The Pina Bausch Sourcebook - The Making of Tanztheater

"Climenhaga's book...is not yet another omnibus volume, collecting essays from a symposium. It is a complex and excellent edited sourcebook that ties together traces of written memories which have been slumbering in archived magazines or newspapers - waiting to be woken up from a 30-year sleep. Ultimately, The Pina Bausch Sourcebook - The Making of Tanztheater is a source in itself and can be marked as a 'Survey of Remembering Tanztheater'. As a glance at ways of 'Remembering Dance', this book is an indispensable contribution to the (still to be broadened out) research literature on dance for every scholar and student working in the field of dance history and theory. It focuses on and highlights the roots, aesthetics and methods of the German Tanztheater as well as its followers from the 1960s until today. It is a also a source for the reader who seeks to deeply research, ask further questions and continue her or his own path of reflecting on the Wuppertaler Tanztheater and the dance as art form in general. - Theaterforschung"
amazon: The Pina Bausch Sourcebook - The Making of Tanztheater
Google: The Pina Bausch Sourcebook - The Making of Tanztheater

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

The Tears Of A Clown – A Classic That Nearly Never Was

"One Sunday afternoon last year, driving home from a gig the previous night in London, I was listening to the radio when ‘The Tears Of A Clown’ by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles came on. Taking into account that I’ve probably heard this track thousands of times in my life, I could never quite work out what the line in the middle eight was, directly before ‘I have to keep my sadness hid’. All of a sudden it was clear as day ‘just like Pagliacci did’! The same Pagliacci Alan Moore was referring to in the quote above from ‘Watchmen’. As any regular reader of the blog will know, Moore and ‘Watchmen’ have been the subject of a whole heap of pieces here, so Smokey wasn’t going to slip a ‘Pagliacci’ past me this time - Moore’s invocation of Pagliacci, whilst outlining the death of the book’s central character, The Comedian (narrated by the vigilante, Rorschach, who’s investigating the murder) is one of ‘Watchmen’s’ most powerful sequences."
GW (Video)
Rock Genius
W - The Tears Of A Clown
allmusic

Junior Murvin R.I.P.

"Best known for his all-time classic 'Police and Thieves,' Junior Murvin was gifted with a unique, feather-light falsetto that inspired some of Lee 'Scratch' Perry's most unearthly productions. Murvin wasn't exactly the most prolific reggae star of the late '70s, yet such is the stature of 'Police and Thieves' and its accompanying album of the same name that Murvin would still be a legend even if he'd never recorded another note. And, indeed, comparatively few listeners heard much of his sporadic subsequent work. Junior Murvin was born Murvin Junior Smith, likely in 1949 in Port Antonio, Jamaica. As a child, he sang along with records by Nat King Cole and Billy Eckstine, and (later on) soul singers like Sam Cooke, Ben E. King, and especially Curtis Mayfield, after whom his own falsetto was modeled. He began performing publicly as a youth after his family moved to Montego Bay. ..."
allmusic
W - Junior Murvin
YouTube: Police and thieves live 2004, The clash - Police and Thieves, Police & Thieves - ReggaeRiddimBox, Cool Out Son, Make it and set it, Make it and set it Dub, Rebellion [Dub Rebel], Cross Over, I'm In Love, Apartheid, Rescue the Children, Cross Over b/w Cross Over Dub (Ja Upsetter), Magic Touch, Closer Together 12' -1977
YouTube: Police & Thieves Full Album 38:48

André Eugène

"Eugène started out as a house builder, but influenced by the creative energy of his neighbourhood he started to learn traditional sculpting in wood. ‘There was always something happening in our neighbourhood with music, many sculptors and Vodou all around. This made me begin the life of an artist.’ Eugène’s work became increasingly influenced by contemporary Haitian artists such as Nasson and then started to collaborate with established Haitian artists, Mario Benjamin and Barbara Prezeau. Eugène fused the fetish effigy with an apocalyptic MTV futuristic vision. Much of his work is figurative using human skulls for heads and imbued with a bold sense of irony, sexuality and humour."
atis rezistans
Creative Caribbean Network
vimeo: Atis Rezistans: The Sculptors of Grand Rue
YouTube: Creating Art from Haiti's Rubble, Operation Mama Noelle - Toy Distribution at Haitian Artist Andre Eugene's Atelier

RSA Animate - Crises of Capitalism

"In this RSA Animate, celebrated academic David Harvey looks beyond capitalism towards a new social order. Can we find a more responsible, just, and humane economic system? The RSA is a 258 year-old charity devoted to creating social progress and spreading world-changing ideas. For more information about our research, RSA Animates, free events programme and 27,000 strong fellowship."
YouTube: Crises of Capitalism
RSA (Video)

Henry Cow - March & Erk Gah (Live Vevey 1976)

