Laura Owens

"In an era when many younger artists struggle with issues of heroism and the weight of achievements past, Los Angeles-based painter Laura Owens seems to have opened her umbrella and floated over the art historical baggage collecting on the tarmac. Owens borrows where she pleases—from modernist movements past such as Color Field, Op Art, and Pattern and Decoration, from European painters like Rousseau and Toulouse-Lautrec, from anonymous mediums such as textile and embroidery. Art historical references and any sort of imagery, high or low, that Owens feels like incorporating are co-opted with finesse and a clear-eyed sense of no-fuss entitlement, in service to a larger goal: her own precise vision for what makes a painting pleasurable to behold."
The Believer
Laura Owens, vimeo
W - Laura Owens
MAKERS: Laura Owens
vimeo: Untitled Edition for the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, The Finley, January 29 - April 8, 2012
YouTube: 12 Paintings by Laura Owens at 356 S. Mission Road, Laura Owens at Crown Point Press, Laura Owens

"Last Kiss" - J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers

Wikipedia - "J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers were an American 1960s group, best remembered for their 1964 million selling record, 'Last Kiss'. The Cavaliers formed around 1955 with leader and guitarist Sid Holmes, bassist Lewis Elliott, saxophonist Rob Zeller, drummer Ray Smith and vocalist Alton Baird. Baird was drafted shortly after the group formed and the band brought in J. Frank Wilson, after his discharge from Goodfellow Air Force Base (San Angelo, Texas) and Sid Holmes subsequent mental deterioration in 1962."
W - J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers
W - Last Kiss
W - Teenage tragedy song
YouTube: Last Kiss

Street Against

"Escif is not an artist or a group of artist. Escif is a project that involves a lot of people. Hundreds… maybe thousands of people. Also everybody who try to understand it, in his own way, are making it happens. Not sure I´m understood it!!! On this site there is only a little selection of works. If you are hungry about more just check some walls here and a few videos here…. or go paint the fence in front of your house."
Street Against

Of Ministers and Merchants, Sinners and Saints - Alexander Henry

"Though getting settled in New York City has never been easy, it was a good deal harder in 1747, when my first Brooklyn relative, Ulpianus Van Sinderen, arrived. My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was an unmarried forty-year-old Dutch minister ordained in his native Friesland, a province near the German border. His father, a minister and tutor to a noble family, had discouraged Ulpianus from entering the church, so scarce were full-time jobs in the ministry. But Ulpianus, showing signs of the stubborn, foolhardy will that would make him a perfect American, went to seminary anyway and found himself in exactly the pickle his father had predicted. After fifteen years roaming around rural Holland as an assistant minister, unable to find a permanent post or meet the right girl, he leapt when the Dutch Reformed Church announced an opening on Long Island and gave him the job."
Of Ministers and Merchants, Sinners and Saints

Chinese Dub (2009)

"Jah Wobble is one of the great English originals. Thirty years ago, his rumbling bass-playing defined the sound of Public Image Limited, and since then he has used his love for dub reggae to transform anything from avant-garde jazz-rock to English folk songs. Now, influenced by his wife, Zi Lan Liao, an exponent of the guzheng (Chinese zither), he has turned his attention to far eastern styles, with startling results."
Guardian
YouTube: Jah Wobble Chinese Dub Live - No No No, Mask Changers, Happy Tibetan Girl (remix)

Ilya & Emilia Kabakov. Vertical Paintings and Other Works

How Can One Change Oneself?, 1998
"Under the title Vertical Paintings and Other Works, the show will encompass a wide selection of work that, through different techniques, makes references to art history and literature. Their work is deeply rooted in the Soviet sociocultural context in which they lived during their youth; however, their pieces approach themes that are universally meaningful, such as utopia, fantasies, and human fears and dreams. In the exhibition, which will be open until 18 May, visitors to the gallery will find works produced from the late nineties to the present day."
ivorypress
Contemporary Art Daily
Kabakov’s Moscow Conceptualism
YouTube: The appearance of the collage - May 31 2012, A RETURN TO PAINTING 1961 - 2011

