“The 6-foot-6 Mr. Holder gained early renown as a dancer, leading a folk-dance troupe in his native Trinidad before moving to New York in the 1950s. He soon became a fixture in the city’s theatrical and artistic worlds, known for his rich, Caribbean-accented voice and the almost limitless range of his cultural interests.” He became a genuine celebrity thanks to a series of commercials for 7Up, “the Uncola”.
Tag: 10.06.14
Twyla Tharp Named Artist-In-Residence At New York’s Joyce Theater
“In addition to a free rehearsal studio, administrative space, office services and an annual salary with benefits, the residency will allow Ms. Tharp a first in her 50-year choreography career: her own school.”
Met Museum Rescues Ancient Egyptian Collection From Auctioneer’s Bench
“The Metropolitan Museum of Art played the role of deus ex machina late last week, agreeing to purchase a trove of Egyptian antiquities that were about to go on the block at Bonhams in London, consigned by a St. Louis archaeological society. Archaeologists and historians alike had assailed the auction, fearing that the nearly 4,000-year-old artifacts would disappear into the hands of private collectors.”
Robert Pinsky’s Poetry MOOC Gets 12,000 Students
The former U.S. Poet Laureate’s eight-week massive open online course, “The Art of Poetry”, began last week. It’s free, but not easy: the syllabus says the work will be “demanding, and based on a certain kind of intense, exigent reading, requiring prolonged in fact, repeated attention to specific poems.”
Lots Of Cities Have Historic And Cultural Districts, But Who Else Has A Literary District?
Boston hopes that its newly-designated literary mecca – which features everything from the homes of Thoreau, the Jameses, and Plath to the hotel where Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh once worked to menu items like “Mel-Ville Chowder” and the “Poe-Boy Sandwich” (really?) – will “promote business and job growth and enhance property values in [its] own eclectic, well-educated way.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.06.14
Metropolitan Museum Rescues Egyptian Antiquities
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts
Choreographers Get Their Feet Wet
AJBlog: Dancebeat
Unleash the lulz
AJBlog: Performance Monkey
Richard Jones’ gold mine for ENO
AJBlog: Plain English
So you want to get reviewed
AJBlog: About Last Night
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Protests Disrupt St. Louis Symphony Concert
“The orchestra and chorus were preparing to perform Johannes Brahms’ Requiem just after intermission when two audience members in the middle aisle on the main floor began singing an old civil rights tune, “Which Side are You on?” They soon were joined, in harmony, by other protesters, who stood at seats in various locations on the main floor and in the balcony.”
Russia’s Latest Refusenik Writer/Heroine (It’s Just Like Old Times)
“In recent years, as Russia has grown politically repressive and culturally conservative, [Lyudmila] Ulitskaya’s fiction, which addresses both religion and politics, has moved in for a confrontation. Increasingly, Ulitskaya has also become a public intellectual. … She has amassed many of Europe’s most prestigious literary prizes, even as she has come under attack at home.”
The New Yorker Discovers Barroom Shakespeare
Rebecca Mead visits the Three Day Hangover theatre company, founded last year, which performs “textually divergent interpretations” of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet” in crowded New York bars.