Michael Brownstein

"Michael Brownstein is a poet, a novelist, and an activist. Often associated with Beat writing and both the New York School and a second generation of New York School poets, Brownstein moved to New York City in 1965 and quickly became part of the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church. In his poetry and prose, Brownstein draws on shamanic and indigenous healing practices from South America as well as non-Western wisdom and mystic traditions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. He has published numerous collections of poetry, including Behind the Wheel (1967); Highway to the Sky (1969), which won a Frank O’Hara Poetry Award; 3 American Tantrums (1970); Strange Days Ahead (1975); and Oracle Night: A Love Poem (1982). ..."
Poetry Foundation
Poetry Foundation: April 1978
THE ENDLESS BOOKSHELF : simply messing about in books - 27-28 February 2011, ‘ a language of the mermaids ’
amazon

TV Slim (1916-1969)

"Oscar 'TV Slim' Wills's hilarious tale of a sad sack named 'Flat Foot Sam' briefly made him a bankable name in 1957. Sam's ongoing saga lasted longer than Slim's minute or two in the spotlight, but that didn't stop him from recording throughout the 1960s. Influenced by DeFord Bailey and both Sonny Boy Williamsons on harp and Guitar Slim on axe while living in Houston, Wills sold one of his early compositions, 'Dolly Bee,' to Don Robey for Junior Parker's use on Duke Records before getting the itch to record himself. To that end, he set up Speed Records, his own label and source for the great majority of his output over the next dozen years. The first version of 'Flat Foot Sam' came out on a tiny Shreveport logo, Cliff Records, in 1957. ..."
allmusic
Rockabilly
WIRZ
Discogs
YouTube: Flatfoot Sam (1957), To Prove My Love (1958), Don't Reach Across My Plate (1959), Juvenile Delinquent, Hold Me Close To Your Heart, Gravy round your steak, Darling Remember (1957), Can't be satisfied, You Won't Treat Me Right (1968), Love bounce

Diamonds Are Forever: Artists And Writers on Baseball

"A young lawyer I know, asked what it was like arguing before the Supreme Court for the first time, answered: 'Like playing in the World Series.' Baseball is America's language, even its glue. Or as the poet Donald Hall puts it in an introduction to this book: 'It is by baseball, and not by other American sports, that our memories bronze themselves. . . . By baseball we join hands with the long line of forefathers and with the dead.' Diamonds Are Forever, an elegant collection of text and artwork edited by Peter H. Gordon, a curator at the New York State Museum, with the assistance of Sydney Waller and Paul Weinman, is the color catalogue of a traveling exhibit. ... There is something to every taste in Diamonds Are Forever, with its excerpts from 55 writers ranging from Woody Allen to Ernest Hemingway to Carl Sandburg and works by 90 artists, including Andy Warhol, Jacob Lawrence and Elaine de Kooning. ..."
NY Times
amazon
SI: BATS, BALLS, BEAUX ARTS

Clyde Sinder, Minor League, 1946

From Paris With Love (L.U.V.) - New York Dolls

"This is yet another release of the New York Dolls' legendary Paris radio concert. Featuring 11 of their glam rock anthems in all their sweat-soaked glory, this album previews the sort of venom and energy that punk rock would later make its own. Fans of the band are advised to get this if they have not run across this concert on album before; it is one of the cornerstones of a New York Dolls collection. The New York Dolls created punk rock before there was a term for it. Building on the Rolling Stones' dirty rock & roll, Mick Jagger's androgyny, girl group pop, the Stooges' anarchic noise, and the glam rock of David Bowie and T. Rex, the New York Dolls created a new form of hard rock that presaged both punk rock and heavy metal. Their drug-fueled, shambolic performances influenced a generation of musicians in New York and London, who all went on to form punk bands. And although they self-destructed... "
allmusic
amazon, iTunes
YouTube: From Paris With Love (L.U.V.) 13 videos

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)

From Stage to Page: Unpacking a Shelf of New Dance Publications

Melissa Toogood channels Pam Tanowitz’s choreography in Dance Ink.
"First, a bit of autobiography. Years ago I set out to write, to teach, perhaps to become a literary critic. Tortured by the need to sit still, I took dance classes to break up days at my desk, and was pointed toward dance journalism by a teacher who liked my reviews. Ditching grad school in English literature to write for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the alternative press, I decided to read all the dance books in the Vancouver Public Library: about eighty the day I counted them. 'Piece of cake,' I said to myself, figuring that when I was done I'd be ready to dive in to dance criticism. That was in another country, and another century. Now there are probably eight thousand dance books written in English, and so many piled up in my apartment that I've considered replacing my queen-size bed with a single to make more room for shelves. ..."
VOICE
amazon: Trisha Brown: Choreography as Visual Art, Radical Bodies: Anna Halprin, Simone Forti, and Yvonne Rainer in California and New York, 1955-1972, Flowers Cracking Concrete: Eiko & Koma’s Asian/American Choreographies, Dance & Politics: Moving Beyond Boundaries
Dance Ink, Vol. 8, No. 2

