Dead Man - Neil Young (1995)

Wikipedia - "Dead Man is the soundtrack to the 1995 Jim Jarmusch western-themed film of the same name starring Gary Farmer, and Johnny Depp as William Blake. Neil Young recorded the soundtrack by improvising (mostly on his electric guitar, with some acoustic guitar, piano and organ) as he watched the newly edited film alone in a recording studio. The soundtrack album consists of seven instrumental tracks by Young, with dialog excerpts from the film and Johnny Depp reading the poetry of William Blake interspersed between the music. The version of the main theme used over the film's beginning and end credits is not included, but was released as a promo single. The soundtrack differs from the film in that it uses background noises of a driving car while the whole plot is set in 19th century (before automobiles were invented)."
Wikipedia
A Neil Young Soundtrack Film - Directed by Jim Jarmusch
YouTube: Dead Man Theme (long version), Guitar Solo 5 (Full Version)
YouTube: Guitar Solo #1, Guitar Solo #2, Guitar Solo #3, Guitar Solo #4, Organ Solo

2008 February: Neil Young, 2010 April: Neil Young - 1, 2010 April: Neil Young - 2, 2010 May: Neil Young - 3, 2010 October: Neil Young's Sound, 2012 January: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History, 2012 June: Like A Hurricane, 2012 July: Greendale, 2013 April: Thoughts On An Artist / Three Compilations, 2013 August: Heart of Gold.

Jerome Liebling: Matter of Life and Death

May Day, Union Square Park, New York City
"Steven Kasher Gallery is proud to announce its representation of the estate of Jerome Liebling (1924-2011) with the exhibition Jerome Liebling: Matter of Life and Death. Curated by Liebling’s daughter, filmmaker Rachel Liebling, the show includes both early vintage photographs and later large-scale prints in black and white and color. Spanning six decades, the 75 photographs in the show comprise a retrospective of selected works that explore the themes of youth, maturity, and death. Liebling’s images capture unguarded intimacy on both sides of the lens. He reveled in subjects and places where fortitude battled against decay."
Jerome Liebling
Jerome Liebling: Photos
Jerome Liebling: Video
Get the Picture: Jerome Liebling
NYT: Jerome Liebling, Socially Minded Photographer
W - Jerome Liebling

Havana Boxing Dreams

"Dreams are pretty much all you can have in Cuba and boxing allows Cuba’s youth to do just that. Cuba’s rich olympic legacy is a strong source of inspiration for young fighters all around the country. Ambitions of a successful career a la 'Kid Chocolate' fuel determination and focus in La Havana’s numerous neighborhood boxing gyms. It’s in these neglected infrastructures where passion emerges, where skills are forged and where dreams are born. My first stop was in Havana Vieja at Rafael Trejo’s gym. Rafael Trejo Gimnasio al Aire Libre is the oldest boxing club in Havana. The open air training facility offers local pugilists a boxing ring placed at the center of a courtyard surrounded by bleachers and pastel walls from apartment buildings next-door."
charleslebrigand

William Faulkner

Wikipedia - "William Cuthbert Faulkner (born Falkner, September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962), also known as Will Faulkner, was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of written media, including novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays. He is primarily known and acclaimed for his novels and short stories, many of which are set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, a setting Faulkner created based on Lafayette County, where he spent most of his life, and Holly Springs/Marshall County. ... Faulkner was known for his experimental style with meticulous attention to diction and cadence. In contrast to the minimalist understatement of his contemporary Ernest Hemingway, Faulkner made frequent use of 'stream of consciousness' in his writing, and wrote often highly emotional, subtle, cerebral, complex, and sometimes Gothic or grotesque stories of a wide variety of characters including former slaves or descendants of slaves, poor white, agrarian, or working-class Southerners, and Southern aristocrats."
Wikipedia
W - Yoknapatawpha County
W - Southern_Renaissance
University of Mississippi
The Paris Review: William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12
amazon: William Faulkner
Rare 1952 Film: William Faulkner on His Native Soil in Oxford, Mississippi (Video)