Wikipedia - "'Erk Gah' (later known as 'Hold to the Zero Burn, Imagine') is an extended song written and composed by Tim Hodgkinson in 1976 for the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. 'Erk Gah' was performed live by the band between 1976 and 1978, but was never recorded in the studio. Three live performances of 'Erk Gah' were later released in The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set (2009). In 1993, 15 years after Henry Cow split up, Hodgkinson recorded the composition under the title 'Hold to the Zero Burn, Imagine' and released it on his second solo album, Each in Our Own Thoughts (1994). 'Erk Gah' was the second of two 'epic' compositions Hodgkinson wrote for Henry Cow, the first being 'Living in the Heart of the Beast' (1974)."
Wikipedia
YouTube: March & Erk Gah (Live Vevey 1976)

The Scaffolding Saints of the Lower East Side

"If you walked around the East Village nowadays, or the Lower East Side (as it was called pre-gentrification), you’d probably find it almost impossible to imagine that the area was once a hotbed of artistic and revolutionary fervor. Most of today’s urbanscape is dominated by luxury condos, pricey restaurants and buildings on the verge of renovation. Tom Sanford and Graham Preston‘s latest project, 'Saints of the Lower East Side' (2012), remembers “when,” or more precisely marches out some of the progressive history of an area that has been mostly reduced to cool tshirts from a bygone era. For a few months, seven local cultural heroes (Martin Wong, Joey Ramone, Miguel Piñero, Ellen Stewart, Charlie Parker, Arthur Fellig and Allen Ginsberg) will remind passersby that history was made here and it was awesome."
Hyperallergic
Tom Sanford’s ‘Saints of the Lower East Side’

Ice Age art

Image of a reindeer bone
"Discover masterpieces from the last Ice Age drawn from across Europe in this groundbreaking show. Created by artists with modern minds like our own, this is a unique opportunity to see the world's oldest known sculptures, drawings and portraits. These exceptional pieces will be presented alongside modern works by Henry Moore, Mondrian and Matisse, illustrating the fundamental human desire to communicate and make art as a way of understanding ourselves and our place in the world. Ice Age art was created between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago and many of the pieces are made of mammoth ivory and reindeer antler."
British Museum (Video)
Guardian: Ice Age Art at the British Museum: 'Not even Leonardo surpassed this'
YouTube: Ice Age art

Tabu Ley Rochereau, king of Congolese rumba dies

"African superstar and king of Congolese rumba Tabu Ley Rochereau died on Saturday aged 76 in a hospital in Belgium, his family said. Tributes poured in for the singer-songwriter whose melodies touched generations across Africa, as his son-in-law said a state funeral would be held in Kinshasa, where Tabu Ley would also be buried. Tabu Ley, who had also been a politician, had never recovered from a stroke in 2008 and his situation deteriorated on Monday, said the son-in-law Jean-Claude Muissa. Born November 13, 1937 in a small village in the western Congolese province of Bandundu, Pascal Tabu Ley, also known as 'Rochereau', became the star of Congolese rumba in the 1960s."
Google
allmusic
RIP Tabu Ley Rochereau, "The Voice of Lightness" (Video)
YouTube: Mokolo Nakokufa, Sorozo, Muzina, Kaful Mayay, Pitié, Sarah

2009 June: Tabu Ley Rochereau

Society Is Nix: Gleeful Anarchy at the Dawn of the American Comic Strip 1895-1915

"The new large, gorgeous tome, Society Is Nix: Gleeful Anarchy at the Dawn of the American Comic Strip 1895-1915 (edited by Peter Maresca and designed by Philippe Ghelmetti), opens a window in time, raising and suggesting answers to that question with a cascading trove of re-discovered comics masterpieces so old they seem new again. When the roots of a popular art form take on new life, vital new art emerges — and with smart, elaborate books like Society Is Nix arriving at what may be the height of the current revival of the American newspaper comic strip, we just might be headed for a comics Renaissance."
TCJ

THE WHOLE EARTH: California and The Disappearance of The Outside

Öyvind Fahlström, Section of World Map - A Puzzle, 1973
"The exhibition and the conference The Whole Earth are dedicated to the story of the image of the 'blue planet' which has become one of the most influential images in history. The project takes its starting point in historical developments in California since the 1960s: using materials from cultural history and artistic works, the exhibition will critically explore the application of ecological-systemic concepts to society, politics, and aesthetics. The transformation of romantic and technophile ideas from the realm of counterculture and cybernetics led to concepts of the system and self-management in network capitalism that have a global impact today."
Artnews
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
e-flux - The Whole Earth: In Conversation with Diedrich Diederichsen and Anselm Franke
frieze
YouTube: Stewart Brand: The Whole Earth Man, From Counterculture to Cyberculture: The Legacy of the Whole Earth Catalog, Alex Slade - Artist presentation / The Whole Earth

