Both candidates exist on the progressive spectrum. Both candidates have problematic pasts and positive potential. Both appear to be arts-knowledgeable, but at February’s Mayoral Arts Forum, sponsored by Arts Alliance Illinois and the League of Chicago Theatres, they sat shoulder-to-shoulder with their fellow candidates in terms of their uncertainty around Chicago’s current arts policies. – Clyde Fitch Report
Tag: 03.16.19
British Opera Audiences Are Booing The Villains, Just Like At A Panto
“Audiences at the opera are increasingly booing the ‘baddies’, not for a perceived poor performance but because of their characters, in a change that has been attributed to the enthusiasm of new audiences. While lifelong opera-lovers have feared the trend may be disconcerting for singers, especially foreign stars who would find the world of pantomime alien, it has been emphatically welcomed by many.” – The Telegraph (UK)
Actor Richard Erdman, 93
“The mirthful character actor who stood out on the big screen in The Men, Cry Danger and Stalag 17 and then on the sitcom Community … excelled at playing soldiers, sailors, wisecracking sidekicks and pals.” – The Hollywood Reporter
The Mysterious (And Disgusting) Pooper Of Broadway
The stealthy stink bomber struck during tryouts for the “Magic Mike” musical at Pearl Studios at 500 Eighth Ave. on Feb. 26, and again on March 6 at the Ripley-Grier space down the block. “There was a lot of disbelief,” said actress Eunice Bae of the first incident, when she saw a show rep slip on something on the floor. – New York Post
This Presidential Candidate Liked An Author, So He Learned Norwegian In Order To Read The Untranslated Books
Go read the entire (short) story that the booksternet (Liternet?) is flipping out about. – Twitter
Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, The Author Of ‘Nate The Great,’ Has Died At 90
Sharmat was the author of more than 130 books, but the Nate the Great series – inspired by her love for detective stories and her dislike of boring children’s books – was her most well-known. “Once she started being published, [her son Andrew] said, there was no stopping her. ‘It was like she was launched into the stratosphere,’ he said. ‘She loved it.'” – The New York Times
Groundbreaking Experimental Lesbian Filmmaker Barbara Hammer Has Died At 79
Hammer – profiled in this New Yorker story just a few weeks ago – made 75 short and longer films over the course of her career, winning prizes and praise. Now, “Hammer’s legacy lives on in her films but also with the Barbara Hammer Lesbian Experimental Filmmaking Grant, which she formed with money she received when Yale acquired her papers a few years ago.” – The Advocate
At The London Book Fair, Publishers Salivate Over True Crime
Why is true crime so hot right now? Ask an agent: “I suspect the true-crime podcast thing is driving the current interest.” – The Guardian (UK)
Learning While You Sleep Isn’t Just A Fringe Idea
Nope. Studies are showing, more and more, that the people who listen to information while they sleep may actually be learning it pretty well. For instance, in a recent study, “68 German students were asked to learn some new Dutch words before 11 p.m. Half the students were allowed to go to sleep while the words were played back to them. The other half stayed awake while listening to the words.” Guess who learned the words? – The Wall Street Journal
A Stolen De Kooning Gets A Homecoming Party (And A Restoration Fundraiser)
Though Woman-Ochre will go to the Getty for about 18 months of restoration, and will be shown at the Getty before it returns to Arizona, the painting stolen in 1985, it gets one night of pre-restoration display at the museum where a man and a woman simply walked in, distracted a guard, cut it out of its frame, and then … disappeared. – The Guardian (UK) (Associated Press)