Wrapped Floor and Stairway, 1969 - Christo and Jeanne-Claude

"The installation of Wrapped Floor and Stairway was completed on May 20, 1969, and remained in place until June 6, 1969. The entire floor of the gallery, which had been emptied of everything and then painted white, as well as the Flemish staircase with its banister and handrail were covered with house painters' cotton drop cloths. Although the transformation was minimal, it drastically altered the space, generating an atmosphere of silence and spiritual tranquility. As visitors walked on the fabric it changed into rhythmic ripples and folds with a high degree of textural surface and nuance."
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Chicago, 1968-69
vimeo: Christo during the installation of Wrapped Floor and Stairway

 2007 November: Christo & Jeanne-Claude
2009 November: Jeanne-Claude
2010 April: Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence
2010 September: Christo and Jeanne-Claude - The Gates
2010 November: Over The River - Christo and Jeanne-Claude
2012 January: 5 Films About Christo & Jeanne-Claude
2012 June: The Pont Neuf Wrapped

Timelapse-icus Maximus 2012 "A Burning Man for Ants"

"A Miniature Journey to the Black Rock Desert, Home to Burning Man. A whimsical time-lapse film about the Art, People, Mutant Vehicles and Playa that makes Burning Man such a unique place on this tiny planet in our tiny solar system in our tiny galaxy in our tiny universe. Audio Playlist: 1. Passion Pit 'Swimming in the flood' 2. Clams Casino 'I'm God' 3. Tipper 'Puzzle Dust'"
vimeo: Timelapse-icus Maximus 2012 "A Burning Man for Ants" Tilt-Shift Time-lapse by James Cole, Byron Mason & Jason Phipps

2007 November: Burning Man
2009 August: Burning Man - 1

30 Under 30 Women Photographers

"In photography, the traditional place for women is in front of the lens. Visit a modern photography tradeshow like Photokina in Cologne, and most of the visitors you see swarming past are male, with their photography gadgets slung round their necks; whilst the models posing at each booth waiting for you to take their picture on new, state-of-the-art cameras, are predominantly young and female. You could say this is a picture of photography convention: as it has always been, and as it still is now."
30 Under 30 Women Photographers

The 30th Anniversary Of MIDI: A Protocol Three Decades On

"... The MIDI manufacturer's association, or MMA, is also celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Musical Instrument Digital Interface - a protocol, a specification, a language spoken amongst music-making machines. MIDI was developed in the early 1980s by a group of five synthesizer manufacturers - Sequential Circuits, Roland, Yamaha, Korg, and Kawai - and quietly conferred in 1983. In January of that year, along with MIDI's chief engineer Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits, electronics pioneer Bob Moog demonstrated a MIDI connection between two synthesizers, a happening Moog recorded in a 1986 article as taking place 'without formality or ceremony.' But 30 years is a significant milestone worthy of ceremony for a standard that has endured in its original 1.0 dialect, while other networking languages are updated and replaced with exponential speed."
The Quietus (Video)
BBC: How MIDI changed the world of music (Video)
roland: 30th Anniversary of MIDI (Video)

Of Gods and Glamour

"This fall, the past returns as over 550 works from 4,000 years of artistic achievement in the Mediterranean region come together in the beautiful new Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art. With over 150 exceptional loans from private collections and public institutions around the world complementing the museum’s own rich holdings, this inaugural display allows the Art Institute to present for the first time the origins and early development of Western art from the dawn of the third millennium B.C. to the time of the great Byzantine Empire."
The Art Institute of Chicago
Conservation Station
Chicago Tonight (Video)

Bar Kokhba and Masada - John Zorn

Wikipedia - "Bar Kokhba is a double album by John Zorn, recorded between 1994 and 1996. It features music from Zorn's Masada project, rearranged for small ensembles. The Allmusic review by Marc Gilman awarded the album 4½ stars noting that 'While some compositions retain their original structure and sound, some are expanded and probed by Zorn's arrangements, and resemble avant-garde classical music more than jazz. But this is the beauty of the album; the ensembles provide a forum for Zorn to expand his compositions. The album consistently impresses'."
Wikipedia
amazon
vimeo: John Zorn - Bar Kokhba & Acoustic Masada @ Jazz In Marciac 2007
YouTube: Sippur - 01. - Live '99 (Masada String Project), Bikkur - 02., Malkhut - 03., Meholalot - 04., Khebar - 05., Teli - 06., Kisofim - 07., Gevurah - 08., Paran - 09., Shihim - 10., Karaim - 11., Beeroth - 12., Kochot - 13., Lahum- 14.

