Each time I go to MoMA, I think about doing exactly this. Usually, though, I am with a group of people, or another person, and stopping at every painting isn't really feasible.
Now that I have seen that someone has done it, you can be sure I will come-up with one of my own someday.
What I like most about this video is that the dreadfully massive number of Picassos (as good or bad as they may be) that MoMA displays at all times is not so obvious, as they are scattered among the paintings of other artists.
I appreciate that MoMA has an extensive Picasso collection; but, do they have to hang so much of it all the time? They removed three Leger painting recently (three paintings I happen to like very much, including "Three Women") and instead of hanging other Leger paintings they hung three more Picassos in the space.
Three weeks into the 2010 Major League Soccer season, attendance is up to an average of 18,452. This might not sound like a lot, but it places the league third in the rankings of professional sports attendance, right behind Major League Baseball (30,213, last season) and just ahead of the National Basketball Association (17,110, in its current season).
It is possible that MLS could drop down the list as the season progresses, if attendance wanes. In a World Cup year, however, it is expected that interest in the league will increase.
MLS attendance numbers benefit from remarkable attendance in Seattle, with a regularly sold-out 36,000 seat stadium and 31,000 season ticket holders (most in the league).
It is hoped that the addition of a new franchise in Philadelphia, and the opening of Red Bull Arena, in Harrison, NJ, will continue fueling the broadening interest in the sport.
I got the soccer bug while living in London and learned about MLS when I returned to New York. I have been a fan since, and my daughter and I are season ticket holders.
If you haven't seen an MLS match live, I recommend it.
Circus, Gang Haven, Sports League? What is the NBA?
by Dick Mac
When I was a boy in Boston, I would watch Bill Russell play against Wilt Chamberlain and I (like so many) just assumed that the Boston Celtics would be the NBA champions.
In the 1980s, I was treated to Larry Bird and those amazing Celtics teams that built a rivalry with Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Then Michael Jordan arrived. He was called the savior of the league, the player that would move the NBA into the big time.
Oddly, I thought the NBA was already the big time and I was under the impression that the league was doing just fine. Shows you what I know.
I continued to follow the NBA through the late-1980s; but I found that the sport had changed. Cheating was rampant, sociopathic behavior was becoming the norm, officiating was embarrassing, and priced rose and rose and rose.
I found Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to be particularly unpleasant to watch. They weren't like the other great NBA teams I remembered and Jordan is a punk. He's a penny-ante criminal in a big boys game.
Crime is now the norm among NBA players, and thuggery is the rule, not the exception.
Jordan and the dullards who followed him make Wilt Chamberlain's claim to sexual insanity seem quaint and normal.
And the owners of the Bulls enabled this criminal culture. I once heard that Michael Jordan's retirement form the NBA and introduction to baseball was orchestrated by the league, because NBA Security warned that he was about to be implicated in a gambling scandal. If Jordan would vanish from the sport for awhile, NBA Security would make the whole thing go away.
So Jordan, under contract to Bulls ownership was transferred to their other team, the Chicago White Sox and played baseball for a couple years. When the heat was off, he returned to basketball.
Jordan's father was murdered, and the backstory is alleged to be that Jordan and his father were messing with the big boys in the gambling world and that the father's murder was a warning to Jordan about getting his house in order.
Perhaps just rumor, but it really fits the image of today's NBA.
Come now, Chicago Bulls executive vice president John Paxson, who like other sports franchise owners believes that he is above the law. After the Bulls lost to the Suns last month, Paxson confronted coach Vinny Del Negro and threatened him.
Why does this matter? Why does anyone care? The NBA is a league of thuggery, and the Bulls are the root of the moral collapse of the sport. Let them all rot! Take the cameras off them and let them go away.
The first time I heard a contemporary (someone I considered hip) mention Hank Williams was on Patti Smith's bootleg record "Teenage Perversity And Ships In the Darkness."
On this tour, the band was performing the Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes" as a medley with "Louie, Louie" and Smith announced. "Lou Reed wrote this song about Hank Williams who died in the back of a limousine on his way to a gig."
