Muhammad Ali (1942 - 2016)

"Film footage of Muhammad Ali is used to sell everything from soft drinks to cars. The image we are spoon-fed is the improbably charismatic boxer, dancing in the ring and shouting 'I am the greatest.'
The present Muhammad Ali is also a very public figure, despite his near total inability to move or speak. His voice has been silenced by both his years of boxing and Parkinson’s disease. This Ali has been embraced by the establishment as a walking saint. In 1996, Ali was sent with his trembling hands to light the Olympic Torch in Atlanta. In 2002, he 'agreed to star in a Hollywood-produced advertising campaign, designed to explain America and the war in Afghanistan to the Muslim world.' Ali has been absorbed by the establishment as a legend — a harmless icon. ..."
Jacobin: The Hidden History of Muhammad Ali
W - Muhammad Ali
NY Times: President Obama’s Statement on Muhammad Ali (More Muhammad Ali Coverage)
The Atlantic: Remembering Muhammad Ali, the Greatest of All Time
NPR (Video)
NYPL: 5 Muhammad Ali Movies to Remember the Legend
NBC (Video)
YouTube: Top 10 Muhammad Ali Best Knockouts, Amazing Speed

Electric Paris

John Singer Sargent, In the Luxembourg Gardens, 1879
"Paris had been known as the City of Light long before the widespread use of gaslight and electricity. The name arose during the Enlightenment, when philosophers made Paris a center of ideas and of metaphorical illumination. By the mid-nineteenth century, the epithet became associated with the city’s adoption of artificial lighting: in the 1840s and 1850s, gas lamps were first installed, while electric versions began to proliferate by the end of the 1870s. Even as rivals, including Berlin, London, New York, and Chicago, increased the quantity of light in their rapidly electrified cities, Paris managed to maintain its reputation because of the beauty of its illuminations. Light remained and remains to this day a key signature of the French capital. ..."
Bruce Museum (Video)
NY Times: The City of Lights, When It Was First Lighted
Art New England

Turner’s Whaling Pictures

"This focus exhibition is the first to unite the series of four whaling scenes made by the British landscapist Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) near the end of his career. The quartet of paintings—comprising The Met's Whalers and its three companions in the Tate, London—were among the last seascapes exhibited by Turner, for whom marine subjects were a creative mainstay. Shown in pairs at the Royal Academy in London in 1845 and 1846, the whaling canvases confounded critics with their 'tumultuous surges' of brushwork and color, which threatened to obscure the motif, yet the pictures earned admiration for the brilliance and vitality of their overall effects. ..."
The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
NY Times: In Turner Paintings at the Met, the Bloody Business of Whaling

2014 May: Ruin Lust, 2014 September: The EY Exhibition: Late Turner – Painting Set Free

In France, a Political Football

A protester faces police with a torch and a bouquet of flowers in Lyon, 26
"The French Socialist government is facing increasing unrest over its proposed labor reforms, which may disrupt the Euro 2016 soccer championship. In late March, the Nuit debout movement resurrected Occupy-style assembly tactics in response to the proposed reforms. In May the government attempted to use Article 49.3 to bypass parliament and force through the legislation. Now French rail workers are on strike and potential strikes by other unions loom, possibly threatening the Euro 2016 soccer championship. Strikes by power plant operators are causing blackouts. At one point, the only paper appearing in France was the left-wing L’Humanité due to action by the printers. Behind the strikes is France's leading militant union, the CGT. In other news, the Louvre is closing due to recent flooding."
Metafilter

Nothing Here Now But The Recordings - William Burroughs (1981)

"It is the voice you notice first of all. It has the quality of one speaking beyond the grave, a croak that is authoritative and ravaged in equal measure. It is the voice that creaks out from a dark alley and nests under the skin. ... Nothing Here Now But The Recordings was originally compiled by Genesis P-Orridge and 'Sleazy' Peter Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle in 1980 from Burroughs' personal archive, and is re-released by Dais Records. As a collection of Burroughs' tape experiments, the tracks vary considerably in fidelity and length. Some are bursts of language and noise, shaped by chance operation. ..."
The Quietus
DAIS
Discogs
RealityStudio
Nothing Here Now But The Recordings: Listening to William Burroughs (Video)
UbuWeb: Nothing Here Now But The Recordings (Video)
YouTube: In Dub (Selected by Dub Spencer & Trance Hill - 2014)

2009 May: Cut-up technique - 1, 2010 March: Cut-up technique, 2010 December: The Evolution of the Cut-Up Technique in My Own Mag, 2012 August: The Nova Trilogy, 2014 February: William Burroughs at 100, 2014 September: The Ticket That Exploded, 2014 November: What Is Schizo-Culture? A Classic Conversation with William S. Burroughs, 2015 June: The Electronic Revolution (1971), 2015 August: Cut-Ups: William S. Burroughs 1914 – 2014, 2015 December: Destroy All Rational Thought, 2016 January: Commissioner of Sewers: A 1991 Profile of Beat Writer William S. Burroughs.

