Trump ‘Could Tip an Already Fragile World Order Into Chaos’
"Two weeks ago, The Washington Post published 'A Trump Dictatorship Is Increasingly Inevitable. We Should Stop Pretending,' by Robert Kagan. Four days later, The Times published 'Why a Second Trump Presidency May Be More Radical Than His First,' by Charlie Savage, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, one in an ongoing series of articles. On the same day, The Atlantic released the online version of its January/February 2024 issue; it included 24 essays under the headline 'If Trump Wins.' While the domestic danger posed by a second Trump administration is immediate and pressing, Russia, China, North Korea and Iran — sometimes referred to as the 'alliance of autocracies'' — have an interest in weakening the global influence of the United States and in fracturing its ties to democracies around the globe. ..."
Jane B. par Agnès V. (1988)
"Jane B. par Agnès V. is a 1988 French docudrama film directed by Agnès Varda and starring French-English actress Jane Birkin. The film was conceived when Birkin admitted to Varda she was apprehensive about turning 40 and Varda told her it was a beautiful age and the perfect time to make a portrait on Birkin's life. The film mixes interviews with Birkin about her past and current life with small vignettes where she takes on roles that either she or Varda are interested in seeing her play. ..."
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), 2017 February: 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), 2020 May: Socialism and cha-cha-cha: Agnès Varda's photos of Cuba forgotten for 50 years, 2020 August: Four Ways of Looking at Agnès Varda, 2022 January: From Here to There (2011), 2023 July: La Pointe Courte: How Agnès Varda “Invented” the New Wave
At Trump’s Fraud Trial, a Courtroom Artist With a Different View
"... But several courtroom artists — an anachronistic group that continues to use chalky pastels to draw scenes from camera-free courtrooms to sell to TV stations and newspapers — were on it, erasing Mr. Trump’s pupils from their sketches. 'He’s nodding off!' the artist Isabelle Brourman whispered to a colleague. Ms. Brourman, a 30-year-old newcomer, was not part of the dwindling coterie of commercial courtroom artists who make their livings selling cinematic, sometimes vaguely expressionistic trial drawings to news outlets. She is there for a different kind of art project: A mixed media artist, she has found herself drawn to big trials... "
Ms. Brourman collapses different scenes from the trial into panorama-like drawings, with many of the key figures plainly visible. Some of her sketches show Justice Arthur F. Engoron, who is presiding over the case; Mr. Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen; and Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
Barrow-wight
"Barrow-wights are wraith-like creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth. In The Lord of the Rings, the four hobbits are trapped by a barrow-wight, and are lucky to escape with their lives; but they gain ancient swords of Westernesse for their quest. Tolkien derived the idea of barrow-wights from Norse mythology, where heroes of several Sagas battle undead beings known as draugrs. Scholars have noted a resemblance, too, between the breaking of the barrow-wight's spell and the final battle in Beowulf, where the dragon's barrow is entered and the treasure released from its spell. Barrow-wights do not appear in Peter Jackson's film trilogy, but they do feature in computer games based on Tolkien's Middle-earth. ..."
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2010 January: The Lord of the Rings, 2018 January: An Atlas of Literary Maps Created by Great Authors: J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island & More, 2019 January: The Largest J.R.R. Tolkien Exhibit in Generations Is Coming to the U.S.: Original Drawings, Manuscripts, Maps & More, 2020 January: Hear Christopher Tolkien (RIP) Read the Work of His Father J.R.R. Tolkien, Which He Tirelessly Worked to Preserve, 2020 August: The Complete Guide to Middle-earth - Robert Foster (1971), 2021 September: When the Nobel Prize Committee Rejected The Lord of the Rings..., 2021 October: When J.R.R. Tolkien Worked for the Oxford English Dictionary..., 2022 March: J.R.R. Tolkien Tolkien Estate, 2022 October: One Ring, 2023 May: Old Forest, 2023 July: W - Barrow-wights
“Two huge standing stones” like a doorway: A long barrow, the dolmen at Locmariaquer, Brittany. The chamber is a passage with wider places for burials and grave-goods.