The Baby Boomer War

New recruits for the Vietnam War being sworn in, in St. Paul, Minn.
"Of all the tropes about the Vietnam War, one stands out far above the rest in American memory: It was the baby boomers’ war. By the spring of 1967, most American soldiers being killed in combat had been born in 1946 or after. To understand the war, we have to understand what motivated that generation of Americans not only to protest but also to fight, and later to seek some sort of closure. Wars are far easier to initiate than to conclude. And for those who serve, the memories endure long after the fighting stops. ... Those born after the boomers may find it quaint to read about a president asking citizens to sacrifice, to 'pay any price.' Nonetheless, their parents or grandparents, the baby boomers, will most likely remember a brief shining moment of energized promise and of unfulfilled dreams. ..."
NY Times
NY Times: Vietnam '67

2008 August: Vietnam War Era Ephamera Collection, 2010 June: Flower power, 2011 September: Dispatches (1977) - Michael Herr, 2014 March: "Draft Dodger Rag" - Phil Ochs (1965), 2013 August: The Making of a Counter Culture - Theodore Roszak, 2014 May: Robert Dodge: Vietnam 40 Years Later, 2015 April: Last Days in Vietnam, 2015 May: Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence, 2015 June: The Weather Underground (2003), 2015 July: Ramparts, 2015 October: 1001 Ways to Beat the Draft - Tuli Kupferberg and Robert Bashlow (1966), 2016 February: The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, 2016 February: 1965-1975: Another Vietnam, 2016 June: Michael Herr, 1940–2016

France Rebels

LA France Insoumise march for the Sixth Republic in Paris, France on March 18, 2017.
"Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s campaign for the French presidency has exploded in recent weeks — reaching third, within touching distance of the second round in some polls. In addition to sending jitters through the financial markets, the success has transformed the French election, offering a left alternative to the battle between the establishment and the far right. But what are the politics of the campaign? And what is behind its success? The movement behind it, France Insoumise ('Rebellious France'), borrows from the Latin American and Spanish populist experience, most prominently exemplified by Podemos. Raquel Garrido, one of its national spokespeople, is a long-time comrade of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, having cofounded the Left Front with him in 2008. In this interview, translated by David Broder, she speaks to journalist Cole Stangler about the campaign and its aspirations for a Sixth Republic. ..."
Jacobin

2017 February: France, Without a Struggle, Is at a Loss

Pachucos: Not Just Mexican-American Males or Juvenile Delinquents

Zoot suit rioters celebrate after being acquitted, October 26, 1944.
"In partnership with the Vincent Price Art Museum: The mission of the Vincent Price Art Museum is to serve as a unique educational resource through the exhibition, interpretation, collection, and preservation of works in all media. 'Tastemakers & Earthshakers: Notes from Los Angeles Youth Culture, 1943 – 2016' is a multimedia exhibition that traverses eight decades of style, art, and music, and presents vignettes that consider youth culture as a social class, distinct issues associated with young people, principles of social organization, and the emergence of subcultural groups. Citing the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots as a seminal moment in the history of Los Angeles, the exhibition emphasizes a recirculation of shared experiences across time, reflecting recurrent and ongoing struggles and triumphs. ..."
KCET

2016 April: Zoot Suit

(Abandoned) Desire - Bob Dylan (1975)

"(Abandoned) Desire is the latest Bob Dylan release on Scorpio which features the quadrophonic edit of the album, several rare live performances and several outtakes including a never before heard variation of 'Joey.' Disc one contains the quadrophonic needle drop for Desire.  The label uses a very nice copy of the LP.  Only faint surface noise can be occasionally be heard. For a time in the mid-seventies many high profile LPs were release quadrophonic as well as the standard stereo and mono formats. This early attempt at an upgrade over stereo failed for many reasons.  But just as mono and stereo mixes might have discernible differences, it is the same with quadrophonic. ..."
Collectors Music Reviews
[PDF] Abandoned Desire booklet - DylanStubs
YouTube: Abandoned Desire (Desire Sessions, Edited) 1:26:57

1941: Chicago's South Side

"In the early decades of the 20th century, millions of African-Americans began leaving the rural South for the urban North in a mass exodus known as the Great Migration. For many fleeing the disenfranchisement, segregation, and racist violence of the Jim Crow South, the industrial hub of Chicago, with growing opportunities in the meatpacking and railroad businesses, offered the best prospects for self-determination. New arrivals encountered territorial resistance from entrenched white ethnic groups, particularly Irish-Americans. That, combined with racist housing covenants, led to the de facto segregation of African-Americans into a narrow strip of run-down neighborhoods on the city’s South Side which came to be called the 'Black Belt.' Despite these obstacles, African-Americans managed to shape the South Side into one of the urban capitals of black America. In the spring of 1941, Farm Security Administration photographer Edwin Rosskam visited the Black Belt, wandering the streets and photographing generations of black Chicagans."
Mashable
New Yorker: The Uprooted
Twelve Million Black Voices - Richard Wright
Easter Sunday in Black Chicago, 1941: Russell Lee, Edwin Rosskam, & the Farm Security Administration

The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years 1868-1936 - Murray Bookchin (1977)