Archie Shepp - The Magic of Ju-Ju (1967)

"On this 1967 Impulse release, tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp unleashed his 18-minute tour de force 'The Magic of Ju-Ju,' combining free jazz tenor with steady frenetic African drumming. Shepp's emotional and fiery tenor takes off immediately, gradually morphing with the five percussionists -- Beaver Harris, Norman Connor, Ed Blackwell, Frank Charles, and Dennis Charles -- who perform on instruments including rhythm logs and talking drums. Shepp never loses the initial energy, moving forward like a man possessed as the drumming simultaneously builds into a fury. Upon the final three minutes, the trumpets of Martin Banks and Michael Zwerin make an abrupt brief appearance, apparently to ground the piece to a halt. This is one of Shepp's most chaotic yet rhythmically hypnotic pieces. ..."
allmusic (Video)
W - The Magic of Ju-Ju
LondonJazzCollector
Discogs
YouTube: The Magic of Ju-Ju (Full Album)

2015 March: Attica Blues (1972)

The Journey from Syria, Part One

"For more about Aboud Shalhoub’s family and the story behind “The Journey,” read an interview with the documentary’s director, Matthew Cassel. One afternoon last April, a Syrian jeweller named Aboud Shalhoub sat in a messy apartment in Istanbul, wrapping his legs in plastic film. For two and a half years, Shalhoub had tried to build a life in Turkey, away from the perils of wartime Damascus, where his wife, Christine, and their two young children would remain until he could afford to relocate them. As Shalhoub learned Turkish and took on several jobs, his children came to know him mostly through Skype calls. Finally, he decided that his best option was to travel to Europe as a refugee, apply for asylum, and submit paperwork for family reunification. If all went according to plan, his new country could facilitate travel out of Syria for Christine and the children. ..."
New Yorker (Video)

Dondestan (Revisited) - Robert Wyatt (1998)

"The original issue of Dondestan, one of Robert Wyatt's later, signature recordings, ran over budget, prompting him to release the album without an authoritative final mix. Wyatt, unlike many of the artists of his era, has often been in the unenviable position of having the original unmixed tapes of his records either disappear or get erased. Dondestan was the lone exception and he took full advantage. ... When this project was first announced, many of Wyatt's faithful were apprehensive, this writer included -- after all, why tamper with a masterpiece? There was no need for concern. The result made a great work of art a sublime one."
allmusic (Video)
Wikipedia
Domino
YouTube: Interview (Part One of Two), (Part Two of Two)
YouTube: Left on Man - Live BBC (2006)
YouTube: Dondestan Revisited (Full)

2010 November: Robert Wyatt, 2011 October: Sea Song, 2012 October: Comicopera, 2013 March: The Last Nightingale, 2013 September: Solar Flares Burn for You (2003), 2014 March: Cuckooland (2003), 2014 October: Robert Wyatt Story (BBC Four, 2001), 2014 December: Different Every Time (2014), 2016 March: Interviews (2014).

No gentle saint

"Roberto Clemente never got the chance to be old school. He died too young, at age 38, so long ago now that he has been gone longer than he was with us. That he is still remembered and revered more than four decades after his passing is a testament to the way he lived, with passion and pride, and the way he died, in a plane crash, while delivering humanitarian aid to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua on Dec. 31, 1972. ... But Clemente was no gentle saint, and the mythologizing of him, while done with good intentions, smooths over the jagged reality of his life and times and softens the important issues that he so fiercely raised during the middle of the 20th century and that remain relevant today, both in baseball and American society. ..."
The Undefeated

Enthralled by Sicily, Again - Francine Prose

"On the subject of travel, my father used to say: 'You can’t go back. Avoid the places you loved when you were young, because they’ll have changed, and you’ll be disappointed.' Occasionally my husband agrees, 'That’s right, you can’t go back.' But does that mean that the cities and countries where we were happiest and most enchanted must forever be crossed off the list of dreamed-of destinations? Can’t some places remain unspoiled (or possibly even improve)? And, at the very least, isn’t it interesting to see how different a place looks to us at various points in our lives? This spring, I decided to find the answer to some of these questions by revisiting Sicily, one of my favorite places on earth. ..."
NY Times (Slide Show)
W - Sicily
Telegraph - A perfect holiday in Sicily: our expert's ultimate two-week itinerary
YouTube: The Best of Sicily

How Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick Wrote ‘White Rabbit’

"When Grace Slick wrote 'White Rabbit' in late 1965, she never imagined the song would pave the way for psychedelic rock and inspire several generations of lead female rock singers, including Pink, who covers it in the new film 'Alice Through the Looking Glass.' Released originally by Jefferson Airplane in February 1967 on its 'Surrealistic Pillow' album and then as a single that June, 'White Rabbit' peaked at No. 8 on Billboard’s pop chart. The brooding bolero has been interpreted by dozens of rock and jazz artists and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. Earlier this year, Ms. Slick, 76, spoke about the song she composed on a red piano, and her trippy lyrics based on 'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.' ..."
WSJ (Video)
W - "White Rabbit"
A Shroud of Thoughts

2012 March: "The House at Pooneil"

Clockers - Spike Lee (1995)

Wikipedia - "Clockers is a 1995 American crime drama film directed by Spike Lee. It is an adaptation of the eponymous 1992 novel by Richard Price, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Lee. The film stars Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Delroy Lindo, and Mekhi Phifer in his debut film role. Set in New York City, Clockers tells the story of Strike (Phifer), a street-level drug dealer who becomes entangled in a murder investigation. In a Brooklyn housing project, a group of clockers — street-level drug dealers — sell drugs for Rodney Little (Delroy Lindo), a local drug lord. Rodney tells Ronald 'Strike' Dunham (Mekhi Phifer), one of his lead clockers, that another dealer, Darryl Adams (Steve White), is stealing from him and 'got to be got', implying that he wants Strike to kill Darryl. ..."
Wikipedia
W - Clockers (novel)
Roger Ebert
NY Times: In a Hell of Drugs and Despair
YouTube: Clockers - Trailer, CHILDREN OF THE GHETTO

