The three women in front of me were talking about the big demi-anniversary sale at Walmart and how they’d gotten time off from their cleaning jobs and were going down together. “Is it that big?” I asked. “Oh yeah,” they said, “50% off all children’s clothes, shoes and school supplies.” Everything...

DECEMBER 8 — DIEGO RIVERA Great Mexican muralist, Marxist, agit-prop conspirator. DECEMBER 8, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS BUDDHIST BODHI DAY: ROHATSU. FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.������ TAKE IT IN THE EAR DAY. ALSO ON DECEMBER 8 IN HISTORY… 1810 — World peace advocate Elihu Burritt, the...

Liam Clancy, the last surviving member of the seminal Irish folk band the Clancy Brothers, died on Friday at a Cork hospital at age 74. The balladeer, who Bob Dylan described as “the best ballad singer I’d ever heard in my life,” suffered from incurable pulmonary fibrosis (which also afflicted his...

Three Lobed Recordings issued a statement over the weekend that Philadelphia-based acoustic guitarist Jack Rose passed away over the weekend of a heart attack; he was 38 years old. Rose was self-taught and made a name for himself originally as the guitarist in the band Pelt in the 1990s, but...

The American Music Center (AMC) has awarded Composer Assistance Program grants totaling $31,000 to 28 American composers based in 12 states and ranging in age from 24 to 78.

By Eric Wubbels Taking off from the solo performance aesthetic of saxophonist Evan Parker, Peter Evans has devoted his early career to the cultivation and refinement of an exhaustive and totalizing virtuosity.

DECEMBER 7 — ANTONIO MACEO “The Bronze Titan.” Cuban revolutionist, anti-imperialist. DECEMBER 7, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS FESTIVAL OF PRIMORDIAL BEINGS. ALSO ON DECEMBER 7 IN HISTORY… 1872 — “Ludentologist” Johan Huizinga born, Groningen, Holland. 1896 — Cuban revolutionist, military hero...

DECEMBER 6 — TAIJI YAMAGA Japanese anarchist theorist, Esperantist. DECEMBER 6, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS ST. NICHOLAS’ DAY: Nicholas became a Bishop when quite young.��� From this fact arose the old European tradition of Boy Bishops, who reigned from December 6 to 28, in a cold Burlesque church...

JACK ROSE – EXCERPT FROM “ARTHURFEST” from Lance Bangs on Vimeo. Excerpt from ArthurFest – Courtesy Lance Bangs