Classic ClipTHE EVENS video for the song the VOWEL MOVEMENT from the kids show Pancake Mountain

ALWAYS LOVE THIS!

Bill Murray on Being Obnoxious

from | Blank on Blank | PBS Digital Studios

Photos: Auto sketches from Detroit’s golden era you were never meant to see

from PBS NewsHour:

The upcoming documentary “American Dreaming,” features the designers who worked in the styling houses of Detroit’s automakers from 1946 to 1973. Watch the trailer for the film, which does not have a release date, above. Video by Jim Toscano and Danny Gianino of Freeage Productions.

Norbert Ostrowski began designing cars during the golden age of the American automobile. For 30 years, he worked in the styling departments of Detroit’s iconic brands: Chrysler, General Motors, AMC. But his sketches no longer exist. Like most of the early-stage artwork created by America’s auto designers, they’ve been destroyed.

Enter art collector Robert Edwards. The lifelong car enthusiast has curated the most comprehensive showing of those designs, spanning from 1946 to 1973. The exhibit, “American Dreaming: Detroit’s Golden Age of Automotive Design,” opened last week at Lawrence Technological University in suburban Detroit.

Featured in the collection is one of Ostrowski’s early sketches of an AMC Matador that Edwards found for sale in Ann Arbor. Ostrowski, now 77, recognized it immediately, Edwards said.

“His exact words were, ‘how the heck did that get out?’”

The designs were never meant to leave the studios. Automakers routinely destroyed early sketches for fear they would fall into the wrong hands.

But some of them made their way out of Ford, GM and Chrysler, as well as now defunct Studebaker, Packard and AMC. According to one designer, they were smuggled out in boxes with false bottoms. One employee famously hid his sketches inside the liner of his trench coat. “As an artist, you would hate to see your artwork destroyed,” Edwards said.

(click to enlarge all images)



Now they exist in attics and garages in the homes of the artists and their relatives. That’s where Edwards finds them. He’s been collecting these “bootleg” sketches for years, buying them from estate sales all over Michigan.

He calls the artwork the story of mid-century modern design in America.

“The car is such a part of the American psyche,” Edwards said. “It’s possibly the most important industrial object ever created. It has touched everyone’s life.”



Exhibit co-producer Greg Salustro said the designs harken back to a time when America thought anything was possible.

“This is the age that America thought they could overcome racism, land a man on the moon, win the Cold War,” he said. “This exhibit reflects this unbridled exuberance that took place at the time.”

Aside from the exhibit, the two auto enthusiasts are also co-producing a documentary called “American Dreaming.” It features interviews with the men and women who influenced mid-century American design and shaped the way we remember the golden era of the automobile.

It’s also a love letter to Detroit.

“This is a Detroit story,” said Salustro. “It’s about how Detroit inspired a nation.”

Just as the automakers jumped back into production in 1946 after its years supporting the Allied forces, today Detroit is determined to rebound after decades of decline and an unprecedented municipal bankruptcy, he said. “We want Detroit to be proud of its artistic heritage.”

See more photos of the innovative artwork that escaped the shredder:



CLICK TO ENLARGE ALL ABOVE IMAGES w/ Captions too!

Captions by Robert Edwards. Learn more about the upcoming documentary “American Dreaming”: Americandreamingfilm.com. Here you can also find out how to support the film, which is not yet complete and does not have a release date.

Chuck D. on PBS with Tavis Smiley

from PBS.org - this was recorded last fall...

A Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Internet innovator and best-selling author, Chuck D has been in the business for more than 25 years. The New York native got his start while pursuing his degree at Adelphi University. At the campus radio station, which was becoming a hub for the early expansion of the hip-hop movement, he wrote music and deejayed a program that featured the artists who would later form Public Enemy—a pioneer of politically conscious rap music. He's an outspoken advocate of music on the web and delivers his message through various mediums, including his multi-format "supersite" Rapstation. He's also still focused on the fight, which he does with his new EP, "The Black in Man."

Today was A Good Day... ICE CUBE ON ‘SESAME STREET’ Elmo and Ice Cube are Astounded

I've always thought it would be incredible to help out on Sesame Street....
Ice Cube is in great company doing this OG educational PBS program.

