Banned Books Week

"Banned Books Week is the national book community's annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2012 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 30 through October 6. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982."
Banned Books Week

Symphony #8 & #10 (The Mysteries) - Glenn Branca

"Some classic Branca, now back in print. Originally recorded and released in 1994. Minimal and massive, for fans of Sonic Youth, Black Lips, etc. Subtitled The Mystery and The Mystery Pt. 2, these two symphonies concern themselves with the two big questions: Life and Death. They are both scored for eight guitars, two basses, keyboard, drums, vocal and two conductors. Symphony No. 8 has two movements: The Passion and Spiritual Anarchy that both build upon sustained tones that create a counterpoint by means of delays in scale and other patterns and micro tunings. There are also two movements in Symphony No. 10: The Final Problem and The Horror. These are built in a similar manner to the techniques in No. 8 but the tuning and scales employed are different, creating another sensation yet still as intense and continuous in rhythm as No. 8." - "Blue" Gene Tyranny
amazon
YouTube: Symphony Nos.8 & 10: Live At The Kitchen

Rivers and Mountains - John Ashbery

"... Certain pervasive features in John Ashbery's work make their first appearance, full-blown, in Rivers and Mountains, which was published in 1966, four years after The Tennis Court Oath and the same number of years before The Double Dream of Spring. ('The Meandering Yangtze' is a line from 'Into the Dusk-Charged Air.') In the poems of this collection, and especially 'The Skaters,' Ashbery introduces a nonlinear associative logic that averts both exposition and disjunction. Ashbery's aversion (after The Tennis Court Oath) to abrupt disjunction gives his collage-like work the feeling of continuously flowing voices, even though few of the features of traditional voice-centered lyrics are present in his work."
The Meandering Yangtze, Rivers and Mountains (1966) - Charles Bernstein
Poetry Foundation: Rivers and Mountains - John Ashbery
amazon

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

Copyright Criminals (2009)

"Packed with a diverse cast, the PBS doc Copyright Criminals explores the hot button issue of sampling, taking a close look at the costly history, the high-profile legal cases (from 3 Feet High and Rising to Biz vs. Gilbert O’ Sullivan to the Danger Mouse The Grey Album stand off), and the impact the practice has had on music, particularly hip-hop."
ego trip land
W - Copyright Criminals
amazon
YouTube: Copyright Criminals Trailer
vimeo: Copyright Criminals (2009)

Renoir: Between Bohemia and Bourgeoisie

"Alongside Monet, Bazille and Sisley, Pierre-Auguste Renoir laid the foundations of Impressionism in 1860s Paris. But acclaim for his painting was slow in coming, primarily because of the tribulations of the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, which put a hiatus on so much artistic activity during the 1860s–70s. As a result, the first two decades of Renoir’s career are sometimes ignored, an oversight this superb volume decisively remedies."
@ ARTBOOK
amazon
YouTube: A Renoir Revival Is Long Overdue

Beautiful Losers (2009)

Wikipedia - "Beautiful Losers is a 2008 documentary film by director Aaron Rose and co-directed by Joshua Leonard. ... A series of interviews with these artists explains their reasoning behind their 'do-it-yourself' style of street art. As some of these artists discuss their growth in popular artistic culture they explain how becoming renowned and admired in the art world was something that never occurred to them from their various roots in street culture, or simply creating art for themselves."
Wikipedia
vimeo: Beautiful Losers film trailer
YouTube: Beautiful Losers (2008) 1:30:51

Travel: My Father’s Color Images of Southern California in the 1940′s

"... Those colored slide images fascinate me still. They show a life long gone, and a place just barely recognizable. In the early forties, California had no freeways, and only eight million inhabitants. An yet, it was not a time of innocence. World War II loomed, and then transformed California forever. Spanish architecture, movie studios, cars, oranges and beaches figure prominently in the California of our imagination and in these photos. These images were shot by my father, Ed Alinder, on 35 mm Kodachrome film in Southern California in 1940-44, and on a visit in 1947. Many more photos, after the jump."
MacroChef

