Saturday, 11 July 2009

Shepard Fairey creates the cover of Woodstock Experience

shepard-fairey-woodstock-experience-book-jimi-hendrix

This is a pretty dope box set produced by Genesis Publications that even features an original ticket to Woodstock. Limited to 1000.

Available now: limited to 1,000 numbered and signed copies. The historic contents will be of fascination for years to come and first class craftsmanship ensures longevity. Over 65 artists and luminaries are taking part in this endorsed publication. Volume 1 presents 176 pages of stories illustrated with behind-the-scenes photography, including the work of Woodstock’s official photographer, Henry Diltz. In Volume 2, be prepared to experience Woodstock through the eyes of a stunned 17-year old who shot the entire festival on a press-pass from Michael Lang. Such is the incredible legacy of the late Dan Garson. A hundred and six pages of consummate photographs are reproduced for the reader to study and enjoy for the first time. A pull-out drawer contains loose-leaf additions: a 7″-vinyl pressing, original fine art prints, specially written essays, Michael Lang’s own hand-drawn site map, reproduced in facsimile. And your admission into the ‘experience’? An authentic, vintage Woodstock ticket is included in every set. Your ticket to ride, a genuine event pass is included – preserved since 1969 and still unused (top). The ticket is provided by Michael Lang who has given unprecedented access to original artist correspondence, contracts, memos and maps, to tell the complete story.

Arlo Guthrie has written a preface and both Arlo and Michael Lang have hand-signed every copy in the edition.

Via The World's Best Ever

Chernobyl offers a holiday in hell

Chernobyl’s tragic secrets are open to anyone. Just watch out for the wild boar and wolves

From
July 11, 2009
A tree grows in a school room in Pripyat, abandoned nineteen years earlier after the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Maxim, our tour guide, is not having a good day. “Your bag, your bag!” he shouts across the car park. One of my fellow tourists has left a rucksack on the ground.

“You are by the biggest radioactive leak in the world,” he scolds, “and you leave your bag on the soil to pick up dust. If it is contaminated you will have to leave it in the exclusion zone.”

He tails off, momentarily distracted. A Polish couple are sitting on the grass, posing happily for a photo in front of the great rusting hulk of Chernobyl. “Your trousers! Your trousers!”

Click, click, goes the Geiger counter.

More here


New wonder material, one-atom thick, has scientists abuzz

WASHINGTON — Imagine a carbon sheet that's only one atom thick but is stronger than diamond and conducts electricity 100 times faster than the silicon in computer chips.

That's graphene, the latest wonder material coming out of science laboratories around the world. It's creating tremendous buzz among physicists, chemists and electronic engineers.

"It is the thinnest known material in the universe, and the strongest ever measured," Andre Geim , a physicist at the University of Manchester, England , wrote in the June 19 issue of the journal Science.

"A few grams could cover a football field," said Rod Ruoff , a graphene researcher at the University of Texas, Austin , in an e-mail. A gram is about 1/30th of an ounce.

Like diamond, graphene is pure carbon. It forms a six-sided mesh of atoms that, through an electron microscope, looks like a honeycomb or piece of chicken wire. Despite its strength, it's as flexible as plastic wrap and can be bent, folded or rolled up like a scroll.

Graphite, the lead in a pencil, is made of stacks of graphene layers. Although each individual layer is tough, the bonds between them are weak, so they slip off easily and leave a dark mark when you write.

Potential graphene applications include touch screens, solar cells, energy storage devices, cell phones and, eventually, high-speed computer chips.

Replacing silicon, the basic electronic material in computer chips, however, "is a long way off . . . far beyond the horizon," said Geim, who first discovered how to produce graphene five years ago.

"In the near and medium term, it's going to be extremely difficult for graphene to displace silicon as the main material in computer electronics," said Tomas Palacios , a graphene researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . "Silicon is a multi-billion dollar industry that has been perfecting silicon processing for 40 years."

Government and university laboratories, long-established companies such as IBM , and small start-ups are working to solve difficult problems in making graphene and turning it into useful products.

Ruoff founded a company in Austin called Graphene Energy, which is seeking ways to store renewable energy from solar cells or the energy captured from braking in autos.

The Pentagon is also interested in this new high-tech material. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is spending $22 million on research to make computer chips and transistors out of graphene.

Graphene was the leading topic at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society — a leading organization of physicists — in Pittsburgh in April. Researchers packed 23 panel sessions on the topic. About 1,500 scientific papers on graphene were published in 2008 alone.

Until last year, the only way to make graphene was to mount flakes of graphite on sticky tape and separate a single layer by carefully peeling away the tape. They called it the "Scotch Tape technique."

Recently, however, scientists have discovered a more efficient way to produce graphene on an underlying base of copper, nickel or silicon, which subsequently is etched away.

"There has been spectacular progress in the last two or three months," Geim reported in the journal Science. "Challenges that looked so daunting just two years ago have suddenly shrunk, if not evaporated."

"I'm confident there will be many commercial applications," Ruoff said. "We will begin to see hybrid devices — mostly made from silicon, but with a critical part of the device being graphene — in niche applications."

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

The Dead Weather Glastonbury 2009

The latest rock supergroup from the house of Jack White treat a British festival audience to their first taste of Dead Weather with a surprise Park stage performance. This time The Kills' Alison Mosshart and Queens Of The Stone Age guitarist Dean Fertita have joined regular White collaborator Jack Lawrence for a sharp mix of psych-rock and blues rhythms.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/deadweather/photos/img/image1.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/deadweather/photos/img/image2.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/deadweather/photos/img/image3.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/deadweather/photos/img/image4.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/deadweather/photos/img/image5.jpg

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Glastonbury 2009

http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/yeahyeahyeahs/photos/img/image1.jpg

The New York trio returned this February with a fresh sound and host of new crowd pleasers on third album It's Blitz. Not that Karen O ever had a problem with her audience. The most vivacious woman in rock is sure to steal a few hearts and a few more plaudits with her high-energy performance on Sunday's Other stage.

