"Funkin' for Jamaica (N.Y.)" - Tom Browne

Wikipedia - "'Funkin' for Jamaica (N.Y.)' is a 1980 single by jazz trumpeter, Tom Browne. The single -- a memoir of the neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens where Browne was born and raised -- is from his second solo album, Love Approach. Browne got the idea for the song while he was at his parents' home. The vocals for the single were provided by Toni Smith, who also helped compose the song. The song hit number one on the U.S. R&B chart for a month. 'Funkin' for Jamaica' peaked at number nine on the dance chart and made the Top 10 on the UK singles chart."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Funkin' for Jamaica

"Ghost Town" - The Specials

Wikipedia - "'Ghost Town' is the title of a 1981 song by the British ska band, The Specials. The song spent three weeks at number one and ten weeks in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. Addressing themes of urban decay, deindustrialisation, unemployment and violence in inner cities, the song is remembered for being a hit at the same time as riots were occurring in British cities. As such, it is remembered as a major piece of popular social commentary."
Wikipedia
SOS: The Specials 'Ghost Town'
Guardian: Ska for the madding crowd
YouTube: The Specials - Ghost Town

2009 October: The Specials

I Remember: A Film About Joe Brainard by Matt Wolf (2012)

"Thanks to the generosity of filmmaker Matt Wolf, PennSound is able to share an exclusive clip from his new documentary short, I Remember: A Film About Joe Brainard, with our listeners. Below, you'll also find the film's trailer and a brief synopsis. For more information, please visit the film's website. Modesty, whimsy, and clarity of design grace the work of Joe Brainard (1941-1994), an artist and writer whose evocations of memory and desire perhaps found their greatest expression in his memoir-poem I Remember."
PennSound (Video)
I Remember: A Film About Joe Brainard by Matt Wolf
Keep the Lights On Film
ARTFORUM: Matt Wolf

2008 February: Joe Brainard
2010 November: I Remember
2011 October: A State of the Flowers Report
2011 November: Joe Brainard: A Retrospective
2012 March: Bolinas Journal

Johnny Osbourne

Wikipedia - "Johnny Osbourne (born Errol Osbourne, 1948) is a popular Jamaican reggae and dancehall singer, who rose to success in the late 1970s and mid 1980s. His album Truths and Rights was a notable roots reggae success, and featured 'Jah Promise' and the album's title track, 'Truths and Rights'. However, he is probably best known for his mid 1980s dancehall reggae hits 'Buddy Bye' (based on King Jammy's Sleng Teng riddim), 'Ice Cream Love' and 'Water Pumping'."
Wikipedia
Roots Archives - Johnny Osbourne
YouTube: Truth and Rights, Eternal Peace, All I Have is Love, Jahovia, No Ice Cream Love, Here I Come Again, Johnny Osbourne & Aswad - Don't Bite The Hand 12" 1979, Ready Or Not, In Your Eyes

John Cage's Los Angeles

"John Cage was born Sept. 5, 1912, at Good Samaritan Hospital in downtown Los Angeles. There is no plaque. Nor are there plaques anywhere in L.A., Long Beach, Santa Monica or Claremont, cities where Cage grew up, studied and gave his first concerts. And became John Cage. He was, perhaps, the greatest music radical of the 20th century. He composed using chance procedures. His music honored silence along with sound. He made no distinction between traditional musical sounds and what some call noise. He embraced, rather than escaped from, messy urban life as well as anarchic nature. He was controversial, to say the least, but his influence has been, and continues to be, extraordinary. No one in the last century did more to change the way much of the world now thinks about, makes and consumes art."
LA Times
LA Times: A cross section of John Cage compositions (Video)
LA Times: John Cage's reach extended well beyond experimental music
LA Times: In art as in music, John Cage reveals the world within
LA Times: Events honoring John Cage at 100

2008 February: John Cage
2010 January: 4′33″
2010 October: Indeterminacy
2010 November: Silence: lectures and writings
2011 January: Toy piano
2011 May: Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939)
2012 February: I Have Nothing to Say and I Am Saying It (1990)
2012 April: John Cage Unbound: A Living Archive