"The first of two volumes, this is a rich overview of Spanish anarcho-syndicalism from the time a disciple of Bakunin set up the Spanish branch of the First International as an anti-Marxist faction. Spain is known as the heartland of European anarchism, and Bookchin--after a lively mapping of agriculture, industry, and politics--maintains that this is not simply because of 'atavism'; the Spanish anarchists' love of 'direct action' embraced an enthusiasm for technology and morality. In the 19th century, the anarchists' mass base consisted largely of agrarian or marginal immigrant workers; later the CNT labor federation became the key anarchist center, with a million members by the eve of the Civil War. ..."
Kirkus Reviews
[PDF] The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years 1868-1936
amazon

2014 September: Anarchism in America (1983), 2015 August: The Prophet Farmed: Murray Bookchin on Bernie Sanders, 2016 October: Why Bernie Was Right, 2015 October: The Ecology of Freedom (1982), 2016 July: Murray Bookchin’s New Life, 2017 January: Reason, creativity and freedom: the communalist model - Eleanor Finley, 2017 February: Socialism’s Return.

The Conflicts Along 1,172 Miles of the Dakota Access Pipeline

"The 1,172-mile Dakota Access pipeline could begin transporting oil as early as Monday, after an appeals court refused an emergency order from two American Indian tribes to prevent its operations. The Department of the Army approved the construction of pipeline in early February to allow it to cross under Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, which has been the center of protests for months.The pipeline was originally projected to be in service by October 2016, but because of legal disputes about water safety, Native American lands and eminent domain, the project has been delayed until now."
NY Times

The Atlantic: Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Burn Their Camp Ahead of Evacuation (Feb. 22, 2017)
"... Treaties – in the case of DAPL, a series of mid-19th century treaties between the United States and the Great Sioux Nation collectively known as the Fort Laramie Treaties – are enshrined in the US constitution as the supreme law of the land, though the American government has too often treated those treaties as worth less than the paper on which they are written. We have seen in the short time since Donald Trump became president that civil society can use the tools of protest and resistance to change the path of American history in the face of injustice. ..."
Guardian - We can resist the Dakota pipeline through a powerful tool: divestment (April 2017)
Guardian - The western idea of private property is flawed. Indigenous peoples have it right

2011 July: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown, 2012 September: The Ghost Dance, 2016 September: A History and Future of Resistance, 2016 November: Dakota Access Pipeline protests, 2016 December: Police Violence Against Native Americans Goes Far Beyond Standing Rock, 2016 December: Dakota Protesters Say Belle Fourche Oil Spill 'Validates Struggle', 2017 January: A Murky Legal Mess at Standing Rock, 2017 January: Trump's Move On Keystone XL, Dakota Access Outrages Activists, 2017 February: Army veterans return to Standing Rock to form a human shield against police, 2017 February: Standing Rock is burning – but our resistance isn't over, 2017 March: Dakota Access pipeline could open next week after activists face final court loss

Frederick Wiseman: The Filmmaker Who Shows Us Ourselves

"One of the most important and original filmmakers working today, Frederick Wiseman has been making documentaries for 50 years. His movies are about specific places — institutions, organizations, cities and communities: the New York neighborhood of Jackson Heights; the coastal town of Belfast, Me.; the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind; American Ballet Theater; the National Gallery in London. What interests Mr. Wiseman is how these institutions reflect the larger society and what they reveal about human behavior. His documentaries can be long. The three- and four-hour running times might seem forbidding, but there is rarely a dull moment, in spite of the absence of conventional narrative. Very quickly, you find yourself absorbed in patterns and details as meaning emerges mosaic-like, surfacing moment by moment, encounter by encounter, in bodies and faces alone and in groups. ..."
NY Times (Video)
W - Frederick Wiseman
Zipporah Films
The Paris Review - Frederick Wiseman: The Tawdry Gruesomeness of Reality
An Interview With Frederick Wiseman
NY Times: Framing the Viewers, and the Viewed (Video)
NY Times: Jackson Heights Through the Eyes of Frederick Wiseman
New Yorker: Finding the American Ideal in Queens

Zuzu Bollin

“Two 78s in the early ‘50s and a 1989 rediscovery album don’t add up to much of a recorded legacy. But Zuzu Bollin’s contribution to the Texas blues legacy shouldn’t be overlooked – his T-Bone Walker-influenced sound typified postwar Lone Star blues guitar. Born A.D. Bollin, Zuzu listened to everyone from Blind Lemon Jefferson and Leroy Carr (on records) to Joe Turner and Count Basie. He picked up his nickname while in the band of Texan E.X. Brooks; seems he had a sweet tooth for a brand of ginger snap cookies called ZuZus. Bollin formed his own combo in 1949, featuring young saxist David 'Fathead’ Newman. After a stint with Percy Mayfield’s band, Bollin resumed playing around Dallas. In late 1951, he made his recording debut for Bob Sutton’s Torch logo. …”
allmusic
Wikipedia
Spotify, Grooveshark, YouTube: Texas Bluesman (1989)
YouTube: Headlight Blues, Why Don’t You Eat Where You Slept Last Night, Kidney Stew Blues, Stavin’ Chain, Cry, Cry, Cry, Blues In the Dark, Record Release 89 (LIVE), HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR ROLLIN' DONE

