Fighting with All Our Might

Mabel Dwight (1876-1955), Merchants of Death, 1935
"Following the catastrophic stock market crash of October 29, 1929, many American artists committed themselves to using the expressive power of their art in the struggle for social change. By 1933, one quarter of the workforce was unemployed and signs of the Great Depression were everywhere: homeless men, women, and children; soup kitchens; shantytowns; protests, strikes, and lockouts. Artists worked to document these problems and also to ameliorate them. Some joined the government programs formed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, which aimed to revive the nation by creating jobs, aiding farms and small businesses, and regulating finance. ..."
Whitney

Up Is Up, But So Is Down: New York’s Downtown Literary Scene, 1974-1992

"When people talk about the explosion of art in New York in the 1970s and ’80s, they usually mean the Ramones and Television and punk rock, or Jean-Michel Basquiat and the downtown arts scene. But a lively literary movement was taking place, though it has received considerably less attention. Around the time Patti Smith was recording her debut album, 'Horses,' the cultural provocateur Kathy Acker was mailing acquaintances mimeographed stories that juxtaposed violence and vulnerability under the name 'the Black Tarantula.' The writer and performer Constance DeJong was creating multimedia works with Philip Glass. At the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church, the monologuist Eric Bogosian was giving his first solo performance. Taken together, according to Brandon Stosuy, the editor of 'Up Is Up, But So Is Down: New York’s Downtown Literary Scene, 1974-1992,' this activity represents the birth of an underground literary movement that was just as vibrant as the musical revolution taking place. ..."
NY Times
amazon

David Van Tieghem - Ear to the Ground [1979]

"'Conceived & Performed by David Van Tieghem, Produced and Directed by John Sanborn & Kit Fitzgerald. Ear to the Ground,' wherein Van Tieghem literally 'plays' the streets of New York as if it were a musical instrument, have become internationally acclaimed favorites. These collaborations with video artists John Sanborn, Kit Fitzgerald, and Mary Perillo have been televised and presented in art venues and nightclubs throughout the world. In 1985, 'Ear to the Ground' opened the premiere season of the PBS TV series 'Alive from Off-Center.'"
UbuWeb (Video)
The Wire - Listen: David Van Tieghem composition (Video) 19:22
YouTube: David Van Tieghem x Georgia - Slippery Slope, Live at the Chelsea Hotel, Crystals/Estranho Encontro

2009 May: David Van Tieghem

Gather the Rose of Love : YZ and LE CABARET DE SANCERRE

"Summer’s final roses are still ripe for the picking here in Brooklyn, with no threat of autumn’s frost in sight and late September sun to illuminate them as you scuffle by on concrete sidewalks. Street Artist YZ lives and works in Montreuil near Paris and has been bringing rooms of an old cabaret alive with roses this summer and shares with us today images of classical figures she painted with india ink on silk paper for these decaying walls. 'Each room has it’s own character and the natural light sometimes reveals a different aspect of the original painting,' she says of the nudes originally created by Bouguereau, Lehmann, Gerome, and Merle. ..."
Brooklyn Street Art

A Great Supercut of “The Lick”: The Musical Meme That Shows Up Everywhere From Coltrane, to Stravinsky, to Christina Aguilera

"A couple years ago, we brought you a post on the history of the 'Amen Break,' six seconds of sampled drums from a gospel instrumental that—since sampling began in the 80s—has became a ubiquitous rhythmic element in virtually every popular genre of rhythm-based music, from hip-hop, to drum and bass, to EDM. While the technology that enabled the 'Amen Break' may be unique to the digital era, the sample’s endless iterations show us something timeless about how music evolves. Picking up on Richard Dawkins’ 1976 coining of the term 'meme,' Susan Blackmore argued in The Meme Machine that 'what makes us different' from other animals 'is our ability to imitate…. When you imitate someone else, something is passed on. This ‘something’ can then be passed on again, and again, and so take on a life of its own.' ...”
Open Culture (Video)

Jill Freedman: Long Stories Short

Surf'n Turf, New York City, 1979
"Steven Kasher Gallery is proud to announce a major exhibition, Jill Freedman: Long Stories Short, the first exhibition of the artist’s work at the gallery. The exhibition features over 50 black and white vintage prints from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. This overview includes work from her famous projects on New York cops, New York firemen, Resurrection City protestors, circus workers, and dogs, as well as unpublished photographs. When Freedman holds a camera it is always to stand up for intimate causes. ... In 1975-81, executing what would become some of her most iconic work, Freedman followed the firemen of Harlem and the South Bronx with her camera in hand, after which she transitioned to photographing New York City policemen in the Lower East Side and Times Square. ..."
Steven Kasher
NY Times: For a Street Photographer, ‘The Weirder, the Better’
artnet

Washington Phillips - Washington Phillips (Death is Not the End)

Washington Phillips - Washington Phillips (Death is Not the End)
"Continuing their solid run of releasing stunningly beautiful vintage American gospel recordings on tape, UK-based label Death Is Not The End present 10 of the 18 known recordings by mysterious Texan gospel singer, Washington Phillips. Besides his at-times almost painfully beautiful singing, Phillips is noteworthy for the unique instrument with which he accompanies himself. These recordings were all made between late 1927 and 1929 in a makeshift studio in Dallas, so details remain muddy (beyond a handful of photographs), but the instruments appears to be some variant of a fretless zither or hammered dulcimer, plucked (rather than hammered) by Phillips. Far from sounding like the jaunty theme from The Third Man though, Phillips’ backing is a stunningly beautiful wash of aptly heavenly tones, raining from his instrument, and slowly decaying with occasionally Laraaji-like bliss. ..."
The Quietus (Video)
facebook, twitter, spotify
YouTube: Denomination Blues, Pt. 1, Lift him up, Mother's Last Word To Her Son, What Are They Doing In Heaven Today, Keys To The Kingdom, Wouldn't Mind Dying if Dying Was All, Take your burden to the Lord, I Had A Good Father And Mother, Paul and Silas in Jail, What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?

