99% inspiration 1% perspiration

What comes over the transom and stays a bit.

[terminusantequem]

Edvard Munch (Norwegian, 1863-1944), Shore with a Red House, 1904. Oil on canvas, 69 x 109 cm

[kvetchlandia]

John Filo     Mary Ann Vecchio Screaming Over the Body of Murdered Kent State University Student Jeffrey Miller, Kent, Ohio     May 4, 1970

47 years ago today, the National Guard opened fire on students protesting the war in Vietnam.  The Kent State Massacre took the lives of 4 students: Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder.  Ultimately, 24 students and 1 faculty member were charged with assorted “crimes” in relationship to the demonstration and murders.  Eight of he Guardsmen, the actual perpetrators of the crime, were indicted by a grand jury, but a judge, no surprise here, dismissed all charges.

[artist-redon]

The Raven via Odilon Redon

[thevaultoftheatomicspaceage]

[anonymousphotograph]

[design-is-fine]

Francesco del Cossa, Sign of Aries / March /Allegory of Spring, 1470. Detail from a fresco of Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, Italy. From Graphis. Source

[striking23]

Aries.

[jeremyokai]

Pete & Seth

[dodaman-deactivated20170320]

Miss you Jerry…

[clangoring]

I drive by this actual boat on my way to work every morning. Tonight I am having dinner by this painting of it.

[alongtimealone]

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) Three haystacks in a field, circa 1907

[fyp-psychology]

Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better.

Emile Coue (via fyp-psychology)

[thevintagearab-deactivated20180]

[mylonesomeblues]

Joni Mitchell’s sketch of Crosby, Stills and Nash, 1969.

[benbentobox]

[missrumphiusproject]

First (and belated) thoughts on The Avett Brothers’ True Sadness, which I have only just listened to.

My opinion may improve upon further listening, but I can’t imagine further listening. It’s not that the music is bad, necessarily. It’s that Seth Avett can’t stop staring at his navel. I do not presume to pass judgement on his personal decisions. I only pass judgement on the necessity of whining about himself for an entire album. By the end I just wanted to smack him.

Unfortunately, Scott Avett’s songs didn’t help. Lyrically, he’s always inspired. But this time around he made some interesting musical decisions, and I don’t think they worked.

I shouldn’t have had positive expectations. I haven’t loved anything they’ve done since I And Love And You, which may be one of the greatest albums of all time. And I liked what they did before that. Yes, even in their bluegrass stage. But the Magpie and the Dandelion was meh. The Carpenter was worse. And True Sadness was wankery. And I am truly sad to report that.

[striking23]

I beg to differ. A human being examining his/her own suffering … It’s called art. These songs are deeply moving, yes emotional, raw, serious, fantastical (May it Last), and honest. I appreciate the integrity compared to …. Fill in the blank. I think everyone can learn something from Seth’s words. True Sadness does contain some “musical decisions” which are questionable, I agree. But these songs are works of art. I don’t mean to sound all mushy, but I appreciate Seth’s self examination. True Sadness. TS? Plus they are the best live band ever. Do you ever see them live?

[missrumphiusproject]

Oh kiddo, suffering isn’t profound. In a few years you’ll understand that. And yeah, I’ve seen them live a couple times. They put on a great show.

[striking23]

Kiddo, in a few years I'll be 60 so I hope I understand it by then. If suffering isn't profound (see Buddha) then what is?

[heytoyourmamanem]

Reading about this project this morning, I kept thinking that it had previously been announced, but with a different set of people involved in its making. But a

This is great news!  The Warmth of Other Suns follows the movement of African Americans out of the South to the Midwest, Northeast and West between 1915 and 1970. If you haven’t read this award-winning book by Isabel Wilkerson, please do.

[kambui]

START OF WORLD WAR I AND THE GREAT MIGRATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

The start of World War I was 100 years ago today when Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo.

The Great War reduced the flow of European immigrants – then a principal source for cheap labor in large American cities outside of the South – to a slow drip, which subsequently created new employment opportunities for African Americans, who wanted to escape the South’s Jim Crow laws and lynching.

The movement of about 6 million African Americans from the South to the Northeast, Midwest and Western industrial cities in pursuit of these opportunities is called the Great Migration.

Harlem, a predominantly white New York City neighborhood located at the northern end of Manhattan, saw a tremendous influx of African Americans during the Great Migration.

One could argue that Archduke Ferdinand’s death helped to spark the Harlem Renaissance…

(Mother and child image in Chicago’s Union Station shot by Esther Bubley.)