In ‘Black Power!,’ Art’s Political Punch and Populist Reach

Models from the Grandassa Models agency in 1968, part of the “Black Power!” exhibition at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
"Given the economic, environmental and social policies emanating from the White House, the United States could be headed for its most dynamic era of public resistance since the 1960s, one for which the Women’s March last winter was just a warm-up. Such an era would demand fresh developments in political art, meaning art with a populist reach. Where will that come from? Not from our mainstream art world, the one represented by big museums and art fairs. That world is a tight and self-regarding place, an echo chamber with mirrored walls. It’s a bit more diverse than it used to be, but still lags way behind the population at large. In terms of economics and class? It’s a gated community, a closed door. ..."
NY Times

A 1969 image of a newspaper carrier by Emory Douglas, minister of culture for the Black Panther Party.

Krapp's Last Tape - Samuel Beckett (1957)

Wikipedia - "Krapp's Last Tape is a one-act play, in English, by Samuel Beckett. With a cast of one man, it was written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee and first titled 'Magee monologue'. ... The curtain rises on '[a] late evening in the future.' It is Krapp’s 69th birthday and he hauls out his old tape recorder, reviews one of the earlier years – the recording he made when he was 39 – and makes a new recording commenting on the last 12 months. Krapp is sitting in his den, lit by the white light above his desk. Black-and-white imagery continues throughout. On his desk are a tape-recorder and a number of tins containing reels of recorded tape. He consults a ledger. The tape he is looking to review is the fifth tape in Box 3. He reads aloud from the ledger but it is obvious that words alone are not jogging his memory. He takes childish pleasure in saying the word ‘spool’. The tape dates from when he turned 39. His taped voice is strong and rather self-important. ..."
Wikipedia
Samuel Beckett - Krapp's Last Tape
Guardian - Krapp's Last Tape: John Hurt on Samuel Beckett's loner hero
DONALD DAVIS - A Spoken Arts, Inc. 33-1/3 rpm LP record [1961]
YouTube: Krapp's Last Tape (Patrick Magee)

2009 November: Samuel Beckett, 2010 April: A Piece of Monologue, 2011 June: Film (1965) - UbuWeb, 2012 March: “fathoms from anywhere”

Sisi Smiles

Congregants at Egypt's main Coptic cathedral gather in the aftermath of a suicide bombing in January.
"'It is the so-called step down,' photojournalist Hamada Elrasam tells me in Cairo, referring to the recent acquittal of ex-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who stood trial for a combined six years on charges of ordering the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 revolution, the embezzlement of public funds, and corruption. ... Like Mubarak, who was an air chief marshal, army-general-turned-president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is a military politician. Elrasam’s “so-called step down” alludes to the continuation of tyrannical brutality with impunity: Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for thirty years, was on trial for conspiring to kill 239 demonstrators during the eighteen-day uprising that led to his resignation; and on August 14, 2013, over a month after the military coup against the country’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, then–defense minister Sisi was in the position of 'overall responsibility' when at least 817 protesters were massacred during the security forces’ raid of a mass pro–Muslim Brotherhood sit-in at Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Square. ..."
Jacobin

Nicolas Jaar - We Weren't Made For These Times (2016)

"Radio 333 33 "We weren't made for these times" 2016 Tracks: [00] Funeral Canticle - The Choir of the AAM [04] Terango - Ouza & Teranga International Band ... [10] FOUR WOMEN - NINA SIMONE [15] Fruit Tree - Nick Drake [19] I'd Have You Anytime - George Harrison [22] Don't Take My Love - Jackie Ross [25] Some Velvet Morning - Nancy Sinatra [29] History Lesson - Nicolas Jaar [33] Chimacum Rain - Linda Perhacs Other People Network"
WN (Video)
YouTube: We Weren't Made For These Times
SoundCloud

2013 September: Nicolas Jaar, 2014 January: Other People, 2015 May: Nicolas Jaar Soundtracks Short Film About Police Brutality and #BlackLivesMatter, 2015 July: Space Is Only Noise (2010), 2015 August: Boiler Room NYC DJ Set at Clown & Sunset Takeove, 2015 September: Work It (Bluewave edit), 2015 October: Darkside EP - Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington (2011). 2012 January: The Color of Pomegranates (1968) - Sergei Parajanov, 2015 November: Nicolas Jaar - Soundtrack, The Color of Pomegranates (2015), 2017 January: Sirens (2016)

Eric Dolphy Quintet - Far Cry (1960)

