Fairfield Porter: Raw—The Creative Process of an American Master

"Fairfield Porter (1907–1975) was an artist and critic whose works were grounded in the real world during years when abstraction largely dominated American art. Described as a reticent realist, he painted the world immediately surrounding him: his family, his friends, his studio, and his homes in Spruce Head Island, Maine, and Southampton, New York. This exhibit of thirty-nine works, many of them unfinished, reflects on his working method and creative process. In 1949 Fairfield Porter established his home and studio on South Main Street in Southampton, where he lived until his death in 1975. Four years later some 250 works were given to the Parrish by his widow Anne. The bequest included, in addition to major paintings and important works on paper, a large number of works in various states of completion, including a sketchbook, unstretched paintings on canvas that had been stored by the artist rolled-up, and many paintings on various kinds of boards. ..."
Middlebury College Museum of Art (Audio)
Parrish Art
amazon

Calverton, 1954

2008 May: Fairfield Porter, 2010 June: Fairfield Porter - 1, 2011 August: "Respect For Things As They Are" - by John Ashbery, 2013 March: "The Great Spruce" by Alex Carnelevale, 2013 July: In Fairfield Porter / James Schuyler country: Penobscot Bay, Maine

Doin' Allright - Dexter Gordon (1961)

"From the first track of this record—in Blue Note's 45rpm double-disc reissue series—tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon certainly seems to be doing just fine. That opener, 'I Was Doing All Right,' lilts along with a nice 'n' easy, early 1960s treatment of an insistently positive George Gershwin melody. Gordon doesn't rush his solo, but allows it to intensify naturally from the surrounding breeze. He explores the entire range of his instrument, allowing his pace to ebb and flow while never jettisoning himself from the track of comfortable swing. Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard enters on—and retains—a brasher course, slashing through a stream of jagged, harmonic lines. Pianist Horace Parlan goes farther afield, injecting the tune with some passing abstract figures. ..."
All About Jazz
W - Doin' Allright
Discogs (Video)
amazon
YouTube: Doin' Allright 40:57

2014 April: Night in Tunisia, Whats new, Blues Walk (Holland, 1964), 2015 May: Our Man in Paris (1963), 2015 August: Ballads, 2016 June: One Flight Up (1964)

The painter who captured the soul of New York

Eighth Street Macdougal Alley
"New York right now feels like it’s at a crossroads. People are fearful of walking the streets with the threat of a virus literally in the air. Subway problems, homelessness…the city doesn’t always seem to be working. To restore your faith in Gotham, take a look at these paintings by Alfred S. Mira, whose vivid street scenes of the 1930s and 1940s city capture the life, passion, and activity inherent in New York’s soul. Mira wasn’t a native New Yorker. Born in Italy in 1900, he came to New York as a boy with an 'insatiable desire to draw,' as he put it. ..."
Ephemeral New York
Ephemeral New York: A Village painter’s dynamic 1930s street scene
artnet

St. Bartholomew's New York City, 1943

60-Minute Gourmet - Pierre Franey

"ALMOST all the recipes that have run in the 60-Minute Gourmet over the years have been innovations of one sort or another. Some were pure creations, dishes that were not based on anything I had read about or dined on before; they were stimulated instead by a particular occasion or an item of food that was on hand. Others have been improvisations, coming from dishes that I have either heard about or recall from my travels here and abroad. Still others are reproductions of dishes that I first cooked as a professional chef or have known about since childhood. ..."
NY Times: By Pierre Franey (Sept. 29, 1982)
NY Times: Parmesan! Crusted! Chicken! (May 1, 2020)
amazon

Crispy frico chicken with mushrooms and thyme.

Coronavirus Live Updates: Daily Death Toll Will Nearly Double by June, Trump Administration Models Predict

"The Trump administration projects about 3,000 daily deaths by early June. As President Trump presses for states to reopen their economies, his administration is privately projecting a steady rise in the number of cases and deaths from the coronavirus over the next several weeks, reaching about 3,000 daily deaths on June 1, according to an internal document obtained by The New York Times, nearly double from the current level of about 1,750. The projections, based on government modeling pulled together in chart form by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, forecast about 200,000 new cases each day by the end of the month, up from about 25,000 cases now. The numbers underscore a sobering reality: While the United States has been hunkered down for the past seven weeks, significant risks remain. And the reopening to the economy will make matters worse. ..."
NY Times (Video)