The B-52's

Wikipedia - "The B-52's is the eponymous debut album by the Athens, Georgia-based New Wave rock band The B-52's. The kitschy lyrics and mood, and the hook-laden harmonies helped establish a fanbase for the band, who went on to release several chart-topping singles. The album cover was designed by Tony Wright (credited as Sue Ab Surd)."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Rock lobster, Planet claire, 52 Girls, Dance This Mess Around, Lave, There's a Moon in the Sky, Hero Worship, Downtown

2008 October: The B-52's

David Corio

Vesuvio Bakery
"David Corio was born in London, England, in 1960. He began his professional career in 1978 taking photographs for New Musical Express, followed by The Face, Time Out, and Black Echoes, covering a wide range of music and portraiture. After a stint as a music writer at City Limits, he worked as a freelance photographer for the Daily Telegraph, The Times, Q, Theatre Royal Stratford, and Greensleeves Records, among others."
David Corio

16 Millimeter Earrings - Meredith Monk

"Here's a fine piece of downtown NYC avant-garde history. Performance artist Meredith Monk's '16 Millimeter Earrings' for voice, guitar, and tapes, first performed in 1966 and recreated for the 1979 video above. Monk's musical/theatrical/multimedia/film art has influenced everyone from Bruce Nauman to David Byrne to Bjork."
boingboing (Video)

2008 March: Meredith Monk
2009 September: Songs of Ascension - Meredith Monk and Ann Hamilton
2011 February: Meredith Monk: A Voice For All Time
2011 August: Ellis Island

Le Havre - Aki Kaurismäki

"In this warmhearted portrait of the French harbor city that gives the film its name, fate throws young African refugee Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) into the path of Marcel Marx (André Wilms), a well-spoken bohemian who works as a shoeshiner. With innate optimism and the unwavering support of his community, Marcel stands up to officials doggedly pursuing the boy for deportation. A political fairy tale that exists somewhere between the reality of contemporary France and the classic cinema of Jean-Pierre Melville and Marcel Carné, Le Havre is a charming, deadpan delight."
Janus Films
Criterion (Video)
YouTube: Little Bob Konzert

Clarence Carter

Wikipedia - "Clarence Carter (born January 14, 1936) is an American soul singer and musician. ... Atlantic Records took notice and released 'Step by Step' on its Atco Records subsidiary, but it flopped. Carter continued as a solo act, signing to the Fame Records label for 1967's Tell Daddy. Several more solid singles followed, until Carter released 'Slip Away,' which hit number 6 on the Pop Charts. 'Too Weak to Fight' hit number 13. Several more soul singles followed, like 'Snatching It Back,' 'Making Love (At the Dark End of the Street)', 'The Feeling Is Right,' 'Doing Our Thing' and 'Patches.'"
Wikipedia
YouTube: Slip Away, Too Weak To Fight, I Can't Leave Your Love Alone, Tell Daddy, Devil Woman, Duane Allman (With Clarence Carter) - The Road Of Love, The Feeling Is Right, Patches

Four Loops from Looper

"Nathan Johnson is a composer best known for his work with director Rian Johnson, his cousin, on such films as Brick, The Brothers Bloom, and, most recently, Looper. The Looper soundtrack album is up for download in the regular spots (iTunes, Amazon), and there’s a special physical edition (limited to 3,000 units) at lalalandrecords.com."
disquiet (Video)
Wikipedia

Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser

"In 1981, film producer Bruce Ricker had a chance encounter with director and cinematographer Christian Blackwood on the streets of New York. Ricker had just released a documentary on Kansas City jazz, called The Last of the Blue Devils, and Blackwood told him that he too had done a little work on jazz. When Ricker went to see the footage, he was stunned. The reels, he would later say, were 'just sitting there like the Dead Sea Scrolls of jazz.' The 'scrolls' were an intimate look into the life and music of Thelonious Monk, the legendary bebop pianist and composer."
Open Culture - Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser, 1:29:22 (Video)
amazon: DVD
amazon: CD

Rarely Seen Contemporary Works on Paper

Romare Bearden. The Return of Odysseus (Homage to Pintoricchio and Benin), 1977.
"Whether centuries old or the latest contemporary creations, works on paper are extremely light sensitive and can only be displayed in the galleries for short and infrequent periods of time before they must be returned to the safety of the dark, climate-controlled vault. Some of these works, however, also make brief appearances in the Prints and Drawings Study Room, frequently requested by professors for their classes to view as exemplars of specific techniques."
Rarely Seen Contemporary Works on Paper
Rounder Studio Art and Stuff

