tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36612518208842753132012-02-02T10:48:43.199-08:00Where we share information about our department's collections, exhibits, classes and other resources.San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.comBlogger2231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-35586552869469177002012-02-02T10:27:00.000-08:002012-02-02T10:48:43.293-08:00

On Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 6:30 in the Koret Auditorium, the Art, Music and Recreation Center and the San Francisco History Center will present a book talk and slide show for Left in the Dark: Portraits of San Francisco Movie Theatres. This new book celebrates twentieth century movie theatres and movie-going through lush full-color fine art photographs and personal essays that offer both

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The follow is a guest entry by renowned popular music historian Richie Unterberger. He will present the program Blue Suede Jews at the Koret Auditorium on Sunday afternoon, February 5, 2012 at 2:00 PM.The Brill Building at 1619 Broadway in ManhattanJews were heavily involved in rock'n'roll from the beginning as label owners, songwriters, producers, and promoters. Jews played a part in

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-82720285893410399902012-01-18T18:27:00.000-08:002012-01-21T18:17:09.969-08:00

Saturday, January 21st at 2 p.m., the AMR Department will sponsor the locally-produced, independent feature CHALK (1996). Screened in the Bay Area for the first time in over a decade, this pool-hustling family saga is most notably remembered for being locally created, cast, and shot by the Tenderloin Action Group (TAG), a workshop of mostly homeless inner city residents who trained weekly under

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Victor Records by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestrasource: San Francisco Symphony programs, 1929-1930, p. 786The Victor Talking Machine Company contracted with the San Francisco Symphony in 1924 to produce 78 rpm discs. Between 1925 and 1928 the Symphony recorded 19 works. Alfred Hertz and the Symphony recorded with Victor during a period when recording techniques were still developing. The

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-18034095125524880712012-01-04T11:11:00.000-08:002012-01-04T12:08:03.558-08:00

The Duo-Art piano taking Harold Bauer's place as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Alfred Hertz conductor, at the regular symphony concerts, Curran Theatre, San Francisco, Friday, January 31st and Sunday, February 2ndimage source: Alfred Metzger, "Bauer's recording of Saint-Saens Concerto on Duo-Art piano creates a big sensation," Pacific Coast Musical Review vol. 35, no. 19 (

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-33736841914665430082011-12-21T16:31:00.000-08:002011-12-21T16:32:46.175-08:00

photograph by Bonnie Eva Chan / image source: The Guardsman.comIf you're a fan of rock poster art, don't neglect to come the 4th floor of the San Francisco Public Library's Main Library. High Volume: Rock Art from the Chuck Sperry Archive and Firehouse Goldenvoice Poster Series will remain on display through January 6, 2012.For a review of the exhibit you can read Lulu Orozco's article "

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-68294051836404334522011-12-12T14:18:00.000-08:002011-12-12T14:37:33.052-08:00

Cityscapes: San Francisco and its Buildings, is a handsome, new, pocket-size book by John King, columnist and urban critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. Cityscapes is a collection of columns in which he comments, in vivid prose, on the state of the city’s urban environment and the efforts made to update, renew and expand it.King has been an astute observer of the Bay Area’s architecture

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-47349860047822611752011-12-11T16:40:00.000-08:002011-12-11T16:54:12.047-08:00

This panel discussion features members of the San Francisco Symphony who share their unique perspectives on life as a member of a world-class orchestra and perform chamber music selections. Participating musicians include: Catherine Payne, flute/piccolo; Robin Sutherland, piano; Jessica Valeri, horn and Mark Volkert, violin.This program will take place on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 6 PM in the

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-32704935613551162632011-12-08T14:28:00.000-08:002011-12-08T14:49:19.860-08:00

Source: San Francisco Orchestra programs, 1st-3rd seasons, 1911-1914Let's all hoist a glass -- metaphorical or actual, as you please -- to the San Francisco Symphony to celebrate their 100th birthday! At 3:30 PM on Friday, December 8, 1911, Henry Hadley raised his baton to conduct the Meistersinger Overture by Richard Wagner and the music continues. Today the Library celebrated the Symphony's

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-2077200963583545692011-12-05T16:39:00.000-08:002011-12-05T17:21:27.390-08:00

Portrait of Hector Berlioz by Émile Signol (source: Wikimedia Commons)This Thursday's noon film will be Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (2009) from the San Francisco Symphony's award winning documentary film series Keeping Score.Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony explore this orchestral sonic spectacular as they follow Hector Berlioz to the brink and beyond in this one-hour