At the time, I had no idea if it was true. I have since learned that it is not true, but sounds really cool.
Prior to that, my only exposure to Williams had been late-night television advertisements for collections of his music on "LP, cassette, or 8-track tape."
I had no appreciation for country music and though not disdainful, I ignored it. I began to appreciate country music in the early-1990s and started listening to Johnny Cash. It wasn't long before I learned that Hank Williams had written a number of really great songs: "Hey Good Lookin'," "Your Cheatin' Heart," and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" among them.
Today, Hank Williams is in regular rotation in my music collection.
Williams died tragically at the age of 29: too young. He left us an amazing songbook.
Yesterday, the Pulitzer Prize was posthumously awarded to Williams for his songwriting.
I bought this single in 1964 at Sears Roebuck on Park Drive in Boston. I went there with one of the other kids from the projects. Usually we would steal stuff, but this time I had a dollar.
I clutched the 7" 45 RPM treasure in its little brown paper bag (no more than a sleeve really) all the way home across Brookline Avenue, through The Fens, by the Gardner Museum, up Evans Way, across Route 9, through the parking lot of the Howard Johnson's, across Ward Street, and up Oregon Court to 104 McGreevey Way.
I played it over and over again on my mother's record player.
I don't know when or why I stopped playing it. Probably when I got my next single.
I awoke this morning wondering what happened to my autographed copy of Malcolm McLaren's album "Fans," a collection of Puccini arias (and one Bizet aria) done in pop format.
My friend Michael, a die-hard and lifelong opera fan, hated McLaren's "Madame Butterfly." I really liked it. I respected Michael's disdain, though, and did not play the 12" single while he visited.
You probably know that McLaren was the svengali behind the rise and fall of The Sex Pistols, the excitement generated by the band and it's sad and ugly demise. Many people, though, don't know much (if anything) about his post-Pistols career which bordered on brilliant.
McLaren was interested in exposing his fans to musical forms they might not have heard.
His first release "Duck Rock" was an amalgam of New York scratch, Appalachian folk, and African tribal music. The single "Buffalo Gals" actually received radio play, and was heard in dance clubs around the world. The dub "Looking Like A Hobo," which was part of the "Buffalo Gals" song, could be heard in many different venues besides record stores.
The song "Punk It Up" featured African aboriginal women singing the chorus "Sex Pistols man, Sex Pistols man, that's what I am. Everybody knows he's a Sex Pistols man" over and over again.
The song "Double Dutch," which became an MTV staple, focuses on jump-rope culture and competition in the inner city and focuses on the Ebonettes crew and their jump rope competitors The Golden Angels, The Fort Green Angels, The Five Town Diamond Skippers, and The Pleasure of Rope Rippers (all of whom may or may not be real or fictitious double-dutch crews).
The marriage of McLaren and the Bronx duo "The World's Famous Supreme Team" is the compnent of the production that makes it a success. The team, Se'Divine the Mastermind and JazzyJust the Superstar, had a radio show on Newark's WHBI-FM 105.9 FM. Clips of their broadcasts are inserted throughout the album. For more current information about TWFST, see their page at myspace.com.
Notably, Thomas Dolby also appears on the record.
McLaren's next record was an attempt at mainstream pop that was really a bunch of outtakes assembled to meet contractual obligations, and was a total failure. I am unable to find any cuts from "Swamp Thing" in electronic format. Here's a tip, though: someone has posted it at youtube.com and if you now how to rip from You Tube, it's all yours for the taking. See, MALCOLM McLAREN - Buffalo Love
"Fans" was a more successful composition and release. It was on his tour for the album's release that I met McLaren and he autographed my copy of the record. What is the quality I most remember about McLaren this evening in 1984? He smelled. Yup! He smelled. He smelled bad. He wore a trench coat with deep pockets (we had been warned ahead-of-time that he liked to take things. He was both shy and aggressive, and I was fascinated by him and it was exciting to make his acquaintance if only for a handful of minuted before he proffered a humorous radio interview.