Get Ready for Upcoming Total Lunar Eclipse

The magnificent changing moon during a total eclipse.
"If your skies are clear after the Sun sets on Sunday, September 27th, be sure to head outside to see the total lunar eclipse that happens that night. This will mark the end of a 'tetrad' of four total lunar eclipses spaced a half year apart that began back in early 2014. But, perhaps more importantly, it's the last one visible anywhere until 2018. Observers in the eastern half of North America can watch every stage of the eclipse, from beginning to end of the partial phases (31⁄3 hours in all) during convenient hours of late twilight or darkness with the Moon mostly high in the sky. If you're in the Far West, the first partial stage of the eclipse is already in progress when the Moon rises (due east) around the time of sunset. Those in Europe and Africa see the eclipse on the local morning of the 28th. ..."
Sky and Telescope
NASA: LRO and the September 27-28, 2015 Lunar Eclipse: Telescopic View (Video)
September 27 / September 28, 2015 — Total Lunar Eclipse (Video)

Various Artists - Randy’s 17 North Parade (1987)

"Randy's, run by the Chin family out of a storefront at 17 North Parade in Kingston, was one of the great reggae studios of the 1970s. It produced more than its share of great rhythms, among them some of the seminal examples of Augustus Pablo's 'Far East' sound and early vocal performances by Dennis Brown and Junior Byles. ... It features excellent performances by the likes of Alton Ellis (a fine early version of 'Too Late'), Black Uhuru (the rough and lovely 'Going to Zion'), and a single by an obscure vocal trio called the African Brothers, which included a young Sugar Minott. Granted, it also features the forgettable vocals of one Senya (who sounds eerily like a female Hugh Mundell), but her tracks only serve to accentuate the quality of everything else. Recommended."
allmusic
Discogs
amazon
dailymotion: 00:00 Broadway - Guns In The Ghetto. 03:24 Alton Ellis - Too Late. 06:27 Senya - Roots Man. 09:41 The Gladiators - The Race. 12:55 Errol Dunkley - Created By The Father.
YouTube: Dennis Brown - Cheater, Black Uhuru - Going To Zion, Senya - Children Of The Ghetto, Gregory Isaacs - Lonely Soldier, Donovan carless - be thankful, Delroy "Crutches" Jones - My Guiding Star, The Heptones - Daddy's Home, Sweeny & the Wailers Band - Won't Come Easy + Easy Come Dub

The Subtext Buried In Seven Great Movie Chess Scenes

“X-Men: First Class”
"The Tobey Maguire film 'Pawn Sacrifice,' about American chess legend Bobby Fischer, hit theaters this week. And that seemed like a good excuse to talk about chess in film. There are plenty of films about competitive chess — 'Computer Chess' is a personal favorite — but the game also plays a prominent role in all sorts of films as a narrative strategy. It’s used to say something about the characters or to foreshadow the plot. So let’s go one level deeper into some iconic movie scenes that involve a chess match. This exercise involved a lot of pausing and rewinding and probably wouldn’t have been possible without 1080p. To pick apart these cinematic chess clashes, we also spoke to chess grandmaster Robert Hess, a former U.S. national championship runner-up, and turned to the raw silicon-powered strength of the chess engine Stockfish. ..."
FiveThirtyEight (Video)

2008 October: World Chess Championship 1972, 2009 January: Sicilian Defence, 2009 February: Mikhail Tal, 2009 February: Garry Kasparov, 2009 April: Vasily Smyslov, 2009 August: Chess960, 2009 November: Bent Larsen,2011 November: The Lewis Chessmen, 2012 July: 40 Years Ago Today: Chess Rivals Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky Meet in the ‘Match of the Century’.

Thinking Plague - In This Life (25th anniversary remaster - 1989)

"Thinking Plague has been releasing impossible to categorize albums to a devoted fan-base for over 30 years. In This Life, originally released in 1989, was the group's 3rd album and their first CD release after two previous albums that flew under the radar of most listeners. Originally released by the ReR label, this was the first album to really bring this superb US band to a wider audience. It was their last to feature singer Susanne Lewis, who lends a convincing air to the menace of some of the lyrics. It is also their last album to feature Bob Drake as a full member of the band. ... It comes back into print now for the first time in years. The two 'bonus tracks', which were taken from their first two albums and can be found in superior form on Early Plague Years have been removed and this presents the album as the band originally planned it."
Wayside Music (Video)
W - Thinking Plague
Discogs
Thinking Plague
YouTube: Possessed, Moonsongs, Lycanthrope, Love, Malaise, The Guardian, Fountain Of All Tears, Organism

Edward Hopper life and works

Summertime
"... In 1933, Edward Hopper received further praises for the works he had done, and for a piece that was on exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. His highly identifiable style, and mature painting styles, were some things he had become known for during this period. The gorgeous landscapes, the quiet rooms and empty rooms he designed, and the transitory effect which many of his works posed, created a sense of contemporary life and a new style, which many in the art world recognized, and many praised him for this distinct style he had created in his art forms. ... Later in his career, during the 1940s, was a period in which he found the most commercial success. But, soon after, and even during this time period, he began losing critical favors. This was namely due to the new forms of art, and the fact that abstract pieces were beginning to enter the art world, which took over the work he did, as well as the work of many famous artists prior to him. ..."
Edward Hopper and his paintings
YouTube: Edward Hopper life and works

2008 July: Edward Hopper, 2010 October: Finding Nighthawks, 2010 December: Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time, 2012 Wednesday: Through Edward Hopper's eyes: in search of an artist's seaside inspiration, 2013 July: Hopper Drawing, 2014 May: INTERVIEW: “An Interview with Edward Hopper, June 17, 1959″., 2014 September: How Edward Hopper “Storyboarded” His Iconic Painting Nighthawks, 2015 February: Edward Hopper's New York: A Walking Tour.

