He built a cult following in the 1960s underground with inventively odd satires, then hit the mainstream in 1969 with Putney Swope, in which a Black Power activist takes over a New York ad agency, followed by Greaser’s Palace, the life of Christ as a spaghetti Western. – Variety
People
Jivan Gasparyan, Who Entranced The World With An Armenian Shepherd’s Pipe, Dead At 92
“What he accomplished during his career was remarkable — not just in terms of his personal achievement, but also what he accomplished for his instrument’s profile. … He transformed the duduk from a purely folk instrument … into a force on the concert stage,” recordings and film scores. – NPR
Dilip Kumar, Bollywood’s First Great Realistic Actor, Dead At 98
“In a career that spanned five decades, Kumar is widely regarded as the finest actor India has ever produced. Starring in some of the all-time classic films of Indian cinema, Kumar’s versatility and command of his craft allowed him to excel across genres.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Discovered: Evidence Van Gogh Was A Founder Of A Brass Band (Still Playing Today)
In 1884 Vincent van Gogh helped set up a band in the village of Nuenen, where he was living with his family and developing his skills as an artist. – The Art Newspaper
Composer Louis Andriessen Dead At 82
He combined Philip Glass-style minimalism with influences ranging from jazz to Baroque music to Stravinsky to hard rock, not to mention leftist politics. He also taught two generations of notable composers, including Missy Mazzoli, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, and David Lang. – NPR
‘La Madre De La Telenovela’, Delia Fiallo, Dead At 96
She started out writing radio serials in 1940s Cuba, switched to TV, fled the Castro regime in 1966 and started over completely in Miami — going on to write the scripts for 40 of the massively popular Spanish-language prime-time soap operas and becoming the genre’s first superstar author. – MSN (Washington Post)
This Is The Reason Bill Cosby Got To Walk Out Of Prison
Why did the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturn the 83-year-old star’s 2018 sexual assault conviction? Because of the Fifth Amendment and a bait-and-switch. Here’s a legal explainer. – The New York Times
James Cuno Steps Down As Head Of Getty
In 2011, Cuno was appointed to lead the Getty Trust, which manages four Los Angeles–based organizations: the Getty Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Research Institute, and the Getty Foundation, the organization’s main philanthropic arm. – ARTnews
Children’s Author Patricia Reilly Giff, Who Wrote The Kids Of The Polk Street School Series, Dead At 86
“Over nearly half a century, [she wrote] more than 100 books for young readers. She delighted younger ones with the adventures, misadventures and high jinks of the Kids of the Polk Street School, one of several popular series she penned. Writing for older readers, Mrs. Giff animated historical events in volumes such as Lily’s Crossing.” – MSN (Washington Post)
Louise Bourgeois And Her Exploration Of Pain
“The subject of pain is the business I am in,” Louise Bourgeois once remarked. Like Emily Dickinson whose business was “circumference,” Bourgeois circled her subject all her life. – The Yale Review
Pulitzer-Winning Poet Stephen Dunn Dead At 82
“He departed from the ‘confessional’ style of self-lacerating poetry and considered himself instead a ‘meditative’ or observational poet. Writing in a plain, unfussy style that often sounded like prose with the reins loosened, he addressed the ways ordinary experience can be fraught with emotional complexity, sadness and humor.” – MSN (Washington Post)
Jon Hassell, Trumpeter And Composer, 84
Hassell blended modern technology with ancient instruments and traditions to create what he called “Fourth World” music. “Hassell’s music floated outside the genre boundaries of classical music, electronica, ambient music or jazz. He described Fourth World as ‘a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques’ and, elsewhere, as ‘coffee-colored classical music of the future.'” – The New York Times
Frederic Rzewski, Pianist And Composer Known For His Political Views, 83
“Rzewski’s anti-establishment thinking stood at the center of his music-making throughout his life.” – The New York Times
Paulo Mendes Da Rocha, A Brazilian Brutalist With A Light Touch, 92
