and Theoretical Girls), visual artist Virginia Piersol, and filmmaker Gail Vachon, developed a unique sound via their acoustic toy instrumentation of toy piano, ukulele and a paper-headed Mickey Mouse drum kit, augmented by electric bass guitar, Casio keyboards and various low-tech effects."
Wikipedia
Robert Christgau: Y Pants
YouTube: Favorite Sweater, That's the Way Boys Are (Original version by Lesley Gore in 1964), Off the hook, LOVE'S A DISEASE, The code of life

Stinkfish

"After Spain (covered), Netherlands (covered), Germany (covered), Colombian muralist Stinkfish is now in UK where he recently finished this large-scale mural on the streets of Bristol. If you are in the area, Stinkfish will be participating in the upcoming 'Rebel Soul' group show at Canteen Gallery this Saturday."
Street Art News
Stinkfish

Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black - Public Enemy

Wikipedia - "Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black is the fourth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released October 3, 1991, on Def Jam Recordings. It debuts production team Imperial Grand Ministers of Funk, which consisted of producers Stuart Robertz, Cerwin 'C-Dawg' Depper, Gary G-Wiz, and The JBL."
Wikipedia
Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black - 1991
Robert Christgau: Public Enemy
NYT: Hip-Hop's Prophets of Rage Make Noise Again
YouTube: Can't Truss It, Nighttrain (Touch Up Remix), By The Time I Get To Arizona, REBIRTH, Bring The Noise, Shut 'Em Down

2009 May: Public Enemy
2011 July: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Fear of a Black Planet

East of Eden

Wikipedia - "East of Eden is a 1955 film, directed by Elia Kazan, and loosely based on the second half of the novel of the same name by John Steinbeck. It is about a wayward young man who, while seeking his own identity, vies for the affection of his deeply religious father against his favored brother, thus retelling the story of Cain and Abel. The film stars Julie Harris, James Dean (in his first major screen role), and Raymond Massey. It also features Burl Ives, Richard Davalos and Jo Van Fleet, and was adapted by Paul Osborn and John Steinbeck. Although set in early twentieth century Monterey, California, much of the film was actually shot on location in Mendocino, California. Some scenes were filmed in the Salinas Valley."
Wikipedia
W - East of Eden
YouTube: East Of Eden - Trailer, East of Eden-best scene of James Dean, Love on the Ferris Wheel, East of Eden (1955) Documentary

Haunting Monumentality

"Plan B opened in 2005 in Cluj, Romania. Initiated by Mihai Pop and Adrian Ghenie, Plan B functions as a production and exhibition space for contemporary art; at the same time it is a research center focusing on the Romanian art of the last 50 years, by revealing works of remarkable artists without previous international exposure."
Haunting Monumentality, GALERIA PLAN B | BERLIN
artforum

Robert Montgomery's Concrete Poetry Sweep London Billboards

"'The spectacle of advertising creates images of false beauty so suave and so impossible to attain that you will hurt inside and never even know where the hurt comes from, and in all pictures now the famous people have already begun to look lost and lonely.' It is hard to pin down just where Robert Montgomery's words are coming from -- it seems as if they were whispered from a looming spirit, while simultaneously erupting from your insides. While advertisements talk loudly while communicating very little, Montgomery's pieces speak softly while uttering what we may need to hear most."
Robert Montgomery's Concrete Poetry Sweep London Billboards

2011 May: Robert Montgomery

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards - Tom Waits

Wikipedia - "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards is a limited edition three CD set by Tom Waits, released by the ANTI- label on November 17, 2006 in Europe and on November 21, 2006 in the United States. The album is divided into three sections, with each disc being a separate collection in its own. It borrows from Tom Waits’ typical rock sound, with the first disc being blues and rock-based, the second centred on slow-tempo, melancholic ballads, and the third on more experimental compositions. Additionally, the record contains influences of other genres, including folk, gospel, jazz and roots music."
Wikipedia
amazon
pitchfork
ANTI-
Contact: Bottom Of The World, Trampled Rose, You Can Never Hold Back Spring, The Day After Tomorrow, Lie To Me
YouTube: Widow's Grove, World Keeps Turning, You can never hold back spring, 2 19, Bend Down The Branches