2009 April: CoEvolution Quarterly, 2010 April: The Whole Earth Catalog

Hesitation Blues

Jelly Roll Morton
Wikipedia - "'Hesitation Blues' is a popular song adapted from a traditional tune. One version was published by Billy Smythe, Scott Middleton, and Art Gillham. Another was published by W.C. Handy as 'Hesitating Blues.' Because the tune is traditional, many artists have taken credit as writer, frequently adapting the lyrics of one of the two published versions. Adaptations of the lyrics vary widely, though typically the refrain is recognizably consistent. The song is a jug band standard and is also played as blues and sometimes as Western swing. The three men were involved in the music publishing business in St. Louis, Missouri. About 1914 they joined a band and went to Los Angeles. They passed their traveling time making up verses to a traditional tune. When they returned to St. Louis the trio went their separate ways. Art Gillham remained in St. Louis, Billy Smythe went to Louisville, Smythe's brother-in-law Scott Middleton went to Chicago. In 1915 Billy Smythe published their musings as 'Hesitation Blues' but not crediting Gillham."
Wikipedia
Hesitation Blues : Oh! Baby, Must I Hesitate?
YouTube: Jelly Roll Morton - Hesitation Blues, Rev. Gary Davis, Crying Sam Collins, Art Gillham, Jim Jackson, Al Bernard & The Goofus Five, Hot Tuna, Louis Armstrong, Jesse Fuller, Janis Joplin, Dave Van Ronk, Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel

Franck Duval

"Franck Duval (FKDL) was born February 2, 1963 in Paris, where he still lives today. He began to paint and draw in 1984, after a year of study at a school of fashion design (studio Berçot). For Besides, he taught himself. It tests several techniques, several media until 1997, during which he begins to stick all kinds of images accumulated over the years .... In 2000 he chanced upon a technique for bonding transparent tape: 'The Art Scotch' transparent tape and reuse the materials that they recycle paper in its own way. It takes a real pleasure to divert, deconstruct, break down, rip and tear. For this it uses much of magazines, newspapers, flyers and posters, it sticks, detach and reattach. Since 2006 and parallel to the tape art, a desire to display on the walls of the city grows to draw a series of silhouettes that dress collage of old magazines from the 20s to today and paint."
Art Battles (Video)
FKDL
vimeo: DOUCES RUES | Franck Duval / FKDL
YouTube: Exposition de FKDL à la Galerie New Heart City, FKDL colle au MONDE

Isa Genzken: Retrospective

Installation from Isa Genzken: Retrospective
"Isa Genzken (German, b. 1948) is arguably one of the most important and influential female artists of the past 30 years. This exhibition, the first comprehensive retrospective of her diverse body of work in an American museum, and the largest to date, encompasses Genzken’s work in all mediums over the past 40 years. Although a New York art audience might be familiar with Genzken’s more recent assemblage sculptures, the breadth of her achievement—which includes not only three-dimensional work but also paintings, photographs, collages, drawings, artist’s books, films, and public sculptures—is still largely unknown in this country. Many of the nearly 150 objects in the exhibition are on view in the United States for the first time."
MoMA
MoMA - Works, Isa Genzken in New York, Interviews (Video), Isa Genzken: Retrospective
New Yorker: Views from the Edge by Peter Schjeldahl
NYT: Assembling Brash Wholes From Scraps
W - Isa Genzken

Kathleen Hanna

Wikipedia - "Kathleen Hanna (born November 12, 1968) is an American musician, feminist activist, and punk zine writer. In the early- to mid-1990s she was the lead singer of Bikini Kill, before fronting Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 1998, Hanna released a solo album under the name Julie Ruin and since 2010 has been working on a project called the Julie Ruin. A documentary film about Hanna was made by Sini Anderson in 2010–2013. The film, The Punk Singer, premiered at SXSW in March 2013. Hanna used the film to announce her years-long battle with Lyme disease."
Wikipedia
Interview: Kathleen Hanna Never Expected to See The Punk Singer
kathleen's herstory - Le Tigre
Rolling Stone - Kathleen Hanna: 'I Didn't Want Men to Validate Me'
Musician & Feminist Activist (Video)
The Punk Singer (Video)
YouTube: The Julie Ruin

New York in Color

"New York in Color presents the best color photography of New York over the last century. From its iconic landmarks like Times Square and Coney Island to the visual poetry of its streets and skyline, New York presents an ever-changing visual collage best seen in color. Here, neon lights define the spirit of the night, a young Bob Dylan lingers in the snows of Greenwich Village, subway trains are rolling murals, and New Yorkers of every era become dramatic actors on the world’s greatest stage. Presenting work—much of it unknown—by major photographers, including such masters as André Kertész, William Klein, Helen Levitt, and Joel Meyerowitz, New York in Color is destined to be a classic photographic survey of the world’s most visually vibrant city."
Abrams
amazon
‘New York in Color’: the past gets a present tense

Skylar Wolf

"Native American Texas Slide Blues. He was born & raised in Huerfano, New Mexico. Now lives in Farmington, New Mexico."
YouTube: Devils Son, King Of Kings, All I Need, Shelter, Los Muertos, Me and Mia, Nama

Rushmore - Wes Anderson (1998)

