The Straight-Arrows that Nonetheless Get It

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Glenn O'Brien (right) with Jean-Michel Basquiat during a filming of O'Brien's TV Party

On this week's installment of The Sound of Young America, Jesse Thorne interviews Glenn O'Brien, most recently the author of How To Be A Man. It's worth a quick listen – at this point in his life, with all of his various experiences, O'Brien is on the level of Vince Aletti or Steven Heller as both a primary and secondary source of interesting information. Click here to check it out.

Image of the Day

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Jean-Michel Basquiat in a still from Tamra Davis's new film Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child. Read a great interview with Davis (who is among many other things married to Mike D of the Beastie Boys) at The Moment.

Rock On

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Rammellzee + K-Rob "Beat Bop"
(produced by Jean-Michel Basquiat)

Rest In Peace Rammellzee, 1960–2010

[ via LineOut / see also Randy Kennedy at Arts Beat / image via Cocaine Blunts ]

It's Not Being Filmed, I Have To Remember

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Jean-Michel Basquiat has been copied and eulogized in equally great measure, and it would be easy to dismiss another film about him. The thing is, his work continues to be exciting, and the story of his life seems more relevant than ever.

More info on Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, directed by Tamra Davis, at jean-michelbasquiattheradiantchild.com

"This is on for your education...we're gonna re-educate you."

Via Jen Graves at SLOG, The Guardian has posted its list of the top fifty arts videos on YouTube. James Dean and Paul Newman screen testing for East of Eden, Jack Kerouac reading from On the Road, Nirvana practicing in an Aberdeen garage circa 1988, Marcel Duchamp's Anemic Cinema, Aretha Franklin's Lady Soul TV Special – the list is heavy. Here are two videos that make 1970s New York City feel like a small town:

Martin Scorsese's 1973 short on the inspiration for Mean Streets:


And Jean-Michel Basquiat on Glenn O'brien's TV Party, 1978:


48 more things to look at here.