Technology and the Arts – Episode 58 (11.30.2012) features lightly edited audio from a live Google+ Hangouts On AIr that Brian Kelley and John LeMasney conducted October 22nd, 2012. In this installment, we discuss the Museum of Modern Art’s YouTube video series on abstract expressionism and the documentary “Searching for Sugar Man” about obscure 1970s folk-rocker Rodriguez, who was a manual laborer in Detroit, Michigan, while unknowingly a music superstar in South Africa for nearly 40 years…and a whole lot more. File size: 12.8 MB. Time: 52 min., 00 sec. Hosts: Brian Kelley and John LeMasney.

• Subscribe to podcast via RSS feed
  
• Subscribe to podcast via iTunes

Topics discussed:

• John talked about the iOS vs. Android Smartphone Smackdown he is doing with Khürt Williams on Tuesday, Oct. 23, at the Princeton (N.J.) Public Library…spoiler alert: John will be representing Android.
• John shared the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) YouTube channel and, in particular, its series of videos on abstract expressionism (below is the video on Ad Reinhardt’s painting techniques we showed during the episode).
• Brian talked about two online events he experienced this past weekend—the “Banding Together” benefit webathon to fight spondylitis on BlowUpRadio.com(featuring March 2007 Technology and the Arts guest Christian Beach and The Mustache Rangers‘ 250th live-streamed podcast episode.
• Brian shared the amazing story of Rodriguez, a Detroit folk-rocker who put out two albums in the early 1970s that went nowhere until a small resurgence in Australia and New Zealand in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Even with that, though, Rodriguez spent most of his life living in or near poverty in Detroit, doing demolition, construction and other odd jobs. Meanwhile, Rodriguez had achieved superstar status—unbeknownst to him—through bootleg copies of his music in South Africa, with his music inspiring the anti-apartheid movement. A widely held belief that Rodriguez committed suicide on stage only heightened the mystery, which two fans decided to solve in 1998. After tracking down Rodriguez and finding out he was still alive, they arranged for a quick tour of South Africa and his career resurgence today. Check out the trailer for the acclaimed documentary “Searching for Sugar Man”—which tells this remarkable story—below.
• Finally, Brian describes his failure to see any decent meteors during this past weekend’s Orionids meteor shower…even though Mike Black in Belmar, N.J., managed to get some nice photos of them (see 5, 6 & 7).

Technology and the Arts 2.0 – Series 1, Ep. 9 (10.22.2012)