Tonspur: Artists in Isolation Live

"A live improvised performance, direct from the studio, at the invitation of Tonspur Kunstverein Wien. Tonspur set up a series of live performances by different artists to present their work in these challenging times. I performed a live set, then answered questions from the audience online, and finished with an encore. This film features only the musical aspects of this event. Please tune into http://www.tonspur.at to enjoy the full work if you want to listen to my rambling on and to admire my now long hair. Many thanks to Georg Weckwerth and Hannah Schwegler who enabled this to happen, and everyone out there who tuned in. ..."
YouTube: Tonspur: Artists in Isolation Live 03 May 2020

2012 October: Scanner, 2015 December: Robin Rimbaud (Scanner), 2017 September: The Great Crater (2017), 2018 January: Podcast 523: Scanner, 2019 September: scanner - Unearthly Powers (2019)

Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail

"The Admiralty has just declassified a recent report on Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail, the document in question reveals details about the Campaign. This is the campaign map, an illustrated replica of a real historical region. Here players maneuver their fleets to engage the enemy or otherwise explore. In Ultimate Admiral, the campaign is divided into regionally distinct chapters. Each chapter traverses a region of European or American waters and consists of multiple battles, events, and other points of interest. Every chapter has multiple stages, or turns measured one month at a time. The game world is updated after every stage, repopulating the map with new challenges and opportunities for the player to tackle. ..."
game play - Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail - Campaign Guide
Take command in a realistic simulator with hardcore gameplay (Video)
STEAM $ (Video)
YouTube: AMERICAN CAMPAIGN - Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail - FIRST LOOK!, ULTIMATE ADMIRAL: AGE OF SAIL - First Extended Gameplay Footage and Website Live!!!. Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail Early Access - Let's Play Part 1: Horatio Nelson's Antiles War

Paris c’est l’Afrique: The Pioneers (episode 1)

"The documentary series Paris c’est l’Afrique by Philippe Conrath has resurfaced from oblivion. As of today, PAM will share a weekly dose of the cult film via our YouTube channel. Episode 1: 'The Pioneers'. It is truly a remarkable documentation. Sending you back to a time, when the French capital Paris was both the bridge for African music in the West, and the crossroads at which most of the continent’s artists would pass through (Mainly French-speaking, but not limited to). ... Almost all of the greats feature here on screen, thirty years younger, at a time when their careers were flourishing. The passage of time has made these images even more moving, and all the more interesting given that we now know how much the music and its authors have evolved since. ..."
Pan African Music (Video) 25:33

Baseball: Part 6: The National Pastime

Joe DiMaggio
"1940s Of Rations and Spoils. Feast and famine was never more defined within baseball than in the 1940s. After a few glorious years to start the decade, the major leagues had to play it lean, leaner and leanest through 1945 as America diverted all of its resources to winning World War II. ... World War II stripped many of the game’s greats of up to four years of their prime in baseball. If not for armed conflict, Ted Williams—arguably the best pure hitter the game has ever seen—might have finished his career with 3,200 hits and 650 home runs. ..."
This Great Game
PBS: Part 6: The National Pastime (Video)
This Great Game: 1941 56, .406 and Dem Bums
W - Baseball color line
This Great Game: 1948 The Greatest Show in Cleveland
“Reese & Robbie”

Jackie Robinson
W - Branch Rickey, W - Ted Williams, W - Joe DiMaggio, W - Jackie Robinson, W - Bob Feller, W - Pee Wee Reese, W - Enos Slaughter, W - Minnie Miñoso
W - All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, League of Women Ballplayers
W - All Star Baseball, Ethan Allen, Cadaco-Ellis, and All-Star Baseball, Baseball's Ethan Allen: The Original Spin Doctor, All Star Baseball DISCS
YouTube: Jackie Robinson Breaks the Color Barrier, Joltin Joe DiMaggio!, Will We Ever See Another .400 Hitter?, Batting with Ted Williams from 16mm film, JOE DiMAGGIO TALKS ABOUT HIS 56-GAME HITTING STREAK AND HOW IT ENDED, Red Barber on Jackie Robinson, Jackie Robinson Steals Home, The Jackie Robinson Story (1950) - Full Length Biography 1:16:49
World Series: 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949