2009 May: Ilya & Emilia Kabakov

NYC Past

"Large-format historical photos of New York City."
NYC Past
MashKulture

Poems for the Millennium: The University of California Book of North African Literature

"In this fourth volume of the landmark Poems for the Millennium series, Pierre Joris and Habib Tengour present a comprehensive anthology of the written and oral literatures of the Maghreb, the region of North Africa that spans the modern nation states of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania, and including a section on the influential Arabo-Berber and Jewish literary culture of Al-Andalus, which flourished in Spain between the ninth and fifteenth centuries. Beginning with the earliest pictograms and rock drawings and ending with the work of the current generation of post-independence and diasporic writers, this volume takes in a range of cultures and voices, including Berber, Phoenician, Jewish, Roman, Vandal, Arab, Ottoman, and French. Though concentrating on oral and written poetry and narratives, the book also draws on historical and geographical treatises, philosophical and esoteric traditions, song lyrics, and current prose experiments."
University of California
amazon
Hamid Skif
‘Poems for the Millennium 4′: On Choosing Work for a New Maghreb-focused Anthology
Ron Silliman

James Brown - Soul Train

"Hot Pants
Get Up (I Feel Like A) Sex Machine 2:36
Get On The Good Foot 4:06
Soul Power 6:51
Make It Funky 9:53
Cold Sweat 11:07
Try Me 14:22
Please Please, Please 17:21
Say It Loud I'm Black and I'm Proud 17:57
Super Bad 23:53
Papa Don't Take No Mess 26:18
My Thang 29:57
Hell 33:33
The Payback 35:57

Fred Wesley & the JB's
Damn Right, I Am Somebody 40:25"
YouTube: Soul Train

Frank Halmans

"dutch artist frank halmans explores themes of domesticity and memory through his sculptural installations. his series 'built of books' employs vintage publications - the selected titles have no particular meaning and are not exceptional literary works - which he arranges into stacks. lining them up along shelves, he carving windows and doors through each, creating sets of imaginary buildings and interiors in each section of volumes. in a way these spaces which he slices through the books, stand as a metaphor and the idea of moving through something, whether it be a literary passage, or a physical expanse."
designboom
Frank Halmans
Frank Halmans' ‘Hoover Buildings' Made From Vacuums Are A Metaphorical Model For Clutter (PHOTOS)

Instagr/am/bient: 25 Sonic Postcards

"Photos shared with the popular software Instagram are usually square in format, not unlike the cover to a record album. The format leads inevitably to a question: if a given image were the cover to a record album, what would the album’s music sound like? Instagr/am/bient is a response to that question. The project involves 25 musicians with ambient inclinations. Each of the musicians contributed an Instagram photo, and in turn each of the musicians recorded an original track in response to one of the photos contributed by another of the project’s participants. The tracks are sonic postcards. They are pieces of music whose relative brevity—all are between one and three minutes in length—is designed to correlate with the economical, ephemeral nature of an Instagram photo."
disquiet (Video)
soundcloud (Video)

2012 June: Listening to Instagram

Slim Harpo

Wikipedia - "Slim Harpo (January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970) was an American blues musician. He was known as a master of the blues harmonica; the name 'Slim Harpo' was derived from 'harp,' the popular nickname for the harmonica in blues circles. Born James Moore in Lobdell, Louisiana, United States, the eldest in an orphaned family, he worked as a longshoreman and building worker during the late 1930s and early 1940s. He began performing in Baton Rouge bars under the name Harmonica Slim and later accompanied his brother-in-law, Lightnin' Slim, both live and in the studio."
Wikipedia
allmusic
amazon: Slim Harpo
YouTube: Baby, Scratch My Back, Shake Your Hips, Boogie chillun, I'm a King Bee, My Home Is a Prison - Slim Harpo & Lazy Lester, My Baby, She's Got It, SHAKE YOUR HIPS, Something Inside Me, Yeah Yeah Baby, Hey, Little Lee

Volga trade route

Viking trade routes included Baghdad, the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Russian cities
Wikipedia - "In the Middle Ages, the Volga trade route connected Northern Europe and Northwestern Russia with the Caspian Sea, via the Volga River. The Rus used this route to trade with Muslim countries on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, sometimes penetrating as far as Baghdad. The route functioned concurrently with the Dnieper trade route, better known as the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, and lost its importance in the 11th century."
Wikipedia
Nova (Video)

Ed Ruscha - Books & Co.

