Category: people

Color is a concept that artists across the generations have explored. But for Jasper Johns, it’s a shade that most people would think of as a near absence of color that has kept him fascinated throughout his career. “Gray is not just a familiar color for Mr. Johns but the essence of a long metaphysical journey, an exploration of ‘the condition of gray itself.'”

“It has become nearly impossible to miss Daniel Bernard Roumain’s name in the world of contemporary performing arts… Roumain is a classically trained musician who boldly blends the style and sound of hip-hop and J.S. Bach. In the process, this composer and violinist, who sports dreadlocks to his waist, has become a powerhouse — a 36-year-old with top-level management, his own production company and a touring ensemble.”

“Legendary Broadway director and producer Hal Prince suffered what close friends are calling a ‘minor stroke’ [last] Sunday afternoon. He was released from the hospital Wednesday – his 80th birthday – and is expected to be on the mend soon.”

“Star tenor Juan Diego Florez has been forced to cancel all performances in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Rossini’s ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia’ because of a throat infection caused by a swallowed fishbone.”

California antiquities dealer Robert Olson, 79, is under investigation by federal authorities for illegal importation and tax fraud. Olson is loudly proclaiming his innocence, but the feds, who have been keeping tabs on Olson for five years, say that he has smuggled illegal artifacts into the US, convinced appraisers to drastically overvalue them, and then taken huge tax deductions after donating them to museums.

“There isn’t anywhere to go from here, is there?” she said, before thinking of one more accolade: “I could receive a pat on the head from the pope.”

“The Hawai’i Democrat announced in a statement yesterday that he is engaged to Irene Hirano, the president and chief executive officer of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.”

Martin Amis’s critics claim he is devolving into his father, the scowling, spitting misanthrope who somehow distilled the spirit of the 1950s into his novel Lucky Jim. Kingsley was, towards the end of his life, a militant defender of the Vietnam War and a harrumphing foe of feminism, and said of apartheid South Africa: “You should shoot as many blacks as possible.”

Cincinnati philanthropist Patricia A. Corbett “was one of the last of Cincinnati’s grande dames in the arts. Her name graces many prominent arts venues, including the Corbett Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, Corbett Tower in Music Hall and Northern Kentucky University’s Patricia A. Corbett Theater.”

“For a growing number of people and businesses, Britney’s saga is about money: Every time she sinks to new lows, cash flows. And these days, no one is above the fray.”