Wednesday, 24 June 2009

The Messengers - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Article from 1967


The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Messengers

The cover on a new LP album called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a photomontage of a crowd gathered round a grave. And a curious crowd it is: Marilyn Monroe is there, so are Karl Marx, Edgar Allan Poe, Albert Einstein, Lawrence of Arabia, Mae West, Sonny Liston, and eight Beatles.

Eight? Well, four of them, standing around looking like wax dummies, are indeed wax models of the Beatles as most people remember them: nicely brushed long hair, dark suits, faces like sassy choirboys. The other four Beatles are very much alive: thin, hippie-looking, mustachioed, bedecked in bright, bizarre uniforms. Though their expressions seem subdued, their eyes glint with a new awareness tinged with a little of the old mischief. As for the grave in the foreground: it has THE BEATLES spelled out in flowers trimmed with marijuana plants.

With characteristic self-mockery, the Beatles are proclaiming that they have snuffed out their old selves to make room for the new Beatles incarnate. And there is some truth to it. Without having lost any of the genial anarchism with which they helped revolutionize the life style of young people in Britain, Europe and the U.S., they have moved on to a higher artistic plateau.

Cunning Collages. Rich and secure enough to go on repeating themselves--or to do nothing at all--they have exercised a compulsion for growth, change and experimentation. Messengers from beyond rock 'n' roll, they are creating the most original, expressive and musically interesting sounds being heard in pop music. They are leading an evolution in which the best of current postrock sounds are becoming something that pop music has never been before: an art form. "Serious musicians" are listening to them and marking their work as a historic departure in the progress of music--any music.

Ned Rorem, composer of some of the best of today's art songs, says: "They are colleagues of mine, speaking the same language with different accents." In fact, he adds, the Beatles' haunting composition, She's Leaving Home--one of twelve songs in the Sgt. Pepper album--"is equal to any song that Schubert ever wrote." Conductor Leonard Bernstein's appreciation is just as high; he cites Schumann. As Musicologist Henry Pleasants says: "The Beatles are where music is right now."

Like all good popular artists, the Beatles have a talent for distilling the moods of their time. Gilbert and Sullivan's frolics limned the pomposities of the Victorian British Empah; Cole Porter's urbanities were wonderful tonics for the hungover '30s; Rodgers and Hammerstein's ballads reflected the sentiment and seriousness of the World War II era. Today the Beatles' cunning collages piece together scraps of tension between the generations, the loneliness of the dislocated '60s, and the bitter sweets of young love in any age. At the same time, their sensitivity to the absurd is sharper than ever.

More here

Monday, 22 June 2009

Thousands gather to welcome Summer Solstice at Stonehenge



Thousands of visitors were present for the dawn of the Summer Solstice yesterday at Stonehenge.

The event, which celebrates the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere, involved around 36,500 people gathering at the reputedly mystical South England landmark before sunrise, which occurred at 0458 BST.

Turnout at Summer Solstice has grown year on year at Stonehenge since a four mile exclusion zone around the site was taken off nearly a decade ago. This year, events marking the day included Druid ceremonies, Morris dancing, music and camping at the site.

Police presence was fairly strong at the Wiltshire landmark, though the event was said to be peaceful and enjoyable for the thousands of attendees spending their Sunday morning there.

According to the BBC, Superintendant Nick Ashley said: "The celebration has been peaceful and enjoyable for the majority who were present to celebrate in a safe manner."

Head of Stonehenge, Peter Carson, added: "We were expecting it to be busy this year, but we had ensured that it has been a peaceful and enjoyable solstice.

"There has been a great atmosphere and where else would you want to be on midsummer's day?"

Revellers ensured they arrived at the prehistoric monument in time for the sun rising, with 6,500 cars filling the car park two hours before the due time.

Just before the key event, Druid King Arthur Pendragon told the BBC: "It's a very nice atmosphere and everything's fine at the moment.

"There have been more police present this year, more security, but everything's passed off very jovially and everyone's in a good mood."

Sunrise 4:58am

Friday, 12 June 2009

Boy discovers microbe that eats plastic

PhD's have been searching for a solution to the plastic waste problem, and this 16 year old finds the answer.


Photo: Samuel Mann/Flickr
It's not your average science fair when the 16-year-old winner manages to solve a global waste crisis. But such was the case at last month's Canadian Science Fair in Waterloo, Ontario, where Daniel Burd, a high school student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, presented his research on microorganisms that can rapidly biodegrade plastic.
Daniel had a thought it seems even the most esteemed microbiology PhD's hadn't considered. Plastic, one of the most indestructible of manufactured materials, does in fact eventually decompose. It takes 1,000 years but decompose it does, which means there must be microorganisms out there to do the decomposing.
Could those microorganisms be bred to do the job faster?
That was Daniel's question which he put to the test by a very simple and clever process of immersing ground plastic in a yeast solution that encourages microbial growth, and then isolating the most productive organisms.
The preliminary results were encouraging, so he kept at it, selecting out the most effective strains and interbreeding them. After several weeks of tweaking and optimizing temperatures Burd was able to achieve a 43 percent degradation of plastic in six weeks, an almost inconceivable accomplishment.
With 500 billion plastic bags manufactured each year and a Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch that grows more expansive by the day, a low cost and nontoxic method for degrading plastic is the stuff of environmentalists' dreams and, I would hazard a guess, a pretty good start-up company as well.

Thursday, 11 June 2009

Canadian inventor creates Halo suit

http://inlinethumb02.webshots.com/17985/2545845030102347975S600x600Q85.jpg

People seem to think that this guy who's developed a real-life suit of the kind worn by Halo protagonist Master Chief has gone slightly bonkers . I couldn't disagree more: Troy Hurtubise, you sir, are a genius . The Trojan suit can reputedly withstand knives, bullets, clubs, light explosives and an elephant gun. Who couldn't use one of these things? Best of all, he claims he could produce them for just $2000 a piece.

