Visit John Ashbery’s Nest, Virtually

"Over the past few years, there has been a lot of attention paid to John Ashbery’s unusual and beautiful house in Hudson, New York, and its relationship to his poetry and aesthetics.  I’ve written about this before on a number of occasions, including about the concept behind 'The Ashbery Home School' writers retreat (which at least originally involved a visit to the Ashbery home), a recent gallery exhibit devoted to Ashbery as collector, and a gathering of critical essays on Ashbery’s 'created spaces' in Rain Taxi. If you aren’t one of the lucky few to be able to visit Ashbery’s home in person, rest easy: you can now visit this remarkable house virtually, thanks to 'John Ashbery’s Nest,' a stunning new project produced by Karin Roffman (who has just published a biography of Ashbery’s early years), in conjunction with the Yale Digital Humanities Lab. ..."
Locus Solus: The New York School of Poets

Cuba: The Conversation Continues - Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (2015)

"... The energy and buoyancy of political events led to Cuba: The Conversation Continues; a commemorative celebration this historical transition. The two-disc set opens with Prieto's "The Triumphant Journey," a swirl of horns and percussion that wraps up with powerful brass and reeds. Commissioned by the Apollo Theater and written by O'Farrill, the twenty-one minute 'The Afro Latin Jazz Suite' consists of four movements and strong performances from Rudresh Mahanthappa on alto sax and trumpeter Jim Seeley. As some of the movement titles imply, the suite is influenced by Islamic Northern Africa, Western Africa and the Americas and it is the expansive centerpiece of the first disc. ..."
All About Jazz
allmusic
NY Times - ‘Cuba: The Conversation Continues’ and ‘Live in Cuba’ Expand a Musical Dialogue
amazon, iTunes
YouTube: Arturo O'Farrill Presents 'Cuba: The Conversation Continues', La Puerta

A Long March for Justice in Turkey

The 280-mile march for democracy and justice, near Izmit, Turkey, this month.
"GEBZE, TURKEY — On June 15, I began walking from Ankara to Istanbul on a 280-mile march for democracy, justice and freedom from fear and authoritarian rule in Turkey. I am the leader of the Republican People’s Party, or C.H.P., the main opposition party in the Turkish Parliament. I set out with thousands of supporters from Ankara. As we walked through punishingly hot afternoons and plodded on through rain for the past three weeks, tens of thousands of Turkish citizens of varying political persuasions representing the diversity of our country joined us. We did not carry the signs of our political party but a simple placard that read: Justice. ..."
NY Times
NY Times: In Istanbul, ‘March for Justice’ Aims to Deliver Message to Erdogan

2016 February: The Feminist, Democratic Leftists Our Military Is Obliterating -  Debbie Bookchin, 2016 May: Turkey’s Authoritarian Turn, 2016 July: How Turkey Came to This, 2017 March: As repression deepens, Turkish artists and intellectuals fear the worst

Alistair MacLeod

Wikipedia - "Alistair MacLeod, OC FRSC (July 20, 1936 – April 20, 2014) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer and academic. His powerful and moving stories vividly evoke the beauty of Cape Breton Island's rugged landscape and the resilient character of many of its inhabitants, the descendants of Scottish immigrants, who are haunted by ancestral memories and who struggle to reconcile the past and the present. MacLeod has been praised for his verbal precision, his lyric intensity and his use of simple, direct language that seems rooted in an oral tradition. Although he is known as a master of the short story, MacLeod's 1999 novel No Great Mischief was voted Atlantic Canada's greatest book of all time. ... MacLeod taught English and creative writing for more than three decades at the University of Windsor, but returned every summer to the Cape Breton cabin on the MacLeod homestead where he did much of his writing. ..."
Wikipedia
A LESSON IN THE ART OF STORYTELLING: AN INTERVIEW WITH ALISTAIR MacLEOD
Guardian: Alistair MacLeod obituary
NY Times: Alistair MacLeod, a Novelist in No Hurry, Dies at 77

2011 June: The Lost Salt Gift of Blood - Alistair MacLeod, 2016 February: Island (2001), 2015 October: History of the Acadians, 2016 October: No Great Mischief (1999)

Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium

P15 Parangolé Cape 11, I Embody Revolt (P15 Parangolé Capa 12, Eu Incorporo a Revolta) worn by Nildo of Mangueira, 1967.
"Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium is the first full-scale U.S. retrospective in two decades of the Brazilian artist’s work. One of the most original artists of the twentieth century, Oiticica (1937—1980) made art that awakens us to our bodies, our senses, our feelings about being in the world: art that challenges us to assume a more active role. Beginning with geometric investigations in painting and drawing, Oiticica soon shifted to sculpture, architectural installations, writing, film, and large-scale environments of an increasingly immersive nature, works that transformed the viewer from a spectator into an active participant. The exhibition includes some of his large-scale installations, including Tropicalia and Eden, and examines the artist’s involvement with music and literature, as well as his response to politics and the social environment. ..."
Whitney
Carnegie Museum of Art
Chicago Reader: At the Art Institute, Hélio Oiticica is too organized
YouTube: 360 Footage: Helio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium – Eden (Nest)

The Pitfalls of Radical Feminism

Members of the Women's Trade Union League of New York pose with a banner calling for the eight-hour day in 1910.
"For many socialist feminists, critiquing liberal feminism is easy. Many of us came to socialism from liberalism and have a clear understanding of its limits and flaws. However, the history and substance of radical feminism is less well known. While the 'radical' in radical feminism seems to suggest a politics that socialists would embrace, a closer look reveals an ideology that’s incompatible with socialist feminism. Plagued by a narrow understanding of gendered oppression and a misguided strategy for change, radical feminism ultimately fails to offer women a clear path to liberation. ..."
Jacobin

Iraqi forces declare victory over Islamic State in Mosul after grueling battle

Isis militants and Iraqi troops have fought from house to house for every meter in the old city.
"MOSUL — Iraq’s prime minister showed up Sunday in the city of Mosul to declare victory in the nine-month battle for control of the Islamic State’s former capital in Iraq, signaling the near-end of the most grueling campaign against the extremist group to date and dealing a near-fatal blow to the survival of its self-declared caliphate. Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has arrived in Mosul to personally congratulate the Iraqi security forces 'on achieving victory,' a statement from his office said. The official Twitter account of the prime minister tweeted a photo of him shaking hands and congratulating Iraqi forces for liberating the city. ..."
Washington Post (Video)
NY Times: Iraqi Prime Minister Arrives in Mosul to Declare Victory Over ISIS
NY Times: The Islamic State Is Not Dead Yet

2014 August: The Islamic State, 2014 September: How ISIS Works, 2015 February: The Political Scene: The Evolution of Islamic Extremism, 2015 May: Zakaria: How ISIS shook the world, 2015 August: ISIS Blows Up Ancient Temple at Syria’s Palmyra Ruins, 2015 November: Times Insider: Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis, 2015 November: Three Teams of Coordinated Attackers Carried Out Assault on Paris, Officials Say; Hollande Blames ISIS, 2015 November: The French Emergency, 2015 December: A Brief History of ISIS, 2015 December: U.S. Seeks to Avoid Ground War Welcomed by Islamic State, 2016 January: Ramadi, Reclaimed by Iraq, Is in Ruins After ISIS Fight, 2016 February: Syrian Officer Gave a View of War. ISIS Came, and Silence Followed., 2016 March: Brussels Survivors Say Blasts Instantly Evoked Paris Attacks, 2016 April: America Can’t Do Much About ISIS, 2016 June: What the Islamic State Has Won and Lost, 2016 July: ISIS: The Cornened Beast, 2016 October: Archaeological Victims of ISIS Rise Again, as Replicas in Rome, 2016 December: Battle Over Aleppo Is Over, Russia Says, as Evacuation Deal Reached, 2017 January: Eternal Sites: From Bamiyan to Palmyra, 2017 February: Tour a City Torn in Half by ISIS, 2017 March: Engulfed in Battle, Mosul Civilians Run for Their Lives, 2017 May: Aleppo After the Fall.