"The artist Ed Ruscha was standing in the middle of Gagosian’s 24th Street gallery in Chelsea on a cool fall day, surrounded by paintings of books he has created over many decades. There were canvases that mimicked old tomes he found in flea markets and secondhand shops, and paintings of marbleized endpapers. There were renderings of open books more than 10 feet long with blank sheets of paper, ravaged with wormholes and water stains. 'They’re a bit ominous,' he said, perhaps because of what many believe is the inevitable end of the printed word."
NYT: Conceptual Inspiration, by the Book
Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian Gallery: Ed Ruscha, Books & Co.
YouTube: Gagosian Gallery West 24th Street

2009 October: Ed Ruscha
2012 April: Twentysix Gasoline Stations

Vincent Segal & Ballaké Sissoko - Concert à emporter

"Both musicians have displayed an aptitude for defying expectations – the list of trip-hop cellists is pretty short, after all. And Ballake Sissoko has become a familiar name on the world music scene through his work with American blues legend Taj Mahal and Italian minimalist Ludovico Einaudi, among others. But perhaps the combination of kora and cello works so well because there are no expectations for it."
YouTube: Concert à emporter

“Mobster of Plaza de Mayo” by No Touching Ground

"No Touching Ground put up a striking new wheat paste this week featuring an Argentine 100 pesos bill with a portrait of Hebe de Bonafini, the controversial leader of the Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Bonafini is well known outside Argentina as a human rights activist for her tireless work in trying to reunite relatives including her sons who ‘disappeared’ during the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). Over the last decade or so Bonafini’s reputation has been tarnished by corruption scandals including the misappropriation of public funds, money-laundering and illegal enrichment."
BA Street Art
No Touching Ground
vimeo: No Touching Ground - NTG, Art Show - Seattle WA

Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill

"Not to be confused with Sony's 1997 soundtrack release, September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill, which was inspired by this 1985 CD on A&M, and co-produced by visionary Hal Willner, Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill indeed contains the 'eclectic updates of Kurt Weill's distinctive German theater music' with help from Sting, Marianne Faithfull, John Zorn, Lou Reed, Carla Bley, Tom Waits, Charlie Haden, and more. This deep and complex work contains a 12-page booklet chock-full of information condensed into tiny, tiny print. Did the onset of compact discs hold this elaborate project back?"
allmusic
W - Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill
jukebo: September Song - Lou Reed
YouTube: Lost In The Stars -- Music of Kurt Weill arranged by: Carla Bley , Phil Woods on Sax, Ralph Schuckett and Richard Butler - Alabama song, Surabaya Johnny - Dagmar Krause, Mark Bingham, Aaron Neville, Johnny Adams - Oh Heavenly Salvation, John Zorn - Der Kleine des Lieben Gottes [rare], Henry Threadgill - The Great Hall [rare]

EXPO 1: NEW YORK: Rockaway Call for Ideas

"In an effort to foster the creative debate on urban recovery after Hurricane Sandy, MoMA PS1 and MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design are calling out for ideas to create a sustainable waterfront. Artists, architects, designers, and others are welcome to present ideas for alternative housing models, creation of social spaces, urban interventions, new uses of public space, the rebuilding of the boardwalk, protection of the shoreline, and actions to engage local communities."
MoMA / PS 1 (Video)