The suit is constructed from plastic (of the high-impact variety), with layers of ceramic for bullet protection, and ballistic foam. There's space for morphine, salt, a knife, light, pepper spray, and magnetic holsters for guns. The suit is supposedly even comfortable enough to sit for long periods.

Hurtubise supposedly wants to deal with the military to produce the suits for soldiers in war zones. I think it looks swell, but I have just one question: what if someone manages to sneak up behind you and push you over?

[via Engadget ]

Saturday, 6 June 2009

Happy Birthday Tetris! Love, Google



25 years ago - June 6th, 1984 to be exact - Alexey Pajitnov created a simple puzzle video game where you moved blocks around (called tetrominoes) to create horizontal lines of blocks to eliminate rows and gain points.

Know what game I’m talking about yet? I’m referring to Tetris, one of the world’s most popular and best-selling video games of all time.

This classic game has been a time-wasting staple for millions of people worldwide. And, as of June 6th, it will become 25 years old. We weren’t reminded of this momentous occasion by our video game knowledge, though. We were reminded…by Google (Google reviews). It seems that they, too, are lovers of the funny-shaped blocks and are redesigning all of their logos in celebration. Take a look below to see what’s going on:


Google Tetris Image
Google Japan with Tetris Logo

You may be wondering why you’re not seeing this awesome Tetris tribute in Europe, Africa, most of Asia, or the Americas yet. The answer is that it’s not quite June 6th yet for most of the world. If you’re in Europe or Asia, you’ll start seeing the new logos at about 6:00 PM ET. If you’re in North or South America, the logos will appear at midnight ET. And if you’re in Australia or Japan, well…lucky you, it’s Tetris time!

This is all pretty spiffy, but we do wish that the Google logos were animated. They are missing out on a golden opportunity for some really fun Tetris-related humor. :)


Google Tetris Image

Friday, 5 June 2009

David Carradine RIP

'Kill Bill' star David Carradine found dead in Thai capital

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2009-06/47309909.jpg

BANGKOK - The body of American actor David Carradine, best known for the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu," was found in a hotel room closet with a rope tied to his neck and genitals, and his death may have been caused by accidental suffocation, Thai police said Friday.

Much like the character that made him famous, David Carradine was always seeking, both spiritually and professionally, his life forever intertwined with the Shaolin priest he played in the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu."

Just as the character, Kwai Chang Caine, roamed the 19th Century American West, Carradine spent his latter years searching for the path to Hollywood stardom, accepting low-budget roles while pursuing interests in Asian herbs, exercise and philosophy, and making instructional videos on tai chi and other martial arts.

Sunday, 31 May 2009

James Burke: Connections, Episode 1


Watch Entire Show: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list...

Episode 1 of James Burke's most well-known series "Connections" which explores the surprising and unexpected ways that our modern technological world came into existence. Each episode investigates the background of usually one particular modern invention and how it came into being. These explorations are an attempt to locate the "connections" between various historical figures who seemingly had nothing to do with each other in their own times, however once connected, these same figures combined to produce some of the most profound impacts on our modern day world; in a "1+1=3" type of way.

It is this type of investigation that is the main idea behind the Knowledge Web project; whereby sophisticated software is used to attempt to discover these subtle connections automatically. See http://k-web.org.

Bong! Big Ben still rings out 150 years on


Building ‘the king of clocks’ was a triumph over adversity and it moves with the times


“There is no reason,” said Mike McCann, the man in charge of Big Ben, as he made his way down the 334 steps from the belfry at the top of the tower, “why it should not last forever.” As the world’s most famous timepiece celebrates its 150th anniversary, that is a forthright statement of faith in a masterpiece of Victorian engineering that was deemed so ambitious at the time of its inception that many clockmakers thought it could never be built.

That the Great Westminster Clock was completed was a triumph of perseverance and ingenuity over ill-fortune and acrimony. Not only was the building of Big Ben characterised by bitter rows between some of the key figures – the lawsuits stretched on for some time afterwards – but also when the great bell that actually bears the name Big Ben was tested it cracked, and had to be broken up and recast.

Within a few months of being installed, the new bell cracked as well. The second time the damage was not too bad, however, and, since being patched up and turned a quarter-turn, the bell behind the “bongs” – was ever a musical note so instantly recognisable? – has given all but uninterrupted service.

From today Big Ben – tourist landmark, London icon, symbol of parliamentary democracy – begins a year of anniversary celebrations starting with the launch of a website (www.parliament.uk/bigben). It is a very 21st-century way of marking the survival of an institution that is rooted in the technology of another era.

More here

Saturday, 23 May 2009

Trees - On the Shore (1970/2007 Remaster)



This is an exceptional album and a remastered and expanded version is truly an exciting event! The original version of 'On The Shore' was released a year after Fairport's Liege and Lief, which was recently voted the most infuential folk album of all time. I've listened to both albums many times over the years but I think I return more often to Trees than Fairport. Sure, there's no Richard Thompson, and Celia Humphries' voice is not as expressive as Sandy Denny's and the writing skills of both those alumni from Fairport Convention went on to produce some breathtaking music.

However, I do believe that if Trees had stayed together for a few more albums they would now have a much higher profile and history would have accorded them a much greater respect.

The songs here are a mix of trad.-arranged and originals by the group, as on Liege and Lief. The instrumental sections are every bit as strong as, for example, Thompson and Swarbrick on 'Matty Groves' (just listen to the interplay here on 'Streets of Derry') and generally the music is heavier than Fairport's: I always crank up the volume as 'Polly On The Shore' comes to a close and one day I am sure my hi-fi will go up in smoke! It can of course be argued that without Fairport, Trees might not have existed, but they certainly deserve more recognition than they currently receive.