"Charlie Parker's influence permeates this 1960 session. Beyond the obvious acknowledgment on song titles ('Mrs. Parker of K.C. ['Bird's Mother']' and 'Ode to Charlie Parker'), his restless spirit is utilized as a guiding light for breaking bebop molds. Far Cry finds multi-reedist Eric Dolphy in a transitional phase, relinquishing Parker's governing universal impact and diving into the next controversial phase that critics began calling 'anti-jazz.' On this date Booker Little's lyrical trumpet and Jackie Byard's confident grasp of multiple piano styles (though both steeped in hard bop) were sympathetic to the burgeoning 'avant-garde' approach that Dolphy displays, albeit sparingly, on this session. Far Cry contains the initial performance of Dolphy's future jazz classic 'Miss Ann,' along with his first recorded solo alto sax performance on 'Tenderly,' in which Dolphy bridges the gap between the solo saxophone performances of Coleman Hawkins and Anthony Braxton."
allmusic
W - Far Cry
amazon
YouTube: Far Cry! full album 41:33

2013 August: Out to Lunch! (1964), 2015 November: Eric Dolphy His Life and Art, 2016 February: Outward Bound (1960), 2016 April: Straight Ahead - Oliver Nelson With Eric Dolphy (1961)

20 Rare Photographs of Allen Ginsberg

"Twenty years ago today, Allen Ginsberg—author of Howl, Beat poet, revolutionary free mind, Buddhist, teacher, activist—died at the age of 70. In addition to being one of the most important and recognized modern poets, Ginsberg was also a photographer, and he took thousands of what he called “certain moments in eternity”: snapshots—usually joyful, often beautiful, sometimes profound, occasionally naked—of himself and his friends, documenting and reflecting the Beat generation and beyond. I particularly love photographs of Ginsberg—the exuberance he brought to his life is so palpable in them; he’s expressive and funny and—dare I say it—real. So on the occasion of his death, here are 20 photographs of Ginsberg—including a number that come with his original annotations, generously provided by his estate—for us to remember him by."
LitHub

2009 August: Beat Generation, 2010 April: Beat Hotel, 2010 October: "Howl" - Allen Ginsberg, 2012 April: The Beats — A Graphic History, 2012 December: Jazz poetry, 2013 January: Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, 2015 August: The Word is Beat: Jazz, Poetry & the Beat Generation.

Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys - For the Last Time (1974)

"For the Last Time documents two historic moments in American music: The last time Bob Wills would ever attend or participate in a recording session -- he never made the final day of the session, having suffered a severe stroke the night before -- and the reunion of the great Texas Playboys, who began in the 1930s and recorded and toured together through the beginning of World War II. All living members were present, as well as Texas Playboy-for-a-day Merle Haggard, who drove all night from Chicago to make the session (he literally begged Wills to be a part of the sessions). ... In all, this is far from the lame tribute record we see so frequently these days; this is a deeply moving and inspiringly executed presentation of Bob Wills as not only a bandleader, but as an innovator and mentor. In other words, it is the only fitting tribute possible, with the man still very much alive sitting among his bandmates for the very last time."
allmusic
W - Bob Wills
Bob Wills
Discogs
amazon, iTunes
YouTube: For the Last Time 1:10:36

Pablo Power & Schoolly D, Philly VS New York: A Declaration of Co-Independence at Okay Space in Williamsburg

Pablo Power, Dekalb Didactic, Mixed media
"Currently on view at Okay Space at 281 North 7th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is Philly VS New York: A Declaration of Co-Independence. Featuring works — fashioned both individually and collaboratively — by legendary Philly rapper Schoolly D and New York-based multi-disciplinary visual artist Pablo Power, this exhibit is a follow-up to their 2013 exhibition, Am I Black Enough?  Presented by Okay Space and Black Swan Projekt, Philly VS New York: A Declaration of Co-Independence continues through April 1. Pictured above is Gay Science and Joyous Wisdom by Pablo Power. ..."
Street Art NYC
Pablo Power
facebook - Schoolly D
YouTube: 'Philly vs. New York' w/ Schoolly D & Pablo Power @ Okay Space

Make Art Not War: Political Protest Posters from the Twentieth Century

"Two of the most recognizable images of twentieth-century art are Pablo Picasso’s 'Guernica' and the rather modest mass-produced poster by an unassuming illustrator, Lorraine Schneider 'War is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things.' From Picasso’s masterpiece to a humble piece of poster art, artists have used their talents to express dissent and to protest against injustice and immorality. As the face of many political movements, posters are essential for fueling recruitment, spreading propaganda, and sustaining morale. Disseminated by governments, political parties, labor unions and other organizations, political posters transcend time and span the entire spectrum of political affiliations and philosophies. ..."
NYU Press
Truthdig
amazon

Of a Feather

"The grass is still wet from the rain as the morning light pushes through the fog on a brisk spring morning in Prospect Park. The paths are dappled with joggers, cyclists, strollers, and dogs, yet no one notices our group of twelve, necks conspicuously craned and binoculars pressed up to our faces. It’s only 7:30 a.m., but this walk with the Brooklyn Bird Club began 30 minutes ago. ... Birders, like the creatures they seek, often go unnoticed until someone points them out. Once you know how to find them, they seem to be everywhere. In Brooklyn, they are particularly overlooked despite being a robust constituency of the borough’s incredible natural habitats, such as Prospect Park, Green-Wood Cemetery, Floyd Bennett Field, Dead Horse Bay, and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. ..."
BKLYNR
Macaulay Library: The Warbler Guide Song and Call Companion
amazon: The Sibley Guide to Birds, 2nd Edition

