Redux: Summer Surprised Us

"This week at The Paris Review, we’re preparing for our summer softball season and thinking about baseball and the great outdoors. Read Donald Hall’s Art of Poetry interview, as well as Tony Sanders’s poem 'The Warning Track' and Kelli Jo Ford’s short story 'Hybrid Vigor.' If you enjoy these free interviews, stories, and poems, why not subscribe to read the entire archive? You’ll also get four new issues of the quarterly delivered straight to your door. ..."
Paris Review

National liberation skirt

Wikipedia - "A national liberation skirt (Dutch: nationale bevrijdingsrok) or national celebration skirt (Dutch: nationale feestrok) is a style of skirt, handmade of patchwork and embroidery, in celebration of Dutch Liberation Day on 5 May 1945. The style was invented by resistance fighter and feminist Mies Boissevain-van Lennep. The feestrok has been described as 'a female mode of political expression ... [which] explicitly linked gender to the reconstruction of a ravaged country and the general striving for breakthrough and social renewal.' Boissevain-van Lennep had been imprisoned in 1943 for her involvement with the Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II. Soon after, a scarf was smuggled into her cell that had been constructed of textile patches of personal significance—including a piece of her first ballgown and pieces from her children's clothing. ..."
Wikipedia
Liberation skirts: how post-war upcycling became a symbol of female solidarity

Songs From the Sun Ra Cosmos - The Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra (2019)

"Garage & soul screamer Barrence Whitfield channels the Saturnian ruler of the omniverse with a soul-tripping exploration of Sun Ra favorites—from the explosive “Nuclear War” to the shimmering exotica of 'Love In Outer Space' to the Funkadelicized 'Everything Is Space.' Since the 70s, lucky concert goers have witnessed the adrenaline mainlined madness that is a Barrence Whitfield performance. That brand of madness has been captured on hundreds of feet of magnetic tape and mutated into this studio recording over 25 years in the making–which somehow manages to be at times mellow, and at others completely explosive. Barrence Whitfield has channeled the late Sun Ra and delivers what we can best assume Sun Ra would sound like if he had amphetamines kicking up his synaptic dopamine and norepinephrine concentrations in his striatum!"
sundazed
A retro-afrofuturist tribute to Sun Ra: rock and soul act Barrence Whitfield and the Savages (Audio)
bandcamp (Audio)
YouTube: Songs From the Sun Ra Cosmos 9 video

Jane Jacobs Walk

"Who was Jane Jacobs? Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building. She had no formal training as a planner, and yet her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, introduced ground-breaking ideas about how cities function, evolve and fail, that now seem like common sense to generations of architects, planners, politicians and activists. Jacobs saw cities as integrated systems that had their own logic and dynamism which would change over time according to how they were used. With an eye for detail, she wrote eloquently about sidewalks, parks, retail design and self-organization. She promoted higher density in cities, short blocks, local economies and mixed uses. Jacobs helped derail the car-centred approach to urban planning in both New York and Toronto, invigorating neighborhood activism by helping stop the expansion of expressways and roads. ..."
Jane Jacobs Walk - Who was Jane Jacobs?
Jane Jacobs Walk
An Illustrated Guide to Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs, born 100 years ago today! Celebrate with a weekend walk.
[PDF] 10 Tips for Jane Jacobs Walk Participants
YouTube: Create a Google Map for your Jane Jacobs Walk, Jane Jacobs on urban design of Toronto & Montreal circa 1969

2018 April: The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961)

Arthur Russell - Another Thought (1994)

"During his lifetime, the classically trained composer, cellist and disco artist Arthur Russell studied and performed with a wide variety of musicians and artists such as Ali Akbar Khan, Allen Ginsberg, John Hammond, David Byrne, Rhys Chatham, Jon Gibson, Peter Gordon, Jerry Harrison, Garret List, Frank Pagano, Andy Paley, Leni Pickett, and Peter Zummo. As a solo act in the 1980’s, Arthur Russell produced successes such as 'In the Light of the Miracle' and the album 'World of Echo' which incorporated many of his ideas for pop, dance and classical music for both solo voice and cello format. When Arthur Russell died in 1992 at the age of 40, the Village Voice wrote: 'his songs were so personal that it seems as though he simply vanished into his music.' The re-release of 'Another Thought' by Orange Mountain Music is a celebration of this collection of Arthur Russell songs and tribute to a great musical innovator. ..."
Holland Tunnel Dive
YouTube: Byrne, Glass, Ginsberg on Arthur Russell 'Another Thought' EPK
YouTube: Another Thought [full album] 14 videos