The Iron Triangle

"Willets Point is a chaotic little piece of land on the outskirts of Queens, adjacent to the Citi Field, the New York’s Mets new home. This is where you go if you need to get your car fixed, get shiny rims or change your windscreen. Also known locally as the Iron Triangle, it is the largest single stretch of junkyards in New York, with hundreds of auto salvage yards, repair garages, waste facilities, warehouses, chop shops and auto parts stores."
charles le brigand · urban photography

David Lynch on Photographs

"For 15 years, Paris Photo has been the increasingly prestigious centerpiece of The Month of Photography celebrated in Paris every November. In its most recent run, the organizers conceived the idea of inviting an eminent artist to select 99 photographs from among over 1000 images in the fair that fills the Grand Palais with the world’s top photography dealers and publishers."
Los Angeles Review of Books (Video)

The Last Nightingale

Wikipedia - "The Last Nightingale is an album by various artists recorded and released in 1984 to raise money for striking coal miners in the 1984–1985 UK miners' strike. It features Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson and Lindsay Cooper from the English avant-rock group Henry Cow, singer and musician Robert Wyatt, and poet Adrian Mitchell. The cover artwork was done by British cartoonist and caricaturist Ralph Steadman. All monies raised from the sale of the record, less the manufacturing costs, were given to the Miners Strike Fund. The artists, studio, record company and distributors waived their fees."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Moments of delight

“Dust My Broom”: The Story of a Song

"The passionate blues song “Dust My Broom” has been filling dance floors and exhilarating listeners for more than 60 years. The song’s been covered by countless performers – a quick search on youtube turns up versions by Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, The Yardbirds, Fleetwood Mac, Johnny Winter, Canned Heat, Ike and Tina Turner, Taj Mahal, Freddie King, Luther Allison, Junior Brown and Warren Haynes, R.L. Burnside, Duwayne Burnside, James Son Thomas, ZZ Top, Gary Moore, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, G. Love, Todd Rundgren, and the list goes on. Along the way, the song’s been adapted to piano, accordion, acoustic guitar, and, most of all, electric guitar. Here’s the best-known version, by Elmore James in 1959..."
Pure Guitar (YouTube)
W - Dust My Broom (YouTube)
KPLU: 'Dust My Broom' sets the standard for blues guitar (YouTube)

Sentimental Education - Gustave Flaubert

Wikipedia - "Sentimental Education (French: L'Éducation sentimentale, 1869) was a novel by Gustave Flaubert, and is considered one of the most influential novels of the 19th century, being praised by contemporaries George Sand, Emile Zola, and Henry James. The novel describes the life of a young man (Frederic Moreau) living through the revolution of 1848 and the founding of the Second French Empire, and his love for an older woman (based on the wife of the music publisher Maurice Schlesinger, who is portrayed in the book as Jacques Arnoux). Flaubert based many of the protagonist's experiences (including the romantic passion) on his own life. ... The novel's tone is by turns ironic and pessimistic; it occasionally lampoons French society. The main character, Frédéric, often gives himself to romantic flights of fancy."
Wikipedia
W - Gustave Flaubert
NYT: Gustave Flaubert
amazon

First Look: Graffiti and The Egyptian Revolution

"This short film- featuring Tahrir street artist Ammar Abo Bakr, and others - highlights only some of the amazing art, inspiring humanity, and awe-inspiring social movements that make up the Egyptian People's Revolution, and that make up the film, THE SQUARE. Graffiti began to appear on walls around Egypt during the January 25 uprising 2 years ago. Prior to that, there was little to no street art in all of Egypt. But now, the walls of Cairo's streets are covered in so many layers of graffiti and posters, grime and fumes, that studying the layers is like reading a book on everything these walls have witnessed. The uprising, the downfall, the unity and the coming apart are all shown in street art pieces - pieces that speak for those that do not have a voice."
Wooster Collective (YouTube)
The Square
IMDb: Jehane Noujaim
Facebook; Twitter
YouTube: The Square (Trailer): Sundance Winning Film About The Egyptian Revolution

