vinylamerica

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The Homer Laughlin China Company factory, maker of Fiestaware, Newell, WV.

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Joe Magarac in front of The Edgar Thomson Steel Works, North Braddock, PA

“Just as the loggers and lumberjacks had a hero in big Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, Babe, so did the steelworkers of the Monongahela valley of Pittsburgh have a hero in ‘Joe Magarac.’ “ - Pennsylvania Jack

Magarac first appeared in print in a 1931 Scribner's Magazine article by Owen Francis, who said he heard the story from immigrant steelworkers in Pittsburgh area steel mills. However, field research in the early 1950s failed to uncover any traces of an oral tradition about the character, meaning that Joe Magarac, like Big Steve, Febold Feboldson, and Paul Bunyan, probably belongs in the category of "fakelore," or stories told folk-tale style that did not actually spring from authentic folklore. - Wikipedia 

#Owen Francis #Joe Magarac #Edgar Thomson Steel Works #Edgar Thomson #us steel #Monongahela valley #North Braddock

[vinylamerica]

There was a little gang graffiti addition to Vinyl America last week. I didn’t notice it for a day or two. When I caught it out of the corner of my eye I thought it was a suggestion of new state borders. 

#gerrymandering #redistricting

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The exterior of Cementland, a hugely ambitious, unfinished project by City Museum creator Bob Cassilly, who passed away working at the site in 2011.  Cassilly’s Obituary in the New York Times

#Cementland #Bob Cassilly #city museum

[vinylamerica]

We just learned of John J. Egan’s Panorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley (1850), recently conserved and now (in part) on display at the St. Louis Art Museum. After now multiple jaunts along the Mississippi River, of course we were excited to follow Egan’s narrative along the river. We caught a spectacular sunset along the bluffs in Alton, Indiana that rivaled Egan’s orange-soaked scene.

More info on Egan’s Panorama here

#John J Egan #St. Louis Art Museum #Mississippi River #panorama #conservation

[vinylamerica]

Piasa Bird Legend, just north of Alton, IL

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Painted Tires in a vacant lot, South Chicago, IL

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Various truck travels. Top: Sheridan County, WY Bottom: Outside of Purdum, NE

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By focusing on an entire community instead of one element of the system, ''Belfast, Maine'' finds the director integrating aspects of his earlier movies into a fuller vision of how everything works together. His choices of which cogs in the social system to emphasize are extremely revealing. The two activities to which the film devotes the most time are people working in factories, stores and restaurants, and social services for the sick and the elderly. The scenes of fish and potatoes being harvested and processed and of fresh baked goods being prepared have a hypnotic fascination. There's something deeply reassuring in watching how a food product is made from scratch by silent, dedicated workers patiently executing their mechanical tasks in hygienic settings. (The speed with which women slice off the heads and tails of sardines to be packed in cans is remarkable.)

"Belfast Maine (1999) FILM REVIEW; Seaside Town Under the Microscope." Stephen Holden, The New York Times, January 28, 2000.

As the semester gets underway and the autumn winds come rushing in, we have been enjoying revisiting Belfast, ME via Frederick Wiseman's meditative documentary.  With disc three left on the docket, we are surprised at how much Belfast has changed in the 15 years in between filming and our visit this past June.

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No sign of Fred Burns (yet!) - but don't doubt that I'm searching the background for clues.

#to maine (in mind)

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Brunswick, by official state proclamation, is the Pecan Capital of Missouri.

#brunswick #Brunswick MO #Brunswick missouri #Pecan #Pecan Capital

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Box car as barn wall, Salisbury, MO

#Salisbury #Salisbury MO #Salisbury missouri #CSX

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snappin' magnets in Quincy, IL

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David Rubello's 1973 mural in downtown Detroit was recently painted over and covered up by a 7-11 advertisement. 

#7-11slurpee #7-11 #David Rubello #detroit mural

[vinylamerica]

Driving by the building one recent morning, Mr. Levin bemoaned its new anti-industrial look. But then he drove to the Heidelberg Project, the raucous, free-form street art project that Mr. Guyton has been shaping, with frequent opposition from the city, for almost three decades. A recent spate of fires had destroyed more than half the project’s houses, but Mr. Guyton, who was there that morning and clapped Mr. Levin in a hug, seemed more excited than despondent by the turn of events. He conducted an impromptu tour to show how he had turned one of the burned houses into an ethereal new work, piling the destroyed foundation with dolls and other found objects, like a shrine, and building in its basement — visible from the street through gaps in the charred floorboards — a miniature city, fashioned from scavenged children’s play houses.

“This isn’t the end of us, not by a long shot,” Mr. Guyton said emphatically. “This is a new beginning. This is two plus two equals eight. We’re making magic here!”

The Lively Soul of a Decaying City - Detroit Artists at Marianne Boesky and Marlborough Chelsea Galleries

By RANDY KENNEDY JUNE 25, 2014 in the New York Times Photo by Bill Rauhauser

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A portion of Katharina Grosse's psychylustro in North Philadelphia. I have a lot of mixed emotions about this project. 

#Katharina Grosse #Mural Arts #psychylustro

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"Deer Isle and the town of Stonington, at its southern tip, have long served as both muse and home for storied American artists. Visitors to the island in recent seasons may have noticed that a new artist is making his mark as well: Chuggy, a k a Chuck Proper. That mark usually involves a long strip of angry-looking scalded rubber, which can be seen on many of the island’s twisting roads." DAVID CARR for the NEW YORK TIMES, August 16, 2006 Above photo from our visit to Deer Isle in June, 2014

#Chuck Proper #Tire Tracks #Deer Isle #Stonington #David Carr #Opera House Arts #John Steed

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Caboose with Shingles - Orland, ME

#Orland #Orland Maine #cabbose house