Wallace was "a self-proclaimed radical historian whose magisterial, unvarnished biography of New York, Gotham, written with Edwin G. Burrows, won the Pulitzer Prize and inspired two more door-stopper volumes about the city.” - The New York Times
She’s from the US, but her family (like a whole lot of people in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and other diaspora landing spots) also claim Ireland. - Irish Times
“(He) often acted as a kind of Indiana Jones of song, as when he helped excavate a treasure trove of manuscripts by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and others that was found in a warehouse in Secaucus, N.J., in 1982. The hoard dated back to the advent of sound pictures.” - The New York Times
The four-time Emmy nominee, who received an honorary Oscar in 2022, says he was diagnosed with the disease three years ago. His 80th birthday is later this month. - AP
“Dunn appeared in more than 650 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, where she became one of the company’s leading dramatic mezzos. Although she portrayed a wide range of roles, she was most closely associated with Bizet’s Carmen, which she (sang) more than 400 times in opera houses around the world.” - Moto Perpetuo
“My problem arose when I discovered Duolingo’s competitive aspect, when I learned that it is essentially a game. ... This means forgoing any real learning, and earning easy points by simply reading sentences out loud.” An excerpt from his latest book, The Land and Its People. - The Guardian
My latest column, about the Ojai Music Festival, is my last. Although the musical scene exhilarates me more than ever — contemporary composition is eternally vital — I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome. - The Rest is Noise
“A three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal unanimously issued the decision, saying his trial judge did not violate the former movie magnate’s constitutional rights. … The decision came a day after prosecutors in New York decided Weinstein would not face a fourth trial there.” - AP
“‘It’s as if Edward Hopper had taken up songwriting,’ the comic artist Chris Ware wrote in The Believer magazine in 2009. ‘For lack of a better word, it’s poetry.’” - The New York Times
“Blyth was just 17 when she made Mildred Pierce, based on James M. Cain’s hard-boiled 1941 novel. She had begun her movie career in innocent-teen roles, and played sharply against type as the coddled, conceited Veda Pierce.” - The New York Times
“An intense and impeccably dressed former social worker with hardscrabble West Virginia roots who was blessed with a silken baritone, Mr. Brown acknowledged that he made programming decisions ‘on the basis of one thing — will it help Black people?’” - The New York Times
“I wanted to keep the party going. I wanted to keep the happiness and joy and explosions of laughter going into a dour part of our lives, not our childhood anymore,” Brooks recalled. “ - AP News
A former child actor who trained as an operatic soprano, Blyth had a busy career in Hollywood through the 1940s and ‘50s and worked in television in the ‘70s. She’s best remembered for her Oscar-nominated performance as the “cheap and horrible” daughter of Joan Crawford’s character in Mildred Pierce. - The Hollywood Reporter
From the late 1970s, she had a glittering 25-year career as a coloratura, from the Met to La Scala to Santa Fe and beyond. Mills then became an admired teacher and diction coach; from 2016, she was artistic director of the Livermore Valley Opera in the Bay Area. - San Francisco Classical Voice
