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Why New York City is trying to preserve a crumbling church
NEW YORK, NY.- Grace Congregational Church does not have many members these days, but the dozen or so people who do worship at the century-old building on a quiet Harlem side street like to get there early. They climb the crumbling steps into the humble brick church and find seats on the aging wooden pews, where sheets of peeling paint hang like curtains from the water-damaged ceiling above their heads. Grace Church has been a constant in their lives. It is a place where they have gotten married, christened their children, and where some of them were christened as children themselves. But as the congregation has shrunk and the building has fallen into disrepair, members have dreamed up a vision for their future: a modern complex that combines a new church with dozens of affordable housing units. Churches just dont survive anymore ... More

What a rare, live 'A Love Supreme' reveals about John Coltrane
NEW YORK, NY.- When John Coltrane released A Love Supreme in early 1965, fans recognized it as a masterwork practically on first listen. Best-of-the-year accolades rolled in. It became the biggest commercial hit of his career and possibly the most timeless piece of worship music in the American canon. A Love Supreme was a realized ideal: Its four-part suite perfectly melded spiritual transcendence and physical exertion, powerful composition and openhearted improvising. And as soon as it was released, Coltrane was ready to leap ahead far further. He started expanding the classic quartet that had recorded the album until the group reached a breaking point. He brought in other, often younger musicians and guided them into furious improvisations, drawing upon spiritual traditions from across the Global South. And he rarely returned to A Love Supreme. ... More

Egypt film on poverty ruffles feathers triggering patriotic backlash
EL-GOUNA.- Egyptian movie "Feathers" has drawn critical acclaim abroad but its unsettling depiction of poverty in the Arab world's most populous country has sparked heated debate at home. Veteran actor Sherif Moneer, who walked out of a screening at Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival this month, has led a patriotic backlash against the film for "presenting Egypt negatively". But others have praised director Omar El Zohairy for shedding light on a genuine social problem in a way that is both artistic and constructive. On late Friday at the closing ceremony of the fifth edition of the El Gouna Film Festival, "Feathers" won the award for best Arab narrative film. "For me any artistic work will always generate differing views," a beaming Zohairy told AFP on the red carpet, addressing the issue after claiming the prize. "The film is more important than any ... More

Neue Auctions announces highlights included in online-only Fine Art & Antiques auction
BEACHWOOD, OHIO.- An eerily evocative oil painting by the Japanese-American artist Kikuo Saito (1939-2016) and two colorful and vibrant outdoor renderings by Constantin Kluge (French, 1912-2003) are just a few of the expected headliners in Neue Auctions online-only Fine Art & Antiques auction scheduled for Saturday, October 30th, starting promptly at 10 am Eastern time. The Saito painting, titled Summer Ghost (1997) is impressive at 50 inches by 57 Â¾ inches (sight, less frame), and is signed, titled and dated verso. Saito was an abstract painter with ties to the Color Field movement and Lyrical abstraction. His work infuses richly saturated colorscapes with delicately drawn lines. The painting up for bid is a fine example (estimate: $7,000-$10,000). The Kluge oils include a Parisian cityscape titled Place de la Madeleine, signed and 40 ... More

Gene Cernan's Apollo 17 Checklist with notes for last words spoken on the Moon sold for $744,993 at auction
BOSTON, MASS.- Gene Cernan's Apollo 17 flown checklist used during his final moonwalk sold for $744,993, according to Boston-based RR Auction. On December 14, 1972, Apollo 17 Commander Gene Cernan The last man on the Moon delivered his parting words from the lunar surface. The Apollo program was over, and mankind knew not when it would return to another celestial body. Standing before the American flag, he delivered these words: "Here man completed his first exploration of the Moon, December 1972 A.D. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind'This is our commemoration that will be here until someone like us, until some of you who are out there, who are the promise ... More

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, expands its curatorial team
HANOVER, NH.- The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, welcomes four new curators as it seeks to activate new possibilities in its collection, spaces, and staff by expanding the art and audiences with, about, and from whom we learn. In particular, these four individuals will reimagine the collection's influence and potential to forge meaningful connections across disciplines, peoples, and local and global communities. They will pursue critical scholarship, exhibitions, publications, and enhanced access while developing ethical and sustainable practices for owning, cataloging, and utilizing the Hood Museum's holdings. John Stomberg, the Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director of the museum, says, "These new curators bring a wide range of experiences and expertise to the Hood Museum. Their ideas will propel the institution into the next chapter of its ... More