2011 September: Southern Gothic

Hudson 1993: A Tour of John Ashbery’s Home

"Fifteen years ago, when John Ashbery and I walked at snail’s pace around his house to prepare this article, he was still in the process of fashioning his surroundings; he has not ceased to create and recreate them in the intervening decade and a half. Not surprisingly, then, the article describes only one stage in the evolution of his house, some rooms of which have, since then, been further embellished, or reimagined, or pulled apart and are still being put together. Changes both major and minor have altered these rooms described below. In the Music Room, sparkle has been provided aplenty by the addition of an enormous antique strung-crystal basket-style chandelier. Some paintings, like the white rose by Alex Katz, are no longer on the walls where they were: they are traveling, on loan to various shows at museums or galleries, or they have been replaced by different pieces, as the poet’s taste has changed or sought refreshment. ..."
A Tour of John Ashbery's Home - Rain Taxi
Locus Solus: The New York School of Poets
The Ashbery Home School

The Way of the Shovel: Art as Archaeology

"The Way of the Shovel: Art as Archaeology traces the interest in history, archaeology, and archival research that defines some of the most highly regarded art of the last decade. Consisting almost entirely of work produced after the year 2000, The Way of the Shovel re-imagines the art world as an alternative 'History Channel' that is as concerned with remembering histories as it is with challenging their truthfulness. The exhibition is arranged according to several conceptual underpinnings. In the first strand, archaeology is considered metaphorically, with an emphasis on art that takes the form of historical, often archival, research."
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
e-flux - The Way of the Shovel: On the Archeological Imaginary in Art
artforum
vimeo: The Way of the Shovel: Art as Archaeology

Nick Drake - Bryter Layter (1970)

"With even more of the Fairport Convention crew helping him out -- including bassist Dave Pegg and drummer Dave Mattacks along with, again, a bit of help from Richard Thompson -- as well as John Cale and a variety of others, Drake tackled another excellent selection of songs on his second album. Demonstrating the abilities shown on Five Leaves Left didn't consist of a fluke, Bryter Layter featured another set of exquisitely arranged and performed tunes, with producer Joe Boyd and orchestrator Robert Kirby reprising their roles from the earlier release. Starting with the elegant instrumental 'Introduction,' as lovely a mood-setting piece as one would want, Bryter Layter indulges in a more playful sound at many points, showing that Drake was far from being a constant king of depression. ..."
allmusic
W - Bryter Layter
The Quietus: Bryter Later (reissue)
Bryter Layter
YouTube: Bryter Layter (Full) 39:39

2012 July: Nick Drake, 2013 May: Five Leaves Left.

Jane Freilicher

Crosstown View, 1978
Wikipedia - "Jane Freilicher is an American representational painter of urban and country scenes from her homes in lower Manhattan and Water Mill, Long Island. She was a member of the informal New York School beginning in the 1950s, and a muse to several of its poets and writers. Freilicher was at the center of a milieu of important New York painters and poets, including painters Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Fairfield Porter, Larry Rivers, and poets of the New York School including John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Frank O’Hara, James Schuyler. Along with Frankenthaler and Mitchell, and Nell Blaine, she was among only a handful of women artists who were exhibiting alongside their male counterparts."
Wikipedia
Jane Freilicher: Painter Among Poets: Tibor de Nagy Gallery
Poetry Magazine: Leave It to Jane by John Ashbery
Poetry Magazine: Explicit As a Star by Jenni Quilter
NYT: A Painter Amid Friends
Freilicher and Friends
amazon - Jane Freilicher: Painter Among Poets
Parrish East End Stories

2011 February: ‘A Vanguard of Friends’ - Dan Chiasson

Pangs Of the Idealist - Guest Mix By Disasterpeace

"Data Garden is a Philadelphia based journal, record label and events producer encouraging the discovery of electronic music through the windows of history, science and community. They do really cool things, like releasing all of their digital downloads as codes on artwork that can grow into living plants. They recently asked me to put together a guest mix. Here’s a 72 minute collection of songs from some of my favorite contemporary artists."
Data Garden (Video)

The Blue Angel (1930)

Wikipedia - "The Blue Angel (German: Der blaue Engel) is a 1930 film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Gerron. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Liebmann – with uncredited contributions by von Sternberg. It is based on Heinrich Mann's novel Professor Unrat ('Professor Garbage', 1905), and set in Weimar Germany. The Blue Angel presents the tragic transformation of a man from a respectable professor to a cabaret clown, and his descent into madness. The film is considered to be the first major German sound film, and brought Dietrich international fame."
Wikipedia
The Harvard Crimson
Roger Ebert
NY Times
YouTube: Marlene Dietrich - Falling in love again
YouTube: The Blue Angel 1:45:56