Townes Van Zandt & Nanci Griffith - "Tecumseh Valley," 1993

"Song by folksinger Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997), telling the story of a girl named Caroline, who went to look for work in a valley named after Shawnee leader Tecumseh. She wants to earn money for her but also for her father, a miner. When she has earned enough to return home she receives the message that her father has died. Having lost all hope she becomes a prostitute and finally dies of unknown cause (broken heart?). All in all a very strong and melancholic song by one of the great songwriters in American folk music."
Urban Dictionary
Listen Up: The Whores of my Youth
W - For the Sake of the Song, 1968
YouTube: "Tecumseh Valley," 1993, "Tecumseh Valley"

2014 March: Heartworn Highways - James Szalapski (1975), 2014 September: The 10 Best Townes Van Zandt Songs, 2015 January: Solo Sessions (Jan 17, 1995).

The Literary Caribbean, From BOCAS to Brooklyn

"After ten days in Port of Spain, Trinidad at the BOCAS Lit Fest and Alice Yard this May, I needed a lot of sleep. Trinidadians like to fête, and many have the rare gift of being able to lime (hang out) hard at night, and go to work the next morning with little effect from the previous evening’s revelry. No surprise then that BOCAS Lit Fest was unlike any literary festival I ever attended, a refreshing mix of panels, readings, film screenings, and parties alongside informal debates on the state of Caribbean writing and publishing. ..."
Literary Hub

Folk City: New York and the Folk Music Revival

"In the 1950s and 1960s, folk music blossomed in New York City, especially in Greenwich Village, where clubs and coffee houses showcased singers like Pete Seeger and Odetta and nurtured a generation of newcomers, including Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and Peter, Paul and Mary. The multi-media exhibtition Folk City: New York and the Folk Music Revival, featuring original instruments, handwritten lyrics, and video and film footage, traces the roots of the revival, its growth in New York, its major players, and its impact on American politics and culture during the tumultuous 1960s. ..."
Museum of the City of New York
NY Times: Review: ‘Folk City’ at the Museum of the City of New York
The folk rebellion that preserved free speech in Washington Square Park
amazon

FOTR: DJ Craze

"So it’s officially Rub week again for our new event at Verboten and we’ve got a massively stacked lineup for this Friday. Our headliner and a longtime FOTR (Friend of The Rub) is DJ Craze, who in all honesty should need no introduction. Straight up, he’s one of the best DJ’s on the planet. End of story. He and fellow FOTR Fourcolorzack released a new mix last week going at the DJ Mag Top 100 DJ list and all that it represents. It’s featured below and definitely worth the listen. It’s a great conversation piece in response to all the 'press play' DJs out there. And definitely do not miss Craze shutting down Verboten along with Sammy Bananas and DJ Wonder this Friday."
The Rub (Video)

NUART 2015 Roundup : A Laboratory on the Street

Ella & Pitr. Nuart 2015. Stavanger, Norway.
"A roundup today for the Nuart street art/ mural festival in Norway with images of the final walls by this years artists. Now celebrating its 15th year, the mid-sized fjord-facing city of Stavanger has played host to a selection of international and local artists directly or indirectly related to the evolving scene we know as Street Art. Again this year the selection of invited participants is varied, potent, and occasionally a smack upside the head – with punk rock graphic designer Jamie Reid leading the way in spirit and on walls. Reid’s inspiration dates to the radical hippie politics and Situationist practices of the 1950s and 60s but he is best known for formation of the Sex Pistols anti-monarchial slash and burn visual identity and for penning their pivotal recording 'Anarchy in the UK' – a history discussed in Carlo McCormick’s presentation during the Nuart Plus program. ..."
Brooklyn Street Art

Hot Dog!

Sabrette Frankfurters and Rolls, 1937
"The origin of the hot dog has long been contested and has even been a source of tension in American history. In 1913, for example, Mayor Reginald S. Bennett called an emergency meeting of his cabinet when he learned two men were selling hot dogs in Asbury Park, New Jersey. That day, the council banned the sale of frankfurters on Sundays, citing that such commerce 'would not add to the dignity of the beach.' Hot dogs drew even further scrutiny in 1922 when detectives arrested two men in Atlantic City for secretly peddling drugs by inserting small packages of narcotics inside the slit of hot dog buns. Indeed, despite hot dogs’ popularity, newspaper articles of the early 1900s cast a negative image of the classic American finger food. Likewise, Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle, which described unsanitary sausage making practices in a Chicago meat packing house, also influenced the public’s perception. Nevertheless, the millions of hot dogs bought in the United States every year testifies to the food’s popularity beginning in late nineteenth century America. ..."
MCNY

2013 May: Hot Dog

Suckin’ and Blowin’ – Harmonica Blues (1952-1960)

"If you dug the recent Little Walter post then you’re sure to love this collection of stompers and wailers by a selection of both well known and obscure blues harp men. This Dutch LP is probably a bootleg, date unknown. I bought it in 'Southside Records' a shop about which I blogged a couple of years back. Sadly the shop is no more, having closed down last winter. There are good sleeve notes on the back cover and I have added more notes at the end of this post. Download, wail and stomp, blues lovers. And if anyone has the lowdown on the identity of 'Ole Sonny Boy' please share this valuable knowledge with the rest of us!"
Be Bop Wino
YouTube: Suckin’ and Blowin’ – Harmonica Blues (1952-1960)

SLAM Magazine

Wikipedia - "SLAM Magazine is an American basketball magazine in circulation since 1994, published by Source Interlink. SLAM was launched in 1994 as a basketball magazine that combined the sport with hip hop culture at a time when the genre was becoming increasingly popular. ... Many of the magazine's lasting features, such as In Your Face, Slam-a-da-month, and Last Shot all began with that first issue. ... The magazine carries advertising for basketball related products, street-wear clothing and hip hop music, and has been credited with helping to market hip hop culture and basketball as one. ..."
Wikipedia
SLAM Magazine
facebook, twitter
YouTube: SLAM Magazine

2011 June: American Basketball Association, 2012 July: Doin’ It In The Park: Pick-Up Basketball, NYC, 2012 November: Your Guide to the Brooklyn Nets, 2013 March: March Madness 2013, 2013 October: Rucker Park, 2013 November: Free Spirits', 2014 January: History of the high five, 2015 February: Dean Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015), 2015 June: Basketball’s Obtuse Triangle.

