Velvets Fan (without imported items)

Speed; Claude Flight, circa 1922

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:47:54 GMT

Speed; Claude Flight, circa 1922

The dynamics of modern life and their effects on cities and their inhabitants were a special area of interest for Claude Flight and other artists [...] inspired by the Italian Futurist poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti who had declared London to be a Futurist city with its 'brilliant hued motor buses and the Underground'.

"CRIMSON & CLOVER 1969 - Roulette Records CRIMSON & CLOVER ..."

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:27:18 GMT

"CRIMSON & CLOVER
1969 - Roulette Records

CRIMSON & CLOVER must be considered quintessential Tommy James and the Shondells and was certainly the most important LP of their career. For so many reasons, it was their pivotal creative moment. Written, produced and performed solely by Tommy and the group, it allowed the band to expand their audience from AM Top-40 Pop to the newly emerging FM Album Oriented Rock...one of the very few sixties acts to make that transition.

–Tommy James and The Shondells Official Website

(Image)

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:26:15 GMT

Albums of the decade No 1: The Streets - Original Pirate Material | Music | guardian.co.uk

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:42:48 GMT

The Guardian's album of the decade. Very british choice. Not my cup of tea. I much preferred their #2, Radiohead's Kid A.But as one commenter said, "each to their own."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/nov/29/streets-original-pirate-material

The Decade In Music: '00s : NPR

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:50:09 GMT

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120180908

via Amazon.com: The Velvet Underground: New York Art (9780847830848): Johan K...

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:40:07 GMT

via Amazon.com: The Velvet Underground: New York Art (9780847830848): Johan Kugelberg, Lou Reed, Vaclav Havel, Maureen Tucker, Jon Savage: Books

"Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, and Doug Yule will meet with Rolling Stone journali..."

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:38:26 GMT

"Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, and Doug Yule will meet with Rolling Stone journalist David Fricke to talk about the band's music and legacy and to promote the new book, The Velvet Underground: New York Art."

–Velvet Underground Reunite In NYC - All Songs Considered Blog : NPR

From one of my fave tv shows, 7 Ages Of Rock. This is from the second show, a...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:06:17 GMT

From one of my fave tv shows, 7 Ages Of Rock. This is from the second show, about Art Rock. Pink Floyd, Velvet Underground, Roxy Music. "Breaking the barriers between art and music."

Liked this artist; the song played was a jazz cover of Bjork's Isobel. Commen...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:52:46 GMT

Liked this artist; the song played was a jazz cover of Bjork's Isobel. Commenter in podcast noted that jazz musicians have always covered popular songs (e.g. old school jazz musicians used to cover Gershwin); they put their own interpretation on a song and "make it their own." via The Year's Best New Jazz : NPR

The Year's Best New Jazz : NPR

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:50:19 GMT

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113931867

Banksy doc. Like the bit about him promoting his art and not himself.

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:09:32 GMT

Banksy doc. Like the bit about him promoting his art and not himself.

I used to have this picture of The Velvet Underground as a poster hanging on ...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:11:17 GMT

I used to have this picture of The Velvet Underground as a poster hanging on my wall, when I was a teenager. I love all of the poses here: Lou on guitar setting the tone, Sterling looking cool and holding a beer, a relaxed John Cale singing in that Welsh drawl of his, Mo hiding away in the background (but always a steady force). They're all dressed in black... and those silver balloons. This was taken in Warhol's Silver Factory.

Work in progress: I'm painting this copy of Modigliani's "Portrait of Madame...

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:05:47 GMT

Work in progress: I'm painting this copy of Modigliani's "Portrait of Madame Hanka Zborowska" (see original here). I have 1 week left in my beginners art class to finish it. I've learned that acrylic painting is all about layering, so this is by no means the finished version. Another layer or two is needed for the window, face, neck, hair, dress and background. And I haven't even started on the lips, ear or collar thingy. In other words, nothing is finished. It's all fun and I'm enjoying the painting process :-)

New album from MUSE

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:49:06 GMT

New album from MUSE

My fave new band this year without a doubt: The Thermals.

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:29:35 GMT

SPIN - SXSW 2009: The Thermals, "Now We Can See"
My fave new band this year without a doubt: The Thermals.

au revoir simone homepage

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:29:31 GMT

Interesting Flash site. New band I discovered this week.

http://www.aurevoirsimone.com/site.html

Byron: Excited Passion [love the line about shaving!]

