“TIRASPOL, TRANSNISTRIA — At the Back in the U.S.S.R. cafe, it is like the Soviet Union never collapsed.Busts of Lenin greet visitors at the door. Red hammer and sickle flags hang on the wall. Huge plastic Soviet-era telephones sit on the tables, next to bowls of traditional borscht and lumps of Stolichnaya potato salad. This cafe and the whole Transnistria region, a Russia-supported breakaway republic wedged between Moldova and Ukraine, feels like a Soviet-themed vintage shop. The cafe may be intentionally kitschy, but still, it speaks to a real nostalgia for a long-gone era and a deep appreciation for Russia. ...”
The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon (1966)
“The Crying of Lot 49 is a 1966 novel by American author Thomas Pynchon. The shortest of Pynchon’s novels, the plot follows Oedipa Maas, a young Californian woman who begins to embrace a conspiracy theory as she possibly unearths a centuries-old feud between two mail distribution companies; one of these companies, Thurn and Taxis, actually existed (1806–1867) and was the first private firm to distribute postal mail. Like most of Pynchon’s output, Lot 49 is often described as postmodernist literature. ...”
A Peterson Field Guide To Wildflowers: Northeastern and North-central North America - Roger Tory Peterson
“Find what you're looking for with Peterson Field Guides—their field-tested visual identification system is designed to help you differentiate thousands of unique species accurately every time. Grouped by color and by plant characteristics, 1,293 species in 84 families are described and illustrated. Included here are all the flowers you're most likely to encounter in the eastern and north-central U.S., westward to the Dakotas and southward to North Carolina and Arkansas, as well as the adjacent parts of Canada. ...”
Ukraine: The spy war within the war
“The decades-long spy conflict between Russia and the West is intensifying over the Ukraine war. But what are Russia's intelligence services suspected of doing and how will their officials' expulsion from capitals affect Putin's clandestine overseas operations? When Russia first targeted its military forces on Ukraine in 2014 it also unleashed its intelligence services on the West - from interfering with the US elections using cyber attacks to poisonings and sabotage in Europe. But in recent months the spy war has intensified as Western countries have sought to hit back and inflict lasting damage on the ability of Russian intelligence to carry out covert operations. ...”
World Soccer June 2022
“Our countdown to the 2022 World Cup continues in this issue as we preview the remaining European, Asian and inter-confederational play-offs to determine the final three qualifiers for Qatar. Three players already with their eyes on the World Cup are this issue’s cover stars – Netherlands hot-shot Cody Gakpo, Portugal forward Diogo Jota and United States wonderkid Brenden Aaronson – and we shine the spotlight on the talented trio who are all having terrific seasons for their clubs. The Ukraine conflict continues to cast its shadow, but countries around the world persist in showing their support for the war-torn nation. ...”
Peter Rehberg (1968–2021)
“In 1995, I received a fax from Peter Rehberg stating that Mego, the label he co-ran, wanted to work with me. It was the start of a twenty-six-year relationship that ended with the album I released this year. To reflect on the late artist, who performed as Pita, one might start with his work there. Mego’s first release, General Magic and Pita’s 1995 ‘Fridge Trax,’ is a twelve-inch record that features four pieces constructed using recordings of refrigerators. For decades of avant-gardists, utilizing found sounds evoked musique concrète, but in nonacademic electronic music, at the intersection of techno, house, and ambient where many early Mego releases staked their claim, the staging of such mundane sounds marked a distinct otherness, a new vocabulary. ...”
Ukraine decimated Russian forces trying to cross a river in the east, Britain’s defense ministry says
In this handout photo provided by the Ukraine Armed Forces on Thursday, May 12, 2022, a ruined pontoon crossing with dozens of destroyed or damaged Russian armored vehicles on both banks of Siverskyi Donets River after their pontoon bridges were blown up in eastern Ukraine.