Ted Williams

Honest Trailers - Every Wes Anderson Movie

"Every Wes Anderson Movie is the 237th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr and Dan Murrell. It parodies the 8 films directed by Wes Anderson from the 1996 American crime-comedy film Bottle Rocket to 2014 American comedy film The Grand Budapest Hotel. In addition to regular narrator Jon Bailey, it features the voice debut of Ted Evans, impersonating Alec Baldwin. It was the first ever career retrospective episode of Honest Trailers. It was published on March 20, 2018, to coincide with the theatrical release of Wes Anderson's film Isle of Dogs. It is 6 minutes 59 seconds long. It has been viewed over 2.2 million times. ..."
Honest Trailer
YouTube: Honest Trailers - Every Wes Anderson Movie

2013 November: Wes Anderson Honors Fellini in a Delightful New Short Film, 2013 November: Rushmore (1998), 2013 Decemher: Hotel Chevalier (2007), 2014 March: Wes Anderson Collection, 2014 April: The Perfect Symmetry of Wes Anderson’s Movies, 2014 July: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), 2014 August: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), 2014 December: Welcome to Union Glacier (2013), 2015 January: Inhabiting Wes Anderson’s Universe, 2015 July: Books in the Films of Wes Anderson: A Supercut for Bibliophiles, 2015 November: Moonrise Kingdom (2012), 2015 December: Chapter 8: "The Grand Budapest Hotel", 2016 June: Here's pretty much every song used in a Wes Anderson film, 2016 November: Watch Come Together, Wes Anderson’s New Short Film...., 2016 December: All of Wes Anderson’s Cinematic Commercials: Watch His Spots for Prada, American Express, H&M & More, 2018 September: Isle of Dogs (2018)

Socialism and cha-cha-cha: Agnès Varda's photos of Cuba forgotten for 50 years

"Agnès Varda’s pictures of Cuba had been sitting untouched in boxes since the mid-1960s. The images – of female bodies in form-fitting silhouettes, and men harvesting in cane fields – 'were never meant to be shown,' says the grande dame of French cinema. The compendium of thousands of photographs had been taken in service of her film, Salut les Cubains; after it was completed, Varda cast the images aside. That was until curator Clément Chéroux looked through her archives and discovered them. ..."
Guardian
Beyond the Photo Album: Relocating Varda’s Salut les Cubains
YouTube: AGNES VARDA in Cuba

May 2011: The Beaches of Agnès, 2011 December: Interview - Agnès Varda, 2013 February: The Gleaners and I (2000), 2013 September: Cinévardaphoto (2004), 2014 July: Black Panthers (1968 doc.), 2014 October: Art on Screen: A Conversation with Agnès Varda, 2015 September: Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Plaisir d’amour en Iran (1976), 2017 April: Agnès Varda’s Art of Being There, 2017 April: AGNÈS VARDA with Alexandra Juhasz, 2017 August: Agnès Varda on her life and work - Artforum, 2017 October: Agnès Varda’s Ecological Conscience, 2018 March: Faces Places - Agnès Varda and JR (2017), 2018 July: Vagabond (1985), 2019 March: Agnès Varda, Influential French New Wave Filmmaker, Is Dead at 90, 2019 April: Mur Murs (1980)

Sonny Stitt ‎– The Last Stitt Sessions Vol. 1 & 2 (1984)

"It is difficult to believe after listening to this two-CD set, that Sonny Stitt only had six weeks left in his life; he already had cancer but did not know it. Switching between tenor and alto, Stitt on the first disc is heard in top form with pianist Junior Mance, bassist George Duvivier, and drummer Jimmy Cobb while the second CD (recorded the following day) adds trumpeter Bill Hardman and has Walter Davis in Mance's place. As was typical of Stitt's career, the music throughout is high-quality bebop with the saxophonist stretching out creatively over common chord changes. This double CD (a straight reissue of two single LPs) shows that Sonny Stitt went out on top."
allmusuc (Audio)
Discogs
amazon
YouTube: The Last Sessions, Vols 1&2 1:11:55

2018 March: Stitt Meets Brother Jack (1962), 2019 February: Sonny Stitt Plays Jimmy Giuffre Arrangements (1959), 2019 June: Personal Appearance (1957)

The Stay At Home Museum: Your Private, Guided Tours of Rubens, Bruegel & Other Flemish Masters

