Beyond the Milky Way, a Galactic Wall

The starry core of our spiral Milky Way galaxy, in an infrared image from NASA Spitzer Space Telescope. Obscured behind it is the South Pole Wall, a curtain of thousands of galaxies across at least 700 million light-years.
"Astronomers have discovered that there is a vast wall across the southern border of the local cosmos. The South Pole Wall, as it is known, consists of thousands of galaxies — beehives of trillions of stars and dark worlds, as well as dust and gas — aligned in a curtain arcing across at least 700 million light-years of space. It winds behind the dust, gas and stars of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, from the constellation Perseus in the Northern Hemisphere to the constellation Apus in the far south. It is so massive that it perturbs the local expansion of the universe. But don’t bother trying to see it. The entire conglomeration is behind the Milky Way, in what astronomers quaintly call the zone of avoidance. ..."
NY Times
W - Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall
YouTube: Out There 24 videos

A projection of the South Pole Wall in celestial coordinates. The plane of the Milky Way is shown by a dust map in shades of grey; what lies behind it is obscured from direct observation.

Valley of the New York Dolls

May 26, 1975: The first time I laid eyes on the New York Dolls, they were drunk in a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith outside the terrace of the Dancers. David Johansen had lost the high heel from one of his shoes. He said, 'I not only accept loss forever, I am made of loss,' while inside the club, the group’s managerial brain trust planned the conquest of blue dawns over racetracks and kids from sweet Ioway. The rest of the band — Johnny Thunders, Syvain Sylvain, Jerry Nolan, Arthur Harold Kane — talked happily about early days spent practicing in a bicycle shop near Central Park. And me? I’m a fool. My heart went out to the hopeful sounds. We all thought the group would achieve success through the purity of their rock ‘n’ roll art. ..."
Voice
Vanity Fair: Alley of the Dolls By James Wolcott
New York Dolls -Chronology-
rock'sbackpages
YouTube: Musikladen, 1973, Pills, Trash

2015 June: New York Dolls (1973), 2016 February: David Johansen (1977), 2016 September: Too Much Too Soon - New York Dolls (1973), 2016 October: The David Johansen Group Live (2004), 2017 April: From Paris With Love (L.U.V.)

From no deal to New Deal: how Boris Johnson could follow FDR and save the arts

Workers unite! … detail of a fresco at Coit Tower, San Francisco, painted in 1934 by Victor Arnautoff.
"As America struggled with the Great Depression in 1933, 25 artists were hired to paint murals depicting aspects of Californian life on the walls of Coit Tower in San Francisco. They were paid at least $25 a week – the equivalent of about £400 today. Tasked with beautifying public buildings, the artists seized the chance for some mischief. Bernard Zakheim’s mural depicts a worker in a library, screwing up a newspaper with one hand and reaching for Das Kapital on a shelf with the other. Clifford Wight’s triptych depicts capitalism, the New Deal and communism, with the latter panel containing a hammer and sickle and the caption 'Workers of the World Unite'. After a virulent press campaign, the hammer and sickle were removed a year later. ..."
Guardian
Coit Tower Politics

2014 March: Victor Arnautoff

Bisa Butler’s Beautiful Quilted Portraits of Frederick Douglass, Nina Simone, Jean-Michel Basquiat & More

"Fiber artist Bisa Butler’s quilted portraits of Black Americans gain extra power from their medium. Each work is comprised of many scraps, carefully cut and positioned after hours of research and preliminary sketches. Velvet and silk nestle against bits of vintage flour sacks, West African wax print fabric, denim and, occasionally, hand-me-downs from the sitter’s own collection. In The Warmth of Other Sons, a 12-foot, life-sized portrait of an African American family who migrated north in search of economic opportunity, a wary-looking young girl clutches a purse to her chest. The purse is constructed from a commercial wax cotton print titled Michelle Obama’s Bag, which commemorates one of the former First Lady’s trips to Africa. ..."
Open Culture (Video)
Claire Oliver Gallery - Bisa Butler
Bisa Butler is Having a Moment
Colorful Quilts by Bisa Butler use African Fabrics to Form Nuanced Portraits
W - Bisa Butler
YouTube: PrintbyPrint Group Interviews Bisa Butler, Bisa Butler's Portraiture Quilts | Brooklyn Made