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-81629553404562895392011-11-28T13:46:00.000-08:002011-11-28T14:12:44.776-08:00

image source: San Francisco Symphony Keeping ScoreThe Main Library's Thursday Noon Film series in December will be devoted to the San Francisco Symphony's Keeping Score series. Keeping Score is an ongoing educational classical music series originally broadcast on PBS that features the Symphony's Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. We are very happy to present five of these programs in

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The Aurora Mandolin Orchestra will be bringing their dulcet tones to the Koret Auditorium this Saturday, November 19 at 2pm.Their impressive string section includes mandolin, mandola, mandocello, guitar and string bass. Accordion, flute and percussion fill out the sound. The Aurora Mandolin Orchestra’s repertoire includes traditional and romantic pieces and includes melodies from Italy, Spain,

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In celebration of the San Francisco Symphony's Centennial, the Library and Symphony have been presenting special exhibits and a series of related programs. On Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 6:00 PM we will co-present the program Music of the Barbary Coast and Beyond: San Francisco’s Musical Origins in the Main Library's Koret Auditorium.San Francisco has always been a music-loving town, from

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One of the life's cheap thrills for librarians is to see books we have selected in the hands of readers on the bus, MUNI or BART. That's why it was a delight to come across these images from the blog People Reading Books In Public Places.image source: People Reading Books in Public PlacesThis book, photographed on the K Ingleside train, is clearly a San Francisco Public Library book - the

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Cover image from 1925-1926 San Francisco Symphony season programsAlfred Hertz, the San Francisco Symphony’s second conductor, though a beloved a figure, was a formidable musical force and personality.Winthrop Sargeant was the music critic for the New Yorker from 1947 to 1972. A native San Franciscan he was a member of the second violin section of the San Francisco Symphony as a youth in the

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-19976540509942212182011-10-26T14:02:00.000-07:002011-11-09T10:50:26.606-08:00

Bob Grimes, photographed by Basya Petnick in "Bob Grimes - The Music Man," Nob Hill Gazette (January 1999), p. 20.Musicians all over the world lost a dear friend when Bob Grimes passed away recently at the age of 89. We miss him at the Library as well. A recent obituary by Peter Hartlaub in the San Francisco Chronicle of October 14, 2011 provides a nice appreciation of Bob Grimes and his

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Victor Records advertisement from the San Francisco Symphony programs, 1929-1930.Scott Foglesong, musicologist and chair of the San Francisco Conservatory department of musicianship and music theory, has spent the last two years unearthing rare recordings and broadcasts by the San Francisco Symphony. On Tuesday night, October 18, 2011, from 6:00 - 7:30 in the Koret Auditorium, Foglesong will lead

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-86668369959338923332011-10-11T19:39:00.000-07:002011-10-11T19:57:13.689-07:00

High Volume: Rock Art From The Chuck Sperry Archive and Firehouse Goldenvoice Poster Series will be on display on the 4th floor in the Art, Music and Recreation Center from October 7 through January 6, 2012.An auburn-haired songstress holds a fawn. Shocking magenta hair falls to the shoulders of a blue nude strapped with artillery. A 1950s-model cop car rests peacefully at the bottom of the

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-52363730553010945282011-10-03T14:13:00.000-07:002011-10-03T14:27:34.244-07:00

San Francisco Symphony Orchestra playing at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium [1935] (image source: San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection)On Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 6 PM, the San Francisco Public Library will screen the film San Francisco Symphony at 100 in the Koret Auditorium of the Main Library.This one hour documentary film screening paints a portrait of the role of an

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-58749784934205251382011-09-21T15:18:00.000-07:002011-09-21T15:30:08.358-07:00

Mr. Hertz at Cloyne Court. May 17th, 1942image source: Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, from the Online Archive of California The San Francisco Symphony in the Library’s Collections, a display in the Steve Silver Beach Blanket Babylon Room on the Fourth Floor of the Main Library, prominently features material about Alfred Hertz.Alfred Hertz was the second conductor of the San

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-75417455223080448162011-09-12T15:32:00.000-07:002011-09-12T15:50:37.153-07:00

We are entering the centennial season of the San Francisco Symphony. The Library is pleased to join in this celebration with exhibits and programs through the 2011-2012 season.On the Lower Level of the Library in the Jewett Gallery there is the exhibit Music For a City, Music For the World: 100 Years with the San Francisco Symphony. This exhibit traces the Symphony's history using objects from