2009 January: Spike Lee, 2014 June: Do the Right Thing (1989)

Punk 1976-78

"Starting with the impact of the Sex Pistols in 1976, the exhibition explores punk’s early days in the capital and reveals how its remarkable influence spread across music, fashion, print and graphic styles nationwide. Showcasing a range of fanzines, flyers, recordings and record sleeves from the British Library’s collections alongside rare material from the archives held at Liverpool John Moores University, including items from England's Dreaming: The Jon Savage Archive, it celebrates the enduring influence of punk as a radical musical, artistic and political movement."
British Library
British Library - Punk 1976-78 at the British Library: a new 40th anniversary exhibition exploring the formative years of this musical phenomenon
Guardian - Happy Birthday Punk: the British Library celebrates 40 years of anarchy and innovation
Punk 1976-78: Sex Pistols and the rise of punk rock documented at the British Library
Punk London

Lawrence Ferlinghetti - "Baseball Canto" (1972)

"Watching baseball, sitting in the sun, reading Ezra Pound. Lawrence Ferlinghetti wants an Hispanic or African American [not 'Chicano' per se] member of the San Francisco Giants to hit a hole through the Anglo-Saxon epic. He sees Willie Mays flee around the bases as if being chased by the United Fruit Company. The entire panoply of political consequences of his love of the American Other are played out in front of him on the diamond, the nation's traditional (and Irish coplike ump-dominated) game. It's a schticky performance, as so many Ferlinghetti's performances are, but the 'revolution round the loaded white bases, / in this last of the great Anglo-Saxon epics, / in the territorio libre of Baseball,' is certainly affecting. ..."
Jacket2 - The territorio libre of baseball
Cosmic Baseball - Lawrence Ferlinghetti: "Baseball Canto"
YouTube: Lawrence Ferlinghetti - "Baseball Canto"

2010 November: The Wrong Side, 2015 April: The literary Coney Island

John Cohen: Here and Gone, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie & the 1960s

"John Cohen was a founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers, one of the American folk revival's most authentic and respected musical groups. In the 1960s he made a series of photographs of the last years of Woody Guthrie's life, and early portraits of Bob Dylan on his arrival in New York, depicting two titans of American music at opposite ends of their careers. In the process, Cohen portrayed one of the great moments of American folk music history. ... In 1970, Dylan requested Cohen make another set of color photographs of him with a camera that could take photographs from a block away. He was portrayed walking unrecognized on the streets of the city and at a farm in upstate New York. The photographs were used in Dylan's album Self Portrait."
art book
Old Time Party (Video)
amazon

For an Alicia Keys Video, Choreographing Spontaneity

"How do you plan a spontaneous-looking dance party? That was one task facing the choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall on the Brooklyn set of the music video for 'In Common,' the nonchalantly danceable new single from Alicia Keys. Directed by Pierre Debusschere in high-definition black and white, the video features about a dozen dancers for whom the term 'backup' doesn’t apply. They are front and center. As Ms. Keys sings from her perch on a free-standing fire escape, intimate duets, seductive solos and euphoric jam sessions unfold on an abstracted city street below. ... The formidable Niv Acosta, best known in the New York downtown dance and theater scene, floats toward the camera, vogueing with a sultry stare. ..."
NY Times (Video)
Celia Rowlson Hall (Video)
Celia Rowlson Hall - Choreography - (Video)
Pierre Debusschere (Video)
Niv Acosta
vimeo: Celia Rowlson Hall

Jah Shaka - Jah Shaka Presents the Positive Message (2009)

"American reggae fans tend to know Jah Shaka, if at all, as the producer under whose name a series of excellent instrumental dub albums were released in the 1970s. But in England he's known for operating one of the most successful and longest-lived traditional reggae sound systems -- a mobile, open-air, DJ-driven dance party -- in the country. This disc is a compilation of roots reggae tracks selected by Jah Shaka, as if for a sound system dance, and it demonstrates what has set him apart from his peers: not only an unrelenting focus on roots-and-culture material (to the strict exclusion of dancehall vulgarity, or 'slackness') but a deep knowledge of reggae history that never devolves into mere cleverness or snobbery. ... Jah Shaka's particular genius seems to be for creating dance sets that simultaneously promote enthusiastic skanking and thoughtful introspection."
allmusic (Video)
YouTube: The Positive Message (Album)

Tom Waits - Real Gone (2002)

"18th proper studio album from the gruff-voiced singer/songwriter serves marks a departure from 2002's Alice and Blood Money, with an emphasis on mouth-made percussion. Avant-garde guitarist Marc Ribot guests for the first time since 1999's Mule Variations, while other notable contributors include Primus' Les Claypool and Brain Manita, and Waits' son Casey. Tom Waits sings with his eyes closed, face squished tight, arms jerking, elbows popping, his entire body curled small and fetal around the microphone stand. Waits' mouth is barely open, but his ears are perked high, perfectly straight, craning skyward, stretching out: Tom Waits is channeling frequencies that the rest of us cannot hear. ..."
Pitchfork
allmusic (Video)
W - Real Gone
YouTube: Make It Rain (Letterman 09.09.04)
YouTube: Real Gone (full album)

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), 2015 September: Tom Waits On The Tube Live UK TV 1985, 2015 December: Franks Wild Years (1987), 2016 January: "Bad as Me" (2011), 2016 April: 'It's perfect madness'.

