James Comey’s Conspicuous Independence

"On Tuesday, when Donald Trump abruptly dismissed the F.B.I. director, James Comey, his Administration insisted that he was merely following the recommendation of his Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, the two most senior officials in the Justice Department. ... In a three-page memorandum attached to Comey’s termination letter, the Deputy Attorney General, Rod J. Rosenstein, cited concern for the F.B.I.’s 'reputation and credibility.' He said that the director had defied Justice Department policies and traditions and overstepped his authority in the way he handled the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation. ... In the aftermath of Comey’s firing, Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have proposed a far more credible explanation for Trump’s action, accusing the President of trying to halt the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian interference in the election and possible collusion with his campaign. Some of those legislators, as well as many critics in the press, have said that Trump has ignited a constitutional crisis, and they called for the appointment of an independent prosecutor to carry out the Russia investigation. ..."
New Yorker
New Yorker: Donald Trump’s Firing of James Comey Is an Attack on American Democracy
NY Times: Trump Warns Comey and Says He May Cancel Press Briefings (Video)
NY Times: The Events That Led Up to Comey’s Firing,
and How the White House’s Story Changed
NY Times: The Opinion Pages | The Trump-Russia Nexus
New Yorker: In Trump, Echoes of Nixon’s Constitutional Crisis

Richard Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre - By Jonathan Schell (November 12, 1973)
"Sixteen months ago, five men (in case anyone hasn’t heard) were caught in the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee carrying wiretapping equipment. Whom could they have been working for? The country awaited evidence. In one man’s pocket were consecutively numbered hundred-dollar bills that were soon traced to the Committee to Re-elect the President. In another man’s pockets was a notebook that contained the entry 'W.House.' One of the men turned out to be the chief of security for the Committee. It became known that a Committee counsel had planned their action. Could it have been the Committee to Re-elect the President that the men were working for? The President said he thought not. The F.B.I. thought not. The Criminal Division of the Justice Department thought not. And the public thought not. Six months passed. The men were indicted and convicted. ..."
New Yorker

John Cage Meets Sun Ra - A Modern Harmonic Industrial Film Short (1989)

"Modern Harmonic are to reissue a rare Sun Ra/John Cage recording documenting the pair’s historic encounter in June 1986, when they were brought together for a one-off concert at Sideshows By The Sea in Coney Island. Meltdown Records recorded it and released an LP of unedited concert segments the following year. Much sought after by collectors, a copy of the original LP is currently up for sale on discogs at a price just shy of £90. Described as 'full of dissonant electronics, astral flourishes, vocal experimentations and, as you’d expect from Cage, moments of profound silence', John Cage Meets Sun Ra has been remastered and expanded to a double LP for this reissue, adding 25 minutes of material to capture the full concert, as opposed to the original album’s edited version. Jazz writer and The Wire contributor Howard Mandel was in the audience and saw it happen. He contributes sleevenotes to the new edition."
The Wire
Cage, John Meets Sun Ra - The Complete Concert - CD (Video)
Pitchfork
amazon
YouTube: John Cage Meets Sun Ra - A Modern Harmonic Industrial Film Short, John Cage Meets Sun Ra - June 8th 1986 - CD or 2LP Clear Vinyl

"Caroline, No" - Brian Wilson and Tony Asher (1966)

Wikipedia - "'Caroline, No' is a song written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher. It marked Wilson's solo debut when released as a single in March 1966, peaking at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100. ... Wilson compared the song to the music of Glenn Miller and the song 'Hey Girl' (1963) as recorded by Freddie Scott, claiming that 'Caroline, No' wasn't written about anyone in specific. On another occasion, he credited the song's inspiration to an unrequited love interest from high school who happened to be named Carol. Asher had also been acquainted with a different girl named Carol; they had recently broken up when the song was written. After Wilson produced his recording, he sped it up by one semi-tone to make his voice sound younger. When the song reappeared on Pet Sounds, he added recordings of his two dogs barking and a passing train, which close the LP. ..."
Wikipedia
Psyched Master
Genius (Video)
YouTube: "Caroline, No", "Caroline, No" (a cappella)

2010 July: Pet Sounds, 2013 October: The Pet Sounds Sessions, 2016 July: Enter Brian Wilson’s Creative Process While Making The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds 50 Years Ago: A Fly-on-the Wall View

