“Atlantic City, NY” by Lee Friedlander (1972)

When you got nothin’ you got nothin’ to lose.

[Photo Credit: Robert Galbraith/Reuters]

Check out this cool post by Nick Schager over at Esquire.com on Drew Struzan:

Drew Struzan is responsible for some of the most enduring cinematic imagery of the past thirty years, even if few fans recognize his name. That should be partially rectified by this week’s release of Struzan: The Man Behind the Poster, a documentary that pays tribute to the famed movie-poster artist, whose illustrated one-sheets for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Harry Potter, and countless other film franchises are both instantly recognizable and beloved. Hand-painted and marked by photorealistic portraits and signature scenes in evocative montages, Struzan’s work remains the standard to which most action, fantasy, and sci-fi posters aspire, conveying emotion and excitement with a compelling style far superior to the modern era’s Photoshopped-to-death posters. In honor of his prolific and peerless career, we present a look back at thirteen of his most compelling creations.

And please dig Struzan’s website. 

I contributed a short essay on “Buffalo Gals” to Herc Your Enthusiam, HiLoBrow’s series on old school (pre-1983) rap records:

There wasn’t anything like “Buffalo Gals” before, nor after. Though you could categorize it as an early sample record, in the vein of “Pump Up the Volume,” it’s really a novelty record, the brainchild of British trendsetter and former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren.

For McLaren, style was substance. After a trip to New York where he saw Afrika Bambaataa spin, McLaren co-opted New York’s hip hop scene for his next record — the dancing, record scratching, the fashion (all of which are on display in the “Buffalo Gals” video). He flew New York DJs The Supreme Team to London to provide scratches, and got Trevor Horn, a successful young British producer — he had been part of The Buggles, whose version of “Video Killed the Radio Star” was in 1981 the first video ever played on MTV — to make the record.

“Buffalo Gals” is a culture clash of stuff — samples of phone calls, breaks, a synth bass and pads, the catchy “duck, duck, duck” refrain, the title chorus taken from a Piute Pete record, the scratching: “Oh, that scratching is making me itch.” It sounds like a bunch of stuff cobbled together but it works — and for DJs it goes with other records, because there’s so much in it.

Check out the rest of the series here.

Disappearing Acts. Collages by Eugenia. 

From A Continuous Lean: smoke ’em if you got ’em.

Coolin’.

[Photo Via: Write from the He[art]]

Alexandra gives us a shaved zucchini and percorino salad.

“Lapeyrouse Wall” by Peter Doig via Je Suis Perdu.

Over at Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, check out this post on Jonathan Hertzberg’s NYC movie collage:

Groove.

[Photo Via: Think Different]

Life in and around the Big Apple according my pictures over on Instagram. 

“View Into The Artist’s Garden” by Philipp Roth (1909)

Kevin Cyr via the so so def Jhalal Drut.

Appetite for China does cold sesame noodles.

Just the two of us.

[Painting by Elmer Bischoff]

Golden Years by the most-talented Kendrick Brinson.

“Orange Sweater” by Elmer Bischoff (1955)

Jimmy Picker’s 1983 Oscar-winning short.

Buck O’Neil meets Jay Dee. A little something we threw together a few years ago:

[Photo Via: Haphazardous]