The Met Breuer

"After a year and a half of anticipation, the revered Metropolitan Museum of Art has finally taken over the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue, promising to broaden and deepen its involvement with modern and contemporary art. Rebranded as the Met Breuer — with the subtlest sprucing up by architects Beyer Blinder Belle — this move is the first step of a plan that will include a $600 million new wing in the Met’s Fifth Avenue building as well. For those who wondered if the Met would challenge the Museum of Modern Art or the downtown Whitney, the two opening shows at the Met Breuer feel more like a toe in the water of contemporary art than the expected plunge. ..."
NY Times: At the Met Breuer, Thinking Inside the Box
W - Met Breuer
NY Times: A Look at the Met Breuer Before the Doors Open
Guardian: The Met Breuer review – museum's new outpost has an uncertain start
ARTFORUM: The Met Breuer (Video)

John Sloan, "Roof, Summer Night," 1906

"... Roof, Summer Night and Night Windows from the New York City Life series reflect Sloan's close observations of apartment dwellers. A number of etchings in this exhibition will evoke a wry smile as Sloan's commentaries on modern life are often humorous and satirical. This exhibition also examines the technical aspects of John Sloan's etchings throughout his career. Etching is a technique in which a design is chemically eroded into the plate. The artist scratches lines into a layer of emulsion on a copper plate using a needle. The plate is bathed in acid, which bites into the plate where the lines have been drawn. The plate is inked and an impression is made. Sloan taught himself etching, a technique employed by artists since the sixteenth century, by studying one of several 'how-to' manuals available in the 1880s. ..."
John Sloan's Etchings: Imagination, Invention, and a Passion for "Needling In"

A Huge Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music (1920-2007) Featuring John Cage, Sun Ra, Captain Beefheart & More

"If you’ve taken any introductory course or even read any introductory books on music, you’ll almost certainly have heard it described as 'organized sound.' Fair enough, but then what do you call disorganized sound? Why, noise of course. And all this makes perfect sense until your first encounter with the seemingly paradoxical but robust and ever-expanding tradition of noise music. ..."
Open Culture (Video)

Inside the Thorny Art Gallery Ecosystem

"What does an art gallery do for an artist? People buy art for a number of reasons, and art galleries are judicious about who a work of art sells to and how that can elevate an artist’s profile. This short film explains how the tricky business of buying and dealing artwork has evolved over time and changed with technology. It’s the second in a series of short films from Artsy and UBS, titled 'The Art Market (in Four Parts),' that aims to make sense of the unregulated art world—you can watch the first one, on art auctions, here. The films were directed by Oscar Boyson, and can be seen on Artsy as well as on UBS's online art portal."
The Atlantic (Video)

Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby (1976)

"It takes the better part of an hour to ride the F train from the East Village to Coney Island, but it feels much longer. Because you're not just traveling through the boroughs but back through the decades as well, to a place where it's 1953 all the time-- a fairground fantasia that looks as if it's about to be swallowed by the imposing, endless expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. Coney Island feels like the last stop before the edge of the world. It's our collective vision of impending death, writ large in Ferris-wheel lights and cotton candy: One last flash of childhood nostalgia before we disappear into the void. ..."
Pitchfork
allmusic (Video)
W - Coney Island Baby
YouTube: Coney Island Baby (Live), Coney Island Baby (Live 29.10.1976), Kicks - '76, She's My Best Friend Live 1976, A Gift
YouTube: Crazy Feeling, Charley's Girl, Ooohhh Baby, Nobody's Business

2010 August: Heroin, 2011 June: All Tomorrow's Parties - The Velvet Underground, 2011 June: The Velvet Underground, 2012 November: Songs for Drella - Lou Reed and John Cale, 2013 October: Lou Reed (1942 - 2013), 2014 June: The Bells (1979), 2014 August: New York (1989), 2015 June: Capitol Theatre Passaic, NJ 9/25/1984, 2015 October: The Blue Mask (1982), 2016 March: New Sensations (1984).

#TBT – DJ Eleven – Soul 1

Bobby Womack
"TBT this week to Eleven’s smooth as silk “Soul 1” mixtape that’s been around for quite some time now. It still sounds great to this day primarily because of the classic nature of so much of the tracklist. Blended with ease as he’s well known for doing, Eleven drops essentials from Bobby Womack, Sade, Mary J. Blige, Lonnie Liston Smith, Outkast and more like it’s nothing. Late spring soulful vibes are always very real and this mix is well worth the revisit to tap right into that mindset. Stream and download are below. ..."
The Rub (Video)

Renata Davis

"I am Renata Davis and I am an animator and I recently received my BFA in animation from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. I grew up in Burlington, VT but I currently spend my time in Boston, MA. I use a variety of different styles and techniques in my animation work. I work in both traditional and digital media, focusing on a handmade feel. I have screened work locally in Boston as well as internationally. When I'm not working on films I enjoy making comics and writing poetry. ..."
Renata Davis
vimeo: Renata Davis
tumblr: Renata Davis
instagram

Moses Smith - Girl Across The Street (1968)

"Looking through my records, and I checked my copy of Moses Smith. According to Johnny Manship it is very difficult to tell the original from the boot. I always though mine was a boot, although it could be original, I bought it on the way to Wigan form someones box. Anyway, JM says that the original has LW BF A in the runout, as has mine. But he says the record dips 1/3 inch from the centre. Mine certainly dips, but more like 1/2 " from the centre. Can anyone confirm the original, and if it is, approximate value."
Soul Source
YouTube: Girl Across The Street

2012 October: Northern Soul, 2012 December: The obsession that is Northern Soul, 2013 November: Poor-Man's Speed: Coming of Age in Wigan's Anarchic Northern Soul Scene, 2014 May: Northern Soul: Keeping The Faith - The Culture Show, 2014 September: Sam Dees - Lonely for You Baby.