The extra disc in this set is exciting because so little material, apart from the original 'On The Shore' and their first album, 'The Garden of Jane Delawney', has been released. There is an Italian bootleg made by the final incarnation of Trees before they broke up in 1973 and that's about it.

But whatever the quality of the extra material, this package is worth every penny for the original album alone (assuming the remastering has been done effectively). Buy it! Tell them I said you could!
-Amazon-


Line up
-----------
Bias Boshell / guitar, vocals
Unwin Brown / drums, vocals
Barry Clark / guitar
David Costa / guitar
Tony Cox / bass
Celia Humphris / keyboards, vocals
Michael Jeffries / harp

Track list
-------------
Disc: 1
1. Soldiers Three
2. Murdoch
3. Streets Of Derry
4. Sally Free And Easy
5. Fool
6. Adam's Toon
7. Geordie
8. While The Iron Is Hot
9. Little Sadie
10. Polly On The Shore


Download: http://sharebee.com/de1eb7c8

Leonard Cohen: Beacon Theatre New York



Leonard Cohen: Beacon Theatre New York Feb. 19 2009
This is from an FM broadcast, but it's not the entire show, unfortunately. Although beggars can't be choosers, now can they?

The concert is now available only as a zip file... get it HERE. Enjoy the show.

Friday, 22 May 2009

Khalil Gibran

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_32.45.5.jpg

Sketch for Jesus the Son of Man, ca. 1923
Gibran Khalil Gibran (American, born Lebanon, 1883–1931)
Pencil and watercolor on paper

3 5/8 x 3 1/2 in. (9.2 x 8.2 cm)
Gift of Mary H. Minis, 1932 (32.45.5)

Artist, poet, novelist, and philosopher, Gibran Khalil Gibran emigrated from Lebanon to the United States in 1895. In 1904, he had his first exhibit in Boston and by 1908 he was attending the Académie Julian in Paris, where he exhibited his work in the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. During that time, he also studied with the sculptor Auguste Rodin. In 1912, Gibran settled in New York, where he would remain until his death. His drawings and paintings are mystical, with lyrical movements of ethereal figures or portraits that enter a landscape like apparitions. His work often explores the symbols and elements of nature, time, and space while pushing the boundaries between physicality and spirituality. Gibran is best known for his writings, specifically The Prophet, which has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Wednesday, 20 May 2009

"Missing Link" Human Skull Found in Africa

Scientists unveil fossil of Darwinius masillae

Scientists working in Africa have discovered a Stone Age skull that could be a link between the extinct Homo erectus species and modern humans. The face and cranium of the fossil have features found in both early and modern human species. The skull is believed to be between 250,000 and 500,000 years old.

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Dark Night of The Soul Now Streaming, Release Scrapped Due To EMI Dispute

Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous) & Danger Mouse (Brian Burton)
Dark Night of the Soul the collaborative project between Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, David Lynch with other guests has been scrapped due a dispute between Danger Mouse and EMI. The CD of the album may never be released because EMI may take legal action. An unnamed spokeperson for Danger Mouse said that the CD will not be released "due to an ongoing dispute with EMI". The book featuring photgraphs taken by David Lynch but not the album, it will carry a blank CD-R with a sticker that says "For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will." This really sucks for all the people that collaborated on this album. Luckily you can still hear the album at NPR. You can see more details from the project here.

Via JP's Blog

Saturday, 16 May 2009

Musgle

Musgle

Musgle originates from the idea of combining words Music and Google. The idea is simple yet very powerful. To see Musgle in action just type a song title, or the artist name, or both in a search bar and hit 'Enter' - you will be redirected to the Google page with relevant search results. Click on one of those results, and you will have a chance to directly download the song you are searching for - very smooth!

Although Musgle is not affiliated with Google, ALL its strength comes from it :) When searching for any kind of music (mp3, wma, wav, etc), Musgle calls Google for help by submitting a special search query to it, which is based on Advanced Google Search Operators. After Google does its hard work, it returns results with direct links to mp3, wma, wav, etc.. music files that can be downloaded directly with no hassle!

Good Luck!

The Dead Weather - Hang You from the Heavens

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa240/si65/dead-weather-jack-white.jpg




The Dead Weather - Hang You from the Heavens

White Stripes and Raconteurs frontman Jack White unveiled his two latest projects Wednesday night in his adopted hometown of Nashville: A new downtown office for Third Man Records, the imprint that’s offered his White Stripes and Raconteurs releases, and a new band called the Dead Weather. (Track White’s many guises onstage, onscreen and behind the scenes.)

The new White-designed space for the vinyl-focused Third Man, just down the way from Nashville’s strip of trademark honky-tonks, will house the label office, a vinyl record store, a photo studio/dark room and a rehearsal/performance space. The new band takes White from the front of the stage back behind the drum kit, while the Kills’ Alison Mosshart mostly handles singing duties. The two are joined by White’s fellow Raconteur Jack Lawrence on bass and former touring Raconteur/Queen of the Stone Age Dean Fertita on guitar.

Third Man will release the Dead Weather’s debut LP, Horehound — which White produced — in June, and Wednesday, the band offered some 150 friends and associates (among them, Raconteurs Brendan Benson and Patrick Keeler, the White Stripes’ Meg White and Tennesseans Sheryl Crow and Martina McBride) a preview of both the record and the forthcoming onstage versions, playing a five-song set in the Third Man performance space.

The tracks — a sludgy, bluesy blend of psych-rock guitar, alternately stark and explosive rhythms and Mosshart’s sultry-to-siren vocal — take relatively logical leaps from the members’ other bands, White’s groove-heavy drumming elevating the Dead Weather’s Stripes-esque blues-rock moods and Fertita and Mosshart pulling in atmosphere and disaffected cool, respectively.