"Waltz Darling" was his mash-up of Classical and Rock, without coming-up with Classic Rock! He joined forces with Jeff Beck and Bootsy Collins to form the Bootzilla Orchestra and released an amusing record that should be heard by everyone.
At this point in his career, I sort of lost interest. Other releases followed, but nothing grabbed me until his mash-up "Love Will" that combined Joy Division's haunting "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and The Captain & Tenille's saccharine-sweet "Love Will Keep Us Together" (truth be known, I adore both songs). It used to be available on You Tube with a video of Gary Gilmore, but I am unable to find it these days.
I will now have to hunt down Paris, Jungk, Tranquilize, and Shallow – Musical Paintings; the records I have not heard.
Oh, and I hope my buddy Rich has that signed copy of "Fans"!
McLaren died yesterday at the age of 64. His death is a loss to the world's of art and music.
A colleague told me it was a lovely day; so at lunchtime yesterday I departed without my jacket.
The streets were teeming with people!
I walked down 53rd Street to Third Avenue and could barely make progress while wending my way through the throng of office workers.
And it was hot. I mean HOT!
I'd read a Facebook post from a friend in Boston that it had reached 95F in that city and it felt that hot in New York.
It was my lunch break and I wasn't sure what to eat. The heat killed my appetite, and as I began to perspire while walking down Third Avenue, I found myself seeking shade, and not sustenance. I turned west onto 52nd Street and was relieved to find shade; and I was shocked to see that every food outlet: the falafel truck, Chop't, Subway, Pump, and Chipotle all had long lines of people snaking out onto the sidewalk.
Well, the entire line for the falafel truck was on the sidewalk, and I had never seen that many people in line for that particular brand of street meat.
I walked up the North side of the street. I avoided Pump, because I just can't figure out what they are selling and I find it uninviting. I had a veggie burrito from Chipotle last week and wasn't in the mood for beans. Subway is out; I have to be in a bad mood to enjoy Subway. I find it tasty, but not very filling, while making me feel bloated at the same time. No way was I getting street meat from this truck. I reserve my street meat purchases for Rafiqi's at 51st and Park - the best street meat in the neighborhood.
So that left Chop't.
I have a fave sandwich at Chop't: the Rocky Mountain Cobb: lettuce, chicken, blue cheese, craisins, and walnuts, chopped up and mixed together in steakhouse blue cheese, in a wrap. Yummy!
I had not had one for almost two months. During Lent I am vegan and that excludes a Rocky Mountain Cobb for lunch. So, I got into the line out on the sidewalk and waited patiently. The line moved quickly.
Chop't is an amazing display of immigrant industriousness. Teams of three manage three stations and they whip out salads and sandwiches like nobody's business. Even the difficult customers with their special needs (only half that much cheese please, can you add sesame seeds, can I get the dressing on the side, does that cost extra, blah blah blah) can't slow this amazing production line.
As I finally entered the store, I saw it: a new item named for Barcelona FC, the Spanish soccer team that less than 24-hours earlier knocked my Arsenal out of the UEFA Champions League. I don't know when the item went up on the board, but the sign appeared new and I took it as a personal affront.
Now, I like Barcelona FC. My favorite player of all-time, Thierry Henry, plays there, as does the greatest player alive, Lionel Messi, and the best European player, Zalatan Ibrihamovic. Add Dani Alves, Puyol, and a host of other great players and it's easy for me to say that Barcelona is the best team in the world.
But a club sandwich named for them in Midtown Manhattan? Where's the Arsenal Club?
Well, I got over it right quick and in a hurry and eventually got my sandwich, along with two pieces of sea salt taffy, and made my way back to the office. The notion of a long walk interrupted by the heat.
Come to find out, NYC reached only 92F yesterday, not 95F!
A woman and her step-daughter were arrested at the airport in Liverpool when it was discovered that the infirm husband of the older woman was actually dead.
