“He was known as the British Andy Warhol, the P.T. Barnum of punk and Dick Clark from hell. … It’s not easy to be the most hated man in punk rock, but for years, McLaren somehow managed.”
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Robin Williams Jibe Leads To Australia-Alabama Flame War –
On David Letterman’s show this week, the uninhibited comedian, who had just finished work on a film Down Under, joked that Australians “are basically English rednecks.” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued an irate reply suggesting that Williams look closer to home – specifically, Alabama – for rednecks, thus prompting a testy riposte from that state’s governor.
Simon Bolivar ‘Youth’ Orchestra Has Grown Up
“Their blurb says the musicians are between 17 and 25 years old, but I would guess the average age of these brilliant Venezuelans is somewhere in the late 20s. … [M]any of the players, who have grown up with their conductor Dudamel, are now making their living as teachers in El Sistema.” The Simón Bolívar Orchestra is dropping the word “Youth” from its name, and the next generation has arrived: the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra.
Bernard Coutaz, 87, Founder Of Harmonia Mundi Label
An energetic and outspoken producer and businessman, Coutaz built Harmonia Mundi from a boutique classical label in the south of France to an international concern with operations in five countries and a stable of important (and loyal) artists, a major distributor of other labels, and a classical music retailer with stores throughout France.
Artist Screens Travel Doc Made For Audience Of Potted Plants
Jonathon Keats, the conceptual artist who built a temple for the worship of science and founded the First Bank of Anti-Matter, has made his second film aimed at the vegetal demographic. The first was pornography (close-ups of bees pollinating flowers); the new release enables plants “to travel vicariously by showing them a selection of foreign skies.”
Before El Greco Became El Greco
“The stunning 1983 discovery of the signature of Domenikos Theotokopoulos on an exquisite Byzantine icon dramatically enlarged our knowledge of the enigmatic painter far better known as El Greco.” An exhibition in New York considers El Greco’s artistic roots in the surprisingly multicultural milieu of late medieval Crete.
The World’s Most Stunning Quaker Meeting House
One wouldn’t expect to apply the word “stunning” to an architectural style so pointedly spare as that of the Quakers. But an 1832 meeting house known simply as The Temple, located about an hour north of Toronto, creates marvelous effects of light and sound with its three-tiered structure, dark green central columns and 70-degree staircase.
Ice Dancing World Champions In Hot Water Over Faux-Aboriginal Routine
Russian skaters Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin are being charged with tone-deafness, if not outright racism, over the original dance they’re bringing to the Vancouver Olympics. In a routine meant to pay tribute to Australian indigenous culture, they perform in brown face makeup and bodysuits with leaves and white markings that look more like frosting on gingerbread then Aboriginal body painting.
Rolando Villazón Says His Voice Is Back
“In a new video that was posted on his official website last month and has since been making the rounds on YouTube, [the tenor] declares that his [vocal cord] surgery was a success and even provides a brief vocal demonstration for his fans.” He says he will return to the opera stage next year.
Bari’s Opera House Reopens, 18 Years After Burning Down
The Teatro Petruzzelli, in the urban center of the heel of the Italian boot, originally opened in 1903. The building was firebombed in 1991; reconstruction was not begun until 2003. “The Italian press has speculated about mafia links to both the fire and the funds to restore the house,” which is “again in brilliant form.”