The band’s beginnings, White said, trace back to the tail end of the Kills/Raconteurs tour, when he suffered a slipped disc and severe case of bronchitis that threatened to waylay his voice. His band went heavy on co-frontman Brendan Benson’s songs to finish the tour, and brought Mosshart in to take the lead for well-loved White tracks such as “Steady, As She Goes.”

“It reenergized the tour,” White said of his now-bandmate Mosshart’s contributions. The onstage energy quickly blossomed into the new band. “We had one day off in Nashville where [Mosshart] had spent the night and the next day she would fly out,” White said. “So the three of us [White, Mosshart and Lawrence] said, ‘Why don’t we record a 7-inch?’… Dean just happened to be spending the night in one of the ante rooms [in my house].”

“I’d been there for a while…” Fertita countered. That 7-inch grew into Horehound over a 15-day Nashville session that also made time for circus and gun range trips. The album and band certainly beg questions about the future of the members’ other bands, and plans as of yet, White said, are to play shows when the record comes out, and after Mosshart wraps an upcoming, months-long jaunt with the Kills. Beyond that, White said, he’s letting the Dead Weather and Third Man evolve naturally.

“I mean it’s sort of a thing where, when the Raconteurs came out you get so hammered about it — everyone wants to put a label. Is it a side project? Is it a new band? Is it all that jazz?” he said. “I don’t know, man, just pick one of them — whatever you want to call it. The point is: There’s a new institution, there’s a studio, there’s a vinyl record label, there’s a pressing plant a few blocks away… Things can happen very quickly. Music will be in your hands quickly. And that’s the whole point of it.”

Check out the Spring Album Preview in the next issue of Rolling Stone for more on Jack White’s new Dead Weather project and their June release.

Via Rolling Stone

Japanese Prostitutes of the 19th Century

Images posted on Flickr by "Okinawa Soba," with extensive comments:

2334556526_590544618a_b.jpg
This ca.1890s image of caged prostitutes being gawked at does not exist in Japan anymore. However, there are PLENTY of places in Japan today where, like Amsterdam in Holland, the women willingly put themselves on decorative display in whole districts dedicated to their trade. However, the circumstances surrounding the entry of adult women into modern day Japanese prostitution is a far cry from the social and cultural situation that put these women into their cages during the time of this photograph.

Obviously, the cage is a cage only by contract and understanding. The thin, wooden bars can be easily broken, but the symbolism of the barricade stands for the agreed-upon social structures that cannot be broken --- the cage is the culture itself.

Though these women are "of age", their presence in the cage did not begin as an adult "career choice" to pursue prostitution as a means to help their families (or themselves). Rather, these choices were made for them at tender ages (many at ages 5 to 7) when the nature of what they were being "sold into" was beyond their understanding.

What you see in the photograph is simply the end result of socially structured and approved CHILD PROSTITUTION. Therefore, any discussion of the adult women and their position in the cage begins with and includes a discussion of CHILD PROSTITUTION and CHILD RAPE.....either in absolute legal terms, or in terms considered by some to be ethically subjective outcomes of time-place and culture.



2372617968_ef173ba436_o.jpg
Ca.1890-1900. Of the many views that show Caged Prostitutes in Japan, this is perhaps the most interesting. When showing it to friends in Japan, they explained it to me this way.........

(1) The prospective customer --- seen here with his pipe --- gawks at the inmates until he settles on whoever turns him on.

(2) He lights the long tobacco pipe in his hand, and passes it through the bars to her.

(3) If her feminine sixth sense tells her he will probably be OK (and NOT some Sado-masochist who will smack her around and beat the crap out of her), she will

(4) take a puff on his pipe as a sign she will accept his temporary patronage, and then

(5) pass the pipe back through the bars to him to seal the deal.

(6) He finishes in 2 minutes [well, Ok...5 minutes], while she pretends to have an orgasm.

And you probably thought only the Native American Indians with their "Peace Pipes" did business like this.



2333729621_b66f58b31d_b.jpg
2334556150_112009f98b_b.jpg
Popular with Foreigners, the Girls of [NECTARINE No.9, a Yokohama Brothel] were often photographed by any number of photographers who sought to make money selling their images not only to the sailors, businessmen, and adventurers who visited, but also to the likes of Missionaries -- they were good illustrations of "The Immorality of Japanese Society" to be used in Magic Lantern shows given to the Churches back home. Of course, the Japanese had their own ideas about the equal immorality (in their eyes) of Western Society.



2333729757_bc8c7b0d28_o.jpg
OIRAN -- The Highest Order of Japanese Prostitute, JAPAN'S QUEEN OF SEX. Ca. 1870s-80s. Well, here she is. Some folks prefer to describe her using the relatively polite word "Courtesan", which is actually a euphemism for "DAMN EXPENSIVE PROSTITUTE" here in Japan -- the Western term "Courtesan" being a slightly inaccurate job description for these high-octane Yoshiwara Girls. This is one of two old photos I've posted [with the exact same caption] to give a general idea of what an Oiran looks like...so you can spot them in other old photos, and NOT CONFUSE THEM WITH A GEISHA GIRL. A Geisha Girl would go ballistic if you confused her with an OIRAN.

The quickest way to tell if a girl is an OIRAN is to check out what her hair-dresser did to her...as in the photo above. You will immediately notice the accumulation of shoe-horns, knitting needles, back-scratchers, chopsticks, scrap lumber, railroad spikes, pick-up-sticks, Lincoln Logs, and chunks of old roof shingles poking out from her hair in every direction. Like stars on a General's uniform, this is a sign of her high rank.....AND her popularity with the men. Satisfied repeat customers were off the scale and kept her busy. New customers of any means had to wait their turn to find out what all the buzz was about.



2700089661_650fd71a94_o.jpg
SHOW ME THE OBI ! The Prostitutes of NECTARINE No.9. This is not a clear shot, and the faces are fuzzy. However, I am NOT posting it as a "pick-your-favorite-girl advertising brochure". (The Yokohama VD Clinic is just down the street).

