Love and Celebration at the Heart of the Diaspora

Painting: Japanese Ochiba Fallen Leaves by Yayoi Kusama, currently subject of a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC.



Flatbush Waltz, the processional theme played at the wedding of my daughter
last night. Twas like a Dream.....

"Dusquesne Whistle": From Bob Dylan's Forthcoming "Tempest"

NPR.org provides a preview of a swinging track from Bob Dylan's upcoming album, co-penned by Robert Hunter. Link here

The album, his 35th, will be released on September 10 in the U.K., and September 11 in the U.S. (Spetember 11 was also the release date of "Love and Theft."

Rolling Stone reported that the fourteen-minute long title track "Tempest" is about the RMS Titanic and includes references to the James Cameron film Titanic (1997). The song "Roll on John" is a tribute to John Lennon, which includes references to some of his songs including The Beatles' "Come Together" and "A Day in the Life."

The album's title initially spurred rumors that it would be Dylan's final album, based on its similarity to the title of Shakespeare's final play. Dylan later dispelled the rumor: "Shakespeare's last play was called The Tempest. It wasn't called just plain "Tempest". The name of my record is just plain Tempest. It's two different titles."

Another clip of a tune, Scarlet Town, was debuted on the new Cinemax series, Strike Back, in addition to a previous cut, Early Roman Kings:

Storm Track: Hurricane Isaac Moves West

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Nets

Well known for her use of dense patterns of polka dots and nets, as well as her intense, large-scale environments, Yayoi Kusama works in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, film, performance, and immersive installation. Born in Japan in 1929, Kusama came to the United States in 1957 and quickly found herself at the epicenter of the New York avant-garde. After achieving fame through groundbreaking exhibitions and art “happenings,” she returned to her native country in 1973 and is now one of Japan’s most prominent contemporary artists. This retrospective features works spanning Kusama’s career.(Whitney)

An inspiring career-spanning retrospective of a key figure to the avant-garde art movements of the 1960s who continues to produce creative and provocate work, while living for decades in a residence for individuals with psychiatric problems. She reappeared from relative obscurity in the 1990s and continues to create work of extraordinary power.

Yayoi Kusama: An Encounter with a Flowering Season (2009)

Yayoi Kusama: Late Night Chat is Filled With Dreams (2009)

While Kusama's Fireflies on Water installation is probably considered as the highlight of this show (with limited, ticketed admission separate from the retrospective exhibition), I was very moved by the final room of the show, containing wall upon wall of her later and recent paintings, that themselves create a stunning,colorful and image-rich art environment that itself should not be missed.

Her autobiography, Infinity Nets, was recenelty published

Russian Punk Rockers Sentenced to 2 Years for "Hooliganism" and anti-Putin Protest

Well, no matter how things change, they still stay the same. As the documentary Never Sorry: Ai Weiwei shows in vivid detail, despite the economic expansion in the People's Republic, freedom of speech and criticism of governmental institutions remains a no-no. And now from our Free Market Goombahs in the East,  a Russian court has sentenced the three young women of the punk band Pussy Riot to 2 years in prison. Since they've already been in stir for 5 months, for the crime of hooliganism (which definitely sounds like something from the Soviet, pre-Glasnost, legal canon). Basically the girls terrorized and Eastern Orthodox Church service by running to the alter dressed in colorful ski masks and skirts. Just Pussy Riot, ; no indication they were carrying Kalashnikov, Glocks or any other weapons. After the grueling trial in which they were imprisoned, silence of the lambs, or Manson (that's Charles, not Marilyn) -style in a glass cube (wow, really? sounds like a scene from Rollerball or something), the girls (excuse me, women) were sentenced to the full two years and as you can see from the video below,  giggled and smirked as the sentences were read.

Although Western musicians have spoken out on their behalf, the judge was harsh in her ruling and the band evidently doesn't enjoy wide support among the Russian population, although sadly, the stiff sentence does.

Mr. Putin indicated that while he did not look kindly on their behavior, he hoped their sentence would not be too severe. There's no indication whether, having made their point, good ol' Vlad, the Russian government and the courts will be able to see their way to commute the sentence to time served.

More on Pussy Riot as fashion statement from DITHOB's fave, T Magazine here

And the report from Reuters on this very unfortunate sentencing here

On the Dunes

Background track here by Donald Fagen (minimize and listen)

Photos by Tony Napoli 2012

"Tempest" A'-comin': Preview of New Bob Dylan Track

Bob Dylan's "Early Roman Kings" from his forthcoming album, Tempest, due out September 11, previewed on a forthcoming episode of the new Cinemax Channel series, Strike Back. More here

"Never Sorry: Ai Weiwei"

Ai Weiwei is China's most famous international artist, and an extremely outspoken advocate for freedom of speech and government responsibility and reform. Against a backdrop of strict censorship and an unresponsive legal system, Ai expresses himself and organizes people through art and social media. In response, Chinese authorities have shut down his blog, beat him up, bulldozed his newly built studio, and held him in secret detention.


Alison Klayman's fascinating documentary, AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY, records the artist's experiences in his native country,  while telling his story as the son of a poet who was punished duirng the Cultural Revolution (as a child, the artist lived in a labor detention camp with his family), and who lived in New York City in the 1980s, returning home, to make art and advocate for freedom. The film views the artist as he makes art, blogs, confronts secret police, interacts with his family, and ultimately is arrested and held in secret detention (and later released) all in detailed close-up. This is the  intimate, inside story of a "dissident for the digital age" who truly blurs the boundaries of art and politics. Director Klayman gained unprecedented access to Ai while working as a journalist in China. Her detailed portrait provides a complex  view of a  society at once seeking to move its economy forward dramatically, while its government appears to remain in a reactive mode with regard to democratization and social and political freedoms. Emerging amidst this conflict, bringing this dichotomy into stark relief, is the artist Ai Weiwei and the film portrays his story in a highly personal and honest way. The film concludes with the artist's return from detention by the authorities. He is still in protracted legal battles regarding the government's charges against him of "Economic crimes."  Although initially reluctant to speak out after his release, he continues to speak out and challenge the Chinese government's status quo. The ending of this story clearly has not yet been written and likely will continue to unfold for quite some time to come. A must see documentary.

In NYC at the IFC Theater.
More on the film here

Work Song for a Monday Morning

Johnny Cash - "In Them Old Cotton Fields Back Home"

NASA Rover lands on The Red Planet This Morning, 1:31 am in NYC watch it live

Touchdown is expected at 1:17 a.m. EDT (GMT-4) on Aug. 6, but radio signals confirming the event will take 13.8 minutes to cover the 154 million miles between Earth and Mars, arriving around 1:31 a.m. "Earth-received time."

Friday Rolls Around: "So You Know It's Got Nothing But Soul"

Van Morrison performs "Caravan" with The Band at "The Last Waltz" from the film of the same name by Martin Scorsese.

Jerry Garcia (The Man, The Legend, The Bobble Head)

Jerry Garcia Bobble Head Day at the San Franscisco Giants.

Jerry Garcia August 1, 1942-August 9, 1995