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Joan Kaplan Davidson, philanthropist who championed New York, dies at 96
NEW YORK, NY.- Joan Kaplan Davidson, a preservationist and philanthropist who set projects in motion that upgraded the quality of life in New York City, died Friday in Hudson, New York. She was 96. Her son John Matthew Davidson confirmed the death, in a hospital. He did not specify a cause, saying simply that her heart gave out. Davidson served as chair of the New York State Council on the Arts in the 1970s and as New York State parks commissioner in the 1990s. But she made her most lasting mark from 1977-93 as president of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, a foundation established by her father, Jacob M. Kaplan, in 1945. The fund has a modest endowment compared with giant foundations such as Ford, Carnegie and Rockefeller. But it has often been the first stop for those seeking grants to save buildings, support cultural institutions or restore landmarks in New York. ... More

Romance readers swoon for Brooklyn's newest bookstore
NEW YORK, NY.- At 10 a.m. on a recent Saturday, a line of nearly 50 people mostly women stretched down a busy block in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. Their eyes were on a pink-painted storefront adorned with pink balloons. Moments later, sisters Bea Koch, 33, and Leah Koch, 31, emerged with an announcement: We are open! The crowd cheered and applauded. Photos were taken. An hour later, the store was at capacity. And out on the sidewalk, the line kept growing. It wasnt a trendy croissant, or an influencer hawking a new video game console, that had generated so much enthusiasm. It was a bookstore: The Ripped Bodice, a shop devoted almost entirely to romance novels. Many fans had planned their weekend around the opening. Some traveled a significant distance to be there. The store opened just as the BeyoncÃ© ... More

Keith Waldrop, professor and award-winning poet, dies at 90
NEW YORK, NY.- Keith Waldrop, whose first poetry collection was a finalist for a National Book Award in 1969 and who won the award 40 years later with his Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy, died on July 27. He was 90. Brown University, where he taught for more than 40 years, posted news of his death. It did not say where he died or state the cause. Waldrop was far more than a poet. He was a well-regarded translator of French poetry and prose, was an artist whose collages were exhibited in solo and group shows, and ran a small press with his wife, the poet Rosmarie Waldrop. As a poet, he had dozens of published volumes to his credit. His poetry, as the Brown posting put it, was infused with an emotional and intellectual undercurrent that could astonish the reader in its capacity to bridge disparate thought with, if not logic, then perhaps something deeper, richer. The judges who awarded ... More

Tom Jones, half of record-setting 'Fantasticks' team, dies at 95
NEW YORK, NY.- Tom Jones, who wrote the book and lyrics for a modest musical called The Fantasticks that opened in 1960 in New Yorks Greenwich Village neighborhood and ran for an astonishing 42 years, propelled in part by its wistful opening song, Try to Remember, died Friday at his home in Sharon, Connecticut. He was 95. His son Michael said the cause was cancer. Jones and his frequent collaborator, Harvey Schmidt, first worked together when they were students at the University of Texas, Jones in the drama departments directing program, Schmidt studying art but indulging his musical inclinations on the side. They kept in touch after graduating, writing songs together by mail after they were drafted during the Korean War. Jones got out first and tried his luck in New York, failing to find work as a director but writing for the revues being staged ... More

John Barrett, hair stylist for the fashionable elite, dies at 66
NEW YORK, NY.- John Barrett, a hairdresser whose relaxed wit, scissor-sharp style and long line of A-list clients put him literally on top of the luxury fashion world, with a salon spanning the penthouse level of the Bergdorf Goodman department store, died Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 66. The death, at New York University Langone hospital, was confirmed by Jeffrey Seller, a close friend, who said the cause was complications of blood cancer. New York has no shortage of places where clients can spend $200 or more on a snip and a blow dry. But for more than 20 years from when Barrett opened at Bergdorf in 1996 to 2019, when he left to open his own salon his aerie overlooking Central Park was the destination of choice for the fashionable elite, whether they walked over from Park Avenue or flew in from Miami, Los Angeles or London. He ... More

In Istanbul, revered shrines receive the wishes and woes of a modern city
ISTANBUL.- Years ago, when her sister was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Mahire Turk sought divine intervention. She trekked to a shrine atop a hill overlooking the Bosporus, sat under an ornate dome close to the grave of a Sufi master who died nearly 400 years ago and prayed intensely for her sister to beat the disease. After chemotherapy, her sister was declared cancer-free and is now expecting a baby, said Turk, 40, who works in a pharmaceutical warehouse. So to this day, when worries cloud her mind, Turk, like many of her compatriots in this ancient, sprawling city of 16 million, visits one of its many shrines to long-dead religious figures to seek a spiritual boost. These are the protectors of Istanbul, Turk said during a return pilgrimage to the shrine of Aziz Mahmud Hudayi, where she had prayed for her sister. I am sure that if I pay them a visit, they will protect me, too. ... More

Patrons want straight answers in Crooked House Pub's demise
LONDON.- Getting a drink in The Crooked House pub could feel intoxicating, even if youd ordered a lemonade. Originally built as a farmhouse in Englands West Midlands in 1765, the red brick structure had begun to sink in the 19th century after years of coal mining under its foundations. As a result, the walls slouched sideways at a 16-degree angle, dizzying customers and delighting children. Buttresses and steel bars made the structure safe, but it remained charmingly askew, leading to its jokey designation as Britains Wonkiest Pub. (Wonky means not straight or level in the United Kingdom.) In an optical illusion caused by the pubs slant, patrons could roll marbles and coins on some of the interiors surfaces and watch them seem to tumble uphill, as if gravity had magically reversed itself. But this week, the landmark was abruptly flattened, its structure ... More

Salon Art + Design returns with new galleries & unique displays of collectible design
NEW YORK, NY.- Salon Art + Design, the leading collectible design and art fair produced by Sanford L. Smith + Associates, announces its 12th edition, taking place at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City from November 9 - 13, 2023. Salon Art + Design has evolved into the premier destination for showcasing, acquiring and engaging with design and art. A highlight of New York City's Fall arts calendar, Salon is pleased to unveil new exhibitors, paired with special displays of collectible design. Featuring some 50 exceptional exhibitors from around the world, Salon presents leading design vintage, modern and contemporary and blue-chip 20th-century art. The fair presents an array of material from furniture, studio glass and ceramics, to Japanese art and jewelry. Salon is thrilled to welcome several new exhibitors, many who are much-anticipated up-and-comers ... More

David Lewis now representing Lisa Jo
NEW YORK, NY.- David Lewis has announced their representation of California-born, Berlin-based painter Lisa Jo and her ﬁrst solo exhibition at David Lewis in Tribeca. The exhibition will feature new paintings by Jo in her signature graphic style. The oil paintings in this exhibition offer glimpses of the female body through abstracted shapes and colors and elements of pop art, always derived from the 1970s French erotic comic L'Ãcho des savanes. Jos process involves taking fragments of an arm here, a leg there, different renderings of eyes, a glimpse of a hip or a leg, graphic cutouts of long ﬂowing hair and the suggestion of a nude, and digitally recomposing and coloring them before translating these compositions onto canvas. The resulting works give the impression of animation deconstructing and constantly moving. ... More