“I think that to him, in his head, he was just a big star and everyone wanted him. And to the rest of us he was just, you know, this creepy guy that could make or break your career.” – Los Angeles Times
Category: people
Lee Bennett Hopkins, America’s Unknown King Of Children’s Poetry, Dead At 81
“[He] dedicated a lifetime to writing and anthologizing poetry for children, amassing troves of verse” — 120 volumes by the time he died — “to help young people navigate the unknowns of life, from why stink bugs stink to how to survive a divorce.” – The Washington Post
When Kanye Dissed Taylor At The VMA Awards Ten Years Ago And Changed Pop Culture
Everyone had an opinion about what Kanye did. The VMAs were viewed by 11 million people that year, though the crush of coverage after the fact was more comparable to that of a Super Bowl, which typically gets 10 times as many viewers. – Washington Post
European Opera Houses Take Wait-And-See Attitude Towards Domingo
In Europe, there were no immediate cancellations of the 78-year-old Domingo’s performances and even some words of support for the star. Opera world officials noted that no charges had been brought against Domingo and no formal judicial investigations were underway that might provide legal underpinning to cancel any contractual obligations.The stark differences in the levels of urgency in the responses underline the differences in the footing of the #MeToo movement on both sides of the Atlantic. – Yahoo! (AP)
Producer Edward Lewis, Who Helped Break Hollywood’s Mccarthy-Era Blacklist, Dead At 99
His movies earned 21 Oscar nominations over his four-decade career, and he garnered one himself for Best Picture for Costa-Gavras’s 1982 film Missing. But he’s best remembered for breaking the blacklist by hiring Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay for Spartacus — and crediting him for it by name. – The Washington Post
Artist Robert Indiana’s Caretaker Left Him Living In Filth While Helping Himself To Indiana’s $13 Million Bank Account, Say Court Filings
“The allegations against Jamie Thomas, Indiana’s personal caretaker since 2013 and a longtime island associate, are included in a counterclaim by Indiana’s estate” in response to a complicated lawsuit by Thomas.” – Portland Press Herald
The Musical Aspirations Of Charles Manson
Manson had three primary lures: LSD, sex, and music. But music, and its power to unite a community of outsiders and misfits, remains the least-examined weapon in his arsenal. – The New Yorker
Takis, Sculptor Known For ‘Kinetic Art’, Dead At 93
“A self-described ‘instinctive scholar,’ Takis” — né Panayiotis Vassilakis — “worked primarily in plaster and wrought iron before becoming fascinated by magnetism, electricity and sound — and how those unseen forces animate the physical world and how they might also breathe life into his artistic creations.” – The Washington Post
Bob Wilber, Who Specialized In Early Jazz, Dead At 91
“While other budding jazz musicians of the 1940s were enamored of the daring bebop innovations of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Mr. Wilber, … a clarinetist and saxophonist who was a protege of Sidney Bechet, one of the founding fathers of jazz, … looked toward the past for inspiration. He found it in the music of the 1920s.” – The Washington Post
Nine Women Accuse Plácido Domingo Of Sexual Harassment
“For decades, Placido Domingo, one of the most celebrated and powerful men in opera, has tried to pressure women into sexual relationships by dangling jobs and then sometimes punishing the women professionally when they refused his advances, numerous accusers told The Associated Press.” – Yahoo! (AP)