“When Studs was 91½, he took time to fly to New York City to cut the ribbon on our first StoryCorps Booth in Grand Central Terminal. At the opening, Studs proclaimed, ‘We know who the architect of Grand Central was, but who laid these floors? Who built these walls? These are the voices you must celebrate through StoryCorps!'”
Tag: 05.13.12
Writers Still Lead Revolutions (Or At Least Spirited Marches) In Russia
“When the 12 writers left Pushkin Square at lunchtime, they were trailed by a crowd that swelled to an estimated 10,000 people, stopping traffic and filling boulevards for 1.2 miles. Many wore the white ribbons that are a symbol of opposition to Mr. Putin’s government. The police did not interfere, although the organizers had not received a permit to march.”
A Dance To The Music Of Silence (And We Don’t Mean John Cage)
Choreographer Amy O’Neal: “Is music a crutch for me? Why do I have to have it? Why can’t I just be up there alone? There’s an inherent tension and beauty in silence.”
Bringing Cinema To Broadway With A New Movies-To-Musicals Fund
“Theater and movie industry execs Jed Bernstein, Bob Israel and Rich Battista have teamed to launch the Broadway and Vine Fund, a new fund for optioning movie titles for musical theater adaptations. First property to be optioned is 1984 Fox pic The Flamingo Kid.“
Audra McDonald Returns To The Stage – And Garners More Acclaim
“Five years ago she stunned admirers of her luminous soprano by decamping to Los Angeles and the (nonsinging) role of the fertility specialist Naomi Bennett on the ABC series Private Practice. Now she has come back to New York theater, in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and her performance as the wanton, drug-addicted Bess has earned her superlative reviews and a Tony Award nomination, her seventh in 18 years.”
What Do You Do With All Of That Art You’ve Collected? Build A Private Museum, Of Course
“Over the past two years Wang Wei and her husband Liu Yiqian dropped a reported $317 million on their hobby. Now they need somewhere to display the collection they’ve amassed. The solution: a private art museum that Wang hopes will impart some class to China’s flashy nouveau riche.”
Hanging In The Air: Performance Art, Or Just A Good Night’s Sleep?
“I climbed gingerly up a ladder and stepped into a red structure hanging like a balloon from a tree, deep in the woods of Holt Hall in Norfolk. The balloon began to expand as if by magic, its sides unfurling like petals; I lay down and the sky was visible through a porthole above me. There was a strange, soothing singing; a hand and face appeared at the porthole, and a smiling woman dressed in a kimono descended, set out four cups and saucers, and offered me tea.”
Is Modern Architecture A Disaster For Japan? (And How Can Architects Fix That?)
Glass, steel and concrete – building materials born out of other disasters – didn’t serve Japan well during the earthquake and tsunami. Architect Kengo Kuma has some other ideas about how to build for a country plagued by natural disasters.
What The F*&%, Hollywood? Back Off The F-Bombs
“Despite what anyone claims about the modern acceptance of and appetite for language of the roughest, rawest, most graphic sort, the truth is that a huge contingent of the paying crowd objects to it still.”
John Cheever At 100: The Original Don Draper (Except Not As Straight)
“The master of the American short story was the original purveyor of midcentury mystique, especially its darker facets. The endless drinking, ever-present cigarettes, infidelities, secrets of suburban life and anxiety regarding America’s place in the postwar world — they’re all in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Stories of John Cheever.“