Hyuro New Mural In Besancon, France

"After the controversial mural painted in Atlanta just over a week ago (covered), Hyuro is back in Europe where she painted this beautiful mural in Besancon, France. The new piece is part of this year's Bien Urbain festival and features four women dressed up as sheep enthralled in a ritual dance while being observed, but not intimidated by three wolves. As usual this Argentinean artist delivers a haunting mural where the restricted palette highlights the composition and symbolism of the piece."
Street Art News
Bien Urbain - France (Video)
Hyuro
Juxtapoz

Paul Eluard - A Moral Lesson

"... Paul Eluard was briefly involved with the Dada Movement, but soon helped to found Surrealism, though he would later break from that movement as well. Throughout his life, Eluard perceived poetry as an action capable of arousing awareness in his readers, and recognized it as a powerful force in the struggle of political, sexual, and social change. Published in 1949, A MORAL LESSON explores evil and good as slightly unpredictable forces which at times might be perceived as indistinguishable. Yet Eluard explores the two with a determined effort to transform evil into good."
SPD Books
Double Change
amazon: A Moral Lesson

Diffusion Over Sublimation - Benjamin Dauer

Magnolia (Taken with instagram)
"They may break champagne bottles over the bows of ships to inaugurate their voyage, but Benjamin Dauer took a plosive-free approach when he tested out his newly rebuilt studio. He reconstructed the studio “from the ground up,” and then set about an initial work, built much like his studio largely from pre-existing pieces but experienced in a new light. In other words — his words — the track, titled 'Driving Stage,' is 'a little remix.'"
disquiet (Video)
Benjamin Dauer (Video)
Benjamin Dauer Blog (Video)
SoundCloud (Video)
YouTube: Harmony Bound

Alice Neel: Late Portraits and Still Lifes

Nancy
"David Zwirner Gallery recently gave the late figurative painter Alice Neel prime real estate in its prominent Chelsea locale, also releasing an accompanying exhibition catalogue by Radius Books. Alice Neel: Late Portraits and Still Lifes, which marked the second time Zwirner exhibited her work since taking over representation of her estate in 2009, gives a glimpse into the last two decades of Neel’s life as a working artist in New York, from 1964 to 1983. Neel’s intimate portraits of her friends and family become a painted diary, documenting what it was like to be a part of her immediate milieu."
The Brooklyn Rail
David Zwirner: Alice Neel: Late Portraits and Still Lifes
amazon: Alice Neel: Late Portraits and Still Lifes
YouTube: Alice Neel "Late Portraits & Still Lifes" at DAVID ZWIRNER

2010 October: Alice Neel

Youssou N'dour - Djamil

"N'Dour has become one of the biggest names in Sahelian pop, certainly in the eyes of non-African enthusiasts. Djamil is a collection of previously unreleased cuts (unreleased in France, anyway) from 1984 and 1985. On one level, you know what to expect. But most of the numbers here are less synthesized, more straightforward -- and at the same time quite rich, with excellent horns as well as the usual very individual singing."
allmusic
YouTube: Djino‬‏, Nanette Ada, Laye Fall, Bekoor, Wagane Faye, Xale Yi Rew Mi

2009 December: Youssou N'dour

Peter Gourfain

Hen Eys Tru Ile, 1993
"... Although Gourfain prefers the existing ambiguities of his images rather than supplied meaning, a sociopolitical ambiguous Americana is present in many of his prints. The stylized images, dark contrast and heavy line lend gravitas to the subjects. In Gourfain’s prints, Romanesque figures and objects mingle. Images emerge from each other and body parts from new objects and characters, delineated by text and the occasional splash of color. Heads roll and shadows loom in the landscape as figures intertwine and repel amongst ladders and chairs, creating a firm uncertainty, to which the artist does not comment."
Projects Gallery
Projects Gallery - 1
flickr
Brooklyn Museum

Buster Brown

Wikipedia - "Buster Brown (August 15, 1911 – January 31, 1976) was an American blues and R&B singer best known for his hit, 'Fannie Mae'. Brown was born in Cordele, Georgia, and in the 1930s and 1940s he played harmonica at local clubs and made a few non-commercial recordings. ... In 1959 at almost fifty years of age, he recorded the rustic blues, 'Fannie Mae', which featured Brown's harmonica playing and whoops, which went to # 38 in the U.S. Top 40, and to #1 on the R&B chart in April 1960. His remake of Louis Jordan's 'Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby' reached # 81 on the pop charts later in 1960, but did not make the R&B chart."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby, Fannie Mae, Doctor Brown, Sugar Babe, Don't Dog Your Woman, Lost In A Dream, Crawlin King Snake, The Madison Shuffle, I'm Gonna Make You Happy (1943), War Song, I`m Gonna Make You Happy