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-52930650641826988232011-09-11T12:06:00.001-07:002011-11-03T12:31:18.850-07:00

Get Crafty! Save Money! Be Green! Do you love to knit, sew, scrapbook? Want to make your own gifts this holiday season and throughout the year? It saves money and you can transform things you already have around the house. Bring your lunch and join us for this inspiring class where you'll learn about the library’s collection of craft books and magazines, and some surprising projects found

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Malo album cover, from the American Sabor WebsiteAmerican Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music is on display in the Skylight Gallery on the 6th floor through November 13, 2011. This exhibit views the contributions of Latino musicians through the lens of five regional scenes - New York, Miami, Texas, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.The Art, Music and Recreation Center has long

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-41558309937099604442011-08-22T11:11:00.000-07:002011-08-22T11:47:19.557-07:00

Currently on display through October 10 at the Main Library is "The Making of a Masterpiece: Picasso and Guernica." This small display located in the elevator lobby on the 4th floor is presented in conjunction with three other Picasso-related shows presently on view in San Francisco: Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories at the Contemporary Jewish Museum through September 6, 2011 Picasso:

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Many costume books show the fashions of royalty and the upper classes, but few show the fashion of people of more modest means. Joan Severa’s Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and fashion, 1840-1900 looks at historical photographs to acquaint the reader with the everyday fashion of those times. The book is divided into chapters by decade. In the first part of each chapter, Severa

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(image source: Niles Essanay Silent Movie Museum)In the 1920s, Diana Serra Cary was known as "Baby Peggy." Signed to a million dollar contract at age five, this child actress was once one of the biggest little film star celebrities in the world. At this special event, Cary will speak about her remarkable life in Hollywood more than 80 years ago, her recent work as a writer and film historian, and

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-55806699742546442742011-08-02T12:30:00.000-07:002011-08-02T12:46:59.103-07:00

“Ritratto di giovene unomo” by Dosso Dossi, said to be a portrait of Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara (image source: National Gallery of Victoria)The Art, Music & Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library in association with San Francisco Opera Guild will present their annual program of large screen videos. These programs feature selected clips of previously filmed productions of

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-88912087359839151422011-07-26T18:10:00.000-07:002011-07-26T18:57:07.622-07:00

The Dixieland Jug Blowers (source: The Red Hot Jazz Archive)On Saturday, July 30, 2011 from 2:30 to 5:30 the Art, Music and Recreation Center and the California Jug Band Association will present "It Sounds So Sweet! The Wonderful World of Jug Band Music" in the Main Library's Koret Auditorium.Paul Oliver in the New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments writes that the jug band is "an

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-75517505431815630722011-07-20T16:25:00.001-07:002011-07-20T17:04:24.386-07:00

source: San Francisco History Room - San Francisco Historical Photograph CollectionWhile researching in the San Francisco History Room’s Historical Photo Collection for the current exhibition Shhhhh! Silents in the Library, I discovered this little gem.Here we see two images of Mary Pickford, taken at least thirty years apart. On the left she is shown as at the height of her career, with her

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-53823781082257032322011-07-07T17:33:00.000-07:002011-07-20T16:22:18.421-07:00

Sunday, July 10th 2:00 pmKoret AuditoriumMain Library, Lower Levelimage courtesy of Donna L. HillThe 1926 film, Son of the Sheik, is based on a bestselling novel; it was the sequel to an even more popular film and book. Son of the Sheik was also the last film to star Rudolph Valentino - one of the great stars of the silent era.Join us for a screening of this classic film! Donna Hill, author of

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An exhibition from June 25th - August 28th, 2011Main Library, Fourth Floor & Sixth Floor History Center Exhibit SpaceIn our modern world, where moving images meet us in every size at every turn, from enormous billboards astride the freeway to the tiny screens on our handheld devices, it is perhaps difficult to imagine a time, a mere 130 years ago, in which the representation of objects in motion

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The Art in America annual Guide to Galleries, Museums and Artists is an indispensable resource for artists, collectors and researchers.At its heart this annual August issue of the magazine is a directory of galleries and museums. These are listed alphabetically first by state and then by city. There are abbreviations that distinguish whether a space is a gallery, university gallery, nonprofit

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Books on Sports and Recreation are assigned the Dewey Decimal numbers 793 to 799. Here is a summary of the classification of these subjects:793 - Indoor Games and Amusements (including social dance and entertaining)794 - Indoor Games of Skill (billiards, board games)795 - Games of Chance (casinos, cards, lottery, backgammon, pinball, bingo, mahjong)796- Athletic and Outdoor Sports and Games (