The Gilded Palace of Sin - The Flying Burrito Brothers (1969)

"By 1969, Gram Parsons had already built the foundation of the country-rock movement through his work with the International Submarine Band and the Byrds, but his first album with the Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin, was where he revealed the full extent of his talents, and it ranks among the finest and most influential albums the genre would ever produce. As a songwriter, Parsons delivered some of his finest work on this set; 'Hot Burrito No. 1' and 'Hot Burrito No. 2' both blend the hurt of classic country weepers with a contemporary sense of anger, jealousy, and confusion, and 'Sin City' can either be seen as a parody or a sincere meditation on a city gone mad, and it hits home in both contexts. ..."
allmusic
Wikipedia
Time for a Repress: ‘The Gilded Palace of Sin’
YouTube: Christine's Tune, Sin City, Hot Burrito #1, Wheels, Dark End Of The Street, Do Right Woman, Hot Burrito #2

2008 March: Gram Parsons, 2011 March: Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris. Liberty Hall, Texas, 1973, 2012 May: Sweetheart of the Rodeo, 2013 January: Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel, 2013 September: Flying Burrito Brothers - Live At The Avalon Ballroom 1969  

Loren Munk

Wikipedia - "The artist Loren Munk (born 1951) is primarily known for his YouTube nickname James Kalm as an uploader of videos about New York exhibitions, amongst several others. He presents himself as a maker of contemporary paintings for several decades and of cubistic paintings of urban imagery. Munk also has received accolades for his drawings and mosaics. He differs from traditional mosaic artists by the manner in which he incorporates glass into his decorative paintings. Munk's work debuted in SoHo in 1981 with a double show at J. Fields Gallery and Gabrielle Bryers. Since then, he has overseen a international career. In addition to exhibiting in Brazil, France, Germany and the United States, Munk has received national and overseas, public and private commissions. He is well represented in important collections throughout Europe, South and North America and the Middle East."
Wikipedia
Loren Munk
NYT: ‘Location, Location, Location,Mapping the New York Art World’
YouTube: Interview Clip from Who's Afraid of Red Yellow and Blue, Loren Munk at Lesley Heller Workspace

William Anastasi: Sound Works, 1963–2013

Microphone, 1963 | Tandberg Model 5 tape recorder, tape, take-up reel
"The Hunter College Art Galleries are pleased to present William Anastasi: Sound Works, 1963–2013 at The Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery. This exhibition provides an essential examination of Anastasi’s pioneering use of sound and music as part of an artistic career spanning more than fifty years. It also exemplifies the long-standing engagement The Department of Art at Hunter College has with minimal and conceptual art. William Anastasi: Sound Works, 1963– 2013 opens at a pivotal moment in the artist’s career—in the year of his eightieth birthday— and coincides with a resurgence of interest in sound-based art. This unique timing opens the door for critical discussion of the development of sound art and Anastasi’s pivotal role in its history."
William Anastasi
William Anastasi: Sound Works, 1963–2013 (Video)
William Anastasi: Installation Photograph
Brooklyn Rail
Xin Wang

For the Birds

"... More than almost any other team, the Orioles are in a state of limbo. To figure out why, and to diagnose where they should go from here, we need to consider a dizzying array of factors, including an honest evaluation of team talent and AL East competition, the incredibly opaque realm of team finances and TV deals, and the riches-to-rags-to-riches recent history that’s affected both the team’s record and bottom line."
Grantland

Michael Russem

"Metal and digital are in our blood. We learned to make books the old-fashioned way: one letter at a time. We also know how to turn on a computer. Because we've had our fingers and faces in the nitty gritty of metal type, we know that letters aren't just pictures of things. They are things. We treat things with respect. All about Michael Russem, Principal. Michael Russem grew up in North Andover, Masachusetts, before moving to Syracuse, Florence, Athens, and now Cambridge (and Florence). He spent three years working at the Press & Letterfoundry of Michael & Winifred Bixler, where he learned almost everything he knows about the minutiae of letters and spacing and pages."
The Offices of Kat Ran Press
amazon: Postage Stamps by AIGA Medalists
Eye Magazine: A century of lick and stick