Islamic and Arab art institute opening in New York aims to challenge stereotypes

'We will do everything in our capacity to see our culture is represented and open up a cross-cultural dialogue with New York City,’ says Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani.
"Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani noticed something missing in New York City’s cultural institutions – there is the Swiss Institute, the Asia Society and the Jewish Museum, but there isn’t anything to represent Arab Muslim artists, until now. Al-Thani, who is part of the ruling family of Qatar, is opening up New York City’s first Institute of Arab and Islamic Art on 4 May. The 2,500 sq ft space will host exhibitions with Muslim and Arab artists, foster interfaith dialogue with public discussions and will be home to a new bookstore. According to Al-Thani, who is the founding director, he wanted to set straight some Muslim stereotypes. ... Even with Islamophobia and Trump’s recent Muslim ban, Al-Thani has been working towards the institute since 2014. One inspiration was Orientalism, a book about Middle Eastern stereotypes written by Palestinian American cultural critic Edward Said in 1978. ..."
Guardian
IAIA: Exhibition 1
Art In America
Institute of Arab and Islamic Art

The Pharoah Sanders Story: In the Beginning 1963-1964

"While the musical benefits Pharoah Sanders enjoyed as the direct result of his association with John Coltrane are indisputable (not to mention the instant high profile he received), it was hardly the beginning of the story. The four-disc The Pharoah Sanders Story: In the Beginning 1963-1964 may not be, either, but until we get earlier material, this fills out the saxophonist's portrait considerably. Compiled by Sun Ra Archive boss Michael D. Anderson for ESP-Disk, this first CD features two previously unreleased sessions with the Don Cherry Quintet and the Paul Bley Quartet in 1963 and 1964. Along with the music, there are separate archival interviews with all three men. ..."
allmusic
Arkiv Music
Soundhound: The Pharoah Sanders Story: In the Beginning 1963-1964

2015 December: Maleem Mahmoud Ghania With Pharaoh Sanders - The Trance Of Seven Colors (1994), 2016 January: Ptah, The El Daoud - Alice Coltrane & Pharoah Sanders (1970), 2016 November: Tauhid (1967)

verdant press

Jess, detail from Alternative cover for O!, 1959.
"This site started in 2003 [with much thanks to Denise Enck] as a way to catalog the printing and publications of verdant press, and later parenthetical press, then some collaborative work. Since then it has 200501aevolved to focus primarily on the printing and publications of the small and independent presses of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. It started with Cleveland and d.a. levy and has slowly expanded to include San Francisco and to a larger extent California as well as other lesser-known but no less important folks and their work. The site now is meant as a starting point and a checklist for reference, further reading, and research…"
verdant press

I Am Not Your Negro - Raoul Peck (2019)

"James Baldwin was one of the most important voices to document the civil rights movement. Black and gay, he was also one of the sharpest writers of his generation, with the most beautiful prose. Working from Baldwin’s unfinished 30-page manuscript Remember This House, Raoul Peck’s documentary animates his words with Samuel L Jackson’s voice, illustrating them with archive footage of adverts, interviews, newsreels, film clips (mostly from the 1930s, such as Harry Beaumont’s Dance, Fools, Dance and Mervyn LeRoy’s They Won’t Forget) and still photographs of Black Lives Matter protests. In the text, Baldwin describes wanting the lives of his friends and fellow activists Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr to 'bang against each other' as they did before their eventual assassinations. Baldwin’s words feel as urgent and articulate as ever, though Peck’s attempts to link history with present-day race relations feel a little clunky next to the elegance of the text. ..."
Guardian (Video)
NY Times: ‘I Am Not Your Negro’ Will Make You Rethink Race (Video)
W - I Am Not Your Negro
NPR: 'I Am Not Your Negro' Gives James Baldwin's Words New Relevance

Matisse in the Studio

Robert Capa
"Henri Matisse—who revolutionized 20th-century art—believed that a treasured group of objects was instrumental to his studio practice. 'Matisse in the Studio' is the first major international exhibition to examine the importance of Matisse’s personal collection of objects, offering unprecedented insight into the great artist’s creativity. See these rare pairings of Matisse’s major works with objects of inspiration in 'Matisse in the Studio' in its only US venue at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Five thematic sections—'The Object Is an Actor,' 'The Nude,' 'The Face,' 'Studio as Theatre,' and 'Essential Forms' — feature a range of works in a variety of media from different points in the artist’s career. Approximately 36 paintings, 26 drawings, 11 bronzes, nine cut-outs, three prints, and an illustrated book by Matisse are showcased alongside about 39 works from his studio collection—many on loan from private collections and publicly exhibited outside of France for the first time. ..."
MFA (Video)
amazon

2011 December: Gauguin Tahiti, 2012 May: Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia, 2014 May: Gauguin: Metamorphoses, 2015 April: Van Gogh, Manet, and Matisse: The Art of the Flower, 2016 April: Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse.

