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DVD
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FURNACE 001DVD
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The Sandman's Garden examines the life and art of Lonnie Holley, a self-taught African-American artist and musician who was based in Birmingham, Alabama at the time this film was originally released (2005). The documentary follows Holley as he builds a sculptural environment out of discarded materials and found objects in the Birmingham Museum of Art's sculpture garden. His art is by turns profound, playful, and deeply moving. As the garden grows piece by piece, Holley is revealed as a man who has overcome a tortured past. Growing up poor and black in the 20th century American South, Holley worked to overcome prejudice and deprivation by using art to explore his life and ideas. The camera captures the artist's process and reflections as he gathers materials, creates pieces, plays music, interacts with others, and relives the joys and sorrows that forged his unique and genuine artwork. NTSC format, region free. Stereo sound, 64 minutes, Aspect ratio: 16:9.
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LP
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PT 4003LP
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Keeping a Record of It is the follow-up to Lonnie Holley's debut album Just Before Music (DTD 026CD). Guest performers include Cole Alexander from the Black Lips, Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, and visual artist Lillian Blades. Gatefold sleeve. "Lonnie Holley sings with an intense, emotional voice and unleashes lyrics without consistent meter or rhyme over gossamer keyboard lines that hang in the ether. His music is a blues nebula, splotched with riffy word jazz that shares in some rappers' collagist aesthetics as well as the runaway passion of a gospel preacher enlivened by the Spirit." --Aquarium Drunkard
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CD
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DTD 033CD
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Keeping a Record of It is the follow-up to Lonnie Holley's debut album, Just Before Music (DTD 026CD). It features recordings made in 2006, 2010, and 2011. Guest performers include Cole Alexander from the Black Lips, Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, and visual artist Lillian Blades.
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CD
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DTD 026CD
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Fans of Sun Ra, take notice -- there is a new American original on the scene who hails from Birmingham, Alabama. Lonnie Holley's music is unlike anything ever heard, and these recordings are a welcome addition to the continuum of music. This album marks the first time Dust-to-Digital has taken an artist into a recording studio. Lonnie Bradley Holley was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama, the seventh of twenty-seven children. From the age of 5, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was never afforded the pleasure of a real childhood. Since 1979, Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity, has manifested itself in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and sound. Holley's sculptures are constructed from found materials in the oldest tradition of African American sculpture. Objects, already imbued with cultural and artistic metaphor, are combined into narrative sculptures that commemorate places, people, and events. Holley did not start making and performing music in a studio nor does his creative process mirror that of the typical musician. His music and lyrics are improvised on the spot and morph and evolve with every event, concert, and recording. In Holley's original art environment, he would construct and deconstruct his visual works, repurposing their elements for new pieces. This often led to the transfer of individual narratives into the new work creating a cumulative composite image that has depth and purpose beyond its original singular meaning. The layers of sound in Holley's music, likewise, are the result of decades of evolving experimentation. Digipak with 20-page booklet featuring lyric transcriptions and artwork by Lonnie Holley.
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