Bruegel walk
"Of the many world class museums treating a stuck-at-home public to virtual tours of their collections, none inspire the resolve for future travel as the Stay At Home Museum, an initiative of the Flanders tourism board. Before the COVID-19 epidemic response demanded the temporary shuttering of all such attractions, the region was entering the final year of a 3-year festival celebrating such Flemish masters as Jan Van Eyck, Pieter Bruegel, and Peter Paul Rubens. ..."
Open Culture (Video)

The Islamic History of Coffee

"It is Ramadan, the holy month of Islam, which means that observant Muslims will be fasting from dawn till dusk. Fasting is one of the pillars of Islam, and is practiced to understand the lived realities of the poor and underfed, while also disciplining the spirit and the mind. Muslims rise in the early hours of the morning for a ritual meal, followed by a day of abstinence—not just from food and water, but also from swearing, fighting, lying, and all stimulants. That includes coffee, at least until sunset. Despite the spiritual inducements to forgive during this holy month, there is an especially vicious bone I have to pick with how the subject of coffee is written about. ..."
Omer Aziz

2010 September: Espresso, April: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World, 2013 May: Coffeehouse, 2015 June: Barista, 2015 August: Coffee Connections at Peddler in SoHo, 2015 November: The Case for Bad Coffee, 2016 January: 101 Places to Find Great Coffee in New York (2014), 2017 June: How Cold Brew Changed the Coffee Business, 2017 September: Our 7 Favorite Literary Coffee Shops, 2017 October: Clever Literary Coffee Poster, 2017 October: Coffee as Existential Statement: A Crisis in Every Cup on Valencia Street, 2018 February: The Trencherman: A Tale of Two Coffee Shops, 2020 April: Unfair trade, April 2020: A (Very) Brief History of NYC Espresso

Diplomacy (game)

"Diplomacy is an American strategic board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 and released commercially in the United States in 1959. Its main distinctions from most board wargames are its negotiation phases (players spend much of their time forming and betraying alliances with other players and forming beneficial strategies) and the absence of dice and other game elements that produce random effects. Set in Europe in the years leading to the Great War, Diplomacy is played by two to seven players, each controlling the armed forces of a major European power (or, with fewer players, multiple powers). ..."
Wikipedia
Diplomacy: The Map That Ruined a Thousand Friendships
The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds
The Game of Diplomacy
YouTube: "Diplowar" Diplomacy Commentary January 2017 (Full)

Dub Syndicate ‎– Strike The Balance (1989)

"... Another great Dub Syndicate set, Strike the Balance features vocal contributions from mainstay Bim Sherman on a cover of Lloyd & Devon’s 'Cuss Cuss', and Shara Nelson (Massive Attack) on a version of Serge Gainsbourg's 'Je T'aime.' Originally released in 1989, and coinciding with the beginnings of Dub Syndicate as a touring unit."
Dub Syndicate (Audio)
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: Strike The Balance (1989) Full Album

The Big Dipper: Hop to Spring's Sky Sights

"The Big Dipper is one of the most familiar sights in the Northern Hemisphere’s night skies. It’s a prominent asterism — a recognizable pattern of stars that isn’t an officially named constellation — in Ursa Major, the Great Bear. Ursa Major is a circumpolar constellation: Its stars never set for most observers at northern latitudes. In fact, the Dipper is visible year-round to observers north of latitude 41°, which makes it an invaluable key to unlocking the night sky. Let’s look at seven sights that you can find with the naked eye on these spring evenings using the Dipper to guide you. ..."
Sky and Telescope

Henry David Thoreau - I

"Henry David Thoreau (see name pronunciation; July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay 'Civil Disobedience' (originally published as 'Resistance to Civil Government'), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state. Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern-day environmentalism. ... Thoreau is sometimes referred to as an anarchist. ..."
Wikipedia


Walden
"Walden (first published as Walden; or, Life in the Woods) is an American book written by noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self reliance. Published in 1854, it details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts."
Wikipedia
NY Times: At Walden, Thoreau Wasn’t Really Alone With Nature
New Republic: Everybody Hates Henry
[PDF] Walden
Ken Burns: Walden Film
YouTube: Walden (FULL Audiobook)

