Diego Rivera: Murals for The Museum of Modern Art

"Diego Rivera was the subject of MoMA’s second monographic exhibition (the first was Henri Matisse), which set new attendance records in its five-week run from December 22, 1931, to January 27, 1932. MoMA brought Rivera to New York six weeks before the exhibition’s opening and gave him studio space within the Museum, a strategy intended to solve the problem of how to present the work of this famous muralist when murals were by definition made and fixed on site."
MoMA
MoMA - Diego Rivera: Murals for The Museum of Modern Art
amazon
NYT: Time Capsule With Pulse on Present
Google: Diego Rivera: Murals for The Museum of Modern Art
Economist: A moveable feast

2008 May: Diego Rivera

Zoë Keating

Wikipedia - "Zoë Keating (born February 2, 1972) is a Canadian-born cellist and composer based in San Francisco, California. In her solo performances and recordings (particularly the ongoing project she calls 'One Cello x 16'), she uses live electronic sampling and repetition in order to layer the sound of her cello, creating rhythmically dense musical structures."
Wikipedia
Zoë Keating
Soundcloud (Video)
YouTube: Plays"Escape Artist", Avant-garde Cellist Zoe Keating, Radical Cello, Optimist at TEDxSF, Sun Will Set, Optimist

Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy

"Documentarian Thomas Riedelsheimer shows us Andy Goldsworthy as he creates art in natural settings using natural materials such as driftwood, ice, mud, leaves, and stones. Goldsworthy comments on his “earthworks” and occasionally responds to off screen questions from Riedelsheimer while he painstakingly builds his outdoors sculptures."
Top Documentary Films
amazon
YouTube: Rivers and Tides 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

2007 November: Andy Goldsworthy: Roof

Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition

"As the seventh century began, vast territories extending from Syria to Egypt and across North Africa were ruled by the Byzantine Empire from its capital, Constantinople (modern Istanbul). Critical to the wealth and power of the empire, these southern provinces, long influenced by Greco-Roman traditions, were home to Orthodox, Coptic, and Syriac Christians, Jewish communities, and others. Great pilgrimage centers attracted the faithful from as far away as Yemen in the east and Scandinavia in the west. Major trade routes reached eastward down the Red Sea past Jordan to India in the south, bringing silks and ivories to the imperial territories."
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Blog
amazon: Byzantium and Islam
NYT: Ornate Links Tethering Cultures in Flux
YouTube: Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition—The Red Monastery

Waiting - J Butler

"Waiting is comprised of songs written in 2011, using material and field recordings collected over the past 2 years. Although created using electronic means, many of the pieces draw inspiration from natural sounds and surroundings. 'Buhl Park' uses a bed of drones overlaid on a field recording of crickets and children playing in the park, while 'Dream Analysis' was inspired by a storm siren. J Butler - electric piano, field recordings, guitar, lapharp, photo, sampler, synthesizer."
J Butler
Soundcloud

Rackstraw Downes

Sprowls Bros. Lumber Yard, Searsmont, ME, 1978-90
Wikipedia - "Rackstraw Downes (born 1939) is a British-born realist painter and author. His oil paintings are notable for their meticulous detail accumulated during months of plein-air sessions, depictions of industry and the environment, and elongated compositions with complex perspective."
Wikipedia
Betty Cuningham Gallery
NYT: Street Life as Still Life
Rackstraw Downes: Onsite Paintings, 1972-2008
art21: (Video)
The art of Rackstraw Downes (Video)

The Art of Arts - Anita Albus

"There was a time, five hundred years ago, when science was regarded as an art, and art as a science. And in the contest between the senses, the ear, through which we had previously received all knowledge and the word of God, was conquered by the eye, which would henceforth be king. A new breed of painters aimed to reconcile the world of the senses with that of the mind, and their goal was to conceal themselves in the details and vanish away, like God. A new way of perceiving was born. Anita Albus describes the birth and evolution of trompe-l'oeil painting in oils in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, focusing her attention on works by northern European artists—both major and minor."
amazon: The Art of Arts: Rediscovering Painting
Google