Today was A Good Day...



And one of my favorites... Jus' Sayin'...

Eyes on the Prize Back to the Movement, 1979-mid 1980s

Final Episode, number 14 in the series

The series concludes with an examination of two cities—one southern, one northern. In Miami, Florida, viewers witness the destruction of Overtown, a once-thriving community, as it was ravaged by urban renewal and the construction of an interstate highway. Politically powerless, the community's economic plight was worsened by the steady arrival of another minority group—Cuban immigrants. In 1980, when white police officers were cleared of charges following the death of a black businessman, Miami's black community exploded in the largest riot since Detroit, 1967. In the north, frustrated by an unresponsive city administration, black Chicagoans successfully organized for political change through a reform candidate and brought about the election of Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor. The series ends with a look back at the people who made this movement a force for change in America. We listen to those who have worked for justice in the fifties, sixties, and seventies, as they reflect on their on-going struggle. Viewers come to realize how far America has traveled to arrive at this racial crossroads

Eyes on the Prize The Keys to the Kindgdom, 1974-1980

Episode 13

This show examines the relationship between law and popular struggle as it chronicles efforts to inject substance into promises of equality. The movement's focus is on the keys to the kingdom: jobs and education. In Boston, black parents organize to improve their children's education through court-ordered integration; the response of the white community was swift and often violent. In Atlanta, Mayor Maynard Jackson, the city's first black mayor, used the legal remedy of an affirmative action program to guarantee black involvement in the construction of Atlanta's airport. Affirmative action programs did not go unchallenged, however, as Allan Bakke took his suit against the University of California all the way to the Supreme Court.

Eyes on the Prize A Nation of Law?, 1967-1968

Episode 12

By the late 1960s, the anger in poorer urban areas over charges of police brutality was smoldering. In Chicago, Fred Hampton formed a Black Panther Party chapter. As the chapter grew, so did police surveillance. In a pre-dawn assault by the police, Panthers Hampton and Mark Clark were killed. The deaths came at a time when movement activists were increasingly becoming targets of police harassment at both the local and federal levels through COUNTELPRO, the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program. During this same period, inmates at New York's Attica prison took over the prison in an effort to publicize intolerable conditions. During the police assault which ended the takeover, several inmates and guards were killed. For some, Attica came to symbolize the brutality of a hardened political regime.

Eyes on the PrizeAin't Gonna Shuffle No More, 1964-1972

Episode 11

An awareness and sense of pride emerged through the struggle of World Heavyweight Champion Cassius Clay to be called by his new Islamic name, Muhammad Ali. No longer content to use the mainstream culture as their standard and rejecting images which traditionally stereotyped them as servile and inferior, a new generation of African Americans began to redefine itself. Propelled by the Black Consciousness Movement, they celebrated black values and culture and their African roots. Howard University students demanded a more black-oriented curriculum, and African-Americans of every persuasion met to forge a new unity at the Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana.

Eyes on the Prize The Promised Land 1967-1968

Episode 10

In the final year of Martin Luther King's life, the movement turned its attention to the economic issues confronting the nation and the rumblings of a far off war in Vietnam. Moved by the increasing level of poverty, Dr. King and his staff searched for a strategy, in effect, an economic redistribution of wealth. They began to organize a Poor People's Campaign, a march of the poor to Washington, D.C., where they would erect Resurrection City to embarrass and motivate a reluctant government. In the midst of organizing the campaign, Dr. King was called away to help black sanitation workers on strike in Memphis. On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Martin Luther Jr. was assassinated. Though devastated by the loss of their leader, King's staff struggled to continue the campaign. Soon after its construction, Resurrection City was shut down, marking the end of a chapter of the civil rights movement.

Eyes on the Prize Power! 1967-1968

Episode 9

Out of the ashes of the urban rebellions, blacks looked for new ways to take control of their communities; the ballot box, the street and the schools became the dominant platforms. In Cleveland, the black community, together with a segment of white voters, achieved an historic victory: the election of Carl Stokes as the first African American mayor of a major city. In Oakland, young black men and women attempted to confront continuing police harassment by forming the Black Panther Party. In Brooklyn, New York, black and Hispanic parents struggled to improve their children's education through community control of schools. While these efforts had varying degrees of success, they nevertheless resulted in greater empowerment for their communities.