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-3457191080921633542011-06-07T18:04:00.000-07:002011-06-07T18:35:10.832-07:00

Here is a list of the top circulating sports and recreation books in our department since July 2010:1) Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009).The story of a group of super endurance runners of the Tarahumara people in Mexico. Impetus for the new barefoot running movement.2) Hardcourt Confidential

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image source: Guerrilla Girls website In 1989, this Guerrilla Girls poster ran on the sides of New York City buses bringing public scrutiny to the "art world’s" discriminatory practices. Screaming from the shadows of the Julian Schnabels, Robert Longos and other men of the 80s art scene, the Guerrilla Girls forwarded their agenda by issuing report cards that graded museums and galleries based

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Still from Metropolis (Burning Man)In the Koret Auditorium, on Sunday, May 29, 2011 from 2-4 p.m., local independent filmmaker Kevin Kunze will present a selection of his short films and an excerpt from Id, his first feature-length film, set in San Francisco. Also of interest to San Franciscans, Kunze has created short documentaries about Muni, the closure of KUSF, and on the Garden Project. The

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Beginning on Sunday, May the 29nd from 2-4 p.m. The Free University of San Francisco's School of Art will begin a new series of classes in the Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room. Instructor Alan Kaufman will teach The Lives of the Abstract Expressionists: A Historical and Critical Exploration, offering an in-depth look at the lives, loves and struggles of the pioneers of this major American art

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Toy Instruments: Design, Nostalgia, Music by Eric Schneider is a pictorial tribute to the mass-produced musical instruments created as play objects for children. As noted in its subtitle, nostalgia is an important element of this book achieved through the combination of current photographs of the instruments and vintage advertisements that show gleeful children playing with the instruments.These

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"Hairy Caterpillar", from the Etching and Engraving Picture File, folder: Insects, Caterpillars (original source: Cassell's Popular Natural History)In the Art, Music & Recreation Center we have many books that explain the cultural meaning and symbolism of all things inanimate, living or imagined.Consider the caterpillar. Perhaps the most direct and helpful source is Merriam-Webster's Visual

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Ornamental kitchen gardens – potagers ornés – have a long and fascinating history. In medieval monasteries the monks planted medicinal and edible flowers in between their herbs and vegetables and to keep the plots separate they surrounded them with low hedges. In the fifteenth and early sixteenth century travelers returning from the Americas brought back exotic new edible plants – potatoes,

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Please join us for “Dances for Camera” on Saturday, April 23rd from 3-5 pm and/or Wednesday, April 27th from 6-8 pm. Two distinct programs at the San Francisco Public Library will showcase highlights from the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, with some of the best dance films from around the globe, selected out of more than 100 entries from 25 countries.These short experimental dance pieces are

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Starting April 15, the Free University of San Francisco is bringing a pair of five week classes on cinema to the San Francisco Public Library’s Main Library. For five Fridays (April 15-May 20, excluding May 6) Rand Crook will present Responsive Cinema to Corporate Empire: Workshop from 2:00 to 3:45 PM and Jim Morton will present East German Cinema: A History from 4:00-5:30 PM. Both classes will

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"My Window and the Cat in the Corner" by Cher DelamereQuilting is presumed to have originated thousands of years ago in the Orient. The technique was used to strengthen textiles that were fragile as well as to produce layered covers and clothing for protection against the cold.Quilted fabric consists of three layers of cloth. The central layer is a padding of wool, cotton or other material; the

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Artists. We harbor so many myths and fantasies about them. They are either starving unknowns, living in poverty and working at their art full-time (à la Van Gogh), or they are flamboyant geniuses achieving fame and fortune (think Picasso and Warhol).If an artist needs a money to live until his or her art commands huge prices, then one often-preferred path is to become an art teacher. Although

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One of the reasons why San Francisco is one of the top tourist destinations in the world is the stunning combination of the physical landscape and lived environment of our city. For that reason it’s understandable that a full-length instructional manual, Photographing San Francisco by Bruce Sawle, would be written for our fair city.The book contains 28 chapters, each devoted to a photogenic

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Pont d'Espagne - High Pyrenees (from the Spain - Views folder)The Etching and Engraving Picture File is a collection of illustrations culled from mid19th - early 20th century magazines. Some of the magazines clipped include the Illustrated London News, Harper's Monthly, the French magazine L'Illustration, and Scientific American. This collection is a wonderful resource for artists and crafters

