Friday December 29

• THE CUBAN PICASSOS: Relatives of Pablo Picasso are discovered in Cuba. "Today, the black Picassos, as they call themselves, are thrilled about the discovery of their connection with the artist whose name from a clipping, cousin Luis Picasso, has kept for years in his wallet, simply because he found the coincidence of the spelling amusing." CNN 12/29/00
• ARISE SIR...ER MR. STEVEN: Steven Spielberg is to be knighted in London. "Although theatricality might seem appropriate, there will be no “Arise Sir Steven Spielberg”. As he is not a British citizen, the director will not kneel or be tapped on each shoulder with a sword, nor will he be able to call himself “Sir”. He will, however, be able to place the letters KBE after his name." The Times (London) 12/29/00
• LAST OF THE STONECARVERS: Vincent Palumbo, the last of the Washington Cathedral stone-carvers, died last week at the age of 61. "At his funeral in the nave on Wednesday, Palumbo was remembered as 'the last of the classically trained stone carvers', one who learned from his father, who had learned from his father and so on." Washington Post 12/29/00

Wednesday December 27

• ACTOR JASON ROBARDS DIES: "Mr. Robards, 78, started out as a stage actor in the 1950s, gaining critical acclaim for his performances in Eugene O'Neill plays, including 'The Iceman Cometh' and 'Long Day's Journey Into Night'." Washington Post 12/27/00

Sunday December 25

• GREAT DANE DIES: Danish pianist/clown Victor Borge died in his sleep this weekend. He was 91. The Age (Melbourne) 12/25/00
  • PHONETICALLY FUNNY: "Mr. Borge always preferred to write his own material. Many of his best lines began as ad-libs that he then worked into his act." The New York Times 12/24/00 (one-time registration required for entry)

Thursday December 21

• "OW YA DOIN? An analysis of Queen Elizabeth's accent and speech patterns between the 1950s and now indicates a change. "While Her Majesty is not about to refer to 'My ‘usband and I', she now speaks in a way 'more typically associated with speakers who are younger and lower in the social hierarchy', the Australian analysts write in Nature." The Times (London) 12/21/00

Tuesday December 19

• THE CULT OF BRUCE LEE: Twenty-seven years after his sudden death at the age of 32, Bruce Lee continues to attract a cult following. If you think this has only to do with his film career, look again. There are a shocking 55 websites dedicated to his martial art stylings, and the seven books of his writings that have been published posthumously have sold over 500,000 copies. Boston Globe, 12/19/2000

Monday December 18

• KISSED TO DEATH: Oscar Wilde's headstone in Paris is being destroyed - by kisses. “Marker-pen graffiti can be cleaned off and anything that is scratched into the tomb can be rubbed down with sandpaper, but lipstick contains animal fats which sink in to the stone and also leave horrible marks." Daily Mail & Guardian (South Africa) 12/18/00

Sunday December 17

• STILL JUST A KID: Charlotte Church may be selling a ton of recordings and making a fortune, but she's still a kid:" I suppose, yeah. I'm not evil. I'm not that much of a devil. (Turning to mother) Am I acting a little more devilish as I get older, Mum? She says sometimes. There's a lot she doesn't know." San Francisco Chronicle 12/17/00
• THE ESSENTIAL BERNSTEIN: "Wisdom in the record business (if that phrase is not yet an oxymoron), for example, holds that a performer's drawing power drops precipitously after his or her death." But Leonard Berstein seems to be a name that still draws considerable interest in the music world. New York Times 12/17/00 (one-trime registration required for access)

Friday December 15

• GÖTZ FRIEDRICH DIED Tuesday at age 70. Friedrich had been the Deutsche Oper’s general director since 1981. New York Times 12/15/00 (one-time registration required for access)

Wednesday December 13

• FRANK RICH, CRITIC: "Although to this day he modestly maintains he did not have the influence others attributed to him (he says that bad shows were the problem, not his reviews) the fact remains that the reputation of Frank Rich, the critic, will be as one of the most-feared and most powerful journalistic voices in the history of New York. Today's reviewers don't have even the shadow of the impact Frank Rich could command." The Idler 12/13/00
• WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT: The family of Anthony Lee, the actor who was killed by Los Angeles police at a Halloween party has filed a $100 million wrongful death suit. Lee was in costume and had a toy gun at the costume party when police shot him. ABCNews.com 12/13/00
• MODERN ART PIONEER: "Knud Jensen, founder of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark's most visited cultural attraction, died on Tuesday aged 84. CNN.com 12/13/00

