Category: people

“The 74-year-old tenor was in New York preparing for the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Tosca, which he was scheduled to conduct but not appear in. His spokeswoman said he was in the middle of a dress rehearsal yesterday when he experienced pain as well as vomiting and later went to the hospital.”

Laura Miller: “When people feel compelled to tell each other the same story over and over again, there’s usually something about it they can’t quite work out. Each iteration promises, yet fails, to finally make sense of it. The life and work of Steve Jobs is that kind of story, and our preoccupation with telling and retelling it points to some sizable cracks in the American psyche.”

They are and aren’t as weird as you might expect – very Cagean, that – and they’re published them under a very Cagean title: Diary: How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse). And yes, in writing them, of course he used the I Ching; so did the editors.

The 45-year-old Fairey is charged with malicious destruction of property, including buildings and a railroad bridge. The damage is estimated at $30,000.

Mimi Leder: “I excel in television. I’ve directed nine pilots and six of them went to air, so my television career was flourishing, but I couldn’t get arrested in features. Saying this sounds like sour grapes, but it isn’t: It’s very different for women filmmakers than it is for male filmmakers. And the film business itself changed dramatically. They just wanted to make tent poles.”

John Cale, founder of The Velvet Underground: “When I moved to New York, I was basically penniless. John Cage was kind enough to help me find a job in a bookstore which sustained me while I was experimenting in the New York avant-garde music scene.”

“Gerson says she’s been cutting deals with television production companies and film studios in Hollywood to develop TV projects and movies based on their music. For example, when studios make artist biopics and shows about the industry, UMPG wants to be at the table from the onset. ‘We should have developed Empire,’ Gerson said.”

“Much of his music was in the classical Indian mode. ‘Pure, classical music is the closest thing to God,’ he said.”

Before Frank died, “he asked his wife to sell his master recordings and get out of the music business, she has said. But, she noted, he never said what to do with his publishing catalog – the rights to his compositions – and so she defied his request and became the keeper of his musical empire. In 2002, she created the Zappa Family Trust to manage his intellectual property, including the rights to his image.”

“That his tenure at The Denver Post from 1966 to 1981, including the role of publisher, was only one of a dozen hats he wore over the decades speaks to the breadth of his life and times.”