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Garage Bands from the 60s, Then and Now: The San Francisco East Bay Scene is a survey of the rock bands of Alameda and Contra Costa counties and the scene that supported them . As the Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World defines them, garage bands were amateur bands in the United States inspired by “British invasion” bands. They came to be known by this name because the garage

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"JAM" with us in the Koret Auditiorum this Saturday, February 26th, at a musical showcase hosted by Tia Donyale. As leader of the fledgling JAM organization, Donyale is partnering with local businesses and non-profit foundations to nurture and promote new artists, between the ages of 18-24. JAM’s goals are to provide musicians with performance venues, networking opportunities, and support in

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As part of our Black History Month programming the Library is pleased to present rock music historian Richie Unterberger who will present The Golden Age of Soul 1960-1973, a selection of rare soul music film clips from the 1960s and early 1970s.Included will be footage of soul greats such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, the Supremes, Otis Redding, Booker T. & the MG's, Nina Simone,

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The A.L.A. Portrait Index is one of the more venerable tools used by the reference librarian. Published 105 years ago, this volume has not been superseded by any other source.This project, first proposed at an 1888 meeting of the American Library Association, brought together files from the Index Society of Great Britain, Harpers Magazine, the Philadelphia Library Company and the Boston

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source: Dewanatron Electronic Music InstrumentsBetween Trent Reznor’s endorsement and a recent New Yorker article (Nick Paumgarten, “Swarm”) the custom-built Swarmatron synthesizer is generating media buzz.Recognizable as a key sound in the motion picture The Social Network, the Swarmatron is an analog synthesizer that plays a chord of eight notes arranged around a single note producing a

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Tour:Smart is a comprehensive, 562 page guidebook providing nuts and bolts advice for independent musicians who want to succeed at performing on the road. Author Martin Atkins is a veteran of the alternative music business, having performed with bands like Public Image Ltd., Ministry, Pigface and Killing Joke.With the advent of digital music and the lessening importance of being signed to major

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"Peach to Polypheme" from the Pictorial Webster's websiteAt first glance it's not readily apparent what to make of what the Pictorial Webster's actually is. At one level, it is simply, as the author writes, a collection of "fascinating little images." In some part it is an artist's book (it was originally published in this manner), but it is also a powerful visual reference and source of

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Returning from a Hunt, 1932 by Fang RendingInternationally known in his lifetime, Chinese-born artist Fang Rending (方人定 - 1901-1975, sometimes know as Fan Jen-Ting or Fong Yan-Ting) contributed to the modernization of Chinese painting through published writings, teachings and international art shows beginning in the mid-1920s.Throughout the Twenties and Thirties, his painting met acclaim as he

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Paper is one of the most economical and versatile of mediums. We handle this material every day, using it in its 2 dimensional form. However, with a few basic tools and some time set aside one can create an amazing array of 3 dimensional crafts.The San Francisco Public Library has a good selection of books on the subject of paper work. Paper in Three Dimensions by Diane Maurer-Mathison gives an

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One of San Francisco's great attractions is its museums. Over the past couple of decades a number of new museums have opened, or established institutions have moved into new buildings. This is happening as museums as an institution are going through a period of re-definition.Do Museums Need Objects is a deeply thought out reconsideration of museums and their collections. Author Steven Conn argues

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Every holiday season we move a selection of our Christmas-themed song collections to the Art, Music & Recreation Center reference desk for quick and easy access.Our two most paged Christmas songbooks are both fake books -- The Real Christmas Book and the Ultimate Christmas Fake Book. Both of these collections provide stripped down arrangements of the songs with only their melody, chord

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Architecture: A World History is a thick pocket-sized book presenting the broad sweep of architecture through the ages. Arranged chronologically from the earliest prehistoric structures, this book presents medium’s evolution up through some of the more innovative works of the early 21st century. Its 512 pages include more than 600 color illustrations of buildings from throughout the world.The

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Maya Donato as Coraline (source SF Playhouse)Children, teens and adults alike can relate to Coraline’s theme of fantasizing about an ‘Other Mother’ and running away to find idealized-versions of our families. Perhaps no more so than at the holidays, do we need to humorously indulge these fantasies and be guided back to an appreciation of our real family. SF Playhouse’s current production, a

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On Sunday, November 14, Thomas Gladysz will speak about his new edition of The Diary of a Lost Girl in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Public Library. This author talk and film screening are sponsored by the Art, Music & Recreation Center in association with the Louise Brooks Society, an online archive and international fan club based in San Francisco. A small display with archival