Little Italy

Old Mulberry - Early 1900s
Wikipedia - "Little Italy is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York City, once known for its large population of Italians. Today the neighborhood of Little Italy consists of Italian stores and restaurants. Historically, Little Italy on Mulberry Street, extends as far south as Canal Street, as far north as Bleecker, as far west as Lafayette and as far east as the Bowery. It borders Chinatown at Bowery."
Wikipedia
Little Italy
Video:Walking Tour of Little Italy's San Gennaro Festival
YouTube: Tour of NYC's Little Italy: Where wise guys got whacked, The Best Places to Eat in Little Italy NYC

La La La Human Steps - Amelia

"... Choreographer Edouard Lock believes that dance, like language, has its power not in the meaning of the words or steps, but rather in their syntax or structure. In 'Amelia' he uses repetition, modification, and the partial isolation of moments through lighting to create the world in flux as he wants us to see it. This piece, while having to do with memories of a transvestite he once knew, deals more with the actual act of remembering."
Ballet Dance Magazine
amazon: La La La Human Steps: Amelia (2002)
YouTube: Amelia

2008 July: La La La Human Steps
2010 May: David Bowie - "Look Back In Anger"
2010 September: Mondo Beyondo

The Motorcycle Diaries

Wikipedia - "The Motorcycle Diaries (Spanish: Diarios de motocicleta) is a 2004 biopic about the journey and written memoir of the 23-year-old Ernesto Guevara, who would several years later become internationally known as the iconic Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. The film recounts the 1952 expedition, initially by motorcycle, across South America by Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado. As the adventure initially centered around youthful hedonism unfolds, Guevara discovers himself transformed by his observations on the life of the impoverished indigenous peasantry."
Wikipedia
W - The Motorcycle Diaries (book)
amazon: The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
1952, The Motorcycle Diaries
YouTube: The Motorcycle Diaries Trailer, The Motorcycle Diaries Official Film Trailer

2010 March: Che

Marc Ribot

Wikipedia - "Marc Ribot (... born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer. His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn."
Wikipedia
Marc Ribot
npr: Marc Ribot (Video)
amazon: Marc Ribot
YouTube: Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground), No Me Llores Mas, TRIO COMPAORÉ - MARSEILLE, Happiness Is a Warm Gun (Live in Copenhagen, April 9th, 2011) - The Beatles, Marc Ribot Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4, MARIANNE FAITHFULL w/ MARC RIBOT -- "AS TEARS GO BY", Marc Ribot Trio, Henry Grimes, Chad Taylor, London 2011, The Sous Le Ciel de Paris, LaMonte's Nightmare, St. James Infirmary

Capitol Radio / Janie Jones / What's My Name / Garageland ~ The Clash ~ Live 1977

"'Garageland' -
Back in the garage with my bullshit detector
Carbon monoxide making sure it's effective
People ringing up making offers for my life
But I just wanna stay in the garage all night
We're a garage band
We come from garageland"
YouTube: Capitol Radio / Janie Jones / What's My Name / Garageland ~ The Clash ~ Live 1977

Tomoko Sauvage

"Tomoko Sauvage: water, porcelain bowls, hydrophones, condenser mics, metal wire and wood spoons. Sauvage, a Paris-based Japanese musician, uses water filled porcelain bowls for her electro-acoustic performances and compositions. The use of hydrophones (underwater microphones) allows her to capture the subtle sound of water waves and drops resonating in porcelain bowls. The serene, contemplative aquatic soundscape is woven from these fragile materials." Erik B.
Tomoko Sauvage - Ombrophilia (Video)
Tomoko Miyata Sauvage
Tomoko Sauvage
Tomoko Sauvage (Lp) + Hervé Moire (cd), soundcloud
YouTube: Momus & Tomoko Miyata, Tomoko Sauvage at la générale, 2006, Tomoko Sauvage @ La Veilleuse, Tomoko Sauvage & M.C. Schmidt at High Zero 2010 Part1, Part2, Tomoko Miyata @ miniplacard

