Remembering the "Big Man"

Back in the late '70s, I remember attending the first Bruce Springsteen & The East Street Band concerts EVER in Chicago.  We went every time they came to town and what a show it was!  But the highlight of the show was always the "Big Man" - Clarence Clemons - and what a show it was!  R.I.P., Clarence... you were the best of the best!

Springsteen acknowledged the dire situation earlier this week, but said then he was hopeful. He called the loss "immeasurable." "We are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly 40 years," Springsteen said on his website. "He was my great friend, my partner and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band." [more...]

Elaine's is Closing Its Doors

For decades, Elaine Kaufman held court at the restaurant bearing her name with a hand-picked selection of favorite regulars, literary luminaries and celebrities. After Kaufman died in December, longtime manager Diane Becker inherited the restaurant. She announced Tuesday that the Upper East Side restaurant will shut its doors for good on May 26. "This is one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make," Becker said in a statement Tuesday. "But the truth is, there is no Elaine's without Elaine." The place is filled with history - both real and imaginary. [more...] [Read more...]

Sandy's Art on WND

"Contemporary Christian artists are doing wildly new things, in keeping with the times and their own personal vision. Some of it is unorthodox and offbeat, but it is at least interesting and can be deeply moving.

"As Above So Below," permission by artist Sandra Frazier

I'll use the example of New York artist Sandy Frazier - inspired by faith, mystical artists and strangely enough, silent movies. Images from these shadowy, early films fired her imagination and fueled her first paintings. The silence inspired Frazier to create music CD of her own ['Resurrection'], and she wrote a book about the experience - 'The Mystic Artist.'"

Read more: Christian artists finally break through http://www.wnd.com/index.php/index.php?pageId=297393#ixzz1MKU37dAy [more...]

The Lennon Letters

Yoko Ono has granted permission for the first collection of letters by John Lennon to be published, publisher Little, Brown and Company said on Friday. The book, titled "The Lennon Letters," will be published in October, 2012 and include hundreds of letters and postcards the late Beatle wrote to friends, family, newspapers and organizations, the publisher said in a statement.

It will be edited by British journalist Hunter Davies, who wrote the only authorized biography of The Beatles. The letters will be arranged in chronological order to give a sense of the musician's life.
 
"For the first time, John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, has given permission to publish a selection of his letters," the publisher said in a statement, describing the book as "an international publishing event." [more...] 

Mystic-Art in Ontario

Trinity Anglican Church Blyth, a church in a small community in southwestern Ontario asked to make a poster of Good Friday for their Good Friday church service.  It's so wonderful to see my art spreading via the Internet.  See it here.

Phantom Ebert

I saw "Ebert at the Movies" for the first time tonight... with its new, young movie critics sitting in for what appeared to be a "Phantom Roger Ebert" - no small irony for a man who focused his entire life on the greatest films of the 20th-21st centuries.

Growing up in Chicago on Siskel & Ebert, syndicated by the Chicago Sun-Times, my friends and I came to anticipate their reviews and though we didn't rely entirely upon them to tell us whether or not to see a film, we trusted their judgment.

No one could have predicted that Gene Siskel would suddenly die so young. (In 1998, Siskel underwent surgery for a tumor. He announced on February 3, 1999 that he was taking a leave of absence but that he expected to be back by the fall, writing "I'm in a hurry to get well because I don't want Roger to get more screen time than me.") Typical for Gene who was the perfect sidekick to Ebert.

After Siskel's death in 1999, Ebert teamed with Richard Roeper for the television series Ebert & Roeper & the Movies, which began airing in 2000. Although his name remained in the title, Ebert did not appear on the show after mid-2006, when he suffered post-surgical complications related to thyroid cancer which left him unable to speak.

Throughout his cancer treatment, he continued to be a dedicated critic of film, not missing a single opening while undergoing treatment. Ebert had pre-taped enough TV programs with his co-host Richard Roeper to keep him on the air for a few weeks.

Roger's face became unrecognizable and even horrifying... yet he didn't hide it. Much like Nigella Lawson's husband who was dying of throat cancer and couldn't even taste her feasts, Roger can't utter a word now and must rely on digital media and translators.

But those of us who remember he and Siskel bantering back and forth each and every week, his reviews are still Golden Globes, Oscars, Emmys, and continue to educate us about film history at its best. He may take leave as the Phantom of the Opera... but, unlike the phantom (for which Ebert, I'm sure would always prefer Lon Chaney's portrayal), he will never recoil from the spotlight. Roger won't haunt us like the phantom; he'll remain forever in our hearts as a great American icon in his own right.

Great English-American Screen Goddess, Elizabeth Taylor

Ever since yesterday morning, the media has inundated us with press about the passing of Elizabeth Taylor.  This is the best article I have read, because it actually mentions her children, who seem to have been forgotten all these years... at least from what I can recall, they're rarely in the press.  Read on about the life of the last of the greatest screen goddesses.  RIP, Liz!

I particularly enjoyed 'Cleopatra' because she was so ravishing in every costume.  I always wanted to decorate my house like those Egyptians!  And Richard Burton had great legs, too!  But I remember most 'The Sandpiper,' 'Butterfield 8' and 'Suddenly Last Summer' as her greatest acting roles.

Still Bill: Withers the American Dream

What a brilliant, moving documentary I had the privilege to watch today on Showtime.  We've all loved his music, we know the words by heart... but how many of us know what a wonderful American life Bill Withers has lived.  "Still Bill" is the story of a man who discovered his own talent relatively late in life (at 32) and proceeded to overcome being born with a speech impediment in the backhills of a West Virginia coal mining community. 

Bill Withers has a way with words and his poetry reflects a man wise beyond his own knowledge.  This film reveals a really nice guy - unpretentious, true to his own heart, real, a natural talent teaching us how to overcome the obstacles life may toss our way.  He found a way to go with the flow in his life - always staying positive and accepting of what comes his way... and, by the way, he gave us some of the most enduring R&B/pop songs in the history of American music.

STILL BILL is an intimate portrait of soul legend Bill Withers, best known for his classics “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean On Me,” “Lovely Day,” “Grandma’s Hands,” and “Just the Two of Us.” With his soulful delivery and warm, heartfelt sincerity, Withers has written the songs that have – and always will – resonate deeply within the fabric of our times. [more...]

Dylan's Freewheelin' Girl

Suze Rotolo, Bob Dylan's longtime girlfriend during his fledgling days as a Greenwich Village folk singer and the woman who appears alongside him on the famous cover of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," passed away this weekend at her home in Manhattan following a long illness, Rolling Stone reports. Rotolo was 67. In addition to forever being captured on the Don Hunstein-photographed "Freewheelin' " cover, Rotolo's three-year relationship with Dylan, from 1961 to 1964, also inspired him to write three of his early love songs, "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," "Tomorrow is a Long Time," and "Boots of Spanish Leather." (Dylan's breakup with Rotolo also influenced one of his most vitriolic tunes, "Ballad in Plain D," a song Dylan later regretted recording.) Rotolo is also acknowledged for pushing Dylan toward the political awareness that flavored his Greenwich Village work. [more...] Another pic...

Black Swan is Magnificent Dark Beauty

Black Swan Movie Review: Every actor was perfectly cast in this artful dark drama. It was kind of 'The Turning Point' meets the original 'Dracula' (with Bela Lugosi), a la Hitchcock. Wholly captivating, unpredictable and driving, the pace is relentless as we crawl inside the mind of Portman's Nina. She brilliantly portrayed this character in such a way that she allowed us to come inside for a peek and revealed more and more as we craved it. Deliciously dangerous!