2015 November: Love Of Life Orchestra ‎– Extended Niceties EP (1980), 2015 September: Arthur Russell, 2017 January: Instrumentals (2007), 2017 April: The Infinite Worlds of Arthur Russell, 2018 December: The World Of Arthur Russell (2004)

How New York City Became the Epicenter of Jazz

A nighttime look at 52nd Street, former hotbed of jazz, circa 1948.
"Jazz has gone global. Just like your job, your mortgage and the cost of gas at the pump, the music now responds to global forces. As a jazz critic, I now need to pay attention to the talent coming out of New Zealand, Indonesia, Lebanon, Chile, and other places previously outside my purview. Almost every major city on the planet now has homegrown talent worthy of a worldwide audience. Yet one thing hasn’t changed on the jazz scene: New York still sits on top of the heap. Great jazz artists often don’t come from Manhattan, but they struggle to build a reputation and gain career traction if they don’t come to Manhattan. ..."
Observer (Video)

American jazz band leader and composer, Duke Ellington.

Collected Stories of William Faulkner (1950)

"Forty two short stories which reveal a much broader scope of matter and manner than the average reader expects of William Faulkner. An interesting editorial approach breaks the stories into six groups. The first, The Country, includes a number of stories set in his familiar back country area of the Deep South, regional in both character and characters. Read Shingles for the Lord for the characteristic twists of sardonic humor, the unsentimental but understanding study of the poor whites. The Village raises the level of social standing, and A Rose for Emily is a gem of perceptive handling of small town attitudes. Personally, I found The Wilderness with its very stylized Indian and frontier tales the least interesting group of the lot. The last three sections, The Wasteland with its war stories (read Victory), The Middle Ground, and Beyond show some very different facets of Faulkner, a kind of sophistication, and surprising variety of mood and tempo. An important book in the Faulkner picture, and for short story enthusiasts, it offers rich fare."
Kirkus Reviews
W - Collected Stories of William Faulkner
[PDF] NY Times: The Dark, Bright World of Faulkner (1950)
amazon

2011 September: Southern Gothic, 2014 February: William Faulkner, 2015 October: William Faulkner Draws Maps of Yoknapatawpha County, the Fictional Home of His Great Novels, 2015 November: Interviews William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12, 2016 April: Absalom, Absalom!! (1936), 2016 May: The Sound and the Fury (1929), 2016 October: The Snopes Trilogy (1940, 1957, 1959), 2016 December: Light in August (1932), 2017 February: As I Lay Dying (1930), 2017 June: The Wild Palms (1939), 2017 August: Sanctuary (1931). 2017 September: The Unvanquished (1938), 2017 October: 20 Pieces of Writing Advice from William Faulkner, 2017 November: Yoknapatawpha County, 2018 February: Go Down, Moses (1942), 2018 June: Flags in the Dust (1973)

“I stand behind DIY as an ethos and a sound”: Interpreting Carla dal Forno

"Inspired by the spare instrumentation of post-punk and revelling in ideas of voyeurism and ambiguity, Carla dal Forno’s song craft invites varied interpretation. From Blackest Ever Black to her own Kallista Records, dal Forno tells James Hammond about the independent spirit that underpins her work. Steeped in a love of post-punk, the tradition of home studio recording, and an exploration of alluring sonorities, Carla dal Forno’s solo releases (in tandem with her excellent NTS radio show) evoke an obfuscated soundworld that lets her voice move as deftly through the shadows, as it does into the foreground. ..."
Vinyl Factory (Audio)
Boiler Room: DJ Set - Carla dal Forno (Video) 46:13
Pitchfork (Audio)
Soundcloud: Carla dal Forno (Audio)
Discogs (Video)

"The Paranoid Style in American Politics" - Richard J. Hofstadter (1964)