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Various & Gould Go to Church to Spread Colorful “Strahlen” with Project “Startbahn”
"In the heart of Berlin-Neukölln, the Genezareth Church, a neo-Gothic tower with a history as rich and intricate as the city itself, stands renewed and vibrant, thanks to the artistic duo Various and Gould. Their latest project, 'Strahlen' (German for 'rays' or 'to shine'), was inaugurated in mid-September, almost 120 years to the day after the church’s foundation stone was laid in 1903. The installation heralds a new era for the church, which has been experiencing a revival under the Startbahn team, an open-minded group managing the church for the past few years. ..."
Bob Marley And The Wailers - "Rat Race"
"'Rat Race' appeared on the Rastaman Vibration album, which was released in May 1976 on the Island label. The song was instantly popular and remained in the Wailers' repertoire for many years. Its popularity with Jamaican and non-Jamaican audiences all over the world is no doubt due to its reference to both a specifically Jamaican situation and a more universal context of suffering and oppression. In other words, the song's message was sufficiently clear for every Jamaican to pick up all the references in 1976 and vague enough for every listener to interpret it according to the situation he or she was in at the time (Marley's use of proverbs or proverb-like statements like 'When the cat's away, the mice will play' and 'In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty' ensured that).
When 'Rat Race' was first released in May 1976, the People's National Party was in office with Michael Manley as Prime Minister. ... Once in office, Manley's government launched a raft of measures like free education and a land reform, but these measures cost money and the 1973 oil crisis dealt a serious blow to the Jamaican economy. ..."
The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger
"If the American foreign policy establishment is a grand citadel, then Henry Kissinger is the ghoul haunting its hallways. For half a century, he was an omnipresent figure in war rooms and at press briefings, dutifully shepherding the US empire through military interventions and underhand foreign policy. For generations of antiwar activists, Kissinger personified the depravity of the American war machine. The world Kissinger wrought is the one we live in today, where ideal investment conditions are generated from the barrel of a gun. Today, global capitalism and US hegemony are underwritten by the most powerful military ever devised. Any political vision worth fighting for must promise an end to the long-running cycle of wars rolling through the twenty-first century. Breaking that cycle means placing the twin evils of capitalism and imperialism in our crosshairs. In this edited collection, Jacobin follows Kissinger’s trajectory across the globe, across Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia — not because he was evil incarnate, but because he, more than any other public figure, illustrates the links between capitalism, empire, and the feedback loop of endless conflict that plagues us today. ..."
2023 May: Blood On His Hands: Henry Kissinger, 2023 November: Henry Kissinger and the Vietnam War
The five artists who inspired The Clash
"When the punk music scene exploded in 1976, a seemingly endless volume of bands came and went. Drawn in by DIY music-making and extreme fashion, young people across the country picked up instruments, learnt four chords, and started forming groups. Whilst some of these bands were more enduring than others, one of the few that completely transcended the punk scene and cemented themselves as one of the most iconic British bands of the century was The Clash. Formed by guitarist Mick Jones, who soon recruited Paul Simonen on bass and scouted frontman Joe Strummer, who was fronting The 101ers at the time, The Clash made their mark on the punk scene. ..."
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (World War) - Jaimie Branch (2023)
"Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (World War) is the posthumous third studio album by American jazz trumpeter Jaimie Branch, released through International Anthem Recording Company on August 25, 2023. It was recorded by Branch in April 2022 at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska. Mixes were completed by Branch's quartet Fly or Die and her family after her death in August 2022. The album received universal acclaim from critics. Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (World War) received a score of 97 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on six critics' reviews, indicating 'universal acclaim'. Pitchfork gave it their Best New Album distinction, with Andy Cush calling it 'a heartbreaking glimpse of where [Branch] might have gone next, but more importantly, it's a joy to hear'. ..."
