Made in 1995, at the height of “Brit Pop” (that much hyped re-imagining of the 1960s), Pulp: No Sleep till Sheffield follows the band on their tour of the UK, which culminated with a gig in Sheffield, the Pulp’s hometown.

While best known for its stainless steel, cutlery production and incredible greenery (with 2.5 million trees, the highest ratio of trees to people of any city in Europe), Sheffield is also famed for its wealth of musical talent, a list which includes Joe Cocker, Def Leppard, The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, Heaven 17, ABC, Richard Hawley, The Longpins, Moloko, Arctic Monkeys, The Long Blondes and, of course, Pulp.

Though associated with “Brit Pop”, Pulp were formed in 1978, and had released 3 albums, by the time of their breakthrough record His ‘n’ Hers in 1994, which announced a band of talent, originality and wit. This was followed in 1995, by the equally brilliant Different Class, which delivered one of the decade’s greatest pop songs,  “Common People”.

This summer, Pulp tour the Festivals, starting on May 27 at Primavera Sound, Barcelona, followed by the Isle of Wight Festival on June 11, and T in the Park on July 10. For full details check here.
 

 
Previously on DM

 
Bonus clip of Pulp’s legendary performance of ‘Common People’ at Glastonbury 1995, after the jump…
 

 
Yes, it’s real and I want one. Two non-stick pans go for $29.99 over at Jesus Pan (discounted bulk orders available).

 
The “14 Hour Technicolor Dream” be-in which took place at Alexandra Plaza Palace in London was the English art and music community’s answer to the San Francisco acid tests. It was intended to raise money for counter culture newspaper the International Times which was facing an obscenity trial but it ended up being a financial bust.

No one seems to be absolutely clear as to every musician that played the event. There were dozens invited but not all showed. Among the ones that did were The Soft Machine, Arthur Brown, Yoko Ono, The Flies, The Move, The Pretty Things, Pete Townshend, The Deviants and Pink Floyd. Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon were in the audience.

What Is Happening? made for British TV show “Man Alive” focuses on the audience, dancers, performance artists, gawkers and the event in general. While it’s not a concert film it still has the energy of rock and roll.
 

 
O. Winston Link’s beautiful and haunting photographs of the last of the steam locomotives are among the most stunning black and white images ever captured on film. They’re so vivid they border on hyper realism.Every picture tells a story, truly.

From Robert Mann Gallery:

O. Winston Link (1914-2001) was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for his photographs documenting the last days of steam locomotive railroads in the United States during the 1950s. He was trained as a civil engineer in the late 1930s. When the Norfolk & Western Railway began to convert its operations from steam to diesel, Link spent five years documenting the trains and the towns along the line in Virginia. He made significant achievements in the use of night photography, often using elaborate flash equipment and staging techniques to create extraordinary images. His background in engineering proved especially useful in this regard, allowing him to solve the significant technical hurdles posed by the work. Speaking of his preference for night photography, Link explained “I can’t move the sun — and it’s always in the wrong place — and I can’t even move the tracks, so I had to create my own environment through lighting.” Although Link financed the project himself, he did receive assistance in staging the photographs from the Norfolk & Western officials. Although Link’s photographs had attracted attention from the Museum of Modern Art and other museum curators, it wasn’t until the publication of the book Steam, Steel & Stars in 1987 that his images reached a wider audience. Gallery and museum exhibitions as well as publication in magazines around the world followed. From 1960 until he retired in 1983, Link worked as a commercial photographer. He died in 2001. In January 2004, the O. Winston Link Museum opened in Roanoke, Virginia. The museum is located in the former passenger station of the Norfolk & Western Railway adjacent to the Virginia Museum of Transportation.”

The American dream has never seemed dreamier.
 

 
More photos after the jump…

 
Here’s a terrific video of The B-52s performing “Rock Lobster” in Atlanta, Georgia in 1978. Almost a year before this video was shot, I saw the band’s New York debut at Max’s Kansas City. They had arrived with little fanfare. I had actually gone to Max’s to see another band on the bill, The Pinkos. As soon as The B-52’s hit the stage and kicked things off with “Planet Claire,” it was obvious to everyone in the club that something magic was happening. At a time when punk was raging, Fred, Cindy, Kate, Keith and Ricky were making music that defied categorization and seemed so fresh and original. It was as if the group had stepped out of a John Water’s movie. And they sounded great.
 

