Is Morocco Headed Toward Insurrection?

Protesters raise the flag of the Rif Republic (left) and the pan-Berber tricoleur (right) at a demonstration in the northern town of Al-Hoceima, Morocco, June 1, 2017.
"Curfews, roadblocks, checkpoints on highways leading to Al Hoceima in northeastern Morocco; neighborhoods encircled by military trucks; police attacking protesters; mass arrests; activists abducted off the streets. Since May 26, the first day of Ramadan, the city of Al Hoceima has seen continuous tumult, culminating with a day of bloody clashes on June 26, in what is now being called the Black Eid of 2017. Tensions had been running high in the Rif region, with ongoing protests since October, when a young fish vendor died at the hands of the police, crushed to death in a trash compactor as he tried to retrieve his confiscated merchandise. A truce of sorts had been negotiated in mid-May, when a ministerial delegation arrived in the city of Al Hoceima promising various development projects. ..."
The Nation

2016 July: FirstLook: Learning from the Pattern-Masters, 2016 July: Souffles-Anfas: A Critical Anthology (2015)

Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection

Erik van Leishout, Untitled, 2014, Conté crayon, synthetic polymer paint, felt-tip pen, and vinyl on paper.
"Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection brings together works by more than a dozen artists, made in the past decade and recently acquired by The Museum of Modern Art. The artists that make up this intergenerational selection address current anxiety and unrest around the world and offer critical reflections on our present moment. The exhibition considers the intertwining themes of social protest, the effect of history on the formation of identity, and how art juxtaposes fact and fiction. From Cairo to St. Petersburg, from The Hague to Recife, the artists in the exhibition observe and interpret acts of state violence and the resistance and activism they provoke. They reexamine historical moments, evoking images of the past and claiming their places within it. ..."
MoMA
With a Display of New Work from Its Collection, MoMA Takes a Political Turn
New Yorker: The Unsettling Power of MOMA’s “Unfinished Conversations”
vimeo: John Akomfrah on The Unfinished Conversation

D+Q announces Doucet and Kominsky-Crumb in 2018

"As announced today on Bustle, Drawn & Quarterly will publish two groundbreaking works of comics by the revolutionary cartoonists Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Julie Doucet. In spring 2018, D+Q will publish a new and expanded edition of the seminal collection Love That Bunch by Kominsky-Crumb with an afterword by comics scholar Hillary Chute. In fall 2018, D+Q will release the highly anticipated Dirty Plotte: The Complete Julie Doucet. Both titles were acquired by D+Q Publisher Peggy Burns and will be co-edited with Senior Editor Tracy Hurren. ..."
D+Q
Two New Feminist Graphic Novels On Their Way To A Bookstore Near You — REVEAL

The Living and the Dead

Old City of Mosul
"I. Eastern Mosul. In a film, on the news, you watch a war. While in a war, you mostly hear it. Weapons are fired day and night, but only sometimes do you see them fired. As much as images, then, each battle takes on its own sounds. The battle of Mosul began officially on Oct. 17, 2016. Sonically, it didn’t come into its own until some weeks later. In the opening skirmishes, as Iraqi troops encountered Islamic State fighters on farmland and in villages outside the city, rounds whistled unobstructed through the air and thudded in the sod, a vague overture. When the troops breached the easternmost districts of the city proper — in early November — then you could begin to really listen to the conflict. ..."
NY Times

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, 2017 July: Iraqi forces declare victory over Islamic State in Mosul after grueling battle.

A Weiss Touch: Words and Wax from the World's Best Record Collector

"... Do you have records you can’t get enough of, even after you’ve heard them a thousand times before? Ramones Leave Home, Wire Pink Flag, Brian Eno Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), Zombies Odyssey and Oracle, La Monte Young Well-Tuned Piano, The Shaggs Philosophy of the World, Damon Song of a Gypsy, Fallen Angels It’s a Long Way Down, Velvet Underground Velvet Underground, Guided By Voices Bee Thousand, P.M Dawn. Jesus Wept, Jackson C. Frank Blues Run the Game, Fairport Convention Liege and Lief, Linda Perhacs Parallelograms, 13th Floor Elevators Easter Everywhere, Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul, Ornette Coleman Dancing in Your Head, Albert Ayler Spiritual Unity, Captain Beefheart Safe as Milk, Damned Damned Damned Damned, Pink Floyd Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Bazerk Bazerk Bazerk Son of Bazerk, The Millennium Begin, The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour (US version), Love Forever Changes. But ask me tomorrow and you might get a completely different list. ..."
Dust and Grooves

