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Fela Kuti: Music is the Weapon
11.26.2010
12:55 pm
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It didn’t take long after his death in 1997 for the indomitable spirt of Fela Kuti, Afrobeat legend, political revolutionary, musician, composer and performer, to rise again. His singular musical cross-pollination of African drumming, Bitches Brew-influenced jazz rock and James Brown-influenced guitar funk has gained cultural currency in the past decade far beyond what he achieved in his lifetime.

The wildly popular Broadway musical about him, Fela! (directed and choreographed by the great Bill T. Jones, and financed in part by Jay-Z, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith) has been nominated for 11 Tony Awards and was recently visited by First Lady Michelle Obama. The upcoming Beyonce Knowles album is said to be heavily influenced by Kuti’s Afrobeat sound.

Below, a fascinating documentary on Fela Kuti titled Music is the Weapon. This intimate 1982 film was directed by Stéphane Tchal-Gadjieff & Jean Jacques Flori.
 

 
Via Pathway to Unknown Worlds

Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.26.2010
12:55 pm
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The epic funk of the magnificent Bar-Kays
11.25.2010
07:17 pm
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I have nothing profound to say about this video, no startling insight. I just love the fucking thing.

The Bar-Kays doing an awesomely funky version of ‘Son Of Shaft’ at the Wattstax festival in 1972. The original performance was 10 minutes long but cut to 4 minutes for the Wattstax documentary from which this clip was taken. Boo.

Vocalist Larry Dodson’s entrance is epic. “I am Spartacus.”
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.25.2010
07:17 pm
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Happy Birthday Pete Best!
11.24.2010
10:31 pm
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A 1964 appearance on I’ve Got A Secret by Pete Best, the hapless fellow unfortunate enough to have left the Beatles just two years before.

Pete Best turns 69 today!
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.24.2010
10:31 pm
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‘The Man We Want To Hang’: Kenneth Anger films the art of Aleister Crowley
11.24.2010
10:29 pm
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Crowley self-portrait, 1920
 
‘The Man We Want To Hang’ is a film shot by Kenneth Anger documenting an exhibit of Aleister Crowley’s paintings at London’s October Gallery in April 1998. The score is by Liadov.

I was amazed when I found this video. I thought I’d seen all of Anger’s films, but I was wrong. While it’s neither the trippy spectacle or erotic fetishism one expects of Anger, it still has moments where you sense the Anger ‘touch’. But mostly Kenneth steps out of the way and let’s Crowley’s paintings take center stage.

‘The Man We Want To Hang’, the title of the film also the title of the notorious Sunday Express article which had denounced A.C. as the “Wickedest Man In The World.” The title is also a pun on art being hung on gallery walls, and a possible reference to The Hanged Man of the Tarot—who appears in the film a few times—although nothing jumped out at me as I looked over that entry in The Book of Thoth to back up that line of thought (but I’m sure those with well wore copies of 777 and The Book of Thoth and a knack for undoing and uncovering occult puzzles may have better luck that I did ...)

The art works themselves—drawn of the collections of Keith Richmond, Jimmy Page and the Ordo Templi Orientis International—depict a variety of subjects. Simple landscapes of mountains, volcanoes and sea, serpents and malevolent beings from some daemonic reality, portraits of individuals familiar to those versed in A.C.‘s biography—such as Gerald Yorke and various Scarlet Women—and self-portraits of A.C., some evoking grey aliens or Lam.

If this was the only output of an artist they would have at most been a curious and obscure art historical footnote, if even that. But when put into the context of A.C.‘s life they have more value.

Throughout his life A.C. expressed his higher nature in a multitude of ways. Poetry, painting, ritual magick, sexual athleticism, writing, mountaineering, exploring higher consciousness. While he was middling in such expressions as painting and poetry, his non-fictional magickal texts are genius, a Joyce or Fassbinder of occult and esoteric philosophy, and most of us would be extremely lucky to create a single work of genius over a lifetime, let alone a multi-volumed network of texts like A.C.‘s.

Aside from his texts of magickal philosophy and ritual his other great work of art was his life, which encompassed the lowliest degradations and the highest and holiest exalted states. The art works provide a visual accompaniment to it—the settings, the personalities, the extraordinary experiences.