Patti Smith Sang Some Lou Reed at a Gala For Anthology Film Archives’ Expansion

"... So needless to say, when I was somehow allowed to crash the Anthology Film Archives gala –a fancy fundraising party and art auction held last week to raise cash for the theater’s expansion– I was just slightly out of my realm. It was made all the more surreal by a performance from Patti Smith, and seeing people like John Waters, Zosia Mamet, and Zac Posen’s eyebrows all in one room. OK, so it wasn’t quite the Met Gala. But the theater’s DIY roots mean that Anthology has way more street cred than any froufrou uptown frolic could ever hope to have. ..."
Bedford + Bowery (Video)

2014 May: Anthology Film Archives, 2014 October: Captured: A Film/Video History of the Lower East Side, 2016 February: Jonas Mekas

A Graffiti Painted Cityscape: Laura Shechter Documents Street Art on Canvas

"... When you live in a city and see graffiti or Street Art the creators of the scene cannot hope to define everyone’s experience of their work. In fact, it is an entirely unique trip for each person. If Laura Shechter happened to capture a graffiti tag or throwie or Street Art wheat-paste or stencil or sticker in one of her careful and precise photo-based cityscapes, she probably didn’t see it as you did, because she may not see her city in the same way you do. Ms. Shechter has spent hours with these pieces; recreating, rendering, and documenting by hand and brush the coded chaos and conversation on city walls. For this painter it is about supporting the craft of the artists of this time – much in the same way that she used her earlier still life painting to support the craft of hand painted china from the 19th century. ..."
Brooklyn Street Art

Music of the African diaspora

Wikipedia - "Music of the African diaspora was mostly refined and developed during the period of slavery. Slaves did not have easy access to instruments, so vocal work took on new significance. Through chants and work songs people of African descent preserved elements of their African heritage while inventing new genres of music. The culmination of this great sublimation of musical energy into vocal work can be seen in genres as disparate as Gospel Music and Hip-Hop. The music of the African diaspora makes frequent use of ostinato, a motif or phrase which is persistently repeated at the same pitch. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody. The banjo is a direct decedent of the Akonting created by the Jola people, found in Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. Hence, the melodic traditions of the African diaspora are probably most alive in Blues and Jazz. ..."
Wikipedia
KFAI: Jazz Diaspora (Video)
eScholarship: Excerpt from Jazz Diasporas
U.California - Jazz Diasporas: Race, Music, and Migration in Post-World War II Paris
The South African Jazz Diaspora
Top 10 Albums of the South African Jazz Diaspora
South African Jazz Diaspora
YouTube: Ibrahim Maalouf - Diaspora, Dollar Brand Duo - Moniebah (The Pilgrim), Dudu Pukwana & Spear - Baloyi

African Jazz 'N' Jive

G-20 Protests Grip Hamburg, and Dozens Are Hurt

Demonstrators were hit by a police water cannon on Friday.
"HAMBURG — More than 10,000 protesters took to the streets of Hamburg again on Friday to vent their anger at the Group of 20 summit meeting and the global political and economic system. And once again, they were met with a huge police presence — hundreds of additional officers were called in after clashes left at least 196 officers and dozens of protesters injured. It started early in the day: There were sit-down protests under a rainbow display of umbrellas. Students marched, calling for social justice. And some people took to a fleet of rubber boats, demanding solidarity with refugees. Protesters were soon engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with the police, who lined city streets to block off the areas where gatherings were taking place. ..."
NY Times

The Art at the End of the World

The jetty was completed in 1970 but was later covered when the level of the Great Salt Lake rose. Around 1999, the water began to recede.
"... We were flying 2,000 miles to see more than 6,000 tons of black basalt rocks extending 1,500 feet into the Great Salt Lake in the shape of a counterclockwise vortex, designed by the most famous practitioner of ’70s land art, Robert Smithson. ‘It’s called the Spiral Jetty,’ I told them. I showed them pictures. I admitted that maybe ‘the end of the world’ wasn’t the best way to advertise what I hoped we would experience, even though previous visitors had described the landscape as hauntingly spare, as resembling how our planet might appear following a nuclear holocaust. Smithson’s gallerist, Virginia Dwan, said the jetty ‘was something otherworldly, but I hesitate to say hell, because I don’t mean everybody being tortured and so forth, but the feeling of aloneness, and of it being in a place that was unsafe, and something devilish, something devilish there.’ ..."
NY Times