Sun Ra in Sin City By John Corbett
"The last time I spoke with Sun Ra, I asked him for his take on the enduring legacy of the Great American Songbook. It was 1993. Ra had returned to Birmingham, Alabama, where he’d been born nearly eighty years before. He would die there, from complications associated with pneumonia, a few weeks later. The pianist, composer, and bandleader’s first published composition, ‘Alone with Just a Memory of You,’ written in 1936 together with Henry McCellons, conveyed a tender, awkward Tin Pan Alley tone that betrayed his love of sentimental songcraft. This passion is driven home repeatedly in a survey of Ra’s magnificently gigantic discography. ..."
Tom Waits In The Studio: The Island Albums
"When Tom Waits grabbed the production reins of his albums, he ended up redefining what a singer/songwriter could be and the very act of record-making itself. Along the way, he assembled a staggering tally of timeless songs that sound like nothing else that came before them and inspired cover versions by an endless list of legends, including Steve Earle, Alison Krauss, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, The Ramones, Los Lobos, The Neville Brothers, Tori Amos, Elvis Costello, and countless others. We discussed this remarkable run of records with some of the collaborators Tom knew best. ..."
2012 July: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, 2013 March: Burma Shave, 2013 May: "Ol' '55", 2013 July: The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), 2014 January: Blood Money, 2014 March: Telephone call from Istanbul (1987), 2014 November: Rain Dogs (1985), 2015 February: Mule Variations (1999), 2015 April: Swordfishtrombones (1983), 2015 July: Alice (2002), 2015 September: Tom Waits On The Tube Live UK TV 1985, 2015 December: Franks Wild Years (1987), 2016 January: "Bad as Me" (2011), 2016 April: 'It's perfect madness', 2016 May: Real Gone (2002), 2016 October: Tom Waits Sings and Tells Stories in "Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna", a 1979, 2017 January: Bone Machine (1992), 2017 April: Bad as Me (2011). 2019 February: "Downtown Train" / "Tango Till They're Sore" (1985)
Silence Is Violence — but Not When It Comes to Israeli Rape Victims
"On Sunday, CNN’s Dana Bash asked Representative Pramila Jayapal why so many progressive women have been silent about the extensive reports of widespread rape and sexual assault carried out by Hamas against Israeli women during the massacres of Oct. 7.
What followed was a master class in evasion, both-sidesism and changing the subject from the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. 'I’ve condemned what Hamas has done,' Jayapal allowed, briefly, before moving immediately to condemn Israel. 'I was just asking about the women, and you turned it back to Israel. I’m asking about Hamas. I’ve already answered your question, Dana,' Jayapal replied, adding that while rape was 'horrific,' it 'happens in war situations. Terrorist organizations like Hamas obviously are using these as tools. However, I think we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians.' ..."
Literary Fight Club: On the Great Poets’ Brawl of ‘68
"One Saturday evening in 1968, the poets battled on Long Island. Drinks spilled into the grass. Punches were flung; some landed. Chilean and French poets stood on a porch and laughed while the Americans brawled. A glass table shattered. Bloody-nosed poets staggered into the coming darkness. Allen Ginsberg fell to his knees and prayed. The World Poetry Conference at Stony Brook University was almost over. At Michigan State University, Jim Harrison was a self-described 'nasty item,' a 'prominent, if obnoxious, student in comparative literature.' He had no business graduating with a Master’s degree. ..."
Top 20 Best Neil Young Guitar Songs
"Greetings, fellow guitar aficionados, today we’re going to embark on an exciting lesson through the world of Neil Young’s best guitar songs. If you aren’t familiar with Neil’s repertoire you should definitely check it out and study it to the bone, because there is so incredibly much to learn from. There’s no musician more authentic and real in his music and playing than Neil. Neil Young is a legendary musician known for his great melodies and versatile guitar playing style. He has inspired countless musicians around the world. Whether you love strumming along to beautiful acoustic guitar classics or you want to learn how to play rocking guitar riffs on the electric guitar, you’re in for a treat. I’ve put together a list of the top 20 Neil Young guitar songs that are sure to get your fingers moving and your heart singing. ..."