The Pazant Brothers - The Brothers Funk: Rare New York City Funk 1969-1975

"I heard a fantastically funky song by the Pazant Brothers on one of those terrific 'Super Funk' compilations last year, and hoping that there was more where that came from I ordered this CD. Wow, what a find! Horns a-plenty and funky grooves galore. Where has this incredible band been hiding all these years? This music, recorded from 1969 to 1975 is sheer funk brilliance. Well, chock it down to bad marketing and inept record labels. The music that the Pazant Brothers made certainly was first rate, but like so many other great artists, they never seemed to get the breaks when they needed them. They put out one outstanding album for Vanguard in 1975 (hailed in the liner notes as 'one of the most consistently funk albums ever recorded' ... tough and funky"), titled 'Loose and Juicy', but according to the liner notes 'Vanguard had no idea how to promote black music ... and the record disappeared without a trace.' ..."
Holland Tunnel Dive
Discogs
amazon
YouTube: A Gritty Nitty, Fever, Back To Beaufort, The Work Song, Groovin', Juicy Lucy

Sharhabil Ahmed - The King of Sudanese Jazz

"We're super happy to announce our 13th release by Sharhabil Ahmed, the actual King of Sudanese Jazz (he actually won that title in a competition in the early 1970s). Sonically it sounds very different from what Jazz is understood to sound like outside of Sudan. It’s an incredible unique mix of rock’n’roll, funk, surf, traditional sudanese music and influences from Congolese sounds. Original copies of Sharhabil recordings are often hard to find, so we’re happy they will now be widely available. 'Argos Farfish' which was featured on our last comp amassed close to 400.000 plays already. -Habibi Funk Records ..."
Holland Tunnel Dive
Rough Trade (Audio)
Bandcamp (Audio)

Supreme Court Rules Trump Cannot Block Release of Financial Records

"The Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday for prosecutors in New York to seek President Trump’s financial records in a stunning defeat for Mr. Trump and a major statement on the scope and limits of presidential power. The decision in the case said Mr. Trump had no absolute right to block release of the papers and would take its place with landmark rulings that required President Richard M. Nixon to turn over tapes of Oval Office conversations and that forced President Bill Clinton to provide evidence in a sexual harassment suit. ..."
NY Times (Video)
NY Times: Opinion | The Supreme Court Lets Trump Run Out the Clock
YouTube: The Supreme Court Just Told Trump: You're Not Above the Law.
NY Times: Landmark Supreme Court Ruling Affirms Native American Rights in Oklahoma
BBC: US Supreme Court rules half of Oklahoma is Native American land (Video)
****The Atlantic: The McGirt Case Is a Historic Win for Tribes

Søren Kierkegaard’s Struggle with Himself

Kierkegaard called his melancholy “the most faithful mistress I have known.”
"Imagine an educated, affluent European in his late twenties, seemingly one of fortune’s favored, who suffers from crippling feelings of despair and guilt. For no apparent reason, he breaks up with the woman everyone thought he was going to marry—not because he loves someone else but out of a sudden conviction that he is incapable of marriage and can only make her miserable. He abandons the career for which he has been studying for ten years and holes up in his apartment, where a kind of graphomania compels him to stay up all night writing at a frantic pace. His activity is so relentless that, in a few short years, he has accumulated many volumes’ worth of manuscripts. ... "
New Yorker

2011 July: Søren Kierkegaard, 2013 April: Repetition (1843), 2013 December: The Quotable Kierkegaard, 2014 October: Fear and Trembling - Søren Kierkegaard (1843), 2014 December: The Dark Knight of Faith - Existential Comics, 2015 July: I still love Kierkegaard, 2015 October: The Concept of Anxiety (1844), 2016 October: Cruel intentions, 2017 July: Søren Kierkegaard Newsletter, 2018 January: Either/Or (1843), 2018 November: The Seducer’s Diary (1843)

