[A] lesser-known fact about Armstrong is that, along with the medicinal supplements stowed in his carry-on, he toted reel-to-reel recording decks with him everywhere. With them he committed to tape concerts, conversations, his own playing and talking, audio flotsam from the Satchmo Universe. Even more impressive, Armstrong adorned the audio tape boxes with alluring and vivid Romare Bearden–esque collages layering photos, news clippings, concert programs, handwritten captions and other graphic elements. Armed with scotch tape and scissors, Armstrong spent countless hours entertaining himself, squirreled away in the den of his home in Corona, Queens, making visual music.The collages are great - do click on the link and take a look :o)
This is the staging area for a trip down the Mississippi River from the headwaters in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, starting in August 2009. At the moment, we're envisioning a journey made by canoe, but that may change as plans take shape. A project that is developing out of this journey is called (for the moment) Archives of Exile: River Voices, and that project is the focus of the conversation that's happening on this blog. We warmly invite you to read and comment!
Monday, 1 June 2009
Satchmo's Archive
Perhaps you already know about this but I found some interesting stuff about Louis Armstrong's self-archiving on WFMU's 'Beware of the Blog':
this is TOTALLY cool, Richard!
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