The historic Adams French mansion in Aberdeen, Mississippi is up for sale
ABERDEEN, MISS.- The historic Adams French mansion a magnificent, 7,000-square-foot antebellum home on the National Register of Historic Places, situated on four bucolic acres atop the highest elevated point in Aberdeen is for sale, for $750,000 (or best offer). The buyer would also have the option of purchasing the homes top-quality furnishings from the period. The seller is the mansions sole occupant Dwight Stevens, the owner of Stevens Auction Company, based in Aberdeen. After acquiring the house in 2002, and until 2006, when a fire to the roof forced a two-year renovation, Mr. Stevens regularly conducted his auctions there. The mansion was the site of many million-dollar auctions, he said. I have some great memories. The mansion was built starting in 1856 by Col. John Cox, a wealthy plantation owner who was also in the lumber ... More

Bernard Haitink, perhaps the wisest conductor of them all
NEW YORK, NY.- What I can still feel today, almost in my skin, is the warmth. It was July 20, 2009, at the Royal Albert Hall in London; I sat behind the orchestra, all the better to see the conductor. Bernard Haitink had led the London Symphony Orchestra through the first three movements of Mahlers Ninth Symphony. I cant remember much about them, to be honest, although Im confident that the portrayal of their carnage, ironies and fear was sure. All memory of that melted in the generosity of the embrace that followed. If a D flat chord can be decent, can be understanding, then the one Haitink drew that evening from the orchestras strings near the start of Mahlers concluding adagio, the composers farewell to life, was that and more. Haitink lay something close to a benediction on that benighted music, and through it on us, as if to say that ... More

Emerging through the fog of a pandemic with 'Giselle'
NEW YORK, NY.- Back in September of 2020, when performances in most New York City theaters were very much on pause, American Ballet Theater announced a slew of promotions for dancers with great fanfare. It was an odd move given the time and the state of the world: Was it a way to tell dancers (and donors) something along the lines of keep the faith but also keep working out? Of the seven promotions, Joo Won Ahn, Aran Bell, Skylar Brandt, Thomas Forster, Calvin Royal III and Cassandra Trenary were named principals, and Gabe Stone Shayer became a soloist. On Thursday, Brandt made her long-awaited New York debut in Giselle, part of Ballet Theaters season at the David H. Koch Theater, and others will do so over the weekend. (Next week, the company presents mixed repertory programs.) But for Wednesdays opening, ... More

Andrew Lloyd Webber brings the music of the night back to 'Phantom'
NEW YORK, NY.- Andrew Lloyd Webber looked pleased. He was standing over the large orchestra pit of his musical The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater on Broadway, hearing the instrumental EntrActe from the top after a half-hour of detail work more emphatic delivery here, more passionate lyricism there. He held his hands at his hips, a contented smile on his face. Thats great, much better, he said after the ensemble finished. It just needs to be played like its on the edge, all the time. Lloyd Webber, composer of some of the most famous musicals of the past five decades in a wide stylistic range from the radio-ready rock of Jesus Christ Superstar to the maddening tunefulness of Cats and the lush romanticism of Phantom was in town from Britain to prepare for the reopening on Friday of the longest-running show ... More

Dorothy Steel, whose big-screen career had a late start, dies at 95
NEW YORK, NY.- Dorothy Steel was 90 and had been acting professionally for little more than a year when her agent asked her, in late 2016, if she wanted to audition for a role in Black Panther, the Marvel Studios film set in the fantastical African nation of Wakanda. She was uncertain. So she said no. I said, There is no way Im going to be in no comic strip at my age, Steel recalled telling her agent, Cindy Butler, when she appeared on Steve Harveys television show in 2018. But shes very persistent. I have to give her credit. She said, Miss Dorothy, you can do this. She relented after getting an extra push from her grandson, Niles Wardell. She was on the fence about it, Wardell said in a phone interview, and when she brought it to my attention I said: Grandma, you always talk about stepping out on faith and doing the things ... More