second fiddle

After learning of the severe state of disrepair that the musical instruments of Philadelphia’s public schools were facing, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Robert Blackson turned the challenge and tragedy for aspiring musicians exacerbated by cuts to funding of the arts into a creative opportunity.
First all the broken instruments were gathered and the curtailed range of the sounds that they could still produce (violins with missing or no strings or hopelessly mangled brasses) were sampled and a concert was scored—a cacophonous, haunting preview can be heard at the link up top—and through proceeds and patronage, all the instruments were adopted and rehabilitated. The attention that the broken orchestra drew also made it possible to install an instrument repair workshop in each school so they can keep their programmes going in the future and students might learn an additional trade as well.

the admiralty regrets to announce

The repository of one JF Ptak has demonstrated itself time and time again to be a wealth of forgotten ephemera whose detail informs phenomena of greater weight and circumstance, and this pamphlet issued by Nazi Germany in 1941 that was meant to dissuade France from siding with the United Kingdom is no exception.
The standard salutation for bad news coming out of the British navy was “the Admiralty regrets to announce” and was appropriated for this piece of propaganda to demonstrate to its target audience (all in French except for the title) that the UK was unable to meet its own logistics needs in peace time—told through maps and charts, and much less during times of conflict and privation. Find out more about this particular instrument of psychological warfare at the link up top and explore more antiquarian treasures at the book shop.

we’ve got movie sign

A very special thanks to Nag on the Lake for bringing us the Satellite of Love’s newest companion Jonah and old friends from Mystery Science Theater 3000 with their Kaiju Rap, subtitled Every Country has a Monster—wherein De La Soul style, they cleverly rhyme a whole host of international bestiaries and tall-tales.

mazal tov cocktail or high crimes and misdemeanours

Though no bombshell secrets were revealed when visiting Rabbi Shmuley Boteach shared selfies taken with Dear Leader’s chief strategist and notable human hæmorrhoid posed before a whiteboard in a conference room of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that contained a long list of campaign pledges to make good on, such evidence, we believe, could still be an indictment of sorts by corroborating the regime’s breach of public trust or making the other branches of the US government subaltern to the will of the executive. In any case, do zoom in and scour these images, plus know it always behooves one to be aware of one’s backdrop. Perhaps that bit of workshopping wasn’t meant for public consumption.

handbill

Brilliantly promoter Dave Blackhurst, when asked to design a flyer advertising a live music night for a pub in Bridgnorth, realised that the request in text message form spoke for itself and turned the text into the event poster. I just wonder if Mister Blackhurst was too put-upon to return the parting salutation.