Wikipedia - "Rushmore is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson about an eccentric teenager named Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), his friendship with rich industrialist Herman Blume (Bill Murray), and their mutual love for elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). The film was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson. The soundtrack was scored by regular Anderson collaborator Mark Mothersbaugh and features several songs by bands associated with the British Invasion of the 1960s. The movie helped launch the careers of Anderson and Schwartzman, while establishing a 'second career' for Murray as a respected actor of independent cinema."
Wikipedia
Roger Ebert
Guardian - My favourite film: Rushmore
RUSHMORE And The Style And Substance Of Wes Anderson
The Criterion Collection (Vimeo)
vimeo: Rushmore
YouTube: Criterion Trailer 65: Rushmore

Su Blackwell

"Su Blackwell graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2003. She makes intricate art-works from every-day objects, transforming clothes and books into fantastical three-dimensional forms. Using a scalpel she cuts and glues the pages of books to create miniature dioramas glowing with lights in wood and glass boxes, like Victorian relics found in a museum of intrigue. She finds her books – or rather lets them find her – by trawling through second-hand book shops. She always reads the book first and this in turn inspires the work. Some of the books that come into the artist’s possession sit on her shelf for months and months. The books themselves, their histories and stories, also interest her. They hold in their pages a record of their past events, as physical objects; their damage, such as frays and stains, makes our relationship with the contents immediate and visceral, and in turn tells another story."
Long and Ryle
Su Blackwell
vimeo: Recently Uploaded
vimeo: Su Blackwell

Pet Shop Boys - Leaving

"I know when enoughs enough
and youre leaving
youve had a lot of time to decide on your freedom
but I can still find some hope
to believe in love
Our love is dead
but the dead dont go away
They made us what we are
theyre with us every day"
YouTube: Leaving

2008 September: Pet Shop Boys, 2010 November: Pet Shop Boys - 1985-1989, 2011 January: Behaviour, 2011 May: Very, 2011 December: Bilingual, 2012 March: "Always on My Mind", 2012 August: Nightlife, 2012 September: "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes off You)", 2012 December: Release, 2013 March: Pandemonium Tour.

Everybody Loves William Burroughs: A photographic collection

William Burroughs  and Jack Kerouac. New York, 1953, Photo, Allen Ginsberg.
"Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs was photographed with some of the most notable names of the 20th century. Just look at some of the people he’s met. He’d have to have had one of the best 'Kevin Bacon Game' rankings of all time. If Burroughs were alive today, there would be a sub-reddit forum of people having their pictures taken with him. WSB was the Bill Murray of his day, wasn’t he?"
Dangerous Minds

The Problem is Civil Obedience - 1970. Howard Zinn

"I start from the supposition that the world is topsy-turvy, that things are all wrong, that the wrong people are in jail and the wrong people are out of jail, that the wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power, that the wealth is distributed in this country and the world in such a way as not simply to require small reform but to require a drastic reallocation of wealth. I start from the supposition that we don't have to say too much about this because all we have to do is think about the state of the world today and realize that things are all upside down. Daniel Berrigan is in jail-A Catholic priest, a poet who opposes the war-and J. Edgar Hoover is free, you see. David Dellinger, who has opposed war ever since he was this high and who has used all of his energy and passion against it, is in danger of going to jail. The men who are responsible for the My Lai massacre are not on trial; they are in Washington serving various functions, primary and subordinate, that have to do with the unleashing of massacres, which surprise them when they occur."
The Problem is Civil Obedience - 1970
vimeo: Matt Damon reads from Howard Zinn's speech "The Problem is Civil Obedience" (November 1970)
YouTube: Frank Zappa, Howard Zinn, and Noam Chomsky on American Fascism (separate clips)

2010 January: Howard Zinn

Freddie King

"Guitarist Freddie King rode to fame in the early '60s with a spate of catchy instrumentals which became instant bandstand fodder for fellow bluesmen and white rock bands alike. Employing a more down-home (thumb and finger picks) approach to the B.B. King single-string style of playing, King enjoyed success on a variety of different record labels. Furthermore, he was one of the first bluesmen to employ a racially integrated group on-stage behind him. Influenced by Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, and Robert Jr. Lockwood, King went on to influence the likes of Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Lonnie Mack, among many others. Freddie King (who was originally billed as 'Freddy' early in his career) was born and raised in Gilmer, TX, where he learned how to play guitar as a child; his mother and uncle taught him the instrument."
allmusic
Wikipedia
YouTube: She Put a Whammy On Me, Look On Yonder Wall, Big Legged Woman, Let the Good Times Roll - Excerpt, Whole Lotta Lovin', Have You Ever Loved A Woman, Woke Up This Morning, She's a Burglar, The Things That I Used To Do, (Woman) Across The River, Ghetto Woman, Same Old Blues, Boogie Funk

Love Canal

Wikipedia - "Love Canal was a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, located in the LaSalle section of the city. It officially covers 36 square blocks in the far southeastern corner of the city, along 99th Street and Read Avenue. Two bodies of water define the northern and southern boundaries of the neighborhood: Bergholtz Creek to the north and the Niagara River one-quarter mile (400 m) to the south. In the mid-1970s Love Canal became the subject of national and international attention after it was revealed in the press that the site had formerly been used to bury 21,000 tons of toxic waste by Hooker Chemical (now Occidental Petroleum Corporation)."
Wikipedia
NYT: Love Canal and Its Mixed Legacy
NY Times: Love Canal: A Legacy of Doubt