Neanderthals built mysterious cave structures 175,000 years ago

"Mysterious structures found deep inside a French cave are the work of Neanderthal builders who lived in the region more than 100,000 years before modern humans set foot in Europe. The extraordinary constructions are made from nearly 400 stalagmites that have been yanked from the ground and stacked on top of one another to produce rudimentary walls on the damp cave floor. The most prominent formations are two ringed walls, built four layers deep in places, which appear to have been propped up with stalagmites wedged in place as vertical stays. The largest of the walls is nearly seven metres across and, where intact, stands up to 40cm high. ..."
Guardian (Video)

Gilbert Sorrentino - A View from the Ridge (2006)

Splendide-Hôtel (1982)
"If you get on the downtown Fourth Avenue Local (that's the R train to Brooklyn newcomers) in midtown, you'll cross under the East River, turn in roughly the opposite direction from hipster-infested Williamsburg, skirt the edge of writer-heavy Park Slope, and eventually arrive at the Eighty-sixth Street station, in the heart of the guaranteed literary-mystique-free white ethnic enclave of Bay Ridge. Which I did one sultry August afternoon in return-of-the-native fashion, walking past the location of the now extinct record store where I bought my first 45s ('He's a Rebel' and 'Monster Mash'), the still flourishing Leemark Lanes, where I bowled unironically and unalone, and the car lots and body shops for which the neighborhood is justly famed, to arrive at the not quite accurately named Bridgeview Diner, an establishment featuring several acres of faux marble and silvered mirrors, to share coffee and conversation with another native son, the novelist Gilbert Sorrentino. ..."
Bookforum

2012 January: Gilbert Sorrentino, 2015 April: The Orangery (1978), 2015 December: An Introduction to Novelist Gilbert Sorrentino’s Bay Ridge.

Some Blues But Not the Kind That's Blue - Sun Ra and his Arkestra (1977)

"Fantastic. Another rare Saturn release makes its way into the digital realm. This time, it's Some Blues But Not the Kind That's Blue, a nice 1977 date that's heavy on standards. Aside from the two Sun Ra tunes (one of which had been unreleased prior to this), this is a pretty inside date with some major statements from Ra on piano and John Gilmore on tenor. Everyone gets a bit of solo room, and the flutes and bass clarinet add some really nice colors, especially on 'My Favorite Things,' a song so closely identified with the John Coltrane Quartet that this version is almost startling in its contrast to Coltrane's myriad versions. Aside from the title track and the two earlier bonus takes of 'I'll Get By,' there is no bass player present, the low end falling mostly to Ra's piano. ... Although the Arkestra is notorious for its outside playing and cacophonous tendencies, this album shows they could play it straight as well as anyone in the game. Wonderful stuff."
allmusic (Video)
W - Some Blues But Not the Kind That's Blue
Sun Ra Sunday
amazon
YouTube: Amen, Meni Many Amens, Saturn, Make Another Mistake, Some Blues But Not the Kind That's Blue, I'll Get By, Nature Boy, Outer Reach Intense Energy (Bonus Track)

Turkey’s Authoritarian Turn

"Last week, the deal between Turkey and the European Union meant to address the refugee crisis came into effect. Under the agreement, refugees who arrive in Greece may be sent back to Turkey, who, despite its policy of only granting refugee status to Europeans, will receive $3.3 billion in aid and the 'unfreezing' of its EU membership bid. The deal’s ratification implies that Europe will turn a blind eye to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ongoing offensive against the Kurds and their allies within the country. ..."
Jacobin

2016 February: The Feminist, Democratic Leftists Our Military Is Obliterating -  Debbie Bookchin

Which Rock Star Will Historians of the Future Remember?

"... But envisioning this process with rock music is harder. Almost anything can be labeled 'rock': Metallica, ABBA, Mannheim Steamroller, a haircut, a muffler. If you’re a successful tax lawyer who owns a hot tub, clients will refer to you as a 'rock-star C.P.A.' when describing your business to less-hip neighbors. The defining music of the first half of the 20th century was jazz; the defining music of the second half of the 20th century was rock, but with an ideology and saturation far more pervasive. Only television surpasses its influence. And pretty much from the moment it came into being, people who liked rock insisted it was dying. The critic Richard Meltzer supposedly claimed that rock was already dead in 1968. ..."
NY Times

Stephen’s Green

"St Stephen’s Green, known informally as Stephen’s Green or simply the Green, is a public park located in the heart of Dublin. Historically, that stretch of land which would eventually become St Stephen’s Green began its life as a marshy plot. The website for Ireland’s Office of Public Works notes that the 'name St Stephen’s Green originates from a church called St Stephen’s in that area in the thirteenth century' and that the area originally was used by the citizens of the city of Dublin to graze their livestock. ... In The Joycean Way, Bidwell and Heffer explain that the 'central portion was planted and lots… were distributed among some of the city’s more prosperous citizens. [The citizens] were not required to build, and for some time much of the south and east side was retained in agriculture and grazing' as it had been prior to its creation (140). ..."
Mapping Dubliners Project

2011 March: Passages from James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" (1965-67), 2010 March: Ulysses Seen, 2013 February: ULYSSES “SEEN” is moving to Dublin!, 2013: Dubliners, 2014 May: The Dead (1987 film), 2014 May: “Have I Ever Left It?” by Mark O'Connell, 2014 July: Digital Dubliners, 2014 September: Read "Ulysses Seen", A Graphic Novel Adaptation of James Joyce’s Classic, 2015 January: The Mapping Dubliners Project, 2015 February: Davy Byrne’s, 2016 January: Port and Docks, 2016 February: Hear James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake Read Unabridged & Set to Music By 17 Different Artists, 2016 April: Nassau Street.