2009 March: John Zorn
2010 August: Spillane
2011 October: Filmworks Anthology : 20 Years of Soundtrack Music 
2012 September: Marc Ribot

Wanda Jackson - "Let's Have a Party", etc.

"Wanda Jackson was only halfway through high school when, in 1954, country singer Hank Thompson heard her on an Oklahoma City radio show and asked her to record with his band, the Brazos Valley Boys. By the end of the decade, Jackson had become one of America's first major female country and rockabilly singers."
YouTube: Let's Have a Party, Mean Mean Man - Queen for a Day, Pick me up on your way, Fujiyama Mama, Hot Dog That Made Him Mad

2009 August: Wanda Jackson
2012 October: Honky Tonk Women: The Changing Role of Women

Black History Pearls of Wisdom

"Black History Month, wasn't always a month. At first it was a single day, then two dates, February 12th and 14th -- Abraham Lincoln's and Frederick Douglass' birthdays. In 1926, historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson organized, as it was then called, 'Negro History Week'."
NYPL - Schomburg Center Black History Month 2012 (Video)
Debunking the 10 biggest myths about black history
Pearls of Wisdom Storytellers

Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg

"One of the most visionary writers of his generation, Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) was also a photographer. He began photographing actively in New York City in 1953, having his film developed and printed at a drugstore near his apartment on the Lower East Side. After looking through the snapshots and perhaps giving a few to friends, he tossed them to the back of a drawer or the bottom of a closet. Ginsberg later said that these photographs were 'meant more for a public in heaven than one here on earth—and that’s why they’re charming.' Between 1953 and 1963 he took numerous, often exuberant portraits of himself and his close-knit group of friends—such as Beat writers William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Gregory Corso, and Jack Kerouac."
juxtapoz
NYT: A Beat Poet’s Colorful Crew, in Black and White, NYT:
‘Beat Memories’
amazon

On Creating Reality by Andy Kaufman

"... The show presents an extensive collection of ephemera and artifacts from Andy Kaufman's personal and professional life: photographs, correspondence, performance notation, scripts, props and costumes, including his childhood record collection, transcendental meditation materials, hand written drafts of his novel 'The Huey Williams Story,' hundreds of pieces of hate mail he received from women challenging him to wrestle, in addition to numerous personal effects. The exhibition will act as a portrait of an unclassifiable figure in American cultural history whose work has been seminal in the evolution of performance art, new media and relational aesthetics."
NY Art Beat
W - Andy Kaufman
Wrestling Museum
Funny and Fascinating Relics from the Life of Andy Kaufman
Goofing on Elvis: The Short and Extraordinary Life of Andy Kaufman
YouTube: Andy Kaufman performs Mighty Mouse, Andy Kaufman Does Elvis, The Real Andy Kaufman

Guitar Wizards: 1926-1935

"Guitar Wizards: 1926-1935 showcases some of the finest six-string players who resided in the Carolinas and along the Atlantic coast during the period. While it has consistently been afforded less significance than its Mississippi and Memphis counterparts, the area has one of the oldest blues traditions. Still, its recorded legacy remains small in comparison. Many of the musicians here had to make their way to larger cities for recording opportunities."
allmusic
YouTube: You Gonna Quit Me Blues (Blind Blake, October 1927), Farewell To You Baby - CARL MARTIN (1936, Chicago), BLIND BLAKE (May 1928), Badly Mistreated Man - CARL MARTIN (1936), BO WEAVIL JACKSON - Jefferson Country Blues, Wabash Rag (Blind Blake, November 1927), Memphis Minnie - Bumble Bee, Ragtime Millionaire (William Moore, January 1928), Guitar Chimes' BLIND BLAKE (1929), Sam Butler - Some Scream High Yellow, Carl Martin ~ Joe Louis Blues, Sam Butler ~ Poor Boy Blues, Billy Bird - Mill Man Blues

