Merlin James

"... In recent years Merlin James has made paintings often on semi-transparent supports, and with picture frames that are integral to the work. These quasi-conventional frames, and the stretcher bar structures partly visible through them, may be fabricated from humble, seemingly salvaged materials, pressed into service as ‘fancy’, high-art objects. Extending James’s long-standing investigations into the nature of painting, the works continue to feature his particular erotic, topographic, architectural or abstract motifs – images that both function as elements in his aesthetic experiment and build to a poetic account of human experience."
Contemporary Art Daily
Sikkema Jenkins Co.
frieze
Art Critical

NEIL YOUNG Part 1 – Thoughts On An Artist / Three Compilations

"I don’t remember hearing Neil Young’s music much when I was growing up, although I was probably aware of some of his most popular songs like 'Southern Man' and 'Heart of Gold.' It wasn’t until I was 12 or 13 and began listening to rock radio stations (as opposed Neil Young Photo (circa 1968)to Top 40) that I started hearing his music more frequently. In 1979 you couldn’t go 30 minutes without hearing one of his new twin acoustic & electric songs, 'My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)' or 'Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black).' Even though I enjoyed them, it would be years until I owned any of his albums, remaining content to hear his songs occasionally on the radio. For some reason he’s never come close to being one of my favorite artists, yet I’ve liked him enough to accumulate 45 of his albums."
KamerTunesBlog (Video)

2008 February: Neil Young, 2010 April: Neil Young - 1, 2010 April: Neil Young - 2, 2010 May: Neil Young - 3, 2010 October: Neil Young's Sound, 2012 January: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History, 2012 June: Like A Hurricane, 2012 July: Greendale.

Mento

Wikipedia - "Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box — a large mbira in the shape of a box that can be sat on while played. The rhumba box carries the bass part of the music. Mento is often confused with calypso, a musical form from Trinidad and Tobago. Although the two share many similarities, they are separate and distinct musical forms. During the mid-20th century, mento was conflated with calypso, and mento was frequently referred to as calypso, kalypso and mento calypso; mento singers frequently used calypso songs and techniques. As in Calypso, Mento uses topical lyrics with a humorous slant, commenting on poverty and other social issues. Sexual innuendos are also common."
Wikipedia
Mento Music
YouTube: MENTO gave birth to Reggae, Early Theodore Miller-Mento Music, Authentic Mento Band, Count Owen and his Calypsonians - Melody D'amour, Walk & Talk - Bedasse w. Calypso Quintet, Honeymoon - Bedasse with Local Calypso Quintet, Lord Power - Penny Reel, Rum & Coconut Water - Hubert Porter and The Jamaican Calypsonians

Saving Basquiat: Seeing the Art Through the Myth-Making at Gagosian

"With over 50 paintings, 'museum-quality' is probably the term you'd use to describe Gagosian’s Jean-Michel Basquiat show, which has been drawing rock-star crowds to West 24th street since it opened. But really, it might be better to call it 'warehouse-quality.' The show is overwhelming and difficult to write about, partly because there doesn’t seem to be any idea behind it at all; the works are hung neither by chronology nor by theme. They are merely a spectacularly impressive collection of largish Basquiats from a number of private collections. In this way, the show replicates the tragedy of this artist’s short and chaotic life, where the feverish buzz of celebrity came to overpower any assessment of the works as individual objects."
Blouin Art Info
Gagosian: the works

2009 August: Jean-Michel Basquiat

Frida Kahlo’s Wardrobe unlocked and on display after nearly 60 years

"When she died, her husband Diego Rivera ordered her clothes be locked up for 15 years. When Diego passed three years later, a philanthropist, art collector and old friend of the couple, Dolores Olmedo became the manager of their houses. She kept all of Kahlo’s belongings secretly guarded under lock and key for decades until she too passed away in 2004 and the fashion time capsule of an icon; a treasure chest, was finally unlocked. Defiantly beautiful, tenacious, and veracious, Frida Kahlo was and still is one of the most revolutionary and influential women in modern culture. The Mexican artist, known for her surreal self-portraits, emblematic of her indigenous Mexican culture, her great love for her husband and her tragic disability, are still celebrated in exhibitions and retrospectives around the world."
messy nessy chic (Video)
W - Frida Kahlo Museum
Frida Kahlo's Fashionable Wardrobe Open To The World Through ‘Appearances Can Be Deceiving' Exhibition (Video)