Detroit Rock City: A History Of Motor City Music

"Few cities in the world match the musical heritage of Detroit, the home of Motown. Though the flagship city of Michigan state is renowned for its soul music, the history of Detroit music is also rich in jazz, blues, gospel, country, rock, techno and, more recently, rap. 'There was a jambalaya of cultures in Detroit,' says native Don Was, the guitarist who co-founded Was (Not Was) and is now president of Blue Note Records.'We were exposed to everything – without judgement.' When construction began on the celebrated Orchestra Hall in June 1919 – a venue that is thriving again as home to the world-famous Detroit Symphony Orchestra – there were just under one million residents of a bustling port city that spans 143 square miles. A third of Detroit’s population were foreign-born. The hall opened in the mid-20s, by which time jazz was starting to dominate popular music across the US. ..."
udiscover (Video)

New Bird Song That ‘Went Viral’ Across This Species of Sparrow Was Tracked by Scientists For the First Time

"A song that ‘went viral’ across a species of bird has been tracked by scientists for the first time. Most of our feathered friends are slow to change their tune—preferring to stick with tried-and-tested songs to defend territories and attract females. Now a 20-year study has found how one rare ‘tweet’ travelled nearly 2,000 miles across Canada and the US. The analysis—based on recordings collected by bird watchers from 2000 to 2019—found that the new beat wiped out a historic song ending in the process. White-throated sparrows from British Columbia to central Ontario have ditched their traditional three-note-finish in favor of a unique two-note-variant. ..."
Good News Network (Video)
The Atlantic: The Birdsong That Took Over North America (Audio)
YouTube: A Viral new bird song in Canada, White-Throated Sparrow song has changed, from 3 notes to 2 notes

2008 September: Birds, 2008 June: Bird Songs, 2017 April: Of a Feather, 2017 June: Bird Sounds, 2017 July: Beautifully Designed Tiny Houses... For Birds, 2019 September: The Crisis for Birds Is a Crisis for Us All, 2019 March: She Invented a Board Game With Scientific Integrity. It’s Taking Off., 2019 June: Where Birds Meet Art . . . After Dark, 2019 September: The Crisis for Birds Is a Crisis for Us All, 2019 October: A Quest to Protect the World's Last Silent Places, 2020 June: Making a Garden That Welcomes the Birds

How Neapolitan Cuisine Took Over the World

"When a devastating cholera pandemic reached Italy in 1884, the disease took its heaviest toll on the sharp-edged, unpolished jewel of Naples. The authorities’ response was disastrous, and as panic and anger rose, a conspiracy theory circulated that the suffering was an orchestrated attack on the city’s poor. Physicians and public health officials were attacked in the street; a popular rumor had it that doctors received twenty lire for each person they bumped off, and that some were greedily chucking patients who were still alive onto funeral wagons. One man was arrested for inciting rebellion when he spread the notion that tomatoes, a symbol of Neapolitan peasant identity and a staple nourishment, were being laced with poison. ..."
The Paris Review
W - Neapolitan pizza
YouTube: Neapolitan pizza: the 6 most common mistakes, The Best Pizza In Naples | Best Of The Best

2014 June: Pizza, 2014 October: Viva La Pizza! The Art of the Pizza Box (NYC), 2016 July: Q&A: Antoinette Balzano and Cookie Cimineri of Totonno’s, 2017 September: The Pizza Show, 2017 November: A Priceless Pizzeria in Brooklyn, 2018 December: State of the Slice, Part 2: The 27 Pizza Spots That Define New York Slice Culture, 2019 January: How the Slice Joint Made Pizza the Perfect New York City Food, 2019 June: What region has the nation’s best pizza?

Pet Shop Boys - Very/Further Listening 1992–1994

"... There were plans to expand upon Relentless in 1994 by releasing the six tracks along with others, making a full dance album, but this evolved into Disco 2. The six tracks on Relentless have not been released elsewhere since (though "Forever in Love" is found on Very/Further Listening 1992–1994 in a remixed edited form as track 2). ... Very was re-released on 3 July 2001 (as were most of the group's studio albums up to that point) titled Very/Further Listening 1992–1994. ...  On 9 February 2009, the album was re-released yet again, still remastered, under the title Very: Remastered, but this time containing only the 12 original tracks. ..."
W - Very (Pet Shop Boys album)
Very/Further listening: 1992–1994 (2018 remaster)
amazon
YouTube: Very: Further Listening: 1992 - 1994 28 videos

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), 2019 May: It's A Sin (1987)

MONTREAL: Saint Catherine Street, Underground City, Montreal Botanical Garden, Place des Arts, Montreal-style bagel, The Vehicule Poets, etc.!!