Shulamith Firestone

Wikipedia - "Shulamith Firestone (born January 7, 1945 - found dead August 28, 2012), (also called Shulie, or Shuloma) was a Canadian-born feminist. She was a central figure in the early development of radical feminism, having been a founding member of the New York Radical Women, Redstockings, and New York Radical Feminists. In 1970, she authored The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution, an important and widely influential feminist text."
Wikipedia
W - New York Radical Women
W - Redstockings
W - New York Radical Feminists
Women and Marxism: Shulamith Firestone
Women and Marxism: The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution
amazon: The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution

Obscure No. 2: Ensemble Pieces – Christopher Hobbs, John Adams, Gavin Bryars (1975)

"... This ‘Ensemble Pieces’ LP gathers 3 veterans of systems music and reads like a manifesto for things to come on Obscure. Christopher Hobbs was a member of AMM circa The Crypt and Laminal LPs. His 2 contributions are cheerful repetitve carolls on organ, bells and toy piano, closer to what he did with Promenade Theatre Orchestra than AMM. According to Wikipedia Aran is based on ‘a knitting pattern for an Aran sweater, with its different stitches, [determining] the pitches chosen and the instruments to play them’. John Adams contributes 3 austere and slowly evolving instrumental pieces from a live recording with his New Music Ensemble, San Francisco. Gavin Bryars‘ ’1,2, 1-2-3-4′ is an extraordinary set up for ensemble where each interpret listens to a cassette on headphones and mimick the sounds he hears on his own instrument."
Continuo
UbuWeb: Obscure No. 2: Ensemble Pieces – Christopher Hobbs, John Adams, Gavin Bryars (1975)

Marley

Wikjipedia - "Marley is a 2012 documentary-biographical film directed by Kevin MacDonald documenting the life of Bob Marley. It was released in theatres on April 20, 2012. The soundtrack to Marley was released four days prior to the movie, on April 16, 2012. It contains most of the songs used throughout the movie, with the exception of 'A Teenager in Love'. The soundtrack's first single is 'High Tide or Low Tide' which was released as a single on August 9, 2011. The soundtrack's tracklist is arranged chronologically as it appears on the film."
Wikipedia
Guardian: Marley – review (Video)
NYT: Reggae’s Mellow King, Defined by a Legacy He Couldn’t Outrun (Video)
Netflix: Marley
YouTube: Marley Trailer Official 2012, Marley Trailer # 2 (Documentary Film 2012)

2010 November: Bob Marley and the Wailers
2011 May: Bob Marley & the Wailers Live 1973 - 1975
2011 July: Tuff Gong Studios 1980
2012 March: Bob Marley: Live in Santa Barbara

Hermann Hesse

Wikipedia - "Hermann Hesse (... July 2, 1877 – August 9, 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature."
Wikipedia
W - Steppenwolf
W - Siddhartha
W - The Glass Bead Game
Hermann Hesse (1877-1962)

‘Hip Hop Family Tree’ Comics Explain Genesis of the Genre

"They say the story of Jesus is the greatest ever told, but JC didn’t steal a DJ mixer during the New York Blackout of ‘77 or bomb a subway car with Fab 5 Freddy. With his 'Hip Hop Family Tree,' comics artist Ed Piskor delves into the history of hip-hop and gets straight-up biblical, penning a 'who-begat-whom' with a b-boy twist. Subtitled 'A Look into the Viral Propagation of a Culture,' the weekly web comic series, available exclusively at BoingBoing.net, traces the relationships that built hip-hop during its nigh-ancient formative days around the boroughs of New York."
MTV Hive
Brain Rot: Hip Hop Family Tree
Ed Piskor Report

2012 January: The Hip-Hop Family Tree: A Look Into the Viral Propagation of a Culture

Pina Bausch Costumes

"Bamboo Blues" - Pina Bausch (Costume Design : Marion Cito)
"Visionary choreographer Pina Bausch never followed a prescribed method when conceiving her unique productions. Guided instead by her finely honed intuition, Bausch would let the works develop in an organic, visceral manner and her trusted company of dancers and collaborators at the Tanztheater Wuppertal would fall into step as her creative vision unfolded. For costume designer Marion Cito – who has been in the role since 1980 – this meant designing costumes 'speculatively', relying on a certain amount of guesswork, in terms of the direction she felt each piece might take, in order that her workshop kept pace."
In Pictures
mubi: Dress Rehearsal
Tanztheater Wuppertal: Marion Cito
Tanztheater Wuppertal: Rolf Borzik
What we do
Guardian: Hurts so good
Femininity and Body Language; Reflections on Pina Bausch and Mats Ek - Margareta Sörenson
NYT: Person and Performer, and No Space Between
YouTube: Orpheus and Eurydice (Costumes & lights : Rolf Borzik), Bamboo Blues (Costume Design : Marion Cito)