A Week of Fire and Ice

"That barricades remain a brutal but effective final resort for desperate citizens was amply on display this past week, not only in Ukraine, where President Viktor F. Yanukovych appeared finally to surrender, but also in Venezuela, where the batons and tear gas of riot police officers failed to quell anti-government demonstrations, and in Thailand, where the police engaged in bloody efforts to clear sites occupied by protesters since late November. The images of fires and riot police officers pummeling demonstrators contrasted with those from Sochi of swirling skaters and daredevil skiers. But it was not all celebration in the melting snows of the Caucasus, as a few surprise results brought some kvetching not in keeping with the Olympic spirit."
NYT: A Week of Fire and Ice
Why is Ukraine in Crisis?: A Quick Primer For Those Too Embarrassed to Ask (Video)
NY Times: Ukraine
W - Ukraine
Guardian - Ukraine
CIA: Ukraine

Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe

Fortunato Depero, Skyscrapers and Tunnels (Gratticieli e tunnel), 1930
"The first comprehensive overview of Italian Futurism to be presented in the United States, this multidisciplinary exhibition examines the historical sweep of the movement from its inception with F. T. Marinetti’s Futurist manifesto in 1909 through its demise at the end of World War II. Presenting over 300 works executed between 1909 and 1944, the chronological exhibition encompasses not only painting and sculpture, but also architecture, design, ceramics, fashion, film, photography, advertising, free-form poetry, publications, music, theater, and performance. To convey the myriad artistic languages employed by the Futurists as they evolved over a 35-year period, the exhibition integrates multiple disciplines in each section."
Guggenheim
Guggenheim: Exhibition Website
NYT: In Thrall to Machines, War and a More Manly Future
amazon

Crime Jazz: How Miles Davis, Count Basie & Other Jazz Legends Provided the Soundtrack for Noir Films & TV

"When we think of film noir, we tend to think of a mood best set by a look: shadow and light (mostly shadow), grim but visually rich weather, near-depopulated urban streets. You’ll see plenty of that pulled off at the height of the craft in the movies that make up 'noirchaeologist' Eddie Muller’s list of 25 noir pictures that will endure, which we featured last week. But what will you hear? Though no one compositional style dominated the soundtracks of films noirs, you’ll certainly hear more than a few solid pieces of crime jazz. Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing, writing about Rhino’s eponymous compilation album, defines this musical genre as 'jazzy theme music from 1950s TV shows and movies in which very bad people do very bad things.'”
Open Culture (Video)

2009 January: Film noir

Frank Thiel

Berlin Untitled (Palast der Republik #21), 2006
"Frank Thiel was born in Kleinmachnow near Berlin, Germany in 1966. He moved to West Berlin, Germany in 1985 and attended a training college for photography there from 1987-1989. Thiel is widely renown for photographing the architectural spaces of Berlin, reflecting a turbulent social and political history. Thiel's monumental works are not merely documentation, but picture a city reborn after a tumultuous history."
Sean Kelly
Sean Kelly: Selected Works
Tracing Intentions
The Photography of Frank Thiel
Galeria Leme
BBC: Breathtaking Patagonian ice field photographed by German artist Frank Thiel (Video)
vimeo: A Berlin Decade

Bert Jansch / John Renbourn - Bert & John (1966)

"One of the long-standing collaborations of the British folk revival, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn's Bert and John sees the masterful Pentangle guitarists sparing together through their trademark steel-string guitar styles. Their respective solo careers established them both as leading troubadours of British Isles folk, with little debate and few peers, besides maybe Wizz Jones and Ralph McTell. On this album the duo finds good company in each other's techniques, which are quite indistinguishable in both guitar playing and singing through traditional adaptations, blues, and originals in the Anglo-folk style. The duo plays beautifully together in a candid setting."
allmusic
W - Bert & John
YouTube: Bert and John 1966 [full album]

April 2010: Bert Jansch, 2011 October: Bert Jansch (November 1943 – October 2011), 2011 September: Faro Annie, 2011 April: Cruel Sister (1970) - Pentangle, 2012 November: John Renbourn - Sir John Alot, 2013 May: The Lady and the Unicorn.