Walden, a Game

"... Henry David Thoreau’s classic 'Walden' is the inspiration for what Smithsonian Magazine is calling 'the world’s most improbable video game': Walden, a Game. Instead of offering the thrills of stealing, violence and copious cursing, the new video game, based on Thoreau’s 19th-century retreat in Massachusetts, will urge players to collect arrowheads, cast their fishing poles into a tranquil pond, buy penny candies and perhaps even jot notes in a journal — all while listening to music, nature sounds and excerpts from the author’s meditations. ..."
NY Times: In ‘Walden’ Video Game, the Challenge Is Stillness (Video)
Walden has been adapted into a video game, and you can play it right now (Video)
Walden, a Game
Walden: A downloadable game for Windows and macOS - $ (Video)


Civil Disobedience (1849)
"Resistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience) is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. ... The word civil has several definitions. The one that is intended in this case is 'relating to citizens and their interrelations with one another or with the state', and so civil disobedience means 'disobedience to the state'. ..."
Wikipedia
Open Culture: Henry David Thoreau on When Civil Disobedience and Resistance Are Justified (1849)
NY Times: It’s Tax Day. Don’t Forget to Read Thoreau.
[PDF] Civil Disobedience
YouTube: Thoreau and Civil Disobedience 5:25
YouTube: Civil Disobedience Part 1, Part 2


The Maine Woods (1864)
"... Thoreau’s 'The Maine Woods,' first published in 1864 (composed partly of articles he had written earlier for periodicals) and still in print, is an insightful reporter’s picture of a rugged wilderness the moment before being irrevocably altered by armies of loggers. Today the virgin forest seen by Thoreau is gone; trees have been cut, regrown and harvested again. 'It’s a working forest,' [Karen] Woodsum said. But modern travelers hikers, campers, hunters, fishers, canoeists or back road wanderers will still find, as Thoreau did, a land 'more grim and wild than you had anticipated.' It’s also pin-drop tranquil, teeming with wildlife and, in places, challenging to reach. ..."
NY Times: Tracking Thoreau Through Maine’s ‘Grim and Wild’ Land
On Thoreau’s Trail in the Maine Woods, a review by Ron Hoag
The Maine Woods
YouTube: The Maine Woods (FULL Audiobook)


A Week on the Concord and Merrimack River
"A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849) is a book by Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862). It is ostensibly the narrative of a boat trip from Concord, Massachusetts to Concord, New Hampshire, and back, that Thoreau took with his brother John in 1839. John died of tetanus in 1842 and Thoreau wrote the book, in part, as a tribute to his memory. ...."
Wikipedia
[PDF] A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
amazon (Audible Audio Edition)


Walking (1862)
"Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817–May 6, 1862) was a man of extraordinary wisdom on everything from optimism to the true meaning of 'success' to the creative benefits of keeping a diary to the greatest gift of growing old. In his 1861 treatise Walking (free ebook | public library), penned seven years after Walden, he sets out to remind us of how that primal act of mobility connects us with our essential wildness, that spring of spiritual vitality methodically dried up by our sedentary civilization. ..."
The Spirit of Sauntering: Thoreau on the Art of Walking and the Perils of a Sedentary Lifestyle
W - Walking
[PDF] Walking


Cape Cod
"Walking Cape Cod With Thoreau: Early in the morning of Thursday, Oct. 11, 1849, Henry David Thoreau set off to walk the 30 miles of uninterrupted beach facing the Atlantic at the tip of Cape Cod. A heavy rain was falling. Strong winds, the aftermath of a great storm, lashed the narrow strip of land known as the Lower Cape. Thoreau responded to the weather with the rising spirits of one who made it his business to deal forthrightly with nature. He unfurled his umbrella and strode on. Under an adjoining umbrella was his companion, William Eller Channing. An ideal traveling companion, Channing was everything Thoreau was not — impractical, disorganized, amenable. ..."
NY Times
Gutenberg: Cape Cod
YouTube: Thoreau’s Cape Cod

Mythological Jazz Asteroids in the Afro Futurist Space Belt

"Experience by itself, the phenomenological philosopher Edmund Husserl said, is not science. In the hands of London band The Comet is Coming, experience is a strict adherence to improvisation and exploration that filters the scientific process into a musical call and response. It has purified their sound. So perhaps Husserl is only part right. Maybe some experience is scientific. Maybe some music is science. Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery, by The Comet is Coming, is reviewed at Riot Material magazine.Because of this comprehensive reliance on exploratory noises, there’s no true designation for the band, whose album Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery was released in March 2019 on Universal Music’s legendary jazz label, Impulse! Records. Each song on the album is illusory. The firm musical structure of one section burns away to something entirely different a few bars later. And that cycle echoes as the musicians repeatedly crescendo in metamorphosis. ..."
Riot Material (Audio/Video)
W - Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: Summon The Fire
YouTube: Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery 1 / 9

Which Woman Should Be Biden’s Vice-Presidential Pick?