Meara O'Reilly

"Meara O'Reilly is a sound artist and educator, in residence at the Exploratorium. Current ongoing projects include a curated collection of auditory illusions as found in indigenous folk music traditions, as well as adapting more scientifically established auditory illusions to be presented on homemade acoustic instruments. Instruments under construction include a midi-controlled 18th century pipe organ and a hand-cut glass bell gamelan."
Meara O'Reilly
vimeo: Meara O'Reilly
boing boing: Meara O'Reilly (Video)
YouTube: Chladni Song, Sun Ceremony, Meara's Solo Show, Hemlock Tavern, #2

Runestone

Möjbro Runestone, ca. 5th century.
Wikipedia - "A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century, and it lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones date from the late Viking Age. Most runestones are located in Scandinavia, but there are also scattered runestones in locations that were visited by Norsemen during the Viking Age. Runestones are often memorials to deceased men. Runestones were usually brightly colored when erected, though this is no longer evident as the color has worn off."
Wikipedia
W - Picture stone
W - Pictish stones

Mass: John Wieners

"This segment of Jim Dunn and Kevin Gallagher’s feature, 'Mass: Raw Poetry from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,' focuses on poet John Wieners, and includes contributions from Dunn, Seth Stewart, Ruth Lepson, John Landry, Steve Prygoda, Lewis Hammond Stone, and Wieners himself."
Jacket2

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
2012 August: John Wieners - 707 Scott Street

The Electric Flag

Wikipedia - "The Electric Flag was a blues rock soul group, led by guitarist Mike Bloomfield, keyboardist Barry Goldberg and drummer Buddy Miles, and featuring other well-known musicians such as vocalist Nick Gravenites and bassist Harvey Brooks. Bloomfield formed the Electric Flag in 1967, following his stint with the Butterfield Blues Band. The band reached its peak with the 1968 release, A Long Time Comin', a fusion of rock, jazz, and R&B styles that charted well in the Billboard Pop Albums chart. Their initial recording was a soundtrack for The Trip, a movie about an LSD experience by Peter Fonda, written by Jack Nicholson, and directed by Roger Corman."
Wikipedia
The Electric Flag
amazon: Electric Flag
YouTube: Drinkin' Wine (Live), View from the Bottom (Harvey Brooks), 1."Killing Floor" (Chester "Howlin' Wolf" Burnett) 2."Groovin' Is Easy" (Nick Gravenites) 3."Over-Lovin' You" (Mike Bloomfield, Barry Goldberg)4."She Should Have Just" (Ron Polte) 5."Wine" (Traditional) 6."Texas" (Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Miles) 7."Sittin' in Circles" (Barry Goldberg) 8."You Don't Realize" (Mike Bloomfield) 9."Another Country" (Ron Polte) 10."Easy Rider" (Mike Bloomfield) 11."Sunny" (Bobby Hebb) 12."Mystery" (Buddy Miles) 13."Look into My Eyes" (Harvey Brooks, Buddy Miles) 14."Going Down Slow" (James Oden), Fine Jug Thing (The Trip 1967 - Live)

Luanda Baldijão

"High quality ecletic mixtapes by Luanda Baldijão. Lounge, jazz & rare finds." - Tom-B. São Paulo, Brazil.
Mixtapes (Video)
Luanda Baldijão

Reggae Soundsystem 45: The Label Art of Reggae Singles: A Visual History of Jamaican Reggae 1959-1979

"The 45-rpm seven-inch single is at the heart of reggae music, the main vehicle by which reggae music has been communicated to the public by the deejays in the dancehalls of Kingston, and to its worldwide audience beyond. Ever since the birth of the Jamaican music industry, over 60 years ago, and through to the present day, these idiosyncratic label designs have helped illustrate, signify and energize the music they accompany. Reggae Soundsystem 45! features 1,000 stunning 45-rpm single designs, reproduced full size, that span the history of reggae music."
ARTBOOK
amazon

