Category: people

Gregory, who was often mentioned with Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl as satirists of the first order in the 1960s, at first thought that humor would win over more white people than activism, but gradually changed his mind – and his routine. Still, “it was Mr. Gregory’s conviction that within a well-delivered joke lies power.”

Patti LuPone called him a gentleman and said, “He elevated me.” Even though he was in theatre, “an industry filled with larger-than-life figures who reveled in the spotlight, he preferred to stay behind the scenes, but his sharp intellect, good taste and dedication made him an influential force, his admirers said.”

A statement this morning reads “Each year, THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS the careers and achievements of artists who have helped shape cultural life in the United States with a weekend that includes celebrations and events. The award recipients are recognized for their lifetime contributions in the arts and the positive change that they have made all over the world. The President and First Lady have decided not to participate in this year’s activities to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction”

“Dancer Carmen de Lavallade said on Thursday that she would be honored to attend the Dec. 3 ceremony at the Kennedy Center, buuuut … ‘In light of the socially divisive and morally caustic narrative that our current leadership is choosing to engage in, and in keeping with the principles that I and so many others have fought for, I will be declining the invitation to attend the reception at the White House.'” Norman Lear is sitting out the party as well, and Lionel Richie is, for now, on the fence.

“Birkerts was best known for light-filled modernist buildings that reflected the Scandinavian architectural tradition that influenced him. Many” – among them, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the Corning Museum of Glass, the south wing of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, and the Latvian National Library – “were essays in bold curves or angular, irregular shapes.”

“I came up with the idea after reading some detective novels and watching crime shows and movies,” Mr. Liu wrote at the time. “The working title is: ‘The Beautiful Writer Who Killed.’” But what was assumed to be a fictional crime story took a turn into reality last week when Mr. Liu, 53, was arrested on accusations of bludgeoning four people to death 22 years ago.

“I know what you all expect from me and I have complied up to a point. But frankly I am tired, tired of standing up, being counted, tired of ‘having a voice’ or worse ‘being a role model,’” she writes in a new artist statement hating on artist statements, for a show opening Sept. 7 at Sikkema Jenkins & Co., in Manhattan.

“He’s appeared in Ealing dramas, a James Bond movie and played a wily dictator in Sidney Pollack’s The Interpreter. But if [Earl] Cameron never quite achieved leading-man status, that was hardly his fault – there were other factors at play. … In hindsight, perhaps, he peaked too early. He broke the mould on his very first film. Shot in 1951, Basil Dearden’s thriller Pool of London cast him as Johnny, a young sailor who battles racists at the docks and romances a white girl beside Greenwich Observatory.”

“[Ira] Aldridge’s career as an actor was exceptional, and not just for a black actor at that time. He traveled farther, was seen by audiences in more countries, and won more medals, decorations, and awards than any other actor of his century.”