Cléo from 5 to 7 - Agnès Varda (1962)

Wikipedia - "Cléo from 5 to 7 is a 1962 Left Bank film by Agnès Varda. The story starts with a young singer, Florence "Cléo" Victoire, at 5pm on June 21, as she waits until 6:30pm to hear the results of a medical test that will possibly confirm a diagnosis of cancer. The film is noted for its handling of several of the themes of existentialism, including discussions of mortality, the idea of despair, and leading a meaningful life. The film also has a strong feminine viewpoint belonging to French feminism and raises questions about how women are perceived, especially in French society. The role of mirrors are prevalent to symbolize self-obsession, which Cléo embodies. ... Before the two World Wars in France, gender roles were enforced thoroughly throughout Western Europe. In France specifically, the woman of the family was meant to be the 'femme au foyer,' or 'woman of the home' in English making them responsible for the wellbeing of their family. ..."
Wikipedia
Female Inhibition and Empowerment in 1960s Paris
Slant
YouTube: Nouvelle Vague Française - Cléo de 5 à 7

August 2010: Agnès Varda, May 2011: The Beaches of Agnès, 2011 December: Interview - Agnès Varda, 2013 February: The Gleaners and I (2000), 2013 September: Cinévardaphoto (2004), 2014 July: Black Panthers (1968 doc.), 2014 October: Art on Screen: A Conversation with Agnès Varda.

The Book No One Read

"I remember well the first time my certainty of a bright future evaporated, when my confidence in the panacea of technological progress was shaken. It was in 2007, on a warm September evening in San Francisco, where I was relaxing in a cheap motel room after two days covering The Singularity Summit, an annual gathering of scientists, technologists, and entrepreneurs discussing the future obsolescence of human beings. ... Returning to my motel room exhausted each night, I unwound by reading excerpts from an old book, Summa Technologiae. The late Polish author Stanislaw Lem had written it in the early 1960s, setting himself the lofty goal of forging a secular counterpart to the 13th-century Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas’s landmark compendium exploring the foundations and limits of Christian theology. Where Aquinas argued for the certainty of a Creator, an immortal soul, and eternal salvation as based on scripture, Lem concerned himself with the uncertain future of intelligence and technology throughout the universe, guided by the tenets of modern science. ..."
Nautilus

2011 June: Stanisław Lem, 2012 May: Solaris - Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)

Ellen Gallagher: AxME

DeLuxe (2004)
"Ellen Gallagher is one of the most acclaimed contemporary artists to have emerged from North America since the mid-1990s. Her gorgeously intricate and highly imaginative works are realised with a wealth of virtuoso detail and wit. This is her first major solo exhibition in the UK, providing the first ever opportunity to explore an overview of her twenty-year career. Gallagher brings together imagery from myth, nature, art and social history to create complex works in a wide variety of media including painting, drawing, relief, collage, print, sculpture, film and animation. The exhibition explores the themes which have emerged and recurred in her practice, from her seminal early canvases through to recent film installations and new bodies of work. ..."
Tate
W - Ellen Gallagher
Guardian
amazon
YouTube: Exhibition — Ellen Gallagher: AxME, Cutting | "Exclusive" | Art21, Ellen Gallagher

John Coltrane: Impressions of Coltrane

"The great Jazzman John Coltrane in nine rare, live television performances, shot in the late 1950's and the early 1960's. In dazzling extended solos, showcasing his trademark 'sheets of sound,' Coltrane demonstrates his mastery of tenor, alto, and soprano saxes and the unique artistry he brought to innovations in Jazz - and in music as a whole. This collection has both breadth and depth. Four of these performances are led by Miles Davis, who features Coltrane on the worldchanging 'So What,' as well as on Dave Brubeck's 'The Duke'; and Miles also works out his huge, orchestral ensemble under the direction of Gil Evans. The rest of the program is given over to the John Coltrane Quartet - joined for two numbers, including Coltrane's signature 'My Favorite Things,' by the great flautist and sax player Eric Dolphy. Here we find Coltrane utterly in his element, in the years in which he was changing jazz forever. Classic Coltrane collaborators pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and bassist Jimmy Garrison are given their own chances to shine as well. Rare footage - and beautiful music from one of the greatest icons of Jazz. Immortal."
amazon - John Coltrane: Impressions of Coltrane
ARTISTdirect
vk: The John Coltrane Quartet (featuring Eric Dolphy) performing "Impressions" at Sudwestfunk TV Studio, Baden-Baden, West Germany on November 24, 1961.

2011 November: John Coltrane Quartet, Live at Jazz Casual, 1963, 2012 March: John Coltrane 1960 - 1965, 2012 September: "Naima" (1959), 2012 October: Blue Train (1957), 2013 April: The World According to John Coltrane, 2013 November: A Love Supreme (1965), 2014 July: New Photos of John Coltrane Rediscovered 50 Years After They Were Shot, 2014 November: Coltrane’s Free Jazz Wasn’t Just “A Lot of Noise”, 2015 February: Lush Life (1958), 2015 May: An Animated John Coltrane Explains His True Reason for Being: “I Want to Be a Force for Real Good”, 2015 July: Afro Blue Impressions (2013). 

