Monthly Archives: April 2024

‘Taxi’: Andy Warhol’s cruel eulogy for Edie Sedgwick

“Edie Sedgwick is remembered as Andy Warhol’s ultimate Superstar. With her distinctive eye makeup, her pixie cut and her supreme beauty, she’s one of those faces that defined an era. But her story was a tragic one as the scene … Continue reading

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Kwame Nkrumah today

Arrival of President Kwama Nkrumah, to the Non-Alignment Movement conference, Belgrade 1961. “One of the most important dates for the Ghanaian left is February 24, 1966, the day the country’s first president Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown. At this year’s commemoration, … Continue reading

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Gondor

“Gondor is a fictional kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien‘s writings, described as the greatest realm of Men in the west of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age. The third volume of The Lord of the Rings, The … Continue reading

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The Ghost of the 1968 Antiwar Movement Has Returned

“At the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, anti-Vietnam War protesters clashed with police officers — whose brutal role in the confrontation was later described by a federal commission as a ‘police riot‘ — hijacking the focus of the convention. … Continue reading

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Guerrilla Warfare – Che Guevara (1961)

“Guerrilla Warfare (Spanish: La Guerra de Guerrillas) is a military handbook written by Marxist–Leninist revolutionary Che Guevara. Published in 1961 following the Cuban Revolution, it became a reference for thousands of guerrilla fighters in various countries around the world. The … Continue reading

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Lou Harrison: La Koro Sutro

Lou Harrison playing one of his homemade instruments. “Can you ever have too much gamelan? Not with Lou. Lou Harrison’s La Koro Sutro isn’t exactly what you expect. Known for his wonderfully imaginative blend of Asian and Baroque styles, the … Continue reading

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My First Antiwar Protest

Vietnam War protesters in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park in April 1967. “Fifty years ago this spring, on April 15, 1967, a cold, damp Saturday morning, I walked from a friend’s apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, … Continue reading

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Theatre of Cruelty

“The Theatre of Cruelty (French: Théâtre de la Cruauté, also Théâtre cruel) is a form of theatre conceptualised by Antonin Artaud. Artaud, who was briefly a member of the surrealist movement, outlined his theories in a series of essays and … Continue reading

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Orson Welles Cinema

Globe Sunday magazine showing the Orson Welles Cinema. “The Orson Welles Cinema was a movie theater at 1001 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts that operated from 1969 to 1986. Showcasing independents, foreign films and revivals, it became a focal point … Continue reading

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1960 World Series – “The Mazeroski Moment”

October 1960; Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: No. 9 of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bill Mazeroski, has just hit a pitch that is heading for the trees beyond the left field wall. It is an historic home run, occurring in the bottom … Continue reading

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Various – Fame Northern Soul

“Mention Southern Soul, and there are certain record labels that spring to mind, including Stax, Hi Records and Fame Records. It’s no exaggeration to say that these three labels are synonymous with Southern Soul. Together they released some of the … Continue reading

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A user’s guide to détournement

“Every reasonably aware person of our time is aware of the obvious fact that art can no longer be justified as a superior activity, or even as a compensatory activity to which one might honorably devote oneself. The reason for … Continue reading

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The Great Distraction: On Aaron Sorkin’s “Trial of the Chicago 7” – J. Hoberman (2020)

“OK BOOMER, the consensus (or maybe the algorithm) has spoken: the last time I checked, Aaron Sorkin’s Trial of the Chicago 7 had a Tomatometer rating of 91 percent and an audience score of 92 percent. How is it that … Continue reading

Posted in 1968 DNC, Black Power, Bobby Seale, Chicago Eight, Jerry Rubin, Movie, SDS, Tom Hayden, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Various Artists: Chess Blues

“In the 1950’s and ’60’s, one of the most significant and successful labels offering blues as a strong part of its catalog was run by Leonard and Phil Chess. As Polish immigrants who landed on these shores in 1922, the … Continue reading

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Family favourites: Lawrence and Gerald Durrell