2008 February: Neil Young, 2010 April: Neil Young - 1, 2010 April: Neil Young - 2, 2010 May: Neil Young - 3, 2010 October: Neil Young's Sound, 2012 January: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History, 2012 June: Like A Hurricane, 2012 July: Greendale, 2013 April: Thoughts On An Artist / Three Compilations, 2013 August: Heart of Gold, 2014 March: Dead Man (1995), 2014 August: Ragged Glory - Neil Young + Crazy Horse (1990), 2014 November: Broken Arrow (1996), 2015 January: Rust Never Sleeps (1979), 2015 January: Neil Young the Ultimate Guide, 2015 March: Old Black, 2015 September: Zuma (1975), 2016 January: On the Beach (1973), 2016 April: Sleeps with Angels (1994), 2016 November: Eldorado (EP - 1989), Long May You Run - The Stills-Young Band (1976), 2017 June: "River Of Pride" / "White Line" (1975), 2017 July: "Thrasher" [Live at the Cow Palace, 1978], 2017 November: Words (Live at Red Rocks, 2000), 2020 November: Neil Young Releases a Never-Before-Heard Version..., 2022 January: Time Fades Away (1973)
The Secrets of Beauty By Jean Cocteau
"Jean Cocteau wrote on anything he could get his hands on, wherever he could. Édouard Dermit informs us that he often saw Cocteau writing next to him in the car, or while lying down, or when at the table (between fruit and dessert courses), using the smallest scrap of paper or cloth. This version of Secrets of Beauty was composed in March 1945, on a long journey back to Paris. ... Cocteau was like one of those magicians who, having announced that they are going to reveal the secret of one trick, immediately perform another. He offered up 'secrets of beauty' so frequently that the volume from which the following notes have been extracted could almost be called New Secrets of Beauty. ... —Pierre Caizergues ..."
2009 March: Jean Cocteau, 2016 February: In Which Jean Cocteau Gives Elan To This Milieu, 2021 January: Flair Magazine: The Short-Lived, Highly-Influential Magazine That Still Inspires Designers Today (1950), 2021 August: Orphic Trilogy
Sonny Boy Williamson II
"... The ones I’m grouping in this manner are the Chess/Checker foursome: Muddy, The Wolf, Sonny Boy and Little Walter (and for clarity I should say that by Sonny Boy, I mean Sonny Boy Williamson II – see later). I was lucky enough to get to see the first three of these gents in a London club setting which implied a closeness (and ambiance) which wasn’t available in a concert format. They didn’t disappoint. Were they necessarily better than other blues artists who’d migrated north like Reed, Hooker, Rush, James and Guy? No, but there was that Chess aura that surrounded them. We, and the new so-called R&B groups which were springing up everywhere, worshipped Chuck and Bo from the Chess stable. Muddy and co were just one step further. ..."
From Gilded Age beer garden to 1970s strip club: 100 years of vice on a Chelsea corner
"There’s a four-story tenement on the traffic-choked corner of Sixth Avenue and 24th Street with some curious signage. Not the store sign for a now-shuttered ground floor cafe, nor the enormous 'for sale' banner spread across the second floor of the facade. (Yikes, is this red-brick beauty in danger?) Signage that’s much more intriguing comes into view when you stand nearby and look up. On the corner of the building, two brownstone nameplates say, well, 'The Corner,' in Victorian-style lettering. Above the cornice is a pediment that reads 'The Corner' with 'Koster & Bial' underneath. So what was The Corner, and who were Koster and Bial? The tenement is all that’s left of a theater and beer garden empire that stretched across Sixth Avenue and offered excess beer, edgy performances, and illicit adventures to libertine New Yorkers. ..."
The politics of hosting AFCON
"A decade later, in January 2024, Ivorians will finally welcome the continent and the world to the next AFCON. Economic and sporting realities are making it harder for sporting tournaments to find hosts. In the past, hosting gigs were keenly sought after and contested by different countries. The appeal of welcoming thousands of visitors and positively impacting economic and tourist activities was usually viewed positively while winning bids was always a good tonic for political leaders. Yet, expansion means growing tournament costs and the need to maximize economic output, while mitigating CAF’s financial difficulties is making it harder to find hosts. This trend might impact AFCON, the continent’s premier football competition. ..."