Arnold Ness Klagstad: Archer Daniels Midland Elevator, 1934

Archer Daniels Midland Elevator, 1934
"Cars and trains, industry and agriculture, trees and smokestacks meet in this busy image of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Local painter Arnold Klagstad gently guided the viewer’s eye into the painting along a curving stretch of road with a car and two pedestrians to lead the way past a brick house, trees, and green lawns. Two white railroad crossing signs signal an abrupt transition to the confusing complex of commercial structures crowded along the railroad tracks. Among the many buildings is the Harris Machinery Company at the far right, announced by a bold black and white sign, while a towering Archer Daniels Midland grain elevator dominates the view. The density of businesses may suggest a thriving economy, but in fact drought and low farm prices made for hard times in 1930s Minnesota. The juxtapositions of greenery with steel, and agricultural structures with manufacturing signal the tensions among farmers, business owners, and unions that led to violent confrontations in the streets of Minneapolis in 1934."
Smithsonian American Art Museum
WorthPoint

Desire - Bob Dylan (1976)

"If Blood on the Tracks was an unapologetically intimate affair, Desire is unwieldy and messy, the deliberate work of a collective. And while Bob Dylan directly addresses his crumbling relationship with his wife, Sara, on the final track, Desire is hardly as personal as its predecessor, finding Dylan returning to topical songwriting and folk tales for the core of the record. It's all over the map, as far as songwriting goes, and so is it musically, capturing Dylan at the beginning of the Rolling Thunder Revue era, which was more notable for its chaos than its music. And, so it's only fitting that Desire fits that description as well, as it careens between surging folk-rock, Mideastern dirges, skipping pop, and epic narratives. It's little surprise that Desire doesn't quite gel, yet it retains its own character -- really, there's no other place where Dylan tried as many different styles, as many weird detours, as he does here. ..."
allmusic
W - Desire
Bob Dylan - Desire
Spotify
YouTube: Hurricane, Sara, One More Cup of Coffee, Black Diamond Bay, Isis, Joey, Romance in Durango, Oh, Sister, Mozambique

Passport

Germany
Wikipedia - "A passport is a travel document, usually issued by a country's government, that certifies the identity and nationality of its holder for the purpose of international travel. Standard passports contain the holder's name, place and date of birth, photograph, signature, and other identifying information. Passports are moving towards including biometric information embedded in a microchip embedded in the document, making them machine-readable and difficult to counterfeit. A passport specifies nationality, but not necessarily citizenship or the place of residence of the passport holder. A passport holder is normally entitled to enter the country that issued the passport, though some people entitled to a passport may not be full citizens with right of abode. A passport is a document certifying identity and nationality; having the document does not of itself grant any rights, such as protection by the consulate of the issuing country, although it may indicate that the holder has such rights. ..."
Wikipedia
W - Passport stamp
W - Category:Images of passports
W - List of passports

Michael Nyman - An Eye for Optical Theory (Live at Studio Halle, 2010)

"... These testimonials—set to 'An Eye for Optical Theory', a mainstay of the band’s set that baritone saxophonist Andy Findon says is difficult to even imagine playing live—could make Nyman seem like a joyless taskmaster. Though he does appear to want maximum control over performances of his compositions, he is good natured and complimentary of the band and their skills. His music also provides them with the unique opportunity to really 'play out'. Barr comments that the Michael Nyman Band is the only place a brass player can play so loud and not be told to quiet down. The picture of Nyman that emerges in these interviews is that of a man who has figured out the precise sound he wants to hear and assembled the right people for the job. On his own, however, he’s more adventurous. ... -Thomas Britt, PopMatters, December 2010"
Naxos
YouTube: An Eye for Optical Theory (Live at Studio Halle, 2010)

2008 April: Michael Nyman, 2010 August: Decay Music, 2010 December: After Extra Time, 2011 March: Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond, 2011 August: Michael Nyman Band, 2011 December: The Draughtsman's Contract - Peter Greenaway, 2012 March: Time Lapse, 2013 July: Composer in Progress, In Concert (2010).

Ciguë: Materialised Instincts

"Playing the architect and the builder: this dynamic duality best describes the work of French design studio Ciguë. A DIY practice sought after by luxury brands including Isabelle Marant and Kris van Assche, Ciguë was born out of a collaboration between four aspiring craftsmen – then students at Paris’s La Villette School of Architecture. Now the practice encompasses a growing team of 19 members, straddling architecture, interior design and shape-shifting installations. While intuitive collaboration remains at the forefront of Ciguë's vision, it is their experimental use of materials, namely wood and steel, that has made them design-world stars. For the concluding part of The Cultural, director Matt Black catches up with the designers in and around their workshop in the Paris suburb of Montreuil – where you won't find a computer-generated design in sight. ..."
NOWESS (Video)

Nicolas Jaar - Work It (Bluewave edit)

"OK, Nicolas Jaar, we all know you’re a fantastic producer with talent to burn, and we’re all deservedly hanging on your every musical movement, waiting for what happens after your debut album ‘Space Is Only Noise’ in January. Turns out, an EP entitled ‘Nico’s Bluewave Edits’ is what happens, a set of three pop songs given the Jaar treatment. ... The floor shaking, Timbaland-produced, club boom of the the original stretched, stripped, and folded into a slick sensual swing. Light drums fluttering, loose claps, pitched vocal, sparse but precise arrangement. Despite the under-stated tone it’s also catchy as can be. Jaar’s still not missed a beat then. ..."
DUMMY (Video)
Soundcloud (Video)
YouTube: Work it(Nico's Bluewave edits), "What My Last Girl Put Me Through", Materials (Nico's Bluewave Edit), Jamie xx & Nicolas Jaar - Girl vs Work It (Nico's Bluewave Edit), Nicolas Jaar Work it + Girl Unit I.R.L.

2013 September: Nicolas Jaar, 2014 January: Other People, 2015 May: Nicolas Jaar Soundtracks Short Film About Police Brutality and #BlackLivesMatter, 2015 July: Space Is Only Noise (2010), 2015 August: Boiler Room NYC DJ Set at Clown & Sunset Takeove

Resident Visitor: Laurie Spiegel's Machine Music

"Probably the most remarkable thing about Laurie Spiegel is that a piece of music she made could be the first sound of human origin to be heard by extraterrestrial lifeforms. If aliens exist, of course. And assuming they have ears. Spiegel's computer realization of a composition conceived back in the early 17th Century by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler is the opening cut on the Golden Record, a disc that accompanied both Voyager probes on their journey across the solar system and out into the great interstellar beyond in 1977. Also known as The Sounds of Earth, this gold-plated copper record (the assumption seems to have been that any civilization advanced enough to pluck a passing probe out of space would also be able to build a turntable to play it on) includes 90 minutes of music, greetings in many languages, animal sounds, and the EEG brainwaves of a young woman in love. ..."
Pitchfork (Video)

2011 May: Laurie Spiegel, 2012 November: Laurie Spiegel - The Expanding Universe, 2014 February: The Interstellar Contract.