2008 April: Frida Kahlo
2008 May: Diego Rivera

Evoca1 New Mural In Río San Juan, Dominican Republic

"Miami-based Evoca1 recently stopped by Dominican Republic where he dropped this gorgeous new mural somewhere on the streets of Río San Juan, a municipality in the María Trinidad Sánchez province. The Dominican painter tries to merge art and humanity together. He started the ‘Sketches for Mankind‘ project to raise awareness of local and world wide issues through his art, all while raising funds to aid the needs of the homeless community in Miami. Check back with us soon for more by Evoca1..."
StreetArtNews

Mapping Manhattan

"'New York blends the gift of privacy with the excitement of participation … so that every event is, in a sense, optional, and the inhabitant is in the happy position of being able to choose his spectacle and so conserve his soul,' E. B. White memorably wrote in his 1949 masterpiece Here Is New York. And indeed what a canvas of glorious shared eclecticism Gotham is — city of cats and city of dogs, city of beloved public spaces and beloved secret places, of meticulous order and sparkling chaos, but above all a city of private memories woven together into one shared tapestry of belonging. Maps, meanwhile, have long held unparalleled storytelling power as tools of propaganda, imagination, obsession, and timekeeping."
brain pickings
Map Your Memories
NYT: Manhattan of the Mind
amazon

"Love Is a Beautiful Thing" - Al Green

Wikipedia - "Seth Swirsky wrote 'Love Is a Beautiful Thing,' which was recorded by Al Green for his 1995 album Your Heart's in Good Hands. The song also appears on his 2002 Love, The Essential Al Green Greatest Hits Collection. It was Green's last charted single (#56 in the UK)."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Love is a Beautiful Thing

2011 April: Al Green

The Story Of The Turban

"The Story Of The Turban is a documentary by BBC Television which traces down the history of the turban in the Sikh religion. It shows how the British Sikhs fought for its freedom, for its existence, for wearing it without fear. In September 2011, Sikhs from all over Britain gathered in Parliament Square to protest. The focus of their concern was the turban. Since the terrorist attacks of the 21st century Sikhs believe their turbans have singled them out for discrimination. In a case of mistaken identity the Sikhs claim they’ve been wrongly regarded as religious terrorists and subjected to increased airport security searches."
punjabiportal
YouTube: The Story of the Turban

Ben Durham - Text Portraits

"Ben Durham’s drawings are currently on view at the Nicole Klagsburn Gallery through February 19th. All images have been graciousely provided courtesy the Nicole Klagsburn Gallery. The subjects of Ben Durham’s portraits are friends, classmates and acquaintances from his childhood in Lexington, Kentucky. In a ritualistic daily process, the artist combs the Lexington police reports for familiar names and faces, collecting their mug shots and arrest records. Ranging from petty theft to violent crime, these records represent the climax of a troubled past. Drawn on thick handmade paper, the Text Portraits are comprised of Durham’s memories of the subject, resulting in an eerily accurate picture composed entirely of text."
Glasschord
art21 - Inside the Artist's Studio: Ben Durham
Smithsonian Institution: Text Portraits

Reno and Smiley

Wikipedia - "Reno and Smiley were a musical duo composed of Don Reno and Red Smiley. They were one of the most acclaimed duos in country (now bluegrass) music of the 1950s and early 1960s. ... They met in 1950 while playing with Tommy Magness and the Tennessee Buddies. During this time period, they played frequently at different venues such as the El-Tenedore Skating Rink in southern Virginia. The first records that Don and Red made together were with Tommy Magness in 1951 for Federal Records, a subsidiary of King Records."
Wikipedia
W - Don Reno
W - Red Smiley
YouTube: Love Please Come Home, I'm Using My Bible For A Roadmap, 1957 Earliest Known Footage, There`s Another Baby Waiting For Me Down The Line, Down Yonder, I´m Talk Of The Town, I Know You're Married But I Love You Still, Some Beautiful Day, I Wouldn't Change You If I Could, Tell Me Why My Daddy Don't Come Home, Get behind me Satan

