the first major exhibition of work by the world’s most accomplished blind photographers.
The exhibition explores the idea that blind photographers can see in ways that sighted people cannot. These artists employ diverse strategies in their work. Some use the camera to present their own inner visions. Some capture the outside world unfiltered with a non-retinal photography of chance. And a number of the artists, legally blind but retaining a limited, highly attenuated sight, photograph to capture the outside world and bring it into their realm.
http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/dark-light-the-art-of-blind-photographers/synopsis.html#/documentaries/dark-light-the-art-of-blind-photographers/synopsis.html/
now showing HBO
The acclaimed, eccentric and polarizing British film director Ken Russell has died, after a series of strokes, at the age of 84.
The director of Tommy, Women in Love and Altered States was known for a florid adaptations of classic literature and over-the-top biopics that ranged from perverse to merely provocative — and an indelible nickname: "Kinky Ken Russell."
In the 1971 film The Devils, Vanessa Redgrave played a nun who is vividly tortured. The church objected, as did a legion of critics disgusted by the film's excesses and sadomasochism.
But Russell, a Catholic convert, defended his films.
He told NPR in 1991: "My films assault people, but that's because the images are potent. I don't have any gratuitous scenes in my films. They're actually integral to the plot."
It took Ken Russell decades to become a cinematic enfant terrible and a presager of punk. At first, he wanted to become a sailor.
He joined the British Merchant Marine but was constantly seasick. He returned home, suffered a nervous breakdown and then heard something on the radio that unleashed his inner artist.
Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 flayed him open. Russell started cranking Tchaikosvky while leaping around his parents' house naked. His ambition to dance professionally failed when he got kicked out of ballet school for being too clumsy.
Later attempts at the air force and acting also foundered, but a foray into photography opened the door to TV directing. And his newfound passion for classical music led to his making a film that become one of the BBC's most popular documentaries.
Elgar is a restrained portrait of composer Edward Elgar. There's nothing in it to presage the director's later overdramatized biopics of Tchaikovsky, Liszt or Strauss. That last one nearly got him sued by the BBC and the composer's son who were horrified by the fabricated — and very twisted scenes — involving orgies that included his father, Nazis and a few nuns.
But Russell relished controversy, says his longtime producer Daniel Ireland.
"He lived for it," Ireland says. "Ken sort of celebrated being bad."
Ireland produced four of Russell's movies in the 1980s. As a young fan, he fell in love with Women in Love, the movie that made Russell's reputation. It won an Oscar for star Glenda Jackson.
"He was very, very smart in picking actors. If you look all through his career — Glenda Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave — [he cast them] all at the beginnings of their careers."
Russell had an eye not just for strong actors who could handle his strong subjects, but material that shared his flamboyant sensibility.
He enjoyed one of his rare critical successes in 1975 with his adaptation of the Who's Tommy, a rock opera about bad acid trips and child molestation.
Ireland says Ken Russell was just as full of life as his films — he would egg his actors on with screams of "Way more abandon!" — but the director told NPR that his reputation as an extravagant, decadent figure could not be further from the truth.
"I've been made so by the press," he insisted.
Toward the end of his life, Russell retreated from feature films. But ever the provocateur, he continued to straddle high and low cultures and stay in the public eye — and raise the public's eyebrows — by appearing on the reality show Celebrity Big Brother in Britain.
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be sure to double check my shotty "research"
The Washed Ashore community project aims to educate and create awareness about marine debris and plastic pollution through art. Washed Ashore is sponsored by Artula Institute for Arts & Environmental Education whose mission is to provide opportunities to express and teach environmental issues through the arts.
When will the debris arrive from the March 11, 2011 tsunami in Japan? Take a look at this animated map put out by the International Pacific Research Center.
http://washedashore.org/
Nam June Paik--composer, performer, and video artist--played a pivotal role in introducing artists and audiences to the possibilities of using video for artistic expression. His works explore the ways in which performance, music, video images, and the sculptural form of objects can be used in various combinations to question our accepted notions of the nature of television.
cont.