Luigi Prina: The Ships That Sail Through The Clouds

"Every now and then it happens that ships are so light that they begin to sail through the clouds. Maybe you’ve seen it in a drawing, a movie or maybe even in a dream. We were more fortunate and we have managed to witness it with our own eyes. It was a private flight for us in the home of Luigi Prina. The ships are just there, waiting. Dozens of them, one beside another, hanging by a strand of nylon. They appear well behaved and disciplined, but underneath it all their impatience betrays their every little fibre. It just takes a person to walk past, a draft from the window or a word spoken a little louder than a whisper to make them jolt into action. They come to life and ripple as if pushed by invisible waves, but they are not in search of the ocean. It’s the bliss of the moment when the hand that holds them lets them go, free to fly high above the ground. They fly just above our heads, higher and higher every time. ..."
blinking city (Video)

No Business - Negativland (2005)

Wikipedia - "No Business is a 2005 album by the sound collage band Negativland. While the songs encompass a variety of topics, the overarching theme of the album is copyright issues, especially those pertaining to peer-to-peer file sharing. Although the title track and especially the track 'Downloading' are the only ones that explicitly relate to this topic, the rest of the album can technically be considered so, on account of the fact that they consist entirely of samples, unlike Negativland's other albums. The album is especially unique in Negativland's body of work because it is their first to not contain any original sounds by Negativland, but use exclusively 'stolen' sound. It does not come in a regular-sized CD case. Instead, it comes in a flip-open package about the size of a book covered with images of copyrighted characters (again referencing copyright issues.) The package contains the CD and two other items: Two Relationships to a Cultural Public Domain, a 49-page essay book pertaining to copyright law; and a yellow whoopie cushion with a black copyright symbol on it, referencing the band's motto-of-sorts 'N©!'."
Wikipedia
[PDF] Just Say No: Negativland's No Business
[PDF] It's All In Your Head
April 24, 2006: Negativland
YouTube: No Business, Gimme The Mermaid, Downloading, Favorite Things

2009 March: Negativland, 2012 January: Negativland (sound collage), 2012 December: No Other Possibility (1989).

John Cazale

Wikipedia - "John Holland Cazale (/kəˈzeɪl/; Italian pronunciation: [kaˈdzaːle]; August 12, 1935 – March 12, 1978) was an American actor. During his six-year film career, he appeared in five films, each of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. He also appeared in archival footage in The Godfather III, which also was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. He is the only actor to have this multi-film distinction. From his start as an acclaimed theater actor, he became one of Hollywood's premier character actors, starting with his role as Fredo Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's film The Godfather. 'Cazale broke hearts on screen with portrayals of volatile, vulnerable, vacillating men, including Pacino's tragic bank-robbing partner in Dog Day Afternoon,' wrote David Germain of the Associated Press. Cazale is described as an actor 'whose intense face is known to just about any serious cinema fan but whose name often escapes them'."
Wikipedia
5 Things You Didn't Know About John Cazale (Video)
YouTube: PT.1 - "I KNEW IT WAS YOU":JOHN CAZALE (2009), PT.2, PT.3

Setting Sons - The Jam

"The Jam's Setting Sons was originally planned as a concept album about three childhood friends who, upon meeting after some time apart, discover the different directions in which they've grown apart. Only about half of the songs ended up following the concept due to a rushed recording schedule, but where they do, Paul Weller vividly depicts British life, male relationships, and coming to terms with entry into adulthood. Weller's observations of society are more pointed and pessimistic than ever, but at the same time, he's employed stronger melodies with a slicker production and comparatively fuller arrangements, even using heavy orchestration for a reworked version of Bruce Foxton's 'Smithers-Jones.' Setting Sons often reaches brilliance and stands among The Jam's best albums, but the inclusion of a number of throwaways and knockoffs (especially the out-of-place cover of 'Heat Wave' which closes the album) mars an otherwise perfect album."
allmusic
W - Setting Sons
YouTube: Eton Rifles, Burning Sky, Girl On The Phone, Saturday's Kids, Wasteland, Smithers-Jones, Private Hell, Thick As Thieves, Heat wave

2009 March: The Jam, 2011 December: Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, 2012 November: "Going Underground", 2013 January: In the City, 2013 February: This Is the Modern World, 2013 July: All Mod Cons.

Free Spirits'

"When the American Basketball Association disbanded in 1976, four ABA franchises joined the NBA -- the Nets, Nuggets, Pacers and Spurs. But one of the odd teams out found a different way to secure its future. 'Free Spirits' tells the colorful story of the Spirits of St. Louis -- an entertaining and at times controversial team featuring stars like Marvin Bad News Barnes and James Fly Williams with an upstart sportscaster named Bob Costas calling the play-by-play. The Spirits managed to pull off a stunning playoff upset of the defending champions in their first season, and on their way to franchise extinction, co-owners Daniel and Ozzie Silna managed to negotiate a contract that has allowed the team to continue to exist in the most unusual fashion."
ESPN
30 for 30: Free Spirits - Flight to Norfolk (Video)
YouTube: ESPN 30 FOR 30 FREE SPIRITS TRAILER

2011 June: American Basketball Association, 2012 July: Doin’ It In The Park: Pick-Up Basketball, NYC.

David Lynch - Łódź

"We travelled to Łódź because we wanted to see a smaller city in Poland. I also couldn't miss Łódź because it is David Lynch's favorite city, there is an active modern art scene, strong film roots, a Hollywood style walk of fame, old looming textile factories and so much more. I also will say that Łódź has the most helpful tourist office on our trip so far."
Travel Blog
W - Łódź
YouTube: David Lynch / Lodz / Лодзь

Fire!