A History of Alternative Music Brilliantly Mapped Out on a Transistor Radio Circuit Diagram: 300 Punk, Alt & Indie Artists

"Lumping millions—billions!—of people together arbitrarily by their birthdates sounds ridiculous in the abstract. But when we lump together generations with clusters of pop cultural references, it always seems to give the concept flesh. A certain cohort around the world—ye olde Generation X (though fewer and fewer people probably know where that comes from)—can measure their common sensibilities by a constellation of musical references dating back to the late sixties and forward to the early oughts (whereby the runts of the bunch finally got around to having kids and mostly stopped leaving the house after dinner). ..."
Open Culture
WIRED: Let’s All Obsess Over This Intricate Map of Alt Music History
Alternative Love Blueprint - A History of Alternative Music

Singles Going Steady - Buzzcocks (1979)

"If Never Mind the Bollocks and London Calling are held up as punk masterpieces, then there's no question that Singles Going Steady belongs alongside them. In fact, the slew of astonishing seven-inches collected on Steady and their influence on future musicians - punk or otherwise -- sometimes even betters more famous efforts. The title and artwork alone (the latter itself partially inspired by the Beatles' Let it Be) have been parodied or referred to by Halo of Flies and Don Caballero, which titled its own singles comp Singles Breaking Up. As for the music, anybody who ever combined full-blast rock, catchy melodies and romantic and social anxieties owes something to what the classic quartet did here. The deservedly well-known masterpiece 'Ever Fallen in Love' appears along with 'Love Bites', 'Just Lust,' but the remaining tracks originally appeared only as individual A and B-sides, making this collection all the more essential. ..."
allmusic
W - Singles Going Steady
BBC: Singles Going Steady Review
Genius (Video)
YouTube: Singles Going Steady (Full Album) 1:15:38

Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe

"From Paris to Venice to Rome, Europe’s most iconic cities have played host to magnificent ceremonies and dramatic events—and artists have been there to record them. During the eighteenth century, princes, popes, and ambassadors commissioned master painters such as Canaletto and Panini to record memorable moments, from the Venetian carnival to eruptions of Vesuvius, inspiring what became the golden age of view paintings. This first exhibition focusing on views of historic events includes more than 40 works, many never seen before in the U.S. These paintings turn the viewer into an eyewitness on the scene, bringing the spectacle and drama of history to life."
The Getty
NY Times: ‘Eyewitness Views,’ at the Getty in Los Angeles, Illustrates History
The Getty: Book

Blanche Thomas

"Blanche Thomas was a very, very great blues singer who performed primarily with New Orleans traditional jazz groups. She played with many of the greats who would later make their names in the Preservation Hall scene. This LP Am I Blue, was released on the Nobility label, a small New Orleans label that put out many great traditional local jazz before the days of Preservation Hall. Blanche Thomas, for some reason, hasn't achieved the acclaim of a few other local singers, which is a pity. With her deep, resonant and throaty voice and great stage presence, she rightfully made a big hit with the audience. Blanche Thomas was born October 15, 1922 in Orleans Parish in New Orleans and she grew up singing. Her father, Sam Thomas, was a musician. According to Blanche, in 'the early days', he played bass and trumpet with Kid Howard and Jim Robinson. ..."
Jazz, Blues, Female Vocalists, and more...
Discogs
amazon: Dixieland Hall Presents Blanche Thomas, Am I Blue
YouTube: You Ain't So Such A Much, Papa French & Blanche Thomas --- Bald Headed Beulah, Blanche Thomas w/ Papa French & his New Orleans Jazz Band St. Louis Blues, Am I Blue

Saving the NEA Won’t Save Culture

An arts-inspired sign, painted by artist Panhandle Slim, at the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21.
"On Friday, President Trump signed into law a $1.1 trillion appropriations bill, preventing a government shutdown and bringing to an end months of debate over his controversial budget, intended 'to take an ax to government spending.' Trump’s original proposal threatened dozens of federal institutions with elimination, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. ... The premiere federal agency for arts funding in the US, the NEA has doled out one hundred thousand grants in its fifty-year existence. It has sent the Martha Graham Dance Company on tour, paid Laurie Anderson to record 'O Superman,' and assisted in the creation of the American Film Institute. It has supplied much-needed funding to K–12 arts education, supported Native American cultural exhibitions, and even helped expectant mothers compose lullabies for their babies. ..."
Jacobin
NY Times: What if Trump Really Does End Money for the Arts?
Here’s What You Can Do To Protect National Arts And Culture Funding
W - National Endowment for the Arts
The Atlantic: Who Should Pay for the Arts in America?

