Atlanta, Georgia’s High Museum Of Art is showcasing an exhibit of Salvidor Dali’s later work. Included in the exhibit is a piece from 1973 called “First Cylindric Chromo-Hologram Portrait of Alice Cooper’s Brain” which…

[...] depicts a three-dimensional Alice Cooper wearing two million dollars worth of jewelry including a tiara and necklace while holding a statuette of Venus De Milo as if it were a microphone. A plaster sculpture of Alice’s brain, topped by a chocolate éclair covered in ants, another Dalí oeuvre, was placed behind the cross-legged rock star and the set-up was documented by Dalí using (then) cutting-edge hologram technology.

Dali was an Alice Cooper fan and it was after seeing the band perform live in 1973 that he invited Alice to sit for the hologram project. The Dali/Cooper connection certainly makes sense considering both men were ‘shock artists’ and each of them, in their era, were known for producing gruesome good fun, from Dali’s riot inducing An Andalusian Dog to Cooper’s decapitated baby dolls, dancing teeth and guillotine.

 
See footage of the Dali exhibit after the jump…

 
Très freaky! Not recommended for the squeamish.
 
(via Street Anatomy)

 
According to artist Ulises Farinas, “The Ninth Doctor was the hardest to draw. But K-9 was the most fun, and I like the Adipose as minifig a lot. This would be a cool theme for Lego to make.”

(via New_Universe via TDW)

 
New York’s The Groupies were badass. Infamous for their live shows, but unable to get a break when it came to their recording career, the band never achieved the success they deserved. This was mainly due to the fact they were in constant self-destruct mode. ‘Primitive’  was released in 1966 on, believe it or not, Atlantic records. The song went nowhere. Too fucking hip. This is one of the greatest garage rockers of all time. No question about it.

In the first video, a perfect marriage of garage to grind, Blaze Starr emanates her goddess-like powers and your world will never be the same. In the second, The Cramps do their take on ‘Primitive’ with subliminal Jello at the top.
 

 
The Cramps get primitive after the jump…

 
Martin Circus was a hugely popular French group that had a string of hits in France in the late sixties and early seventies. Their stage show was glammy and Zappaesque, but their music was your typical testosterone-free French rock. They did adequate covers of American hits and later on, bad disco. But when they were good, they could be very good, as one can see in the video of the exceptional Je m’éclate au Sénégal . It’s so good I’ve included two versions of it here; a Scopitone and a live version.

The other video is Drague Party, Martin Circus doing Jan and Dean’s Surf City but with more of that redemptive Senegalese feel, which does give the song it’s distinctive flavor.

In the early 80s the band collaborated with Serge Gainsbourg. But not even the epically badass Gainsbourg could ignite a fire in Martin Circus. They were Simcas in the muscle car world of rock and roll.

The bottom line is that if Martin Circus had been as creative in the studio as they were good live, they might have been major league artists. While the comparison to The Mothers Of Invention has been made, it doesn’t extend beyond lead singer Gérard Blanc looking strikingly like Zappa. Still, these videos are fun and I hope you enjoy them.
 

 
more Martin Circus after the jump…

 
I’m going to let this one speak for itself.

 
Best meme ever. Causes me infinite mirth and glee. It’s clearly a follow up to the below:
 

 

 
Thx Carmel !

Operator of the Month, Horace Struthers. 5/12/1982.

From the Metro Transportation Library and Archives photostream.

Three cheers for the bus driver, the bus driver, the bus driver
Three cheers for the bus driver who drove us today!

(via Nerdcore)

 
“We need a gimmick. Wait, I’ve got a great idea that’ll make us really stand out!!”

Via PCL Linkdump/Howie Pyro

 
The Watts riots happened 45 years ago today. Sparked by the arrest and beating of young African-American Marquette Frye and the detention of objecting Frye family members, the 1965 unrest happened in a context of extreme racial tension in California.

Along with the growing poverty that accompanied the post-War closing of factories in South Central L.A., the riots also happened in a context West Coast segregationist politics. By funding the passage of Proposition 14, the California Real Estate Association had just successfully cancelled out the Mumford Act, which was the part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prevented housing discrimination on the basis of race.

The week of rioting left 34 dead, over 1,000 injured and more than 200 businesses destroyed, with property damage was estimated at $40 million. Urban politics would never be the same. For some perspective, read Second District Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas’s reflections on how the riots connect with the building and revitalization of the area’s Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital.
 

 
After the jump: From Stacy Peralta’s 2008 documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America, Kumasi, a former member of the street squad The Slausons, breaks down the strategy of dealing with the National Guard presence during the riots…