Tom Waits - Burma Shave

"Extraordinary singer Tom Waits has become an American musical institution over the last few decades. His audience continues to grow, more artists cover his songs and he has risen from the basement filled with 'eccentric artists' to hugely influential cult hero status, and deservedly so. This '70s live performance features Waits casting his spell on an audience of believers and a handful of punters experiencing his magic for the first time."
YouTube: Burma Shave (Full video)
amazon: Burma Shave (DVD)

2012 July: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards

The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin - Robert Wilson

"It is difficult to think of a performance format that Robert Wilson has not used at some point in his career. Improvised or tightly scripted; mute, spoken, or sung; stage monologues for one performer or grand opera with virtually hundreds of participants; all formats are amply represented in his work. But no matter how different superficially, they are linked by his immediately recognizable lighting and the specific dynamics of his performers' movements."
Robert Wilson
Continuo
Discogs

2008 April: Robert Wilson
2010 January: Einstein on the Beach
2010 July: The CIVIL warS
2011 May: Einstein on the Beach: The Changing Image of Opera
2011 August: Stations (1982)
2012 February: Absolute Wilson
2012 August: Einstein on the Blog: Christopher Knowles’ Typings

Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity

"Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity presents a revealing look at the role of fashion in the works of the Impressionists and their contemporaries. Some eighty major figure paintings, seen in concert with period costumes, accessories, fashion plates, photographs, and popular prints, highlight the vital relationship between fashion and art during the pivotal years, from the mid-1860s to the mid-1880s, when Paris emerged as the style capital of the world. With the rise of the department store, the advent of ready-made wear, and the proliferation of fashion magazines, those at the forefront of the avant-garde — from Manet, Monet, and Renoir to Baudelaire, Mallarmé, and Zola — turned a fresh eye to contemporary dress, embracing la mode as the harbinger of la modernité."
Metropolitan Museum
amazon: Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity
NYT: The Cross-Dressing of Art and Couture
YouTube: The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity

2012 December: Impressionism and Fashion (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)

Berlin East Side Gallery

"For 28 years, Berliners dreamed of tearing down the Wall. Now, the largest remaining stretch of it is to be touched up to preserve art works against weather damage and vandalism. But how long can it stay spic and span? Berlin's Muehlenstrasse -- a four-lane thoroughfare largely devoid of buildings and full of speeding traffic -- isn't the sort of street that would usually attract a lot of tourists. But some half a million visitors come every year to look at the East Side Gallery, a 1,316-meter stretch of reconstituted Berlin Wall. The 'gallery,' which was originally set up in 1990 after the fall of East German Communism, features works by 118 artists from 21 countries -- many of them chipped by the elements and obscured by graffiti."
Famous Stretch of Berlin Wall to be Restored
East Side Galerie Stand 1999 (Germany)
Berlin Wall artists sue city in copyright controversy
East Side Gallery artists battle over rights and compensation
W - East Side Gallery
YouTube: Berlin East Side Gallery

2009 July: The Berlin Wall
2009 October: Berlin Wall

Gregory Isaacs - Poor and Clean (1980)

"The Roots Radics are at their loosest limbed best, Gregory Isaacs at his most inspired, and together the men create a cultural masterpiece. Spun off the rather inaptly titled The Lonely Lover album, this 1980 single was a major hit in Jamaica, and reflected just how far the singer had come over the last few years. His self-productions now boasted a much denser sound, and here he fills the grooves with an evocative and nuanced sound. He's helped by the Radics' phenomenal backing, an inspired arrangement that stirs together a militant rhythm, a C&W atmosphere, and a moody roots ambience."
allmusic
YouTube: Poor & Clean (Live Kingston), Poor and clean 12" 7:02