 
Via Bedazzled.

Hunter S. Thompson at work in his ranch in Aspen, 1976
 
Since Mark Twain battered out the first typed manuscript in 1883, writers have had a love affair with their typewriters. To mark the end of the manufacture of these instruments for creativity, the Guardian published a fine selection of key writers at work on their typewriters.
 

Patricia Highsmith at work in her home in Moncourt, near Fontainebleau, in 1976
 
More key writers after the jump…
 
With thanks to Ken Cargill, via the Guardian
 

 
Scientists from the California Academy of Sciences are gearing up to digitally photograph 12,000 species of ants with the help from a Leica Z16 microscope and Auto-Montage 3D. So far over 5,000 ants have been photographed.

Go to BBC Nature to see more really cool images of ants and to learn about the California Academy of Sciences’ ant project : The world’s ants captured in 3D.

 

 
More ants after the jump…

 
The legendary actress Joan Crawford died today in 1977. While now best remembered through Faye Dunaway’s incredible interpretation of the actress (‘No wire hangers!’) in Mommie Dearest, we tend to forget that Crawford was a talented, Oscar winning actress, who had one of the longest and most successful careers in Hollywood. No mean feat, no matter what her adopted daughter later wrote.

Joan worked damned hard to maintain her career and independence and if she’d been a man, we’d remember her as fondly as Errol Flynn or Robert Mitchum. What is also impressive about Crawford was her ability to make the most of the roles offered, no matter how trashy the role. Her performance in Trog should have won her a medal for perseverance beyond the call of duty.

In 1964, Joan Crawford starred in B-movie genius William Castle’s classic Strait-Jacket, where she gave a brilliantly bizarre performance. Here is Ms Crawford trying out her make-up for the role of suspected ax-murderer Lucy Harbin.
 

 
Bonus trailers of Joan Crawford in ‘Strait-Jacket’ and ‘Trog’, after the jump…
 

 
This is the best thing I’ve read all day: Rep. Michele “Crazy Eyes” Bachmann has been challenged to a debate on civics and the U.S. Constitution by a high school student in Cherry Hill, NJ.

In an open letter to to Bachmann, my new hero Amy Myers wrote:

Dear Representative Bachmann,

My name is Amy Myers. I am a Cherry Hill, New Jersey sophomore attending Cherry Hill High School East. As a typical high school student, I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted. The frequency and scope of these comments prompted me to write this letter.

Though I am not in your home district, or even your home state, you are a United States Representative of some prominence who is subject to national media coverage. News outlets and websites across this country profile your causes and viewpoints on a regular basis. As one of a handful of women in Congress, you hold a distinct privilege and responsibility to better represent your gender nationally. The statements you make help to serve an injustice to not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere. Though politically expedient, incorrect comments cast a shadow on your person and by unfortunate proxy, both your supporters and detractors alike often generalize this shadow to women as a whole.

Rep. Bachmann, the frequent inability you have shown to accurately and factually present even the most basic information about the United States led me to submit the follow challenge, pitting my public education against your advanced legal education:

I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics.

Hopefully, we will be able to meet for such an event, as it would prove to be enlightening.

Sincerely yours,
Amy Myers

I think Amy’s got a damned good point there.

Of course Rep. Bachmann, like Sarah Palin, is notoriously shy of appearing anywhere in public where her “reality tunnel” might be challenged, but speaking for myself, I’D PAY GOOD MONEY TO SEE THIS, so what if the ante gets upped a bit and this debate benefits a women’s charity?

There’s a Facebook group for this already, to put some pressure on Bachmann to debate Amy, but if there was a large amount of money pledged for this, she’d have a much more difficult time turning this challenge down. This has the potential to raise MILLIONS for a good cause. MILLIONS.

What do you say, “Crazy Eyes”? You aren’t afraid of a high school student are you? Game on?

 
Nice Kosmische playlist for a Friday the 13th courtesy of KCRW’s Chuck P. Chuck P is the host of the weekly “What’s Next” show, on Tuesdays between midnight and 3a.m.

Some Can, Popol Vuh, Neu!, Faust, Cluster, Amon Düül II, Kraftwerk and more!
 

  Sauerkrautrock by chuckp8