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Grace Slick(all images are from Trust: Photographs of Jim Marshall)“I love all the musicians – they’re like family. Looking back I realize I was there at the beginning of something special, I’m like a historian. There’s an honesty about this work that I’m proud of. It feels good to think, my God, I really captured something amazing.”- Jim MarshallMiles DavisThe Art, Music and Recreation

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The sounds of old North Beach are coming to the Koret Auditorium this Saturday, November 6th.In their 3rd program in 3 years the Aurora Mandolin Orchestra, will play from their repertoire of traditional and semi-classical Italian, Spanish and Russian works. The orchestra for this outing will consist of approximately twenty-three professional and amateur musicians playing mandolin, mandola,

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As we all await the opening pitch for the 2010 World Series at China Basin it’s hard for all of us die hard fans not to remember all the Giants teams of years past. The team has a rich lore to be read about and savored.The franchise’s 128 year history, both in New York and San Francisco, is documented in The Giants Encyclopedia, a history and compendium of players, managers and broadcasters. In

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source: Louise Brooks SocietyThe Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, is based on a controversial and bestselling book first published in Germany in 1905. Though little known today, the book, Tagebuch Einer Verlorenen, was a literary sensation at the beginning of the 20th century. Spirited debate and even lawsuits followed its publication. By the end of the Twenties, it had sold more than

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The Victoria and Albert Museum’s current exhibition, Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, celebrates "the most exciting ballet company of the 20th Century" on the occasion of its 101st anniversary year of inception. Through Diaghilev’s direction, collaborations and interpretation of the "total theater," the Ballets Russes heralded Modernism and reinvigorated ballet by

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Velvet fragment, Safavid, Iran, 16th century (source: The Textile Museum).The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. is one of the foremost collections specializing in the textile arts of the world. In addition to their collection of rugs and textiles, the Textile Museum is also the home of the Arthur D. Jenkins Library of Textile Arts.In 1983 G. K. Hall & Company published Rug and Textile Arts: A

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During the month of October, Teen Services of the San Francisco Public Library is presenting a Guitar Hero Tournament for our teen patrons at several library branches.Guitar Hero is a video game where players use a guitar-shaped controller to simulate the various solo, rhythm and bass guitar parts of rock songs. Players try to accurately finger and strum the controller in time with the audio and

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Caving is a sport that does not call to mind the type of heroics that one associates with mountain climbing, but thanks to the new book Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth, armchair adventurers can get a taste of the extreme elements of the sport.Cavers exploring the largest and deepest caves in the world deal with the same dangers that mountain climbers do: the

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The library pays tribute this month to architecture and to the men and women whose creativity shapes our cities and our environment.Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain (photographed by Peter Knaup)The San Francisco Public Library with the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco Chapter will present a series of documentary films on each Wednesday in September at 6:00 PM in the

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The San Francisco Public Library's Green Stacks is a program to promote greener living in our community. What could be greener than going off the grid, sitting on your front porch, picking up a banjo and playing bluegrass music?The Library has a number of songbooks of contemporary banjo music, as well as instructional material for learning the instrument. Starting Bluegrass Banjo by Robin

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Celebrate the relationship between architecture and celluloid through this five-part series of documentary films, which spotlight the built environment, the architectural profession and the ever-mythical architect’s ego.The films will be presented on every Wednesday in September at 6:00 pm in the San Francisco Main Library’s Koret Auditorium. Each program is free, but registration is required.

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Fisherman's Wharf Boathouse by Dong Kingman (from California Art Research, volume 20, part 2).Archive.org has recently finished scanning our 20 volume set of California Art Research originally published by the Works Project Administration in 1937.Here is a list of each volume with a link to the online version.Volume 1 - Charles Christian Nahl and the Nahl familyVolume 2 - William Keith, Thomas

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Valkyrien (1869) by Peter Nicolai Arbo (source: Wikimedia Commons)The Audiovisual and Bernard Osher Art, Music & Recreation Centers of the San Francisco Public Library in association with San Francisco Opera Guild present their annual program of large screen videos. These programs feature selected clips of previously film productions of operas from the upcoming San Francisco Opera season.