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.22.16

"No time to talk, you’ve been running to the streets to see new pieces and peaches like a new D*Face in Soho, Rubin’s solo show in the Bronx, the Brooklyn-themed pop up at Doyle’s Auction house in Manhattan, Swoon and Shep and Swizz at Pearly’s in LA, the Social Sticker club collabo melee with Roycer and Buttsup at a bar in Williamsburg, and the growing collection of rocking new Coney Art Walls. Also, Post-It Wars in corporate agency-land Manhattan. Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 1Penemy, BG 183 Tats Cru, Bio, Bristol, Daze, D*Face, Eric Haze, Goms, Nicer, Nova, Pegasus, POE, Stikki Peaches, Thiago Gomez, and Word to Mother."
Brooklyn Street Art (Video)

The Hypnotic Clamor of Morocco

Moroccan musicians, 1959
"In 1931, a twenty-one-year-old American composer in Paris named Paul Bowles visited Morocco at the suggestion of Gertrude Stein. His travel companion was his composition teacher, Aaron Copland. They rented a home in Tangier, where Bowles, a composer of svelte, jazzy music in the Poulenc mould, wrote one of his first scores, an impressionistic piano piece called 'Tamamar,' after a village in the Atlas mountains. Copland was unsettled by the clamor of drums during wedding season, and thought Tangier a 'madhouse,' but Bowles was enraptured. He collected 78s of local music, just as he had collected old blues recordings back home, and sent copies to Béla Bartók. ..."
NYBooks (Video)
Music of Morocco: Recorded by Paul Bowles, 1959 (Video)
Paul Bowles in Morocco: The Lost Recordings (Video)
Pitchfork (Video)
amazon
YouTube: Si Mohammed Bel Hassan Soudani – Fulani Iresa (Marrakech), An unidentified ensemble - Gnaoua Chorus (Essaouira), Maalem Mohammed Rhiata and ensemble, from the region of Taounate - Taqtoqa Jabaliya (Fez), Maalem Abdeslam Sarsi el Mahet - Aiyowa d’Moulay Abdeslam Rhaita Solo (Arcila), Maalem Mohammed Rhiata and ensemble, from the region of Taounate - Taqtoqa Jabaliya (Fez), Rais Mahamad ben Mohammed and ensemble - Aouada Trio (Tamanar), Maallem Ahmed and ensemble - Ahmeilou (Tafraout), Maallem Ahmed Gacha and ensemble - Albazaoua Women’s Chorus (Ait Ourir)

2007 November: The Authorized Paul Bowles Web Site, 2010 February: Paul Bowles (1910-1999), 2011: January: Halfmoon (1996), 2013 July: Tellus #23 - The Voices of Paul Bowles, 2014 January: Let It Come Down: the Life of Paul Bowles (1998), 2014 March: The Sheltering Sky (1949), 2015 January: Things Gone & Things Still Here, 2015 October: The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles – a cautionary tale for tourists, 2015 November: The Rolling Stone Interview (May 23, 1974).

Color-aid

"The Full Set contains the complete range of 314 matt-finished colors. The system consists of 34 vivid hues (saturated colors), 100 tints (clean, light colors), 47 shades (dark, deep colors), 114 pastels (muted, or soft colors) and 17 grays from dark to light, plus black and white. Note that the Full Set has 114 pastels compared to 36 in the Standard Set. Pastels comprise the majority of colors we see around us and therefore form an important part in the study and application of color in art and design."
Color-aid
amazon

"Twenty-something" - Pet Shop Boys (2016)

"... A shot from the dark, a lightning bolt, a rattle of the cage: a great single can feel like all of those, and the Pet Shop Boys know that. They have plenty of them in the tank, after all, and their new one, 'Twenty-something', is full of their trademarks: a nagging, electronic riff, a proper narrative, oceans of melancholy just around the corner, and that vocal of Neil Tennant’s, unwithered by the years, simultaneously vulnerable and strong. The Pet Shop Boys’ singles, at their best, are like perfect short stories, giving quick glimpses into lives, appearing then disappearing, but lingering bright and long in the mind. ..."
Guardian: Pet Shop Boys' new video proves they're the ultimate singles band (Video)
YouTube: Twenty-something

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, 2013 November: Leaving, 2014 April: Introspective (1988), 2014 August: Go West, 2015 January: "So Hard"(1990), 2015 February: "I'm with Stupid" (2006), 2015 July: Thursday EP (2014).

Barbizon through Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Clark

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Marie-Thérèse Durand-Ruel Sewing, 1882
"The international tour of French nineteenth-century paintings from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute made its ninth stop at the Shanghai Museum. The Clark’s world tour has drawn more than 1.6 million visitors since it began in October 2010. Open to the public from September 18–December 1, 2013, the exhibition in Shanghai features seventy-three paintings, including works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, and Camille Pissarro, as well as those by Pierre Bonnard, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Paul Gauguin, Jean-François Millet, Alfred Sisley, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Jean-Léon Gérôme. Visit the Masterpiece Gallery to view the works included in the exhibition."
The Clark
The Clark: Slideshows
amazon: Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism

2015 October: The Age of Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

Spool's Out: Tape Reviews For April With Tristan Bath

Sketch for Winter VI: Other States - Danny Paul Grody
"From Polish underground techno to music made just using wine glasses - it can only be Tristan Bath's monthly exploration into the world of cassettes. TALsounds - the solo project of Chicago-based artist Natalie Chami - recorded an exclusive live session for Spool’s Out. We broadcast the thing a few weeks ago on the Spool’s Out radio show on London’s Resonance FM. The episode can still be streamed in full above. ..."
The Quietus (Video)
The Quietus: Spool’s Out with Tristan Bath: The Top 20 Tapes Of 2015 (Video)
The Quietus: Features

2013 December: Spool's Out: 2013's Best Tapes Reviewed, 2014 January: Spool's Out: A Cassette Reviews Column For January, 2014 March: Spools Out 3: A Cassette Reviews Column For March, 2014 December: Spools Out's Out: Tristan Bath's Top Tapes Of 2014.

