A decade on, the Coen brothers' woefully underrated
O Brother, Where Art Thou? [alt] is remembered for
a lot of things: its sun-drenched, sepia-rich
cinematography (a pioneer of
digital color grading), its
whimsical humor,
fluid vernacular, and
many subtle references to Homer's
Odyssey. But one part of its legacy truly stands out:
the music.
Assembled by
T-Bone Burnett, the soundtrack is a cornucopia of American folk music, exhibiting everything from
cheery ballads and
angelic hymns to
wistful blues and
chain-gang anthems. Woven into the plot of the film through radio and live performances, the songs lent the story a
heartfelt, homespun feel that echoed its cultural heritage,
a paean and uchronia of the Old South.
Though the multiplatinum album was recently
reissued, the movie's medley is best heard via famed documentarian
D. A. Pennebaker's
Down from the Mountain, an
extraordinary yet
intimate concert film focused on a night of live music by the soundtrack's stars (among them
Gillian Welch,
Emmylou Harris,
Chris Thomas King, bluegrass legend
Dr. Ralph Stanley) and wryly hosted by
John Hartford, an accomplished
fiddler,
riverboat captain, and
raconteur whose struggle with terminal cancer made this his last major performance. The film is free in its entirety on
Hulu and
YouTube -- click inside for individual clips, song links, and breakdowns of
the set list's fascinating history.
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Dec 22, 2011 -
107 comments
Spike Magazine offers up a splendid enchanting
598 page behometh anthology of interviews, features and book reviews taken from the last 15 years of this wonderfully eclectic magazine (
Direct PDF /
Zip) . Nicely formatted and with enough content to keep even the most avid britlit fan happy. Highlights include interviews with (among many others)
Will Self (p451,460,464,467) ,
JG Ballard (p27,32,35, 39),
Iain Banks (p54),
Nick Hornby(p276). Enjoy.
posted by numberstation
on Oct 22, 2010 -
5 comments
"With
this blog, I want to use the Folkways Anthology as a roadmap to explore American folk music and maybe other countries traditions along the way. I’ll use texts, images, music and videos gathered from my personal collection and from the net to make this work-in-progress enjoyable and educational the best I can."
(via)
posted by 1f2frfbf
on Mar 12, 2009 -
17 comments
Des Imagistes is an online version of Ezra Pound's influential 1914 anthology of Imagist poetry, which includes work by Pound, James Joyce, H. D., and William Carlos Williams.
[more inside]
posted by whir
on Dec 16, 2008 -
11 comments
Harry Everett Smith was a, "
20th-century Renaissance man, working as an abstract film-maker, painter, musicologist, anthropologist, theoretician, self-mythologizer and connoisseur of arcana". His
Anthology of American Folk Music was
hugely influential on
American music, while his
alchemical, synæsthetic films were to have a similar impact on
experimental film and animation. Enjoy his mesmerising and astonishing
"Early Abstractions" on Youtube [part 1 or 4],
hear Harry lecture, or
listen to some tracks from The Anthology.
posted by MetaMonkey
on Dec 8, 2006 -
9 comments
Folklore and Mythology E-Texts A multicultural collection classified according to types and variants. See also the
SurLaLune Fairy Tales Pages (portal with annotated tales, tons of illustrations),
Folk and Fairytales From Around the World (not updated since 1997, unfortunately),
Hans Christian Andersen (tales and illustrations, plus additional links),
Fairy Tales by the Grimm Brothers (German and English, with some illustrations), the
Grimm Index Page (a complete set),
Red Riding Hood: A Multimedia Edition (exactly what it sounds like; those with sensitive eyes should be warned that the page is, well, red), and Tracey Callison's extensive
Sources for the Analysis and Interpretation of Folk and Fairy Tales (scholarly bibliographies).
posted by thomas j wise
on Sep 21, 2003 -
7 comments
Newly Digital is an electronic anthology of sorts. Due to the technological advancement of these things we call "computers", it's a subject ripe for nostalgia. As seen here by bloggers writing about their first . . .
posted by jeremias
on Jun 2, 2003 -
1 comment
Where were you during Vietnam?
Emi's Online Anti-War Anthology
"The only way to uncover the real truth about the antiwar movement is for hundreds (or thousands) of people to come forward and contribute their recollections. That is why history needs your stories. Please submit them. I don't care how insignificant you think your story may be. Everybody's story is important. All relevant stories will be accepted. I will be happy to work with anyone who wants to prepare one."
posted by sheauga
on Mar 24, 2002 -
8 comments