2007 November: Robert Smithson, 2010 April: Spiral Jetty, 2012 March: Asphalt Rundown, Rome, 1969

Space, Energy & Light: Experimental Electronic And Acoustic Soundscapes 1961-88

"All of these artists used electronic advancements in music technology as a means of exploring not only space and the idea of the future, but also of looking inwards to the soul and of creating music in harmony with the natural world. From computer software and hardware experimentalists and sound pioneers such as Laurie Spiegel and Kevin Braheny, as well as Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company - the first synthesizer ensemble created in collaboration with Robert Moog - through to the earliest musique concrète experimentation of Tod Dockstader, the album shows how technological advancements and creative artistic expression went hand in hand. In the mid-1970s artists Steven Halpern and Iaxos were instrumental in creating proto-new age music, experimenting in both the healing properties of sound and its relationship with the natural world. ..."
boomkat (Video)
Discogs
Spotify
YouTube: J.B. Banfi - Gang (Rock for Industry) 1978, MICHAEL GARRISON - TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SKY, Iasos - Lueena Coast, Carl Matthews - As Above, So Below, Stratis - By Water, Steven Halpern - Starborn Suite, Laurie Spiegel - Improvisation on a 'Concerto Generator' 1977 (Live), Michael Stearns - In The Beginning..., Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Ever New, Richard Pinhas - Sur Le Theme De Bene Gesserit VII, Tod Dockstader - Piece #1, Ancient Stars - Kevin Braheny

The roof sunbathers of New York’s tar beaches

"Lying out to work on your tan just isn’t fashionable anymore. But sunbathers glistening with baby oil were once a ubiquitous summer sight on the city’s tar beaches. Tar beaches? That was the nickname New Yorkers gave the tarry black tenement or apartment house rooftop. Tenants would drag up a chair or blanket, maybe a book, radio or Walkman, and a cold drink, then pick a spot in the sun and happily bake themselves while taking a break from the crowds and noise many stories below. Up on a usually empty roof, there was the illusion of privacy. Of course anyone living above you could see you. But in an era before smartphone cameras and social media, it hardly mattered if curious neighbors stared. ..."
Ephemeral New York

Beautifully Designed Tiny Houses... For Birds

"Can't make the leap into tiny house life yourself? Maybe it's best left for the birds. Portland, ME artist Jada Fitch has woven her love for art, feathered folks, and stylish architecture into a series of impeccably appointed bird feeders. Fitch's artwork ranges from delicate realistic paintings of favored species to minute furniture design, and into DIY flat packing. All of the bird feeders feature a central benefit: you can stick them to the outside of your window and watch the feasting firsthand. ..."
core77

2008 September: Birds, 2008 June: Bird Songs, 2017 April: Of a Feather, 2017 June: Bird Sounds

Rhinozeros Archive

"Several months ago I received an email from an editor at Black Dog Publishing which operates out of London. Black Dog prints books on a variety of topics such as photography, architecture, film and design. They did a book on Independent record shops that I am dying to own. One of the publisher’s upcoming projects is a book on German rock, experimental and electronic music, and the 1960s counterculture. The editor contacted me for some images of Rhinozeros, a German little magazine published out of Hamburg, edited by brothers Rolf-Gunther and Klaus-Peter Dienst from 1960-1965. Klaus-Peter provided the iconic calligraphy. Burroughs appeared in four of the ten issues. I had Issues Five and Seven, which I purchased at the legendary Nelson Lyon Sale in 1999. I happily provided the images. ..."
RealityStudio
RealityStudio: Burroughs in Germany and Belgium
ruins or books

Can - The Singles (2017)

"Formed in Cologne, in the swell and fervour of the European student riots of 1968, Can were fashioned for spontaneous group action. Bassist and founding member Holger Czukay later said they became a rock band 'by coincidence. None of us were rock-oriented. But the only way to become an entire group with a new sound was to reduce ourselves.' They entered the sphere all but tabula rasa, a group of mottled musicians rapt by the notion of marching to the beat of their own drum. A diorama of rulebook-rescinding sound, The Singles portrays the full, heady transmogrification of Can from catalysts of the late 60s to nigh-on self-parodists of the late 80s. ..."
The Quietuus
NPR - Can's Singles To Be Reissued: Hear The Goofy Novelty 'Turtles Have Short Legs' (Video)
amazon
YouTube: The Singles 20 videos

2011 September: Can, 2011 February: Plight & Premonition, 2011 June: Persian Love, 2013 October: Flux + Mutability - David Sylvian and Holger Czukay (1989) , 2014 June: Holger Czukay - Der Osten Ist Rot, Rome Remains Rome (1984/7), 2016 March: Invaders Of The Heart - Jah Wobble (1982), 2017 April: Jah Wobble, The Edge, Holger Czukay - Snake Charmer (1983), 2017 June: The Legend Lives On… Jah Wobble In Betrayal (1980).

