Over a period of 9 years from 1962 to 1970, the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia forced people of African and Jamaican descent out of Africville – a shoreline Canadian community over 200 years old – by systematically knocking down homes with bulldozers.
“The beauty of the Rolling Stones is that each of the five guys feels the beat in a different place,” said Don Was at The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. “The music is loose, lowdown and funky.”
Igor Kenk ran a notorious bike shop on Queen St West in Toronto called the Bicycle Clinic. People hung around the shop to watch him work and hear him talk about the decline and fall of North America. He has been portrayed in the media as a charismatic street philosopher who played classical music in the shop. After arresting him a Toronto police officer said, “Honestly, he’s a very interesting guy.”
“Adults wage war on children,” said Miller. “How can a child defend himself against a dangerous or toxic parent? The child discovers that his only weapon or defence is imagination and it is through imagination that he protects himself.”
For many years the elevated Central Freeway cut Hayes Valley in two, creating a dark urban space that attracted men driving around looking for sex workers and people buying and selling drugs on the street. Hayes Valley social life, however, was transformed by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that destroyed parts of the freeway, including the ramps at Franklin and Gough.
“All the parts came together to make an egregious situation,” said cyclist Kenneth Lyons. “You have someone in a Porshe hitting someone on a bicycle and leaving the scene as the cyclist pleads for help. How could anyone do that?”
Learning to draw is a quest that involves abandoning old habits and exploring new ideas. A decent drawing is like an ash that falls when the moment is burning well.
Joe Sacco spoke to a standing room only crowd at Skylight Books in Los Angeles about “Footnotes in Gaza”, a journalistic report in comic book form that covers two under-reported atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian civilians on the Gaza Strip in 1956.
Live musical performances, especially classical and art music concerts, are often delayed, marred, ruined, and spoiled by audience members who cough, hiss, wheeze, and even yell during events. “I am of the very strong conviction that live performance is sure to ruin the musical experience for everyone,” said Jet Dee.
La Casita Mexicana has developed a reputation as the soul of Mexican cooking in Los Angeles. Located in the south LA suburb of Bell, the restaurant attracts people from all over the city.
The Americans by Robert Frank changed the history of photography when it was published in the United States in 1959. Popular Photography magazine characterized the book as “sick”. Jack Kerouac called it “holy”. This fall the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is honoring Robert Frank and his work with a 50th anniversary retrospective.
Barak Obama’s masterful use of Facebook and YouTube during the election campaign heightened expectation that he would reveal a new design for the White House website. Since January 20, 2009 there has been a lot of talk about the updated look and feel of the people’s home page.
