Art 330/530 What do Photographs Tell Us?

RPPC is an acronym for real photo post card, referencing a post card made in a photographic darkroom. These were somewhat faddish from the turn of the 20th century until WWI, although many were still made up into the 1970s. They often include text done with lettering paint on the actual negative or with some sort of overlay. You can image search many subjects along with RPPC and see consistently porportioned images mostly from the earlier 1900s. Although Route 66 was opened in 1926, well after the time of most RPPCs, searching on route 66 gas station RPPC does yield many images...

All of these images were made to promote these businesses, all likely no longer operating. They are taken by different photographers, but adhere to the same compositional formula.

What exactly is being promoted here, as we move beyond the original purpose of the post cards and think of these images in the grander scheme of things? How do they factor into the contemplation of certain American obsessions? What do they tell us now, and what questions are they asking us?

In 1963, in the midst of Pop Art, Ed Ruscha decided to publish a book of his photographs of Route 66 gasoline stations, taken as he drove between LA to his boyhood home of Oklahoma City, something he did five times a year. Although they emulate the deadpan post card view somewhat there is much more variation in these compositions.

 

The first edition was numbered and occasionally signed, which Ruscha later admitted was a "mistake".

Art 340/540 Introduction to Simulations

The idea of the replica can be seen in our earliest cultural artifacts. But when did the simulation become our only reality, when did the real cease to exist? When did we begin to live entirely in simulation? Some see the fictions of Borges an important cultural moment.

 This short piece was written in 1946, but the theme emerged in Borges writings in the 1930s. Then in 1955 we have Disneyland, an actual place based on fictional places.

VIEW THE ENTIRE POWERPOINT HERE; https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EYlK49ChpuQ0a_MtGpTu8cneae6Z0cZU?usp=sharing

YOU WILL NEED TO DOUBLE CLICK simulation_online.pptx AND THEN SELECT THE CloudConvert APP TO OPEN THE FILE OR DOWNLOAD IT TO YOUR HARD DRIVE.

Out of Orbit 1999: The Life and Times of Marshall McLuhan

Kraftwerk...Pop Art

For me, this is the best vehicle toward understanding the influx of new technology into pop music existent. Paul Morley argues here that Kraftwerk were/are more influential than the Beatles. Seemingly an outrageous statement, this doc makes that claim seem viable.

Mastering in Garageband

Before you export your garageband track try some basic mastering. I discovered the genre-based presets are still there and that may be all you need. Click on master and output on the mastering window at the bottom of the interface. If you then click on the settings up/down arrows you can see 06 mastering. From there you can choose a final mix preset that will really beef-up your track. This article is quite helpful;

https://producersociety.com/how-to-master-a-song-in-garageband/

Real annoying song example and delivery is a bit tedious but this is the most solid video on mastering in the current garageband I could find.

The Drone in Western Music

After seeing Squrl perform to Man Ray films at the Walker, I had the honor to talk to Jim Jarmusch about going to so many emotional places in a single hour-long composition, yet being completely consistent and engaging throughout. He told me the secret was keeping the drone going, a strategy that is the basis of Indian Classical music but seldom used in the West.

Most of us were introduced to this structure via Lou Reed's song Heroin, originally recorded in 1966 with John Cale's single note viola part.

Cale was introduced to the drone by American avant-garde composer La Monte Young.

Cale performing Heroin after the death of Reed.

The Theremin