The Body Artist - Don DeLillo

Wikipedia - "The Body Artist is a novella written in 2001 by Don DeLillo. It explores the highly abnormal grieving process of a young performance artist, Lauren Hartke, following the suicide of her significantly older husband. The novella is sometimes described as a ghost story due to the appearance of an enigmatic figure that Lauren discovers hiding in an upstairs room of the house following her husband's death."
Wikipedia
amazon
Salon: “The Body Artist” by Don DeLillo
NYT: Ghostbuster

2010 October: Pafko at the Wall
2012 May: Underworld

The Collected Books of Jack Spicer

Wikipedia - "The Collected Books of Jack Spicer first appeared in 1975, ten years after the death of Jack Spicer. It was 'edited & with a commentary by Robin Blaser' and published in Santa Rosa, CA by Black Sparrow Press. A primary document of the San Francisco Renaissance, The Collected Books of Jack Spicer has arguably reached the status of a twentieth century 'classic' and helped to define an emerging countertradition to the prevailing literary establishment."
Wikipedia
amazon

2007 November: Jack Spicer
2010 February: mad cartographer (PoemTalk #28)
2010 April: Manroot and Acts
2011 January: 5 Poems by Jack Spicer

Maceo Parker

Wikipedia - "Maceo Parker (... born February 14, 1943) is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, as well as Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of Brown's hit recordings, and a key part of his band, playing alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. He is now just as well known for his own shows, as he has toured continuously under his own name since the early 1990s and has built up a strong fan base."
Wikipedia
Maceo Parker
YouTube: Maceo Parker-Fred Wesley-Peewee Ellis (JB HORNS), There Was A Time, I need somebody, George Clinton and Maceo Parker in Germany, Maceo Parker and Candy Dulfer - North Sea Jazz 2005, Maceo Parker & Fred Wesley - House Party, the soul of a black man 1973, Speed Reading, Cold Sweat - Jerry Preston on Bass Guitar!, Soul Power 92 (Official) 1/2, Rabbits in the Pea Patch (Official) 2/2

Schulz Library Blog

Jim Rugg‘s comic map of Copacetic Comics
"The Schulz Library is packed with zines, graphic novels, cartoon collections, and related ephemera— an amazing and inspirational resource for The Center for Cartoon Studies students and faculty."
Schulz Library Blog

Supply and Demand: Songs by Brecht / Weill & Eisler - Dagmar Krause

Wikipedia - "Supply and Demand: Songs by Brecht / Weill & Eisler is the first solo album by German singer Dagmar Krause released by Hannibal Records in 1986. It is a collection of 16 songs by German composers Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler, with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht and sung by Krause in English."
Wikipedia
Progarchives
Zero G Sounds
YouTube: Song of a German Mother, Surabaya Johnny, Moritat (Ballade von Mackie Messer), Barbara-Song, Song Von Der Ware, Alabama Song

The Wheel - Rosanne Cash

Wikipedia - "The Wheel is an album by singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash. Most of the songs on the album reflected Cash's feelings on embarking on a new relationship after the dissolution of her marriage to Rodney Crowell. Though neither of its two singles, 'The Wheel' and 'You Won't Let Me In', charted on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, the album received considerable critical acclaim."
Wikipedia
popsublime: Rosanne Cash, The Wheel (Columbia Records, 1993)
amazon
YouTube: The Wheel, Seventh Avenue, Sleeping In Paris

2010 March: Rosanne Cash
2012 January: Black Cadillac
2012 April: "I Was Watching You"

Ringolevio

Wikipedia - "Ringolevio (also spelled ringalevio or ring-a-levio) is a children's game which may be played anywhere but which originates in the teeming streets of New York City, and is known to have been played there at least as far back as before World War I. It is one of the many variations of tag. ... There are two teams. In one version, one team goes off and hides. The other team counts to some number like 30 and then goes looking for them. In another version, each team has its own "jail", perhaps a park bench or other defendable turf. In Bay Terrace, Queens, both teams had a park bench jail, and whichever team could capture all of the other team's members, won. Often, the game would go on so long that it was called on account of darkness."
Wikipedia
American Dialect Society