Jah Wobble, The Edge, Holger Czukay - Snake Charmer (1983)

"Yes, it was the Eighties as you can hear from the first stuttering synths on this overwrought supersession. Bassist Jah Wobble was post-Public Image Limited, The Edge from U2 clearly at a loose end (although a decade away from letting go on Achtung Baby) and multi-instrumentlist Czukay from Can probably quite liked the idea of getting into a studio for a series of free-flowing sessions. Others who dropped in during the recording of the Snake Chartmer mini-album were Can's Jaki Liebezeit, jazz-funk singer Marcella Allen and guitarist Animal. Wobble had already explored 'Islamic funk' with his Invaders of the Heart band but here got down with some weird amalgam of Eurobeat hooked to Afro-funk of the Talking Heads kind. ..."
Elsewhere
W - Snake Charmer
Discogs
YouTube: Snake Charmer 31:01

2011 February: Plight & Premonition, 2011 June: Persian Love, 2013 October: Flux + Mutability - David Sylvian and Holger Czukay (1989) , 2014 June: Holger Czukay - Der Osten Ist Rot, Rome Remains Rome (1984/7), 2016 March: Invaders Of The Heart - Jah Wobble (1982).

René Char (14 June 1907 – 19 February 1988)

Wikipedia - "René Char (14 June 1907 – 19 February 1988) was a 20th-century French poet and member of the French Resistance. ... Char's first book, Cloches sur le cœur was published in 1928 as a compilation of poems written between 1922 and 1926. In early 1929, he founded the journal Méridiens with André Cayatte and published three issues. In August, he sent twenty-six copies of his book Arsenal, published in Nîmes, to Paul Éluard, who in the autumn came to visit him at L'Isle sur la Sorgue. In late November, Char moved to Paris, where he met Louis Aragon, André Breton, and René Crevel, and joined the surrealists. ... Char joined the French Resistance in 1940, serving under the name of Captain Alexandre, where he commanded the Durance parachute drop zone. He refused to publish anything during the Occupation, but wrote the 'Feuillets d'Hypnos' during it (1943–4), prose poems dealing with resistance. ..."
Wikipedia
Char’s Refreshing Poetry
Brooklyn Rail: René Char - Resistance in Every Way
Poetry Foundation: Poetry, March 1957
amazon

Sound Advice - Pat Patrick & The Baritone Saxophone Retinue (1977)

"'Of all the saxophones, it is our opinion that the one with the most distinctive sound, warmth and range that can reach into that of other saxophones, is the baritone sax.' As composer, bandleader, and full-time member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Pat Patrick was a visionary musician whose singular contribution to the jazz tradition has not yet been fully recognized. As well as holding down the baritone spot in the Arkestra for 35 years, Patrick played flute and alto, composed in both jazz and popular idioms, and was a widely respected musician, playing with Duke Ellington, Eric Dolphy, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane, with whom he appeared on Africa/Brass (1961). But he is best known for his crucial contributions to key Sun Ra recordings including Angels and Demons at Play (1967), Jazz in Silhouette (1959), and The Nubians of Plutonia (1967), among dozens of others. But as a bandleader, Patrick only released one LP -- the almost-mythical Sound Advice, recorded with his Baritone Saxophone Retinue, a unique gathering of baritone saxophone masters including Charles Davis and René McLean. ... Liner notes by scholar and musician Bill Banfield."
Forced Exposure
W - Laurdine Patrick
The Life and Career of Lourdine ‘Pat’ Patrick, Jazz Great and Father of Deval Patrick (Video)
amazon
YouTube: Sound Advice 8 videos

Trading Card Set of the Week – Twin Peaks (Star Pics, 1991)

"Twin Peaks was one hell of a phenomenon. Though it only lasted two seasons, David Lynch and Mark Frost’s brainchild burned as brightly for its short life as any television series ever has, and anyone alive and pop culturally aware at the dawn of the 1990s knew the question of the day: Who killed Laura Palmer? The mystery surrounding the death of the eponymous town’s All-American Girl — the homecoming queen, the A student, the deliverer of Meals on Wheels — gripped a vast swath of the viewing public, and that was even before the mystery deepened. ... Boutique card publisher Star Pics capitalized on the raging maelstrom of popularity by putting out a 76-strong set of cards in 1991, just as the second season started to come off the rails, dooming the show to an end of season cancellation. ..."
blog into mystery
Twin Peaks Star Pics Cards**
YouTube: Twin Peaks Star Pics Trading Cards

2008 September: Twin Peaks, 2010 March: Twin Peaks: How Laura Palmer's death marked the rebirth of TV drama, 2011 October: Twin Peaks: The Last Days, 2014 October: Welcome to Twin Peaks, 2015 June: David Lynch: ‘I’ve always loved Laura Palmer’, 2015 July: Twin Peaks Maps, 2016 May: Hear the Music of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks Played..., September: Twin Peaks Tarot Cards For The Magician Who Longs To See Through The Darkness Of Future Past, 2014 September: David Lynch: The Unified Field, 2014 December: David Lynch’s Bad Thoughts - J. Hoberman, 2015 March: Lumière and Company (1995), 2015 April: David Lynch Creates a Very Surreal Plug for Transcendental Meditation, 2015 December: What Is “Lynchian”?, 2017 March: Anatomy of a Fascinating Disaster: Fire Walk With Me.