Milton Hamilton - Long Long Road / Longest Dub (1972)

"Milton Hamilton used to be a member of the Classics, alongside Denzil Dennis. The group was based in the UK and recorded for both Laurel Aitken and Lee Perry (a version of 'Cherry Oh Baby' called 'Cheerio Baby' for the latter, among others.) Although the backing track for 'Long Long Road' came from Jamaica, the backing vocals are performed by the british group the Rudies. 'Long Long Road' is also featured on the Trojan sampler 'Me Nah Worry', albeit without the dub version. There it is credited to Denzil Dennis and Milton Hamilton whereas this 7” credits Milton Hamilton and long time Denzil associate Pat Rhoden. To my ears this version seems a bit rougher than the one featured on the Trojan album, but that might very well be a remastering issue. The label credits Errol L. Campbell as producer, but that is actually an amalgamation of two names. ...">
Pressure Beat (Audio)
YouTube: Long, Long Road + Version

Trump Seems Much Better at Branding Opponents Than Marketing Policies

"Donald J. Trump, the master brander, has never found quite the right selling point for his party’s health care plan. He has promised 'great healthcare,' 'truly great healthcare,' 'a great plan' and health care that 'will soon be great.' But for a politician who has shown remarkable skill distilling his arguments into compact slogans — 'fake news,' 'witch hunt,'  'Crooked Hillary' — those health care pitches have fallen far short of the kind of sharp, memorable refrain that can influence how millions of Americans interpret news in Washington. Analyzing two years of his tweets highlights a pair of lessons about his messaging prowess that were equally on display as the Republican health care bill, weakly supported by even Republican voters, collapsed again in Congress on Monday. Mr. Trump is much better at branding enemies than policies. And he expends far more effort mocking targets than promoting items on his agenda. ..."
NY Times

The John Coltrane Record That Made Modern Music

"Today, exactly 50 years will have passed since the death of John Coltrane, one of the most groundbreaking and technically gifted jazz musicians ever. Over the course of his four decades on earth, Coltrane lived and breathed to create jazz saturated with dissonance and arrhythmia and tenacity—raw jazz, powerful jazz, jazz hundreds of stories tall. To commemorate the half century that has passed since Coltrane’s death, many will revisit his most famous songs ('My Favorite Things', 'In a Sentimental Mood') and records (Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, Blue Train). However, too few will reflect upon Coltrane's most tenacious and inaccessible album, Interstellar Space, which was released posthumously and is, in many ways, Coltrane’s most influential record, its echoes still heard today in everything from electronic music to some of the world’s biggest hip-hop acts. ..."
GQ
New Yorker: Why Did Ralph Ellison Despise Modern Jazz?
Discography

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), 2015 September: Impressions of Coltrane, 2015 December: Giant Steps (1960), 2016 January: Crescent (1964), 2016 April: The Church of Saint John Coltrane, 2016 July: Soultrane (1958), 2016 December: Dakar (1957).

Neil Young - "Thrasher" [Live at the Cow Palace, 1978]

"Neil Young’s 'Thrasher' appeared on the Rust Never Sleeps L.P. in the summer of 1979. Rolling Stone magazine has called the tune one of Young’s greatest. Here’s Young performing 'Thrasher' live in 1978 at the Cow Palace near San Francisco. The clip comes from the Rust Never Sleeps film. ..."
Cherry Stereo
YouTube: "Thrasher"

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, 2015 September: Zuma (1975), 2016 January: On the Beach (1973), 2016 April: Sleeps with Angels (1994), 2016 November: Eldorado (EP - 1989), Long May You Run - The Stills-Young Band (1976), 2017 June: "River Of Pride" / "White Line" (1975).

