Spaced Out

On Bruce Eisner's blog I found an interesting post about Spaced Out: Radical Environments of the Psychedelic Sixties, a book by Alastair Gordon which explores the ground-breaking visionary architecture of the '60s.




Wired Magazine, in their June 23, 2008 issue describes the book:
Through hundreds of groovy photos, Alastair Gordon's book explores the tripped-out buildings of the age of Aquarius. Spaced Out shows how ambitiously experimental, hallucinogenically colorful, and at times laughably impractical the designs were - from a waterbed prototype to a house that changed colors in response to human touch. Gordon, a New York Times contributor, highlights the technologies in use today that were pioneered during the era's kaleidoscopic revolution. Turn on, drop out, move in.

(Here you can visit Alaistar Gordon's blog)

Alpha Blondy: Jerusalem (+ intro)

The legendary reggae musician from Ivory Coast Alpha Blondy and his band The Solar System playing the famous hit Jerusalem during the Elohim Tour 2000. Enjoy!

Metamorphosis 2

All surreal and visionary art lovers can't miss the new release by the Beinart International Surreal Art Collective, Metamorphosis 2, a wonderful art book featuring works of preminent artists like HR Giger, Travis Louie, Robert Williams, Michael Hussar, David Stoupakis and many others. Metamorphosis 2 will be released in early December but can be pre-ordered on beinart site for 49.99 dollars (shipping included)

Sacred Sites and Power Places

Anthropologist and National Geographics Martin Grey spent 25 years as a wandering pilgrim to study and artistically photograph nearly 1000 sacred sites and spiritual power places in 80 countries.

On his site you can see all his photos around the world and read few lines about the story and spiritual significance of the various locations. There you can also order his large book Sacred Sites, with nearly 300 color photos.

The Face Art of James Kuhn

James Kuhn has a rubber face. See short videos of his astounding, bizarre (and sometimes frightenig) art here (and if you want to know more about him visit his blog)

(via thepresurfer)

Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India

During the '60s and '70s, thousands of informal western travelers ran along the hippie trail, the way that, starting from Istambul, brought people through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the freak 'enclaves' of Goa or Kathmandu. Often that long travel was made by the magic bus, an alternative bus line which started from Istanbul (and later from London, Amsterdam and Athens.)

Now, forty years later, author Rory Mac Lean in his book Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istambul to India revisits the trail, encountering hippie veterans who never came back home and locals taken amidst the goods and bads of westernization.

Unfortunately, due to "wars for democracy" and Islamic fundamentalism, that fascinating, legendary trail is nowadays just a far memory...

New Print by Naoto

A new visionary masterpiece by the great Naoto Hattori: "Anumodana", 16x20 inches (40.6x50.8 cm) high quality giclee print on fine art paper. Signed and numbered edition of 100.

On sale here

(click for larger view)

The Black Hole

What can happen if a sleep-deprived office worker find a black hole...A funny short video by Phil and Ollie for Futureshorts

Pete Drake's Talking Steel Guitar

Roddie Franklin 'Pete' Drake, a famous guitarist of the Nashville studios during the '60s, plays his "talking" steel guitar.

(It reminds Peter Frampton who made something similar many years later...)



(via Boingboing)

Life Photo Archive on Google

The historical photo archive of Life magazine now accessible on google images

The Disturbing Art of Tetsuya Ishida

Tetsuya Ishida (1973-2005) was a very talented Japanese artist known for his disturbing paintings, in which he usually painted himself lost in a bio-mechanical reality, trapped in a machine-like body or treated as a part of a production line.
He died in 2005 after being hit by a train (possibly suicide)
Interested people can find other paintings here

Alex Grey's Obama

Visionary artist Alex Grey's portrait in progress of the President of the United States Barak Obama. The portrait was begun at the Rock the Ink Tattoo Convention, in Rhode Island on October 23, 2008, in front of a live audience.

Amazing Animal Pix

Amazing Exotic Plants

If you like these spectacular orchids and nepenthes (carnivore plants), see the great selection published here. A very unusual and interesting site (there's even a 'plant exchange' section)

Mitch Mitchell R.I.P.

Mitch Mitchell, the iconic drummer who provided the explosive heartbeat of the Jimi Hendrix Experience on rock classics including "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" and "Purple Haze," was found dead early Wednesday in a Portland hotel room.
Mitchell, 61, who pioneered a fusion style that allowed him and one of history's greatest guitar players to feed off each other, died of natural causes, the Multnomah County medical examiner said. He was found about 3 a.m. in his room at the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland.
Considered one of rock's greatest drummers, Mitchell was behind the kit at Hendrix's legendary sets at Woodstock, Monterey and the Isle of Wight.
Mitch Mitchell, from his MySpace page
Mitchell's final performance was Friday night at Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. It was the last stop on the West Coast leg of the Experience Hendrix tribute tour.
Looking pale and tired, he played only one song before the sold-out crowd, said Terry Currier, owner of the Music Millennium record shop.
"A friend who was waiting outside the Schnitz to get an autograph told me he saw a couple people helping Mitch walk into the auditorium that night," Currier said. "He didn't seem to be in great health."
Born in England in 1947, John "Mitch" Mitchell was a child actor who quickly moved on to music, becoming an accomplished jazz drummer before the age of 20. Eventually, he became Hendrix's most important musical collaborator, said Jacob McMurray, senior curator at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Hendrix's boyhood home.
The museum's centerpiece is the world's largest collection of Jimi Hendrix artifacts and memorabilia, including the drum set Mitchell played at Woodstock in 1969.
"Jimi was an amazing guitarist and he needed somebody behind the drum kit who could hold his own," McMurray said. "That was Mitch Mitchell."
At 5-foot-5, the wild-haired Mitchell was a small guy who played "lead drums," combining meat-and-potatoes beats with rapid-fire jazz in the three-person group. He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame as part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1992.
Hendrix's manager treated both Mitchell and original bassist Noel Redding as paid employees, limiting their rights to future revenue. In the 1970s, according to Eddie Kramer's book "Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight," Mitchell was forced to sell a prized Hendrix guitar to pay the bills.
"The bonds between Jimi and Mitch kept them together," McMurray said.
Mitchell and Hendrix recorded several tracks on their own, including "Fire," "Voodoo Child" and "Manic Depression," before bringing in Redding to finish them, McMurray said. Hendrix died after a drug overdose in 1970. Redding was 57 when he died in 2003.

(by Joseph Rose and Stuart Tomlinson, The Oregonian, Wednesday November 12, 2008)

Some Great Rock (and Reggae) Pix

The Alien Landscapes of Socotra Island

Situated in the Indian Ocean 250 km from Somalia and 340 km from Yemen, the 'alien' Socotra Island is a small archipelago of four islands belonging to the Republic of Yemen. It's a real jewel of biodiversity and its fierce heat and drought have combined to create a unique, spectacular and bizarre endemic flora. Botanists state that more than a third of the 800 of so plant species of Socotra are found nowhere else and rank the flora of Socotra among the ten most endangered island flora in the world.

See more photos and read more about Socotra Island here