Yves Bonnefoy, The Art of Poetry No. 69

"Yves Bonnefoy works in a tiny apartment in Montmartre, a few steps from where he lives. His windows at the back look over a small garden, one of the few remaining parts of Montemartre that has not been built upon—a huge maple tree shades the building and the rose-covered walls. The apartment is jam-packed with books and tables, the largest of which is the poet’s desk, so crowded that it hides him almost completely from view. A small, worm-eaten statue of Sainte Barbe, 'early seventeenth-century', a Giacometti lithograph of his wife Annette, an oil painting depicting Verlaine, Rimbaud, and Mathilde Mauté (Verlaine’s wife), and photographs of Rimbaud and Baudelaire somehow find space on the walls and in niches among the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. 'I cross the road every morning to try and work here quietly,' he explains. ..."
The Paris Review
amazon: The Arrière-Pays

How Radical Can a Portrait Be?

Rico Gatson’s 'Nina,' from 2007, is on display at the Studio Museum in Harlem as part of 'Icons,' a solo exhibition of the artist’s recent works on paper.
"In March, I went to see the first Biennial to be held at the Whitney’s new building downtown, near the Hudson and the High Line, with an artist friend whom I knew to be the best kind of museum companion—entirely comfortable with splitting up until the end of the visit. We took the elevator together between floors but were otherwise invisible to one another until, after an hour or so, we left the exhibition and started to walk. As we went, my friend expressed his disappointment with the show. It wasn’t that the work was uniquely bad or ill chosen. ..."
New Yorker

Claude Monet, Tulip Fields at Sassenheim (1886)

"In 1886, Monet was invited by a French diplomat to visit Holland’s famous tulip fields. The artist was concerned that the 'poor colors' of modern oil paint might not effectively convey the fields’ vibrant hues. In the foreground of this view, the flowers are painted with thick, parallel strokes of bright red, yellow, violet, and cream, the colors glowing in the sunlight beneath a brilliant blue sky. Sterling Clark bought the work directly from the private collection of Monet’s dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, in 1933."
Clark Art

Fela Anikulapo Kuti & Afrika 70 - Yellow Fever (1976)

"... Yellow Fever was the nickname Lagosians gave to traffic wardens, and Kuti borrowed the expression to describe and decry the fashion among Nigerian women for skin-whitening creams. The song is about cultural identity. Kuti cites skin whitening as an example of the post-colonial, cultural inferiority complex he believed was holding back the country’s development: skin whitening was not only harmful to beauty and health, it was also damaging to women’s psyches. The lyric addresses women much as 1973’s Gentleman addressed men, urging them to take pride in their own culture rather than aping their recently departed colonial masters. ..."
The Vinyl Factory
Mixcloud: Golden Collection
YouTube: Golden Collection 56:16

Mingus at the Bohemia - Charles Mingus (1955)

Wikipedia - "Mingus at the Bohemia is an album by Charles Mingus, recorded during a live concert at the Café Bohemia on 23 December 1955. Further recordings from the concert were released under the title The Charles Mingus Quintet & Max Roach. ... Mingus at the Bohemia fixed a moment in time where Mingus found his musical identity. The first song, 'Jump, Monk' is a tribute to Thelonious Monk. Mingus tried to simulate with his bass play the dance like movements of the great musician. This composition is described by Mingus as 'a profile of Monk', not a complete picture of the man but a side view or one aspect of a complex personality. ..."
Wikipedia
W - Café Bohemia
amazon, iTunes
YouTube: Mingus at the Bohemia 1:04:43

The Alternative Facts of Samuel Beckett’s “Watt”

"In the summer of 1942, Samuel Beckett and his partner Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil fled their apartment in the German-occupied city of Paris. After more than a month on the run, including stints sleeping in parks and hiding in trees from Nazi patrols, they wound up in the town of Roussillon d’Apt, in the unoccupied zone. The couple had reason to fear for their lives. In Paris, both had been active members of a Resistance cell known as Gloria, which was compromised by the Nazis. Numerous members of the cell were arrested by the Gestapo, including Beckett’s close friend Alfred Péron, who was interrogated and eventually sent to Mauthausen concentration camp, in Austria. He died two days after the camp was liberated, in 1945. ..."
New Yorker
The Atlantic - 'You Begin to Breathe Again': Samuel Beckett's Humor as a Coping Mechanism
W - “Watt”
NY Times: One Man's Universe (January 21, 1959)
[PDF] Watt

2009 November: Samuel Beckett, 2010 April: A Piece of Monologue, 2011 June: Film (1965) - UbuWeb, 2012 March: “fathoms from anywhere”, 2017 April: Krapp's Last Tape (1957)