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One facet of our department's subjects of Art, Music and Recreation is that they are all intertwined with the world of celebrity. Hollywood stars, Broadway actors, rock musicians, rappers, television hosts, visual artists, photographers and athletes can all achieve notorietyin the fields.The current edition of the Celebrity Black Book has contact information for more than 55,000 public figures

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Opening Night 1978 (source: The Club Foot Facebook group)After new wave punk first hit North Beach in 1976 and before 80's hardcore took over The Vats, San Francisco's heaviest neighborhoods saw a brilliant flurry of Do-It-Yourself artist-run venues. Target Video, Tool & Die, Survival Research Labs in the Mission. Club Generic in the Tenderloin. CLUB FOOT in Dogpatch. To name just a few. This

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25 years ago Liang Mingyue wrote an overview of the several thousand year old music traditions of China entitled Music of the Billion: An Introduction to Chinese Musical Culture. The author focused his attention almost entirely upon the folk and traditional musics of China that remained uninfluenced by contact with the West. However, even in 1985 he had to acknowledge that "hybridized pop music

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San Francisco is a very active chamber music city with many professional, amateur and student ensembles. The San Francisco Public Library has a very large collection of chamber music parts written for every kind of ensemble. We strive to have the standard, classic chamber music literature and to find out new works for our City's musicians. In our most recent batch of new scores we received a

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Ten Thousand Years of Pottery is an excellent source for obtaining an overview of the innovations of pottery over the millennia. The author, Emmanuel Cooper, gives context to the achievements in ceramics by underlining the needs of each culture, setting these achievements within a historical context. The chapters advance both chronologically and geographically. In the case of the New World, the

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Memory Jacket designed by Linda Watson, Artist, Second hand Levi jacket with embellishments - on display in the Art, Music and Recreation Center, 4th floor, Main Library"Going Green" is the hot new trend in the fashion world. The appearance on the runway of haute couture made from organic cotton, hemp and bamboo indicate that more designers are leaning toward an eco-conscious clothing industry.

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Opening Night (photo: Ellen Curley)The world is changing all around us! To continue to thrive as individuals, we must look ahead, understand the trends and forces that will shape our lives in the future and move swiftly to prepare for what's to come.One can only guess at the driving forces behind the cross-country odyssey from Albany, New York to San Francisco that birthed the Club Foot. When

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Grab your lunch and come learn about Oxford Music Online, a database which offers more than 8,000 articles on composers, performers, conductors, individual works, instruments and notation, forms and genres, as well as the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and Grove Dictionary of Opera.Oxford Music Online is one of our many subscription databases available to San Francisco Public Library

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By now the world is well aware of the May 20, 2010 art heist in which five paintings (by Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Leger and Braque) valued at over 100€ million were stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris. The method of the heist appears to have been quick and unsophisticated. In less than 15 minutes a thief, clad in black, entered the museum by breaking windows, smashing a padlock,

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"No architect made a richer mark on San Francisco than Timothy Pflueger..." That's the opening of an appreciation of the native San Francisco architect written by Jesse Hamlin for the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook of Sunday, February 29, 2004. While his architecture and design are still an integral part of our City, Pflueger's name and career are not well enough known to most of us.Art Deco

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"Is That All There Is?" - words and music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (Trio Music Co., Inc., 1969) [from the Dorothy Starr Collection].An Associated Press news story published today reminds us of the splendidness that is Peggy Lee. The article, "Peggy Lee takes another turn on the pop charts" by Michael Cidoni, reports that eight years after passing away and in time for her 90th birthday

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-29336421085466463762010-05-11T12:26:00.000-07:002010-05-11T12:44:32.904-07:00

The coming of spring means the return of baseball. It also heralds the arrival of a new batch of baseball books. Here is a selection of new titles at the San Francisco Public Library for lovers of America's pastime.One tradition of baseball fandom and its literature is to identify the superlatives of the game. Top of the Order: 25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Player of All Time is an

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-31865885125556645142010-04-29T12:04:00.000-07:002010-04-29T12:20:11.943-07:00

On Saturday, May 1 from 2pm-4pm, rock music historian and author Richie Unterberger will show rare film clips by San Francisco Bay Area folk-rock and psychedelic rock performers from the mid-1960s through the early 1970s, in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Public Library. Included will be footage by Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, Santana, Moby

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-1334983743325173282010-04-26T15:35:00.000-07:002010-04-26T15:38:49.924-07:00

Not unlike Billy Elliot, the Welch-born Colin Russell-Jones, the son of a railroad shunter, wanted to study dance in his hometown of Stafford, but not one of the town’s dance schools would take boys. By the age of 11, his family had moved to London where he saw a performance by the International Ballet and fell in love with the art. At 17, he walked three miles each way, three days in a row, to

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-21107115024644002882010-04-21T14:41:00.000-07:002010-04-26T15:34:58.884-07:00

