MUSEYON BOOKS Smart City Guides for Travel, History, Art and Film Lovers

  The relationship between the Van Goghs (Vincent and Theo) and Paul Gauguin was long and complicated. Theo purchased, sold, and commissioned the painter’s work while Vincent, then just a struggling artist and brother of a successful dealer, befriended and attempted to collaborate with the far more grounded and well-regarded Gauguin. It was a difficult relationship between the two, strained ... Read More »

  This week we”re going sing of the unsung heroes, the musician’s musicians, bands that get mentioned in every “influences” column on MySpace but still, somehow, manage to sell a measly number of records next to their more commercially accessible rivals. We’re talking hardcore rockers who couldn’t make it on to the radio, the wacky iconoclasts who were just to ... Read More »

  The countdown has begun to what is either the most romantic or most depressing holiday of all—Valentine’s Day. If you’re currently attached, well good on you—it can be tough out there. To help you enjoy this special day all that much more, we’re offering five songs perfect for a little one-on-one time with your someone special from all around ... Read More »

  As an article over at Arts21 notes, “The new Chris Ofili mid-career retrospective at Tate Britain feels like walking through a mixtape of semi-obscure black American music from the last 50 years, created by a middle-aged record shop owner with an encyclopedic knowledge of musical history and a body odor problem.” Actually, it’s not just the backward glance that ... Read More »

  Edvard Munch was not what one would call a happy soul. After all, this was the man who painted “The Scream”. By the age of five he had lost his mother to disease, his favorite sister followed her nine years later, his father was an overly pious depressive, and madness, poverty, and ill health haunted the family. After studying ... Read More »

Almost as much as his work, the myths and legends surrounding Vincent Van Gogh keep him alive and present. We all know the tales: He cut off his ear and mailed it to a prostitute, he fled Paris in mental anguish, and, finally, e shot himself in the chest, standing in a field, an unfinished painting propped on an easel ... Read More »

Yesterday we shared with you part one of our conversation with Andrew W.K., where we found out about the secretive business of being W.K. and the new freedom W.K. has found thanks to his brand new record label Skyscraper Music Maker.   Today, we’re back with part two, where we chat with Andrew about his red-hot New York City club ... Read More »

Forget Gospel music and Amy Grant. Christian music has a new face and it’s young, loud and sometimes guy-linered. To get the scoop on the scene we chatted with Chap Stique, the guitarist of Family Force 5, to find out what it means to be a Christian rocker today. What we found out involves a lot of ’80s references and ... Read More »