2008 May: Pina Bausch
2009 June: Pina Bausch, 1940-2009

Einstein on the Blog: Christopher Knowles’ Typings

"The versatile artist, performer, and poet Christopher Knowles caught the attention of the New York art world through his collaborations with Robert Wilson in the 1970s. While still a teenager, Knowles appeared in Wilson’s 1973 production of The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin at BAM. He then went on to contribute to—and to highly influence—many of Wilson’s key early productions, such as A Letter for Queen Victoria and Einstein on the Beach, for which Knowles was the main librettist. In the second half of the 70s, Knowles and Wilson performed everywhere from St. Mark’s Church to Shiraz in their antic DiaLog series, which Knowles co-designed, co-wrote, and co-directed with Wilson."
BAM 150 Years
Nothing to Say & Saying It
Christopher Knowles (b 1954)
Gavin Brown's enterprise
More Christopher Knowles...
Famous people with unspecified forms of autism
YouTube: the sundance kid is beautiful, a letter to queen victoria: robert wilson + christopher knowles, Robert Wilson reads 5 poems by Christopher Knowles
vimeo: Loof and Let Dime

"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" - Talking Heads

Wikipedia - "'This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)' is a song by New Wave band Talking Heads, released as the second single from their fifth album Speaking in Tongues. The lyrics were written by David Byrne, and the music was written by Byrne and the other members of the band, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison."
Wikipedia
YouTube: "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"

Grauzone

Wikipedia - "Grauzone ... was a band from Berne, Switzerland active in the early 80s. At the end of 1979 Marco Repetto (drums) and GT (bass) left the punk band Glueams, to form together with Martin Eicher (guitar, vocals, synthesizer) a new band called Grauzone. Martin had already supported Glueams on their single mental. They gave their first concert in March 1980 at the club Spex in Berne. Martin's brother Stephan Eicher (guitar, synthesizer) and Claudine Chirac (saxophone) supplemented the group temporarily in live appearances and recordings."
Wikipedia
amazon: Grauzone
YouTube: Eisbaer, Schlachtet, Film 2, Raum, Träume mit mir, Ich Lieb Sie, Der Weg Zu Zweit, Wütendes glas, Moskau, Hinter Den Bergen, Eisbär

John Wieners - 707 Scott Street

"Uncovered in his personal papers, 707 Scott Street represents the poet at the height of his powers, and in this important work he alternates between the personal and the general, between prose observations and diaristic entries ('Sur-real is the only way to endure the real we find heaped up in our cities.') and some of the very best of his poetic lyrics. In fact, 707 Scott Street might be best described as a series of poems in the form of a journal, which, given Wieners' belief in living as a form of poetry itself, should come as no surprise to his readers."
Lady Day
amazon
Green Integer: The Journal of John Wieners Is to Be Called 707 Scott Street for Billie Holiday, 1959 (PDF)

2008 July: John Wieners
2009 December: John Wieners - 1
2011 May: John Wieners: June 21, 1959
2012 May: Behind the State Capitol: Or Cincinnati Pike

Carl Mydans

Wikipedia - "Carl Mydans (May 20, 1907 – August 16, 2004) was an American photographer who worked for the Farm Security Administration and Life magazine. ... In 1936, he joined Life as one of its earliest staff photographers (Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Thomas McAvoy and Peter Stackpole were the original staff photographers) and a pioneering photojournalist."
Wikipedia
GALLERY M
Remembering Carl Mydans

On Cataloguing Flaubert

"Joanna Neborsky is a book lover’s illustrator. She may be as passionate and romantic about books and bookmaking as anyone I’ve met. She also draws the kind of pictures I’ve always wanted to make. They are deceptively simple due to the naive charm of each wobbly line, and they owe a great deal to the inspiration of mid-twentieth-century illustration—an obsession she and I both share."
The Paris Review
The Paris Review: A Partial Inventory of Gustave Flaubert’s Personal Effects

