William Blake - Isaac Newton, 1795

Isaac Newton, 1795
"Both America: A Prophecy and its sequel, Europe: A Prophecy, deal with the upheavals of Blake's own time. In Europe the troubles are traced back to the misunderstanding of the true message of Christianity. Under the baleful influence of the harsh law-giving deity Urizen, Europe develops a repressive and materialistic society that eventually provokes the violent reaction of the French Revolution. —from William Blake, by William Vaughan."
William Blake - Isaac Newton, 1795
Blake vs. Newton
Pencil study for William Blake’s Newton, 1795

2008 April: The Notebook of William Blake
2009 April: William Blake
2010 December: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
2011 June: The Ghost of a Flea

René Lussier

Wikipedia - "René Lussier (born April 15, 1957) is a musician based in the province of Québec, Canada. He is a composer, guitarist, bass guitarist, percussionist, bass clarinetist and singer. Lussier has collaborated with such figures as Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Jean Derome and Robert M. Lepage. His work, which combines elements from all major genres, is often referred to within the discourse of New Music, or Musiques Actuelles, in French."
Wikipedia
amazon: René Lussier
YouTube: Jean Derome & Rene Lussier - Les Aventures De Sacha L'Chat, Clairière Art et nature, J'ai de la chance, L'avis d'un fou, radioKUKAorkest+René Lussier(Kristof Roseeuw-Lode Vercampt-Tom Wouters-Philip Thuriot), Fred Frith Guitar Quartet (Fred Frith -- electric guitar, René Lussier -- electric guitar, Nick Didkovsky -- electric guitar, Mark Stewart -- electric guitar), Jean Derome & Rene Lussier - Les Aventures De Sacha L'Chat, René Lussier & Now Orchestra - Pour Tahani

F is for Fairport Convention

"Sheila Ravenscroft, John’s wife, introduces Fairport Convention and explains why she chose it for the F’s. Founding member Simon Nicol explains the history of the band, with excerpts from John Peel and footage from their 1972 appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test."
John Peel’s Record Collection (Video)
Fairport Convention

2011 April: Fairport Convention - Maidstone 1970

William Heick

Wikipedia - "William Heick (born 1916) is a San Francisco based photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his ethnographic photographs and documentary films of North American Indian cultures. W.R. Heick served as producer-director and chief cinematographer for the Anthropology Department of the University of California, Berkeley on their National Science Foundation supported American Indian Film Project. His photographs capture the life and culture of Native Americans from the Kwakiutl, Kashaya Pomo, Hupa, Navajo, Blackfoot and Sioux."
Wikipedia
William Heick
SFMOMA
Google
Dances of the Kwakiutl (1951) - Video

"I Love a Man in a Uniform" - Gang of Four

"The girls, they love to see you shoot
I love a man in a uniform
I love a man in a uniform
I love a man in a uniform
I love a man in a uniform"
YouTube: "I Love a Man in a Uniform"

Brian Eno - Thursday Afternoon (14 video paintings 1981-1984)

"Finally available on DVD, these video installations were produced by Brian Eno to be shown at various galleries around the world. Subsequently released on vhs and laserdisc, this is the first time for these pieces on beautifully crisp DVD. Perfect viewing material for any follower of Eno, the two works are to the video format what his audio pieces were to music; ambient musings on the nature of the medium. They are non linear and have no obvious plotline or direction : 'video paintings' as the title suggests, drifting in and out of focus. Luckily for us, the music is there to support what could have been a lifeless exercise; the first piece on the disc is accompanied by Eno's seminal Thursday Afternoon, a beautiful single hour-long piano track, and the second piece entitled 'Mistaken Memories of Mediaevil Manhattan' is set to tracks from Music for Airports and On Land."
UbuWeb (Video)
amazon: Thursday Afternoon
The Slow Review
amazon: 14 Video Paintings