As French Elections Nears, So Does a Step Into the Unknown

"France’s presidential election on Sunday has already broken all kinds of barriers in a country whose politics seemed frozen for decades. The two candidates are outsiders. The political establishment has been elbowed aside. The tone of the race between the insurgents has shocked many for its raw anger and insolence. Then, barely an hour before the official close of campaigning at midnight Friday, the staff of the presumed front-runner, Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old former investment banker, announced that his campaign had been the target of a 'massive and coordinated' hacking operation. Internal emails and other documents, some real, some fake, according to the campaign, were posted on 4chan, an online message board favored by white nationalists, in an apparent effort to aid his rival, Marine Le Pen, 48, the far-right leader. ..."
NY Times
NY Times: U.S. Far-Right Activists Promote Hacking Attack Against Macron
**NY Times: Macron, Well Ahead of Le Pen, Is Poised to Be President of France
**NY Times: Results of the French Presidential Election
**Jacobin: X-Ray of a Shattered Vote


2017 February: France, Without a Struggle, Is at a Loss, 2017 April: France Rebels, 2017 April: How the Election Split France

Bert Jansch - Avocet (1979)

"1979 might not initially appear to be a vintage year for Bert Jansch, the perennially influential and innovative acoustic guitarist and proponent of the complex, counterpoint-heavy guitar style known as folk baroque. It was over a decade since he'd made a name for himself as a Beat-influenced troubadour and progenitor of fiery folk-jazz hybrids as a member of Pentangle, and though still loved by a coterie of musicians and journalists unaffected by the politically-charged trad scene of the time, he was struggling to maintain a career as a performing artist. Though it was at this time that he released Avocet, an ornithologically-themed instrumental album centred around one side-long composition. Now lovingly released by Earth Recordings, this album sees Jansch at the height of his compositional powers. ..."
The Quietue
W - Avocet
amazon
YouTube: Avocet 36:22

April 2010: Bert Jansch, 2011 October: Bert Jansch (November 1943 – October 2011), 2014 February: Bert Jansch / John Renbourn - Bert & John (1966), 2014 May: L.A. Turnaround (1974), 2016 February: Don't You Be Afraid To Lie By Me: The Strange World Of... Bert Jansch

The Trumpcare Disaster

Protesters watched on Thursday as Republican members of the House started to head by bus to the White House to celebrate their passage of a health care bill.
"The House speaker, Paul Ryan, and other Republicans falsely accused Democrats of rushing the Affordable Care Act through Congress. On Thursday, in a display of breathtaking hypocrisy, House Republicans — without holding any hearings or giving the Congressional Budget Office time to do an analysis — passed a bill that would strip at least 24 million Americans of health insurance. Pushed by President Trump to repeal the A.C.A., or Obamacare, so he could claim a legislative win, Mr. Ryan and his lieutenants browbeat and cajoled members of their caucus to pass the bill. Groups representing doctors, hospitals, nurses, older people and people with illnesses like cancer opposed the bill. ..."
NY Times
Common Dreams - 'God Have Mercy on Your Souls': GOP Passes Cruel, Destructive Trumpcare Bill
NY Times: House Passes Measure to Repeal and Replace the Affordable Care Act (Video)
‘Unspinnably dumb’: GOP strategist explains why Trumpcare 3.0 is an unprecedented political disaster
NY Times: Who Wins and Who Loses in the Latest G.O.P. Health Care Bill
NY Times: The New Study That Shows Trumpcare’s Damage

New Left

Wikipedia - "The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of educators, agitators and others who sought to implement a broad range of reforms on issues such as civil rights, gay rights, abortion, gender roles, and drugs, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist approach to social justice and focused mostly on labor unionization and questions of social class. Sections of the New Left rejected involvement with the labor movement and Marxism's historical theory of class struggle, although others gravitated to variants of Marxism like Maoism. In the United States, the movement was associated with the hippie movement and anti-war college-campus protest movements including the Free Speech Movement. In Australia, the New Left was engaged in debates concerning the legitimacy of Heterodox economics and political economy in tertiary education. ..."
Wikipedia
Guardian - A life in politics: New Left Review at 50
Discover the Networks
A BRIEF HISTORY OF NEW LEFT REVIEW 1960-2010