Nuclear crisis at Fukushima continues to unfold: a trilogy of reports by PBS NewsHour's Miles O'Brien (video)

from our friend Xeni at Boing Boing:

Miles O'Brien, science correspondent for PBS NewsHour, has produced a series of three must-see investigative reports revisiting the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan. His stories explore how the radiation leaks triggered by the earthquake and tsunami are continuing to affect life there, and beyond.

First, above, "Fukushima nuclear crisis continues to unfold."

The site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan remains a post-apocalyptic landscape of abandoned towns, frozen in time. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien got a rare tour inside the plant, where three nuclear reactors melted down after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, to learn more about the long-term solutions for stemming the radioactive contamination.

Next, "Fishing for data in the radioactive waters off Fukushima."

With help from fisherman and citizen scientists, researchers in Japan and the U.S. are tracking the nucleotides in the ocean creatures who swim in the plume of water tainted with radiation from Fukushima. Their research is part of a long-term effort to figure out when — if ever — certain fish will be safe to eat.

And finally, "Japan considers energy future after Fukushima."

A disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011, has greatly affected how Japanese citizens feel about that energy source. Polls suggest that 80 percent of voters now oppose nuclear power in Japan. But walking away from nuclear power is a tricky proposition for a country that has not invested much in renewable alternatives.

These stories were among the last he reported and shot before an accident on assignment in Philippines led to the loss of his left arm. He is recovering well. Among the risks of solo backpack journalism: what he suffered.

(Disclosure: Miles is my partner, and I love him very much and am very proud of this important work.)

Eyes on the Prize Two Societies, 1965-1968

Episode 8

Against the backdrop of the long hot summers of the mid-1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference went to Chicago in an attempt to apply southern movement tactics to the urban north. Their strategies were tested as they came up against the powerful political machinery of Mayor Richard Daley. A year later, in Detroit, frustration and anger built to urban violence as blacks and law officers clashed on city streets and America appeared to be a nation out of control.

Eyes on the Prize The Time Has Come, 1964-1965

Episode 7

During the decade of civil rights protest in the south, a sense of urgency and anger emerged from the black communities in the north. This urgency was best articulated by Malcolm X, then National Minister of the Nation of Islam. Viewers follow the trajectory of Malcolm X's influence, both within the movement and outside. The program shows the influence of his philosophy on the staff of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as they organized the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama and as they issued the call for "Black Power" during the 1966 Meredith March Against Fear in Mississippi.

Eyes on the Prize Bridge to Freedom,1965

Episode 6

In Bridge to Freedom, the lessons of a decade are brought to bear in the climactic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, when thousands joined together to march fifty miles for freedom. During the drive to make voting rights a national issue, strategic and ideological differences began to surface between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s SCLC and the younger activists on SNCC. As white "blacklash" and segregationist resistance intensified, President Lyndon B. Johnson promised to further the movement's legislative goals. Then, as the movement began to splinter into factions, the Voting Rights Act became federal law.

EYES ON THE PRIZE Mississippi, Is This America, 1962-1964

episode 5

Focuses on the extraordinary personal risks faced by ordinary citizens as they assumed responsibility for social change, particularly during the 1962-64 voting rights campaign in Mississippi. The state became a testing ground of constitutional principles as civil rights activists concentrated their energies on the right to vote. White resistance to the sharing of political power clashed with the strong determination of movement leaders to bring Mississippi blacks to the ballot box. In Freedom Summer 1964, tension between white resistance and movement activists climaxed in the tragic murder of three young civil rights workers.

EYES ON THE PRIZE No Easy Walk 1962-1966

episode 4

No Easy Walk explores a crucial phase in the civil rights movement—the emergence of mass demonstrations and marches as a powerful protest vehicle. In Albany, Georgia, police chief Laurie Pritchett challenged Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s tactics of nonviolent mass demonstration. In Birmingham, Alabama, school children steadfastly marched against the violent spray of fire hoses and were jailed as a result. The triumphant 1963 March on Washington, D.C. captured worldwide attention and garnered broad national support, helping to shift federal policy.