St. Mark's Bookshop

"St. Mark's Bookshop was established in 1977 on New York City's Lower East Side, a community of students, academics, artists, and other discerning readers. Our specialties include Cultural Theory, Graphic Design, Poetry & Small Press Publishing, Film Studies, and Foreign & Domestic Periodicals and Journals. We are open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to Midnight, Sundays 11 am to Midnight."
St. Mark's Bookshop
WNYC: The Fight to Save St. Marks Bookshop (Video)
Huffington Post: St. Mark's Bookshop Turns To Crowdfunding In Fight For Survival (Video)
NYT: Killer Rent, a Plea and a Petition to Keep Selling Books

Pussy Riot

Wikipedia - "Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist punk-rock collective that stages politically provocative impromptu performances in Moscow on Russia's current political life. In March 2012, during an improvised and unauthorized concert in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, three women from the band were arrested and charged with 'hooliganism' and their trial began in late July."
Wikipedia
Free Pussy Riot!, (Video)
NYT: Musicians on Trial Over Crude Anti-Putin Song in Moscow Cathedral
The Nation: Pussy Riot and the Two Russias
TIME - Russia’s Pussy Riot Trial: A Kangaroo Court Goes on a Witch Hunt
Guardian: Pussy Riot: will Vladimir Putin regret taking on Russia's cool women punks? (Video), Pussy Riot trial over Putin altar protest begins
YouTube - In focus: Russia's Pussy Riot, Pussy Riot: Opposition saints or spawn of Satan?

Maga Bo

"Spanning the breadth of international urban bass music, Maga Bo‘s work makes connections between the organic and the electronic, the traditional and the avant-garde and the local with the global. In his live performances, original productions and remixes from his far reaching creative collaborations take new forms mixed live, often with the participation of MCs and live musicians."
Maga Bo
Soundcloud (Video)
Maga Bo - Quilombo do Futuro - New Album Release (Video)
vimeo: Maga Bo - "Gondar feat. Eritbu 'Solomon' Agegnehu and Entenesh Wassié", Maga Bo - "Fire feat. Xuman"
YouTube: Maga Bo - No Balanço da Canoa feat. Rosângela Macedo and Marcelo Yuka, Maga Bo - Piloto de Fuga feat. Funkero and BNegão, Maga Bo - Saye Mbott feat, Maga Bo - "Nqayi feat. Teba"

"I Chase the Devil" - Lee "Scratch" Perry

Wikipedia - "'I Chase the Devil' is a reggae song, recorded in 1976 by Max Romeo, with the backing of Lee 'Scratch' Perry's house band, The Upsetters. Composed by Perry and Romeo, it was released on the album War Ina Babylon. Also in 1976, The Upsetters recorded a version with different lyrics. The track, called 'Croaking Lizard' and credited solely to Lee 'Scratch' Perry, was included in their album Super Ape. Later, Perry made a dub remix of both versions, called 'Disco Devil'."
Wikipedia
belated tune: Lee Perry, “Disco Devil” (1976)
YouTube: Disco Devil, Disco devil (Lee Perry cover), Disco Devil 12", Disco Devil (Video)

Central Governor - Saul Melman

"Saul Melman's installation is the result of a six month long performance during which he chiseled 5,000 pounds of salt block and covered MoMA PS1's old boiler with gold leaf. Melman transformed the massive structure into a gilded object, making allusions to the alchemical properties that have been long associated with salt and gold. Central Governor was originally presented in the 2010 Greater New York exhibition in conjunction with Aki Sasamoto and her performance and installation Skewed Lies (2010)."
MoMA PS1
Central Governor - Saul Melman
THE SKULL SESSIONS

Springfield Gardens, Queens

Wikipedia - "Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton & Rosedale, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to the west by Farmers Boulevard. The neighborhood is served by Queens Community Board 12." 1949-1961
Wikipedia

Nightlife (1999) - Pet Shop Boys

Wikipedia - "... After the release and promotion of their previous album, Bilingual, Pet Shop Boys started work with playwright Jonathan Harvey on the stage musical that eventually became Closer to Heaven (at one stage during the writing process, the musical was given the name of Nightlife). Pet Shop Boys soon had an album's worth of tracks and decided to release the album Nightlife as a concept album and in order to showcase some of the songs that would eventually make it into the musical."
Wikipedia
YouTube: I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More, New York City Boy Montage, You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk, For your own good, Closer To Heaven/Left To My Own Devices, Radiophonic, Pet Shop Boys Nightlife Interview
YouTube: Montage ( Nightlife Tour ) 1:51:11

