[Someone Else's] Art Post

[minoanmiss]

Mega-collector Larry Warsh peeled art off subway walls in the 1980s — now it’s going up for sale at Sotheby’s

That title has a stupid measure of the worth of this art, of course. A better title would be "Collector Larry Warsh peeled art off subway walls in the 1980s, thus preserving amazing works by Keith Haring and others for the future."

I am grateful he did.

Comments

[bikergeek]

I didn't know that those works had been preserved! I remember seeing Keith Haring's art around NYC in the '80s. That's awesome.

[amaebi]

Like a poet preserving the sound of a wren on a November morning, over the coffee cups.

I just think it’s neat.

[full_metal_ox]

I left this on honigfrosch’s morale post, but I think it’s cool as an example of guerilla art preservation—and, in this case, at least three of the four creators have lived to learn how their work has been appreciated.

The Most Mysterious Song On The Internet has been a haunting memetic legend since 2007, taped by a teenager named Darius from a German radio broadcast in 1984 and uploaded by his sister Lydia on various forums. Notable for its stern metallic baritone lead vocal with distinctive melismatic styling, half-intelligible lyrics open to interpretation, and urgent sense of youth, passion, and an epic journey, the song (known as “Like the Wind”, “Blind the Wind”, “Check It In, Check It Out”, and others depending on which line you extracted for the title) quickly became the stuff of endless speculation and urban legend.

Patient, diligent, and hyperfixated crowdsourced research has at last cracked the case: it’s “Subways of Your Mind”(1983), by German New Wave band FEX! Turns out that at least three of the band members (vocalist/lead guitarist Ture Rückwardt, keyboardist Michael Hädrich, and bassist Norbert Ziermann; drummer Hans Sievers has yet to be heard from) are still alive and had had no inkling of their role in an enduring Internet mystery; two days ago, Hädrich provided a cleaned-up version…along with the other two songs on the original EP, and Rückwardt, Ziermann, and Hädrich convened on November 7th for an acoustic reunion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7YDOKG3o3A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5TC6-BwVgM

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMysteriousSong/comments/1gjbrs6/tms_is_found_the_song_is_called_subways_of_your/

A timeline, valid through November 2021: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMysteriousSong/comments/p2l92j/uptodate_timeline_and_master_link_post/

It’s like being accosted by a scurvy band of pirates who present you with the heirloom ring you lost in a West German club restroom in 1984.

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[minoanmiss]

You and WD both posted about this on the same day, which was double the niftiness!

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[full_metal_ox]

It gets even better: Hans Sievers, who had withdrawn from music for some time, has come forward; he still owns his drum set and band tapes and memorabilia, and a full reunion looks imminent. That means that all four members of FEX are alive to learn of the significance their song has held for a worldwide listenership—some young enough to be their grandchildren.

And they now have an official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FEXband-official/videos