Greendale - Neil Young

Wikipedia - "Greendale is the name of an album, movie and graphic novel by Neil Young. As the twenty-seventh album by Neil Young, Young and Crazy Horse's Greendale, a 10-song rock opera, is set in a fictional California seaside town. Based on the saga of the Green family, the 'audio novel' has been compared to the literary classics of Thornton Wilder's Our Town and Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio for its complexity and emotional depth in exploring a small town in America. Greendale combines numerous themes on corruption, environmentalism and mass media consolidation into relevant post-9/11 art."
Wikipedia
amazon: Greendale, Greendale 2nd Edition (Bonus Dvd), Greendale, (2004 - DVD)
YouTube: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Greendale

2010 October: Neil Young's Sound
2012 January: Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History

NYC-2-Africa

"The NYC-2-Africa riddim was produced and recorded in West Africa, NYC, and Jamaica by Emch of Subatomic Sound and Benny Beats of Nomadic Wax. Striking right to the core of our very existence: Survival, corrupt politics, preserving authentic culture, and the destruction of our environment are the topics of the three heart wrenching vocals delivered straight from the souls of Anthony B (Jamaica), Jahdan (NYC/Guyana), & Bajah (Sierra Leone) on this crucial release."
subatomic sound (Video)
YouTube: TITAN SOUND - NYC 2 Africa riddim medley, Delhi Sultanate w/ Subatomic Sound System & Nomadic Wax - NYC-2-INDIA, Anthony B - Dem Can't Stop We From Talk

Bob Dylan's Titanic by Tim Heidecker

"Last month I read that Bob Dylan's new album Tempest will feature a 14 minute song about the Titanic. So I wrote this song to see if I could beat the Master to it. I can't wait to see how close I got to the real thing!"
vimeo: Bob Dylan's Titanic by Tim Heidecker (Video)
Top Ten Titanic (Video)
YouTube: Woody Guthrie - When That Great Ship Went Down, Bessie Jones, "The Titanic", Pete Seeger - The Titanic

112 Greene Street

"I met with Jessamyn Fiore in the air-conditioned back offices of David Zwirner’s Chelsea gallery in late June to discuss her new book, 112 Greene Street, a series of interviews with artists who helped found or were associated with the eponymous location, one of the first alternative art spaces in New York City. Opened in 1970 by artists Jeffrey Lew, Alan Saret, and Gordon Matta-Clark, 112 Greene Street served not as a commercial gallery but as a space in which artists could create and exhibit works collaboratively."
The Paris Review
NYT: When SoHo Was Young
amazon: 112 Greene Street: The Early Years, 1970-1974
112 Greene Street
New Yorker: Proto Soho
112 WORKSHOP
whitehot | January 2011: 112 Greene Street A Nexus of Ideas in the Early 70s
Google

Alton Ellis

Wikipedia - "Alton Nehemiah Ellis OD (September 1, 1938 – October 10, 2008) was a Jamaican musician best known as one of the innovators of rocksteady music and was often referred to as the 'Godfather of Rocksteady'. ... When Holt joined The Paragons, Ellis formed a new group, The Flames. Ellis continued to work for Dodd and also recorded for his arch-rival, Duke Reid on his Treasure Isle label. By the mid 1960s, ska was moving on and the beat was slowing down to rocksteady and becoming associated with the violent rude boy subculture in Jamaican dancehalls."
Wikipedia
Roots Archives
Guardian
YouTube: Breaking up is hard to do, You Are The One To Blame, Can i Change My Mind riddim mix, It's A Shame, LA LA MEANS I LOVE YOU, Why Birds Follow Spring, Classic Hits Medley Mix (Part 1), (Part 2)
CONCERT ALTON ELLIS - Live at the Jazz Cafe (London) (2008) 1:16:10

The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger

Wikipedia - "The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, and rebellion. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major languages. Around 250,000 copies are sold each year, with total sales of more than 65 million books. The novel's protagonist and antihero, Holden Caulfield, has become an icon for teenage rebellion."
Wikipedia
The Praises and Criticisms of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
TNR: Why Do People Love 'Catcher in the Rye'?
NYT: July 16, 1951, Books of The Times
The Catcher in the Rye: The Voice of Alienation
Richard Prince’s Latest Act of Appropriation: The Catcher in the Rye

Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974

"The Museum of Contemporary Art presents Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974, the first large-scale, historical-thematic exhibition to deal broadly with Land art, on view at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA from May 27 through September 3, 2012. Capturing the simultaneous impulse emergent in the 1960s to use the earth as an artistic medium and to locate works in remote sites far from familiar art contexts, the exhibition will highlight the early years of untested artistic experimentations and conclude in the mid-1970s before Land art became a fully institutionalized category."
MOCA
MOCA: Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974
amazon
Art In America

Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Wikipedia - "Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus is the 13th studio album released by Australian alternative rock band, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It is a double CD with 17 tracks – 9 on Abattoir Blues and 8 on The Lyre of Orpheus – which was released on 20 September 2004."
Wikipedia
The Abattoir Blues Tour
amazon: Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
amazon: Abattoir Blues Tour
Favourite 50: Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
YouTube: Supernaturally, Abattoir Blues, Red Right Hand, Babe you turn me, Messiah Ward, The Lyre Of Orpheus, Hiding All Away
ArtistDirect: Breathless, Nature Boy

2008 August: Nick Cave
2010 November: Henry Lee - Nick Cave & PJ Harvey
2011 March: The Boatman's Call
2011 December: B-Sides & Rarities
2012 January: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - White Lunar

Lounge Lizards

Wikipedia - "The Lounge Lizards are a jazz group formed in 1978 by saxophone player John Lurie. Drawing on punk rock and no wave as much as jazz, The Lounge Lizards have since become respected for their creative and distinctive sound. Lounge Lizards were founded on June 4, 1979 with John Lurie, his brother Evan (piano and organ), Arto Lindsay (guitar), Steve Piccolo (bass guitar), and Anton Fier (drums). They were initially a punk or fake jazz group but soon evolved into something quite special."
Wikipedia
amazon
Robert Christgau: The Lounge Lizards
YouTube - Big Heart, Do The Wrong Thing, Uncle Jerry, Ballad, Snakes Can´t Sleep (the hanging), Stompin' At The Corona, Thrown or Was Pushed, You Haunt Me
John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards Live in Berlin 1991 1:40:03

Postcards from Maine

Natural Bridge, Orr's Island, Portland
"The Maine of my imagination finally became a reality this summer, with a brief road trip to the land of many lobster. After the fourth hour of highway driving towards our destination, entertainment hit a plateau. 'What's the state motto of Maine?' I wondered aloud to my co-pilot."
NYPL: Postcards from Maine

Sun Ra - The Paris Tapes, 1971

"Surprisingly, this remarkable and magnificently captured performance has never been issued on LP or CD before. Sun Ra and his larger than usual Arkestra are caught live here – dancers and all – sometime during 1971 at the Théâter du Châtelet in Paris, France for what is surely one of the Arkestra's finest concert happenings – particularly during this period."
Sun Ra and his Mythic Science Arkestra “The Paris Tapes: Live at le Théâter du Châtelet 1971”
amazon: The Paris Tapes
UGHH
iTunes (Video)
YouTube: Somebody Else´s Idea

The Charlie Parker Story

"Hugh Quarshie narrates the story of one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all time. Charlie Parker was a pioneer of the postwar bebop school which changed the face of jazz forever, before his tragic death at the age of 34. Contributors include Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Peter King, Slide Hampton, Phil Woods and Mitch Miller."
YouTube: The Charlie Parker Story 59:12
W - Charlie Parker

2011 July: Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, et al 1950

Dawoud Bey - Harlem, U.S.A.

"In 1979 African American photographer Dawoud Bey (born 1953) held his first solo exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem, showing a suite of 25 photographs titled Harlem, U.S.A. Bey had been in residence at that museum for one year, and he had made the surrounding neighborhood a subject of study since 1975. Though raised in Queens, Bey and his family had roots in Harlem, and it was a youthful visit to the exhibition Harlem on My Mind at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1969, that had given Bey his determination to become an artist."
Dawoud Bey: Harlem, U.S.A
Q&A with Dawoud Bey: "Harlem, U.S.A."
A tour of Dawoud Bey's 'Harlem, USA' (vimeo)

