A Float


We at TTYDK can only guess where the Jeremiad is Jeremiading from, or at, now.

A Reverse Canoe Commute; or, Pointed Portage


This piece in the Times describes the conceptual reverse commute of two artists, on their way (back) to the Museum of Natural History.
Four days ago Mr. Starling and a fellow artist, Tyler Rowland — accompanied in a second (regular, nonart) canoe by another artist, Kasper Akhoj , and Dante Birch , a production manager at Mass MoCA — began enacting a kind of reverse expedition, taking not rare animal trophies but a load of complex cultural baggage and post-colonial inquiry back to the history museum. In May Mr. Starling put his canoe into the Hoosic River, whose south and north branches run through the Mass MoCa complex, and paddled and drifted to the Hoosic’s junction with the Hudson. Then, last Thursday, he picked up the journey in Albany, relying on tides, elbow grease and the kindness of strangers as he and the three other men made their way to Manhattan. (“Last night we had sushi, in Beacon,” Mr. Starling said when asked how they had been sustaining themselves along the way. “It’s been quite civilized, actually.”)
We would like to canoe the Hoosic someday. (Via D. Diehl.)

Island Camping


Just in case there was any question or any doubt or any anything, really, let it be known that we are completely down with, for instance, this:


via popupcity.net and swiss-miss.com

Above San Francisco

If you are one of those people who find themselves wondering what San Francisco looked like from a balloon in, say, 1901, or 1902, shortly after the Great Fire, then this is the Library of Congress site for you, or 4 U. The balloon was owned and (perhaps) operated by Professor T. S. Baldwin, who, on a previous balloon trip, freaked out his eight passengers, when the balloon broke from its moorings and traveled 50 miles south to Pescadero, though nearly floated west, out to sea. Another of the "aeronauuts" is listed as Edward Dudley. The long shadows suggest, according to the Library of Congress, that the trip was one of the last of the day. Up to twenty people could get in the balloon at a time, each person flying for a dollar.

Raging



Here's a debate that may or may not still be raging over at The Year in Pictures, a most excellent photo blog: Ali v. Jacko. (The photo of Ali is by Danny Lyons, who is the Muhammed Ali of photos of the about-to-be-destroyed South Street Seaport, seen here.)

m.p.f.i.a.b.o.a.p.

Man playing flute in a bubble on a pond on Twitpic
"Man playing flute in a bubble on a pond," a new photograph by Sam Amidon.

Choices?


There is in fact a Thoreau twitter, no relation and quite for months, but there is also a Roland Headley twitter, begging the question: what are you to do?
via Doonesbury.com

Feelies

It always amazes us that so few people know that Thoreau was a huge fan of the Feelies, in the '80s, when Hoboken was the Concord, Mass. of New Jersey.
via andrewromano.tumblr.com

Mercurial Skies


Summer in the city means the weather is always changing, as we here at TTYDK can attest. Why, just the other day we entered the subway in Brooklyn, and the weather was sunny and nice, with just a few clouds, but by the time we got to Manhattan, we could see that it had begun raining bagels. Lox of luck trying to find the right umbrella!

Long Nights


Via You Look Marvelous

When You Are Too Tired to Blog You Just Show Off a Postcard Which Contains a Photo Containing the Wild Where It's Not Necessarily Expected!


This just in over the Thoreau You Don't Know's e-transom:

hello friends!
greetings from copenhagen. today, at 7 AM, i saw two people asleep in a tent, which they had set up literally on the platform of the central train station! wow. this is a great idea. i am going to go camping in the train stations of the world. it looked like this: http://bit.ly/myKfQ
if you know people in copenhagen, or malmo sweden, i'm playing in copenhagen tomorrow Tuesday at 9 PM at Huset, and wednesday in Malmo somewhere i forget at 7 PM.

NEWS

1. I made two videos of a new song. you can see them here. Video A is necessary for comprehending the full implications of
Video B, but Video B is way more amazing.

Video A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm7Qc57EQjY

Video B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCHk8BYllOQ

2. There is an amazing honkytonk band called the Sweetback Sisters. This band includes one Stefan Amidon on drums and some singing. They have a KILLER new record out. You must buy it. Order a hard copy:
http://www.thesweetbacksisters.com/
Or download it from iTunes:
http://bit.ly/d9gdl


okay bye!
sam
vimeo.com/samamidon


We wish we got more postcards featuring people camping in train stations. As it is, we will make do with this one.

What If Al Stieglitz Had a Cell Phone


For All


On the Fourth of July, you have to spend a little time speculating, when it comes to deciding exactly how cool Jefferson and Adams and all those guys were, but you don't have to wonder about how cool these two women are. They are completely cool, obviously.