Traveling in Europe’s River of Migrants

Refugees, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, crowded a platform as they waited for a train at Keleti station in Budapest on Thursday.
"Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees, mostly fleeing unrest in the Middle East and Afghanistan, are pushing their way through the Balkans to Hungary. From there, many are continuing their desperate trip to Germany and other countries in northern Europe. A team of New York Times journalists is documenting their journey."
NY Times


A group of Syrian migrants charged their cellphones using a television station's satellite truck outside the Keleti train station last week in Budapest.

Chuck Close: Red Yellow Blue

"Pace announces Chuck Close: Red Yellow Blue an exhibition of new oil paintings on view at 534 West 25th Street from September 11 to October 17, 2015. ... In his most recent work, Close continues his investigation of the grid as an organizational device, exploring minimal information processing in portraiture. Close abandons the expressionistic brushstrokes that have characterized his paintings since the 1990s. Rather, he applies multiple thin washes of paint in each cell of the grid, layering red, yellow and blue until they accumulate into extravagant full-color images. The earliest works in the exhibition—portraits of Cecily Brown and Cindy Sherman—reveal the beginnings of this process, leaving the painting’s development visible. Although the works represent a new direction for Close, they are also a revival and reconsideration of processes he first used in the 1970s when he first restricted his palette to three colors, coaxing different saturations of paint and hue into photorealist portraits. ..."
Art Daily
Pace Gallery
FINDING THE COLOR WORLD: An interview with Chuck Close
Beyond the Portrait: The Many Categories of Chuck Close

2008 August: Chuck Close

An Inglorious Slop-pail of a Play

"When the French playwright Alfred Jarry—born on this day in 1873—was fifteen, he enjoyed lampooning his physics teacher, a plump, inept man who so amused his students that he became the subject of Jarry’s first attempt at drama, Les Polonais, staged with marionettes when he was still in short pants. Père Heb, as the physics teacher was called in it, had a prominent gut, a retractable ear, and three teeth (stone, iron, and wood). These features by themselves make him a distinctive figure in the history of French drama. But years later, Jarry revived Heb—as all responsible playwrights do with their juvenilia—making him somehow even more ridiculous, even more obese, and putting him at the center of Ubu Roi, a play so contentious that its premiere, in December 1896, was also its closing night. It lives in the annals of drama because it offended almost everyone who saw it. In this, it prefigured modernism, surrealism, Dadaism, and the theater of the absurd. ..."
The Paris Review
W - Alfred Jarry
TLS - Merrrrdrrrre!: Alfred Jarry and Père Ubu
Guardian - Alfred Jarry: A Pataphysical Life by Alastair Brotchie - review
amazon: Alfred Jarry
Ubu's Almanac: Alfred Jarry and the Graphic Arts
Alfred Jarry: a Cyclist on the Wild Side

2011 April: The Insolent Eye: Jarry in Art, 2013 August: The Banquet Years of Apollinaire, Alfred Jarry, Henri Rousseau, and Erik Satie - Roger Shattuck

Dembow: A Loop History

"In the world of sample-based music, few recordings have enjoyed so active an afterlife as the Dembow. A two-bar loop with unmistakably familiar kicks and snares, it underpins the vast majority of reggaeton tracks as an almost required sonic signpost. Thanks to crossover jams like Lorna’s 'Papi Chulo' and Daddy Yankee’s 'Gasolina,' the Dembow has spread its distinctive boom-ch-boom-chick to glossy Latin pop, raw electro-chaabi in Egypt, transnational moombahton and Indonesian dangdut seksi, to name a few. With such remarkable resonance and staggering frequency of appearance, the Dembow would seem to deserve a place alongside such well-worn loops as the Amen, the Triggerman and the Tamborzao. ..."
Red Bull Music Academy Daily (Video)
Digital Rhythm: The loopy origins of dembow and the knotty dancehall roots of reggaeton (Video)

Welcome To The Dirt – The Beginning of Trench Warfare I THE GREAT WAR - Week 8

"After the advances and retreats during the early weeks of war, the front is coming to a grinding hold after the Battle of the Aisne. The German Army is digging itself in on one side of the river and a new, horrible chapter of World War One begins: trench warfare. To be prepared for this new kind of war, the British Army is recruiting over 400.000 soldiers still believing that the war will be over by Christmas."
YouTube: Welcome To The Dirt – The Beginning of Trench Warfare I - Week 8

2014 December: The Great War: WWI Starts - How Europe Spiraled Into the Great War - Week 1, Europe Prior to WWI: Allies and Enemies I PRELUDE TO WW1 - Part 1/3, Tinderbox Europe - From Balkan Troubles to WWI I PRELUDE TO WW1 - Part 2/3, A Shot that Changed the World - The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand I PRELUDE TO WW1 - Part 3/3, 2015 January: Germany in Two-Front War and the Schlieffen-Plan I - Week 2, 2015 March: To Arms! Deployment of Troops - Week 3, 2015 March:A New War With Old Generals – Carnage on the Western Front - Week 4, 2015 April: The Rape of Belgium – War Crimes in the Summer of 1914 - Week 5, 2015 May: Plans Are Doomed to Fail - The Battle of Galicia - Week 6, 2015 August: Taxi To The Front – The First Battle of the Marne - Week 7.