Yvonne Rainer - Space, Body, Language

"Museum Ludwig in cooperation with Kunsthaus Bregenz and the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles proudly presents the first European retrospective of the trailblazing choreographer and film maker Yvonne Rainer. When Yvonne Rainer stepped onto the dance stage in 1960, she radically changed the genre. Her minimalist choreographies dispensed with narrative and overstatement. Instead they used movements and poses from everyday life, combined with texts, films and sound recordings. Already her dance adopted the means of film montage."
Museum Ludwig
vimeo: Raum, Körper, Sprache, TRIO A REHERSAL, Spiraling Down

2010 Janury: Yvonne Rainer

Brandalism

"The Brandalism project saw 25 artists from 8 countries coming together for the biggest subvertising campaign in UK history. Over five days a team of guerilla installers travelled to Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and London and put up artworks that seeks to confront the ad industry and take back our visual landscapes."
Brandalism
Brandalism Criticizes Advertising and Reclaims Billboards in the UK

All Poets Welcome: The Lower East Side Poetry Scene in the 1960s

"This landmark book, together with its accompanying CD, captures the heady excitement of the vibrant, irreverent poetry scene of New York's Lower East Side in the 1960s. Drawing from personal interviews with many of the participants, from unpublished letters, and from rare sound recordings, Daniel Kane brings together for the first time the people, political events, and poetic roots that coalesced into a highly influential community."
amazon
MimeoMimeo: Footnoting Howl and Other Acts of Responsible Scholarship
Reality Studio: Don’t Ever Get Famous

Water wheel

Wikipedia - "A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface. Most commonly, the wheel is mounted vertically on a horizontal axle, but the tub or Norse wheel is mounted horizontally on a vertical shaft. Vertical wheels can transmit power either through the axle or via a ring gear and typically drive belts or gears; horizontal wheels usually directly drive their load."
Wikipedia
Water Wheel Factory

East Village Mosaic Man Explains What His Work Means

"One of the many wonderful characters in the East Village, Jim 'The Mosaic Man' Power, has gotten himself another online tribute. And unlike the slightly-longer 2010 documentary short on the occasionally homeless, definitely talented, artist this one includes some interesting explanations of the symbolism behind his famous lamposts (along with some great archival footage)..."
gothamist (Video)
The Mosaic Man — Jim Power and His Mosaic Trail

Lasse Marhaug

Wikipedia - "Lasse Marhaug (born September 10, 1974) is a Norwegian musician who primarily works in the field of noise music but frequently drifts into other areas such as improvisation, jazz, rock and extreme metal. Marhaug has also been involved in creating music for theatre, dance, art installations and video art."
Wikipedia
Lasse Marhaug
disquiet: Norwegian Noise (Video)
YouTube: Musikksøndag, Issue Project Room, Music Unlimited 22, Wels, Austria, Studio Soto - Boston (Fort Point), MA, Platekompaniet, 13th of April, 2007
vimeo: Capilla Barroca del Museo del Pueblo, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico, Videotage, Hong Kong

Renaissance

Wikipedia - "Renaissance are an English progressive rock band, most notable for their 1978 UK top 10 hit 'Northern Lights' and progressive rock classics like 'Carpet of the Sun', 'Mother Russia', and 'Ashes Are Burning'."
Wikipedia
Renaissance
YouTube: Carpet of the Sun, Mother Russia, Ocean Gypsy, Ashes Are Burning

Public Service Broadcasting - EP, The War Room

"... ‘Spitfire’ layers samples of 1942 film The First of the Few over the part-Krautrock, part-electronica background, while the video is comprised of snippets from the film, which tells the tale of the creation of the iconic fighter plane. It comes from their new EP, The War Room, which is full of tracks giving a comprehensive vision of Britain in The Second World War. It’s even dedicated to George Willgoose, the great uncle of the mastermind behind PSB, J. Willgoose, who lost his life at the Battle of Dunkirk. PSB perhaps aren’t one for karaoke, but they’re definitely a band to be intrigued and charmed by. 1939 - 1942."
abacuspost
Public Service Broadcasting - EP, The War Room
YouTube: London Can Take It, Spitfire, Lit Up, Dig For Victory, If War Should Come, Waltz For George