Armstrong’s “Social Networks”

On the Louis Armstrong House Museum’s (LAHM) digital collections webpage, I keep a folder entitled “Random Items” that holds a group of interesting but unrelated digitized archival objects. This past week I re-examined some of the objects in the folder, which includes a 1968 telegram written by Armstrong that mentions Barbra Streisand’s voice, a photo...

Fragmented Stories in Perspective

The Palace of Stories. That’s the name my friends and I settled on calling our first floor, two-bedroom/ basement apartment located in a modern gentrified Brooklyn building. We made it official by making it our WIFI name, so whenever someone visited and needed access, those words would display on their setting options in bold letters....

The Social Lives of “What A Wonderful World”

In 1970 Louis Armstrong made an appearance on The David Frost Show. During his visit, he sang an intimate version of “What A Wonderful World,” a song originally released by ABC Records as a single three years prior. If you ever wondered what Armstrong would have looked and sounded like as a solo cabaret vocalist,...

Nonviolent Direct Art (NDA)

My last post ended with the possibility of considering the use of artistic and social practices as a way to engage in nonviolent direct action; specifically referencing the concept from the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. I have chosen to use this term because when it is in reference to groups that were...