A magical garden nobody knows in Central Park

Conservatory Burnett Fountain
"Like many features of the 1858 'Greensward' plan for Central Park, the flower garden that was supposed to be built at 74th Street and Fifth Avenue never made it off the blueprint. But in the 1930s, when the glass conservatory and greenhouses (below, in 1900) that were erected at Fifth Avenue and 105th proved too costly to maintain, parks director Robert Moses had them torn down—and plans for a European-style garden were drawn. The result was the Conservatory Garden, which opened in 1937, a six-acre expanse of fountains, walkways, and lush and enchanting gardens in every direction. Stepping into it feels like walking into a secret, a hidden oasis where the only sounds are the chorus of singing birds and the occasional human gasp at the sight of a curious raccoon. ..."
Ephemeral New York

2013 September: Central Park, 2014 March: Central Park in the Dark - Charles Ives (1906)

Turner set free: Nature as roughhouse theater by W.S. Di Piero

The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16 October, 1834; By JMW Turner
"Painters in mid-19th-century London, when installing exhibitions at official venues such as the Royal Academy of Art and the British Institution, brought not-quite-finished pictures to what were called Varnishing Days, where they discussed each other’s work and applied a finish to their pictures. J.M.W. Turner, especially in his later years, pushed the purpose of Varnishing Days to the extreme. He often brought work still in the early stages of completion then elaborated details, shaping narrative content and working up his most signature splashy effects. Turner never lacked a sense of self-drama, and these flamboyant displays, part mischief but mostly the natural consequence of the nervous energy he poured into his work, became notorious events. ..."
San Diego Reader

November 2007: J. M. W. Turner, 2009 April: Turner & Italy, 2011 June: J. M. W. Turner - 1, 2014 June: In Which We Find His Theory Of Color Implausible, 2014 May: Ruin Lust, 2014 September: The EY Exhibition: Late Turner – Painting Set Free, 2016 June: Turner’s Whaling Pictures, 2017 March: Turner’s Modern and Ancient Ports: Passages through Time

2016 March: W.S. Di Piero, 2016 December: Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861-2008, Josef Koudelka: Nationality Doubtful, 2017 March: March of time: 20th Century icons from an old art museum in Buffalo are at the Museum of Art, May 2017: In from the cold

Ooh Wee Pretty Baby! - Long John Hunter

"From El Paso, Texas comes Long John Hunter, a bluesy-rock guitarist who can also sing. Recording exclusively for the Yucca label while playing at the Lobby, until 1971 when the owner of the Lobby became ill and had to shut down the club, Long John Hunter recorded some amazing R&B/rock music that is now being re-issued as one album, OOH WEE PRETTY BABY!, on Norton Records. Every one of the twenty-one tracks on this album are steamy, passionate, and full of energy. Simply put, they're amazing blues-rock music with plenty of rhythm and grooves to boot. Going back to the days when rock 'n' roll was pure, real, and just plain fun, Long John Hunter's music seems to fit in and embody that concept perfectly. 'Ride With Me Baby' showcases his stellar guitar playing, with the blues running through his fingers, and rock 'n' roll running through the entire bands' mind. You can't seem to stop them as they dive through greasy, sweaty, dirty blues-rock music that make your jaw drop and hips move. ..."
In Music We Trust
amazon, iTunes
YouTube: Ooh Wee Pretty Baby! 21 videos, she used to be my woman/crazy girl

Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles

"The likable, informative and light-fingered new documentary 'Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles,' which begins an exclusive engagement today at the Film Forum, is worth seeing if only for the sharpness and vividness of its subject's recollections of his experiences with other iconic figures like Virgil Thomson, under whom he studied composition; Gertrude Stein; Orson Welles; and Tennessee Williams. (He tells a detailed story about his run-in with John Houseman with a last line that is sure to get a laugh.) As he's being interviewed, Bowles constantly taps out rhythms on surfaces; you can almost imagine him using the typewriter as a percussion instrument. He calls rhythm 'the basis of music' and adds, 'Harmony is a European tradition.' The assuredness and ardor that the director, Owsley Brown, brings to the film are in tune with the way Bowles, who died in 1999 at 88, felt about music. ..."
NY Times - Under a Sheltering Song: A Documentary Attends to Paul Bowles the Composer
Discogs
amazon
YouTube: Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles, Sonatina Fragmentaria (1933), Night Waltz for two pianos

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), 2016 June: Let It Come Down (1952), 2016 December: Paul Bowles & the Music of Morocco.