Fran Lebowitz

Wikipedia - "Frances Ann 'Fran' Lebowitz (born October 27, 1950) is an American author and public speaker. Lebowitz is known for her sardonic social commentary on American life as filtered through her New York City sensibilities. Some reviewers have called her a modern-day Dorothy Parker. Lebowitz was born and raised in Morristown, New Jersey. After being expelled from high school and receiving a GED, Lebowitz worked in many odd jobs before being hired by Andy Warhol as a columnist for Interview. This was followed by a stint at Mademoiselle. Her first book was a collection of essays titled Metropolitan Life, released in 1978, followed by Social Studies in 1981, both of which are collected in The Fran Lebowitz Reader. ..."
Wikipedia
The Paris Review: Interviews
Elle: 'Yoga Pants are Ruining Women' and Other Style Advice From Fran Lebowitz
A Chat With Fran Lebowitz
Vanity Fair: Is Everything Sacred? by Fran Lebowitz
amazom: Fran Lebowitz
YouTube: Public Speaking, Fran Lebowitz gives her view of modern NYC, A Cynic Looks at Childhood, Five Questions for Fran Lebowitz

Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos - The Prosthetic Cubans (1998)

"The mastery and vision of the enduring Marc Ribot shine through on this release. Although there have been many attempts to produce authentic indigenous music of various cultures, most have fallen short; this album succeeds in the wake of failure. Ribot delves deep into Cuban rhythms, and indeed the album is a tribute to the Cuban master Arsenio Rodriguez. Here Ribot finds an authentic Cuban sound employing traditional instrumentation: upright bass, wood blocks, cherke, and other percussion sounds. The performance is inspired, and the band consistently tears through Rodriguez's material, as well as some of their own. Ribot's guitar work nears perfection, and he proves himself to be the most soulful white alive. Songs like 'Aqui Como Alla' and 'Postizo' confirm these assertions. Although this album does not present the iconoclastic Ribot of The Book of Heads fame, it is an excellent album."
allmusic
Wikipedia
YouTube: Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos - The Prosthetic Cubans (1998) [Full Album] 

2011 February: Selling Water By the Side of the River - Evan Lurie, 2012 September: Marc Ribot, 2013 February: Silent Movies, 2013 November: The Nearness Of You, 2014 January: Full Concert Jazz in Marciac (2010), 2014 May: Gig Alert: Marc Ribot Trio, 2014 September: Marc Ribot Trio with Mary Halvorson at The Stone.

Earl King

Wikipedia - "Earl King (February 7, 1934 – April 17, 2003) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, most active in blues music. A composer of blues standards such as 'I Hear You Knocking' (recorded by Smiley Lewis, Gale Storm, Dave Edmunds and others), 'One Night' (recorded by Smiley Lewis and Elvis Presley), "Come On" (covered by Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan) and Professor Longhair's 'Big Chief', he is an important figure in New Orleans R&B music. King was born Earl Silas Johnson IV in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. His father, a local piano player, died when King was still a baby, and he was brought up by his mother. With his mother, he started going to church at an early age. In his youth he sang gospel music, but took the advice of a friend to switch to blues to make a better living. ..."
Wikipedia
Discogs
BluesArt-Studio-Journal
YouTube: Street Parade, It Hurts To Love Someone, Mama & Papa, I'M YOUR BEST BET, BABY, Baby You Can Get Your Gun, You Can Fly High, Come On Parts 1 and 2 (Also known as "Let The Good Times Roll"), Trick Bag, Is Everything All Right, Always a First Time, The Things That I Used To Do

TAXI: A History of the New York Taxi Cab

"In this episode, we recount almost 175 years of getting around New York in a private ride. The hansom, the romantic rendition of the horse and carriage, took New Yorkers around during the Gilded Age. But unregulated conduct by ‘nighthawks’ and the messy conditions of streets due to horses demanded a solution. At first it seemed the electric car would save the day but the technology proved inadequate. In 1907 came the first gas-propelled automobile cabs to New York, officially ‘taxis’ due to a French invention installed in the front seat. By the 1930s the streets were filled with thousands of taxicabs. During the Great Depression, cab drivers fought against plunging fare and even waged a strike in Times Square. In 1937, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia debuted the medallion system as a way to keep the streets regulated. By the 1970s many cabdrivers faced an upswing of crime that made picking up passengers even more dangerous than bad traffic. Drivers began ignoring certain fares – mainly from African-Americans – which gave rise to the neighborhood livery cab system. ..."
The Bowery Boys: New York City History

2012 June: Taxicabs of New York City, 2015 March: In New Exam for Cabbies, Knowledge of Streets Takes a Back Seat

The 10 biggest reggae basslines, according to Trojan Sound System

"London's Trojan Sound System, formed just over a decade ago now, are one of the UK's finest examples of the power of the sound system culture. Inspired by the legendary reggae label of the same name, the Trojan crew have been spreading their message of love and unity through ska, roots, dub, and dancehall since 2004, headlinging club shows, captivating festival crowds and supporting legendary Jamaican acts such as The Wailers, Luciano, Sly and Robby and the late great Gregory Isaacs amongst others. The bassline aficionados return next month with their new track Time Is The Answer a response to the curreny state of political unrest and troubles sweeping the globe. ..."
DUMMY (Video)
CLASH: Trojan Sound System Mix (Video)
W - Trojan Records
YouTube: TROJAN SOUND SYSTEM // The 10 biggest reggae basslines

Building Radical America

"In 1967, Paul Buhle founded Radical America. The journal published sophisticated investigations of the struggles of the day, from black liberation to feminism; introduced American readers to a wide range of political currents, such as Italian autonomism; and explored American radical history, particularly the 1930s, for inspiration. In this interview, which originally appeared in Viewpoint Magazine, Salar Mohandesi discusses with Buhle the historical conjuncture that gave rise to the project, the journal’s aims, and the American radical tradition. ... Radical America may have been among the last left-wing journals printed on a single-sheet press, the pages collated by comrades, then stapled copy by copy, and mailed out, very cheaply, to the SDS chapters and individual subscribers. At first, it was typed on a green plastic surface that allowed easy correction for errors."
Jacobin
Brown University Library
The Search for a Useable Past: An Interview with Paul Buhle on Radical America
W - Radical America

Fela Kuti & Egypt 80 - Arsenal TV3 Catalonian (1987)

Wikipedia -"... The musical style of Felá is called afrobeat, a style he largely created, which is a complex fusion of Jazz, Funk, Ghanaian/Nigerian High-life, psychedelic rock, and traditional West African chants and rhythms. Afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native 'tinker pan' African-style percussion that Kuti acquired while studying in Ghana with Hugh Masekela, under the uncanny Hedzoleh Soundz. The importance of the input of Tony Allen (Fela's drummer of twenty years) in the creation of Afrobeat cannot be overstated. Fela once famously stated that 'without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat'. Afrobeat is characterized by a fairly large band with many instruments, vocals, and a musical structure featuring jazzy, funky horn sections. A riff-based "endless groove" is used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted West African-style guitar, and melodic bass guitar riffs are repeated throughout the song. Commonly, interlocking melodic riffs and rhythms are introduced one by one, building the groove bit-by-bit and layer-by-layer. The horn section then becomes prominent, introducing other riffs and main melodic themes. Fela's band was notable for featuring two baritone saxophones, whereas most groups were using only one of this instrument. ..."
W - Fela Kuti
allmusic
YouTube: Arsenal TV3 Catalonian TV 36mins. approx.