St.Catherine and Drummond-Montreal
"Saint Catherine Street (officially in French: rue Sainte-Catherine) (11.5 km or 7.1 mi) is the primary commercial artery of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It crosses the central business district from west to east, beginning at the corner of Claremont Avenue and de Maisonneuve Boulevard in the city of Westmount, traversing the borough of Ville-Marie, and ending on Notre-Dame Street just east of Viau Street in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The street runs parallel to the largest segments of Montreal's underground city. ..."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Montreal downtown, rue Sainte-Catherine

W - Underground City, Montreal
Wikipedia - "RÉSO, commonly referred to as The Underground City (French: La Ville Souterraine), is the name applied to a series of interconnected office towers, hotels, shopping centres, residential and commercial complexes, convention halls, universities and performing arts venues that form the heart of Montreal's central business district, colloquially referred to as Downtown Montreal. The name refers to the underground connections between the buildings that compose the network, in addition to the network's complete integration with the city's entirely subterranean rapid transit system, the Métro. ..."
YouTube: Underground City Of Montreal, Montreal Underground City
W - Crescent Street, W - Saint Denis Street, W - The Plateau, W - Old Montreal, W - Montreal

Montreal Botanical Garden

Rose Garden
"The Montreal Botanical Garden (French: Jardin botanique de Montréal) is a large botanical garden in Montreal, Quebec, Canada comprising 75 hectares (190 acres) of thematic gardens and greenhouses. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2008 as it is considered to be one of the most important botanical gardens in the world due to the extent of its collections and facilities. ..."
W - Montreal Botanical Garden (4!) Max B., Brad J., Renata D., etc.
W - Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
W - Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
Montreal Expos +++ Jeff P.; Brad J.

Château Versailles

"Cozy atmosphere, historic splendor, and artful surroundings—these are just a few of the offerings at Château Versailles in Montreal, Quebec. Experience a seamless blend of sophistication and comfort at every turn in our historic Montreal hotel with 65 luxurious rooms and suites, unparalleled service, and an amazing location in downtown Montreal. Ready your walking shoes as this  property is a 4-floor walk-up! Staying true to its historic roots, there are no elevators here. ..."
Château Versailles
Le Méridien Versailles, DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal, etc. Max B.!!

Le Spectrum

"The Spectrum (French: Le Spectrum de Montréal) was a concert hall, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that closed on August 5, 2007. Opened on October 17, 1982, as the Alouette Theatre, it was briefly renamed Club Montreal before receiving its popular name. The Spectrum had a capacity of about 1200 and had a 'cabaret' setup with table service. A unique effect was the wall mounted lighting which included hundreds of small lightbulbs. The last show was performed by Michel Rivard, the only performer to have played over one hundred concerts at the venue. ..."
Le Spectrum de Montréal New Order (1984), King Sunny Ade (1985), Fela Kuti (1988)
W - Place des Arts Pina Bausch, 1980 (1980) Montreal (1986)
W - Théâtre Saint-Denis, The Clash / The Undertones (1979); Saint-Henri - The Clash (1983)

Montreal Metro

"The Montreal Metro (French: Métro de Montréal) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, during the tenure of Mayor Jean Drapeau. It has expanded since the 1960s from 26 stations on three separate lines to 68 stations on four lines totalling 69.2 kilometres (43.0 mi) in length, serving the north, east and centre of the Island of Montreal with connections to Longueuil, via the Yellow Line, as well as the suburb of Laval, via the Orange Line. ..."
W - Montreal Metro
Métro
YouTube: Montreal Metro - Montreal's Rapid Transit System

Montreal, tales of gentrification in a bohemian city

Latin Quarter - rue Saint-Denis
"Montreal, tales of gentrification in a bohemian city is about the effect of condo development and gentrification in Canada's second largest city. Many former working class and low-income communities across Montreal are being transformed by large-scale urban development, which affects many residents. Distinct and historical neighbourhoods such as Shaughnessy Village, Saint-Henri, Griffintown, Pointe Saint-Charles, Parc-Extension and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve are being re-branded by developers with names like District Griffin (Griffintown) and HOMA (Hochelaga-Maisonneuve) while being targeted to become more like Montreal's most well known district, Plateau Mont-Royal."
Montreal, tales of gentrification in a bohemian city (Vimeo) 80:07
YouTube: Montreal Neighbourhoods
W - List of neighbourhoods in Montreal