R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection

"Well-known as a lover of old records, the satirical cartoonist Robert Crumb has collected his work on album covers and musicians' portraits in a new book, R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection. The artist spoke to Rolling Stone by phone from the south of France, where he has lived for the past two decades."
Rolling Stone
amazon: R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection
YouTube: R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection

2008 August: R. Crumb
2010 October: R. Crumb, The Art of Comics No. 1
2011 August: Tribute To R. Crumb's Heroes Of Blues & Jazz
2011 October: Pioneers of Country Music Trading Cards by R. Crumb

Mamady Keïta

Wikipedia - "Mamady Keïta (surname sometimes also spelled Keita; b. Balandougou, Siguiri Prefecture, Kankan Region, Guinea, August 1950) is a master drummer from the West African nation of Guinea. He specializes in the goblet-shaped hand drum called djembe. He is also the founder of the Tam Tam Mandingue school of drumming. He is a member of the Manding ethnic group."
Wikipedia
amazon: Mamady Keita and Sewa Kan: Live @ Couleur Cafe (2008)
YouTube: Afrikafestival Hertme, Mix Kuku de Maoka Mamady Keïta 2006 Guinea Matoto, "Djigui," Grandmasters' Tour 2012, Bélé Bélé, HAKILI Live Concert Coutances Festival Jazz

Jack Rose

Wikipedia - "Jack Rose (February 16, 1971 – December 5, 2009) was an American guitarist originally from Virginia and later based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rose is best known for his solo acoustic guitar work. He was also a member of the noise/drone band Pelt."
Wikipedia
npr - Remembering Dr. Ragtime: Guitarist Jack Rose (Video)
NYT: Jack Rose, Versatile Master of the Guitar, Is Dead at 38
YouTube: Kensington Blues, St Louis Blues, Reckless Records - 1, Reckless Records - 2, Cross the North Fork, Blues for Percy Danforth, Black Pearls From The River, Mountaintop Lamento

John Ford

Wikipedia - "John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973) was an Irish-American film director. He was famous for both his Westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Ford directed more than 140 films (although nearly all of his silent films are now lost) and he is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. Ford's films and personality were held in high regard by his colleagues, with Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles among those who have named him as one of the greatest directors of all time. In particular, Ford was a pioneer of location shooting and the long shot which frames his characters against a vast, harsh and rugged natural terrain."
Wikipedia
W - Stagecoach (1939), W - The Searchers (1956), W - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), W - John Ford filmography
Senses of Cinema: John Ford
Moving Images: The American West of John Ford (1971)
Criterion: Stagecoach (1939)
YouTube: The Searchers (1956), 1, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)Rio Grande (1950), 1.

The Voyeurs - Gabrielle Bell

"Have you ever had one of those days where it’s best, for everybody, that you stay in your room and turn off your phone and promise never to talk to anyone ever again? Gabrielle Bell understands. Her autobiographical comic strip The Voyeurs just rescued one such Thursday night for me. Bell makes social awkwardness verging on phobia look cool, or at least perfectly rational, and even at her most despondent, her pen notices what’s going on outside the window or in a friend’s facial expression—and as often as not, it’s funny and endearing, even beautiful. For an artist who skewers her own fecklesness and self-pity, Bell spends a lot of time secretly celebrating the world. —Lorin Stein"
The Paris Review
amazon: The Voyeurs

2011 September: Gabrielle Bell

Derek Bailey

Wikipedia - "Derek Bailey (29 January 1930 – 25 December 2005) was an English avant-garde guitarist and leading figure in the free improvisation movement. ... Playing both acoustic and electric guitars (although more usually the former), Bailey was able to extend the possibilities of the instrument in radical ways, obtaining a far wider array of sounds than are usually heard. He explored the full vocabulary of the instrument, producing timbres and tones ranging from the most delicate tinklings to fierce noise attacks. (The sounds he produced have been compared to those made by John Cage's prepared piano.)"
Wikipedia
Guardian: Derek Bailey
Piero Scaruffi
amazon: Derek Bailey
YouTube: improvisation #1 (1/2) (1985/04/22), (2/2), Derek Bailey and the Shaking Ray Levis at Tonic, NYC, 4/12/2003, Guitar, 1983, Derek Bailey Bill Laswell Jack DeJohnette DJ Disk, 1997, Derek Bailey&Toshi Tsuchitori/ Duo Improvisation recorded at Tokyo 1978, "The Music Improvisation Company" (UK, 1970), IMPROVVISAZIONE