“The British defense ministry on Friday said satellite imagery has confirmed that Ukrainian forces decimated a Russian battalion as it tried to cross a series of pontoon bridges over a river in northeast Ukraine earlier this week, a dramatic setback for Russian forces already struggling to make significant progress along the eastern front.While it was not clear how many soldiers were killed trying to cross the Seversky Donets River, the numbers of burned-out and destroyed vehicles scattered along the riverside suggested that Russian forces suffered heavy losses. ...”
Meet the New Old Book Collectors
Amy Winehouse’s copy of “Howl, Kaddish, and Other Poems,” by Allen Ginsberg.
“Late last month, during the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Park Avenue Armory, Rebecca Romney withdrew a copy of ‘Howl, Kaddish, and Other Poems,’ by Allen Ginsberg from her booth’s display case. She did so not to recite from its pages but to show off the writing in the margins. Amy Winehouse had puzzled out lyrics to an unrecorded song alongside Ginsberg’s lines. ..;. The Ginsberg text is the centerpiece of Ms. Winehouse’s 220-book collection, which Ms. Romney’s company, Type Punch Matrix, near Washington, D.C., is in talks to sell as a unit for $135,000. ...”
Thoreau and the Language of Trees - Richard Higgins (2017)
“... Two generations earlier, another poet laureate of nature and the human spirit made trees a centerpiece of his emotional universe. For Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817–May 6, 1862), they were creative and spiritual companions, sane-making and essential. His love of them comes alive in Thoreau and the Language of Trees (public library) — a selection of the great Transcendentalist poet and philosopher’s meditations on trees, drawn from his two-million-word journal by writer and photographer Richard Higgins, whose beautiful black-and-white photographs complement Thoreau’s arboreal writings. ...”
2020 April: Henry David Thoreau - I, 2020 May: This Ever New Self: Thoreau and His Journal - II, 2022 January: Emerson and Thoreau’s Fanatical Freedom, 2022 March: Using Thoreau’s Notebooks to Understand Climate Change
A white oak near Spencer Brook in Concord, 19 1/2 feet in circumference, as it looked in 2005; it sprouted around the time Thoreau was born, in 1817.
These Dancers Escaped the War. Their Journeys Are Just Beginning.
Victoria Glazunova, Kate Myklukha and Polina Loshchylina of the Dutch National Ballet.
“AMSTERDAM — Kate Myklukha pushed herself up onto the tip of her left foot, then stretched her arms out in front of her as if hugging a tree.As a pianist at the Dutch National Ballet here played a jaunty tune, several of Myklukha’s classmates wobbled from side to side, struggling to hold the delicate pose. But Myklukha held her balance, then spun around and dipped into a knee bend, before gracefully waving an arm skyward.During that short sequence last month, Myklukha, 17, looked as if she had been a member of the ballet’s junior company for years. Yet, she had arrived in Amsterdam only two and a half weeks before, having escaped the war in Ukraine. ...”
“When my aunt gave her passport to the russian he asked, 'Why are your hands shaking?'"
Flight Paths - Omar El Akkad
Wire Reveal Official Release Of Old Bootleg, 'Not About To Die'
“An old bootleg release by Wire is getting an official release four decades on from its initial circulation.No Time To Die initially emerged in the early '80s via Amnesia Records, and contained some demos that Wire recorded for their second and third albums, Chairs Missing and 154. The band had recorded the demos for their label at the time, EMI, and while the cassettes were intended to be circulated among an inner circle of people, low-quality recordings of the material on the tapes were eventually leaked out collectively under the name No Time To Die. ...”
2009 January: Wire, 2012 January: On the Box 1979, 2013 September: Chairs Missing (1978), 2014 June: 154 (1979), 2014 July: Document And Eyewitness (1979-1980), 2015 April: The Ideal Copies: Graham Lewis Of Wire's Favourite Albums, 2015 July: Pink Flag (1977), 2015 December: The Peel Sessions Album (1989), “Dot Dash”, "Options R" (1978), 2017 June: Outdoor Miner / Practice Makes Perfect (1979), 2017 November: Live at the Roxy, London, 2018 June: Wire at Maxwell's (06-12-1987), 2021 May: 60 minutes of music that sum up art-punk pioneers Wire
Once Best Friends, Bulgaria Takes a Stand Against Russia
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia this month.