I probably have better shots of the same thing, but this was the quickest one to grab and scan. THE PURPOSE is to show you --- in one fell swoop --- fourteen prostitutes from one of Yokohama's most famous brothels, all with their BOWS TIED IN FRONT.

The reason for this is obvious, as they had to tie and un-tie the sash-like "Magic Obi" several times a day. This also meant that they did not bother with the much longer and heavier Obi wrappings worn by the Geisha and other "normal women", These prostitutes also had no need for the rounds of cord-rope that all other women used for fixing the classic Kimono. Further, the prostitute's Kimonos, once untied, granted "easy access" through what scant undergarments they wore. (However, this ease-of-entry did not apply to the fantastic Kimonos of the high-class Oiran and Tayuu prostitutes)

[...]

As for the slightly fuzzy women in this image, two stand out as "unique" : The third from the RIGHT is the only one with her hair down, and the fifth from the LEFT looks to be in her fifties -- even more so under a 'scope. Some customers liked the older, more experienced women. But it is extremely rare to see such an elderly prostitute in full garb posing in a photograph with younger girls.



2333729909_af3ff56a68_b.jpg
Now here's a line-up any Vice Squad would love ! However in Japan, prostitution was completely legal. It was controlled, and protected by both Government and Police, whose lower-lever bureaucrats probably formed a fair part of the clientèle.

Unfortunately (by western standards) the kimono-clad girls in the picture are not here by "choice" (playful or otherwise) like most girls found at the modern-day "Mustang Ranch" type of cat-houses found in certain Western nations. Quite the opposite, these girls were most likely sold to this place at a young age by their father, with the entire family's understanding. The girl endured with a sense of obligation that formed a part of the social structure at the time. In other words, these young Japanese girls were not "Hookers" -- to the contrary, they were the ones "Hooked" and pushed into this profession without choice at the will and direction of (and in obedience to) their own fathers and family.

Via The Lower Half

Thursday, 14 May 2009

Saturday, 9 May 2009

The Kinks - Kinda Kinks


The Kinks - Nothing In This World Can Stop Me Worryin’ Bout That Girl

Kinda Kinks

Date: 1965
Release: Essential #483
Cover Art: view / download
Buy the Album

Mod-rockers from the mid-60s, the Kinks understood how to crank out three-minute pop songs that were as catchy as Beatlemania. While the Davies Brothers were no match for Lennon/McCartney or even Jagger/Richards, they definitely put a little of fire under the feet of their rivals that kept them from getting too complacent. Their classic “All Day And All Of The Night,” opens the album with punk-sounding guitar riffs and sexually-charged lyrics that point the way towards the future of Rock and Punk. The album’s next smash hit, “Tired Of Waiting For You,” demonstrates why the Kinks unique 60s sound has remained so influential and appealing.

The timeless “Nothin’ In The World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ‘Bout That Girl,” included on the “Rushmore” soundtrack, leaves you wishing that the Kinks had recorded more acoustic tracks in the same vein. The very pretty ballad, “Something Better Beginning,” and the satirical, “Well Respected Man,” are both solid examples of the band’s formidable song writing skills. The most recent CD reissue combines the original UK release of the album with the non-LP sides from the same period, as well as some remarkable bonus tracks, making it a necessary acquisition for those who still only have their old vinyl. The immense talents of the Davies Brothers are in strong evidence throughout this quintessential recording of the British Invasion.

Players:

  • Dave Davies - Guitar, Harmonica, Keyboards, Vocals
  • Ray Davies - Guitar, Vocals
  • Peter Quaife - Bass
  • Mick Avory - Drums

Tracks:

  1. All Day And All Of The Night
  2. I Gotta Move
  3. It’s All Right
  4. Tired Of Waiting For You
  5. Come On Now
  6. Look For Me Baby
  7. Got My Feet On The Gound
  8. Naggin’ Woman
  9. Nothin’ In The World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ‘Bout That Girl
  10. Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight
  11. Dancing In The Street
  12. Don’t Ever Change
  13. So Long
  14. You Shouldn’t Be Sad
  15. Something Better Beginning

Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate - Songbook PDF



Full scan of the Leonard Cohen Songs of Love and Hate songbook.

DOWNLOAD



Famous Blue Raincoat

Thursday, 7 May 2009

I Put a Spell on You

anger-kinsey.jpg

Alfred C. Kinsey and Kenneth Anger at Thelema Abbey in Cefalu

In 1955, Kenneth Anger made a voyage to Cefalu in Sicily to shoot a documentary about Aleister Crowley’s erotic frescos, Thelema Abbey.
“The film was made for Houlton Television which was a branch of Picture Post an extinct British Magazine. They lost it. I tried to find it and it’s untraceable. I lived in Crowley’s house, alone, but that kind of thing doesn’t bother me. I had to. It was the only way to get it done. I spent three months there scraping the whitewash, which had turned to stone, off the walls. It was a big job, but one of the most exciting things I have ever done. They were still there - all those hyper-psychedelic murals: goblins and demons in fabulous color, scarlet and pumpkin-red. Actually they were good paintings, similar in feel to Ensor.”

Well, this film seems to be lost, but here you can find another film from Anger about Crowley’s paintings. And here is a montage of photos (not from Anger) showing Thelema Abbey and its frescos.

Anger also planned to do a bio-pic about Crowley that would “intersperse Crowley’s spiritual life with contemporary events, such as the sinking of the Titanic.” At one time there was talk about Nicol Williamson playing the lead.

From 1950 - 1961 Anger lived in Paris. During his stay he became friends with Langlois - founder of the Cinématheque Française - and Cocteau whose Le jeune homme et la mort Anger tried to adapt for the screen. Other projects were Lautréamonts Les Chants de Maldoror and L’Histoire d’O.