Ed Templeton: Wayward Cognitions

"Wayward Cognitions is a collection of photographs by Ed Templeton (born 1972), chosen from his archives spanning 20 years. For this volume, Templeton selected photographs that do not fit into his usual manner of organizing by theme or subject. In past publications he has arranged his work in straightforward groupings such as Teenage Kissers, Teenage Smokers, or photographs shot from a moving car (as in his book The Seconds Pass). In Deformer he presented the photographs under the theme of suburbia. Wayward Cognitions represents the in-between moments that arise when shooting in the streets without theme or subject. ..."
Um Yeah Arts
Wayward Cognitions : Ed Templeton
StreetHunters Bookshelf: Ed Templeton’s “Wayward Cognitions”
vimeo: Ed Templeton’s “Wayward Cognitions” insight video - By Dustin Trayer

Minimal Compact - Lowlands Flight (1987)

"As part of the Made for Measure series of records of soundtrack material, Lowlands Flight diverges from Minimal Compact's usual avant-garde rock songs. One side of the disc has music that accompanied a performance by Blue Ran Dances, while the other side contains background music for a Holland radio program, and as might be expected, most of these pieces are atmospheric and moody instrumentals. Not that some of Minimal Compact's more typical moves don't show up, from the bits of Middle Eastern melody that sift through on many of the tracks to the slow and clunky, but thunderous drum rhythms on 'The Conference of Snakes,' to the dark but elegant atmosphere that permeates the record. ..."
allmusic
W - Minimal Compact
Discogs
Spotify
YouTube: Clock Bird, Ararat, Scums & Halfwits, The Conference of Snakes

2017 July: Made to Measure, Vol. 1 (1984)

Seeking New York: The Stories Behind the Historic Architecture of Manhattan

"Tom Miller, who writes about the history of Manhattan buildings at Daytonian in Manhattan, has allowed Tribeca Citizen to create a database of his Tribeca posts. If you enjoy these, and you will, then you should definitely check out his website, which also has write-ups about buildings all over the island. And don’t miss his book, Seeking New York: The Stories Behind the Historic Architecture of Manhattan—One Building at a Time.
The History of 8 Thomas
Jenny Seddon: Illustrations for a book called Seeking New York by Tom Miller
amazon
YouTube: Tom Miller Book Talk

Fixing the Met: Art Lovers Speak

"... O.K., finding a new director for the Metropolitan Museum of Art will take more than a LinkedIn posting — but the hunt is on for a successor to Thomas P. Campbell, whose resignation last winter added a kink to the Met’s tangle of troubles. Attendance, at seven million, is at a high. Exhibitions are some of the finest anywhere. Yet as it approaches its 150th birthday, the museum lumbers under a nearly $15 million deficit; a planned new wing for modern and contemporary art has been deferred; and the Met’s optional admissions charge may be replaced with a mandatory entrance fee for out-of-towners. ..."
NY Times

Recycled Funk Episode 10 (Cinco Funk Mix)

Bronx River Parkway – La Valla feat. Jose Parla
"This latest episode of Recycled Funk is a tribute to Latin Funk, to commemorate Cinco De Mayo. Growing up in NYC, the son of a musician/DJ who also happens to have Puerto Rican roots in the family tree, my exposure to Latin funk came early in life, and often. NYC definitely has 'a sound' when it comes to Latin funk, soul & jazz. This mix features a collection of some of my favorite Latin tunes, embodying the NY vibe & esthetic! I do acknowledge the significance of Cinco De Mayo to the Mexican people, and mean no Disrespect, as this collection of music does not embody traditional elements of Cinco De Mayo. It does not feature any prominent artist of Mexican/Mestizos descent. It is my personal showcase of Latin music that I am most fond of, in honor of a historical and special day for my Mexican people. I hope you it!"
Brooklyn Radio (Audio)

Trobar, a magazine of the New American Poetry

Trobar, a magazine of the New American Poetry 1 (1960).
"Trobar magazine was published in Brooklyn in only five issues from 1960 to 1964, but it was tremendously influential in spreading knowledge about deep image poetry. Deep image poetry, according to Robert Kelly, is 'poetry not necessarily dominated by the image, but in which it is the rhythm of the images which forms the dominant movement of the poem.' Of the three editors, Kelly has been the most tireless and enthusiastic poet, reader, and teacher, exerting a charismatic influence. He has published more than seventy-five volumes of poetry and prose (his first, Armed Descent, was published by Jerome Rothenberg’s Hawk’s Well Press) and was a founding editor of Chelsea Review and Matter and a contributing editor to Caterpillar, Alcheringa, Sulfur, Conjunctions, and Poetry International, and guest editor to Los (new series, no. 1, 1975). ..."
From a Secret Location
Jacket2 - 1960: A first remembrance by Jerome Rothenberg
[PDF] THE NETS by PAUL BLACKBURN