Cairo: Images of Transition. Perspectives on Visuality in Egypt 2011-2013

"Cairo: Images of Transition. Perspectives on Visuality in Egypt 2011-2013 is a publication that offers a broad range of artistic and academic works that examine the relationship between aesthetics and politics in the wake of the Egyptian revolution of January 25, 2011. With an emphasis on the political processes of 2011-2012, the book traces the shifting status of the image as a communicative tool, a witness to history, and an active agent for change."
Mikala Hyldig Dal
[PDF] Cairo: Images of Transition. Perspectives on Visuality in Egypt 2011-2013
amazon

2011 January: ‘Tomorrow, to Tahrir Again’, 2013 March: First Look: Graffiti and The Egyptian Revolution.

The New York Transit Museum: Grand by Design

"... One of the splendors of Grand Central is that its vast, majestic spaces reveal extraordinary attention to the smallest design detail. The architects brought in Parisian artist Sylvain Saliéres to craft bronze and stone carvings, including ornamental inscriptions, decorative flourishes, and sculpted oak leaves and acorns (symbols of the Vanderbilt family), including playful carved acorns festooning the Main Waiting Room’s chandeliers. The architects specified Tennessee marble for the floors, Botticino marble for wall trim, and imitation Caen stone for the walls. The Oyster Bar’s vaulted ceilings are adorned with a herringbone pattern of Guastavino tiles—like those uptown in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. On the exterior, imposing sculptures of Mercury, Hercules, and Minerva top the 42nd Street façade."
Grand by Design (Video)

2010 December: Grand Central Terminal

The Interstellar Contract

"... Recently, the composer Raphael Mostel told me that one of his colleagues, the composer, musician, and software engineer Laurie Spiegel, has intimate knowledge of the Golden Record and of the curious legal issues it raised. For a section of the disk entitled 'Sounds of Earth,' Sagan’s sonic team had chosen Spiegel’s piece 'Harmonices Mundi.' Spiegel was given a contract to sign, a copy of which she kept in her files. When I asked about it, she kindly sent me a scan of the document, which will be of interest to specialists in the obscure and complex field of Space Copyright Law, and possibly a few connoisseurs of avant-garde legal language."
New Yorker (Video)

2011 May: Laurie Spiegel, 2012 November: Laurie Spiegel - The Expanding Universe

Rosanne Cash - The River & the Thread (2014)

"Nearly eight years after Rosanne Cash last released a set of original songs, 2014's The River & the Thread finds her in a reflective mood, and just as 2009's The List saw her looking back with a set of classic songs recommended by her father, the late country legend Johnny Cash, The River & the Thread is dominated by thoughts and emotions that occurred to her as she was involved in a project to restore Johnny's boyhood home. This doesn't mean that Cash has returned to the spunky, country-accented sound of her most popular work -- this is still Rosanne Cash the mature and thoughtful singer/songwriter we've come to know since the late '90s, and the tone of this album is unfailingly literate. But though this music isn't country, it's certainly Southern, and road trips from Alabama to Tennessee, visits to the Tallahatchie Bridge and Money Street, and vintage gospel music on the radio embroider these songs as Cash immerses herself in the places that were once close to home as if she's reuniting with long lost family."
allmusic
Rolling Stone (Video)
MTV: Rosanne Cash › Music Videos (Video), Etta´s Tune
YouTube: Night School, When The Master Calls The Roll

2010 March: Rosanne Cash, 2012 January: Black Cadillac, 2012 April: "I Was Watching You"  , 2012 July: The Wheel, 2012 February: Live From Zone C.

Graffiti: 40 Years of Hacking New York City

"The title of The Museum of New York City’s latest street art retrospective  —  City as Canvas  —  seems little more than a clever name at first glance; a literal description of an art form that takes the very fabric of urban spaces — the brick and concrete of walls, the steel and plastic of subway cars — as its medium of choice. But in fact, the title is loaded with political and aesthetic connotations, and is in itself a bold statement about the legitimacy of an art form that has had a long, fraught, and troubled relationship with the city that spawned it."
Medium
City As Canvas
Martin Wong Graffiti Collection

Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Space Guitar: The Essential Early Masters

"Johnny 'Guitar' Watson was probably best known for his '70s funk incarnation, but he had been recording as early as the mid-'50s -- not as Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, but as the piano-pounding bluesman Young John Watson. Space Guitar collects Watson's sessions recorded for Federal in the mid-'50s (his first sessions as a leader) and some early-'60s sides recorded for King. As mentioned, he was billed as Young John Watson for the Federal sides, and aside from a bit of guitar on one song at his first session ('Highway 60'), Watson stuck to piano for his first two sessions. These are your typical '50s blues: upbeat and passionate with driving piano and a horn section, solid if unspectacular. It wasn't until his third session for Federal in 1954 (two days before his 19th birthday) that he strapped on the guitar as his featured instrument and cut the astonishing 'Space Guitar,' presented here with an alternate take as well."
allmusic
W - Johnny "Guitar" Watson
soulwalking
YouTube: Gettin Drunk, Cuttin' In, Motor Head Baby, Half Pint A Whiskey, Sweet Lovin' Mama, Gangster Of Love, Space Guitar