"A great deal has been written about the blues and the people who sing them. Most enthusiasts are familiar with the names of Elmore james, Muddy Waters, Sonnyboy Williamson, Lightnin' Hopkins and Little Walter, for these are the names of artists who have won wide recognition for their talents and their contributions not only to the blues, but to Rock & Roll as well.
However, one should be aware that there were others, some still around, that were equally as talented, but not as fortunate. All too often their contributions were quickly recognized, borrowed or stolen and the artists themselves ignored and forgotten. Such was almost the tragedy that occured with GUITAR SLIM GREEN..." (Cover notes)
I've said it before, the Boogie Blues aren't generally my thing. I tend to be fairly selective. This 1970 Kent outing by Norman "Guitar Slim" Green is good & solid, though. Kept me steady rocking through a huge load of dishes tonight, with no complaints. (Well, aside from the dishes.) The back-up from Johnny and Shuggie Otis doesn't hurt much, either. 320 vinyl rip by yours truly. Word.
Guitar Slim Green's "Stone Down Blues" -- With Johnny and Shuggie Otis (Kent, 1970)
KST-549
1. Shake 'Em Up 2:11
2. Bumble Bee Blues 3:26
3. Make Love All Night 2:36
4. My Little Angel Child 3:57
5. 5th Street Alley Blues 3:13
6. Old Folks Boogie 2:13
7. This War Ain't Right 3:04
8. You Make Me Feel So Good 2:05
9. Big Fine Thing 2:48
10. Play On Little Girl 3:10
again from- http://ghostcapital.blogspot.com/
Tracklist:
1. Big Mamou 2:27
2. Thats The Chance Ill Have To Take 2:05
3. Stop The World (and Let Me Off) 2:03
4. Anita Youre Dreaming 2:26
5. (thats What You Get) For Lovin Me 2:27
6. The Chokin Kind 2:30
7. Only Daddy Thatll Walk That Line 2:22
8. Just To Satisfy You 2:18
9. Cedartown Georgia 2:50
10. The Taker 2:23
11. Lovin Her Was Easier (than Anything Ill Ever Do Again) 3:03
12. Sweet Dream Woman 3:00
13. Ladies Love Outlaws 2:33
14. Lonesome Onry And Mean 3:40
15. Freedom To Stay 3:12
16. Pretend I Never Happened 3:02
17. You Can Have Her 2:41
18. We Had It All 2:46
19. Honky Tonk Heroes 3:37
20. You Ask Me To 2:31
21. This Time 2:26
22. Its Not Supposed To Be That Way 3:29
23. Im A Ramblin Man 2:48
24. Rainy Day Woman 2:31
25. Amanda 2:59
26. Bob Wills Is Still The King 3:01
27. Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way 2:56
28. Waymores Blues 2:41
29. Dreaming My Dreams With You 2:26
30. Good Hearted Woman 3:01
31. Are You Ready For The Country 3:12
32. Luckenbach Texas (back To The Basics Of Love) 3:20
33. The Wurlitzer Prize (i Dont Want To Get Over You) 2:09
34. Mammas Dont Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys 2:33
35. Ive Always Been Crazy 4:13
36. A Long Time Ago 2:25
37. Dont You Think This Outlaw Bits Done Got Out Of Hand 2:58
38. I Aint Living Long Like This 4:47
39. Theme From The Dukes Of Hazzard (good Ol Boys) 2:08
40. Storms Never Last 3:05
41. Drinkin And Dreamin 3:01
42. Rose In Paradise 3:41
via
Sweet Dream Woman
Cedartown Georgia
even though this one of those huge collections that are a peeve of mine Waylon Jennings has so many great recordings, it makes this one work.
just disc 1 is well worth it and has but one moment of pause (or fwd) in the flow....
listen/buy