Counter Intelligence: Montréal

Cheap Thrills
"There’s something to be said about a city that boasts two official languages. Known for its charming European flair, the creative weave of Montréal’s bilingual and multicultural fabric is a breeding ground for alternative culture. Combined with an affordable cost of living, the city is a hotbed of artists who sustain a strong DIY community and a healthy nightlife scene, so it only makes sense that Montréal record shops are thriving in parallel. Avid and casual collectors alike are privy to a solid network of new and used record stores scattered across the city, each offering a unique selection to a loyal following. ..."
Red Bull Music Academy Mike B., Eric B.
DJ LEXIS: Digging Is His Sanctuary +++

A Montreal Bagel War Unites Rival Kings

Fresh bagels being removed from a wood-burning oven at Fairmount Bagel, a Montreal institution.
"Irwin Shlafman, the owner of Fairmount Bagel, boasts that his bagels were the first in outer space, when his astronaut cousin brought them to the International Space Station. He also says Fairmount, founded in 1919, is the oldest bagel joint in town. Just don’t tell that to his arch-bagel-rival, Joe Morena, the jovial owner of nearby St-Viateur Bagel. He contends that his bagel place, opened in 1957, is Montreal’s longest continuously running bagel outfit, since Fairmount was closed for a time. ... "
NY Times
The death of the Montreal bagel?
W - Montreal-style bagel
Montreal Bagels: St-Viateur vs. Fairmount
A family affair: St-Viateur Bagel celebrates 60 years - Montreal Gazette (Video)

The Vehicule Poets

Endre Farkas, Claudia Lapp, Artie Gold, John McAuley, Ken Norris, Tom Konyves, Stephen Morrissey
"The Vehicule Poets was a collective formed in Montreal in the 1970s by poets Endre Farkas, Artie Gold, Tom Konyves, Claudia Lapp, John McAuley, Stephen Morrissey and Ken Norris, who shared an interest in experimental American poetry and European avant-garde literature and art. While they were each distinct in their own writing, and published books as individuals, they were collectively involved in organizing readings, art events, and in controlling their own means of literary production through the development of a variety of periodicals and collective publishing ventures. ..."
Wikipedia
Artie Gold, Tom Konyves, Endre Farkas and Ken Norris; Robin Blaser, Peter Van Toorn, Etc.
The Vehicule Poets (Audio)
Cross Posted From Vimeo See Also The Vehicule… - Tom Konyves
Vehicule Days: An Unorthodox History of Montréal’s Vehicule Poets - Ken Norris
Ken Norris, Véhicule Poet; Endre Farkas, Montrealer and Véhicule Poet, Artie Gold
amazon: The Vehicule Poets Now

Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Frida with Olmeca Figurine, Coyoacán, by Nickolas Muray (1939).
"... Frida Kahlo—the woman, the icon, the artist—had arrived. Some 90 years later, she’s back in San Francisco, in Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving, at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, where on clear days museumgoers can enjoy sweeping ocean views from Hamon Tower. Filled with art and artifacts from Kahlo’s brilliant, difficult life, Appearances Can Be Deceiving approaches something akin to a pilgrimage, where the artist’s paintings and drawings, many of them self-portraits, are displayed alongside her embroidered blouses, long skirts, vibrant rebozos, ornate jewelry, medicine bottles, makeup, painted corsets, and prosthetic leg. A bounty as potent and disturbing as the arm bone of any medieval saint. ..."
Alta: More Than an Icon
NY Times: Frida Kahlo’s Home Is Still Unlocking Secrets, 50 Years Later
Brooklyn Museum (Video)
YouTube: Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving

2008 April: Frida Kahlo, 2008 May: Diego Rivera, 2013 April: Frida Kahlo’s Wardrobe unlocked and on display after nearly 60 years, 2015 April: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit

Ennio Morricone

"Ennio Morricone, the Italian composer whose atmospheric scores for spaghetti westerns and some 500 films by a Who’s Who of international directors made him one of the world’s most versatile and influential creators of music for the modern cinema, died on Monday in Rome. He was 91. His death, at a hospital, was confirmed by his lawyer, Giorgio Assumma, who said that Mr. Morricone was admitted there last week after falling and fracturing a femur. To many cineastes, Maestro Morricone (pronounced more-ah-CONE-ay) was a unique talent, composing melodic accompaniments to comedies, thrillers and historical dramas by Bernardo Bertolucci, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Terrence Malick, Roland Joffé, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Mike Nichols, John Carpenter, Quentin Tarantino and other filmmakers. ..."
NY Times: Ennio Morricone, Oscar-Winning Composer of Film Scores, Dies at 91
Guardian - Ennio Morricone: maestro of the movies – in pictures
Guardian - Ennio Morricone: a composer with a thrilling ability to hit the emotional jugular (Video)
The Musical Legacy of Italian Film Composer Ennio Morricone (Audio)
YouTube: "The Legend" ● 2 Hours Ennio Morricone Music, Le Meilleur de Ennio Morricone, Ennio Morricone: Greatest, Cinema Paradiso, Once upon a time in america

009 November: Ennio Morricone, 2014 June: Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, 2015 June: The Big Gundown - John Zorn plays Ennio Morricone (1985), 2016 July: Once Upon a Time in America - Sergio Leone (1984), 2019 March: Ennio Morricone Plays Chess

Not-Quite-Song-Ness - Benjamin Finney

"This gorgeous folk chillout track combines drones and acoustic guitar, the musician Benjamin Finney echoing fragments like waves rolling over each other. The whole thing grows so subtly that it seems quiet when in fact it has accumulated substantial power and energy long before the piece comes to an end. It isn’t a song, per se, not quite, and its not-quite-song-ness may be its highest accomplishment, how the rhythm is more complicated than it appears, how the melody is more resistant to humming, how the whole thing is thoroughly present and, yet, out of reach. Absolutely gorgeous. Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/benjamin_finney. More from Benjamin Finney, who is based in Manchester, England, at benjaminfinney.bandcamp.com."
disquiet (Audio)
Soundcloud (Audio)

New York and the American Revolution: Resources at NYPL

George Washington, Rochambeau, and Lafayette Planning for the Battle - Auguste Couder
"This week in history we remember three major events in the early American Revolution: the Staten Island Peace Conference (September 11), the British Landing at Kips Bay (September 15), and the Battle of Harlem Heights (September 16). Bringing the past into your feed in real time last month, the Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy chronicled events from the Battle of Long Island (August 22-30, sometimes also known as the "Battle of Brooklyn") in 140 characters or fewer—as tweets under #BattleOfLI. Interested in learning more about New York's role, and the early battles of the American Revolution? Inspired by Hamilton? ..."
NYPL
NYPL - Freedom's Founders: An Online Exhibition from the Schomburg Center
TIME - 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?': The History of Frederick Douglass' Searing Independence Day Oration

How Ornette Coleman Shaped the Jazz World: An Introduction to His Irreverent Sound

"Ornette Coleman 'arrived in New York in 1959,' writes Philip Clark, 'with a white plastic saxophone and a set of ideas about improvisation that would shake jazz to its big apple core.' Every big name in jazz was doing something similar at the time, inventing new styles and languages. Coleman went further out there than anyone, infuriating and frustrating other jazz pioneers like Miles Davis. He called his theory 'Harmolodics,' a Buckminster Fuller-like melding of 'harmony,' 'movement,' and 'melody' that he coined in the 1970s. The manifesto explaining his ideas reads like psychedelic Dada. ..."
Open Culture (Video)
The Shape of Jazz to Come: A Guide to the Music of Ornette Coleman

2019 July: Complete Science Fiction Sessions (2000)

A Shuttered Garage, a Devastated Trade

Erick Castro, who has worked at the Chelsea parking garage since 1976, New York City, April 1, 2020
"The dusty window of Ann Service Corp., which occupies a ninety-year-old taxi garage in Chelsea, in downtown Manhattan, serves as a makeshift memorial to the company’s drivers who have died on and off the job, their names traced onto the panes with a finger. Soon the fragile record will be gone: the garage closed for good in April. Economically battered by the impact of customers lost to ride-sharing apps and by the corruption among industry leaders that has stricken the taxi business citywide, Ann Service Corp. was already limping along; the coronavirus pandemic was the final straw. Erick Castro worked at Ann Service, which was founded in 1952, for more than half of the company’s long life. ..."
NYBooks