Nuart Day 3 : Picking Up Pace and Sandra Chevrier’s Dramatic Eyes

Sandra Chevrier. Aftenblad Wall. Nuart 2015. Stavanger, Norway.
"A fever pitch is possibly overstating the tempo but not by much as Day 3 at Nuart continued to be wet and gray and at times a little windy (not typically good for stencil work by the way). A couple of people have gotten a cold – possibly due to painting in the rain for hours on end, possible due to drinking back at the hotel late into the evening, one cannot be quick to surmise. Regardless, the artists are full of industry and the results are appearing right here before your dramatic and alluring eyes. ..."
Brooklyn Street Art

Take a Labor Day Tour of Blue-Collar Art

America Today: City Building, 1930–31, Thomas Hart Benton
"'Poor art for poor people.' In the 1930s, the painter Arshile Gorky wielded that phrase like a weapon, disparaging what he saw as propagandist figurative art, art that often depicted and ennobled the American worker. And Gorky was far from alone in his scorn, as painting raced toward the purities of Abstract Expressionism. ... But the arrows of history and taste bend in mysterious ways. And with Labor Day at hand, New York finds itself — partly by happenstance, partly by design — in the middle of what might be described, with apologies to Gorky, as a rich moment for art about the working class, whose embattled existence is once again an issue in a presidential campaign. ..."
NY Times
Metropolitan Museum of Art: America Today: City Building, 1930–31, Thomas Hart Benton
Whitney: John Chamberlain, Velvet White, 1962
Reimagining Modernism—Expanding the Dialogue of Modern Art

Neil Young - Zuma (1975)

Wikipedia - "'Cortez the Killer' is a song by Neil Young from his 1975 album, Zuma. ... The song is about Hernán Cortés (Cortés' name has an alternate Anglicized spelling in the song title), a conquistador who conquered Mexico for Spain in the 16th century. 'Cortez the Killer' also makes reference to the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II and other events that occurred in the Spanish conquest of the New World. Instead of describing the battles of Cortés with the Aztecs, the lyric in the last verse suddenly jumps from third person narrative to first person, and possibly over a time span of centuries as well, with a reference to an unnamed woman: 'And I know she's living there / And she loves me to this day. / I still can't remember when / or how I lost my way.' The lyric suggests a lost love affair and brings a personal aspect to what was otherwise an historical narrative, suggesting a connection between broken relationships and the imperial invasion by someone else. ..."
Wikipedia
W - Zuma
Zuma by Neil Young
Neil Young's Use of North American History
YouTube: Cortez the Killer (Live), Cortez the Killer, Cortez the Killer (acoustic 1999)
YouTube: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Zuma (1975) [full album]

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, 2013 April: Thoughts On An Artist / Three Compilations, 2013 August: Heart of Gold, 2014 March: Dead Man (1995), 2014 August: Ragged Glory - Neil Young + Crazy Horse (1990), 2014 November: Broken Arrow (1996), 2015 January: Rust Never Sleeps (1979), 2015 January: Neil Young the Ultimate Guide, 2015 March: Old Black.

Hip Hop Family Tree 1975-1983 Gift Box Set

"To celebrate the resounding critical and commercial success of the first two volumes of Ed Piskor’s unprecedented history of Hip Hop, we are offering the two books in a mind-blowingly colorful slipcase, drawn and designed by the artist. As if that’s not enough, in addition to the two books and the slipcase itself, Piskor has drawn a 24-page comic book ― Hip Hop Family Tree #300 ― specifically for this boxed set that elegantly reflects the confluence of hip hop and comics, which was never more apparent in the early 1990s than with the famous Spike Lee-directed Levi Jeans commercial starring Rob Liefeld, who went on to create Youngblood and co-found Image Comics, not to mention ending up on the radar of gangster rapper Eazy E. Piskor tells this story as a perfect parody/pastiche/homage to ’90s Image comics. Full color."
amazon: Hip Hop Family Tree 1975-1983 Gift Box Set
Ed Piskor Is Making Hip-Hop History, One Panel at a Time
5 Questions with Ed Piskor

2012 January: The Hip-Hop Family Tree: A Look Into the Viral Propagation of a Culture, 2012 August: ‘Hip Hop Family Tree’ Comics Explain Genesis of the Genre, 2013 October: The Hip Hop Family Tree.

Tom Waits On The Tube Live UK TV 1985

"Tom Waits：Vocal, Victor Feldman：Bass marimba, Larry Taylor：Acoustic bass, Randy Aldcroft：Baritone horn, Stephen Taylor Arvizu Hodges：Drums, Fred Tackett: Electric guitar.
Rattle Big Black Bones
in the Danger zone
there's a rumblin' groan
down below
there's a big dark town
it's a place I've found
there's a world going on
UNDERGROUND"
YouTube: Tom Waits On The Tube Live UK TV 1985

2012 July: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, 2013 March: Burma Shave, 2013 May: "Ol' '55", 2013 July: The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), 2014 January: Blood Money, 2014 March: Telephone call from Istanbul (1987), 2014 November: Rain Dogs (1985), 2015 February: Mule Variations (1999), 2015 April: Swordfishtrombones (1983), 2015 July: Alice (2002).