"'The Paranoid Style in American Politics' is an essay by American historian Richard J. Hofstadter, first published in Harper's Magazine in November 1964; it served as the title essay of a book by the author in the same year. Published soon after Senator Barry Goldwater had won the Republican presidential nomination over the more moderate Nelson A. Rockefeller, Hofstadter's article explores the influence of conspiracy theory and "movements of suspicious discontent" throughout American history. The essay was adapted from a Herbert Spencer Lecture that Hofstadter delivered at Oxford University on November 21, 1963. An abridged version was first published in the November 1964 issue of Harper's Magazine, and was published as the titular essay in the book The Paranoid Style in American Politics, and Other Essays (1964). ..."
W - "The Paranoid Style in American Politics"
W - Richard Hofstadter
Harpers: "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" By Richard Hofstadter (November 1964)
NY Times: The Paranoid Style - Paul Krugman (Oct. 9, 2006)
New Republic: Trump’s Cult of Personality Takes Paranoia to the Next Level (Jan. 26, 2018)

Everton Dacres - Jah Jah Ah Come (1977)

"Monster roots from 1977. Everton Dacres, cousin to Barrington Levy and member of the Mighty Multitudes group along with Barrington, cut only a few tunes as a solo artist and this is one of them. Produced by Lloyd 'Charmers' Tyrell, issued on his LTD label."
Sounds of the Universe (Audio)
YouTube: JAH JAH Ah Come + Version Ah Come

Venezuela’s Collapse Is the Worst Outside of War in Decades, Economists Say

In Maracaibo, men searching for refuse that can be salvaged or recycled.
"MARACAIBO, Venezuela — Zimbabwe’s collapse under Robert Mugabe. The fall of the Soviet Union. Cuba’s disastrous unraveling in the 1990s. The crumbling of Venezuela’s economy has now outpaced them all. Venezuela’s fall is the single largest economic collapse outside of war in at least 45 years, economists say. 'It’s really hard to think of a human tragedy of this scale outside civil war,' said Kenneth Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard University and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. 'This will be a touchstone of disastrous policies for decades to come.' To find similar levels of economic devastation, economists at the I.M.F. pointed to countries that were ripped apart by war, like Libya earlier this decade or Lebanon in the 1970s. But Venezuela, at one point Latin America’s wealthiest country, has not been shattered by armed conflict. Instead, economists say, the poor governance, corruption and misguided policies of President Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, have fueled runaway inflation, shuttered businesses and brought the country to its knees. And in recent months, the Trump administration has imposed stiff sanctions to try to cripple it further. ..."
NY Times
***NY Times: Venezuela’s Opposition Leader Juan Guaidó May Negotiate With Maduro

An oil barge tugging Toas Island’s broken-down ferry to the mainland to fetch meager amounts of subsidized food.

2016 November: Venezuela, a Failing State, 2017 July: The Battle for Venezuela, Through a Lens, Helmet and Gas Mask, 2018 November: The Politics of Food in Venezuela, 2019 February: Venezuela’s Very Normal Revolution, 2019 March: Venezuela’s Deadly Blackout Highlights the Need for a Negotiated Resolution of the Crisis, 2019 May: Crisis in Venezuela: What We Know So Far

The Notebook of William Blake

"The Notebook of William Blake (is known also as the Rossetti Manuscript from its association with its former owner Dante Gabriel Rossetti) was used by William Blake as a commonplace book from c.1787 (or 1793) to 1818. The Notebook [Butlin #201] consists of 58 leaves and contains autograph drafts by Blake of poems and prose with numerous sketches and designs, mostly in pencil. Containing two pages of preface, alongside 94 pages of sketches, each page is approximately 159 x 197mm. The original leaves were later bound with a partial copy (ff. 62–94) of 'All that is of any value in the foregoing pages' that is Rossettis' transcription of Blake's notebook (added after 1847). At first the Notebook belonged to Blake's favourite younger brother and pupil Robert who made a few pencil sketches and ink-and-wash drawings in it. After death of Robert in February 1787, Blake inherited the volume beginning it with the series of sketches for many emblematic designs on a theme of life of a man from his birth to death. ..."
Wikipedia
British Library: Introduction (Audio)
British Library: The Notebook of William Blake
British Library: Read

2009 April: William Blake, 2010 December: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 2011 June: The Ghost of a Flea, 2012 August: Isaac Newton (1795), 2015 November: America a Prophecy (1793)