Noam Chomsky: Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy

"For 50 years, Noam Chomsky, has been America’s Socrates, our public pest with questions that sting. He speaks not to the city square of Athens but to a vast global village in pain and now, it seems, in danger. The world in trouble today still beats a path to Noam Chomsky’s door, if only because he’s been forthright for so long about a whirlwind coming. Not that the world quite knows what do with Noam Chomsky’s warnings of disaster in the making. Remember the famous faltering of the patrician TV host William F. Buckley Jr., meeting Chomsky’s icy anger about the war in Vietnam, in 1969. It’s a strange thing about Noam Chomsky: The New York Times calls him 'arguably' the most important public thinker alive, though the paper seldom quotes him, or argues with him, and giant pop-media stars on network television almost never do. ..."
The Nation
NY Times - Noam Chomsky: On Trump and the State of the Union

2011 January: Peak Oil and a Changing Climate, 2015 May: The Limits of Discourse As Demonstrated by Sam Harris and Noam Chomsky, 2015 October: Electing the President of an Empire, 2015 December: Noam Chomsky on Paris attacks, 2016 December: Chomsky: Humanity Faces Real and Imminent Threats to Our Survival, 2017 April: Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power (2016)

Fela & Egypt 80 ‎– Confusion Break Bone (1990)

"... In Confusion Break Bones(C.B.B.), Fela mentions the earlier song he wrote titled ‘CONFUSION’ where he compared the present African situation (with particular reference to Nigeria), as an example of a crossroad in the centre of town with a permanent traffic jam — '..na confusion be that oh!'. Despite this graphic picture painted in 'Confusion', some people feel optimistic that one day the Nigerian situation will improve: ‘…Nigeria go better!’, Fela felt the contrary because he did not share their optimism, he did not see why a continent as rich as Africa, with all the natural resources, will have the majority of their population existing below the poverty: ‘how country go make money and people of the country no see money’. Continuing, Fela says: ‘…I see many wrong things for Nigeria!’, citing as an example of such wrongs, the acts of economic sabotage perpetrated by people in high places, only to punish the poor for the fallout of such wrongs. ..."
afrobeat, afrofunk, afrojazz, afrorock, african boogie, african hiphop ...
Discogs
YouTube: Confusion Break Bone

Laurel Halo – Electronic Musician & Producer

"Laurel Halo (born Ina Cube) is an American electronic composer and producer based in Berlin. She began writing music when she was nineteen, drawing inspiration from Detroit dance music, time spent performing in free jazz groups, classical theory coursework, and her on-air DJ shifts at the University of Michigan's college radio station. She released a handful of EPs between 2006 and 2009, garnering a larger audience with the 2010 release of the King Felix EP on Hippos in Tanks. A year later, she collaborated with labelmates GAMES on the Hour Logic EP. A full-length, Quarantine, followed a few months later via Hyperdub. In 2013, she moved to Berlin and released the Behind the Green Door EP and the Chance of Rain LP. ..."
Amoeba (Video)

Brooklyn Art Library - The Sketchbook Project

"Brooklyn Art Library is home to The Sketchbook Project collection in its physical form. Our walls are lined with shelves that hold the tens of thousands of sketchbooks currently in the collection, created by artists from around the world. The library serves as a reading room where you can get cozy and spend an afternoon enjoying artwork in a hands-on experience with the help of our librarians. With so many books in the library, we’ve developed our own system that makes it easy for anyone to explore. Each book is individually barcoded and cataloged with searchable details, like where the book is from, the materials used, the artist’s name, tag words, and much more. Whether you are interested in seeing a book about robots, a book created in Berlin, or even books selected for you at random, you can search and explore using your own mobile device when in our space. ..."
The Sketchbook Project
Join the 33,000 artists in the mammoth Sketchbook Project
This Library Is Home To Tens Of Thousands Of Sketchbooks (Video)
Q & A | The Sketchbook Project’s Steven Peterman
amazon: The Sketchbook Project World Tour

