I’ve been interested in William H Whyte’s ‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces for a while, mostly because it provides a nice jumping off place for talking about dancers and DJing, but also because there are some flaws in the work which make it worth revisiting occasionally. But I hadn’t realised there was a film version of William H. Whyte: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces – The Street Corner.
The first person to record a vocal blues album, Smith was a singer, actor and performer. Her 1920 recording ‘Crazy Blues’ was important for lots of reasons. It sold 75 000 copies in its first week and fueled a popular hunger for black women blues artists, which in turn shook the recording industry and race relations of the day. The song itself, written by Perry Bradford discussed the violence and experiences of black men and women in America in the 20s. Adam Gussow has written an interesting article about ‘Crazy Blues’*, and is interviewed about it here.
Crazy Blues – Mamie Smith and her Jazz Hounds (1920):
*Gussow, Adam, ‘”Shoot Myself a Cop”: Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues” as Social Text’,
Callaloo 25.1, Jazz Poetics: A Special Issue (Winter, 2002), pp. 8-44.
This photo reminds me of Bobby White’s new project. Nothing homosocial about a blog full of pictures of hot guys where the women are entirely incidental. Nothing homosocial about bros checking out each other’s (fine selves) in fine clothes. NOTHING AT ALL*.
I found this photo on gingerhaze, but I can’t remember where. This is the link, here.
*And it would be totally immature to find this idea a bit sexeh. Totally immature.
I have to run out the house in a few minutes, so I don’t have time to write anything about Lil Green right now (I’ll try to get back to this later… ahahahhah. Who’m I kidding?).
Lil Green. Singer, songwriter, musician.
Last night I dreamt that Todd Yannacone and I were BFFs on a coach trip together, and were particularly enchanted by some squirrels we saw through the window.
WTF unconscious? I mean,
Alfred Lee and penny farthing (aka motherfuckingbike fixie), Glen Street, North Sydney, undated / photographer unknown
This story about nameless creators and recipes reminds me so much of contemporary jazz and swing dance.
Recipes With No Name (Fabio Parasecoli Mar 09, 2012).
I’ve just been reminded of this Shorpy photo (Cafe Society: 1941) by a friend on Faceplant, and it includes a list of black women drummers from this period:
Here’s a list of African American female drummers who may have worked during this time: Henrietta Fontaine, Hetty Smith, Mattie Watson, Helen Cole, Dez Thompson, Rae Scott, and Alma Hightower. I haven’t seen a photo of any of them to compare to the drummer pictured here.
They’re mentioned in the book “Swing Shift: All-Girl Bands of the 1940s” by Sherrie Tucker.
I NEED TO GET MY LEARN ON
