“Daniel Lofredo Rota is an Ecuadorian DJ and musician on a quest to unravel a decades-old family mystery. His eccentric grandfather has left a clue: a grimy, battered suitcase filled with old tapes. Inside are songs, secret loves, and the resurrection of a long-lost record label.” (podcast)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Chicago Backs Down, Pulls Kerry James Marshall Painting Out Of Auction
“In the face of withering criticism from public art advocates and the artist himself, … Mayor Rahm Emanuel has decided to pull the Marshall canvas Knowledge and Wonder from a Nov. 15 auction at Christie’s in New York City, where the work, commissioned for the Legler Branch of the Chicago Public Library for $10,000 in 1995, was expected to sell for more than $10 million.”
Chronicle of wasted time
There was much more to Art Carney than his much-loved impersonation of Ed Norton, the bumbling sewer worker on The Honeymooners, and the reason why you probably aren’t aware of that fact that is one of the saddest stories I know.
This Festival Is Building A Theatre Audience From Scratch In Burkina Faso
“Founded in 2002, Les Récréâtrales takes place in a residential area of Ouagadougou. Plays are developed, rehearsed, and performed in family courtyards, bringing theatre to the people. Whereas non-festival performances at downtown cultural centers … attract audiences composed of Europeans, other artists, and the artists’ family members and friends, the festival’s audiences are locals of all ages who would not usually have access to or interest in theatre.” Writer and translator Heather Jeanne Denyer talks with the festival’s artistic director, playwright Aristide Tarnagda.
Theatres In Yorkshire Launch Program To Diversify Boards Of Directors
“The programme will see 10 members of [Artistic Directors of the Future] from a range of culturally diverse backgrounds given access to the boardrooms of five Yorkshire theatres, including Sheffield Theatres, Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre and York Theatre Royal, over the course of four months. It aims to develop relationships between aspiring trustees from culturally diverse backgrounds and existing board members, and to give the participants insight into the way theatre boards operate.”
David Garrick, The Man Who Made Acting A Respectable Profession
He was skilled at charming his way into the circles of the great and good, and he built himself a riverside mansion for entertaining them. He was also admired for the high standards he expected of himself, his colleagues, and the operations of his theater. As Samuel Johnson once said of him, “Garrick has made a player a higher man. He lives rather as a prince than an actor.”
The ‘Twilight’ Movies As Feminist Milestone (Yes, The Teen Vampire Flicks)
Sure, feminists at the time (and since) have had problems with that series, and they aren’t wrong. Says director Catherine Hardwicke, “Twilight changed the perception, the idea that a movie about a girl wouldn’t be popular, wouldn’t make a lot of money. It blew it out of the water. A novel written by a woman, a movie directed by a female. We broke records. People can use that for ammo.”
Barnes And Noble Countersues Fired CEO Who Sued Company For Breach And Defamation
“In a legal filing, Barnes & Noble hit back at Demos Parneros, claiming the recently fired CEO actively sabotaged a potential sale of the company earlier this year, bullied fellow executives, and sexually harassed multiple women at the company. And raising the legal stakes, lawyers for B&N have filed a counterclaim [to Parneros’s lawsuit], asking the court to order Parneros to pay damages for his alleged breach of fiduciary duties, and seeking to potentially claw back more than $1 million paid to Parneros ‘during the period of his disloyal conduct.'”
New Prosthetic Leg Designed Specifically For Ballet Dancing — On Pointe, No Less
“‘I wanted to explore what would happen if you could allow a person to perform on pointe 100 per cent of the time,’ said [Jae-Hyun] An, who developed [the] Marie-T over the course of four months. ‘How would ballet change? I wanted to create a tool for someone to take and let their imagination define the capabilities of the product.'”
Keep Apu! One Indian-American Argues In Favor Of The Simpsons’ Controversial Character
“Apu has gotten a lot of flak lately for being racist depiction of Indian-Americans,” writes Bhaskar Sunkara (the founding editor of Jacobin, if you’re looking for leftist cred). “It would seem that the solution is to have every media depiction of an Indian guy in America be Kal Penn playing a doctor. But a lot of us pump gas too. A lot of us say things like ‘Thank you come again,’ because good service counts when you’re living on the razor edge of a society that doesn’t care about struggling people – wherever they’re originally from.”