Canterbury Sound

Wikipedia - "The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury Sound) is a subgenre of, or sibling to, progressive rock. The term describes a loosely defined style of music created by a number of improvisational musicians, some of whom were based in the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians played together in numerous bands, with ever-changing and overlapping personnel, creating some similarities in their musical output. Many prominent British avant-garde or fusion musicians began their career in Canterbury bands, including Hugh Hopper, Steve Hillage, Dave Stewart (the keyboardist), Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen, and Mike Ratledge. ..."
Wikipedia
CANTERBURY SCENE: A Progressive Rock Sub-genre
allmusic - Art-Rock/Experimental » Canterbury Scene
Spacial Anomaly (Video)
The Best Canterbury Scene Bands/Artists
YouTube: The Canterbury Scene: An Interview with Robert Wyatt - BBC South, The ultimate 'Canterbury Scene' Collection 2:08:36, The Canterbury Scene on BBC Prog Rock Britannia

Not Our Independence Day

A diorama depicting a battle in the Revolutionary War.
"The American Revolution is celebrated by many as liberal democracy’s inaugural triumph, a conflict that, in Lincoln’s words, 'brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.' This romantic narrative of the revolution still enjoys tremendous political currency, as the Right continues to deploy the memory of the Revolutionary War in the service of its agendas, from Tea Party tax paranoia to accusations of bureaucratic tyranny. More than anything, the American Revolution is celebrated as confirmation of American exceptionalism — a moral, political, and military victory so absolute that it justifies (and indeed mandates) two hundred years of American expansion across the globe. ..."
Jacobin

Sketching Performer Auditions for the M.T.A.

"Once a year, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority holds auditions for musicians to perform in subway and commuter train stations, and for the past couple of years, Joan Chiverton, an illustrator and music lover, has sketched the hopefuls. The auditions, which take place in Grand Central Terminal, have a festive atmosphere, starting with the master of ceremonies, Robert Holman, the poet and indefatigable poetry evangelist, who wears a referee’s striped shirt and blows a whistle on musicians who exceed their five-minute time limit. Because we all know the transportation agency will not tolerate delays. ..."
NY Times
MTA Arts & Design

Pond Scum - Henry David Thoreau’s moral myopia. By Kathryn Schulz

"On the evening of October 6, 1849, the hundred and twenty people aboard the brig St. John threw a party. The St. John was a so-called famine ship: Boston-bound from Galway, it was filled with passengers fleeing the mass starvation then devastating Ireland. They had been at sea for a month; now, with less than a day’s sail remaining, they celebrated the imminent end of their journey and, they hoped, the beginning of a better life in America. Early the next morning, the ship was caught in a northeaster, driven toward shore, and dashed upon the rocks just outside Cohasset Harbor. Those on deck were swept overboard. Those below deck drowned when the hull smashed open. Within an hour, the ship had broken up entirely. All but nine crew members and roughly a dozen passengers perished. Two days later, a thirty-two-year-old Massachusetts native, en route from Concord to Cape Cod, got word of the disaster and detoured to Cohasset to see it for himself. ..."
New Yorker (Oct 19, 2015)
Sierra Club: In Defense of Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau Farm: A Reply to Pond Scum – a critique of Thoreau in the New Yorker

2009 April: Henry David Thoreau, 2012 September: Walden, 2015 March: A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849), 2017 March: Civil Disobedience (1849), 2017 April: The Maine Woods (1864), 2017 June: This Ever New Self: Thoreau and His Journal

National Park Maps

Acadia
"The National Park Service publishes tons of great free maps; I’ve collected them all for you. Here on NPMaps you’ll find hundreds of PDF and image files of any U.S. national park map; you can view all parks alphabetically and sort by state. Or use the menu above to navigate to the park of your choice. If you’re looking for a single national parks map that shows all U.S. national parks, click the image to the left (2.7 mb) or download the PDF (21.2 mb). The PDF map will take a while to load; please be patient! Or, order a large poster of this national parks map from the NPMaps Store (links open in new window). I created this site because I love visiting national parks and planning trips by poring* over a classic national park map. However, I’ve always found it time-consuming to visit each park’s web page and use an embedded map viewer or muddle through the website to find a nice printable map. ..."
National Park Maps

Made to Measure, Vol. 1 (1984)

