New CA-Modern Is in the Mail - Page 2

And the parents of the 'baby boom' also needed culture, which the new CA-Modern covers in its 'That's Entertainment' feature by way of seven profiles of the best in recent mid-century modern-themed books, music compilations, and DVDs.

Three of the reviews are books about a specific architect's work in California, with one each about Frank Lloyd Wright, William Krisel, and Walter White. All are admiring profiles with interesting photographs, although we wish the White book was a tad longer at only 112 pages. Another book review examines Airline Visual Identity 1945-1975 through author M.C. Huhne's collection of Jet Age airline posters, logo designs, and magazine advertisements.

Two different CD collections featuring mid-century jazz are reviewed, including the ten-disc set West Coast Jazz, which provides 20 tasty albums in full by 20 different artists. The other CD release reviewed is three discs of jazz, spoken word, and even a little early Bob Dylan that was compiled to support a museum exhibit in Paris about the Beat Generation.

The Sixties: The Decade that Changed the World was a ten-part series executive produced for CNN by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. As summarized in our review, the two-disc set "starts with the coming of age of TV and ends with 'Sex, Drugs and Rock N'Roll,' delving into the Cold War, Vietnam, the Beatles and the British Invasion, and Civil Rights."

One slice of culture that is contemporary but speaks to the mid-20th century is the art of Stephen Albair. A teacher of art history and design at Las Positas College in Livermore, the San Francisco-based photographer spends spare time collecting vintage figurines and other objects that he arranges into miniature tableaus to photograph. Our profile of Albair, 'Big Dreams in a Tiny World,' cites the shared observation that his work reflects what he admits was a scattered childhood.

"At first you look at it and you think, 'It's very beautiful,'" notes Ann Jastrab, gallery director of RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco. She adds, however, "It's not a perfect house. There's something wrong here."

To delve more into the vaguely disturbing images of Stephen Albair, the memorable culture of the '50s and '60s, and Joe Eichler's questionable choice of paneling, check out the print edition of the new fall 2016 issue of CA-Modern magazine—now in the mail to subscribers everywhere. Also, here's the flip-book edition of the new issue in its entirety.