‘Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome’: Parliament’s Funk Opera
"At the peak of its powers, Parliament-Funkadelic seemed capable of anything: scoring radio hits, crafting visionary best-selling albums, spinning-off successful solo acts and satellite groups, even producing an unparalleled live show that climaxed every night with an onstage spaceship landing. Yet leader George Clinton believed that P-Funk still had unfinished creative business. Since Parliament’s 1975 album Chocolate City, as he recalled in his 2014 memoir, he’d been working toward, 'a complete, comprehensive funk opera.' ..."
2009 January: George Clinton, 2010 December: Mothership Connection - Houston 1976, 2011 October: Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove, 2011 October: "Do Fries Go With That Shake?", 2012 August: Tales Of Dr. Funkenstein – The Story Of George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic, 2015 July: Playing The (Baker's) Dozens: George Clinton's Favourite Albums, 2015 August: Chocolate City (1975), 2016 February: Maggot Brain - Funkadelic (1971), 2016 June: P-Funk All Stars - Urban Dancefloor Guerillas (1983), 2017 March: Up for the Down Stroke - Parliament (1974), 2017 May: P-Funk mythology, 2019 September: Tear the Roof Off the Sucker: An Introduction to Parliament Funkadelic, 2019 December: Cosmic Slop - Funkadelic (1973), 2020 July: How George Clinton Made Funk a World View, 2021 November: ‘Computer Games’: How George Clinton’s Solo Debut Played To Win, 2022 September: ‘The Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein’: Parliament Unleashes An Intergalactic Funk Classic
There Once Was an Empire
"When it comes to history writing, one of the most recognizable frames is the story of the 'rise and fall.' Although broad and often misused, it is undeniably a trope that deeply interests the public imagination. So much so that nowadays one doesn’t need to look far to find anxieties over our own alleged fall. Discussions on 'decline' and even 'collapse' have become more commonplace online. More generally, across all published literature, mentions of doom and gloom have reached new heights, irrespective of political leanings. But despite the cultural climate, catastrophes are hard to imagine, and even the doomsayers themselves usually say such things half-heartedly. This is because so few people alive and born in the Western world have experienced anything truly like it. Personal memories of war have also faded for most. Limited by experience, historical perspectives help to fill in the gaps of our imagination. ..."
Austria-Hungary popularized the postcard as a way to communicate between its many cultural regions. Some even featured limited-edition illustrations like this one, a 1912 postcard of the Café Heinrichhof in Vienna by Moriz Jung.
Henry Kissinger and the Vietnam War
"American diplomat Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) played an important and controversial role in the Vietnam War. Starting out as a supporter, Kissinger came to see it as a drag on American power. In 1968, Kissinger leaked information about the status of the peace talks in Paris to the Nixon campaign and was rewarded with being appointed National Security Adviser under Richard Nixon. As National Security Adviser, Kissinger sought initially to find a way to end the war on American terms. During his tenure, Kissinger came to differ with Nixon as Kissinger was more in favor of seeking an end to war as expeditiously as possible with minimum damage to American prestige. In October 1972, Kissinger reached a draft agreement that Nixon at first rejected, leading to the Christmas bombings of December 1972. The agreement that Kissinger signed in January 1973—which led to the American withdrawal from Vietnam in March of that year—was very similar to the draft agreement rejected the previous year. As National Security Adviser and Secretary of State, Kissinger favored continued American support for South Vietnam right until the collapse of that state in April 1975, which Kissinger blamed Congress for. ..."
"Henry A. Kissinger’s decision to authorize the secret carpet bombing of Cambodia, his efforts to negotiate the American exit from the Vietnam War and his role in the U.S. rapprochement with China have rippled through Southeast Asia in the decades since. Mr. Kissinger, who died on Wednesday, shared the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the peace accords that ended American involvement in the Vietnam War. But some critics accused him of needlessly prolonging the war when a framework for peace had been available years earlier. The fighting between North Vietnam and U.S.-backed South Vietnam did not end until the North’s victory in 1975. Some observers have said that was the inevitable result of a cynical American policy intended to create space — “a decent interval,” as Mr. Kissinger put it — between the American withdrawal from the country in 1973 and the fall of Saigon two years later. ..."