“‘Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu, the blue really begins,’ wrote Lawrence Durrell. For TS Eliot, the walls of Magnus Martyr in London held ‘inexplicable splendour in Ionian white and gold’. Edward Lear was in raptures over ‘olive grove and orange … Continue reading

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WNET (Koch & Ashbery) – John Ashbery

“JA: ‘I met Kenneth (Koch) when I was first a student in Harvard in 1947 and I met Frank (O’Hara) a couple of years later. We all wound up in New York more or less by accident , and got … Continue reading

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12/17: the writing of Deborah Jowitt

Deborah Jowitt at her apartment in Greenwich Village. The 14th Street Y is honoring Ms. Jowitt with a series of performances next week. “Deborah Jowitt was born in 1934 and began dancing professionally at the age of nineteen.  She performed … Continue reading

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Diner

W – Mickey’s Diner “A diner is a type of restaurant found across the United States and Canada, as well as parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, … Continue reading

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Sumer Is Icumen In: The Pagan Sound Of British And Irish Folk 1966-75

“… With both sets intended to act as companion pieces to each other, there is much for both the casual fan and serious archivist to enjoy. However, the tightened theme of ‘Sumer is Icumen In’ lends it a coherence occasionally … Continue reading

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Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In

“Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (often simply referred to as Laugh-In) is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBCtelevision network, hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick … Continue reading

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The Fire Within – Louis Malle (1963)

The Fire Within: Day of the Dead “When he shot The Fire Within in the spring of 1963, Louis Malle had already established a strong reputation. Incredibly precocious, he won a Palme d’Or at the age of twenty-four, at the … Continue reading

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The Birth of Psychedelic London

“There’s a clip that gets shown on British TV every time there’s some news item about ‘Swinging London.’ It starts with some turned-on teens perusing a rack of Chelsea Pensioner-meets-Hendrix military jackets on Portobello Road, and ends a few frames … Continue reading

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Marian Zazeela (1940–2024)

Bear Lake Overlook, Utah, 1992 “Light art pioneer Marian Zazeela, whose vibrant illuminated environments profoundly influenced Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable, died March 28 in New York. She was eighty-three. A member of the 1960s avant-garde collective The Theatre of Eternal … Continue reading

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Massacre at Huế

Bits of tattered clothing, sandals and slippers are examined by South Vietnamese women who lost relatives in the 1968 Tet massacre. The latest mass grave discovered in Hue yielded remains of 250 victims. “The Huế massacre (Vietnamese: Thảm sát tại … Continue reading

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Silver Apples

“Silver Apples were an American electronic rock group from New York, active between 1967 and 1970, before reforming in the mid-1990s. It was composed of Simeon (born Simeon Oliver Coxe III, June 4, 1938 – September 8, 2020), who performed … Continue reading

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The Fort Hill Community

“… It was his relationship with Judy Silver that brought him to Boston in 1963. Again, Lyman became acquainted with many artists and musicians in the vibrant Boston scene, including Timothy Leary‘s group of LSD enthusiasts, International Foundation for Internal … Continue reading

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Reading Fanon in Algeria, reading Algeria beyond Fanon

“In his biography of Frantz Fanon, intellectual historian David Macey narrates that in August 1955, Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) leader Moustafa Lacheraf suggested to Fanon that they collaborate on a book on Algeria. Fanon, however, declined, telling Lacheraf that … Continue reading

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Martha Graham was ‘Where the Action Was’

“From 1967 through 2011, Deborah Jowitt wrote a weekly dance column for the Village Voice. Her substantial experience as a dancer, choreographer, critic, mother, teacher, and writer of a clutch of valuable books; her long marriage to a composer; and … Continue reading

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“Send my love to Rosie”: The song John Lennon called his “all-time favourite”

“Whether it was Elvis, Roy Orbison, Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly, music has always been bubbling in the blood of John Lennon. Ever the rebel, Lennon found comfort in the persistent non-conformity of rock ‘n’ roll and cherished it until … Continue reading

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