Anita Steckel, 82, Pioneering Feminist Erotic Artist

“Her ventures in erotica, she said, were in part intended to establish the right of women to make art from the male figure – just as men had for millenniums created art from the nude female figure.” Her most famous quote: “If the erect penis is not wholesome enough to go into museums, it should not be considered wholesome enough to go into women.”

Art Critic Hilton Kramer, 84

“Admired for his intellectual range and feared for his imperious judgments, Mr. Kramer emerged as a critic in the early 1950s and joined The Times in 1965, a time when the tenets of high modernism were being questioned and increasingly attacked. He was a passionate defender of high art against the claims of popular culture and saw himself not simply as a critic offering informed opinion on this or that artist, but also as a warrior upholding the values that made civilized life worthwhile.”

Big Boost In Scottish Performing Arts Attendance in 2011 (But…)

“Scotland’s five national performing companies achieved a near 20% increase in audience figures in the financial year 2010/11, according to figures published by the Scottish government. However, while financial and audience indicators are healthy for the year-on-year statistics, audience figures have not recovered to 2008/9 levels and show a decline since the companies entered a direct funding relationship with the government in 2007.”

Times Square As Mediascape

The signs on Times Square grow larger and climb higher than ever as digital technology has transformed both the displays and the way people use this elongated bowtie intersection.
The area once was known for billboard artifice. There are still a few holdouts, such as a fabric banner promoting the Broadway show “Mary Poppins” that rises 26 stories.
Now much of the square is a “mediascape.”

LA’s Musical Brooklyn Affinity

“There is also a more bracing Brooklyn, and one to which L.A. feels both close to and competitive with. We on the West Coast jealously watch many of our promising composers flock there. We also do our best to be Brooklyn on the Pacific. We’ve got the Dodgers and good Brooklyn bagels. And we play Brooklyn music, as wild Up and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra proved over the weekend.”