In my twenties, on a whim, I asked people who came to visit me to draw their self-portraits, so i ended up with an art pad that contained their pictures. And I tried it out a few times myself. I recently re-discovered the pad, so here’s a self-portrait of me from 44 years ago. You can see the outlines of the portrait on the other side of the paper bleeding through.
From the falsetto seventies, this Philly sound inspired R&B record was a million-seller hit. It’s Ted Mills who is the lead singer hitting those high notes..
Thanks to YouTuber WillFareed63
Ed Sullivan tries to quiet the screaming teens as the Rolling Stones sing “Around and Around.”
Mick Jagger is just 21 years old here.
Thanks to YouTuber Just Some Videos
“This is about digression. This started six years ago as a written piece and somehow I’m circling back to it now. We’re coming up on Halloween, which is a day where we hide ourselves, change our identities, have secret identities; in other words, we refuse to be what others see us as, we try to make things a little bit harder for those who want to capture us in a word, a phrase, a box, a category, an image. Like Harry Houdini, I want to be an escape artist from the expectations of others…”
Click the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the story, as broadcast today on Arts Express on WBAI FM NYC, and Pacifica stations across the country.
A gorgeous Barn Owl, one more raptor on display last week.
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Jamaica, New York
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This beautiful bird is an American Kestrel, sometimes called a sparrow hawk. It is part of the falcon family and it is the smallest of the raptors, about the size of a blue jay. It will eat, well, sparrows as well as mice, lizards and insects, and even starlings.
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Jamaica, Queens
This is unusual footage of the one-handed Spanish magician Rene Lavand as a young man, and the even more unusual footage of an effusive Ed Sullivan.
Thanks to YouTuber Sebastian Tabany
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Injured Bald Eagle and bird rehabilitator
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Jamaica, New York
The longtime head of the Portuguese Communist Party, Álvaro Cunhal, spent many years of his life in Portuguese fascist prisons. Later in exile, from the 1950s onward, he wrote novels, novellas and short stories about Portuguese life under the fascists who ruled from 1927 to the early 1970s. In particular, he wrote of the leading role of the Portuguese Communist Party in the anti-fascist struggle for almost 50 years. To create a literary identity apart from his political renown, he employed the pen name Manuel Tiago.
Author and translator Eric Gordon set himself the task of translating Cunhal’s work into English, and so far, the books Five Days, Five Nights and The Six-Pointed Star have appeared from International Publishers. The 3rd Floor has just been issued, with five more books on their way.
The title story is a prison break tale. In the excerpt I’ll be reading, the Communist prisoners have worked out a messaging system with the Party by writing on little bits of cigarette papers and smuggling them in and out under the buttons of shirts in the dirty prison laundry. A trio of prisoners who are secretly working on a prison break have just received back a message from the Party.
Click the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the story, as broadcast today on Arts Express on WBAI FM NYC, and Pacifica stations across the country.
Monday morning, Toni takes the lead with a guitar and bass version of Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams are Made of This.
Covering Annie Lennox is a heavy lift, and I was skeptical, but when the harmonies of Josh and Reina at 2:30 started to kick in, I had a big grin on my face.
More at Toni Lindgren
Magician Ben Seidman with a great effect and one of the most consistently entertaining and funny acts on Fool Us. It doesn’t seem to fool Penn & Teller, but I had no idea what Penn’s clues were there. Seidman claims on his YouTube channel that there were no camera effects involved, and that it could be reproduced live, in which case I’m totally stumped.
More at Ben Seidman
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Brooklyn Botanic Gardens
Brooklyn, New York
Green Bank, West Virginia is a remote community with a claim to being the quietest town in America. Cell phone, WiFi and other electronic noise are tightly monitored. But when journalist Stephen Kurczy took a deep dive into the apparently sleepy town, he found a Twin Peaks-style stew of surveillance, Nazis, forbidding caves, murder and suicide. I was happy to talk with Steve about his new book detailing all this and more, The Quiet Zone.
Click the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the interview, as broadcast today on Arts Express on WBAI FM NYC, and Pacifica stations across the country.
Monday morning, Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane take their vitamins.
Recorded at the Woodstock Festival.
Thanks to YouTuber celebrant9
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Brooklyn Botanic Gardens
Brooklyn, New York
A piece of doggerel, literally. Paul tosses off a tune to his dog while in the studio.
Thanks to YouTuber Applerecordsandtapes
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East 21st Street
Brooklyn, New York