A window at the Chelsea garage inscribed with makeshift memorials to taxi drivers, New York City, April 1, 2020

Seeing Paradise From Behind a Dashboard

The Westbury Drive-In opened in 1953 and expanded to three screens by the late 1970s. Eight years after this picture was taken in 1990, the drive-in closed.
"I was probably 4 years old when we first went to the drive-in; this would have been in the late 1960s and my brother Eric was a year and a month younger than me. I vaguely remember being told earlier that day that we were going to the movies that night and spending that whole day antsy and excited, waiting for evening to fall, not really knowing what to expect. Drive-ins are relatively rare now, their numbers nothing like their peak at just over 4,000 across the country in the late 1950s. They flourished until the ’80s, before being undone by the rise of indoor shopping malls and multiplex theaters, and have declined steadily until today, where there are about 300 left. But the closures are less frequent, and there are even new ones opening. ..."
NY Times

Lights from the projection booth illuminated the night sky in 1993 at the Westbury Drive-In, in Westbury, N.Y.

2010 July: Drive-in theater, 2020 May: At the Drive-In: Thrills, Chills, Popcorn and Hand Sanitizer

‘Bass Culture’ And ‘In Dub’: Linton Kwesi Johnson’s Dub Poetry

Linton Kwesi Johnson
"People in the streets protesting racism. A feeling that black lives are regarded as worthless. A lack of prospects and deep division. While this scene describes the United States in the summer of 2020, it was also England 40 years earlier, emerging from the 70s in a fractured, fretful state. Young people marched across London, taking a stand against fascism. Unemployment was soaring. The annual celebration of Caribbean culture that was the Notting Hill Carnival collapsed into rioting in 1976. The following year a right wing rally was met with 4,000 counter-demonstrators at the Battle Of Lewisham, and two years later, an anti-Nazi riot erupted in the London suburb of Southall. While punk rock attempted to capture the sense of chaos and disenfranchisement, another artist, one who was walking an uncharted route in music, was arguably far better at expressing it. That artist was Linton Kwesi Johnson. ..."
udiscover (Video)

July 2020: Welcome Jupiter & Saturn

"This month's Sky Tour astronomy podcast provides a fun and informative guide to what's visible in the nighttime sky. Host Kelly Beatty offers you some valuable tips for getting the best views when you head outside to look up at the nighttime sky. For example, did you know that your eyes take at least 30 minutes to fully adjust to darkness? The Moon is full on July 4-5, and that night there'll be a lunar eclipse. Will you get to see it? What might you see? Check our this month's Sky Tour to find out. ..."
Sky & Telescope (Audio)

Don McCullin The Stillness of Life

"... In Somerset, ‘Don McCullin. The Stillness of Life’ is a focused presentation of over 60 landscape photographs, mapping Sir Don McCullin CBE’s intimate relationship with the local landscape of Somerset and continued passion for global travel since the 60s. Regarded as one of the most accomplished war photographers of recent times, McCullin has spent the last six decades travelling to remote locations and witnessing harrowing scenes of conflict and destruction. Often referring to the British countryside as his greatest salvation, McCullin demonstrates the full mastery of his medium with stark black and white images resonating with human emotion. This personal survey depicts scenes from across the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia, revealing McCullin’s innermost feelings through powerful compositions of wild heavens, haunting vistas and meditative still lifes. ..."
Hauser & Wirth
W - Don McCullin
‘I’ve earned my reputation out of other people’s downfall’ – an interview with Don McCullin
YouTube: Don McCullin: The Stillness of Life

A Guide to Brooklyn’s Coolest Neighborhoods

Fort Greene, Brownstone Brooklyn
"When most tourists think of New York they picture the distinctive landmarks of Manhattan. But if you want to experience life the way the cool kids live it, Brooklyn should feature heavily on your trip itinerary. ... Most visitors don’t explore much past the famous pizza restaurants of Grimaldi’s and Juliana’s after they exit the Brooklyn Bridge. If you venture farther south and away from the waterfront park (which is wonderful but increasingly crowded with tourists taking photographs) you’ll find brownstone-lined streets named after fruits, unselfconscious neighborhood establishments and blossom trees streaming pink petals like confetti. ..."
The Culture Trip