Over the past few decades the relationship between music and technology has been fundamentally transformed the relationship between listeners and their music. It has also radically changed the nature of the music industry.Perhaps the first book to look at early impact of the internet and digital technology on music was Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3, and the New Pioneers of Music by John Alderman,

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-16146494233369009382010-04-13T11:49:00.000-07:002010-04-18T13:21:04.535-07:00

"Zuñi Spinning," from My Adventures in Zuni (all black and white images in this entry are taken from our department's Print and Picture File)Handspinning is an ancient textile craft dating back thousands of years. Spinning is essentially the act of twisting together a number of fibers into a strong continuous thread. The majority of fibers used to spin are either plant based or from animals.

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-38986267782283633152010-04-06T16:41:00.000-07:002010-04-06T18:16:25.942-07:00

The principals of the San Francisco Unified School District recently visited the San Francisco Public Library to learn about supplemental resources for classroom learning for grades kindergarten through high school.We presented the following titles to the principals as ‘hooks’ for social studies and history classes based on the premise that students can be engaged by how others live –- from the

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The San Francisco Public Library subscribes to a number of streaming audio databases found at our eMusic page. One package we offer to our Library card holders is American Song--"a history database that allows people to hear and feel the music from America's past." American Song offers a number of albums released by Archeophone, a label specializing in recordings from the "acoustic era" (pre-

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-1986752901146984252010-03-10T11:20:00.000-08:002010-03-10T12:24:44.729-08:00

edit of "The Cincinnati Museum of Art - An Ambitious Student" (Harpers Weekly 12/20/1890) from the "Painters" folder of the Art, Music & Recreation Center Picture FileIn its most basic form, painting may be defined as the use of pigments (pure colors) in powder form which are suspended in a medium and then applied to some sort of support. The earliest pigments date back to around 350,000 BCE and

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The Oxford History of Western Music by UC Berkeley professor Richard Taruskin was original published in six volumes in 2005. This original hardcover edition was priced at $750 creating a dilemma for the library whether to buy this as a reference work only, or not to buy it all. Although this is a book that requires sustained attention and dedication, we decided that it was too important not to

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On the evening of Thursday, February 25, 2010, the Art, Music & Recreation Center will present the Cypress String Quartet in the Koret Auditorium for the program The Evolution of Bel Canto: A Cycle of Inspiration.This event is part of the annual Call & Response program where the Cypress String Quartet commissions new works that “explore the mutually inspirational relationship between literature

San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03319898670900622441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661251820884275313.post-24725793877608588312010-02-18T09:11:00.000-08:002010-02-18T14:40:25.793-08:00

image source: Alexander McQueen websiteThe provocative London fashion designer Alexander McQueen died on February 11, 2010. He was born in 1969 into a large working class family. At 16 he saw a television documentary on the craft of tailoring and the dearth of apprentices taking up the trade. This prompted him to drop out of school to work at the clothier Anderson & Sheppard. His education in

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The front cover of San Francisco Theatre Research, vol. 1, Introduction to the SeriesOne of our most valued reference resources is now available online. Archive.org with the San Francisco History Center have collaborated to scan the most of the volumes of the San Francisco Theatre Research series created by the Works Progress Administration between 1938 and 1942.Here is a listing of the volumes

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The Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society is a unique, wide-ranging two volume reference to all aspects of sports, recreation, play and leisure.In the area of games it includes categories like Adult Games (billiards, bowling, charades, crosswords, etc.), Children's Games (blindman's bluff, car and travel games, clapping games, etc.), Board Games (Backgammon, Battleships, Bingo, etc.), Card Game

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January 31 marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of Dorothy Starr, the beloved sheet music store proprietor. Dorothy Starr's store, The Music Stand at 381A Hayes Street, was like a secret lair filled with music scores and sheet music of all times and from all places. San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Stack called her "the first lady of sheet music." This photograph that accompanied a

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The San Francisco Public Library has many simplified arrangements of piano music for the beginner. These are suitable both for the piano student and for those who want to play for enjoyment.The majority of these collections are shelved in the musical score section with piano instruction books (Dewey Decimal call number 786.3). Some are also shelved with children's piano music section (Dewey

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CineAction! #75 (2008)Film magazines have existed from the very early stages of cinema itself. Wherever cinema has announced its presence, magazines, in one form or another, have followed.Film magazines can lie at the two extremes of academic and journals at one end of the spectrum to popular, fan-oriented magazines and tabloids at the other. A current search of the subject Motion

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