Who Is the Dandy Man? The Congo Subculture Uncovered

"When you think of silk handkerchiefs, pink corduroys, tweed and double-breasted tailoring, would you associate such a style of dress with some of the poorest slums of Africa? What you’re looking at is the phenomenon of Sapeurs, a subculture of extraordinarily dressed dandies from the Congo. In the midst of their war-torn slums, these men dress in tailored suits, elegantly smoke on their pipes and stroll the impoverished streets in immaculate footwear. Dandyism or sapologie in this case, is not a fashion trend. In some of the farthest corners of the earth where true dandyism exists, it serves as something closer to a religion; a code of living."
messy nessy chic (Video)
Les Sapeurs: Gentlemen Of The Congo
YouTube: Gentlemen of Bacongo by Daniele Tamagni

Street of the Iron Po(e)t - Henri Cole

"My little apartment in the Latin Quarter is on the Street of the Iron Pot (rue Pot de Fer), which I’ve renamed Street of the Iron Poet. I had to clean for many days before I felt comfortable, but now it is home, and I am searching for a tea kettle and a toilet seat. My neighborhood on Montagne Ste.-Geneviève—a hill on the Left Bank of the Seine in the Fifth Arrondissement—is full of students, bookshops, bars, and cinemas, and has the feel of a village."
New Yorker: Street of the Iron Po(e)t - Henri Cole, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI

Disquiet Junto Project 0065: Piano Overlay

"Every Disquiet Junto project is about restraint, and yet every Disquiet Junto project is also about risk. Specifically, it’s about musicians taking the risk of sharing work that might not fit their overall impression of their own musical approach, and it’s about musicians taking the risk of sharing work that might not feel complete, given the nature of the given assignment and of the tight deadline. But the Junto is a risk from a broader vantage, too; in my role as administer of the group, I occasionally take risks by challenging my philosophical sense of the group’s defining characteristics."
disquiet (Video)

Deep Ellum Blues (1985)

Honest Joe's Pawn Shop, Deep Ellum, 1959.
"Deep Ellum is a place -- a part of Dallas, Texas. Deep Ellum, along with its legendary music scene built by the likes of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Lead Belly, and Bill Neely, all but disappeared with the construction of Central Expressway in the 1950s. This film is one of three short films in the Living Texas Blues series which explores the 1920's and 1930's night life in Dallas through the music of Bill Neely."
folkstreams (Video)
Southern Spaces (Video)
Classic Americana: Deep Ellum Blues
"... At the time, you could find gun and locksmith shops, clothing stores, the Cotton Club, tattoo studios, barber-shops, pawn shops, drugstores, tea rooms, loan offices, domino halls, pool halls, and walk-up hotels. On its sidewalks you could find pigeon droppers, reefer men, craps shooters, card sharps, and sellers of cocaine and marijuana."
W - Deep Ellum, Dallas

Polaroid Mosaics By Maurizio Galimberti

"Marurizio Galimberti is an Italian born photographer who creates abstract mosaic portraits with Polaroid film. By shooting and arranging the Polaroid’s into grids, Galimberti’s subjects become abstract, giving the viewer a multiple dimensional perspective of each subject."
FS (vimeo)
yellowtrace
Maurizio Galimberti
Dillon Gallery
YouTube: Maurizio Galimberti featuring Sveva Alviti, polaroiders @ Sarezzo 2011: pola art attack!

Brian Keane & Omar Faruk Tekbilek - Beyond the Sky

"Reuniting the innovative duo of Brian Keane with Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Beyond the Sky comes across as an even more adventurous excursion than their two earlier recordings, Suleyman the Magnificent and Fire Dance. The listener is transported to exotic regions of the Mediterranean, including Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa....Amidst the Middle Eastern harmonies, the listener catches whiffs of Moroccan and even Afro-Cuban or South American styles, in a unique marriage of musical cultures."
allmusic
amazon
YouTube: Kolaymi, Chargah Sirto, Selemet, Beyond The Sky, Your Love Is My Cure, Bridge