The aftermath of a bombing in Snuol, Cambodia, during the Vietnam War, in May 1970.
Behold LEGO Reenactments of Famous Psychology Experiments, as Imagined by Artificial Intelligence
"Cognitive scientist Tomer Ullman, head of Harvard’s Computation, Cognition, and Development lab, may have inadvertently blundered into an untapped vein of LEGO Icon inspiration when his interest in AI led him to stage recreations of famous psych experiments. If you think Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night LEGO playset is a challenge, imagine putting together the AI-generated playset inspired by Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram’s 1961 obedience studies, above. Participants in these studies were assigned to play one of two parts – teacher or learner. Partner pairs were seated in separate rooms, accessible to each other by microphones. The teacher read the learner a list of matched words they’d expected to remember shortly thereafter. ..."
Postcards from Elizabeth Bishop
"Elizabeth Bishop delighted in the postcard. It suited her poetic subject matter and her way of life—this poet of travel who was more often on the move than at home, 'wherever that may be,' as she put it in her poem 'Questions of Travel.' She told James Merrill in a postcard written in 1979 that she seldom wrote 'anything of any value at the desk or in the room where I was supposed to be doing it—it’s always in someone else’s house, or in a bar, or standing up in the kitchen in the middle of the night.' Since her death in 1979 and the publication of her selected correspondence, Bishop has become known as one of the great modern-day letter-writers. ..."
Lee Scratch Perry - Battle Of Armagideon, 2CD Expanded Edition (1986)
"... In 1985, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry returned to Trojan Records, the celebrated British company which, during reggae’s the formative years, had been instrumental in establishing him on the international scene as one of Jamaica’s most talented, innovative and influential producers. By this time, he was exploring new musical avenues, having teamed up with the Dub Factory, a British band led by rhythm guitarist and synth player Mark Downie. The first evidence of this new union came towards the close of the year when Trojan released Perry’s seasonal single, ‘Merry Christmas, Happy New Year’, on which he was accompanied by London-based singer, Sandra Robinson. The disc provided an indication of his bold, new sound, which effectively blended Jamaican rhythms with rock sensibilities. ..."
Sounds of the Universe (Audio), YouTube: Battle of Armagideon (Millionaire Liquidator) (Expanded Version) 18 videos
Gerry Eastman – Not Just His Brother’s Keeper
"Jazzman Gerry Eastman, 78, cooks harder than ever. Every Friday he gigs fast and mean, nimble and soulful, experimental and tender at the Williamsburg Music Center, which he has owned and operated (and lived in) since he bought the building for $50,000, in 1981. Back then the neighborhood was Black and Puerto Rican, and Eastman, composer and virtuoso electric guitarist, was just one of many musicians who owned their own clubs. Now his is the only Black-owned jazz club in Williamsburg (and one of only a few in Brooklyn). But although the neighborhood’s avant-garde music scene has dissolved since the early 2010s (documented in Pratt Institute professor Cisco Bradley’s heavily reported book The Williamsburg Avant-Garde), Eastman continues to rocket into the jazz stratosphere. ..."
L: Historical artifacts adorn the walls of the Williamsburg Music Center. R: Gerry Eastman, guitar virtuoso.L: Courtesy Gerry Eastman. R: Ben Gambuzza
GQ: Meet Cooper B. Handy, Better Known As LUCY, the Experimental Singer-Songwriter Who's Charmed New York and Baffled TikTok
"In early September of this year, when Cooper B. Handy, who goes by the stage name LUCY, opened for King Krule in Atlanta, Georgia, a concertgoer who uses the TikTok handle @macmandyy filmed six seconds of his performance and posted it with the text overlay: 'when the opener so bad u have to pull up slime videos to zone out.' The video went semi-viral, racking up over 360,000 likes and nearly two and a half thousand comments, which offer a fairly robust summary of the pop musician’s current status. ... Handy, 29, is almost startlingly soft-spoken, dressed head-to-toe in primary colors, and is charmingly prone to blushing, especially when he’s asked to talk about himself. We walked through chapels filled with medieval ephemera, pausing for an extra-long time in front of the unicorn tapestries, which tell the tale of a hunted magical beast. ..."
