Classical Revolution, a collective of musicians who perform high-quality chamber music in non-traditional settings, is starting a new Wednesday night series at Monroe in North Beach. It’s called “Battle of the Centuries”, featuring music from the 18th – 21st centuries each hour, with accompanying drink specials for each set. I’ll be DJing for the last hour. Free Admission. Reserve seats here ($8-20 suggested donation) Wednesday June 29th 8pm-midnight Monroe SF 473 Broadway @ Kearny San Francisco, CA Drink specials all night: $2 / $5 cocktails 8:00 Haydn / Mozart String Quartets (selections) 9:00 Beethoven Symphony #4 10:00 Bowie / rock covers 11:00 DJ set by Liz Revision Musicians include: Adam Scow | Tingting Gu | Ryan Cockman | Alexander J Volonts | James Jaffe | Ed Baskerville | Nicole Boguslaw | Lewis Patzner … Read More

History of industrial design lectures by Matthew Bird at RISD
Here are some selected Industrial Design lectures by Matthew Bird from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has a self-deprecating sense of humor, which you can really see in “Bauhaus to Broadway” (below). The first one, above, is “Josiah Wedgwood for Industrial Designers”: Josiah Wedgwood was a tireless innovator who introduced and employed many important components of what designers still do. Or SHOULD do. This is an overview of Josiah Wedgwood’s work, with a focus on how it shows evidence of early Industrial Design thinking and process. And the first Chia Pet!

BBC Documentary: “To Engineer is Human” (1987)
This 80s-retro documentary is hosted by a socially awkward engineer who fumbles his cuecard-reading way through uncomfortable, scripted segues with props that illustrate the point being made. It’s a decent documentary on engineering, nonetheless.

“Clean Lines, Open Spaces: A View Of Mid-Century Modern Architecture”
Here is a documentary on Mid-Century Modern architecture, using Arkansas buildings as examples.

“Pump Up the Volume” Documentary on how Chicago House Changed the World
Yes, it’s by the BBC and they really go on about UK Garage at the end, but there are some real gems of insights and great interviews here. Set aside a few hours, even if you think you know the history of Chicago House. This one is really well done. If you prefer books, check out “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: A History of the Disc Jockey”. Buy four and give them away to your friends that love electronic music but need schooling on where it came from.

The Joy of Disco documentary
There’s also “Queens of Disco” that focuses on the divas of disco… search around.

Bassline Bassline – TB-303 Documentary
Here’s a cool mini-documentary on the Roland TB-303, by Nate Harrison, the same guy who did the Amen Break documentary. via Michael O’Shea

The story of Nikola Tesla, told drunk and sober
Drunk History: Nikola Tesla Drunk History vol. 6 w/ John C. Reilly & Crispin Glover from John C Reilly Nikola Tesla: Genius who Lit the World