"Always on My Mind" - Pet Shop Boys

Wikipedia - "'Always on My Mind' is an American country music song by Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson, originally recorded by Brenda Lee in 1972. Allmusic lists over 300 recorded releases of the song in versions by dozens of performers. While Brenda Lee's version had stalled at #45 on the country charts in 1972, other performers would reach top 20 (including #1) success with their own versions: Elvis Presley in 1972; John Wesley Ryles in 1979; Willie Nelson's Grammy Award winning version in 1982; Pet Shop Boys in 1987."
Wikipedia
YouTube: "Always on My Mind" - Pet Shop Boys, Live, Wembley Arena Tour in 1989, Top Of The Pops - 1987

2008 September: Pet Shop Boys
2010 November: Pet Shop Boys - 1985-1989
2011 January: Behaviour
2011 May: Very
2011 December: Bilingual

Horace Andy + Sly & Robbie - Livin´ It Up

"Visa issues were the cause of Horace Andy missing several shows in the US recently, when he was scheduled to share the bill with dub and reggae heavyweights Sly and Robbie. The visa has been issued finally and Andy flew from Kingston, Jamaica to California today, leaving him with a full night to settle in before Saturday's concert. Cherine Anderson opens the concerts, warming up the crowd for Horace Andy's roots reggae crooning and Sly and Robbie's relentless and warm jamming on drums and bass."
MOG
amazon: Livin It Up
YouTube: 1/16, 2/17 artist set up, 3/17 bless you, 4/17 zion gates, 5/17 true rastaman, 6/17 king of kings, 7/17 thanks and .., 8/17 livin'it up, 09/17 true love, 10/17 skylarking, 11/17 rastafari..., 12/17 holy mt zion, 13/17 i m alive, 14/17 *gregory isaacs*, 15/17 one love, 16/17 sharing ..., 17/17 **GOODIES**

Astronomer's Paradise

"Astronomer's Paradise is the first episode of a Atacama Starry Nights timelapse movie series. ... Cerro Paranal is an astronomers paradise with its stunningly dark, steady and transparent sky. Located in the barren Atacama Desert of Chile it is home to some of the world's leading telescopes."
vimeo: Atacama Desert of Chile

Marjane Satrapi

Wikipedia - "Marjane Satrapi ...(born 22 November 1969 in Rasht, Iran) is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author. Apart from her native language Persian, she speaks English, Swedish, German, French and Italian. Satrapi grew up in Tehran in a family which was involved with communist and socialist movements in Iran prior to the Iranian Revolution. She attended the Lycée Français there and witnessed, as a child, the growing suppression of civil liberties and the everyday-life consequences of Iranian politics, including the fall of the Shah, the early regime of Ruhollah Khomeini, and the first years of the Iran–Iraq War."
Wikipedia
Nowness - Beginnings: Marjane Satrapi (Video)
YouTube: Graphic novels & her family's influence

2009 July: Persopolis 2.0

Vilhelm Hammershøi

White Doors, 1905
Wikipedia - "Vilhelm Hammershøi ..., often written in English Vilhelm Hammershoi (15 May 1864 – 13 February 1916), was a Danish painter. He is known for his poetic, low-key portraits and interiors."
Wikipedia
Vilhelm Hammershøi at the Royal Academy: the poetry of silence
YouTube: Vilhelm Hammershøi

Paris, Texas

Wikipedia - "Paris, Texas is a 1984 drama film directed by Wim Wenders and starring Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell, Nastassja Kinski, and Hunter Carson. The screenplay was written by L.M. Kit Carson and playwright Sam Shepard, and the distinctive musical score was composed by Ry Cooder."
Wikipedia
Slant
Paris, Texas
Criterion (Video)

The Clash - Apr '80

"See, we ain't got no highs, except for that one with the yellowy eyes. Their first appearance on U.S. television, and nothing like this had ever been seen by American audiences. A watershed moment. I've not seen a better filmed performance of 'London Calling'."
YouTube: London Calling / Train In Vain / Guns Of Brixton, Clampdown

Joe Brainard - Bolinas Journal

"Joe Brainard’s Bolinas Journal is the first book from Bill Berkson's Big Sky Press in Bolinas. Berkson published it shortly after he moved from hometown New York City to the relatively remote beach community north of San Francisco. It's a side-stapled mimeo, classic Lower East Side style, and important link between east and west. Bolinas Journal is a record of Brainard's impressions of the West Coast when he went to visit Berkson and Lewis Warsh (also a New Yorker living in Bolinas at the time)."
Mimeo Mimeo
amazon: The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard

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

Morphogenesis: Prochronisms (1989)

"Formed in 1985 as a spinoff of a seminar on “New Music” taught by Roger Sutherland at City University in London, Morphogenesis was a collective of experimental musicians who developed a distinctive approach to collective improvisation. The group included among its ranks a number of veterans from the far fringes of the British musical avant-garde: Sutherland was an alumnus of Cornelius Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra, Clive Graham was an occasional contributor to Nurse with Wound, and Michael Prime had worked with David Jackman’s project Organum."
ACOUSMATA (Video)
discogs
New Vocabulary, New Dimensions, New Music by Mark S. Tucker (March 2005)
YouTube: Improvisation 11.11.88, Improvisation 1.9.88

2011 April: Scratch Orchestra

“Sugar Baby” by Dock Boggs

"A few artists from the Anthology were truly rescued from oblivion by the american folk revival of the 1960’s and experienced an unexpected new musical career as they were entering their last decade. Men like Mississippi John Hurt, Furry Lewis, Clarence Ashley and Dock Boggs, thanks to the Anthology and a new generation of folk music lovers who searched out for them, had a second chance to play their down-home music in front of an appreciating audience (although a quite different one than 40 years before) and record again."
The Old, Weird America (YouTube)
Wikipedia
Where Dead Voices Gather (YouTube)
amazon
YouTube: Country Blues, Sugar Baby, Oh Death, Prodigal Son

The Family Hour: An Oral History of The Sopranos

"Since that controversial last episode of The Sopranos, in June 2007, the cast and crew have never spoken so candidly about the show that changed both their lives and the showbiz landscape. With creator David Chase leading the way, Sam Kashner gets a behind-the-scenes history of a national obsession as James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, and other Sopranos insiders talk about their years as a family, the trauma when someone got whacked, and making their peace with the finale."
Vanity Fair

2011 June: The Sopranos

The Lovin' Spoonful

Wikipedia - "... Working with producer Erik Jacobsen, the band released their first single, the Sebastian-penned 'Do You Believe in Magic', in August 1965. The Lovin' Spoonful played all the instruments on their records, with the exceptions of the orchestral instruments heard on their soundtrack album You're A Big Boy Now and some later singles. Additionally, aside from a few covers (mostly on their first album) they wrote all their own material, including 'Younger Girl' (which missed the Hot 100), which was a hit for The Critters in mid-1966."
Wikipedia
amazon
YouTube: Do You Believe In Magic (Live '65), You Didn't Have To Be So Nice, Summer In The City, Rain On The Roof, Darling Be Home Soon, Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind, Daydream, Younger Girl, Lovin' You, Six O'Clock, Nashville cats

Sun Ra Arkestra in Berlin 1986

"Sun Ra Arkestra in concert, Berlin, 1986"
YouTube: pt.1, pt.2.

African Innovations

Three-Headed Figure. Wood, fiber, kaolin
"A complete reinstallation of roughly 200 works from the Brooklyn Museum’s world-renowned collection of African art, African Innovations is organized with a particular focus on the aesthetic, social, political, and cosmological problems addressed by African artists through their work. A dynamic and diverse range of objects that includes wood sculpture, metal casting, terracotta, textiles, and beadwork, African art has a long history of adaptation to and exchange with cultures near and far."
Brooklyn Museum (YouTube)

John Fahey - Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You (The Fonotone Years 1958-1965)

"John Fahey - Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You (The Fonotone Years 1958-1965) is the long-awaited box set of the earliest recordings by and the first book ever written about John Fahey. The five CDs feature 115 tracks, most of which are available on CD for the first time. The audio was remastered from Joe Bussard’s reel-to-reel tapes to achieve pristine sound quality."
Dust to Digital (YouTube)
The Wire - Listen to Joe Bussard: An Oral History of Fonotone Records (Video)
iTunes: Joe Bussard's Country Classics (iPod) By Dust-to-Digital (Video)
Dusted Reviews (Video)
Pitchfork
amazon
YouTube: Buck Dancer's Choice, Wissenschaftlich River Blues, Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie

2009 March: John Fahey

Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe

Reflection - A Gift from Iwaki, 2004
"Cai Guo-Qiang (b. 1957, Quanzhou, China) has literally exploded the accepted parameters of art making in our time. He draws freely from ancient mythology, military history, Taoist cosmology, extraterrestrial observations, Maoist revolutionary tactics, Buddhist philosophy, pyrotechnic technology, Chinese medicine, and methods of terrorist violence. This retrospective presents the full spectrum of the artist's protean, multimedia art in all its conceptual complexity. Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe charts the artist's creation of a distinctive visual and conceptual language across four mediums: gunpowder drawings; explosion events; installations; and social projects."
Guggenheim Bilbao
Guggenheim Bilbao - 1
YouTube: Cai Guo-Qiang at Guggenheim Bilbao

2008 March: Cai Guo-Qiang
2009 October: Cai Guo-Qiang - An Introduction

Anna Betbeze

"For Georges Bataille, the term informe designated matter that 'has no rights in any sense and gets itself squashed everywhere': the crushed spider, the blob of spit, the big toe. We should, he said, undo the myths that insist on a hierarchy of form and praise the low and debased. Since Bataille celebrated the arbitrary in 1929, many artists have done their best to topple a slew of cherished notions — for instance, that for a painting to be a painting it must actually contain... paint. To the antiform lineage that includes Alberto Burri’s burlap sacks and Lynda Benglis’s poured-latex forms we may now add Anna Betbeze’s highly distressed flokati rugs."
Anna Betbeze: The Filth and the Fury
Kate Werble Gallery
MASS MoCA

Painting as Paris burned

Constance Mayer (1778 - 1821), The Dream of Happiness
"The latter days of the ancien regime, the fiery chaos of revolution and the dawn of the 19th century were witnessed and recorded by legendary French artists working in a variety of media. A new show at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., explores the particular contribution of female artists over the course of this enormously eventful period in European history."
Salon

Joko Sutrisno & Group

"Pemut - a reminder A Gamelan Performance by Joko Sutrisno & Group"
YouTube: Pemut, Pangkur, Puspawarno

"Strange Town" - The Jam

Wikipedia - "The song 'Strange Town' was released on 17 March 1979 by The Jam and reached #15 in the UK singles chart. Backed by the Paul Weller-penned 'The Butterfly Collector', the single was one of many The Jam singles that did not appear on any of the band's studio albums."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Strange Town (1979), The Butterfly Collector, Live

2009 March: The Jam
2011 December: Down in the Tube Station at Midnight - The Jam

Pina Bausch - "Le Sacre Du Printemps"

"This is Pina Bausch's Wuppertal Tanztheater performing the Rite of Spring." 1984, BAM Next Wave Festival.
YouTube: Le Sacre Du Printemps by Pina Bausch Wuppertal Dance Theater
U. Stanford
W - The Rite of Spring

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

Things - Francis Ponge

Rae Armantrout - "My favorite collection of the work of this French poet is Things, translated by Cid Corman (Grossman Publishers, Inc., 1971). It contains (mostly) prose poems with titles such as 'The Piece of Meat', 'The Oyster,' and 'The Notebook of the Pine Woods.' Ponge is a sort of naturalist. His poems are scientifically precise and full of accurate observation, yet they are also fanciful, subtly metaphorical, and eccentric. There is no poet remotely like him." (Bud...)
Find Articles
Google
amazon
YouTube: Translating Francis Ponge at Shakespeare and Company Bookshop

2008 February: Francis Ponge
2011 September: Soap

Manu' Dibango

Wikipedia - "Emmanuel 'Manu' N'Djoké Dibango (born 12 December 1933) is a Cameroonian saxophonist and vibraphone player. He developed a musical style fusing jazz, funk and traditional Cameroonian music. He is a member of the Yabassi ethnic group, though his mother was a Duala. He is best known for his 1972 afrobeat single 'Soul Makossa'."
Wikipedia
African Musicians Profiles
YouTube: Soul Makossa (Live 1974), Bayam Sellam, Pata Pata, New bell 1972, Super kumba, Bessoka, Night in Zeralda, Electric Africa, Echos Beti