Pet Shop Boys - Pandemonium Tour

"Pandemonium: Live at the O2 Arena, London, 21st December 2009, commonly referred to as simple Pandemonium, is a live album by English electronic duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 15 February 2010 as a CD/DVD combo. As indicated in its title, it is a recording of a live concert at The O2 Arena in London on 21 December 2009, as part of the duo's Pandemonium Tour."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Pandemonium Tour 1:38:13

Zarina: Paper Like Skin

"Zarina: Paper Like Skin is the first retrospective of the Indian-born American artist. Born in the northern Indian city of Aligarh, in 1937, Zarina Hashmi, who prefers to identify by her first name, has spent the majority of her life outside of her native country. Her largely abstract aesthetic is woven together with an acute political consciousness, originating in early recollections of Indian Independence and the 1947 partition demarcating the border between India and Pakistan, which resulted in the violent displacement and deaths of millions of people. Zarina’s oeuvre explores themes of diaspora, nostalgia, and memory."
Guggenheim
NYT: Reveling in the Multicultural Possibilities of Paper
Hammer (Video)

Movement In Light: The Cinema Of Man Ray

"Man Ray was a multimedia artist best known for his portrait photography, yet despite his fame an often overlooked aspect of his work is his successful and progressive role as a filmmaker. Man Ray made a significant contribution to the cinema of the 1920s during rapid developments towards the establishment of art film. He transferred his pioneering methods in photography to the moving image and despite his sometimes diffident attitude toward filmmaking, his four main films remain influential and explore the artists' lasting preoccupations with light, the kinetic, and the object. The result is a body of work that is technically innovative and visually striking."
The Quietus (Video)

2008 December: Man Ray

The Novels of Renata Adler

Gary Indiana - "Renata Adler's newly reissued novels, Speedboat (1976) and Pitch Dark (1983), consist of anecdotes, vignettes, jokes, aphorisms, epigrammatic asides, and longer passages of prose—eclectic inventories of consciousness. Their immediate effect is that of a flea market in Samarqand or Ouagadougou, where the items on display (vintage clothes, military decorations, photo albums, broken appliances) are fractionally different enough, in style and provenance, from their cousins at the local swap meet to look like artifacts of an alternate universe. Adler’s eye and ear for the peculiar are unmatched in American letters. Adler herself is regarded as peculiar in literary circles; her reluctance to publish anything is almost as legendary as Fran Lebowitz’s writing block."
Bookforum
New Yorker: Welcome Back, Renata Adler
New Old Works by Renata Adler
The Believer

2012 September: Renata Adler

Banshee

Banshee (1897 painting)
Wikipedia - "The banshee .., from Irish: bean sí ('woman of the sídhe' or 'woman of the fairy mounds') is a female spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. In legend, a banshee is a fairy woman who begins to wail if someone is about to die. In Scottish Gaelic mythology she is known as the bean sìth or bean-nighe and is seen washing the blood-stained clothes or armour of those who are about to die. Alleged sightings of banshees have been reported as recently as 1948. Similar beings are also found in Welsh, Norse and American folklore."
Wikipedia

Barbara Nessim

"... Internationally-renowned artist, illustrator and educator Barbara Nessim has been a vital contributor and influential trendsetter in the art world over the past several decades. With an extensive resume of accomplishments and a portfolio of work that go beyond one's ability to mention, Barbara has always been visionary in her thinking, and unprecedented in her creativity. Inspired by her mother, a clothing designer, Barbara put herself through college by supporting herself as a freelance fashion illustrator in the Garment Center."
Barbara Nessim
W - Barbara Nessim
Guardian: Barbara Nessim at the V&A - in pictures
NYT: Illustrating Her Own Narrative
vimeo: Barbara Nessim: An Artful Life

Sly & Robbie Taxi Connection live 1986

"Sly & Robbie Taxi Connection live 1986 with Ini Kamoze, Half Pint and Yellowman. Live on The Tube in the UK 1986."
YouTube: Sly & Robbie Taxi Connection live 1986
amazon