The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball - Roberto Gonzlez Echevarria (1999)

"... Baseball has been a source of pride for generations in Cuba, its love affair with the game almost as long and rich as that of the United States. Cuba's main exports once were sugar and major league ballplayers. But after Fidel Castro's takeover in 1959, Cuban baseball plummeted into virtual irrelevance, with only the occasional recent defector (such as the Yankees' Orlando Hernndez) reminding the world of the baseball talent and history Cuba retains, hidden beneath Castro's protective dome. Roberto Gonzlez Echevarria ventures inside that bubble with his history of Cuban baseball, The Pride of Havana. ..."
NY Times: Where Have You Gone, Martin Dihigo?
NY Times: The Pride of Havana - A History of Cuban Baseball By ROBERTO GONZÁLEZ ECHEVARRÍA
NEH
amazon

Sonny Rollins Plus 4 (1956)

"1956, Sonny Rollins was spiritually and physically rejuvenated. And on Sonny Rollins Plus 4, he's clearly inspired by Max Roach and Clifford Brown's depth of spirit. Multi-dimensional re-arrangements of popular songs were a Brown-Roach trademark. ... 'I Feel a Song Coming On' creates tension by alternating a vamp figure with a swinging release. Rollins takes an immense solo, contrasting chanting figures and foghorn-like long tones with Parker-ish elisions, and Brown answers with buzzing figures and daring harmonic extensions. ... On 'Valse Hot,' there's an early example of a successful jazz waltz as Rollins offers up one of his most charming themes.  ..."
allmusic
W - Sonny Rollins Plus 4
Discogs
LondonJazzCollector (Video)
YouTube: Sonny Rollins Plus 4 32:30

2012 September: The Singular Sound of Sonny Rollins, 2012 December: Village Vanguard, 2015 September: Rollins Plays for Bird (1957), 2016 February: Saxophone Colossus (1956).

Renée Cox

River Queen
Wikipedia - "Renée Cox (born 1960 in Jamaica) is a Jamaican-American artist, photographer, lecturer, political activist and curator. Her work is considered part of the feminist art movement in the United States. Cox currently lives and works out of New York. ... Renée Cox is known for her bold, politically motivated self-portraits. The photographs often play upon and subvert classical art historical images. Cox is famous for her two alter-egos Yo Mama and Raje, both bold, black women who are out to right the injustices of sexism and racism. As a student at Syracuse University Cox majored in Film Studies, but after graduating decided to devote her energy to still photography. She began as an Assistant Fashion Editor at Glamour Magazine and then moved to Paris to pursue a career as a fashion photographer. ..."
Wikipedia
Renée Cox (Video)
Brooklyn Museum
Renee Cox: Challenging Stereotypes and Empowering Minorities Through Art
Fear of a Black God – Renee Cox’s Yo Mama’s Last Supper
YouTube: Renee Cox - Photographer, Political Activist & Curator 1:29:24

The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner (1929)

"Two months ago, I started reading The Sound & The Fury by William Faulkner. And when I say reading, I mean hacking through its dense prose, line by disjointed line, progressing about two pages per day. I'm now about 150 pages in. But Faulkner's classic tale of a Southern family is a difficult book to end all difficult books. I didn't realize this when I started all those weeks ago. All I knew was that it had somehow wriggled free from my English Lit syllabus, and never came into my orbit since then. My progress has, however, been massively helped by a new edition from the Folio Society, which sees the first part of the book laid out in 14 different colors that represent different time zones in the narrative. ..."
Mashable
NY Times: Benjy’s Red-Letter Days - ‘The Sound and the Fury’ in 14 Colors
Folio Society: The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner
W - The Sound & The Fury
Guardian - Sarah Churchwell: rereading The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury: Commentary
amazon - The Sound and the Fury: The Corrected Text
YouTube: The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, p. 1 of 7 (audio book)

2011 September: Southern Gothic, 2014 February: William Faulkner, 2015 October: William Faulkner Draws Maps of Yoknapatawpha County, the Fictional Home of His Great Novels, 2015 November: Interviews William Faulkner, The Art of Fiction No. 12, 2016 April: Absalom, Absalom!! (1936).

The inside story of when Run‑DMC met Aerosmith and changed music forever

"It’s 1986. Rap music is explosive and on the rise but still misunderstood and barely represented in the mainstream. The leading innovators are Run-DMC, a trio from Queens who sport black leather jackets and unlaced Adidas sneakers. Two albums into their career, Joseph 'Run' Simmons, Darryl 'DMC' McDaniels and Jason 'Jam Master Jay' Mizell are already minor stars and musical revolutionaries. For their third album, producer Rick Rubin, a 22-year-old white kid from New York University, comes up with a crazy idea: He recruits Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the leaders of the down-and-out arena-rock group Aerosmith, to collaborate with Run-DMC on a new version of their 1970s staple 'Walk This Way.' The rappers hate the idea. The rockers, struggling with drugs and low record sales, don’t know what to make of Rubin’s pitch. ..."
Washington Post (Video)
YouTube: RUN-DMC - Walk This Way

2014 October: Watch Rick Rubin Return to His NYU Dorm Room, 2015 October: "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)" - DJ Premier, Rakim, Nas & Krs-One (2007)

