“Over a career that spanned seven decades Shay pointed his lens at Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Martin Luther King, John. F. Kennedy and Ernest Hemingway – to name a few – for Life, Time, Sports Illustrated and other publications. … He was maced outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968. And he flew to Memphis as soon as he heard the Rev. Martin Luther King had been killed. He photographed Hugh Hefner surrounded by Playboy bunnies and captured images of intimidating mobsters who, on at least one occasion, grabbed his camera and removed the film.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Toronto Symphony Finds Its Next CEO In Philadelphia
Matthew Loden, currently one of the two temporary co-presidents of the Philadelphia Orchestra (and before that, VP for institutional advancement), takes over in Toronto in July. He succeeds Gary Hanson, the former Cleveland Orchestra chief who stepped in after Jeff Melanson was forced to resign in 2016.
NEA Chairman Jane Chu To Step Down
“National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu said in a statement that she will resign June 4, after four years at the head of the federal arts agency. The Trump administration has twice targeted the NEA for elimination, but Chu made no reference to this turbulence in her statement, saying only that it has been an ‘honor and privilege’ to serve as the agency’s chairwoman.”
Jazz Saxophonist Charles Neville, Of The Neville Brothers, Dead At 79
“The group melded rhythm and blues, gospel, doo-wop, rock, blues, soul, jazz, funk and New Orleans’s own parade and Mardi Gras rhythms, in songs that mingled a party spirit with social consciousness. Charles Neville – who usually performed in a beret and a tie-dyed shirt, with an irrepressible smile – was the band’s jazz facet, reflecting his decades of experience before the Neville Brothers got started.”
Dancer Who Said Ballets Trockadero Discriminated Against Him For Being Too Feminine Joins English National Ballet
Chase Johnsey, a 14-year-member of the drag ballet troupe (and winner of best male dancer honors at last year’s UK National Dance Awards), quit the company
in January, saying publicly that he had been harassed for looking and acting too feminine. Now Tamara Rojo’s company has hired him at the rank of First Artist.
To Fight Money-Laundering, EU Tightens Rules On Art Sales
“The aim of the new rules, first proposed in 2016 in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, is to increase transparency around financial transactions and require banks and vendors to verify clients’ identities and to report any suspicious behaviour. The regulations, which come into force in 2019, will cover all businesses selling works of art with transactions of €10,000 or more, irrespective of the payment method.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 04.30.18
On artistic leadership and aesthetic values in a changed cultural context: A new keynote address
Last week I had the privilege, pleasure, and honor to give the keynote address at the Canadian Arts Summit – an annual gathering of the board chairs, executive leaders, and artistic leaders of Canada’s major cultural institutions. … read more
AJBlog: Jumper Published 2018-04-29
Egypt: Breaking New Ground – Underwater
Like Gold, Picasso and Impressionism, Egypt has generally been a sure-fire subject for art museums. But, you may think, you know the story – basically. An exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum will make you think again. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2018-04-29
Civics is How We Take Care of the Space Between People
The most important thing I learned in a glorious Humana Festival weekend of theater – six new American plays and a lot of theater geeks – was not in a play at all. … read more
AJBlog: The Bright Ride Published 2018-04-30
From Cuba with Fervor and Vigor
Some of us may remember Carlos Acosta, when he was appearing with England’s Royal Ballet or, more briefly, as a guest artist with American Ballet Theatre. Princely. Virtuosic. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2018-04-29
How Many People in a One-Woman Show?
I love going to shows at Joe’s Pub for Dance Now’s Dance-mopolitan’s Commissioned Artist Series. But doing so takes a kind of expertise that I may lack. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2018-04-30
Philosophers Don’t Talk – Or Think – Enough About The Meaning Of Life
“Philosophers ponder the meaning of life. At least, that is the stereotype. … In fact, professional philosophers rarely ask the question and, when they do, they often dismiss it as nonsense. … If they go on to talk about meaning in life, they have in mind the meaning of individual lives, the question of whether this life or that life is meaningful for the person who is living it. But the meaning of life is not an individual possession. If life has meaning, it has a meaning that applies to us all.”
Why Do So Many Kids Decide They Hate Poetry? Could It Be From Writing Haiku In Grade School?
Chris Harris: “I imagine it’s popular in grade schools because it’s a simple format. Then again, My Dinner with André has a simple format, but I’m guessing it doesn’t play gangbusters at a nine-year-old’s birthday party. … Experiencing poetry solely through prefab formal structures like haikus, acrostics, cinquains and diamante poems could make students feel like poetry is just some sadistic fiend’s attempt to make English even more complex and irritating. ‘POETRY: It’s like regular writing, but with even more rules!'”
The Meanest Things Vladimir Nabokov Said About Other Writers
“In interviews, he seemed to delight in airing his grievances about other writers’ work, especially when he considered them unfairly beloved by the public. Reading his complaints half a century later, I have to say, I delight in them too. At a time when the literary world seems determined to swear that every book is Good because it is a Book, Nabokov’s outspoken anti-book opinions feel almost ecstatically transgressive.”