The duo’s songs, which range from “Hound Dog” and “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” to “Love Potion No. 9” and “Yakety Yak (Don’t Talk Back)” to “Is That All There Is?” were some of the most enduring – and, sometimes, the funniest – songs of the rock ‘n’ roll era.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Chocolat: Hit Novel, Hit Movie, And Now Ballet
Eighteen-year-old choreographer Andrew McNicol has created a 35-minute dance based on Joanne Harris’s 1999 novel for Britain’s National Youth Ballet.
Russian Court Bans Mickey-Mouse-As-Jesus-Christ Painting
“A court in central Russia has ruled that a painting of the Sermon on the Mount that features Mickey Mouse instead of Jesus Christ is extremist, the regional prosecutor’s office said on Friday.”
How Pro Theater Is Like Pro Wrestling (According To Playwright Kristoffer Diaz)
“There’s an independent wrestling scene, but the WWE [World Wrestling Entertainment] is essentially a monopoly. … If you’re a playwright who doesn’t want to do people-on-a-couch plays, there are not a lot of avenues. You can go and do television, or you can stay and fight with organizations that aren’t really equipped to support work by people of color or experiment with form.”
From The Guy Who Gave Philly A Giant Clothespin, A Giant Paintbrush
Claes Oldenburg, the “man who brought Philadelphia the Clothespin sculpture in 1976 sat in the shade of the Convention Center Saturday as his latest work, a 12,000-pound uplifted paintbrush, came together across Broad Street.”
Deaccessioning-Art-To-Fund-Museum-Operations Issue Hits Dutch Museums
“Rotterdam’s Wereldmuseum plans to sell its African and American treasures to cover funding shortfalls made more likely by the economic crisis in Europe and a planned cut in state subsidies to the arts starting in 2013. It is one of several Dutch museums under pressure to raise money from the public purse.”
Department Heads Fired In Management Shakeup At LACMA
“The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has shaken up its non-curatorial management team, firing several veteran department heads in what director Michael Govan says is not a financial belt-tightening, but a bid to better adapt to technology-driven change while shifting some priorities.”
Staging Big Musicals In Tiny Theatres
“What’s really striking, when watching a downsized musical, is the transformative effect these compact venues have on the crowd-pleasing but often distant ensemble numbers. … What would West Side Story become if it was no longer the Jets versus the Sharks, but a small number of colourful characters playing Russian roulette with their lives?”
What’s The Status Of New York’s Ground Zero Arts Center?
“The city remains committed to the 1,000-seat theater project anchored by The Joyce Theater dance venue and says a new board is being formed to oversee its creation. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has allocated $155 million to the project, which is estimated to cost $400 million to $500 million. But construction is at least six years away, [due to] ongoing work at the proposed site.”
Robert Breer, Experimental Animation Pioneer, Dead At 84
“Early on, he saw the potential for breaking with the narrative sequences and anthropomorphic forms that defined the medium. … [V]iewers were bombarded with wiggling lines, letters, abstract shapes and live-action images that jumped and flashed, zoomed and receded, appeared and disappeared, inflicting what Mr. Breer once called ‘assault and battery on the retina’.”