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:40:04 GMT

Byron: Excited Passion [love the line about shaving!]

Saint Catherine of Alexandria; Raphael (pencil drawing)

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:33:53 GMT

Saint Catherine of Alexandria; Raphael (pencil drawing)

Saint Catherine of Alexandria; Raphael"Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a pai...

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:26:47 GMT

Saint Catherine of Alexandria; Raphael

"Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. In the painting, Catherine of Alexandria is looking upward in ecstasy and leaning on a wheel - an allusion to the breaking wheel (or Catherine wheel) of her martyrdom.

It was painted circa 1507, shortly after Raphael's arrival in Florence and shows the young artist in a transitional phase. The depiction of religious passion in the painting is still reminiscent of Pietro Perugino. But the graceful contrapposto of Catherine's pose is typical of the influence of Leonardo da Vinci on Raphael, and is believed to be an echo of Leonardo's lost painting Leda and the Swan.

This picture was partially used on the cover of The Smashing Pumpkins album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness."

Wikipedia

Modigliani "Portrait of Madame Hanka Zborowska"I'm doing a beginners acrylic...

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:31:25 GMT

Modigliani "Portrait of Madame Hanka Zborowska"

I'm doing a beginners acrylic painting course, enjoying it a lot. Last week we were asked to choose one painting from a bunch of (black and white) photocopies and reproduce it from scratch as a new painting. Without knowing anything about the artist, I chose the above. It seemed like it would be relatively simple to draw (drawing not being a strong point yet), and I was attracted to the painting. My classmates all chose landscapes, but I decided a portrait was more interesting for me. I'm only partway through painting it; I will finish it over next couple of weeks and upload the result here.

After last week's class, I went to the library straight after and got a couple of art books on Modigliani - particularly after my teacher mentioned that he was an "interesting character." Indeed it turns out he was a fascinating artist and I like his paintings a lot. He died young, at 35, after a life of debauchery in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. He met Picasso et al. Still grokking him, but I'm certainly glad I chose that painting to reproduce!

Modigliani, Seated Nude

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:18:53 GMT

Modigliani, Seated Nude

Byron and his poetic persona

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:13:02 GMT

Byron and his poetic persona

Radiohead - Live on Le Reservoir (in HD, this is an excellent show; highlight...

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:00:02 GMT

Radiohead - Live on Le Reservoir (in HD, this is an excellent show; highlight for me is 'Sail to the moon.' One thing: only Thom and Jonny play this show, but it is promoted as Radiohead. Other members look pissed in interviews, although a couple of them hide it well.

C4TV > Video > Music > Fly My Pretties - Let's Roll

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:15:51 GMT

Full version of excellent FMP live song - guitar break rocks.

http://www.c4tv.co.nz/Fly-My-Pretties---Lets-Roll/tabid/1002/articleID/5680/cat/123/Default.aspx

Fly My Pretties - Let's Roll. Sky City Theatre, 3 June 2009 (this is a snippe...

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:18:22 GMT

Fly My Pretties - Let's Roll. Sky City Theatre, 3 June 2009 (this is a snippet of '09 version, from Auckland show, but inexplicably stops when the great guitar bit starts!)

Fly My Pretties - Let's Roll (the 2009 live version is much better, some amaz...

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:16:19 GMT

Fly My Pretties - Let's Roll (the 2009 live version is much better, some amazing guitar work. Watched on dvd tonight, but not yet online. This version here is 2007 version)

Read/Write/Think/Dream, 2001; John Baldessari, Geisel Library, San Diego

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:27:14 GMT

Read/Write/Think/Dream, 2001; John Baldessari, Geisel Library, San Diego

Magritte: Passionflower, 1936 (for some reason this painting I found in a lib...

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:11:15 GMT

Magritte: Passionflower, 1936 (for some reason this painting I found in a library book tonight appealed to me)

Harmony; Amie McCarron | New Zealand Contemporary Artist

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:43:29 GMT

Harmony; Amie McCarron | New Zealand Contemporary Artist

Solare; Amie McCarron | New Zealand Contemporary Artist

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:40:15 GMT

Solare; Amie McCarron | New Zealand Contemporary Artist

Cola Wars, Sue Tompkins; this is the lead singer of Life Without Buildings, w...