New Day Rising - Hüsker Dü (1985)

"For New Day Rising, the follow-up to their breakthrough double-album Zen Arcade, Hüsker Dü replaced concept with conciseness, concentrating on individual songs delivered as scalding post-hardcore pop. New Day Rising is not only a more vicious and relentless record than Zen Arcade, it's more melodic. Bob Mould and Grant Hart have written tightly crafted, melodic pop songs that don't compromise Hüsker's volcanic, unchecked power. Mould and Hart's songs owe a great deal to '60s pop, as the verses and choruses ebb and flow with immediately catchy hooks. Occasionally, the razor-thin production and waves of noise mean that it takes a little bit of effort to pick out the melodies, but more often the furious noise and melodies fuse together to create an overwhelming sonic force. ..."
allmusic (Audio)
The (Second) Best Album of All Time Turns 35
W - New Day Rising
Discogs (Video)
amazon
YouTube: New Day Rising (Full Album) 41:30

2009 May: Hüsker Dü, 2014 July: Zen Arcade (1984)

'Take The Ring' And Journey To Twin Peaks In This New Mini-Doc

"Twin Peaks is many things: a wacky, charming portrait of a small town, an alluring yet disturbing murder mystery, a spooky tale of supernatural forces, a deeply moving tragedy, and a profound spiritual and psychological exploration. Above all, it is a feeling, a mood, an atmosphere, difficult to sum up in words. I created my video series Journey Through Twin Peaks to explore this wonderful and strange world, discovering how the magic works without losing it. As in any good mystery, we must begin by investigating the who, what, where, when and most importantly, WHY of Journey Through Twin Peaks…
Welcome to Twin Peaks (Video)

2020 April: Twin Peaks: Go Down the Rabbit Hole.

40 Years of Experimental Dub Label On-U Sound Records: Nine Essential LPs

"By the time he was 21, Adrian Sherwood had already made several attempts at launching a record label. Sherwood—then a young London producer and DJ working with reggae and post-punk bands—co-founded Carib Gems, a label created to distribute Jamaican recordings locally, followed by Hitrun, through which he began to release some of his own productions. Then came 4D Records, briefly. It wasn’t until his fourth try, On-U Sound, which he co-founded with Kishi Yamamoto in 1980, that Sherwood ended up parlaying his love of reggae and dub into what he calls his 'life journey.' ..."
bandcamp (Audio)

Jean-Pierre Melville: Who does that for anyone?

The ruins of Studio Jenner, June 30th, 1967.
"... Yet [Jean-Pierre] Melville did not merely lift the name, he made it his own. In his 13 films, Melville created an austere, sombre aesthetic: even his colour films appear to be in black and white. His protagonists, whether resistants, gangsters or priests, are solitary ‘men without women’, in the words of Volker Schlöndorff, who worked as his assistant in the early 1960s. Driven by duty, they move inexorably towards their fate, which is often death. Paris is usually their home, and it’s depicted as if it were always night, a city of slick cabarets, backroom poker games and garages where you can get a makeover for a newly stolen car – or a gun. In their fleeting appearances, even the city’s monuments acquire a desolate air. In the words of the director Philippe Labro, Melville’s films are suffused with ‘solitude, violence, mystery, a passion for risk and the aftertaste of the unpredictable and the inevitable’. Melville was a loner and a curmudgeon, with more than a touch of Bartleby. ..."
London Review of Books
[PDF] One Hundred Years Of Jean-Pierre Melville
Cinemois by Jean Pierre Melville
Guardian - Jean-Pierre Melville: cinematic poet of the lowlife and criminal
Movie Poster of the Week: Jean-Pierre Melville in Posters
W - Magnet of Doom, Surrender to the Void, Criterion ($), YouTube: L'aîné des Ferchaux

2015 January: Le Cercle Rouge (1970), 2017 June: Jean-Pierre Melville’s Cinema of Resistance, 2017 November: Un Flic (1972), 2018 November: Two Men in Manhattan (1959)