The definitive guide to Buenos Aires’ best record shops

Jarana Records
"Digging for all tastes in the Argentine capital. Few cities in South America can match the vibrant cosmopolitanism of Buenos Aires, which acts as a hub for people from all across the continent. A symbolic bridge between Latin America and Europe, Argentina’s capital presents a somewhat contradictory proposition for record buyers. With a rich musical culture leaving plenty to discover across the city, the notoriously unstable economy makes Buenos Aires a relatively treacherous place to run a business as precarious as a record shop. While it’s famous for its football, steak and myriad of architectural styles, the city’s record culture can be a littler harder to locate. Scratch below the surface though and it becomes clear that as the rock-obsessed home of tango with a party scene built for insomniacs, Buenos Aires is also an electric environment for music. One of the few cities in Latin America which still houses a record pressing plant of its own, the ‘Reina del Plata’ was one of the foremost producers of vinyl on the continent, and has retained no shortage of second-hand jewels from Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay and elsewhere. We pick out nine shops from across genres to get you started. ..."
Vinyl Factory
The Current State of Record Stores in Buenos Aires

El Agujerito

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, May 17 – 25

Before dawn on the morning of Monday the 20th, you'll find Jupiter left of the Moon and Antares farther to the Moon's lower right (for North America).
"... Saturday, May 18. Full Moon (exact at 5:11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Moon rises around sunset. After dark it hangs above the rising head of Scorpius, flooding it with moonlight. Can you see any stars of Scorpius at all? The brightest is orange Antares, about 10° below the Moon. Second brightest is Delta Scorpii, nearer the Moon. Sunday, May 19. The Moon, a day past full, forms a wide triangle with Jupiter to its lower left and Antares to its right. Monday, May 20. The bright 'star' upper right of the Moon late this evening is Jupiter. The giant planet is 40 times larger in diameter than the Moon but is currently 1,700 times farther away. ..."
Sky & Telescope

Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin (1987)

Wikipedia - "'It's a Sin' is a song recorded by English synthpop duo the Pet Shop Boys which reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in 1987, and was their third top ten in the US when it reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. ... Released in June 1987, it became the duo's second UK number one single. ... A demo of the track was first cut in 1984 with Bobby O, and the song's form in the demo remained intact to the final version, although the released production is far more dramatic. The song is a description of Tennant's Catholic upbringing and education at St Cuthbert's High School in Newcastle upon Tyne, implying that everything that is perceived to be pleasurable in life is regarded as sinful. The song uses extensive samples from Latin masses (specifically, Tennant reciting a part of the Confiteor, and other sounds recorded at locations such as Westminster Cathedral) and religious imagery throughout to reinforce the feel of the song. Tennant has said that he wrote the lyrics in 15 minutes, purging his emotions in a moment of frustration and anger. ..."
Wikipedia
It Was 30 Years Ago Today: Pet Shop Boys, It’s A Sin
Genius (Audio)
YouTube: It's A Sin, It's a Sin (live) 1991

2008 September: Pet Shop Boys, 2010 November: Pet Shop Boys - 1985-1989, 2011 January: Behaviour, 2011 May: Very, 2011 December: Bilingual, 2012 March: "Always on My Mind", 2012 August: Nightlife, 2012 September: "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes off You)", 2012 December: Release, 2013 March: Pandemonium Tour, 2013 November: Leaving, 2014 April: Introspective (1988), 2014 August: Go West, 2015 January: "So Hard"(1990), 2015 February: "I'm with Stupid" (2006), 2015 July: Thursday EP (2014), 2016 May: "Twenty-something" (2016)

Chet Baker - Italian Movies (2014)

"Before delving into the music on this collection, it's important to offer a note of caution to Chet Baker fans: Italian Movies is not a really a compilation of the trumpeter's work, so much as a series of film scores by the great composer Piero Umiliani between 1958 and 1964 on which he is featured either as a soloist or as part of the orchestra. It might better have been marketed to Umiliani fans, but it's tough to fault label Moochin' About for a little creative license when repackaging a previous issue of this music that appeared on Liuto Records -- that one was co-billed to the pair. Other than on disc three -- where Baker doesn't get to solo until track nine in the score for 1962's Smog, yet is still featured for 20 minutes -- there is plenty of him to go around as he works amid his Italian contemporaries. Despite the period, one in which his drug addiction was particularly difficult to manage, his playing is taut, muscular, and inventive throughout. His solos bear the entire strength of his phrasing signature. ... Italian Movies is handsomely packaged with iconic photos of Baker, includes full credits, and comes at a reasonable price."
allmusic
***Chet Baker: Italian Movies (Video)
Piero on Chet
Italian Movies by CHET BAKER/PIERO UMILIANI (Audio)
amazon
YouTube: Piero Umiliani & Chet Baker - Italian movies (Live)
YouTube: Chet Baker Italian Movies