 Racist taunts stir up ancient pains in Boston

"Racism is a wound that’s difficult to cauterize even though it already burns. Just when Boston felt it had gotten the bleeding under control, the wound has been re-opened, gushing disappointment, anger, disbelief, and defensiveness. The news that Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones was subjected to racial epithets at Fenway Park on Monday during the Orioles 5-2 victory over the Red Sox put a city with a checkered racial past — on and off the field — back on the defensive. That’s the problem. The immediate reaction of some folks at Jones saying he was 'called the N-word a handful of times' at Friendly Fenway was to demand proof. There was a sense of fatigue that racism remained an issue that had to be dealt with and seething that an entire people could be painted in a derogatory fashion with such a broad brush. Welcome to the world of anyone who has ever been discriminated against. That’s exactly how those on the receiving end of racist taunts feel. It doesn’t feel good, does it, Boston? ..."
Boston Globe
The Nation:  MLB and Boston Sports Fans Have to Stand Up to Racism in the Stands
The Guardian: Some Red Sox fans just don't know Boston's racist history (Video)
WBZW: Boston sports struggle with perception built on racist past
NY Daily News: Orioles’ Adam Jones says Red Sox fans called him N-word, threw bag of peanuts at him
What Happened to Adam Jones Isn’t Just a Boston Problem
NY Times: Red Sox Fans Give Adam Jones a Standing Ovation at Fenway
USA Today: Orioles' Adam Jones berated by racist taunts at Fenway Park (Video)
YouTube: Adam Jones discusses racists taunts by Red Sox fans at Fenway Park

2017 April: Baseball color line

P-Funk mythology

Wikipedia - "The P-Funk mythology is a group of recurring characters, themes, and ideas primarily contained in the output of George Clinton's bands Parliament and Funkadelic. This 'funkology' was outlined in album liner notes and song lyrics, in addition to album artwork, costumes, advertisements, and stage banter. P-Funk's 'Dr. Seussian afrofunk' is often cited as a critical component of the Afrofuturism movement. Main article: Parliament-FunkadelicGeorge Clinton's space-age mythology began to emerge with the release of Funkadelic's self-titled debut album in 1970. Later that same year, Parliament released their debut album Osmium. Clinton's cosmology was largely absent from the latter release, and it took longer to blossom in Parliament's output. Generally speaking, Parliament was a dance-oriented band, while Funkadelic was more serious and psychedelic. ..."
Wikipedia
Can You Get to That? The Cosmology of P-Funk (Video)
Funk Folks! (George Clinton's Characters & Mythology of P-Funk) (Video)
The Mothership Connection: Mythscape and Unity in the Music of Parliament

2009 January: George Clinton, 2010 December: Mothership Connection - Houston 1976, 2011 October: Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove, 2011 October: "Do Fries Go With That Shake?", 2012 August: Tales Of Dr. Funkenstein – The Story Of George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic, 2015 July: Playing The (Baker's) Dozens: George Clinton's Favourite Albums, 2015 August: Chocolate City (1975), 2016 February: Maggot Brain - Funkadelic (1971), 2016 June: P-Funk All Stars - Urban Dancefloor Guerillas (1983), 2017 March: Up for the Down Stroke - Parliament (1974).

Meredith Monk - Piano Songs (2014)

"Meredith Monk's Piano Songs consists of pieces or other material dating from 1971 to 2006, originally composed for voice or conceived with aspects of song at their core. Yet writing for two pianos presented Monk with many possibilities, and she didn't always rely on song structure as her model. This ECM New Series release by Ursula Oppens and Bruce Brubaker shows how strongly Monk was influenced by the minimalism of the 1970s, because the kinetic patterns of Obsolete Objects, Folkdance, Tower, Railroad, Window in 7's, and Totentanz create their content and define the form. Even such song-like pieces as Ellis Island, Urban March, Paris, and Parlour Games have active patterns that move the music along, though at a more moderate pace. ..."
allmusic
W - Piano Songs
amazon
YouTube: Piano Songs (full album) 47:08

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, 2012 December: Turtle Dreams, 2013 February: Quarry: The Rally (Live, 1977), 2014 November; 10 Things You Might Not Know About Meredith Monk, 2015 April: Volcano Songs (1994), 2015 June: Ellis Island, 2016 April: 16 Millimeter Earrings and the Artist’s Body (1966/1998), 2016 December: Beginnings (2009), 2017 February: Book of Days (1988).

Skeleton Crew - Learn to Talk / Country of Blinds (1990)

Wikipedia - "Learn to Talk / Country of Blinds is a CD compilation album by United States experimental rock and jazz band Skeleton Crew. It was released by RecRec Music in 1990 and comprises the band's two studio albums, Learn to Talk and The Country of Blinds, with two tracks omitted from the former album, and one track omitted from the latter. In 2005 Fred Records reissued the compilation on a double CD, omitting only one track from The Country of Blinds, and adding ten live tracks taken from the band's North American and European tours, nine of which were previously unreleased. This reissue was dedicated by Fred Frith to Tom Cora, who died in 1998: 'Dedicated to the memory of Tom Cora – dear friend, master musician and enthusiastic co-conspirator.' ..."
Wikipedia
ReR
All About Jazz
amazon
YouTube: The Hand That Bites, Sparrow Song, Que Viva/ Onward and Upwards, Los Colitos/ Life At The Top, We're Still Free, It's Fine, The Border, Killing Time