“SHIPKA, Bulgaria — A week after Russia invaded Ukraine, Moscow’s ambassador to Bulgaria climbed a snowy mountain pass to honor czarist-era Russian soldiers who died there fighting for Bulgarian independence in the 19th century. Present day concerns, however, quickly eclipsed the effort to remind Bulgaria of the debt it owed Russia. That same day, Bulgaria expelled two of the ambassador’s underlings for espionage and announced the arrest of a senior military officer on charges of spying for Russia. ...”
A man stands in his destroyed house in Vilkhivka, Ukraine, on Monday.
Rainer Ganahl
“2009, 4 min, color, sound. As I have done with Sigmund Freud, Lenin and Handke (his goal keeper book), I I'm kicking the book of Karl Marx to its full destruction. I don't do that out of hatred for the authors but out of a reminder that books were destroyed in the past (particular those of the firsts 3 authors). I do that also because it is quite an intense act of expression that transcends reading. The relationship between violence, destruction and (re)creation is quite challenging and provokes interesting questions that go beyond my pure will to ‘just make art.’ ...”
Syrian Cassette Archives
“... For these reasons, tapes were widely popular in many parts of the world, Syria being one potent example. Syrian Cassette Archives, a new website created by a team led by Iraqi-American musician and collector Mark Gergis and Damascus-born DJ and community organizer Yamen Makdad, offers a window into the country’s rich musical history through tapes. Gergis grew up hearing pop by the likes of legendary Egyptian vocalist Umm Kulthoum and famed Lebanese diva Fairuz before making his first of many trips to Syria in 1997, where he began amassing mountains of cassettes as he immersed himself in the local music. ...”
I Spent Weeks on Ukraine’s Front Lines. Everything Has Changed.
Sheltering in a basement shelter near Russian positions that were only a few miles away in the Zaporizhzhia region of southeastern Ukraine.
“First the whiz and then the explosion a second later. One after another. One after another. I was hiding in an underground dugout — it would be difficult to call it a bunker: no solid entrance door, no proper stash of food and water. The walls were wooden and there were two sort-of beds, a couple of rugs and some wooden chairs. The place was untidy with phone chargers and military clothing — helmets, flak jackets. There were a few cookies and some chocolate bars. Home for Ukrainian soldiers on the front line. ...”
Witness a Total Lunar Eclipse on Sunday, May 15–16
“You can't do better for an astronomical event than a total lunar eclipse. It's visible to city and rural residents alike across half the planet, requires no special equipment, lasts for hours and is guaranteed to happen. How many other celestial shows offer this kind of ease and certainty? About the only thing that can get in the way are clouds. And for that, you can check current cloud maps to find the nearest clear skies. More about that in a moment. ...”
Locus Solus (journal)
“Now to look at Locus Solus, a magazine of poetry and prose edited by John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler from 1961–’62, and published by Harry Mathews in Lans-en-Vercors, France. All five issues of the publication are part of The Little Magazine Collection at DU. To me, the most compelling issue of Locus Solus is ‘New Poetry,’ a double issue (III–IV) edited by John Ashbery, published in Winter 1962. Within New Poetry one finds poetry by (among many others) Ashbery, Joseph Ceravolo, Diane di Prima, Barbara Guest, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Frank O’Hara, and James Schuyler — writing crucial to the body of work that evolved from many of the aforementioned poets. ...”
Ukrainians unearth horrors near Kyiv, a month after Russian retreat
Mourners gather for a memorial service at the home of Dmytro Luchynya's family in Kolonshchyna village on May 6, 2022.