EYES ON THE PRIZE Ain't Scared of Your Jails, 1960-1961

Episode 3

Ain't scared of your jails chronicles the courage displayed by thousands of young people and college students who joined the ranks of the movement and gave it new direction. In 1960, lunch counter sit-ins spread across the South, may organized by the new, energetic Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In 1961, on the Freedom Rides, many young people faced violence and defied death threats as they labored to obliterate segregation in interstate bus travel below the Mason-Dixon Line. The growing movement toward racial equality influenced the 1960 Presidential campaign; and federal rights versus state's rights became an issue.

EYES ON THE PRIZE Fighting Back, 1957-1962

EPISODE 2

Fighting Back follows the struggle for equality from the schoolroom to the courtroom and back as blacks reject the existing system of "separate but equal" education. In 1954, the Supreme Court also rejects the system with its historic Brown v. Board of Education decision. The legal battle won, in 1957 nine black teenagers dare to integrate Little Rock's Central High School. In 1962, a resolute James Meredith enrolls at the Univeristy of Mississippi. Students, parents, and lawyers unite to guarantee a better education and a better future for their children.

Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin'on PBS' American Masters

UPDATED WATCH ENTIRE PROGRAM HERE NOW!



CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS - SHOWING NOW!

from PBS

Hear My Train A Comin’ unveils previously unseen performance footage and home movies taken by Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell while sourcing an extensive archive of photographs, drawings, family letters and more to provide new insight into the musician’s personality and genius.

A pioneering electric guitarist, Hendrix (Nov. 27, 1942 — Sept. 18, 1970) had only four years of mainstream exposure and recognition, but his influential music and riveting stage presence left an enduring legacy. Hear My Train A Comin’ traces the guitarist’s remarkable journey from his hardscrabble beginnings in Seattle, through his stint as a US Army paratrooper, unknown sideman to R&B stars such as Little Richard, Joey Dee and the Isley Brothers and his discovery and ultimate international stardom.

Presented as part of a year-long celebration around his 70th birthday year, the two-hour Hear My Train A Comin’ uses Hendrix’s own words to tell his story, illustrated through archival interviews and illuminated with commentary from family, well-known friends and musicians including Paul McCartney, band members Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, long-time sound engineer Eddie Kramer; Steve Winwood, Vernon Reid, Billy Gibbons, Dweezil Zappa and Dave Mason.

The film also features revealing glimpses into Jimi and his era from the three women closest to him: Linda Keith (the girlfriend who introduced Jimi to future manager Chas Chandler), Faye Pridgon (who befriended Hendrix in Harlem in the early 1960s) and Colette Mimram (one of the era’s most influential fashion trendsetters who provided inspiration for Hendrix’s signature look and created such memorable stage costumes as the beaded jacket Hendrix famously wore at Woodstock). The film details the meteoric rise of the Experience, the creation of his groundbreaking music, the building of Electric Lady Studios, his state-of-the-art recording facility in Greenwich Village and concludes with poignant footage from his final performance in Germany in September 1970, just 12 days before his death at age 27.



Among the previously unseen treasures in Hear My Train A Comin’ is recently uncovered film footage of Hendrix at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival. The first-ever major rock festival staged on the East Coast, the May 1968 Miami Pop Festival at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla., was the first event promoted by Woodstock organizer Michael Lang and Ric O’Barry (dolphin trainer for Flipper TV series), who were inspired by the June 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where Hendrix made his U.S. debut and famously set fire to his guitar.

Two-time Grammy-winning director Bob Smeaton, whose credits include Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child, Hendrix: Band of Gypsys, Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock, Festival Express and The Beatles Anthology, shows a side of Hendrix less frequently explored in Hear My Train A Comin’. Smeaton explains, “Jimi loved two things: women and playing guitar and that’s what Linda, Faye and Colette all told us. These women shed a totally different light on him than the guys who saw him onstage.”

On the same day as the film’s premiere, Experience Hendrix LLC and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release the expanded home video edition of the American Masters documentary, with never-before-released special performance features, on DVD and Blu-ray.