For Maldoror he had already filmed “the hymn to the ocean , on the beach at Deauville, with Rosella Hightower and members of the Marquis de Cuevas Ballet. They danced in the sea, tables were placed beneath the water line so the dancers could stand on their points. It looked as if they were standing on waves.”
“I also managed to film the war of the flies and pins. I put bags of pins and dozens of flies into a glass container; revolved the container and filmed in close-up. As the pins dropped, the flies zig-zagged to escape. In slow-motion, an impressive image.”
It seems that the surrealists, who were always somewhat peculiar about ventures based on Lautréamont’s work, threatened Anger. But the main reason for not completing it was - what else - lack of money.

It was no problem for Anger to get the permission to film Histoire d’O, as its publisher was Jean-Jacques Pauvert, who also published Anger’s own Hollywood Babylon. This time it seemed that he would get the money he needed to complete the film when other problems emerged.
“I was helped by the boyfriend of the girl playing O. It turned out that this money was bounty from the kidnapping of Eric Peugeot - grandson of the auto magnate. I knew nothing about this. I found out in a very abrupt manner. The young man was arrested and I was questioned about the money being used for my film. The young lady playing O was the daughter of a minister. Her parents knew nothing about her being in the film and when they did find out filming came to an instant halt.”

anger-o.jpg

This dashing photo is from Anger’s version of L’Histoire d’O

The photos and the quotes are from the BFI publication Into the Pleasure Dome - the films of Kenneth Anger edited by Jayne Pilling and Mike O’Pray.

The DVD company Fantoma has issued recently volume one of The Films of Kenneth Anger. Here is a trailer.


Via Ombres Blanches

Moray McLaren



Moray McLaren is a Scottish singer-songwriter, born and raised in Edinburgh. When a disk of Moray’s rough recordings fell into the hands of producer Jonathan Shakhovskoy (U2, Patrick Wolf), he suggested they make an album together. The pair are currently in the studio recording. Moray’s debut album will be released on Lash Records this summer.

Visit Moray on MySpace

Wednesday, 6 May 2009

The Gossip

http://i41.tinypic.com/2pto60y.jpg








Wanna learn a thing or two about attitude, return to Beth Ditto for reference - plus size model and shameless fashionista & fellow band mates push The Gossip deeper into the DIY indie-rock territory by toning down the polish. Taking on an über cliché subject for a concept, their new Rick Rubins produced album Music For Men revolves around love & Beth Ditto's favorite song is called Men In Love which talks about gay men in love with each other.

The GossipHeavy Cross

The GossipHeavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix)


Heavy Cross the first single will be released June 15th followed by the LP Music For Men on June 22nd.

Can't wait to find out what remixes we're getting, should be top notch as usual.

Via Ohh! Crapp...

Sex appeal of Action Man scars revealed

Naked Action Man

Action Man: incorporating scar and 6% extra sex appeal. Photograph: Darren Matthews/Alamy

They give Action Man a certain ruggedness and bestow instant testosterone on movie heroes, but according to psychologists, facial scars can also make men more attractive to the opposite sex.

Men with mild facial scars were typically ranked as more appealing by women who were looking for a brief relationship, though they were not considered better as marriage material, a study found.

In the same experiments, women with facial scars were judged to be as attractive as those without, the researchers said.

Psychologists at the universities of Liverpool and Stirling asked 115 women and 64 men to rate the attractiveness of eight opposite sex strangers. Half were asked to look at original face shots, while the other half viewed images that had been digitally manipulated to add scars to their cheeks, jawbones or foreheads.

While facial scars made no difference to the perceived attractiveness of women, scarred men ranked 5.7 percentage points higher in the appeal ratings than those with undamaged skin.

"A large scar is unlikely to make you more attractive, but there are some scars that women do seem to find appealing. There's the whole James Bond thing, where a person is attractive but probably not the best marriage material," said Robert Burriss, a psychologist at the University of Liverpool who led the study.

The study appears in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno "Starless and Bible Black Sabbath"



Acid Mothers Temple have no shame, and that's not such a bad thing. They've taken aim at their idols before by approximating the album covers or titles of Hendrix, Zappa, and King Crimson, among others, and have paid tribute to the likes of Hawkwind and Gong. This time they set their sights on Black Sabbath, even going so far as to reenact the cover of Sabbath's first album, with Acid Mother guru Kawabata Makoto enrobed before a countryside home. With their other tributes, the object of reverence is a starting point, not a destination in itself, and this one proves to be no exception.

Alien8

The title track is the meat of the beast, beginning with a minute of booms and gongs reminiscent of a thunderstorm before launching into some slow, heavy Sabbath-esque riffs. Squealing guitar and synth effects accompany the vocals of bassist Tabata Mitsuru, whose voice captures some of the sound and feeling of Ozzy's more than it does the melody. The pace is slower than most AMT fare, but things speed up considerably around the eight and a half minute mark. The group convincingly imitates the Sabbath guitar sound here and the rhythm section is particularly tight, giving listeners something on which to hang their ears or even providing them with a chance to gasp for air during Makoto's guitar explorations. Around the sixteen minute mark, everything comes to a wailing halt before the band returns to the dirge-like tempo that started the song. This pattern continues for the duration of the piece, until a couple of minutes before the ending, when the group makes a smooth transition to acoustic guitar and processed vocals to cool down.

Clocking in at nearly thirty-five minutes, the length alone may tax some listeners. However, the second track, "Woman From A Hell," provides relief, which with a running time of six minutes is uncommon in the Acid Mothers canon for its brevity. This one condenses many of the ideas of the title track, and accomplishes much of the same evocation of Sabbath, but with the vocals in a more prominent role. The disc comes full circle, ending with thunderstorm sounds much like the ones which started the album. Though the title track could have been shortened and perhaps an additional track included, this album remains one of the group's more accessible releases in some time and should please fans old and new alike.

