"Pacheco, a Juilliard-trained multi-instrumentalist who'd found success recording with his band, Pacheco y Su Charanga, sparked a musical revolution when, in 1964, he met Jerry Masucci and together, they founded Fania Records. The two started the label with $5,000, selling albums in Spanish Harlem from the trunks of their cars. Fania soon became known as the Latin Motown, home...
Rauschenberg and Twombly were both southerners. Rauschenberg, who was quarter Cherokee, came from Texas, Twombly from the heart of the old Confederacy in Lexington, Virginia. The passion of their relationship is beautifully preserved in black and white photographs that Rauschenberg took on a visit to Rome in 1952. - The Guardian
The Grammy-winning architect of modern music "is best known for designing and producing microphone preamplifiers, equalizers, compressors and mixing consoles that are sought after in the industry. His designs are staples everywhere from large production facilities to home studios, and have even been reproduced as computer plug-ins to become more accessible for all music lovers and creators." - Variety
Boyer signed on with Disney as a sketch artist in 1960 - and never left. "Boyer was made a Disney Legend in 2005, the equivalent of membership in the company’s Hall of Fame, with a window on Main Street in his name. Not bad for someone who put himself through Chouinard Art Institute as a janitor on a 'working...
Burga's best-known work, 1981's Perfil de la mujer Peruana, confused many people in its day. She and a psychotherapist friend "interviewed 290 middle-class women between the ages of 25 and 29 in Lima to obtain statistics on their political leanings, their bodies, and their identities. The presentation of their findings took the form of drawings and diagrams, as well...
You know his work even if you don't know of the man. "Stalmaster’s accomplishments are too numerous to list exhaustively, but among them: He became the first casting director to receive an honorary Oscar in 2016; he was the first casting director to receive a solo title card in a film’s credits, for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968); he...
Lana Condor on the To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy author Jenny Han: "When we first were talking years ago, she said, 'I just want you as Lana and as a young Asian-American girl to have the same opportunities that Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss would have or Kristen Stewart as Bella from Twilight.' And that was before...
Ballin started volunteering as a docent in the 1970s. "Whatever lucky group she had in tow was pretty much guaranteed a good show. Along with an extensive knowledge of the artworks, she contributed sharp opinions and a wicked sense of humor to the proceedings, making a walk through the American Wing or a 'highlights of the museum' tour a...
Sir Tom occasionally shades into Saint Tom, thanks to a notably ample collection of friends who remark on his generosity and kindness. He remembers birthdays, he lends money when others are in need, his wit always beguiles. He is an unstoppable correspondent, keeping in touch with everyone, including long-ago landladies, and for 50 years he wrote once or twice...
A sting of Robert Altman films in the 1970s made her into a major movie star with a Best Actress win at Cannes. Then came Kubrick's The Shining, a physically and emotionally grueling film shoot leading to a performance that strikes viewers as either brilliant or grotesque. She spent the '80s and early '90s producing children's television with marquee...
"Since the 1960s, Mr. Corea had been a prolific and dynamic force in music, building on his early training in classical music, Latin jazz and traditional jazz to build an original style that freely crossed musical boundaries. During a six-decade career, he won 23 Grammy Awards, more than any other jazz performer." - The Washington Post
"When Professor Herbert began delving into Impressionism, the field was threatened by a kind of anemic gentility, arid formalism and French literary theory. His method, by contrast, was to locate works of art within a matrix of social and biographic details, while being careful not to reduce them to the politics of their day, or of ours." - The...
It started with a standing ovation. "At this point, allegedly, the gentleman swatted Academy award-winning Kidman with his program, prompting Urban to accuse the man of assaulting his wife. Quick as a flash, Urban summoned his burly security to escort the couple and Kidman’s mum out of the audience, while Opera House security were sent in to retrieve the...
In fact, he was a very promising art student, excelling at plants in particular, but a professor who worried that he couldn't support himself as an artist suggested he go into botany — and the rest is history. His career came full circle: one of the 300 uses he came up with for peanuts was to make inexpensive paints....
"A Bosnian-born guitarist and accordionist, brought the traditional ballads of her Sephardic ancestors and the melodies of the Ladino language to American audiences through performances and recordings." - The Washington Post