Make the Most of the British Museum

"When the British Museum opened in 1753, it was the world’s first national public museum, free (as it still is) to all 'studious and curious persons.' It contains a breathtaking collection of over 8 million objects that paint an interconnected portrait of the world’s cultures. But it also epitomizes the long British traditions of exploration, quirkiness and obsessive collecting. You could spend weeks here. But don’t worry; we’ll guide you through. ..."
NY Times
[PDF] Make the Most of The British Museum
British Museum (SOUNDCLOUD)
YouTube: The British Museum

Various Artists - The Fruit of the Original Sin (1981)

"The second compilation released by the Belgian label Crepescule in the early '80s, and easily the most ambitious of its earliest such efforts, The Fruit of the Original Sin at the time acted as a sprawling catchall that drew together many different strands of what could be called post-punk and art rock from all over Europe and North America. From a distance, it's even more of an astonishing effort, thanks not only to the many bands and performers who appeared and later established strong reputations worldwide, but the sheer, surprising range of who appeared. ... Thorough liner notes and a reproduction of the original inside sleeves complete another solid LTM reissue."
allmusic
Les Disques du Crépuscule: The Fruit Of The Original Sin
DO LOOK BACK: LES DISQUES DU CREPUSCULE
Discogs
amazon
YouTube: The Fruit of the Original Sin · Peter Gordon, The Durutti Column - Party, Marine - Animal in My Head, Soft Verdict - Multiple 12, Paul Haig - Mad Horses, 323 - Affectionate Silence, Thick Pigeon - Sudan (Acoustic), Marguerite Duras - Interview

The Royals - Pick Up the Pieces (2002)

"The story of Roy Cousins and the Royals is, sadly, a fairly common one in Jamaican music. The body of work the group released between the years 1973 and 1979 rightly places them amongst the finest vocal acts of the roots era. Yet the failure of various producers and distributors to support the group, and constant changes in membership, led to their eventual obscurity outside of a relatively small group of reggae collectors. Thankfully, Pressure Sounds has sought to remedy this situation with this enhanced restoration of the group's classic 1977 debut, Pick up the Pieces. ..."
allmusic
Wikipedia
Reggae Vibes
iTunes
YouTube: Pick Up The Pieces 1:04:28

The Anarchism of Blackness

"Present incarnations of an unfazed and empowered far right increasingly demand the presence of a real, radical left. In the coming months and years, the left and left-leaning constituencies of the United States will need to make clear distinctions between potentially counterproductive symbolic progress, and actual material progress. Liberalism and party politics have failed a public attempting to bring about real change — but there are solutions. The Black liberation struggle, in particular, has long provided a blueprint for transformative social change within the boundaries of this empire, and it has done so due to its positioning as an inherently radical social formation — a product of the virulent and foundational nature of anti-Blackness in American society. ..."
ROAR Magazine

Mountolive - Lawrence Durrell (1958)

"Mountolive (published 1958) is, first of all, a masterful play on expectations. The Alexandria Quartet relies upon the crossed recollections of unreliable narrators for its form and in this the third volume Durrell deceptively switched to the traditional storytelling mode of a third-person narration – transforming it into an odd continuation of the experimental form. ... What begins as an affair between Mountolive and Leila soon expands to become a primarily political story, or rather the story of how political ideology put insurmountable strain upon relationships of all sorts, driving apart friends, lovers and brothers as the book progresses. Mountolive is also the most cinematic and spacious of the three 'sibling' novels. It breaks away from Darley’s constrictive voice and is a deeply refreshing and revitalizing example of changing horses in midstream. ..."
Pseudo-Intellectual Reviews
W - Mountolive
NY Times: Intrigue Is the Way of Life
Revisiting Lawrence Durrell’s The Alexandria Quartet — Paul M. Curtis

2011 December: The Alexandria Quartet - Lawrence Durrell, 2013 September: Villa that inspired Lawrence Durrell faces demolition, as Egypt allows heritage to crumble, 2014 August: Prospero’s Cell (1945), 2015 April: Bitter Lemons (1953–1956), 2015 May: Caesar's Vast Ghost: Aspects of Provence, 2016 July: Reflections on a Marine Venus (1953), 2016 September: The Greek Islands, 2016 October: Justine (1957), 2017 February: Balthazar (1958)

Baseball color line

1949: Roy Campanella, Larry Doby, Don Newcombe, Jackie Robinson
Wikipedia - "The color line in American baseball, until the late 1940s, excluded, with some big exceptions in the 19th century until the line was firmly drawn, players of Black African descent from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor Leagues. Racial segregation in professional baseball was sometimes called a gentlemen's agreement, meaning a tacit understanding, as there was no written policy at the highest level of organized baseball, the major leagues. ... The color line was broken for good when Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization for the 1946 season. ..."