I Dream of Wires

"I Dream of Wires is the incorrect title for that great documentary on modular synthesizers. It should be titled: Couldn’t Sleep Because I Read Manuals Too Late at Night and My Brain Wouldn’t Stop Patching. In the meanwhile, here is where my system is currently at (or will be when two of those modules arrive from, respectively, Poland and down in Southern California). The blank space at the bottom is, indeed, bank. Likely other modules will go before it is filled. We’ll see. ..."
disquiet: Sleepless in San Francisco
Waveshaper Media (Video)
amazon
YouTube: I Dream of Wires: The Modular Synthesizer Documentary
vimeo: I Dream Of Wires 23 Videos

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross

The Black Atlantic (1500 – 1800)
"... Into the breach has stepped Henry Louis Gates Jr., assisted by dozens of historians. His six-part series, 'The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,' beginning on Tuesday on PBS, aims to chronicle 500 years of black history. The program starts with Juan Garrido, a free black man whose 1513 expedition with Spanish explorers in Florida made him the first known African to arrive in what is now the United States, and ends with Barack Obama in the White House in 2013, a time of complexity and contradictions for black Americans. In between, Professor Gates, director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, draws on the latest scholarship to put flesh on characters like the resilient South Carolina slave girl Priscilla as well as her descendants. ..."
NY Times: Black History’s Missing Chapters
W - The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross
amazon
YouTube: The African Americans
Episode 1: The Black Atlantic (1500-1800), Episode 2: The Age of Slavery (1800 -1860), Episode 3: Into the Fire (1861-1896), Episode 4: Making a way Out of no way (1897-1940), Episode 5: Rise! (1940 - 1968), Episode 6: A More Perfect Union (1968 - 2013)

Priscilla, a Slave

When Neon Owned the Night

While neon was a fixture of cities nationwide, Las Vegas was in many ways its spiritual home. Feb. 17, 1972.
"Before evolution hit a snag, and we reverted to slouching and staring at our phones, human beings walked with their eyes up, looking at things. In the countryside, people contemplated church steeples, maple trees, clouds. In cities, they gaped at neon — and it was everything. Between the 1930s and the 1970s, neon signs were a potent American symbol for both glamour and depravity, hope and desolation. In movies, how many star-struck ingénues have gazed up at the bright lights of Broadway? How many down-and-out characters have checked into a seedy hotel and found a malfunctioning sign buzzing like a bug-zapper outside their window? ..."
NY Times

The night-as-day feel of Times Square was partly a result of neon signage. Dec. 11, 1948.

Tangled Up in Blue: Deciphering a Bob Dylan Masterpiece

"Dylan’s 'Tangled Up in Blue' strikes a middle point between his more surreal lyrics of the ‘60s and his more straightforward love songs, and as Polyphonic’s recent video taking a deep dive into this 'musical masterpiece' shows, that combination is why so many count it as one of his best songs. It is the opening track of Blood on the Tracks, the 1975 album that critics hailed as a return to form after four middling-at-best albums. ... Blood on the Tracks is one of the best grumpy, middle-age albums, post-relationship, post-fame, all reckoning and accountability, a survey of the damage done to oneself and others, and 'Tangled' is the entry point. Dylan’s marriage to Sara Lowndes Dylan was floundering after eight years--affairs, drink, and drugs had estranged the couple. Dylan would later say that 'Tangled' 'took me ten years to live and two years to write.' It would also take him two studios, two cities, and two band line-ups to get working. ..."
Open Culture (Video) 13:03
W - "Tangled Up in Blue:"
Tangled Up in Blue: Bob Dylan’s utterly transformed “Real Live” version
YouTube: Tangled Up in Blue (Live), Tangled up in Blue

An 1840s Road Trip, Captured on Lustrous Silver

Girault de Prangey’s image of the Roman Forum, viewed from the Palatine Hill in 1842.
"... In dozens of cases, that first photographer was Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey (1804-1892), a Frenchman of astonishing artistic ambition and considerable tech savvy. In 1842, three years after his countryman Louis Daguerre unveiled the world’s first practical camera, Girault set out on an epic adventure across Europe and into the Middle East, lugging custom photographic equipment that weighed more than a hundred pounds. He returned with over a thousand photographic plates, including the first surviving daguerreotypes made in Greece, Egypt, Anatolia, Palestine and Syria. ..."
NY Times
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Video)
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Five Things to Know about the Monumental Journey and Daguerreotypes of Girault de Prangey
W - Girault de Prangey
amazon: Monumental Journey: The Daguerreotypes of Girault de Prangey