Georg Baselitz

"Gagosian London is pleased to present 'Farewell Bill,' an exhibition of new paintings by Georg Baselitz. Seeking to expand the scope of traditional representation in art, Baselitz has constantly revisited and reimagined his chosen subjects over time. In this new series, he co-opts figuration as a vehicle for expression in energized, intuitively painted self-portraits—a new approach in his persistent subversion of the painted subject. Marking a clear departure from the retrospective impulses of the Remix paintings of the past decade, these vibrant new works focus afresh on the affirmative act of painting."
Gagosian
W - Georg Baselitz
Guardian - Georg Baselitz: 'Am I supposed to be friendly?'
MoMA: 8 Engravings after Drawings from 1959 (8...1959-1973)
YouTube: The Art of Georg Baselitz - Sculptures and Paintings, Making Art after Auschwitz and Dresden

The 11 Best Classic Diners and Luncheonettes in NYC

"For a time, diner culture was dining culture in New York. And although those halcyon days have long since passed, the city's need for greasy spoons endures even if wistfulness is often an establishment's most potent spice. Convenience and reliability are the hallmarks of truly great diners, and the most resilient among them usually last thanks to a combination of nostalgia and an occasionally excellent stable of American, Eastern European, Greek, or Italian dishes. Where some see grit and grime, others recognize the smell of a well-seasoned flat top. So brush past the seemingly endless sea of kale salads and join Adam and Eve on that raft ('Adam and Eve on a raft' is diner slang for two poached eggs on toast) in search of these, our 11 best greasy spoons."
Village Voice

Small Stories - David Lynch

"Best known for his work in film, David Lynch is also a musician, designer and artist. After seducing Paris with his underground club, Silencio, two years ago, Lynch has now made a foray into the city’s art scene with his show 'Small Stories'. The exhibition, which opened January 15 at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), is far from a traditional retrospective on the life and work of a renowned artist (Lynch's work as a director includes the cult movies 'Blue Velvet' and 'Mulholland Drive' and the TV series 'Twin Peaks'). Lynch was given a 'carte blanche' by the museum, and the result is around 40 black and white photographs made especially for the show."
David Lynch's reveries on show in Paris
purple DIARY
YouTube: "Small Stories" by David Lynch

R.L. Burnside

Wikipedia - "Robert Lee 'R. L.' Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005), was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention until the early 1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, Burnside repeatedly recorded with Jon Spencer, garnering crossover appeal and introducing his music to a new fanbase within the underground garage rock scene. ... Burnside had a powerful, expressive voice and played both electric and acoustic guitar, with and without a slide. His drone-heavy style was more characteristic of North Mississippi hill country blues than Delta blues. Like other country blues musicians, he did not always adhere to strict 12- or 16-bar blues patterns, often adding extra beats to a measure as he saw fit. He referred to this rhythmic eccentricity as 'Burnside style' and recommended that backing musicians familiarize themselves with his style before playing along."
Wikipedia
allmusic
YouTube: See My Jumper Hanging On the Line (1978), Poor Boy A Long Way From Home (1978), When My First Wife Left Me (1978), Going Down South, Poor Black Mattie (1984), Let My Baby Ride, Rollin and Tumblin, R.L. Burnside & Johnny Woods - Telephone Blues, 44 Pistol, R.L.Burnside & Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Shake'em On Down, Hard Time Killing Floor, Someday Baby
YouTube: Sound Machine Groove (Full Album), A Bothered Mind (full album), A Pocket Ass of Whiskey (Full Album)

2013 March: “Dust My Broom”: The Story of a Song, 2013 September: Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads (1990).