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Weeping Song

"This is a weeping song
A song in which to weep
While all the men and women sleep
This is a weeping song
But I won't be weeping long"
YouTube: The Weeping Song, The Weeping Song (Live)

Under the Roofs of Paris - René Clair

Wikipedia - "Under the Roofs of Paris (French: Sous les toits de Paris) is a 1930 French film directed by René Clair. It was probably the earliest French example of a filmed musical-comedy, although its often dark tone differentiates it from other instances of the genre. It was the first French production of the sound film era to achieve great international success. In a working-class district of Paris, Albert, an impecunious street singer, lives in an attic room. He meets a beautiful Romanian girl, Pola, and falls in love with her; but he is not the only one, since his best friend Louis and the gangster Fred are also under her spell."
Wikipedia
Criterion: Under the Roofs of Paris (Video)
MoMA: Under the Roofs of Paris
amazon

Post Punk Rare Videos Compilation #1

"Occult Chemistry -- Fire (UK, 1980) ...; The Dykes -- 2 Fingers Wide (USA, 1980) ...; Mother's Ruin - Dreamy Teeny (Suisse, 1981); Barchen und die Milchbubis -- Muskeln (Allemagne, 1981) ...; Nini Raviolette - Suis-je Normale? (France, 1980) ..; Q4U -- Creep (Islande, 1982) ...; Young Marble Giants -- Colossal Youth (UK, 1980); The Waitresses - I Know What Boys Like (UK, 1982); Sort Sol feat. Lydia Lunch -- Boy-Girl (Danemark/USA, 1986)"
YouTube: Post Punk Rare Videos Compilation #1

Blu New Mural In Roma, Italy

"After a large-scale mural in Sardiginia last month (featured), Blu is now in Roma where he just completed this new mural. Faking an antique Roman style, the Italian street artist painted this stunning piece depicting some of our modern life syndromes such as Religion, War, Politics etc... If you are in the area, this one can be seen at the the greyhound track, under Ponte Marconi in Roma."
Street Art News

Katz’s Delicatessen - Alan Wolfson

"Katz’s Delicatessen is one of those legendary New York locations. It’s been in business on the lower east side of Manhattan since 1888, and is New York’s oldest deli. Telling someone to 'meet me at Katz’s..,' is almost the same as telling them to meet you under the clock in Grand Central - everyone knows where it is. The collector who commissioned the piece no longer lives in the city and wanted something that reminded him of the many times, when he was a boy, that he and his family had eaten at Katz’s."
Alan Wolfson - Katz's Delicatessen
NYT: Go, Eat, You Never Know
YouTube: Katz's Delicatessen - in "When Harry Met Sally"
Huffington Post: Alan Wolfson's Miniature New York Sculptures
YouTube: ARTINQUIRY: The Art of Alan Wolfson with Molly Barnes, Artist Alan Wolfson

2011 April: Alan Wolfson - Miniature - Urban Sculptures

Jazz Parades: Feet Don't Fail Me Now

"Jazz Parades is one of five films made from footage that Alan Lomax shot between 1978 and 1985 for the PBS American Patchwork series (1991). Jazz Parades shows the cathartic Sunday jazz parades of social clubs in New Orleans and an overview of the jazz scene in the convergence of 'the Uptown Blacks with the Downtown Creoles.' In interviews the participants explain the ritual aspect of 'turning loose' the dead, celebrating Mardi Gras, and sublimating violence by dancing in the streets."
folkstreams - 58 minutes (Video)
amazon: American Patchwork- Jazz Parades

Barrington Levy

Wikipedia - "Barrington Ainsworth Levy (born 30 April 1964, Clarendon, Jamaica) is a reggae and dancehall artist from Jamaica. In 1976, Levy formed a band with his cousin, Everton Dacres, called the Mighty Multitude; the pair released 'My Black Girl' in 1977. Levy established his solo career the next year with 'A Long Time Since We Don't Have No Love'; though the single was a failure, the fourteen year old was a popular performer at Jamaican dancehalls."
Wikipedia
Barrington Levy (Video)
YouTube: Here I Come, Don´t throw it all away, Black Roses, Send A Moses, Murderer, Under Mi Sensi, Sensimella, Poorman Style, Be Strong, Too Experienced, Ragga Muffin"