Golden Age of Science Fiction

Wikipedia - "The first Golden Age of Science Fiction — often recognized as the period from the 1938 to 1946 — was an era during which the science fiction genre gained wide public attention and many classic science fiction stories were published. In the history of science fiction, the Golden Age follows the 'pulp era' of the 1920s and 30s, and precedes New Wave science fiction of the 1960s and 70s. The 1950s are a transitional period in this scheme; however, Robert Silverberg, who came of age in the 1950s, saw that decade as the true Golden Age."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Isaac Asimov Recalls the Golden Age of Science Fiction (1937-1950), The Golden Age Of Science Fiction -- Jive Aces

Acts of Voicing: On the Poetics and Politics of the Voice

Tim Etchells: "Void Story", 2012
"... Acts of Voicing deals with the aesthetic, performative, and political significance of the voice from the vantage point of visual art, dance, performance, and theory. The exhibition centers on the agency and performativity of the voice. The aim is to examine the resistive the disciplined, and the disciplining voice—those voices that are heard and others that are not. Fighting to have one’s voice heard is as much of a topic as the power to silence someone or to force them to speak."
e-flux
Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart
Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart: Press Pictures
frieze
YouTube: [1973] "Not I" (Samuel Beckett)

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

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

Wikipedia - "The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. It was also the second deadliest disaster in New York City – after the burning of the General Slocum on June 15, 1904 – until the destruction of the World Trade Center 90 years later. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged sixteen to twenty-three; of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was Providenza Panno at 43, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and 'Sara' Rosaria Maltese."
Wikipedia
The 1911 Triangle Waist Factory
NYT: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911)
PBS - Photo Essay: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
YouTube: The Triangle Fire

Oskido

"The son of a Zimbabwean politician and born in the Oukasie township (near Brits, South Africa) in 1967, little Oscar was schooled in his father's home country (Rhodesia at the time), only returning to SA in 1987. The early 90's found him selling boerewors sausage rolls outside the Razzmatazz nightclub in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, sneaking his way inside the club to spin the closing sessions and slowing down American house tracks to a tempo that 'Africans could dance to'. One night, the resident DJ didn't pitch up... and the rest is history."
RA
YouTube: Oskido presents Black Motion ft Jah Rich "Banane Mavoko", Dj Fisherman ft Dr Malinga, Oskido, Mampintsha, Danger, & Dj Tira "izinja sondela", Oskido ft Candy & Mabhiza "Tsa Mandebele, Professor " Jezebel " ft. Oskido, Dr Malinga ft Oskido " Jika "

Little Johnny Taylor

Wikipedia - "Little Johnny Taylor (born Johnny Lamont Merrett; February 11, 1943 – May 17, 2002) was an American blues and soul singer, who made recordings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and continued public performances through the 1980s and 1990s. Born in Gregory, Arkansas, United States, he is frequently confused with his contemporary and near namesake Johnnie Taylor, especially since the latter made a cover version of the song that Little Johnny Taylor was most famous for, 'Part Time Love' (1963), and the fact that both men began their careers as gospel singers."
Wikipedia
amazon: Little Johnny Taylor
YouTube: Somewhere Down The Line, Everybody Knows About My Good Thing, Pt. 1 & 2, I Smell Trouble, ZIG ZAG LIGHTNING, You'll Need Another Favor

Rap Lyrics Become Street Poetry. For Reals.

"How’s this for the realness; remember when Q-Tip rapped, 'Street poetry is my everyday'? Well you can thank street artist Jay Shells for taking that sentiment to its logical conclusion with his series of so-simple yet so-fresh street signs featuring rap lyrics at their specific geographic locations. More than 30 in all, the rap quotables by Jay-Z, Nice & Smooth, Mos Def and more were captured by ANIMAL in all their lyrical glory. This is right up our alley."
egotripland (Video)

Gardner Museum Heist Case Might Crack

"Twenty-three years ago this week, two thieves walked into Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and made off with thirteen works of art valued at a half-billion dollars, including paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Manet, and sketches by Degas. The FBI calls it the largest property heist in history, and it remains officially unsolved. But the agency used the anniversary to announce developments in the case."
Studio360
amazon - The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
WSJ: Clearer Picture of Art Heist (Video)
W - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The Meters