According to the group's website, Makoto is reviving the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. line-up after a year of recording and touring with the Cosmic Inferno. This is a shame of sorts, since the Cosmic Inferno infused a much-needed vitality to the group that it had lacked since the departure of vocalist Cotton Casino. Yet the reformed Melting Paraiso U.F.O. has the potential to be even better since, if anything, Makoto seems to be the Mother of Reinvention.

samples:


Via Brainwashed

Ulysses - James Joyce



Bronze by gold heard the hoofrons,
steelyringing imperthnthn thnthnthn.

Chips, picking chips off rocky thumbnail, chips.
Horrid! And gold flushed more.

A husky fifenote blew.
Blew. Blue bloom is on the
Gold pinnacled hair.
A jumping rose on satiny breasts of satin,
rose of Castille.

Trilling, trilling: I dolores.
Peep! Who's in the... peepofgold?
Tink cried to bronze in pity.
And a call, pure, long and throbbing. Longindying call.

Decoy. Soft word. But look! The bright stars fade. O rose! Notes
chirruping answer. Castille. The morn is breaking.
Jingle jingle jaunted jingling.
Coin rang. Clock clacked.

Avowal. Sonnez. I could. Rebound of garter. Not leave thee.
Smack. La cloche! Thigh smack. Avowal. Warm. Sweetheart,
goodbye!

When love absorbs. War! War! The tympanum.
A sail! A veil awave upon the waves.
When first he saw. Alice!
Full tup. Full throb.
Warbling. Ah, lure! Alluring.

Martha! Come!
Clapclop. Clipclap. Clappyclap.
Goodgod henev erheard inall.
A moonlight nightcall: far: far.
I feel so sad. P. S. So lonely blooming.

Listen!
The spiked and winding cold seahorn. Have you the? Each and
for other plash and silent roar.
Pearls: when she. Liszt's rhapsodies. Hissss.

Read Episode 11 Fully Here

Saturday, 2 May 2009

Peter Greenaway & Tom Phillips - A TV Dante



Peter Greenaway & Tom Phillips - A TV Dante (1983)

This ambitious program, produced by the award-winning film director Peter Greenaway and internationally-known artist Tom Phillips, brings to life the first eight cantos of Dante's Inferno. Featuring a cast that includes Sir John Gielgud as Virgil, the cantos are not conventionally dramatized. Instead, the feeling of Dante's poem is conveyed through juxtaposed imagery that conjures up a contemporary vision of hell, and its meaning is deciphered by eminent scholars in visual sidebars who interpret Dante's metaphors and symbolism. This program makes Dante accessible to the MTV generation. Caution to viewers: program contains nudity. (8 segments, 11 minutes each)


RESOURCES:

This UbuWeb resource is presented in partnership with Greylodge and Art Torrents

Philip Glass "Mad Rush"



Philip Glass "Mad Rush" from The Kitchen Presents Two Moon July

Warning: media reports on suicide can be fatal



* Bad science/frankenstein/boris karloff
*
o Ben Goldacre
o The Guardian, Saturday 28 March 2009
o Article history

This week, in my crescendoing tirade against journalism, we shall review the evidence that the media actually kills people. The suicide of Sylvia Plath's son has filled the news. The media obsessed - understandably - over genetics, when mental illness is probably the single biggest risk factor, but the coverage has been universally thoughtful, considerate, informed, and responsible.

This is not always the case. But before we get there, one important cause of suicide seems to have been missed. In The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe the hero shoots himself because his love is unattainable. The book was banned after men throughout Europe were reported to be dressing like Werther, copying his affectations, and taking their own lives in the same style.

But a myth about a book is not enough: you need research. And it has been shown repeatedly that suicide increases in the month after a front page suicide story. There is also evidence that the effect is bigger for famous people and gruesome attempts.

Overdoses increased by 17% in the week after a prominent overdose on Casualty (watched by 22% of the population at the time). In 1998 the Hong Kong media reported heavily on a case of carbon monoxide poisoning by a very specific method, using a charcoal burner. In the 10 months preceding the reports, there had been no such suicides. In November there were three; then in December there were 10; and over the next year there were 40.

And it's not pie in the sky to suggest the media should be careful in how they discuss suicide. After the introduction of media reporting guidelines in Austria, there was a significant decrease in the number of people throwing themselves under trains.

So organisations such as the Samaritans suggest that journalists avoid crass phrases such as "a successful suicide attempt". They suggest that journalists avoid explicit or technical details of suicide methods, for reasons you can now understand. They suggest that journalists include details of further sources for help and advice, since an article about suicide represents a great opportunity to target people at risk with useful information. And they recommend avoiding simplistic explanations for suicide.

From the weekly mass of reports that trample on this perfectly good common sense, one article from the Telegraph at the tail end of last year particularly sticks in my memory. It is very different from the coverage of Plath's son.

"Man cut off own head with chainsaw" was the headline. "A man cut off his head with a chainsaw because he did not want to leave his repossessed home." What the Telegraph published was a horrific, comprehensive, explicit and detailed instruction manual.

This information was so appallingly technical and instructive that after some discussion we have decided that the Guardian will not print it, even in the context of a critique. It gives truly staggering details on exactly what to buy, how to rig it up, how to use it, and even how to make things more comfortable while waiting for death to come. Suicidal thoughts are common. They pass.

Journalists get these kinds of stories from inquests, which are open to the public because we decided as a community, centuries ago, that it was important to be transparent about the judicial process.

Perhaps Plath's son will have a public inquest. Perhaps the media will cover it in the same way that the Telegraph covered the chainsaw case. I doubt they will, and I very much hope they won't. It's just hard to tell which is the journalist's true voice: the caring, compassionate, informed consolation, or the murderously detailed chainsaw voyeurism.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...de-bad-science

Via DavidIcke.com

THE AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS

The Peppermint Tree And Seeds of Superconsciousness