The San Francisco Earthquake

The San Francisco Earthquake, vol. 1, no. 1 (Fall 1967). Cover collage by Norman O. Mustill.
"We should have named it Earthquake, plain and simple. But we were in love with San Francisco, with the city as it was then in the mid-1960s. It’s not for nothing that the first issue, published in the fall of 1967, began with a swooning LSD-flavored prose poem, 'First Evening in San Francisco.' The poet was a New Yorker, though: Jim Brodey. The second poem, 'I’m Hunger,' was by Debi Ray. He lived in India. The third piece was an anarchist manifesto, 'Intro to Provo,' by Roel van Duyn. He was Dutch. Experimental texts by William S. Burroughs were the heart and soul of the magazine through the entire run of five issues. Burroughs lived in London. ..."
From a Secret Location
The Summer of Love - Magazine as Seismograph By Jed Birmingham
Jan Herman’s The San Francisco Earthquake and Norse Centennial Update
MEMORIAL FOR MARY, AU REVOIR

Lichtenstein and the Art of Letters

"When I started reading Marvel comic books in the 1970s, I was baffled by the lettering. While it didn’t appear to be typeset, the dialogue, narration, and sound effects looked too perfect to be done solely by hand. I was sure that the letterers must have had some help — maybe a weird mechanical device controlled their fingers as they worked. How else, I thought, could they form the thousands of words in a comic book’s balloons and caption boxes with such precision and consistency? Years later I learned — with some amazement, and a little disappointment — that no strange machines were involved. Letterers typically used a plastic 'Ames Guide,' T-square, and pencil to create reference lines for words inked freehand. Like the artists who drew a comic’s pictures, letterers worked on pages much larger than the book’s printed size. When the original art was photographed and reduced during production, guide lines and other imperfections vanished, leaving behind only the letterer’s calligraphy. ..."
The Comics Journal

2012 July: Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, 2013 December: Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Donates Shunk-Kender Photo Trove

Clea - Lawrence Durrell (1960)

"In Clea (1960) we finally gain a true sequel to the story thus far. Darley narrates again, but a wiser Darley than when last heard from. With the passing of years he has had ample time to reflect; he’s a hermit still, raising the child in comfortable solitude. War is upon the world and it is only with a summons from Nessim that he returns to a much different Alexandria (though still unchanged in the essentials), hoping to at last exorcise its hold over him. Clea’s function in the narrative is as a clearing of the board, an attempt to set in order all the lives flung about by the earlier events. The triumph is not of truth (as Henry James said, 'the whole of anything can never be told') but of pragmatism. It functions as a book-length epilogue – the 'story' and its finale have already been told and retold. This is 200 pages of who gets hitched, who dies and who moves away. With Justine and Mountolive as two impeccable dramatic narratives, Clea pairs off with Balthazar as a series of disconnected sketches meant to fill in the blanks with further guesswork. ..."
Pseudo-Intellectual Reviews
Spoiler, Or, A Reckoning with Sentimental Habits By Way of Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet
W - Clea
NY Times

2011 December: The Alexandria Quartet - Lawrence Durrell, 2013 September: Villa that inspired Lawrence Durrell faces demolition, as Egypt allows heritage to crumble, 2014 August: Prospero’s Cell (1945), 2015 April: Bitter Lemons (1953–1956), 2015 May: Caesar's Vast Ghost: Aspects of Provence, 2016 July: Reflections on a Marine Venus (1953), 2016 September: The Greek Islands, 2016 October: Justine (1957), 2017 February: Balthazar (1958), 2017 April: Mountolive (1958)

NY77: The Coolest Year In Hell (2007)

"Punk, disco, hip hop, the blackout, Son of Sam, Tony Manero, CBGB, Studio 54, Max’s Kansas City, Show World, Paradise Garage, cocaine, polyester and leather—1977 in New York City was exhilarating, a nightmare, fun, dangerous and never boring. It was the year I arrived in downtown Manhattan with a beautiful woman, no money and a rock and roll band. I hit the streets running and never looked back…unless it was to watch my back. I was living in the decaying Hotel Earle in the West Village when NYC went black. The power failure of July 13, 1977 knocked the city to its knees. I was sitting on the window sill of my room keeping cool or as cool as one could keep during a sweltering summer night in the city. ..."
New York City in 1977: A beautiful rock and roll hellhole
W - NY77: The Coolest Year In Hell
“NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell”: Creation from NYC’s July 13-14, 1977 blackout chaos (Video)
YouTube: NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell 1:40
YouTube: NY77: The Coolest Year In Hell 1:22:52

Birch Book - Fortune & Folly, Vol. II (2006)