"... The Berlin commemorations on the Pogromnacht of seventy-five years ago also include the small exhibition opened on the eve of the anniversary in the museum and research center Topographie des Terrors, established on the place of the former Gestapo headquarters. The exhibition summarizes on nine columns, in nine short text blocks and archival photographs the details and precedents of the centrally organized pogroms of 9 to 10 November 1938. The semi-circular arrangement of the columns is explained by the fact that the first version of the exhibition was organized in the Neue Synagoge, destroyed during the war and rebuilt in 1993 as Centrum Judaicum, and their arc followed the apse of the former synagogue. It is really fitting to an exhibition organized on the 75th anniversary of the destruction of the German synagogues that its layout recalls the shape of a non-existing synagogue."
Poemas del río
W - Kristallnacht
In praise of craft - Poemas del río
W - Beer Hall Putsch

The Original British Mixes

"Complete with snap, crackle, pop, and even the odd skip and jump, these are 7 seminal mix albums pressed onto vinyl during 1977-79, the latter Disco period. 3 of these were officially released, the other 4 being DJ promo only copies. All 7 have now been uploaded to Mixcloud and are available to stream. This is presented in conjunction with last month’s blog post ‘From Garrard To Technics – How British DJ’s Began To Mix’ – you can get the full lowdown here... It’s great to be able to have documented this part of British DJ history, combining the piece with the accompanying album uploads, which, following the initial trio (made available together) continued as a weekly Mixcloud series, with one album presented at a time during the past 4 Fridays. ..."
Greg Wilson (Video)
W - Greg Wilson

Don DeLillo, The Art of Fiction No. 135

"A man who’s been called 'the chief shaman of the paranoid school of American fiction' can be expected to act a little nervous. I met Don DeLillo for the first time in an Irish restaurant in Manhattan, for a conversation he said would be 'deeply preliminary.' He is a slender man, gray haired, with boxy brown glasses. His eyes, magnified by thick lenses, are restless without being shifty. He looks to the right, to the left; he turns his head to see what’s behind him. But his edgy manner has nothing to do with anxiety. He’s a disciplined observer searching for details. I also discovered after many hours of interviewing spread out over several days—a quick lunch, a visit some months later to a midtown gallery to see an Anselm Kiefer installation, followed by a drink at a comically posh bar—that DeLillo is a kind man, generous and thoughtful, qualities incompatible with the reflexive wariness of the paranoid. He is not scared; he is attentive. His smile is shy, his laugh sudden."
Paris Review

2010 October: Pafko at the Wall, 2012 May: Underworld , 2012 July: The Body Artist, 2013 September: White Noise.

AfroCubism documentary

"This short film provides an exclusive look at the making of the most eagerly anticipated release in world music. This collaboration of the finest musicians from Cuba and Mali features Eliades Ochoa, Bassekou Kouyate, Djelimady Tounkara, and Toumani Diabate, and sees the realisation of the project that inadvertently became the Buena Vista Social Club."
NME (Video)
YouTube: AfroCubism documentary

2010 December: AfroCubism

"America: What Time Is Love?" / "What Time Is Love?" - KLF

Wikipedia - "'What Time Is Love?' is a song released, in different mixes, as a series of singles by the band The KLF. It featured prominently and repeatedly in their output from 1988 to 1992 and, under the moniker of 2K, in 1997. In its original form, the track was an instrumental acid house anthem; subsequent reworkings, with vocals and additional instrumentation, yielded the international hit singles 'What Time Is Love? (Live at Trancentral)' (1990) and 'America: What Time Is Love?' (1991), which respectively reached # 5 and # 4 in the UK Singles Chart and introduced The KLF to a mainstream international audience. The KLF co-founders Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond began releasing music in March 1987, under the pseudonym The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), named after a cultish organisation from The Illuminatus! Trilogy novels. The JAMs' output was created from plagiarised samples of popular music grafted together to form new songs, with beatbox rhythms and Drummond's often political raps. Initially hip hop-oriented, The JAMs' sound soon inclined towards house music."
Wikipedia
YouTube: "America: What Time Is Love?", "What Time Is Love?"