Ayoucha, 1842-43

A midcentury artist’s New York from her window

New York From My Window
"Born in 1887 in Vienna, Emma Fordyce MacRae grew up in early 20th century New York—attending the private Chapin and Brearley Schools before enrolling in the Art Students League in 1911 and studying with John Sloan. She made a name for herself as a member of the Philadelphia Ten, a group of female artists who exhibited together. As the 20th century went on, MacRae married and moved to 888 Park Avenue. She apparently never stopped painting, keeping a studio at 12 West 69th Street, according to her New York Times obituary in 1974. New York From My Window was painted between 1957 and 1962. It’s a deceptively simple work depicting a streetscape under blue skies almost empty of traffic and people. What I want to know is, where exactly is the window she painted from, and what sliver of New York did this artist who should be better known immortalize? ..."
Ephemeral New York
W - Emma Fordyce MacRae
artnet

New England Coke, Gloucester

Sabroso Guaguanco Vol.8 / Vol.9

"... I have actually bought all 10 Sabroso Guaguanco compilations and I have to tell you they are a treasure. I do not doubt that some Colombians pirated this music but it does not bother me. My wife is from Cali Colombia and I just came back from a 3 week visit there. And you know what?, Colombians are crazy about this music and most recording artists from Puerto Rico that can't get work anymore in Puerto Rico because they are too old fill up concerts wherever they go in Colombia. So maybe big labels like Fania lose that don't even provide benefits for all the artists that made them rich. But Colombians keep the original artists employed when they were ignored by everyone else. I got 2tb's of music from 1 fan in Colombia and most of the music you can't even find in any format. So I thank them for keeping this beautiful music alive and giving their creators some dignity. Viva la salsa dura!! ..."
Holland Tunnel
iTunes: Sabroso Guaguancó, Vol. 9
YouTube: Sabroso Guaguancó, Vol. 8, Sabroso Guaguancó, Vol. 9

Can’t Anybody Here Speak the Language?

"... November 1, 1989. Purse your lips a moment. Leave them in a slightly protruding oval, with your jaw and your tongue too poised for a fight, of sorts, against articulation. Your hands should just follow naturally now, palms upward, in a kind of perpetual complaint against nothing in particular and everything at once, because 'Dis is New Yawk, and dat’s how yoo tawk.' There’s a sweet and singular arrogance to the sound of New Yawkese, and the very posture of its pronunciation — the tongue slack and lascivious beneath the mouth’s alveolar ridge in what one speech specialist has described as a 'vertical dialect' — offers a perfect simulacrum of its speakers and their city: the height and hard edge of it, the blend of street-smart swagger and riotous impatience that makes two words of two sentences: Jeet? Did you eat? Skweet. Let’s go eat. ..."
Voice - 7 Days: The Slow Death of the New York Accent

Éliane Radigue: Occam Ocean, Vol. 1 (2017)

"Éliane Radigue spent most of her career taming synthesiser feedback into exquisite astral sounds. Her pieces lasted for hours: grand vistas that unfolded with monumental slow grace. Now she’s into her 80s and writing her ultra-slow music for acoustic instruments, working on a roaming series of solo and ensemble pieces called Occam after the theory of philosopher William of Ockham that the simplest option is always the best. There are no scores, only verbal instructions, and nothing can move fast, so Radigue is very particular about which musicians she’ll trust to take her ethos seriously. The three featured on this album are the very best: harpist Rhodri Davies, violist Julia Eckhardt and clarinettist Carol Robinson, all stunningly adept at summoning those ephemeral overtones and partials, all masters of what Radigue calls 'the virtuosity of absolute control'. ..."
Guardian - Éliane Radigue: Occam Ocean 1 CD review – ultra-slow, ephemeral and virtuosic (Video)
Discogs (Video)
edition — a festival for other music.
soundohm (Audio)
amazon
YouTube: OCCAM OCEAN - ONCEIM (full concert) - 2015 lors du festival

2018 May: Trilogie de la Mort (1988-1993), 2018 October: The Deeply Meditative Electronic Music of Avant-Garde Composer Eliane Radigue, 2019 February: Adnos I-III

