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PEOPLE

Gwyneth Paltrow — Is She Really A Performance Artist?

"Parking the new-age woo-woo momentarily (the seven-day detoxes, the walking barefoot to cure depression, the vagina-steaming), there is a provocation here or at the very least a disconnect – it was 2008. … Paltrow's vision of luxury was so preposterous, it's surprising we didn’t immediately see it as a critique of consumption." - The Guardian

“A Variety Show In Human Form”: Billy Crystal Knows Almost Everyone And Can Do Almost Everything In Showbiz

"(He) somehow managed to know nearly every significant cultural figure of the past half-century. Mickey Mantle confided in him. … Martin Scorsese taught him film directing at NYU. He (did) surprise cameos with Robin Williams." Billie Holiday took him to the movies. Tiffany Haddish calls him her godfather. - MSN (The Washington Post)

Actress Frances Sternhagen, 93

She's known to wider audiences for playing formidable mothers in the series ER, Cheers, Sex in the City, and The Closer, but her greatest achievements were on stage: she garnered two Obies, six Tony nominations and two Tony wins. - AP

Tim Dorsey, Who Put Florida’s Weirdness Into Dark Comic Novels, Is Dead At 62

One of a trio (along with Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry) of erstwhile newspaper reporters who became famous for satirizing their home state in fiction, Dorsey wrote a series of novels about serial murderer Serge Storms, who came up with fiendishly inventive ways of dispatching deserving victims. - Tampa Bay Times

Marty Krofft, Co-Producer Of “H.R. Pufnstuf” And A Slew Of Other Children’s TV Shows, Is Dead At 86

"Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures became a household name in the 1970s, helping launch them into creating and producing family and kids shows for more than 50 years. Eventually, Marty Krofft would be referred to as the 'King of Saturday Mornings.'” - CNN

At 72 She Dreamed Of Being A Musician And Picked Up A Trombone. At 84 She’s Got A Career

Now 84, Noreen Davies has gigged throughout the West Midlands with groups exploring everything from the blues to vintage jazz and big band funk. No matter the tune, she has stayed true to her vision of bending the notes on the giant horn, twisting and wailing like a held string on an electric guitar. - The Guardian

Experimental Musician And Composer Catherine Christer Hennix Has Died At 75

Hennix "fused minimalist drones, mathematical logic and global spiritual traditions into an approach she called 'infinitary composition.'" - The New York Times

Why Is Joaquin Phoenix So Very Unhappy?

"The statement his acting seems to be making, more and more, is that the world is too dire, too mired in injustice — that there are too many people putting cream in their coffee — for him to allow any pleasure to seep into his acting." - Variety

Actor Sara Porkalob On Speaking Her Truth In Theatre

"In many ways, starting in college, I deliberately refrained from following the art that was made at those epicenters because I was really worried that as a young artist, if I consumed that much art, it would unconsciously determine how I made art." - San Francisco Chronicle

Talent Agency Drops Susan Sarandon After Remarks On Hamas/Israel War

United Talent dropped Sarandon after remarks at a rally in New York City: “There are a lot of people that are afraid, afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence,” she said. - The New York Times

Award-Winning Palestinian Writer Who Was Arrested In Gaza Has Been Released

"Palestinian poet/essayist Mosab Abu Toha, whose 2022 poetry collection Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza won an American Book Award and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist, has been released after being detained by the Israel Defense Forces, his publisher has confirmed." - Publishers Weekly

Author Herbert Gold, 99

"(His) verbal inventiveness and keen eye for complicated emotional transactions ... or struggling to connect the world of their Jewish immigrant parents with the realities of American life, ... established him as one of the most promising of the young American writers to emerge after World War II." - The New York Times

Joss Ackland, Versatile Actor With A Seven-Decade Career, Is Dead At 95

"A self-described workaholic, (he) brought a mellifluous voice and commanding presence to more than 200 movies and television shows, in addition to starring in musicals on London’s West End and performing onstage with the Old Vic and the Royal Shakespeare Company." - MSN (The Washington Post)

No One Knows Joan Baez Like Her Friend Of 37 Years, Who Made The ‘Gut-Punch’ Documentary

Somehow, the friendship has survived - and "honesty, even at its most uncomfortable, is far more compelling than just another celebrity swan song." - Washington Post

Composer David Del Tredici, Pulitzer Prize-Winner, Has Died At 86

Del Tredici "became best known for a midcareer shift toward a style that came to be called the New Romanticism, which yielded a series of rich-hued, tuneful pieces based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories." - The New York Times

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