2009 May: The KLF, 2011 June: Justified & Ancient, 2013 May: "3 a.m. Eternal".

AREA: The Exhibition

"Thirty years after its opening, AREA, the nightclub that defined the 1980s in New York City, and invented the nightclub as 'art', is celebrated with: AREA, a 387-page book published by Abrams, a week-long exhibit at The Hole, a dance party at the Bowery Hotel, plus an AREA-themed window at Bergdorf Goodman. The fabled nightclub opened its doors in September 1983 and virtually overnight it became the nexus of the downtown scene in New York City. It was the place where people went to see and be seen. It was the brainchild of four young guys from California—Eric Goode, Shawn Hausman, Christopher Goode and Darius Azari. Their vision was to create an art project on a monumental scale. Every five or six weeks they gutted the enormous space at 157 Hudson Street and transformed it into a spectacularly realized theme: Suburbia, Natural History, Gnarly, Art, and Fashion, to name a few."
The Hole
Art Attack at The Hole’s ‘Area: The Exhibition’
YouTube: "AREA" Curated by Jeffrey Deitch at the HOLE

Ikoyi Blindness / Kalakuta Show - Fela Kuti

"This CD reissue combines two 1976 releases, Ikoyi Blindness and Kalakuta Show, on one disc. Ikoyi Blindness was a middle-of-the-pack release in a sea of mid-'70s Fela records that featured two songs and about a half-hour's worth of music. The rhythms were a little tighter and more highlife-influenced than they had been on albums from earlier in the decade. 'Ikoyi Blindness' itself was pretty typical of Fela efforts from the period, both in its structure that built up to a call-and-response vocal and in its taut two-chord melodic base. 'Gba Mi Leti Ki N'Dolowo (Slap Me Make I Get Money)' is a little more interesting due to its choppier rhythms, more vibrant percussion, stuttering low guitar riff, and extended haunting electric keyboard lines. ..."
allmusic
Afrobeat Music
amazon
YouTube: Kalakuta Show, Gba Mi Leti Ki N'Dolowo, Kalakuta Show, Don't Meke Garnan Garnan

George Carlin - Euphemisms

"In the age when torture has become 'enhanced interrogation techniques'; when the rich are 'job creators'; when murdered children are 'collateral damage'; it is good to remember these brilliant words from the late, great, George Carlin. It is also good to remember that the phrase 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder' has now been officially changed in American English to 'PTSD', a totally lifeless non-threatening acronym, totally devoid of even pity and with an almost whiny feel to it."
YouTube: Euphemisms

Art Spiegelman’s Co-Mix: A Retrospective

"Art Spiegelman’s Co-Mix: A Retrospective celebrates the career of one of the most influential living comic artists. Best known for Maus, his Pulitzer prize-winning graphic novel about his parents' survival of the Holocaust, Art Spiegelman (b. 1948) has produced a diverse body of work over the course of five decades that has blurred the boundaries between 'high' and 'low' art. This first U.S. retrospective spans Spiegelman’s career: from his early days in underground 'comix' to the thirteen-year genesis of Maus, to more recent work including his provocative covers for The New Yorker, and artistic collaborations in new and unexpected media."
The Jewish Museum
amazon
NYT: A Master’s Bubbles and Panels, in Depth
NPR: Art Spiegelman Reflects On 60 Years Of Pen And Ink (Video)
YouTube: DGTV: CO-MIX- A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics and Scraps

The Midnight Special: 1974

Sly & Family Stone
"1974: Ike & Tina Turner: Proud Mary, Barry White: Cant Get Enough Of Our Love, Sly & Family Stone: Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself, David Essex: Rock On, O'jay's: Love Train, Marvin Gaye: Lets Get It On, Golden Earring: Radar Love, Bill Withers: Ain't No Sunshine, James Brown: Payback, Gordon Lightfoot: Sundown, Gladys Knight & B B King: The Thrill Is Gone, Maria Muldaur: Midnight At The Oasis, Neil Sedaka: Laughter In The Rain, Redbone: Come & Get Your Love, Aerosmith: The Train Kept A Rollin."
YouTube: The Midnight Special

Gustave Marissiaux

"Gustave Marissiaux (1872 - 1929) was a Belgian pictorial photographer. As a law student, he took up photography in 1894, and was elected the same year to the Belgian Association of Photography (B. A.P.). His country views denote a symbolist influence. Portrait is also an important part of his work. He not only practised it as a professional, in the studio he opened in Liиge in 1899, but also as an artist, in numerous 'Studies.' Recognized as one of the most important Belgian Pictorialist, he not only took part in the national Salons of the B. A.P., but also in several European Salons. By combining photography projection, poetry and music, he created a new form of 'total spectacle,' based on his images of Venice (1903)."
ND Magazine
Photogravure
YouTube: Visions d'Artistes, 1908

Bushwick Industrial Train Tracks

"Here are a couple of shots of the old industrial train tracks that zig zag through east Williamsburg, Bushwick and Maspeth in Brooklyn. I teamed-up with Billy on a cold and sunny Saturday morning to visit what used to be a thriving freight and commercial passage."
Charles le Brigand

The Tracks: A Glimpse into Bushwick’s Past
W - Bushwick Branch
W - Atlantic Terminal
YouTube: Railtrip NY LIRR Atlantic Branch