Wikipediav - "The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977. The band played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists, including Lee Dorsey, Robert Palmer, and Dr John. While The Meters rarely enjoyed significant mainstream success, they are considered, along with artists like James Brown, one of the progenitors of funk music and their work is highly influential on many other bands, both their contemporaries and modern musicians working in the funk idiom."
Wikipedia
amazon: The Meters
YouTube: Live 1974 - Look-Ka Py Py / Jungle Man, Ain't No Use, Chicken Strut, Cissy Strut, Hey Pocky A-way, Funkify Your Life

Pina Bausch - "The Seven Deadly Sins"

"The Dance Session is strictly speaking not the session of dance. 'The Seven Deadly Sins' by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht and her dance company have come up with the most destructive show one could have ever imagined to see on the German stage. It goes without saying they are doing this quite consciously. This show is not only absolutely unpretentious in terms of scale or humor. It totally lacks any outward luster. This performance is poor, infinitely sad and yet charged with enormous energy… In contrast with Brecht who spoke about seven mortal sins, Pina Bausch focuses on one – renting out female flesh. It is by no means limited to the all too old theme of a woman’s degradation to a sellable pleasure article that can be obtained through fluttery or by force. Neither has it anything to do with emancipation. - Die Welt, June 18, 1976"
"The Seven Deadly Sins" by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht
Tanztheater Wuppertal - Die sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins)
NYT: "The Seven Deadly Sins" and "Don't Be Afraid"
W - The Seven Deadly Sins (ballet chanté)
[PDF] Brechtian Traces in Pina Bausch's Choreographic and Cinematic Work
blip: Dance Not Dance: Pina Bausch (Video)

2008 May: Pina Bausch
2009 June: Pina Bausch 1940-2009
2012 August: Pina Bausch Costumes

Outsider Art

Wikipedia - "The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut, 'raw art' or 'rough art'), a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by those on the outsides of the established art scene such as insane-asylum inmates and children. While Dubuffet's term is quite specific, the English term 'outsider art' is often applied more broadly, to include certain self-taught or naïve art makers who were never institutionalized."
Wikipedia
What is Outsider Art?
NYT: Feeling Right at Home on the Fringe
Philadelphia Museum of Art
YouTube: The Outsider Art Fair 2012

Spalding Gray (Monologue) "A Personal History of the American Theatre"

"Spalding has all his early summer stockplays, and experimental works on large cards, shuffled. He chooses one at a time and tells an associated story. Very low key and Excellent! ... jb. Alive From Off Center."
Spalding Gray
UbuWeb (Video)

2011 November: Spalding Gray

The Path of Nature: French Paintings from the Wheelock Whitney Collection, 1785–1850

"In 2003 the Metropolitan Museum acquired a significant group of paintings spanning a key period in European history, beginning with the advent of the French Revolution and concluding with the reign of Louis-Philippe. ... The Whitney collection is remarkable for its concentration of plein-air oil studies by artists ranging from Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes to Camille Corot. This is complemented by a strong representation of finished landscapes, history subjects, genre, and portraiture: in short, the full scope of painting that one could expect to find in a Parisian cabinet d'amateur, or private collection, in the first half of the nineteenth century."
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Video)
NYT: The Great Outdoors

Robert Burley

"As an artist working in photography, Robert Burley has sought to describe and interpret the built environment in which he lives. Burley’s photographs have been extensively published and exhibited, and can be found in numerous museum collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Musée de l’Elysée, George Eastman House–International Museum of Photography and Film, Canadian Centre for Architecture, and the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal."
Robert Burley
The Disappearance of Darkness (vimeo)
NYT: Picturing the End of Analog
amazon: Robert Burley
vimeo: The Disappearance of Darkness

R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders

Wikipedia - "R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders are an American retro string band playing songs from, and in the style of, the 1920s: old-time music, ragtime, 'evergreen' jazz standards, western swing, country blues, hokum, vaudeville and medicine show tunes. Their three 33⅓ rpm albums, all recorded in the 1970s on the Blue Goose label, were titled R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders (1974), R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders No. 2 (1976), and R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders No. 3 (1978); the latter two have been reissued on the Shanachie label as Chasin' Rainbows (No. 2) and Singing In the Bathtub (No. 3)."
Wikipedia
amazon: R.crumb And His Cheap Suit Serenaders
allmusic: The Cheap Suit Serenaders
YouTube: Cheap Suit Special, My Girl's Pussy, Fine Artiste Blues, Alabama Jubilee, I'm Gonna Get It, Hula Girl, She lived down by the Firehouse