New Arabic Fiction: 5 Contemporary Short Stories

"On his last visit to Cairo, the German translator Hartmut Fähndrich was despondent about the lack of interest in contemporary Arabic writing, and he offered this interesting explanation of Western reluctance to engage with Arabic literature: 'I think [readers] fear that it will destroy The Thousand and One Nights image they have in their minds.' ... Another possible reason for Western lack of interest in Arabic literature is the perception that, as a culturally foreign backwater, economically and intellectually inferior, the Arab world can solicit only a political or anthropological interest, not a purely literary one. Books that do not pander to this preconception by presenting an exoticized or oversimplified pro-democracy perspective on Arab life are therefore ignored. ... –Youssef Rahka"
Literary Hub
Literary Hub: Arabic Fiction

Edward Hopper, "Night Windows," 1928

"At the New York School of Art, where Hopper was enrolled from 1900 to 1905, his teacher Robert Henri told his students: 'Low art is just telling things; as, There is the night. High art gives the feel of the night. The latter is nearer reality although the former is a copy.' Night Windows is one among many of Hopper's paintings that show how thoroughly he had absorbed this precept. Returning to the United States in 1907 from his first trip to Paris, Hopper found it 'a chaos of ugliness'; nevertheless, it was the contemporary American city that he was to make his particular theme. He did not perceive New York astir with human activity, like Henri, admire the dynamism of its traffic and skyscrapers, like Marin, or distill its structures into abstract patterns, like the Precisionists. ..."
—from An Invitation to See: 150 Works from The Museum of Modern Art, by Helen M. Franc
An Analysis of Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper’s Paintings With Humorous Connotations – “Night Windows” (1928), “Conference at Night” (1949) and “Room in New York” (1932)
MoMA

Rapping, deconstructed: the best rhymers of all time

"There's a line in the first verse of MF Doom's track 'Beef Rapp' that encapsulates everything I love about rappers who create complex rhyming patterns in their songs. It goes like this: Whether it is animal, vegetable, or mineral / It's a miracle how he get so lyrical / And proceed to move the crowd like a old Negro spiritual. Not only is MF Doom talking about how he's a great rhymer, he's showing you. I spoke with Martin Connor, a writer and music theorist who analyzes the rhyming patterns, beats, and rhythmic techniques of some of the greatest rappers, to figure out just how rhyming in rap music has evolved.
Vox (Video)
Logic, Growing Pains, Rap Analysis (Video)
THE LARGEST VOCABULARY IN HIP HOP
Spotify: The Prose of Rhyming in Rap (Video)

Emmett Williams

Hello Out There..., 1989
Wikipedia - "Emmett Williams (4 April 1925 – 14 February 2007) was an American poet and visual artist. He was married to British visual artist Ann Nöel. Williams was born in Greenville, South Carolina, grew up in Virginia, and lived in Europe from 1949 to 1966. Williams studied poetry with John Crowe Ransom at Kenyon College, anthropology at the University of Paris, and worked as an assistant to the ethnologist Paul Radin in Switzerland. As an artist and poet, Emmett Williams collaborated with Daniel Spoerri and German poet Claus Bremer in the Darmstadt circle of concrete poetry from 1957 to 1959. ..."
Wikipedia
Emmett Williams
UMBRELLA /mar98 | INTERVIEW WITH EMMETT WILLIAMS: FLUXUS ARTIST EXTRAORDINAIRE
amazon: Emmett Williams
Discogs

Scaling the Heights: A Walk from the Base of Fort Tryon Park to W. 187th Street

"A walk along the high grounds of Fort Tryon Park and The Cloisters south to Washington Heights equals any stroll in more publicized parts of New York City. Not that this area remains much of a secret these days. The motivation for my most recent stroll was prompted by a story published in The New York Times on March 28, 2014 titled 'Downtown Food Goes North.' The story suggests that Upper Manhattan, until recently, was a culinary wasteland, with nothing contemporary (i.e. local, artisan, farm-to-market) to eat. ..."
Walking Off the Big Apple
W - Fort Tryon Park

The greatest electronic albums of the 1950s and 1960s

"... Experiments with recorded electronic music actually date back to the 1940s (hell, depending on how you define “electronic music”, they date back to the 1880s). As early as the mid-1950s, predominantly electronic LPs were already being pressed, marketed and sold to a willing (if slightly confused) public. Half a century down the line, many of these records still sound fantastic. Some are fascinating relics with plenty to say to the contemporary listener; others sound impossibly ahead of their time. ..."
The Vinyl Factory (Video)
YouTube: The greatest electronic albums of the 1950s and 1960s

Hear the Music of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks Played by the Experimental Band, Xiu Xiu: A Free Stream of Their New Album

"Last year, Colin Marshall highlighted for you the music of Xiu Xiu, the experimental post-punk band, which has traveled the world, playing their own interpretation of the music Angelo Badalamenti wrote for David Lynch’s early 1990s series, Twin Peaks. Our original post featured some of those live performances, and now comes a studio recording of those Twin Peaks interpretations. We’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you that you can stream the new album–called Plays the Music of Twin Peaks— free online. Just click play above. ..."
Open Culture (Video)

2008 September: Twin Peaks, 2010 March: Twin Peaks: How Laura Palmer's death marked the rebirth of TV drama, 2011 October: Twin Peaks: The Last Days, 2014 October: Welcome to Twin Peaks, 2015 June: David Lynch: ‘I’ve always loved Laura Palmer’, 2015 July: Twin Peaks Maps 2014 September: David Lynch: The Unified Field, 2014 December: David Lynch’s Bad Thoughts - J. Hoberman, 2015 March: Lumière and Company (1995), 2015 April: David Lynch Creates a Very Surreal Plug for Transcendental Meditation, 2015 December: What Is “Lynchian”?.