Loot No Longer

"When France’s culture minister, Aurélie Filippetti, handed over six looted 18th-century paintings to a Boston man in March, she declared a new 'proactive approach' to tracking the original owners of recovered artworks that were stolen by the Nazis. The announcement was welcomed here and abroad as an overdue step after decades of bureaucratic resistance to returning the art in a nation scarred by the most systematic plunder of any country during World War II. But since that pledge, there has been scant evidence of change. Filippetti created two groups to study the subject and submit progress reports to her, one due at the end of the year to describe objects that can be tracked and a second due next summer. No additional funds have been earmarked for research, and no additional staff members have been hired or dedicated to this project, Thierry Bajou, the ministry official in charge of the recovery effort, acknowledged."
NYT: Loot No Longer

Thelonious Monk - Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1, Vol. 2

"Volume 1 of the two-volume Genius of Modern Music set comprises the first sessions Thelonious Monk recorded as a leader, on October 15 and 24 and November 21 of 1947. It's impossible to overstate the importance of these sessions. They include some of the earliest recordings of Monk compositions that would become standards, despite their angularity and technical difficulty: the strange, sideways chord progression of 'Thelonious'; the bouncy and cheerful but melodically cockeyed 'Well, You Needn't'; the post-bop Bud Powell tribute 'In Walked Bud'; and, of course, 'Round Midnight,' which is now one of the most frequently recorded jazz compositions ever. There are kinks to be worked out: Art Blakey's drumming is fine, but he obviously hasn't quite taken the measure of Monk's compositional genius, and on the November session, alto saxophonist Sahib Shihab employs a fat, warbly tone that sounds out of place. But the excitement of discovery permeates every measure, and Monk himself is in top form, his solos jagged and strange, yet utterly beautiful."
allmusic - Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1
allmusic - Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 2
W - Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1
W - Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 2
NPR: Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (Video)
ArtistDirect: I Mean You (Live From Salle Pleyel, Paris, France/1969) (Video), Straight No Chaser (1965), 'Round Midnight (1966)
YouTube: Genius Of Modern Music Vol. 1/'Round About Midnight~Off Minor, Genius Of Modern Music Vol.2/Humph~Straight No Chaser

2012 September: Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser, 2013 August: Five Spot Café.

Comics

Fran Krause
Wikipedia - "Comics is a visual medium used to express ideas via images, often combined with text or visual information. Comics frequently takes the form of juxtaposed sequences of panels of images. Often textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and sound effects ('onomatopoeia') indicate dialogue, narration, or other information. Elements such as size and arrangement of panels control narrative pacing. Cartooning and similar forms of illustration are the most common image-making means in comics; fumetti is a form which uses photographic images. Common forms of comics include comic strips, editorial and gag cartoons, and comic books. Since the late 20th century, bound volumes such as graphic novels, comics albums, and tankōbon have become increasingly common, and online webcomics have proliferated. The history of comics has followed divergent paths in different cultures."
Wikipedia

William Burroughs at 100

‘William S. Burroughs: A Man Within’
"William S. Burroughs, at his centenary, remains an indelible presence. His writings, ideas, and influence are everywhere still, and it is as though the man himself were hovering right alongside them. So original a public persona, as vivid as ever some two decades after his death, is hard to shake. Few mugs are as iconic. The long poker face, imposing, rarely smiling (if not quite unfriendly), comes across as self-possessed as a cat’s. When there is a smile, it’s a little surprising: a delicate and playful thing, twitchy (never toothy), suggesting the giddy ambivalence of the solitary boy before a welcoming audience. And there’s the voice, prophetic and profane, a high nasal twang issuing from the top of the throat, determined yet reedy, before resolving itself into a contented grumble of half-chewed words."
Fandor
William S Burroughs 100
Telegraph: William S Burroughs: a Life by Barry Miles, review
NPR: 100 Years Ago, Writer William S. Burroughs Was Born
William S. Burroughs at 100: Exploding Five Major Myths
100 years of William S. Burroughs: The nakedness of words
YouTube: Kathy Acker interviews William S. Burroughs - part 1/3, part 2/3, part 3/3

French Revolution Digital Archive

"The Images are composed of high-resolution digital images of approximately 12,000 individual visual items, primarily prints, but also illustrations, medals, coins, and other objects, which display aspects of the Revolution. These materials were selected from across the BnF’s departments, and include thousands of images for the important collections entitled Hennin and De Vinck. Detailed metadata exists for the images, so that researchers can search by artist, subject, genre, and place."
French Revolution Digital Archive - Stanford University Libraries
About the collections - Stanford University Libraries
Hyperallergic: 14,000 Images of the French Revolution Released Online

2009 November: The French Revolution (1789–1799)