Bruce Odland

"Bruce Odland — sonic thinker, composer, and sound artist — is known for his large scale, public space sound installations which transform city noise into harmony, real-time. In 2004 he and Sam Auinger (O+A) altered the harmonic mix of the World Financial Center Plaza using the moon, tides, harmonic tuning tubes, and cement loudspeakers ('Blue Moon'). Together they have changed the sonic character of man public spaces around the world. His many collaborations include work with Laurie Anderson, Dan Graham, Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn, Peter Sellars, Joanne Akailitis, Robert Woodruff, Tony Oursler, Peter Erskine, and the Wooster Group. He has contributed ideas and energy to projects in theatre, film, dance, public art, festivals, radio, and museums."
Bruce Odland
vimeo: Bruce Odland
Soundcloud: bruceodland (Video)
kickstarter: SAVE THE TANK (Video)

Ebo Taylor - "Ayesama"

"The music video for 'Ayesama' takes us to Ebo Taylor’s homeland of Saltpond, Ghana. Ghanaians, young and old, cooking, dancing, and going about their daily business give a comforting feel of Taylor’s town. And is the perfect visual to the afrobeat and highlife treasure that is Appia Kwa Bridge, which is out now!
YouTube: Ayesama

2011 August: Ebo Taylor

The Celluloid Records Story

"The story of Celluloid Records is a complicated one, and one that goes deeper than the music. Vivien Goldman did a fantastic job of outlining some of the label's history and context in her liner notes for Change The Beat, and now we have the pleasure of learning even more from some of the key players in the label's storied history. Filmed in Paris and New York City, this two part series features producers and musicians Bill Laswell and DXT (formerly Grand Mixer DST) and founder / owner Jean Karakos. Part two in the series will be posted shortly."
strut (YouTube) The Celluloid Records Story
Test Pressing
Change The Beat – The Celluloid Records Story (YouTube)

2010 June: Celluloid Records

March Madness 2013

"Hate 'em or love 'em, these are the storylines to track. As much as we'd love to let the games decide the storylines, that's never the case. Most results can and should and will dictate the things you read and what you react to, but before we tip off with the 64 squads in place, there are a few awesome angles to consider. Let's list them out. And I'm sparing all the possible second- and third-weekend match ups, because while Kansas-VCU meeting again would be fun to see, it's far from a guarantee. So let's not get ahead of ourselves. Over the next five days, here will be the on-the-surface talking points. And then the games will give us another two dozen to consider. That's the best part!"
CBS: The biggest and best storylines unfolding with the tourney
BR: 25 Greatest Moments in NCAA Tournament History
Grantland: The Most Hated College Basketball Players of the Last 30 Years

CBS
ESPN
Bleacher Report
SI
Wikipedia

I Am The Walrus Time - Stretched

"‘I Am The Walrus’ is one of The Beatles’ crappier songs. But time-stretched and slowed-down by 800%, it becomes something eerie, ambient and very much Sigur Rós-esque. Set to the 1960s cult short film Vertige by Jean Beaudin. Described by Dangerous Minds as 'a mix of LSD imagery, candy-colored sets, go go dancing, Vietnam war and horror movie stills and clips'."
vimeo: Walrus
YouTube:Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles 800% Slower, The Long and Winding Road, The Fool On The Hill, Yesterday

14th Street (IND Sixth Avenue Line)

Wikipedia - "14th Street is a local station on the IND Sixth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan, it is served by the F train at all times, and by the M train on weekdays. This underground station opened on December 15, 1940 along with the rest of the IND Sixth Avenue Line from West Fourth Street – Washington Square to 47th–50th Streets – Rockefeller Center. Free transfers are available to Sixth Avenue on the BMT Canarsie Line (L train), which is directly underneath the extreme south end of this station, and a walkway from the Canarsie platform provides a transfer to 14th Street on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line (1, 2 and 3 trains)."
Wikipedia
14 Street/IND 6 Avenue Line