They also provide a reminder of A.C.‘s role as a prototype of the type of current creative spirit, with his multiple means of expression (poetry, art, journalism, adept, etc.) a forerunner of the of the typical artist of today, who is just as likely to write a novel, play in a band, star in a porn, run a small business, blog, than lock themselves in one monolithic way of expressing creative currents.

He ran a preview of this social reality movie like all successful intelligence agents do.” Jason Lubyk

 
 

 
Update: resident Crowley expert R. Metzger has informed me that The Man We Want To Hang is available as part of the Anger boxsets that were released a few years back. Available here.
Metzger also directed me to a film that Anger did on Crowley’s paintings called The Brush Of Baphomet, which you can watch after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.24.2010
10:29 pm
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The Freedom Tunnel: Art underground
11.24.2010
12:58 pm
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The secret cities beneath our cities. What we leave behind.

This haunting video was shot by Charles le Grand. It’s all video, no stills.

Charles describes the history of the ‘Freedom Tunnel’:

Under Manhattan’s Upper West side, runs the “Freedom” Tunnel. Built in the 30’s by Robert Moses, the passage boasts legendary graffiti murals and piles of debris remaining of the past homeless city era. After using it for only a couple of years, Amtrak discontinued the line and left a massive cavern which later became a shelter for street people. Progressively, the tunnel turned into a veritable underground metropolis where thousands of homeless were living in organized communities underneath the city’s skin.

The tunnel also became a prime spot for graffiti artists. Chris Pape, aka Freedom, was one of the pioneers and his work inspired the name of the tunnel. “Freedom” painted immense murals utilizing the unique lighting provided by the ventilation ducts, turning the tunnel into an extraordinary underground art gallery. Some of his most notable paintings survived for decades and are still conspicuous today (“Venus de Milo”, the “Coca-Cola Mural”, Dali’s “Melting Clock”,a self-portrait featuring a male torso with a spray-can head, etc.).

In 1991, Amtrak decided to reopen the tunnel. The shanty towns were cleared out by the police and homeless were evicted. Although deserted, the tunnel is now an active train line and a stunning experience for urban explorers.

 

  Via TWBE

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.24.2010
12:58 pm
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Charles Bukowski: Poet on the Edge exhibit at the Huntington
11.23.2010
09:02 pm
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It’s great to see that Los Angeles is finally starting to properly celebrate the life of one of her greatest writers, Charles Bulowski. Presently on exhibit at The Huntington is a show called “Charles Bukowski: Poet on the Edge,” drawn from the archive of his papers donated to the museum by his wife, Linda Lee Bukowski, in 2006. The exhibit is being held in the West Hall of the Library and continues through Feb. 14, 2011.

Among the rare items on view in the exhibition will be first editions of his works, including Ham on Rye (1982), the autobiographical novel about his brutal childhood and young adulthood; Factotum (1975), the fictional account of his succession of low-end jobs; and Barfly (1984), the screenplay he wrote for the 1987 film starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. Corrected typescripts of poems and of the novels Pulp (1984) and Hollywood (1989) will also be on view. There will be original drawings by Bukowski, correspondence and fan mail, and large-format printings of his poems produced by the Black Sparrow Press and other fine printing houses. scarce, important “little magazines,” which were the first to publish Bukowski’s works, will include such publications as Wormwood Review, The Outsider, The Limberlost Review, and Runcible Spoon. More famous (or infamous) magazines like Oui and High Times will show a more lucrative aspect of Bukowski’s craft.

In addition, Linda Lee Bukowski is graciously lendng a number of iconic items, including Bukowski’s manual typewriter, an original oil portrait by John Register, and very scarce early books, including Flower, Fist & Bestial Wail (1960) and It Catches My Heart in Its Hand (1963).

Charles Bukowski continues to attract a huge following of readers who feel a deep connection to the writer who spoke for the downtrodden and disaffected.  Writing as an outsider, on the periphery of both society and the literary establishment, Bukowski knew that, for him, “the place to find the center is at the edge.”

Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.23.2010
09:02 pm
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Color footage of The Doors live at The Roundhouse London, 1968
11.23.2010
12:00 am
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Rare color footage of The Doors performing on September 7,1968 during their two night stand at London’s Roundhouse.

Other than when and where it was shot, I can’t find any information about this video. I know it’s not from the Roundhouse footage (‘Doors Are Open’) which was broadcast on Granada TV. I know that the sound source is not the mixing board and may have been synched after the fact. And I know as a Doors fan I dig it.

If anyone knows more about the history of this footage, please share.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.23.2010
12:00 am
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Extremely sexist ads of yesteryear
11.22.2010
04:17 pm
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It wasn’t the good old days for everyone…
 
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More after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Brad Laner
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11.22.2010
04:17 pm
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The wild world of Screaming Lord Sutch
11.22.2010
12:17 am
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Before there was Alice Cooper, Rocky Horror, Dr. John the Nightripper, The Cramps or Sabbath, there was Screaming Lord Sutch.

On June 16, 1999, David Sutch was found hanged at his home in London. For his friends and fans the world over it was a terrible and unexpected blow. Sutch’s obsession with horror movies and the macabre was well known, an integral part of his image, but it was strictly for laughs. If he had a dark side he kept it well hidden. True, he had been suffering from depression in recent years, especially since the death of his mother, but no one expected this surprise ending: dead by his own hand at the age of 59. Sutch was well loved by his many friends. He was a household name in Britain—practically a national treasure. He was to make a highly anticipated headlining appearance in Las Vegas at Halloween, only a four months away. Surely he had everything to live for. Lord Sutch in 1969 But when clinical depression wraps its dark cloak around a man, he’s completely alone. Tragically now, he’s gone but not forgotten. David Sutch will be remembered for many things. His colourful, larger than life personality was a fixture of the British political landscape as well as the entertainment world. Certainly his amazing recorded legacy ensures his place in rock’n'roll history in perpetuity: the wild rock’n'roll and horror sides he cut with Joe Meek, the demented mid-‘60s gems like “Train Kept A-Rollin’” and “All Black and Hairy”, the proto-psychedelic “The Cheat”, the hard rockin’ Heavy Friends - for someone supposedly with no discernible musical talent he sure made some great records. And if you make great records you live forever.

Read a fascinating and funny interview with the Lord at Ugly Things.

Here’s a documentary from 1964 of which there is little information to be found on the Internet. It’s filled with wonderful footage of Sutch performing live and that’s enuff for me.
 

 
Parts 2 - 4 after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.22.2010
12:17 am
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Incredible 1964 Beatles concert video, free on iTunes
11.20.2010
11:05 pm
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With all the Apple fanboy media attention paid this past week to the fact that the Beatles catalog was finally showing up on iTunes—like this is some kind of big deal to the man on the street—one nifty lil’ bit of news that most certainly was worth perking up for, got left out of a lot of the coverage: Until the end of the year, you can watch, for free on iTunes, the most amazing complete Beatles show you’ve ever seen. A show that was literally their first American concert, shot just two days after their Ed Sullivan TV debut, at the Washington Coliseum on February 11, 1964.

It’s amazing to see this. As the story is told, when they began to play, they had no idea what to expect. Recent concerts in Paris were played to unenthusiastic audiences. The between song banter assumes that the audience is not familiar with certain numbers, although this is seen to be demonstrably untrue, as the band, of course realize. And they are lovin’ it. The energy is palpable, and the entire set is one big 35-minute long adrenaline shot, as exciting to watch today as was then, but the added meta-historical layer of seeing the Beatles do an entire concert the very week they went from being up and comers to the most important musicians of the later half of the 20th century and beyond, is kinda cool, too.

The performance here is way better than the one captured in color at Shea Stadiumd a year later. That film was more about the insanity of Beatlemania than the music, anyway. Here, musically, they are tight as hell. This has been bootlegged forever, but never seen in good quality like this. Trust me, if you’re a Beatles fan, this will blow your mind… out in a car.

When you go to iTunes, you’ll be confronted with a box of Beatles related information. Click on “Play the Concert.” Do it. Do it now.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.20.2010
11:05 pm
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