Cartoon of the Week

Mike Luckovich in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Please, guys, get SOMETHING done!

Two Deaths to Mark Today: Thomas Hoving (78) and Gene Barry (90)

We have lost tow large names in the arts… one from the Museum and funding world, one from the performance world, and both that I give a serious nod to their passing.

From 1967 to 1977 Hoving served as the Director of th Metropolitan Museum of Art and literally created the concept of the Museum Blockbuster Show. Iremember, as a young theatre director living in NYC, standing in line in 1975 to see King Tut… and PAYING MONEY to do it! Hoving actually made the Museum, an historical money loser, pay off!

He had been Mayor Lindsay’s Parks Commissioner before taking over the Met, and in his first year in the Museum almost lost his job bey creating the much misunderstood “Harlem On My Mind” exhibit… but he was tough, aggressive and had a distinctly high-level view of himself (some called it arrogance.) A quote from Hoving:

“The most sweeping revolution in the history of art museums had taken place.
The Met, once an elitist, stiff, gray and slightly moribund entity, came alive. The mummies did dance.”

—

Gene Barry, born Eugene Klass in New York City, entered show business in his teens by winning a singing contest (and though he made his major reputation on Television, Barry later in life was a Broadway star in La Cage Aux Folles).

I remember him as TVs Bat Masterson, which I watched religiously as a child. Later generations pin him down as Burke in Burke’s Law, or as a publisher in The Name of the Game. Whatever, he was always a distinguished character.

His career went from singing in the Catskills, to Broadway, to film, to Television and back to the stage and was always busy. He will be missed.

Movie Stars Discuss: Is Acting Art?

I guess because it is Opening Night of Holmes & Watson at Full Circle, I am thinking about acting today. Here are Nicolas Cage, Colin Firth, Stanley Tucci, Morgan Freeman, Peter Sarsgaard and Christoph Waltz in a roundtable discussion from THR.com:

My feeling: Acting is art as long as the actor perceives him-or-herself as an artist.

3 Views of “Peaches En Regalia” – This Morning’s Zappadan Classic

This is Frank playing Peaches En Regalia in a Home Movie, not the new version by Dweezil that got his father installed at the R&R Hall of Fame. Enjoy:

OK… here’s Dweezil playing Peaches En Regalia in Milan in 2008:

And one more time: Here’s Phish playing Peaches En Regalia last week:

Zappa’s accomplishment as composer will continue to grow in the Music World for years to come…