Category: people

A virtuoso of the humble tin whistle, Potts joined Paddy Moloney and colleagues in 1962 to join the group that went on to become global megastars of Irish folk music.

His student performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers on 5 March 1964 put a rocket under the musical establishment.

“As well as being known for his radical reinvention of the operatic form, fusing electronic music into his operas and theatre works, Ashley also co-founded the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music in 1958 alongside Gordon Mumma, before creating the performing arts event ONCE Festival in the 60s. He won the John Cage Award for Music from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts in 2002.”

“As important as the technology is that powers our lives, businesses also depend on humanities-oriented communicators to articulate why the technology matters. Indeed, every technology company, and certainly every startup trying to make its imprint on the world, needs English majors. Perhaps many.”

“One of her close friends — a friend! — calls Elaine Stritch ‘a Molotov cocktail of madness, sincerity, and genius.’ And now she’s the subject of an up-close and sometimes glaringly personal new documentary.”

“Sitting behind a desk. Always by himself. No ‘customers’ lined inside or outside the drab, low-slung office space in a row of buildings close to downtown Dallas. Just this little, well-groomed, cursing man who was shuffling papers, placing calls and working a calculator.”

“I definitely feel there’s some force for good that’s been with me through life, and I think that comes from all the dead great composers.”

“Instead of leaving for Chile with a band of gangsters, one stays in Paris and writes a novel. That seems to me a great adventure.”

“His death on Saturday, the day after the Césars French cinema awards and on the eve of the Oscars, came as he prepared to launch his latest film, The Life of Riley later this month.”

The playwright and screenwriter (Reckless, Prelude to a Kiss, Longtime Companion, Marry Me a Little, The Light in the Piazza) talks about drinking with his mother, running out of money and work even after he became famous, overcoming addiction, and what Philip Seymour Hoffman literally chased him down to say.