Bonfire

Wikipedia - "A bonfire is a controlled outdoor fire used for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Celebratory bonfires are typically designed to burn quickly and may be very large. The name 'bonfire' is from 'bone-fire'. In many regions of continental Europe, bonfires are made traditionally on 16 January, the solemnity of John the Baptist, as well as on Saturday night before Easter. Bonfires are also a feature of Walpurgis Night in central and northern Europe, and the celebrations on the eve of St. John's Day in Spain. In Finland bonfires are tradition on Midsummer Eve and Easter, also in midst of May celebrations."
Wikipedia

Joseph Montgomery: Five Sets Five Reps

"A selection of new and existing works from three closely-related bodies of work (2010- 2013) by New York-based painter Joseph Montgomery will be on view in our Brown Gallery from May 26, 2013, through April 7, 2014. This will be the artist's first solo museum exhibition. Montgomery creates compact abstract assemblages (many measuring only 12 x 10 inches) which have an uncanny familiarity. The small paintings vibrate with texture and movement and bursts of color amidst a mostly subdued and earthy palette. Despite their small size, the works have an intense visual and visceral impact - made from an array of elements which curve up, out, and beyond the confines of the support. Montgomery builds his layered images with a range of materials -- a base vocabulary of sorts -- including wood, clay, cardboard, fiberglass, paper, and wire."
MASS MoCA
Slow Muse · Joseph Montgomery

Wes Anderson Honors Fellini in a Delightful New Short Film

"While it’s 'presented' by Prada, the new Wes Anderson short is every inch a Wes Anderson film. In fact, just about the only thing that’s 'Prada' about it is the insignias on the racing jackets—and if you blink, you’ll miss them. Starring Anderson favorite Jason Schwartzman, an American who crashes into a piece of his own past, the short is—like so many Wes Anderson ads—also an opportunity for Anderson to pay tribute to his cinematic ancestors. Specifically, Castello Cavalcanti seems to be full of nods to the work of Federico Fellini."
Slate: Wes Anderson Honors Fellini in a Delightful New Short Film
Prada (Video)

“Garden at Sainte-Adresse,” Claude Monet (1867)

Wikipedia - "The Garden at Sainte-Adresse is a painting by the French impressionist painter, Claude Monet. (Oil on canvas, 98.1 cm x 129.9 cm). The painting was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art after an auction sale at Christie's in December 1967, under the French title La terrasse à Sainte-Adresse. The painting was exhibited at the 4th Impressionist exhibition, Paris, April 10–May 11, 1879, as no. 157 under the title Jardin à Sainte-Adresse. Monet spent the summer of 1867 at the resort town of Sainte-Adresse on the English Channel, near Le Havre (France). It was there, in a garden with a view of Honfleur on the horizon, that he painted this picture, which combines smooth, traditionally rendered areas with sparkling passages of rapid, separate brushwork, and spots of pure colour."
Wikipedia
NGA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marc Ribot - "The Nearness Of You"

"American guitarist Marc Ribot playing 'The Nearness Of You' on a Public Radio program in Oregon. Lynn Darroch, KMHD."
YouTube: "The Nearness Of You"

2011 February: Selling Water By the Side of the River - Evan Lurie, 2012 September: Marc Ribot, 2013 February: Silent Movies.

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1965)

"Easily one of the most important records ever made, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme was his pinnacle studio outing that at once compiled all of his innovations from his past, spoke of his current deep spirituality, and also gave a glimpse into the next two and a half years (sadly, those would be his last). Recorded at the end of 1964, Trane's classic quartet of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison stepped into the studio and created one of the most thought-provoking, concise, and technically pleasing albums of their bountiful relationship (not to mention his best-selling to date). From the undulatory (and classic) bassline at the intro to the last breathy notes, Trane is at the peak of his logical yet emotionally varied soloing while the rest of the group is remarkably in tune with Coltrane's spiritual vibe. Composed of four parts, each has a thematic progression leading to an understanding of spirituality through meditation. ..."
allmusic
W - A Love Supreme
John Coltrane’s Handwritten Outline for His Masterpiece A Love Supreme (Video)
amazon
YouTube: Rare Coltrane Video - Only Public Performance of A Love Supreme and Ascension
YouTube: A Love Supreme (1964) 1. Acknowledgement 2. Resolution 3. Pursuance 4. Psalm

Bob Dylan - Mood Swings, Welding and Metal Work

"Since he is a factually elusive storyteller, it was hard to know how seriously to take Bob Dylan when he said in his autobiography Chronicles that he keeps welding supplies at his home in Malibu where he makes 'ornate iron gates out of junk scrap metal.' But it turns out to be entirely true. An exhibition of Dylan’s art — paintings as well as his iron work — goes on display at London’s Halcyon Gallery this weekend."
22 Words
Halcyon Gallery

Experimental Sounds From Poland: A Rum Music Special

"Rory Gibb, Luke Turner and John Doran round up some of the Quietus' favourite Polish experimental records of the year so far, from grinding tectonic plates and noise-blasted techno to jazzy sample collage and creeping dread."
The Quietus (Video)