2008 September: Pet Shop Boys
2010 November: Pet Shop Boys - 1985-1989
2011 January: Behaviour
2011 May: Very
2011 December: Bilingual
2012 March: "Always on My Mind"

Episode 8 - 21st January 2008 - Collage

"When does it stop being completely isolated from the rest of the universe and step into the world of collage, adding another patch to the huge quilt of sounds that have gone before? People Like Us 'start at the very beginning' and try to find out. Features sounds from Noah Creshevsky, DJ Earlybird, Brion Gysin and Kid Koala, amongst many others." Codpaste with People Like Us and Ergo Phizmiz
WFMU - January 21, 2008: Collage (Video)

Power Tower Transforms into Robot: DOMA’s Neon Colossus

"A massive power line tower in Buenos Aires, Argentina now has a glowing face, hands, shoulder spikes and heart thanks to a daring installation by Argentinean art collective DOMA. Known as Colossus, this urban intervention is 45 meters (almost 148 feet) tall. Best of all – the neon is animated."
Web Urbanist

Two Cigarettes in the Dark (1992) - Pina Bausch

"... 'Two Cigarettes in the Dark' is not devoid of cruelty: a woman bangs a man into a wall; a man spills water on the floor and treats a woman accusingly like a dog who has transgressed. But there are also bitterly comic images about escapist fantasies and domestic disputes. All appear ultimately to deal with the banal chores of getting through life. By now it is clear that each dance-theater piece by the German choreographer is a fresh installment in a serialized opus about human existence. Male-female relations receive special attention; hopes and failures are her larger concern."
NYT: Pina Bausch, but Not So Sure This Time
The New Criterion - Smokeless “Cigarettes”: Pina Bausch at BAM
Fresh Hamm: The Prada Pina
Guardian: Dancing in the dark
Two Cigarettes in the Dark, Piece by Pina Bausch
YouTube: Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch at BAM: Two Cigarettes in the Dark

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

Monhegan, the Artists' Island

"A spectacular scrap of land set in a surging sea, Monhegan Island has inspired generations of American artists. Some of the nation's greatest painters have made the pilgrimage to this rocky outpost ten miles off the coast of Maine - 'the most wonderful country ever modeled by the hand of the master architect,' as George Bellows, who painted many brilliant canvases on Monhegan, once wrote. Realists, impressionists, and abstract artists have all been equally captivated by the islands dramatic headlands, its tranquil, wooded interior, and its people - whose lives are defined by the powerful ocean around them. No fewer than 109 color and 162 black-and-white illustrations by 151 artists accompany the text, which explores the history of the timelessly beautiful island - and of the men and women who came to paint it in unprecedented detail."
amazon
Monhegan Artists Residency

2009 September: Monhegan Island

Some Trees (1956) - John Ashbery

"SOME TREES, JOHN ASHBERY’S first regularly published collection, contains numerous poems that explore how the artistic conscious­ness relates to the world in which it finds itself and what that con­sciousness makes of the world it is given. In his examinations of how it feels to think, and of how thought and feeling interact with the world to make art, Ashbery is an heir of Wallace Stevens, whom he has called, along with early Auden and Laura Riding, one of 'the writers who most formed my language as a poet.'"
From Conjunctions: Only in the Light of Lost Words Can We Imagine Our Rewards Some Trees (1956) - Reginald Shepherd
amazon: Some Trees (1956)
Odd and Invented Forms
Silliman's Blog

2007 November: John Ashbery
2009 October: PennSound
2012 February: Reported Sightings: Art Chronicles, 1957-1987

The Bluegrass Way - Katrina Roi

"Every Friday night, families gather to play music in Palermo, Maine. What began as an evening pastime has become a source of community for everyone involved. Teenagers have discovered a love for music, elders have found a source of inspiration, and the group has supported each other through the most difficult of times."
vimeo: The Bluegrass Way - Katrina Roi