"... Reluctance of Boston Red Sox. The Boston Red Sox were the last major league team to integrate, holding out until 1959. This was allegedly due to the steadfast resistance provided by team owner Tom Yawkey. ... Even with the stands limited to management, Robinson was subjected to racial epithets. Robinson left the tryout humiliated. Robinson would later call Yawkey 'one of the most bigoted guys in baseball'. ... The NAACP issued charges of 'following an anti-Negro policy', and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination announced a public hearing on racial bias against the Red Sox. ... When the African-American Tommy Harper, a popular former player and coach for Boston, then working as a minor league instructor, protested the policy and a story appeared in the Boston Globe, he was promptly fired. Harper sued the Red Sox for racial discrimination and his complaint was upheld on July 1, 1986. ..."
W - Baseball color line
Racism and America’s National Pastime: The Sad History of the Boston Red Sox
W - Tom Yawkey
Tom Yawkey | Ethics Alarms
'An undeniable legacy'
It’s time to banish the racist legacy of Tom Yawkey
Tommy Harper still haunted by time with Red Sox (Video)
NPR: Historian Illustrates Racial Intolerance In The Northeast In Post-War U.S. (Video)
Yawkey Way and the Red Sox’ racist history
CBS: David Price says he heard racist taunts from Red Sox fans at Fenway Park in 2016
The Red Sox: Racist
The David Ortiz bobblehead was too racist for Red Sox
Boston Red Sox Cancel 'Racist' David Ortiz Bobblehead Giveaway (Video)
David Price probably did hear racist taunts at Fenway Park

Listening Booth: A Divine Gospel-Disco Track

"Gospel disco was a bastard child of the eighties, and this house rework of a children’s choir from Bedford-Stuyvesant may be its most convoluted product. I won’t bog you down with the knotty history of 'Stand on the Word'; the song is too forward to be rendered understandable by continuity and logic. A fellow named Larry Levan may or may not have crafted this remix. The credits are disputed and the origins cloudy, but the record took off in clubs like the Paradise Garage and became a theme song for marathon dances that lasted until sunrise. The song has been infamous among dance-record hoarders since: Justice decided to get children’s vocals for 'D.A.N.C.E.' after obsessing over 'Stand on the Word,' and the track has played before recent gigs for LCD Soundsystem’s reunion tour. (Getting tickets to the Brooklyn shows required nothing short of divine intervention). ..."
New Yorker (Video)
Guardian - Divine disco: the beatific sub-genre that delivered sermons on the dancefloor (Video)
Thump: It's Time For Us to Praise the Godfathers of Gospel Disco (Video)
amazon: Greg Belson's Divine Disco, American Gospel Disco (1974-1984)

Peter Sacks

Mixed media. Aftermath 11, 6 x 6, 2013-2014.
"Peter Sacks was born in 1950 in South Africa. He lived there for the first half of his life, mostly in the city of Durban, on the Indian Ocean. Sacks studied at Oxford, as well as in the United States, at Princeton and Yale (where he wrote, partly as his thesis, The English Elegy: Studies in the Genre from Spenser to Yeats). All through this time, which included the study of art and the history of painting – from the rock-art of Southern Africa to the frescoes of the early Renaissance, from the funerary portraiture of Egypt to the entangled figurative and abstract heritages of Modernism – Sacks also spent years of travel, often times on foot. Walks across various parts of South and North America, Africa, Europe and Asia, comprised much of his development on a formal as well as cultural level.
Peter Sacks: Biography
Peter Sacks
Robert Miller Gallery
Peter Sacks interview: ‘Every painting has its own secret story’
NY Times: Where a Thousand Words Paint a Picture
vimeo: PAINTINGS :: Gallery Tour

Agnès Varda’s Art of Being There

"... But, for a short while this spring, such viewing is back in public at the Blum & Poe art gallery, in New York, with a whimsical yet impassioned exhibit of work by the filmmaker Agnès Varda. Varda, of course, is one of the crucial modern directors; she made her first film, 'La Pointe Courte,' in 1954, as a twenty-five-year-old independent filmmaker, and her most recently released film is 'The Beaches of Agnès,' from 2008. (She has a new film forthcoming, 'Visages, Visages,' which she co-directed with the photographer JR.) The gallery exhibit is the work of a filmmaker who has been, so to speak, between films—but Varda’s career has always been enlivened by an essential and constant sense of between-ness, an occasionalism in the best sense of the term. ..."
New Yorker
Capturing the Artist in Time: The Joyful Energy of Agnes Varda: Agnes Varda: From Here to There.
THE VOICE OF A WOMAN
Agnès Varda: Life as Art (Video)

August 2010: Agnès Varda, May 2011: The Beaches of Agnès, 2011 December: Interview - Agnès Varda, 2013 February: The Gleaners and I (2000), 2013 September: Cinévardaphoto (2004), 2014 July: Black Panthers (1968 doc.), 2014 October: Art on Screen: A Conversation with Agnès Varda, 2015 September: Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Plaisir d’amour en Iran (1976).