WFMU in the Moroccan Desert: Alchemy At Zahar Festival in April 18-21

"In a never-ending quest to dig out the subterranean sounds from all corners of the earth, WFMU has hooked in with the first-ever Alchemy At Zahar festival for what's sure to be a most amazing event in the Moroccan desert province of Zagora on April 18-21st. ... Ahwach N Tferkine (traditional group from the Souss-Massa Drâa Region, featuring a choir of twelve female singers and four male percussionists), Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble (experimental/film noir European combo), Lee Ranaldo (w/Leah Singer, and his band), Pelican (post-rock Chicago metal ensemble), Brothers Unconnected (Alan and Rick Bishop of Sun City Girls, also performing solo sets), Master Musicians of Bukkake (playing the Totem Trilogy), AND the legendary Master Musicians of Jajouka, ethno-prog West Coast stalwarts Secret Chiefs 3, Portuguese psych band Black Bombino, Tinariwin d'Mhamid (young Tinariwen covers band!), Abraxas, and more (full lineup/updates here). A dream lineup for both stations."
WFMU
Alchemy At Zahar (Video)
facebook: (Video)

INTI New Mural In Valparaíso, Chile

"After a massive mural in Paris, France last year (covered), INTI is now back in Chile where he just completed this new piece on the streets of Valparaíso. The Chilean artist delivers a brilliant new piece entitled 'Resistencia NO es Terrorismo' which is featuring one his signature colourful characters."
Street Art News
facebook (Video)

"A Sailor’s Life" - Fairport Convention

Square rigger Monkbarns
Wikipedia - "'A Sailor’s Life' is an English language folk song which describes the attempt of a young woman to find her lover, a sailor. Eventually she hears that he has drowned and mourns him. ... It is probably from one of these sources that the song was learnt by Sandy Denny who sang it in her solo career and then brought it to the band Fairport Convention, where with Dave Swarbrick on violin and Richard Thompson on guitar, it was released on the band's 1969 Unhalfbricking album. The eleven minute version, regarded as a pivotal step in the development of British folk-rock, was recorded in one take."
W - A Sailor's Life
W - Unhalfbricking
YouTube: A Sailor's Life - Fairport Convention, Who knows where the time goes, Percy's Song, Genesis Hall, Si tu dois partir, Autopsy, Cajun woman, Million Dollar Bash

Being Flynn

"Being Flynn is a 2012 American drama film starring Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore and Paul Dano, released in select theatres in the United States on March 2, 2012. ... The film follows the story of twenty-something Nick Flynn (Paul Dano), who hopes to be a writer. He has an absent father, Jonathan (Robert De Niro), who considers himself a great writer and who hasn't seen Nick in years. The movie deals centrally with this strained relationship, but also with Nick's remembrances of his childhood with his now-deceased mother, Jody (Julianne Moore), and interactions with friend/lover, Denise (Olivia Thirlby)."
Wikipedia
NYT: Long Trip From Skid Row to the Screen
Focus (Video)
YouTube: Being Flynn

Mark Ward

"Mark Ward does his best to underplay his track, but it’s a wonderfully glitchy bit of atmospheric play, and shouldn’t be missed. In his post, he mentions trimming it down (but it’s still over five minutes long), and he limits his description to the following: 'Electronic babble, guitar drones and stretched voices.' That doesn’t get to the way the pitter patter, pixel-thin, razor-sharp beats prick at the light, ethereal drone of haze that he’s created. Nor does it begin to touch on the track’s structure, the way a deep lull intrudes midway through, tricking the listener into a dark space by suggesting the newfound quiet initially as a luxurious pause, when in fact it’s a tonal shift that flirts with willful, if artful, discomfort."
disquiet (Video)
Flotsam and Jetsam (Video)
Soundcloud (Video)

Ann Hamilton - Gemini GEL

"Ann Hamilton’s work is founded on the idea of the line – both in its material form as thread, fiber, and hair; and its conceptual form in written and drawn communication. From this deceptively simple beginning point, she creates subtle and profound worlds and objects that stretch our understanding of contemporary life in a technological age and touch upon the deepest reaches of what it means to be human – in particular, our ability to relate to others, build meaningful relationships, and share ideas through communication."
art21: Ink | Full Circle
Gemini G.E.L.
PDF: ann hamilton at gemini g.e.l.: a survey of works 2000 - 2012

2007 November: Ann Hamilton
2009 September: Songs of Ascension - Meredith Monk and Ann Hamilton
2010 March: Ann Hamilton - 1
2010 December: Ann Hamilton: An Inventory of Objects
2011 January: stylus
2011 April: indigo blue
2011 December: Objects
2012 November: phora