"The vice presidency has never been a particularly glamorous job — 'not worth a bucket of warm spit' is how Franklin Roosevelt’s first running mate described it — but as the 2020 election approaches, the stakes of being a heartbeat away from the presidency have rarely seemed higher. At age 78 on Inauguration Day, Joe Biden would be the United States’ oldest president. To round out his ticket, he’ll need not only a 'simpatico' partner but also a potential successor capable of leading the country through its worst national crisis since World War II. Here’s what people are saying about some of the women — and yes, he has pledged to pick a woman — he might be considering. ..."
NY Times

How to Make an Illustrated Map in 8 Steps

"Many of us are in the same situation: homebound, a little restless and a lot distracted. Not only are our future travel plans on hold, but even our local outings and excursions — a quick trip to the market, a stroll in the park, a walk with the dog — are limited. That doesn’t mean we need to curtail our wanderlust or stop exploring the world around us, and within us. Here is an idea that will help fill the void left by travel restrictions and social distancing, redirect our attention to the immediate worlds we know best — either before our eyes or in our minds — while keeping our creative juices flowing: Make an illustrated map! ..."
NY Times

Roger And Brian Eno Invite Fans To Contribute To New ‘Mixing Colours’ Film Project

"Following the recent release by Deutsche Grammophon of Mixing Colours, their first ever duo album, Roger and Brian Eno have invited fans to submit videos of their post-lockdown world to a new website, from which they will select eleven as official accompaniment for music from the album. The idea was inspired by visuals for four tracks – ‘Celeste’, ‘Sand’, ‘Ultramarine’ and ‘Blonde’ – made by Brian Eno in collaboration with musician and software designer Peter Chilvers, then released in the run up to the album. Reflecting the collection’s overall peaceful nature, these married the pieces’ simplicity and contemplative qualities to suitably uncomplicated, mesmerising imagery of slowly changing, dreamlike panoramas. ..."
udiscover (Video)
Mixing Colours (Video)
Interview: On “Mixing Colours,” Composers Brian and Roger Eno Paint a New Sonic Landscape

260,000 Words, Full of Self-Praise, From Trump on the Virus

"Three journalists from The New York Times reviewed more than 260,000 words spoken by President Trump during the pandemic. Here’s what we learned. At his White House news briefing on the coronavirus on March 19, President Trump offered high praise for the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn. “He’s worked, like, probably as hard or harder than anybody,” Mr. Trump said. Then he corrected himself: 'Other than maybe Mike Pence — or me.' On March 27, Mr. Trump boasted about marshaling federal resources to fight the virus, ignoring his early failures and smearing previous administrations. ..."
NY Times

Baseball: Part 5: Shadow Ball

1934 Wold Series and “The Gas House Gang
"When the Great Depression struck, many baseball owners feared the worst. They would have trouble drawing fans. The fans they did draw would have a hard time paying for the extra souvenirs or food concessions. Little did they know, people would still come to the ballpark if only to forget about their own troubles for a while. Attendance would be down in the 1930s but none of the sixteen franchises ever folded or moved as a result of the Great Depression and some of the games’ lasting stars said goodbye while others said hello. New ways of playing emerged, lasting vestiges of the game emerged, and a new era of baseball had begun. Coming out of the 1920s, baseball began to boom. Newspapers and radio combined to turn the game into a way to forget about your problems for a couple of days. New stadiums had been built and offense was booming. ...
The Golden Age of Baseball: The 1930s
PBS: Part 5: Shadow Ball (Video)
NY Times: Apples for a Nickel, and Plenty of Empty Seats
Research sheds new light on Lindstrom’s 1930 season
1930 The Big Blastcast of 1930
Hall of Fame opened the day of Lou Gehrig’s final game, W - Lou Gehrig
W - Gashouse Gang, 1931 The Peppering of Philly