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:34:34 GMT

Cola Wars, Sue Tompkins; this is the lead singer of Life Without Buildings, who did one of my favorite songs I've listened to this year: Sorrow.

1950s video, pretty cool; Pyscho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz; hat-tip Marc

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:03:56 GMT

1950s video, pretty cool; Pyscho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz; hat-tip Marc

Judy Millar, untitled, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 2008

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:14:43 GMT

Judy Millar, untitled, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 2008

Judy Millar, untitled, acrylic on canvas, 2007

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:11:42 GMT

Judy Millar, untitled, acrylic on canvas, 2007

Judy Millar: Butter For The Fish

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:08:47 GMT

Judy Millar: Butter For The Fish

"In Butter For The Fish, the three see-through walls, with their wooden struts, aluminium braces, different thicknesses, vertical plywood strips, and obtuse floor angles, make you think Millar’s layers of thin chromatic underpainting, and darker sections of overpainting- with angular portions removed with a squeegee – are also architectural features. Real spatial depth is mixed with illusory advancing and receding oblongs of colour, but still separated by the picture planes serving as membranes - with four defining edges."

Judy Millar virtual Venice Biennale exhibition tour --> NZ artist I discovere...

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:57:38 GMT

Judy Millar virtual Venice Biennale exhibition tour --> NZ artist I discovered tonight.

Correspondances by Charles Baudelaire

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:39:33 GMT

Nature is a temple in which living pillars
Sometimes give voice to confused words;
Man passes there through forests of symbols
Which look at him with understanding eyes.

Like prolonged echoes mingling in the distance
In a deep and tenebrous unity,
Vast as the dark of night and as the light of day,
Perfumes, sounds, and colors correspond.

There are perfumes as cool as the flesh of children,
Sweet as oboes, green as meadows
— And others are corrupt, and rich, triumphant,

With power to expand into infinity,
Like amber and incense, musk, benzoin,
That sing the ecstasy of the soul and senses.

— Translation by William Aggeler, The Flowers of Evil (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954)

NOTE: In the bio of Baudelaire I'm reading, by Joanna Richardson, it states (pg 226) that "Baudelaire's sonnet [above] was to become the manifesto of the Symbolist Movement."

Beck doing Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning". From his cool new website. Also liked the text intro:

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:28:21 GMT

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico 'Sunday Morning' from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Beck doing Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning". From his cool new website. Also liked the text intro:

"...after lengthy deliberation and coming close to covering Digital Underground's Sex Packets, all present voted in favor of the 'other' Underground's The Velvet Underground & Nico." :-)

The Cat; Charles Baudelaire

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:29:41 GMT

In my brain there walks about,
As though he were in his own home,
A lovely cat, strong, sweet, charming.
When he mews, one scarcely hears him,

His tone is so discreet and soft;
But purring or growling, his voice
Is always deep and rich;
That is his charm and secret.

That voice forms into drops, trickles
Into the depths of my being,
Fills me like harmonious verse
And gladdens me like a philtre.

It lulls to sleep the sharpest pains,
Contains all ecstasies;
To say the longest sentences,
It has no need of words,

No, there's no bow that plays upon
My heart, that perfect instrument,
And makes its most vibrant chord
Sing more gloriously

Than your voice, mysterious cat,
Seraphic cat, singular cat,
In whom, as in angels, all is
As subtle as harmonious!

From his brown and yellow fur
Comes such sweet fragrance that one night
I was perfumed with it because
I caressed him once, once only.

A familiar figure in the place,
He presides, judges, inspires
Everything within his province;
Perhaps he is a fay, a god?

When my gaze, drawn as by a magnet,
Turns in a docile way
Toward that cat whom I love,
And when I look within myself,

I see with amazement
The fire of his pale pupils,
Clear signal-lights, living opals,
That contemplate me fixedly.

translation by William Aggeler

Creators

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:39:59 GMT

"This ability he [Pablo Neruda] had, to establish a relationship between himself and an object, between himself and a word, or between two words, and to collect such things, is essential to a creator, it seems to me. He was a creator in both the poetic and the lived sense."
Jose Donoso, from the book Pablo Neruda: Absence and Presence by Luis Poirot