“KOLONSHCHYNA, Ukraine — It wasn’t relief or calm that washed over the constellation of towns and villages west of Kyiv when the Russians withdrew after their monthlong occupation. It was horror and unnerving silence. Residents emerged from their cellars to discover their neighborhoods flattened and bodies dotting the streets. They cautiously inspected what was left and began searching for those who were lost. Vira Tyshchenko spent weeks poring over thousands of images of mutilated corpses, bloody clothing and personal items. She thought that among the remains and detritus she might recognize her younger brother or at least something that belonged to him. But she also hoped to find nothing at all, because she wanted to believe he was somehow still alive. ...”
Guardian: Italy launches inquiry into Kremlin disinformation
The operation was co-ordinated by the UN and the Red Cross.
A Messy Table, a Map of the World
“Jason Farago of the New York Times has published another close reading of a Dutch masterpiece. Over the last few years Farago has released a number of art essays which look closely at famous works of arts. Each of these art critiques owe a lot to the navigation and presentation techniques developed for online interactive maps. As you progress through one of his close readings an accompanying interactive zooms and pans around an image of the discussed painting to help illustrate Farago's observations of the artist's work. In his latest close reading A Messy Table, A Map of the World Farago examines a still life by the 17th Century Dutch artist Willem Claesz Heda. ...”
The amazing survival story of the last 3 single-family row houses on Central Park West
“If you find yourself facing the corner of Central Park West at 85th Street, you’ll see three stunning row houses, each with different Queen Anne-style touches. They’re charming, confection-like holdouts from the Gilded Age, dwarfed (but not outshined) by their Art Deco apartment tower neighbor. But before 1930, these three beauties were part of a row of nine spanning the entire block. While their sister buildings met the wrecking ball, they managed to survive—and now are thought to be the last remaining single-family row houses on all of Central Park West. ...”
On the Night Bus to Kyiv
Police inspect a destroyed trolley bus on the site of a Russian bombing attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday, March 14, 2022.
“Kyiv, Ukraine—After Russian attacks targeted infrastructure all across Ukraine earlier this week, damaging critical rail lines in the western part of the country, a bus bound for Kyiv was full when it departed from Warsaw an hour before midnight on Wednesday. With the more popular trains suffering cancellations and delays as long as 11 hours, and fuel shortages making personal car travel dicey, the bus emerged as perhaps the best way to get to Ukraine from the west. A crowd of about a hundred people formed at the platforms at Warsaw West station late Wednesday night, many destined for Lviv, Kyiv, or further east. ...”
A Ukrainian national guard soldier walks into an underground bunker near a frontline position on May 07, 2022 in Zelenodolsk, Ukraine.
Paris France - Gertrude Stein (1940)
“Gertrude Stein’s Paris France is a book about Paris that tells many true things about the French but also gives a picture of Gertrude and her times that is about who Americans are and what Americans think when they are not in Paris at all. It is a picture of Paris by an American who thinks as Americans think, and we see America in the picture when she thinks she is showing us France. Yet because she is a fine and true writer she knows that she is showing us both things, and many truths about the French come out even though they are written the way an American must write them. ...”
2007 November: Gertrude Stein, 2011 July: The making of "Tender Buttons", 2012 March: The Steins Collect, 2012 May: Gertrude Stein's War Years: Setting the record straight, 2014 November: Lost Generation, 2015 January: The Making of an American by Edward White, 2020 December: Tender Buttons (1914), 2022 February: No no no, nonsense, never...
Hard to Be a God - Aleksei German (2013)
“Hard to Be a God ... is a 2013 Russian science fiction art film directed by Aleksei German, based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. A team of scientists travel to the planet Arkanar that is culturally and technologically centuries behind — progress is stuck way back in the Middle Ages. Anybody the inhabitants of the planet consider an intellectual is instantly executed. The scientists are ordered to not interfere and work undercover, but one of them, Rumata, wishes to stop the senseless murders of brilliant minds and is forced to at last pick a side. ...”