Blues for Smoke

"Blues for Smoke is an interdisciplinary exhibition that explores a wide range of contemporary art through the lens of the blues and blues aesthetics. Turning to the blues not simply as a musical category but as a field of artistic sensibilities and cultural idioms, the exhibition features works by over forty artists from the 1950s to the present, as well as materials culled from music and popular entertainment."
Whitney
Whitney: Images
Whitney: Video
NYT - Mood Indigo: A Playlist for the Mind
GalleristNY
Blues for Smoke, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Murray the K

Wikipedia - "Murray Kaufman (February 14, 1922 – February 21, 1982), professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. During the early days of Beatlemania, he frequently referred to himself as the fifth Beatle. ... Murray the K reached his peak of popularity in the mid-1960s when, as the top-rated radio host in New York City, he became an early and ardent supporter and friend of The Beatles. When the Beatles came to New York on February 7, 1964, Murray was the first DJ they welcomed into their circle, having heard about him and his Brooklyn Fox shows from American groups such as the Ronettes (sisters Ronnie and Estelle Bennett, and their first cousin, Nedra Talley), also known as Murray's 'dancing girls'."
Wikipedia
Murray the K
The Murray the K Collection

Under An Alias

"Under An Alias is the new big fairytale of nerdworking, a digital historical expression. This time our story takes place in a small German town; Weimar. The effect of a small town with the population of 65,000 people on the world concerns all of us, a city where the majority of its income is from culture. Weimar is a meeting and creation point for eminent intellectuals of our current times. This town, where Goethe wrote his masterpieces, where the music of Franz Liszt could be heard. This is where its republic of Germany was founded in 1919, whose legacy was subsequently marred by the establishment of a Nazi concentration camp in 1937. Weimar, a city that currently merges art and architecture in Bauhaus university, has many untold stories."
vimeo: Under An Alias

Charles Dellschau

"... It turns out that the drawings/watercolors were the work of one Charles August Albert Dellschau (1830 - 1923). Dellschau was a butcher for most of his life and only after his retirement in 1899 did he begin his incredible career as a self-taught artist. He began with three books entitled Recollections which purported to describe a secret organization called the Sonora Aero Club. Dellschau described his duties in the club as that of the draftsman. Within his collaged watercolors were newspaper clippings (he called them 'press blooms') of early attempts at flight overlapped with his own fantastic drawings of airships of all kind."
Design Observer
Wikipedia
Charles Dellschau - Images
ART BRUT

Nina Katchadourian

World Map Scandinavia
"I made this map in college in response to an assignment, and it marks the beginning of my work with maps. Using a blade, I took apart a paper map, moving pieces over to a large piece of paper which I watercolored the same blue as the ocean in the original map. Gradually, the world was reconfigured. I often reconstructed words using presstype in places where the names of countries had gotten truncated. There were switches based on historical or geopological factors (Western Europe inserted into West Africa); others were based on formal correspondences or quirks of the map itself. Australia and Alaska had the same green border color, for example, and fit perfectly together due to the distortion of scale that occurs towards the poles."
Nina Katchadourian: World Map
W - Nina Katchadourian
Nina Katchadourian: Sorted Books project
YouTube: Nina Katchadourian: "Seat Assignment"

Rare Live Footage Documents The Clash From Their Raw Debut to the Career-Defining London Calling

"For all their leftist political fervor, musical richness, and fiercely uncompromised delivery, The Clash still suffered accusations that they sold out when they signed what looked like a relatively lucrative deal with CBS records in 1977. Those charges came from grassroots fans and critics like Mark Perry, who wrote in his seminal British punk fanzine Sniffin’ Glue that 'Punk died the day The Clash signed to CBS'. ... If debut album The Clash was mostly raw, gritty punk rock with sprinklings of reggae, and the follow-up Give ‘Em Enough Rope a little too polished for some fans (at CBS’s insistence), the double album London Calling surely marks the band’s writing and recording apex. It tops so many critics’ 'top' lists that I hardly need say more about it to introduce the high-quality film above of a February 27, 1980 Paris show."
openculture (Video)