Brooklyn Navy Yard

Wikipedia - "The United States Navy Yard, New York, also known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the New York Naval Shipyard (NYNSY), is a shipyard located in Brooklyn, New York, 1.7 miles (2.7 km) northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan. It was bounded by Navy Street, Flushing and Kent Avenues, and at the height of its production of warships for the United States Navy, it covered over 200 acres (0.81 km2)."
Wikipedia
Brooklyn Navy Yard: History
BLDG 92: Brooklyn Navy Yard Center
NYT: From Weeds and Bricks to Media Hub in Brooklyn
Brooklyn Navy Yard a Photo Haven for Every Season of Photographer
vimeo: Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History HIghlights
THIRTEEN: The City Concealed Brooklyn Navy Yard
YouTube: WWII & NYC: Brooklyn Navy Yard at War, Navy Yard Museum: Brooklyn Review

House of Poesy: At the Grolier Poetry Book Shop

"The Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is both a misnomer and an anomaly. It has long dedicated itself to the task of promoting the reading and writing of poetry and has, for eighty-five years, served as a niche for poets the world over. While its reputation has bloomed over the years, thanks largely to word-of-mouth praise, it has never fared well financially, partly due to competition from larger stores and the Internet, partly because poetry has never been popular with the masses, and partly because its founder seems to have done everything in his power to ensure that his store not be turned into a business."
Paris Review

2009 January: Grolier Poetry Book

Ian Nagoski Mixtape

"This issue of Sound American isn't a simple look at those who collect records any more than it's a discussion of the overriding passion these people feel to be custodians of unheard music. It's a vision of American music, yes, but also an attempt to find out what makes those who champion their vision live and breathe.There is a depth of experience and rigor of thought that goes into the decisions everyone in this issue have made and continue to make every day; be it pragmatic business decisions or artistic curatorial ones, each person that has undertaken this strange, undefinable course has had to find a philosophy to structure these decisions on, even if it's a subconscious one."
Sound American (Video)

This Is the Modern World - The Jam

Wikipedia - "This Is the Modern World is the second studio album by British band The Jam, released in November 1977, less than seven months after their debut. Despite some contemporary reviewers feeling the record was rushed to capitalise on the success of In the City, the Record Mirror's Barry Cain wrote that 'This Is The Modern World reflects a definite PROGRESSION (remember that?) a definite identity mold. Here Weller is making an obvious attempt at creating a Jam SOUND. He succeeds. Brilliantly'. Likewise, Chas de Wally, from Sounds, claimed that although 'people were trying to tell me that this was a lousy album and The Jam were all washed up, This is the Modern World is one of the best albums I've ever heard in a long time.'"
Wikipedia
YouTube: This is the Modern World, In the Street Today, Here comes the weekend, The combine, Life from a window

A Bend in the River (1979) - V. S. Naipaul

Wikipedia - "A Bend in the River is a 1979 novel by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul. ... Set in an unnamed African country after independence, the book is narrated by Salim, an ethnically Indian Muslim and a shopkeeper in a small, growing city in the country's remote interior. Salim observes the rapid changes in Africa with an outsider's distance. Salim, the protagonist, grows up in the Indian community of traders on the east coast of Africa. Feeling insecure about his future in East Africa, he buys a business from Nazruddin in a town at 'a bend in the river' in the heart of Africa. When he moves there, he finds the town decrepit, a 'ghost town', its former European suburb reclaimed by the bush, and many of its European vestiges ruined in a 'rage' by the locals in response to their suppression and humiliation during the colonial times."
Wikipedia
NYT: A Dark Vision
V. S. Naipaul's A Bend in the River, 30 Years On
amazon
YouTube: Living Writer's - V. S. Naipaul

2012 February: V. S. Naipaul

Roof, 1976–79 (ed. James Sherry)

"Founded in 1976 by James Sherry to anthologize writing by poets working at the Naropa Institute, Roof magazine played a key role in the development of Language poetry. Ten issues were published in New York City between the summers of 1976 and 1979. The magazine was designed by Lee Sherry in uniform white with blocks of delicately askew Antique Olive Black “press type” neatly filling the large format 8.5” by 11” dimensions. As individual poets are given larger portions in successive issues, the reader can follow Roof’s transition from the magazine to the Roof Books platform still publishing great works of poetry today."
Jacket2

2008 October: L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E