“Though Chicago dwarfs New Orleans, Memphis and St. Louis in population and economic might, a weekend in any of those places drives home the missed opportunities back home. All three [of those] cities have museums dedicated to telling the music’s story; tours and branded districts where people can walk in the footsteps of legends; airports, parks and streets named in their honor, life-size statues for tourist selfies; and, of course, an abundance of live music clubs that all three cities actively help promote throughout the year.” Except for the clubs, Chicago has none of that.
Tag: 01.13.17
The Straight Guys Who Made America’s First Gay Record
“Like a magic mirror held up to America’s heteronormative postwar culture, its music reflected a dignified, and seductive, vision of gay life. Just below the album’s title read the teaser: ‘For adult listeners only – sultry stylings by a most unusual vocalist.’ The surprising story of Love Is a Drag, released way back in 1962.
According To MIT, Here Are The Ten Big Ideas/Issues We Should All Know Something About Right Now
“The editors who select the topics are “deeply aware of the social impacts of new technologies and of the role of real people in shaping those technologies. We don’t treat technology in a vacuum here. We talk about how people who use technology have a chance to take some responsibility for it, and to influence its future design and direction.”
When You See Your Novel Translated From The Language You Wrote It In To Your Mother Tongue
“To have one’s novel translated – on one hand, an honor. On the other – you might as well be trying to have sex using another person’s body.” Now imagine that that body used to be yours, and you remember it. Boris Fishman tells the story of reading from the Russian translation of his A Replacement Life at a book tour event in Estonia.
Seven Signs It Might Be Time For A Dancer To Find Herself A Different Company
“How do you know if the negatives are outweighing the positives?” Sarah Wroth helps with yet another instance of things that should be obvious but never are when we’re the ones in the middle of them.
Hollywood Politics? Sure, But The Stories That Get Made Have Everything To Do With The Box Office
Movies that show struggles against prejudice, poverty, ignorance, oppression and fear reflect liberal values only in the sense that “reality has a well-known liberal bias”, said Marty Kaplan, quoting Stephen Colbert. “If there were big money to be made telling stories celebrating home schooling, semi-automatic rifle ownership, the bullying of gays, white supremacism, misogyny or xenophobia, Hollywood would be racing to make them.”
William Peter Blatty, Author Of ‘The Exorcist’, Dead At 89
He sold vacuum cleaners, drove a beer truck, joined the Air Force and USIA, and spent the ’60s writing comic novels and screenplays in L.A. before creating the book and film that changed the horror genre and conquered pop culture.
Peter Gelb Cancels One Of Met Opera’s New Productions For Next Season
The company’s general manager says that “postponing” the new Verdi Forza del destino staging, a co-production with English National Opera, by Calixto Bieito will save the financially troubled Met $1 million. (Gelb didn’t mention that Bieito is probably the most controversial, not to say notorious, of the directors with new productions planned for 2016-17.)
Hoard Of Gold Coins Found Inside Antique Broadwood Piano
“The gold was recently discovered by a tuner inside a Broadwood upright piano which had originally been sold in 1906 by a musical instruments shop in Saffron Walden, Essex.”
Walker Art Center Artistic Director Fionn Meade Resigns
“Meade had served since March 2015 as the Walker’s artistic director, a newly created role at the museum. Prior to that, he had served for ten months as the Walker’s senior curator of cross-disciplinary platforms, another newly created role. He effectively took over as chief curator after Darsie Alexander left the institution to become director of New York’s Katonah Art Museum.”