"Recorded on San Juan Island off the rugged coasts of the Olympic Northwest, Fortune & Folly is the fitting second volume of Birch Book. Assuming the allegorical emblems of The Wheel of Fortune and The Traveling Fool, Fortune & Folly distill the introspections of a perennial rambler reckoning 'the Bitter and the Bliss' of The Road Less Traveled. Drifting away from the overtly psychedelic, medieval, and soporific atmosphere which typified In Gowan Ring, B'ee displays a more organic, individualistic approach to songwriting. Fortune & Folly blends elements of idiosyncratic folk-pop and outcast-country with brooding layers of sound and sense, yielding a spectral ethereality in a captivating chiaroscuro thick with the visionary allusions of a haunted wanderer bent upon a mythic path.... Favorable comparisons are commonly drawn with classics such as Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake as well as contemporary 'rural-folk' such as Will Oldham and Iron & Wine. ..."
The Lighthouse Keeper
Spotify
YouTube: Young Souls, The carnival is empty, Zephyr through Willows, Diaspora, Stray Summer Song, The Trip Goes On

Defunkt/Thermonuclear Sweat - Defunkt (2005)

"Defunkt/Thermonuclear Sweat is the pairing of the first two albums by Joseph Bowie's all-star jazz-funk group, Defunkt, which included such luminaries as Vernon Reid, Kelvyn Bell, Kim Clarke, Kenny Martin, Melvin Gibbs, and others. Defunkt (1980) picked up an aesthetic first put forth by Miles in the mid-'70s, and Ornette Coleman's Prime Time in the late '70s, with the latter adding the hot-foot whomp of James Brown, the tune sparking the fire of Prince and the Downtown New York scene's outsider vision. The formula was refined and perfected in 1982 with the issue of Thermonuclear Sweat, where Bowie's trombone and vocals added more 'song' to the groove: the effect was devastating. Defunkt was and is a place where vanguard jazz, hard funk, street savvy, soul, and assaultive rock & roll all blend together in a pool of sheer musical abandon and hedonistic glee. This double-disc package has been augmented with bonus tracks, no less. ..."
allmusic
Culture Catch
W - Defunkt
amazon, Spotify
YouTube: Illusion (Live), Make Them Dance (Live)
YouTube: Defunkt, Strangling Me With Your Love Revisited [live 1983], Razor's Edge 12" Version, Make Them Dance, Blues, Believing In Love, Illusion, Cocktail Hour (blue Bossa), Melvin's Tune, Ooh Baby, Thermonuclear Sweat, Big Bird (au Private), Avoid The Funk

The past lives of the “bunker” on the Bowery

"The first people to hang out at the red brick, Queen Anne–style building that opened in 1885 at 222 Bowery were working-class men. At the time, the Bowery was a cacophonous circus of vaudeville theaters, beer gardens, pawnbrokers, rowdies, and streetcars all under the screeching rails of the Third Avenue elevated train. Much of New York loved this, of course, and lots of men flocked there, living in the five-cent hotels or in doorways. Reformer Jacob Riis estimated their numbers at more than nine thousand. ... By the time 222 Bowery was turned back into a residence in the late 1950s, more artists and writers came, like Mark Rothko, who painted his Seagram murals in the former gymnasium. Fellow abstract artists James Brooks and Michael Goldberg (his 'Bowery Days' painting, at left) moved in too, as did poet John Giorno. Andy Warhol held parties there. Allan Ginsberg and Roy Lichtenstein spent time at 222 as well. It was William S. Burroughs (right, with Joe Strummer inside 222 Bowery in 1980) who dubbed the building the Bunker. ..."
Ephemeral New York
‘Don’t Wait For Anything’: Dinner With John Giorno, and the Ghost of Burroughs
Inside William Burroughs's Bowery Apartment
John Giorno’s Half-Century on the Bowery
NY Times: Streetscapes/222 Bowery, Between Spring and Prince Streets; The 1885 Young Men's Institute, Now a Loft Co-op
YouTube: 222 Bowery

John Sloan, "Night Windows" (1902)

"In 1904, John Sloan married Anna 'Dolly' Wall and the couple moved from Philadelphia to New York, settling in Chelsea. The neighborhood had a shabby bohemian quality that appealed to them. According to Sloan’s second wife, Helen Farr Sloan, the artist first conceived of the etching series called New York City Life as he pounded the pavement in search of illustration work in Manhattan. ... The New York City Life series included thirteen etchings in all. Sloan completed the first ten between 1905 and 1906 and added three more between 1910 and 1911. As a set, they demonstrate Sloan’s ability to narrate anecdotal aspects of urban life. Night Windows, from 1910, depicts just the sort of scene Sloan might have observed from his apartment window.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art