Nicolas Jaar

Wikipedia - "Nicolas Jaar is an US American-Chilean musician. He studied comparative literature at Brown University, Rhode Island. Jaar is also the owner and founder of his own record label and art house Clown & Sunset. ... Jaar’s music is ruminative and emotional (he calls it 'blue-wave'), drawing inspiration from fellow-Chilean Ricardo Villalobos and minimal techno. Most of Jaar’s compositions reside at 100 BPM or lower, far lower than the techno/house standards of 120-130 BPM."
Wikipedia
Download Nicolas Jaar’s Essential Mix - BBC (Video)
soundcloud (Video)
Nicolas Jaar (Video)
YouTube: Nicolas Jaar Performs A 5 Hour Improvised Set At MoMA PS1 +1, Mi Mujer (original mix), Space is Only Noise, Encore, Problems With the Sun, El Bandido, Time For Us, With Just One Glance (feat Scout LaRue)

Andrew Moore: 'Detroit Disassembled'

"Tuesday on the PBS NewsHour, Jeffrey Brown talks to Philip Levine about his long career in poetry and about his early life working in the Detroit auto industry. Their conversation took place at the Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York, where an exhibition of photographs by Andrew Moore was on display that captured the lost world of Detroit -- abandoned auto plants taken over by plants, burned out high schools frozen in time."
PBS (Video)
amazon: Andrew Moore: Detroit Disassembled
Andrew Moore
Detroit Disassembled by Andrew Moore: The devastation of a major American city
YouTube: Detroit Disassembled

Carl Stone' DARDA performance Super Deluxe Tokyo

"An excerpt from the benefit/prayer performance for Japan following the devastating events of March 11 2011. Featuring Makiko Sakurai (vocals), Hiromichi Sakamoto (cello), Pearl Alexander (bass), Carl Stone (laptop/composer). Projected images by Morgan Fisher. Video recording by Morgan Fisher."
YouTube: DARDA, Al-Noor

2010 August: Carl Stone
2011 April: Ear Meal with Carl Stone

William Duckworth (January 13, 1943 – September 13, 2012)

Wikipedia - "William Duckworth (January 13, 1943 – September 13, 2012) was an American composer who also was an author, educator and Internet pioneer. He wrote more than 200 pieces of music and is credited with the composition of the first postminimal piece of music, The Time Curve Preludes (1977-1978), for piano. His other notable compositions include Thirty-One Days (1987), for alto saxophone, and Southern Harmony (1980-1981), a choral work which uses certain features of shape note singing."
Wikipedia
NYT: William Duckworth, Internet Composer, Dies at 69
Lovely Artist: William Duckworth (Video)
Remembering William Duckworth (Video)
YouTube: Time Curve Preludes ~ i-iv, William Duckworth iPod Opera

2008 March: William Duckworth

The Confessions of Robert Crumb (1987)

"Here's a 55 minute long BBC documentary about my favorite cartoonist. This precedes the Terry Zwigoff film bio 'Crumb"' by 7 years. Nowhere near as in-depth or powerful as the Zwigoff film, but probably an enjoyable view for fellow R. Crumb devotees nonetheless."
YouTube

2008 August: Robert Crumb
2010 October: Comics No. 1
2011 October: Pioneers of Country Music Trading Cards
2012 August: R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection

Sweet Pea Atkinson

"Sweet Pea Atkinson is one of the greatest living soul singers. A charter member of Was (Not Was) for 27 years, he's also recorded with Bonnie Raitt, Michael McDonald, Solomon Burke, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Iggy Pop, Khaled, Keb Mo, Bob Seger, Leonard Cohen, The Boneshakers and Willie Nelson. For the last decade, he's also toured as a regular member of Lyle Lovett's band."
My Damn Channel
SoundCloud: Dance Or Die (Venice Beach Edit)
YouTube: Slow Down, Back In Love, Spy In The House Of Love, Someone could lose a heart tonight, Girls Fall For Me