Diana Al-Hadid's Studio Boom

"Can growing a business and maturing as an artist go hand in hand? In this film, artist Diana Al-Hadid and her crew of dedicated assistants strike a balance between work and play while finishing a new sculpture on a tight deadline. Filmed over several months at Al-Hadid’s studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the collaborative team of young artists devote long hours towards the completion of Nolli’s Orders (2012) for its debut in the Invisible Cities exhibition at MASSMoCA."
art21: "Diana Al-Hadid's Studio Boom" (Video)
Q&A WITH ARTIST DIANA AL-HADID
NYT: Visiting Artists | Diana Al-Hadid

2012 May: Invisible Cities - MASS MoCA

Son House & Bukka White - Masters of the Country Blues (1960)

"Eddie 'Son' House and Booker T. Washington 'Bukka' White were giant figures in the annals of American music. Both were passionate purveyors of their native Mississippi Delta music and of slide guitar. Both were seminal figures, not only through their association with legendary blues pioneer Charley Patton, but also in the strong influence Mississippi blues has had on this century's music from Robert Johnson to Muddy Waters, all the way to Eric Clapton. In the early part of this century, Mississippi still retained characteristics of a frontier state, physically, socially and politically."
amazon: Son House & Bukka White - Masters of the Country Blues (1960)
YouTube: Country Blues Guitar

How city kids cooled off in the heat wave of 1953

"A 10-day heat wave left the city blistering in late summer 1953, with record temperatures in the triple digits scalding the streets. Luckily these city kids living in the vicinity of today’s Nolita (see the ad for 276 Bowery) knew how to keep cool: They opened a fire hydrant."
Ephemeral New York

Malcolm X at Oxford, 1964

"I enjoy replaying this vintage gem every now and then – Malcolm X debating at Oxford University in 1964. In this classic video, you get a good feel for Malcolm X’s presence and message, not to mention the social issues that were alive during the day. You’ll hear X’s trademark claim that liberty can be attained by 'whatever means necessary,' including force, if the government won’t guarantee it, and that 'intelligently directed extremism' will achieve liberty far more effectively than pacifist strategies."
Open Culture (Video)

2008 August: Malcolm X

BAM: Do the Reggae

"In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence, BAMcinématek presents this 14-film series dedicated to the country's unique and widely influential musical tradition. Throughout decades of political unrest in Jamaica and racial violence against Caribbean immigrants in Europe and North America, reggae in all its forms has endured as an essential conduit for social protest, individual expression, and spiritual exploration. It has also single-handedly paved the way for rap/hip-hop, the remix (invented in the early 70s in Jamaica), not to mention later cross-pollinated genres like drum and bass, reggaeton, and dubstep."
BAM: Do the Reggae
DO THE REGGAE at BAMcinematek, Aug 2-6 (Video)
W - Do the Reggay
YouTube: Toots & The Maytals - Do The Reggae, Rockers (1978), The Harder They Come - Jimmy Cliff (1972), Countryman (1982), Heartland Reggae (1978), Land Of Look Behind (1982), Reggae (1970), Babylon (1980), Deep Roots Music 1: Revival/Ranking Sounds, Deep Roots Music 2: Bunny Lee Story / Black Ark

Martha's Vineyard

Wikipedia - "Martha's Vineyard (Wampanoag: Noepe) is an island (including the smaller Chappaquiddick Island) located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony. Often called just 'The Vineyard,' the island has a land area of 100 square miles (260 km2) and is the 58th largest island in the United States, and the third largest on the East Coast of the United States." Annie Cameron, 1976-1978.
Wikipedia
W - Edgartown
W - Gay Head
YouTube: Martha's Vineyard

Toumani Diabaté

Wikipedia - "Toumani Diabaté (born August 10, 1965) is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles. Diabaté comes from a long family tradition of kora players including his father Sidiki Diabaté, who recorded the first ever kora album in 1970. His family's oral tradition tells of 71 generations of musicians preceding him in a patrilineal line."
Wikipedia
Toumani Diabaté
amazon: Toumani Diabaté
YouTube: Cantelowes, Elyne Road, Mande Variations, Si Naani, Cheikh Oumar Bah