Harry Smith: The Avant-Garde in the American Vernacular

"Based on a 2001 symposium at the Getty Research Institute, Harry Smith: The Avant-Garde in the American Vernacular surveys the artist’s influence on American film, music, and the visual arts. Featuring color reproductions of Smith’s images, as well as essays by scholars, friends, and colleagues, the book explores the life of the 20th-century Renaissance man best known for his definitive Anthology of American Folk Music — a six-record compilation of commercial songs from 1926-1932 that helped facilitate the folk revival of the ’60s. The multifaceted mystic also achieved cult-hero status in the world of cinema for his experimental films, and received critical praise for his rare, freeform abstract paintings."
FLAVORWIRE
Mondo Blogo (Video)
Harry Smith Archives
amazon: Harry Smith: The Avant-Garde in the American Vernacular

2009 March: The Old, Weird America
2010 October: Harry Smith

The Lady of the Lake

Wikipedia - "The Lady of the Lake, Lady of Avalon, is the title name of the ruler of Avalon in the Arthurian legend. There are several related characters in the role which include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father. Different writers and copyists give her name variously as Nimue, Viviane, Elaine, Niniane, Nivian, Nyneve, Evienne and other variations."
Wikipedia
King Arthur & The Knights of the Round Table

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Wikipedia - "Pier Paolo Pasolini (... March 5, 1922 – November 2, 1975) was an Italian film director, poet, writer and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure. He demonstrated a unique and extraordinary cultural versatility, becoming a highly controversial figure in the process. While his work remains controversial to this day, in the years since his death Pasolini has come to be valued by many as a visionary thinker and a major figure in Italian literature and art."
Wikipedia
Pier Paolo Pasolini
mubi
The life and death of Pier Paolo Pasolini
The Criterion Collection
MoMA/PS1
Criterion: Trilogy of Life (Video)
YouTube: Pier Paolo Pasolini - The Filmmaker - Documentary (1/3), Documentary (2/3), Documentary (3/3)

Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers

Wikipedia - "Rex Garvin (b. circa 1937) is an American former R&B singer, songwriter, keyboard player and arranger. His writing credits include the 1957 US chart hit 'Over The Mountain, Across The Sea', by Johnnie and Joe, and his own 1966 recording 'Sock It To 'Em J.B.', later recorded by The Specials."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Sock it To'em JB - Part 1, Part 2, Emulsified, Believe It Or Not, You don't need no help, Raw Funky, Queen Of The Go-Go, Funky Broadway

Encyclopedia of the New York School Poets

"This ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK SCHOOL POETS—written and compiled by Terence Diggory — is my new (or one of) favorite book(s). Yes it's an expensive hardcover reference book, that could also be used as a textbook, part of the FACTS ON FILE LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE series. But it's also one of the best alphabet lists I've ever encountered (and as anyone who has read this blog for more than a few days knows, I love alphabet lists). And I find it totally engaging and—despite my widespread experience in this scene and connections with many involved in it as well as my deep reading of most of the works referred to in it — enlightening."
Lally's Alley
amazon
Google - Encyclopedia of the New York School Poets

TNIW [That Night In Williamsburg]

"Picture Made by Supralude (Shot with my Canon 5D mkII, edited and post produced with After Effects). Sound Made By Near Deaf Experience [Remix of Nine Inch Nails' 21 Ghosts].
"
vimeo: TNIW [That Night In Williamsburg]

WNET/Thirteen Experimental TV Lab

"... Before the Internet, questions about how to unleash the possibilities of new technology promising high definition images and/or multi-channel delivery, and about how to use the medium to innovate and bring new voices and new audiences to public television were asked — and answered spectacularly by the TV lab. The TV LAB was an earlier "digital revolution," though few called it that; it stirred innovation in public television because television engineers and artists invented synthesizers to manipulate the video signal and used the new digital time- base correcters to put portable small format video on the air. This first digital revolution nurtured video art, created reality television made with half-inch portable video equipment, and offered fresh local and global perspectives from new voices, whose influences are still felt."
WNET/Thirteen Experimental TV Lab (Video)
TV LAB: License to Create
Nam June Paik and the TV LAB -- License to Create (YouTube)
YouTube: TV LAB documentary trailer
vimeo: TV LAB Interview Excerpts