From Sonny Blount to Sun Ra: The Chicago Years

"Our thanks to Dikko Faust for careful listening to the Dukes of Swing sides from 1948. We have added some details on Paul Severson, whose bands shared the soundtrack of The Cry of Jazz with the Arkestra. We are continuing to add entries from the 14-CD boxed set produced by Michael Anderson, Sun Ra: The Eternal Myth Revealed Vol. 1 (Transparency 0316); all previously unreleased Sun Ra material has now been added through the end of 1953. We are also adding vocal material from the three Norton CDs, which were compiled by Michael Anderson and issued in 2009. And we have begun adding in documentation that is preserved in the Alton Abraham Collection of Sun Ra 1822-2008, now housed in the Special Collections at the University of Chicago Library. All of this has led to many changes in our listings, especially for 1956, 1958, and 1960; session numbers will be out of order for a while yet. Sun Ra's musical career is hard to generalize about. He led bands for nearly 60 years. ..."
From Sonny Blount to Sun Ra: The Chicago Years - Robert L. Campbell, Christopher Trent, and Robert Pruter

2014 January: The Eternal Myth Revealed Vol. 1 (2011)

Lauren R. Weinstein

"I am a cartoonist, illustrator, painter and avid gardener who lives in scenic New Jersey with my family and dog, Dr. Buddy. I have published three books: Girl Stories, Inside Vineyland and Goddess of War. My work has been included in The Best American Comics, An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Kramer's Ergot, and The Graphic Cannon. I have won and been nominated for an Ignatz. This year 'Carriers' was also nominated for Slate's studio prize for Cartoonists. Carriers won a gold medal from The Society of Illustrators. Clients include, Nautilus, The New York Times, Glamour, and The Paris Review. ..."
Lauren R. Weinstein
W - Lauren Weinstein (cartoonist)
tumble: "I make the Normel Person comic strip for The Village Voice"
amazom: Inside Vineyland

11 Very Short Stories You Must Read Immediately

"This weekend, Lydia Davis—crowned master of the very short story, not to mention a preeminent translator of classic French literature—turns 70. Davis didn’t invent flash fiction, but she is certainly its most famous—and perhaps its best—practitioner. Her work is always where I start when I get into a flash fiction reading jag, but of course, it’s not usually where I finish, else what kind of jag would it be? While flash is sort of out of fashion at the moment, I’ve been hearing rumors of a resurgence—The New Yorker has a flash fiction series going on this summer, for instance—so perhaps it’s time to remind ourselves what very short stories can do. For that reason, and in honor of Lydia Davis’s birthday, here are eleven very short stories that you must—and can, thanks to the magic of the internet—read at your earliest opportunity. ..."
LitHub

2015 March: Lydia Davis

Out of Left Field - Peter Dreier & Robert Elias

The Kansas City Monarchs, of the Negro League, in 1936.
"A week after his inauguration, Donald Trump signed the first iteration of his travel ban, sparking nationwide protests. 'These refugees are fleeing civil wars, terrorism, religious persecution, and are thoroughly vetted for 2yrs,' tweeted Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Doolittle. 'A refugee ban is a bad idea. It feels un-American. And also immoral.' St Louis Cardinals outfielder Dexter Fowler, whose wife emigrated from Iran, told ESPN that he opposed the executive order. In response to angry comments from fans, Fowler tweeted, 'For the record. I know this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but athletes are humans, and not properties of the team they work for.' ... Baseball’s rebels, reformers, and radicals took inspiration from the country’s dissenters and progressive movements, speaking and acting against abuses both within their profession and in the broader society: racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, war, repression, corporate domination, and worker exploitation. ..."
Jacobin

Art Bears - The World As It Is Today (1981)

"If you thought Henry Cow was a pretty political band to start with, you may be even more taken aback by the Art Bears, which was put together following Henry Cow's demise by former Cows Chris Cutler (percussion), Fred Frith (guitar, violin), and Dagmar Krause (voice). On The World As It Is Today and its predecessor, Winter Songs, the Art Bears move away from the long-form art rock of Henry Cow and get much, much more politically explicit: song titles like 'The Song of the Dignity of Labour Under Capital' and 'The Song of Investment Capital Overseas' almost sound like Monty Python gags today, but if any humor was intended it was clearly meant to be mordant. Frankly, the lyrics are so overwrought and portentous that it's hard to take them seriously. ... Easy listening it isn't, but it's sure worth hearing. Frith fans, in particular, should consider this album a must-own."
allmusic
W - On The World As It Is Today
Discogs
Genius
YouTube: On The World As It Is Today 31:24