"Volume 1 initiated Made to Measure, a series of records of experimental soundtrack music, in high form as a compilation with several artists from Crammed Discs' roster. Minimal Compact offer some songs from a ballet, Tuxedomoon weigh in with three pieces from a film score, Benjamin Lew with a sound backdrop to a fashion exhibition, and Aksak Maboul bring in an excerpt from a private movie, as well as music composed for a play. Except for the Minimal Compact cuts, these are instrumentals of various moods and textures, and the various contributors complement each other with similar Euro-art rock aesthetics. Though Tuxedomoon expatriated from the U.S. and Minimal Compact from Israel, both groups have a very European sound, though Minimal Compact do throw some Middle Eastern flute and chanting on 'Too Many of Them.' Otherwise their tracks don't differ too much from what is on their regular albums, clunky rhythms, creepy and subdued art-rock songs. ..."
allmusic
Discogs
Crammed Discs
amazon, Spotify
YouTube: Minimal Compact - Animal Killers, Tuxedomoon - Fanfare, Aksak Maboul - Mort de Velimir, AKSAK MABOUL Ossip & Lili/Odessa, Tuxedomoon - No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition, Benjamin Lew - A La Rechèrche De B., Minimal Compact - Bat-Yam

Adam Lucas aka Hanksy on His Recent Venture at the Historic Essex Street Market on Manhattan’s Lower East Side

"This past weekend, the now-abandoned Essex Street Market at 140 Essex was the site of Market Surplus, an exhibit featuring ten huge striking murals in a range of styles — from meticulously rendered photorealistic to brightly colored expressionistic. Largely site-specific, they were the perfect homage to a soon-to-be-demolished historic Lower East Side building. While visiting late Sunday afternoon, I had the opportunity to pose a few questions to its curator, Adam Lucas aka Hanksy. ..."
Street Art NYC

2017 Tour de France

Wikipedia - "The 2017 Tour de France will be the 104th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race will begin with an individual time trial in Düsseldorf on 1 July, and conclude with the Champs-Élysées stage in Paris on 23 July 2017. A total of 198 riders from 22 teams will enter the race. As the Tour de France is a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI WorldTeams were invited automatically and obliged to enter a team in the race. ... The main pre-race favorites are Chris Froome, Richie Porte, Nairo Quintana and Alberto Contador. ... The top-ranked sprinters are Peter Sagan, Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, André Greipel, John Degenkolb, Alexander Kristoff and Arnaud Démare. ..."
Wikipedia
Cycling News (Video)
Tour de France 2017: 5 key stages
Steephill (Video)
Guardian (Video)
BBC: Stage-by-stage guide (Video)
Le Tour 2017
Telegraph
Cycling Stage - Route and stages

Stage 9: Nantua to Chambéry (181km)

2008 July: Tour de France 2008, 2009 July: Tour de France 2009, 2010 July: Tour de France 2010,  2011 July: Tour de France 2011, 2012 July: 2012 Tour de France, 2015 July: 2015 Tour de France, 2015 July: Tour de France 2015: Team Time Trial Win Bolsters American’s Shot at Podium, 2015 July: Tour de France: Chris Froome completes historic British win, 2016 July: 2016 Tour de France.

Fred Frith - Field Days (The Amanda Loops) (2015)

"14 pieces originally written for dance and other practical situations, here reassigned and reconstructed for choreographer Amanda Miller and the Nederland Dans Theater. These are loop-based, textural, mood pieces, and invocations of spaces and landscapes, with some fine steel guitar playing. Mostly this is Fred multi-instrumenting, with pianist Daan Vanderwalle, percussionist Willie Wynant, saxophonist Lotte Anker, the Arte Sax and Arditti Quartets, Kiku Day (playing occasional shakuhachi), and violinist/nykelharpist Karla Kihlstedt. Hit from the show: Desert Sundown. Field Days is an exploration of the past--in this case Fred's past as a composer of music for dance. Using music originally composed for choreographer Amanda Miller, and working with her and long-time studio collaborator Myles Boisen, Fred created a vast number of loops of all shapes and sizes, and used them as the setting for additional material that was also largely drawn from pre-existing recordings of other works. Fred then added bottleneck guitar to some of the pieces to provide a certain sonic continuity."
Forced Exposure
W - Field Days (The Amanda Loops)
YouTube: Field Days 14 videos