Stikman “SIGNS” Show Slides into Skewville.
"Stikman always appears to lurk in New York on street signs, slapped on mailboxes, and stuck into doorways. A Gotham stalwart for two decades or so, his stiff amulet self is true to form, an image of sticks awkwardly compiled, sometimes in 2D, sometimes in 3. He appears in scenes where everyone else is fully formed and buxom, where space travel requires a bubble helmut and silver jumper, where jumbled graphics almost erase him, where nothing else is happening except this somewhat lonely guy quietly existing in the dirty chaos of NY street culture. Stikman. ..."
Classic Performances - Pet Shop Boys
"The Pet Shop Boys do ballet. If you spent a large portion of the 80s singing 'West End Girls' into a hairbrush, then get ready for a surprise - the Pet Shop Boys composed the music for their first ever ballet in 2011. Entitled 'The Most Incredible Thing', it's based on a Hans Christian Andersen story and premiered at the Sadler's Wells theatre in London. ..."
YouTube: Pet Shop Boys: HD Remastered 43 Videos
Hania Rani Nancy Jazz Pulsations 2023
"Hania Rani has a gift in creating moments of intimate communion with her audience using only her fingertips, one reason why this Polish pianist is seeing her star rise in the neoclassical world. Her liberated, graceful playing defies codes and labels, while her startling melodies captivate and transport audiences. For this unmissable concert, Hania Rani performs alongside Ziemowit Klimek. ..."
YouTube: Nancy Jazz Pulsations - ARTE Concert
2021 April: Live from Studio S2 (2021), 2022 January: Hania Rani, 2022 March: Music for Film and Theatre (2021), 2023 January: Esja (2019), 2023 June: Invalides, in Paris, France for Cercle
It’s a working Thanksgiving for this late 19th century streetcar driver
"It’s hard to imagine a time when mass transit meant taking a horse-drawn streetcar. But stepping into an unheated, weakly lit car that glided along steel tracks embedded in the street was one way New Yorkers got around in the 19th century. By 1860, Manhattan had 14 horse-drawn streetcar lines carrying 38 million passengers a year, according to The Wheels That Powered New York. This was in addition to 29 omnibus lines, which arrived in the early 19th century. (An omnibus was similar to a streetcar, but the wheels didn’t align with steel runners in the street—making it a bumpier, more hazardous ride.) Hundreds of car drivers were employed by the many private streetcar companies that plied the avenues of Manhattan and Brooklyn. ..."
Egyptology’s Eloquent Eye: Mohammedani Ibrahim
"Behind the lens was Mohammedani Ibrahim, one of the first Egyptian-born archeological photographers and one of the most skilled. Ibrahim’s photos of the statue identified as depicting Lady Sennuwy of Asyut, wife of Djefaihapi of Asyut, and dated to the 12th dynasty of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom between 1971 and 1926 BCE, were later shipped with the statue to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. ... The only reason anyone knows Ibrahim’s name, despite leaving behind more than 9,000 photographs, is thanks largely to Reisner. Ibrahim, who spent more than 30 years documenting fragments of bygone eras of his homeland, has remained nonetheless almost as obscure as the long-ago architects, masons, sculptors and painters whose works he recorded on film. ..."
In Ukraine’s Slowed-Down War, Death Comes as Quickly as Ever
"The agony came in waves as the wounded Ukrainian soldier in the back of the ambulance slipped in and out of consciousness. The driver, hurtling past cratered fields on roads thick with mud, was racing to escape Russian artillery fire north of the city of Avdiivka, while hoping he was not spotted by drones. ... Russian forces have been staging fierce assaults around Avdiivka for more than a month and have recently launched simultaneous offensives across eastern Ukraine in what military analysts say is a bid to regain the initiative as winter approaches. Ukrainian forces are resisting furiously, while probing for openings in a southern counteroffensive and conducting river crossings near the southern port city of Kherson. ..."
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