The Blues and the Abstract Truth - Oliver Nelson

Wikipedia - "The Blues and the Abstract Truth is a jazz album by Oliver Nelson recorded in February 1961. It remains Nelson's most acclaimed album and features a lineup of notable musicians: Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy (his last appearance on a Nelson album following a series of collaborations recorded for Prestige), Bill Evans (his only appearance with Nelson), Paul Chambers and Roy Haynes. Baritone saxophonist George Barrow does not take solos, but still remains a key feature in the subtle voicings of Nelson's arrangements."
Wikipedia
W - Oliver Nelson
amazon: The Blues and the Abstract Truth
npr: Oliver Nelson: 'The Blues and the Abstract Truth'
YouTube: Blues and Abstract Truth, Stolen Moments
The Blues and the Abstract Truth 36:47

Walt Whitman

Wikipedia - "Walter 'Walt' Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality."
Wikipedia
Poets: Walt Whitman
The Walt Whitman Archive
Walt Whitman Birthplace
PBS
LOC - Revising Himself: Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass
YouTube - Walt Whitman: American Experience 1:42:35

Word from the Front - Tom Verlaine

"... For 1982’s Word from the Front, Verlaine moved onto new collaborator, enlisting sessionman Jimmy Rip, who would become Verlaine’s principal collaborator to this day. Rip in turn introduced Verlaine to his rhythm section Tommy Price and Joe Vasta, borrowed from Mink Deville. The album is unlike anything Verlaine had done to this point, and indeed, remains an idiosyncratic document in his catalog. It’s not an entirely successful one, though. ... 'Coming Apart' also works well a trenchant guitar rhythm leading Verlaine’s most overt, rockist attempt. But it’s the finale of 'Days on the Mountain' that distinguishes the record. Over the stretch of nearly nine minutes, Verlaine explores a blend of gothic atmospherics and Eno-style ambiance. Ambitious, to say the least."
Collector’s Choice
W - Word from the Front
amazon
YouTube: Words From The Front, Tom Verlaine & Jimmy Rip - Words From The Front, FIB Benicassim 2006, Clear It Away, Present Arrived, Postcard from Waterloo, Days On The Mountain

2007 November: Tom Verlaine
2010 March: Tom Verlaine - 1
2011 October: Warm and Cool

Joe Higgs

Wikipedia - "Joe Higgs (born Joseph Benjamin Higgs, 3 June 1940 – 18 December 1999) was a reggae musician from Jamaica. In the late 1950s and 1960s he was part of the duo Higgs and Wilson together with Roy Wilson. He was a popular artist in Jamaica for four decades and is also known for his work tutoring younger musicians including The Wailers and Jimmy Cliff."
Wikipedia
Joe Higgs
YouTube: There is a reward for me, Let us do something, Upside Down, Captivity, Songs that my enemy sings, Life of contradiction, There's A Reward For Me, Come On Home, Change of Plan

The House of the Rising Sun

Wikipedia - "'The House of the Rising Sun' is a traditional folk song from the United States. Also called 'House of the Rising Sun' or occasionally 'Rising Sun Blues', it tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans. ... Like many classic folk ballads, the authorship of 'The House of the Rising Sun' is uncertain. Musicologists say that it is based on the tradition of broadside ballads such as the Unfortunate Rake of the 18th century and that English emigrants took the song to America where it was adapted to its later New Orleans setting. Alan Price of The Animals has even claimed that the song was originally a sixteenth-century English folk song about a Soho brothel. The oldest known existing recording is by Appalachian artists Clarence 'Tom' Ashley and Gwen Foster, who recorded it for Vocalion Records in 1934."
Wikipedia
House of the Rising Sun - 401 Houses
New Orleans Legend May Prove to Be Reputable
Beneath the Rising Sun:“Frenchness” and the archaeology of desire
YouTube: The Animals, Georgia Turner, Tom Clarence Ashley & Gwen Foster, Texas Alexander, Woody Guthrie, Nina Simone, Josh White, Libby Holman, Leadbelly, Doc Watson & Clarence Ashley, Andy Griffith, Henri Mancini, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, The Ventures, Marianne Faithfull, Jimi Hendrix, Frijid Pink, Sinead O'Connor, Dolly Parton, Robotic Orchestra, Musical Tesla Coils