The Nova Trilogy

Wikipedia - "The Nova Trilogy or The Cut-up Trilogy is a name commonly given by critics to a series of three experimental novels by William S. Burroughs. These novels, The Soft Machine (1961, revised 1966), The Ticket That Exploded (1962, revised 1967) and Nova Express (1964), like Naked Lunch, derive from The Word Hoard, a number of manuscripts Burroughs wrote in Tangier, Paris and London between 1953 and 1958. Commenting on the trilogy in an interview, Burroughs said, 'I am attempting to create a new mythology for the space age.' All three novels use the Cut-up technique that Burroughs invented in cooperation with painter and poet Brion Gysin and computer programmer Ian Sommerville."
Wikipedia
W - The Soft Machine
W - The Ticket That Exploded
W - Nova Express
RealityStudio: Burroughs Literary Archive
The Quorum of Gentlemen: The Nova Trilogy

2009 May: Cut-up technique - 1
2010 March: Cut-up technique
2010 December: The Evolution of the Cut-Up Technique in My Own Mag

Tunneling Below Second Avenue

Wikipedia - "Unlike ants, moles, gophers and skinks, humans aren’t instinctively tunneling creatures. When we go underground, we are partly admitting that we’ve made a mess on the surface and partly showing off. In Manhattan, where street traffic tends to stall, only one subway runs the length of the East Side. Every weekday, 1.3 million passengers — more than are carried in 24 hours by the transit systems of Boston, Chicago and San Francisco combined — cram onto the Lexington Avenue line. Yet the chaos above and below has inspired afeat: about 475 laborers are now removing 15 million cubic feet of rock and 6 million cubic feet of soil — more than half an Empire State Building by volume — out from under two miles of metropolis."
NYT: Tunneling Below Second Avenue
NYT: Way Down in the Hole
NYT: The Once and Future Dream of New York (Video)
W - Second Avenue Subway
IRT East Side Line
NYMag: The Long, Tortured History of the Second Avenue Subway

Jo Ann Kelly

Wikipedia - "Jo Ann Kelly (5 January 1944 — 21 October 1990) was an English blues singer and guitarist. 'To many American performers', an obituarist wrote, 'Jo Ann Kelly was the only British singer to earn their respect for her development of what they would be justified in thinking as "their" genre'. ... Kelly had a voice far bigger than her slight frame would suggest; with a rich, deep, tonal quality that could easily have come from Dinah Washington or Sister Rosetta Tharpe. After establishing a musical partnership with the British blues musician Tony McPhee, Kelly appeared on two McPhee compiled albums for Liberty Records, Me and the Devil (1968) and I Asked for Water, She Gave Me Gasoline (1969). She also appeared on two John Dummer Band albums John Dummer Blues Band (1969) and Oobleedoobleejubilee (1973)."
Wikipedia
Jo Ann Kelly discography
Blues Nexus
YouTube: Where Is My Good Man At, I Feel So Good , Ain't Seen No Whisky, Back Water Blues, The Girl I Love She Got Long Curly Hair (Live) Blues, Jo Ann Kelly & John Fahey - High Sheriff Blues, I've been scorned, Death Have Mercy, Louisiana Blues

Nico

Wikipedia - "Nico (born Christa Päffgen, 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988) was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s. She is known for both her vocal collaboration on The Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), and her work as a solo artist from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. She also had roles in several films, including a cameo in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) and Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls (1966), as herself. Nico died in July 1988, as a result of injuries sustained in a cycling accident while vacationing in Ibiza with her son."
Wikipedia
Nico Web Site
YouTube: Femme Fatale, All Tomorrows Parties, I'll be your Mirror, 1966 Warhol, My Heart Is Empty, New York New York, These Days, Das Lied vom einsamen Mädchen, Strip-Tease.
The Velvet Underground and Nico 1966 1:04:14.

2011 June: All Tomorrow's Parties - The Velvet Underground
2012 June: The Velvet Underground & Nico

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