The man was strapped into a wheelchair, wearing sunglasses. Airline staff became suspicious when they observed that the man was not moving at all.
The women insist that he was alive when they arrived at the airport. They were returning to Germany to grant the man's wish that he would die in his homeland.
Om Kalsoum - Wa Daret Alayyam (And The Days Have Gone By) - Music Video
by Dick Mac
I was introduced to the music of Om Kalsoum in the mid-1970s, shortly after her death. Like so many before me, I was mesmerized by her voice and singing style. I understood nothing of the lyrics, sung in Arabic, but I was (and still am) able to listen to her sing for hours.
Born in Cairo, Egypt, sometime around 1900, she rose to become the greatest Egyptian singer of all time.
Her concerts could last from 20 minutes to an hour and a half, and were often the presentation of a single new song that she would improvise for the entire show.
On the day of her funeral, Egypt declared a national day of mourning and the entire nation shut-down in her honor.
The Beatles may have been bigger than Jesus in the Western world; but Om Kalsoun was bigger than The Beatles in the Arabic world (the Orient).
How do teabaggers think we created jobs after the Civil War, the Depression, WWII, and Vietnam?
Government investment, that's how.
Industry did not (and has never) created jobs. The rich have always demanded that the government create the jobs.
Working people who now support the GOP and demand a smaller government need to think about how the United States has always been successful, and it has never been because of the generosity or hard-work of industry, or the down-sizing of government!
You want to know a nation with small government? Somalia. Nigeria. Congo. Liberia. Are these the nations teabaggers aspire to be like?
Almost every generation has inherited the debt of earlier generations, going all the way back to 1780. Yes, since the beginning. Our Founding Fathers did their founding on debt. HUGE debt. Money borrowed from people who didn't like us very much.
This is part of the American Way. We call it an investment in the future.
And where were the teabaggers when the previous President destroyed the economy, national pride, and our future with two wars he was incapable of leading?
If teabaggers are just afraid homosexuals, brown people, intellectuals, and reproductive rights, just say so. Then we'd know why you support the GOP.
Stop pretending that our government used to be something it wasn't, or should become something it never was, is not now, or ever should be.
The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics included an article about the Altair 8800 computer. It was the first personal computer. Ed Roberts, founder of MITS (Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems), designed it, but there was no market for the computer and no demand.
Roberts figured he might sell a few hundred a year. Imagine his surprise when 800 were ordered the first month!
Paul Allen showed-up with a computer language called BASIC and was hired on-the-spot. Allen's friend, Harvard student Bill Gates joined the company shortly thereafter.
The rest is sort of history, I guess!
Eventually, Roberts sold his company and found himself out of the technology industry while a non-compete agreement was in effect. He moved to rural Georgia, near his mother's family. Instead of resting on his laurels and spending his money, Roberts became a medical doctor and started a practice.
Born in Miami, FL, in 1941, he attended Oklahoma State University and started his carrer in the miliatry. He was a geek who was interested in computers, calculaters, infrared technology, and other things that were not yet part of mainstream life.
He married in 1962 and had six children. Two other marriages followed.
Dr. Roberts died of pneumonia yesterday, April 1, 2010, at age 68.
After The Turtles broke-up in 1970, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan became members of the Mothers of Invention. Working with Frank Zappa gave them an arena to continue their wonderfully off-kilter creations. In particular, their performance with The Mothers during the last show at The Fillmore East, which has been recorded for posterity on The Mothers album of the same name, was phenomenal.
After they left The Mothers in 1972, they became Flo & Eddie. On one of their LPs, they released the song "Keep It Warm," which is one of my fave songs of the seventies.
Here are two videos:
This is a montage video over the actual LP recording:
This is a live performance from 2008:
"Keep It Warm" appeared on the 'Moving Targets' album. Like all Flo & Eddie records, they are almost impossible to find on CD. 'Moving Targets' is available only as a limited edition, signed copy direct from The Turtles Merchandise Page at their website.
by Dick Mac
