Category: people

“It’s a tough thing to sell a family apartment because there are so many memories. A lot of us are not eager to sell it at all. It’s an unusual place and only someone with a particular sensitivity and style would buy it. If you’re a family it’s probably not very practical. It’s a dangerous place.”

“Hundreds of socks have been flushed at the UAF Fine Arts Complex since December, creating havoc on the building’s sewer system. Maintenance Superintendent Bill Cox figures the stray socks have caused at least $15,000 in equipment damage and labor costs. It’s a puzzling problem, and campus officials admit they don’t know what’s behind it.”

“Consider that during his lifetime, his biggest-selling recording, “Terraplane Blues,” sold about 5,000 copies. When the “King of the Delta Blues Singers” LP surfaced in 1961 with 16 of his songs, it sold around 20,000 copies. Since its 1990 release, a 2-CD box set of all his known recordings has sold 1.5 million copies. That’s despite detractors who have suggested his reputation is over-inflated.”

“You may not need reminding, but a lot of people do. A playwright or any creative artist is his work. The biography can be distorting, or it’s just gravy. The work is the essence of the person.”

“Lee, who turned 85 last week, has not been entirely absent from the public record since, and her neighbours in Monroeville, Alabama, wouldn’t agree that she is a recluse, either. Politely refusing to talk to journalists since 1964 is not the same thing as withdrawing from society.”

Robert Freedman has led the facility for 13 years. “Ruth Eckerd Hall has consistently been among the top 10 U.S. theaters for ticket sales and was nominated for theater of the year by Pollstar in 2005 and 2009. Billboard ranked the hall as the No. 1 grossing facility seating 2,500 or fewer for both the year and decade in 2010.”

“Zuoxiao Zuzhou was detained and released by police in Shanghai earlier this week after publicly expressing support for Ai – a longtime friend and artistic collaborator – during a rock concert and in a newspaper editorial.”

“In all my career of fighting, I’ve never been short of words, but tonight I am. This is the first time I have got such accolades from my country, this surpasses anything I have known.”

“The elusive Lee, who celebrates her 85th birthday on Thursday, has co-operated with a new biography that will reveal why she never wrote another novel. The Mockingbird Next Door is written by Marja Mills, a former Chicago Tribune reporter who has spent years researching her subject, and will be published by Penguin.”

In a statement released by her attorney, the author said, “Contrary to recent news reports, I have not willingly participated in any book written or to be written by Marja Mills. Neither have I authorized such a book. Any claims otherwise are false.”