George Hendrik Breitner

Lunch Break at the Building Site in the Van Diemenstraat in Amsterdam
Wikipedia - "George Hendrik Breitner (September 12, 1857 – June 5, 1923) was a Dutch painter and photographer. ... Breitner saw himself as 'le peintre du peuple', the people's painter. He was the painter of city views par excellence: wooden foundation piles by the harbour, demolition work and construction sites in the old centre, horse trams on the Dam, or canals in the rain. With his nervous brush strokes, he captured the dynamic street life. By 1890, cameras were affordable, and Breitner had a much better instrument to satisfy his ambitions."
Wikipedia
Second Sight: The Photographs of George Hendrik Breitner
George Hendrik Breitner masterpieces
Google

Red Star in Orbit

"Red Star in Orbit is the fascinating and often surprising story of the Soviet space effort. Written by one of the leading Soviet space watchers, James Oberg. In Red Star in Orbit James Oberg penetrats the secrecy-shrouded Russian space program - not only telling of its unpublicized disasters and giving credit to its recent successes but also showing that its cosmonauts, like our astronauts, often indeed have the 'right stuff'."
amazon: Red Star in Orbit
W - James Oberg
W - Sergei Korolev
W - Soviet manned lunar programs
Venera: The Soviet Exploration of Venus
YouTube: Red Star in Orbit. 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4
The dark side of the Moon 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4
The mission 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4

Tales Of Dr. Funkenstein – The Story Of George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic

"Still in the spirit of documentaries with Detroit as a main cast following yesterday’s Motor City’s Burning, Tales Of Dr. Funkenstein is a typically brilliant and informative 60 minute documentary produced by the BBC. The narrative, as you might have guessed, tells the story of George Clinton from being a doo-wop barbershop singer in Plainfield, New Jersey till he became one of the biggest icons of funk and psychedelic music during his Detroit Days, through his creation of Parliament and Funkadelic."
Whiteboard Journal (Video) 58:20

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?"

Libreria Acqua Alta

"My favourite place in Venice, the Libreria Acqua Alta. It’s a bookshop right on the canal that floods every year, so the eccentric, stray-cat-adopting owner keeps his books in boats, bathtubs and a disused gondola to protect them. There’s also a staircase made of books outside that you can climb up and get a gorgeous view of the canal, and a courtyard of seats made of books where you can sit and read. Seriously, books, canals, cats and boats. Can a place get any better?"
With Rainbow Eyes
Libreria Acqua Alta: the Most Beautiful Bookshop in the World
YouTube: By the Alta water library ... Venice, Italy #6

2010 | Jazz in Marciac | John Zorn

"ProShot: Mezzo August, 2010 Setlist: 1. Little Bittern 2. Anulikwutsayl 3. Exodus 4. Karaim 5. Lilin. John Zorn- direction, saxophone. Marc Ribot - guitare. Jamie Soft - piano, orgue. Trevor Dunn - bass. Kenny Wollesen - vibraphone. Joey Baron - drums. Cyro Baptista - percussion."
vimeo: 2010 | Jazz in Marciac | John Zorn

2009 March: John Zorn
2010 August: Spillane
2011 October: Filmworks Anthology : 20 Years of Soundtrack Music

Charles Ives - Symphony No. 2

Wikipedia - "... Although the work was composed during Ives' 20s, it was half a century before it premiered, in a 1951 New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. The symphony premiered to rapturous applause but Ives responded with ambivalence. Indeed, he did not even attend the concert in person but had to be dragged by family and friends to a neighbor's house to listen to the live radio broadcast. The public performance had been postponed for so long because Ives had been alienated from the American classical establishment. Ever since his training with Horatio Parker at Yale, Ives had suffered their disapproval of the mischievous unorthodoxy with which he radically pushed the boundaries of European classical structures to create soundscapes that recalled the vernacular music-making of his New England upbringing."
W - Symphony No. 2
amazon: Symphony No. 2
YouTube: Charles Ives - Symphony No. 2 (Leonard Bernstein) 1/3, 2/3, 3/3

2008 September: Charles Ives
2010 December: Holidays Symphony
2011 November: Three Places in New England