The Ghost Dance

Wikipedia - "The Ghost Dance (Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the prophet Jack Wilson (Wovoka)'s teachings, proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with the spirits of the dead and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to native peoples throughout the region. The basis for the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, is a traditional ritual which has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times, but this new form was first practiced among the Nevada Paiute in 1889."
Wikipedia
W - Ghost Dance War
The Ghost Dance - A Promise of Fulfillment
PBS: The Ghost Dance Among the Lakota
amazon: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
YouTube: Native American Spirits - Ghost Dance Movement, Wounded Knee - The Darkest Hour, Ghost Dance Wounded Knee

Last Address - Ira Sachs

"Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, Norman René, Peter Hujar, Ethyl Eichelberger, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Cookie Mueller, Klaus Nomi....the list of New York artists who died of AIDS over the last 30 years is countless, and the loss immeasurable. In Last Address, filmmaker Ira Sachs (The Delta, Married Life, and the 2005 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning Forty Shades of Blue), who first moved to the city himself in 1984, uses images of the exteriors of the houses, apartment buildings, and lofts where these and others were living at the time of their deaths to mark the disappearance of a generation. The elegaic film is both a remembrance of that loss, as well as an evocation of the continued presence of their work in our lives and culture."
Ira Sachs
vimeo: Last Address

Imaginary Sounds Feature: Einstürzende Neubauten

"Out of fire; Out of chaos. Out of the mud, rubble, metal, rivets, and splintered wood. Ash of burnt food, linoleum and dreams. There is a peace of nothing; absence of movement and breathing. Even the usual current of wind stopped short by rubbled monolithic buildings. Rows of corporate churches stopped short of worship. Nothing where there was once something. Nothing caused by something. Was it in direct opposition; like a revolution or a mutiny? Or was it simply a necessity; a natural progression toward simplicity and ultimately perfection? In 1980 came the storm."
Imaginary Sounds Feature: Einstürzende Neubauten (Video)
'This was made to end all parties', Einsturzende Neubauten
amazon: Einsturzende Neubauten

2010 September: Einstürzende Neubauten

William Burroughs - Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted

"Laurie Anderson profiles one of the most extraordinary writers and thinkers of the 20th century. William Burroughs was a leading figure of the Beat generation, hugely influential among musicians and artists from the 1970s to the present day and responsible for the dark side of American culture entering mainstream consciousness. The programme features recordings of Burroughs's spoken word performances over a soundscape of noise and music from artists whom he inspired."
soundcloud (Video)
amazon: Nothing Is True - Everything Is Permitted: The Life of Brion Gysin

The Tyranny of the Alphabet Book

"A is for A show I just Assembled About Artists’ Alphabet books. Each letter of the Alphabet is represented by A book. You’ll be Amazed how many different ways that Artists interpret the ABCs. B is for the Books, of course. They were fun to Bring together. ..."
MoMA
MoMA: Artists’ Alphabets

Where Is Cuba Going?

An urban garden, Matanzas, 2012
"On the plane, something odd but also vaguely magical-seeming happened: namely, nobody knew what time it was. Right before we landed, the flight attendant made an announcement, in English and Spanish, that although daylight saving time recently went into effect in the States, the island didn’t observe that custom. As a result, we had caught up — our time had passed into sync with Cuban time."
NYT: Where Is Cuba Going?
NYT: Reinventing Cuba (Slide Show)

Jeff Greinke - Cities in Fog

"Jeff Greinke is a musician, composer, performer, sound sculptor and visual artist known worldwide for his unique sound. Through a highly developed process of layering, Jeff composes and performs music rich in texture, depth, mood and subtle detail. Using various acoustic and electronic instruments, found sounds and extended studio techniques, Jeff sculpts sound worlds that conjure a strong sense of location, hovering somewhere between the familiar and the exotic. Key elements include mood, texture, space, motion and a perception of place, with no one element being primary."
Mutant Sounds
amazon: Cities in Fog
Review Revue: Jeff Greinke – Cities in Fog
YouTube: Moving Through Fog, Low Ceiling, Among Icebergs

2009 December: Jeff Greinke