A Walk In The Woods - Mikel Rouse Broken Consort (1985)

"Mikel Rouse Broken Consort’s chamber orchestra recording A Walk In The Woods was Rouse’s most ambitious venture yet. Working with legendary engineer Martin Bisi (who recorded many of Rouse’s early works) and co-producer James Bergman, the ensemble set out to make a musical statement that would bridge the worlds of minimalism and rock in an elegant and understated recording. They certainly achieved their goal, as the recording made the New York Times Top Ten Records of 1985. This was all the more impressive as the ensemble never toured for this recording. A Walk In The Woods would also prove to be the ensembles most succesful record to date."
Bandcamp (Audio)
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: Hardfall, Winter in Wyoming

The Passionate, Progressive Politics of Julia Child

After the wild success of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” Child cultivated an apolitical mien. But, as she became more comfortable with her fame, she spoke more openly about her beliefs.
"In 1942, Julia McWilliams moved from New York to Washington, D.C., where she was hired as a file clerk at the Office of Strategic Services, the newly formed federal intelligence agency. She had been feeling at loose ends—unmarried at the decrepit old age of thirty, and nursing dashed hopes of becoming a writer. Less than a year later, she found herself stationed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where she met and fell madly in love with Paul Child, a cartographer and aesthete ten years her senior. ... The rest is the stuff of gastronomic legend: the love affair with French cuisine, and then the meandering and often tumultuous path to publishing 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'—the two-volume compendium, co-authored with Simone Beck and Louisette Berthold, that would make Julia Child the most famous French chef in the world, despite the fact that she was not a bit French, nor even (as she insisted her entire life) a proper chef. ..."
New Yorker
W - Julia Child
Julia Child: Tall Numbers for a Tall Lady (Video)
Vanity Fair: Our Lady of the Kitchen
11 Things You Didn’t Know About Julia Child
NY Times: Julia Child
WGBH (Video)
amazon: Julia Child

1961 Julia Child, I’ve Been Reading, Boston’s public television station WGBH

The Irregular Outfields of Baseball

"In most professional sports, the playing surface and goal size are the same everywhere the game is played. Hockey nets are 178 feet apart. Basketball hoops are ten feet above the hardwood. And American football fields are 100 yards long. Not when it comes to baseball fields, though. Once you leave the infield, where the pitcher's mound is always 10 inches high, and the bases are always 90 feet from each other, the major leagues have few discernible rules regarding field size or fence height. Pro ballparks come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes due to the shape of the city block on which they were built, sometimes just to add character. Just check out how much variation exists in the fence heights of all 30 stadiums across left, center, and right field. ..."
The Data Face
Clem's Baseball: Side-by-side stadium comparisons
In the Same Ballpark (Audio)
Exploring Extreme Ballparks Past

Deep Blue

Wikipedia - "Deep Blue was a chess-playing computer developed by IBM. It is known for being the first computer chess-playing system to win both a chess game and a chess match against a reigning world champion under regular time controls. Deep Blue won its first game against a world champion on 10 February 1996, when it defeated Garry Kasparov in game one of a six-game match. However, Kasparov won three and drew two of the following five games, defeating Deep Blue by a score of 4–2. Deep Blue was then heavily upgraded, and played Kasparov again in May 1997. Deep Blue won game six, therefore winning the six-game rematch 3½–2½ and becoming the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under standard chess tournament time controls. Kasparov accused IBM of cheating and demanded a rematch. IBM refused and dismantled Deep Blue. ..."
Wikipedia
Scientific American - 20 Years after Deep Blue: How AI Has Advanced Since Conquering Chess
A Brief History of Deep Blue, IBM's Chess Computer (Video)
Stanford (Video)
Kasparov vs. Deep Blue | The Match That Changed History
amazon: Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins by Garry Kasparov

2008 October: World Chess Championship 1972, 2009 January: Sicilian Defence, 2009 February: Mikhail Tal, 2009 February: Garry Kasparov, 2009 April: Vasily Smyslov, 2009 August: Chess960, 2009 November: Bent Larsen,2011 November: The Lewis Chessmen, 2012 July: 40 Years Ago Today: Chess Rivals Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky Meet in the ‘Match of the Century’, 2015 September: The Subtext Buried In Seven Great Movie Chess Scenes, 2018 December: The Last Chess Shop in New York City