Lou Gehrig whacks a double into left center
10 Great 1930s Baseball Cards For Budget-Minded Collectors
W - Major League Baseball on the radio: 1930s, W - Red Barber
W - Josh Gibson, W - Gus Greenlee
W - 1933 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
YouTube: St. Louis Cardinals: Gas House Gang Stories - Branch Rickey, The Fall of the Philadelphia Athletics, Jimmie Foxx - The Beast, Bob Feller Demonstrates Pitching, Dizzy Dean highlight video, When Lou Gehrig Knew Something Was Wrong, Gehrig delivers his famous speech at Yankee Stadium
World Series: 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939

Josh Gibson

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Le Passeur, c.1870
"Corot is a pivotal figure in landscape painting. His work simultaneously references the Neo-Classical tradition and anticipates the plein-air innovations of Impressionism. Of him Claude Monet exclaimed in 1897, 'There is only one master here—Corot. We are nothing compared to him, nothing.' His contributions to figure painting are hardly less important; Degas preferred his figures to his landscapes, and the classical figures of Picasso pay overt homage to Corot’s influence. Historians have divided his work into periods, but the points of division are often vague, as he often completed a picture years after he began it. ..."
Atlas of Places
W - Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
YouTube: Camille Corot: A collection of 710 paintings

Paysage d'été avec sentier et lac, c.1870

During ‘The Last Dance,’ I’ll remember how Michael Jordan brought me closer to the most important man in my life

"Shortly before midnight on June 14, 1998, my Uncle John and I knew it was over. Only the light from a dim floor lamp, the fish tank and his TV — and our joint euphoria — illuminated his studio apartment. We high-fived. We hugged. And we yelled. Moments earlier, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won their sixth title in eight seasons, and did so in the absolutely most Jordan way possible. On fumes, Jordan drilled a clutch jumper over Bryon Russell of the Utah Jazz. The shot proved to be the game winner and life, as Uncle John and I knew it then, would be different moving forward. We just didn’t realize how different. The Bulls’ 1997-98 season is the subject of ESPN’s The Last Dance, which premieres Sunday in five weekly installments. ..."
theundefeated (Video)
W - The Last Dance (TV series)

Land of the Rising Sound | A Roland Retrospective

"Roland isn’t just a synthesizer company. Its products are tied to the  development of electronic music as a genre and cultural movement. It’s impossible think of dance music’s trajectory from 1980 onwards without the TR-808 or TR-909—not to mention the TB-303 or the SH-101. In a new documentary called Land of the Rising Sound, Alex Ball sets out to explore this history. It tells the story of Roland through the machines themselves, revealing how minute technical innovations and inventions could come to revolutionize how we view and create sound."
Watch A New 70-Minute Documentary On Legendary Synth Company Roland (Video)
YouTube: Land of the Rising Sound | A Roland Retrospective 1:12:00

Dame's Rocket

"Hesperis matronalis is an herbaceous plant species in the family Brassicaceae. It has numerous common names, including dame's rocket, damask-violet, dame's-violet, dames-wort, dame's gilliflower, night-scented gilliflower, queen's gilliflower, rogue's gilliflower, summer lilac, sweet rocket, mother-of-the-evening, and winter gilliflower. These plants are biennials or short-lived perennials, native to Eurasia and cultivated in many other areas of the world for their attractive, spring-blooming flowers. In some of those areas, it has escaped from cultivation and become a weed species. The genus name Hesperis was probably given because the scent of the flowers becomes more conspicuous towards evening. ..."
W - Hesperis matronalis
YouTube: Dame's Rocket: Edible & Other Uses

The City Reliquary

"The City Reliquary is a not-for-profit community museum and civic organization located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The museum traces the history of New York City's five boroughs with its exhibitions of cultural ephemera and relics. Besides a permanent display of New York City artifacts, the City Reliquary also hosts rotating exhibits of community collections and annual cultural events. ... Many items in the City Reliquary's permanent collection have some connection to historical events in New York, such as a shrine to Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers, memorabilia from both the 1939–40 and 1964–65 New York World's Fairs; and an interactive display relating the career of Little Egypt, a 19th-century burlesque dancer. Dave Herman’s collection of Statue of Liberty figures, which formed the original core collection, is also on view. ..."
Wikipedia
The City Reliquary
Atlas Obscura
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