2010 February: Art Bears, 2012 July: The Art Box., 2013 July: Coda To "Man & Boy", 2013 October: Art Bears Songbook - 2010-09-19 - Rock In Opposition Festival, , 2016 November: Hopes and Fears (1978), 2017 April: Winter Songs (1979)

FilmStruck

"For movie fans with a taste for international cinema, indie movies or film classics, the current streaming landscape can be frustrating. There is a place for you, though. It’s called FilmStruck, and here’s a quick guide to the streaming service, which is tailor-made for cinephiles. O.K., So What Is FilmStruck? A joint venture between the Criterion Collection and Turner Classic Movies, FilmStruck offers a curated rotation of movies: domestic rarities; hard-to-find international titles; or those films already in the Criterion Collection, which were previously available on Hulu (and on Netflix years before that). Although Turner Classic Movies is behind the service, most of its black-and-white American classics are not on FilmStruck; you still need a cable login to access those on TCM’s streaming site. ..."
NY Times: What Is FilmStruck, and Should I Subscribe?
FilmStruck

Søren Kierkegaard Newsletter

"Newsletter. The most recent Søren Kierkegaard Newsletter is now posted on line. Some titles for possible review for the Søren Kierkegaard Newsletter are listed on the recent contributions page. Please contact Gordon Marino if you would like to submit a review of any of these or other publications. ..."
St. Olaf College - Søren Kierkegaard Newsletter

2011 July: Søren Kierkegaard, 2013 April: Repetition (1843), 2013 December: The Quotable Kierkegaard, 2014 October: Fear and Trembling - Søren Kierkegaard (1843), 2014 December: The Dark Knight of Faith - Existential Comics, 2015 July: I still love Kierkegaard, 2015 October: The Concept of Anxiety (1844), 2016 October: Cruel intentions.

Pogo Vol. 1 & 2 Box Set - Walt Kelly

"Pogo, Volumes 1&2, are beautiful books. As I opened my just-arrived volumes, I was expecting just a basic hardbound book of comics. What I found was a pair of books full of love. Let me explain. As a child, I spent my summers on the family ranch, miles from anything, where reading material was pretty limited. There were, however, a small collection of Pogo books, so I read them over and over, every summer. I still have those books, though the bindings are rotting, and they are very special to me. I bought these reprints, thinking this would be a nice way to read Pogo without further damaging those old volumes. I really loved those old books, but I never figured that other people put such value on Pogo comics as I did. ... - Shooshie'
amazon

2016 August: Pogo

Rancor at White House as Russia Story Refuses to Let the Page Turn

"... As Air Force One jetted back from Europe on Saturday, a small cadre of Mr. Trump’s advisers huddled in a cabin helping to craft a statement for the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., to give to The New York Times explaining why he met last summer with a lawyer connected to the Russian government. Participants on the plane and back in the United States debated how transparent to be in the statement, according to people familiar with the discussions. Ultimately, the people said, the president signed off on a statement from Donald Trump Jr. for The Times that was so incomplete that it required day after day of follow-up statements, each more revealing than the last. It culminated on Tuesday with a release of emails making clear that Mr. Trump’s son believed the Russian lawyer was seeking to meet with him to provide incriminating information about Hillary Clinton as 'part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.' ..."
NY Times

Joy Division - Closer (1980)

"If Unknown Pleasures was Joy Division at their most obsessively, carefully focused, ten songs yet of a piece, Closer was the sprawl, the chaotic explosion that went every direction at once. Who knows what the next path would have been had Ian Curtis not chosen his end? But steer away from the rereading of his every lyric after that date; treat Closer as what everyone else thought it was at first -- simply the next album -- and Joy Division's power just seems to have grown. Martin Hannett was still producing, but seems to have taken as many chances as the band itself throughout -- differing mixes, differing atmospheres, new twists and turns define the entirety of Closer, songs suddenly returned in chopped-up, crumpled form, ending on hiss and random notes. ..."
allmusic
W - Closer
YouTube: Closer (1980) Full Album 44:25

2008 March: Ian Curtis, 2009 August: Factory: Manchester From Joy Division To Happy Mondays, 2010 November: Love Will Tear Us Apart, 2012 February: An Ideal for Living EP, 2012 May: Unknown Pleasures, 2013 May: "Atmosphere"/ "Dead Souls", 2016 December: John Peel Session (1979)

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