Tuesday December 12

• THE COW IN BARBARA HENDRICKS' POOL: "The intruder, either hungry for better grazing or charmed by the American diva's voice, had broken through a series of fences before ending up in the water." Ninemsn (AAP) 12/12/00
• ROWLING POSTPONES THE QUEEN: "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling was supposed to collect an honor from the Queen Monday, but postponed the meeting so she could take care of her ill child. BBC 12/12/00

Monday December 11

• WORKING THROUGH THE ILLNESS: Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez says being diagnosed with lymphatic cancer last year was an impetus to get him to write his memoirs. "More than a year ago I was put under treatment for three months for lymphoma, and today I am surprised at the enormous stroke of luck this stumbling block has been in my life." Dallas Morning News 12/11/00
• THREAT OF VIOLENCE: The winner of this year's Governor General's Award for Fiction apparently wrote of his elaborate plans to slaughter professors at McGill University over a dispute about his thesis. He evidently went so far as to drive to Detroit to purchase weapons for the job. University officials are investigating. National Post (Canada) 12/11/00

Sunday December 10

• GRAZIE, PREGO AND BRAVOS: Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras get together for a rare conference call joint interview. But can anyone get a word in edgewise? Chicago Tribune 12/09/00
• TERRY GROSS AT 25: When National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" went on air 25 years ago in Philadelphia, it was a modest effort. "Now 'Fresh Air' has a larger staff, has contributing critics and commentators, and goes out to 330 NPR stations with 2.9 million listeners in the United States, Europe and Japan." Orange County Register (AP) 12/10/00

Friday December 8

• KLEMPERER DIES AT 80: Werner Klemperer, actor, and son of famed conductor Otto Klemperer has died. "Mr. Klemperer performed in many opera productions and, in the last two decades, served as narrator with virtually every symphony orchestra in the United States. New York Times 12/08/00 (one-time registration required for access)

Thursday December 7

• OOPS: "For decades, guides have directed countless tourists to a red-roofed, beamed cottage near Shakespeare's birthplace at Stratford-on-Avon to pay homage at the place where his mother, Mary Arden, was thought to have been born in the early 16th century. Now it has emerged from new research that she was not born there at all, but in a house some 30 yards down the road in the same village." New York Times 12/07/00 (one-time registration required for access)
• DISTRESS SALE: Margot Fonteyn's personal effects, costumes and clothes are to be auctioned off next week, but her friends and the dance community are protesting. Sydney Morning Herald 12/07/00

Tuesday December 5

• CALLAS-MANIA: Maria Callas fans spent $1.25 million buying the late singer's personal things at auction this week. "A Pyrex measuring cup sold for $938, while a French museum paid about $5,000 for a sea-green Christian Dior girdle. The girdle was among numerous intimate objects and underclothes sold by two private collectors." Chicago Sun-Times (AP) 12/05/00
• CHECKING IN WITH LORIN: Conductor Lorin Maazel is 70 and still looking for new challenges. "Not every musician has loved his tough style, but Maazel's impact on the musical world through weighty interpretations of the classics has been undeniable." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 12/05/00

Monday December 4

• BIDDING ON LA DEVINA: Maria Callas's personal things are being auctioned off. "Among the 415 lots are a pair of seamless, black stockings, a pale pink satin slip, a purple and black silk corset, and the much-photographed white mink stole that Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis gave her before he abandoned her for Jacqueline Kennedy." CNN.com 12/03/00

Sunday December 3

• KENNEDY CENTER HONORS: The Kennedy Center honors Placido Domingo, Chuck Berry, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Clint Eastwood and Angela Lansbury. The Washington Post pofiles each. Washington Post 1/03/00

Friday December 1

• WILDE FANS: Actors and writers gathered in London Thursday to mark the centenary of Oscar Wilde’s death with public readings, concerts, lectures, and exhibitions. BBC 11/30/00
• REMEMBERING BRADBURY: British novelist and critic Malcolm Bradbury, who died this week, will be remembered as much for his famous writing classes as for his own satirical style. "He believed that a work of prose fiction or drama is seldom perfectly achieved in its early drafts, but that it emerges like a sculpture from a block of stone only through intellectual vigilance and meticulous rewriting." The Telegraph (London) 12/01/00

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