YouTube: Hard to be a God - Official Trailer, Don Rumata frees a slave who has been chained since he was 3, Don Rumata's heart is full of pity.
Ukrainian tractors vs. Russian tanks: The hundred-year history behind the meme
An ironic banner in Dnipro, Ukraine reads: "Russian soldier, the sowing campaign has already begun" on April 16, in reference to the famous snapshots of Ukrainian tractors pulling abandoned Russian tanks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, news outlets and social media have captured the magnitude of the destruction: Cities like Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol, Chernihiv and Kherson surrounded by Russian tanks; shelling; children taking shelter in subway stations with relatives’ phone numbers written on their skin. But occasionally there have been more hopeful images, like those of the Ukrainian popular resistance. In the country’s small towns and villages, farmers driving humble tractors have hauled away Russian tanks. These photos and videos symbolize a popular narrative of Ukrainian heroes defending their homeland, risking their lives for the democratic world. In this narrative, farmers and, by extension, civilians, are not merely powerless victims of Russian aggression; they are people who just want to lead normal lives and are determined to fight back. ...”
Oleksandr Vilkul of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, in his office.
America Is Not Ready for the End of Roe v. Wade
Painter's Spring - William Parker Trio (2000)
“As the second release in the acclaimed Blue Series from Thirsty Ear Recordings, Painter's Spring by the William Parker Trio sustains the living bolt of energy infused in the free and avant-garde jazz genres by the debut of Matt Shipp's Pastoral Composure. Bassist William Parker wrote all of the compositions except the traditional ‘There Is a Balm in Gilead’ and ‘Come Sunday,’ and together with Daniel Carter on alto and tenor sax, flute, and clarinet and Hamid Drake on drums, the trio lifts the program to the listener's attention with the melding of individual talents into one powerful musical force. ...”
2022 January: A Guide to William Parker, 2022 February: Raining On The Moon – Corn Meal Dance (2007), 2022 March: William Parker Quartets: Meditation / Resurrection (2017)
One Village at a Time: The Grinding Artillery War in Ukraine
Oleg, a construction worker-turned-volunteer, walking by a burning house as he looked for residents to evacuate in Ruska Lozova, Ukraine.
“RUSKA LOZOVA, Ukraine — The Ukrainian major had a few tasks to complete as he made the rounds along his army battalion’s front line. One platoon commander needed anti-tank weapons. Another wanted to show off a new line of trenches that his forces had dug following a recent Ukrainian advance. But as he drove between positions in his camouflaged armored van near the town of Derhachi, the clock was ticking. A Russian surveillance drone hovered above, watching, sending back coordinates to Russian artillery units, the major said. About twenty minutes later, at least three shells rained down, forcing the major and his team to scramble. ...”
Comicopera - Robert Wyatt (2007)
Wikipedia - "Comicopera is an album by Robert Wyatt released on 8 October 2007, available on both CD and double vinyl formats (the vinyl's fourth side contains no music and has a poem etched into its surface). It is Wyatt's first release on the Domino Records label. It features many other musicians, including Brian Eno, Paul Weller, Gilad Atzmon and Phil Manzanera, and was recorded in Wyatt's house and Manzanera's recording studio. The song Del Mondo is a cover from Ko de mondo, the debut album of Italian post-punk band Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti."
2010 November: Robert Wyatt, 2013 March: The Last Nightingale, 2013 September: Solar Flares Burn for You (2003), 2014 March: Cuckooland (2003), 2014 October: Robert Wyatt Story (BBC Four, 2001), 2014 December: Different Every Time (2014), 2016 March: Interviews (2014), 2016 June: Dondestan (Revisited)(1998), 2016 September: Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard (1975), 2017 January: '68 (2013), 2017 May: Shleep (1997), 2020 January: Rock Bottom (1972), 2020 November: Nothing Can Stop Us (1982)
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