Da Rocha was one of Brazil’s most well-known architects, despite being blacklisted by a brutal military regime for 20 years. “‘Concrete acrobatics’ is how many architecture writers described his work. He called concrete, his material of choice, ‘liquid stone.'” – The New York Times
Richard Altuna, Who Designed Upwardly Mobile Shopping Experiences, And Starbucks, 70
The world of brick-and-mortar stores would look very different without Altuna, who “designed the prototypes for a certain kind of store, one that infused shoppers with a sense of — there’s no other way to put this — bourgeoise well-being.” – NPR
Halo Wines, Eminence Of Washington-Area Theatre Scene, 81
Wines was an actress and director who was enrolled as a child in acting lessons to help her overcome shyness. She “brought consummate artistry to dozens of productions at the Arena Stage and Olney Theatre Center.” – Washington Post
Violinist Jeanne Lamon, Who Led Tafelmusik For 33 Years, Has Died At 71
In Canada, she brought Baroque music played on period instruments into the modern era. “Under her guidance — and with her often leading from the first-violin chair — the group developed an international reputation, performing all over the world in major concert halls, at universities, in churches, even in pubs” — not to mention the recordings. – The New York Times
It Seems Philosopher John Locke Was Kind Of A Jerk
“John Locke is regarded today as one of England’s greatest philosophers, an Enlightenment thinker known as the ‘father of liberalism’. But a previously unknown memoir attributed to one of his close friends paints a different picture – of a vain, lazy and pompous man who ‘amused himself with trifling works of wit’, and a plagiarist who ‘took from others whatever he was able to take’.” – The Guardian
Meet Recycler Joe Rush, The Outrageous Outsider Artist
“My life has been about reclaiming that nomadic spirit. All the festivals we’ve taken part in over the years are really just an echo of what happened when nomadic tribes came into the valleys in summer and partied.” – The Guardian
The Extraordinary Musician And Teacher You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
I sat in on some of his lessons, and was mesmerized. What a mind! What profound, probing musicianship! And what a strange man… – Van
Judith Farr, Poet And Emily Dickinson Scholar, Dead At 85
“A longtime professor at Georgetown University, [she] published two seminal academic books examining the place of art and nature in Dickinson’s poetry, The Passion of Emily Dickinson (1992) and The Gardens of Emily Dickinson (written with Louise Carter, 2004). Dr. Farr also ventured into the realm of fiction and poetry, penning an epistolary novel about Dickinson as well as a poetry collection of her own, What Lies Beyond (2019).” – MSN (Washington Post)
Robert Quackenbush, Who Wrote Stories Of Detectives With Feathers Or Fur, Dead At 91
“His stories about Miss Mallard, an inquisitive duck who solves crimes around the world in plots that resemble Agatha Christie capers, were adapted into an animated television series in 2000. He also conceived of sleuthing critters like Sheriff Sally Gopher and Sherlock Chick, who starts his investigations immediately after hatching from an egg (he emerges holding a magnifying glass). … For his work on Detective Mole, who wears a trench coat and houndstooth deerstalker hat, he received an Edgar Allan Poe Award for best juvenile mystery in 1982.” – The New York Times
Soprano Gianna Rolandi, 68
New York-born, South Carolina-raised and Curtis-trained, she became one of the top American coloraturas of her generation and one of the stars of New York City Opera, where she was a protégée of Beverly Sills. She later went on to direct the young artists’ program, the Ryan Opera Center, at Lyric Opera of Chicago, where her husband, conductor Andrew Davis, is the longtime music director. – Parterre Box
Rich Guy Goes To Hollywood, Improbably Makes It Big As Movie Mogul
At a time of entertainment industry upheaval, David Ellison has transformed Skydance into the rarest of Hollywood businesses — a thriving, built-from-scratch, all-audiences, independent studio. – The New York Times
Listen To A Never-Aired 1979 James Baldwin Interview (And Read Why It Never Aired)
The far-ranging interview was a resounding success… When the reporter inquired about the delay in airing it, ABC reported that it had been scrapped, because, “Who wants to listen to a Black gay has-been?” – Esquire