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Fine European furniture and decorative arts to be auctioned by Clars
OAKLAND, CA.- This January at Clars we are pleased to offer a selection of fine paintings, prints, and sculptures to brighten gray winter days. First up are two springtime scenes from American Impressionist, Paul Sawyier. Sawyier is known today as one of Kentuckys most renowned artists, beginning his career studying under William Merritt Chase in New York City, and displaying several works at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893. The two paintings by Sawyier at Clars this month, both oils on panel, are garden scenes showing classical-style sculptures amid pastel flowers in full bloom. Secondly, we present a watercolor by painter, James Taylor Harwood. Born in the territory of Utah, Harwood honed his artistic skills at the California School of Design in San Francisco before embarking on an extended trip to Paris, France with fellow ... More

An innovative vocalist lost her speech, but she's still performing
NEW YORK, NY.- Last April, Vienna-based avant-garde jazz vocalist Linda Sharrock gave her first New York performance in over 40 years: a sold-out concert at BAMs Howard Gilman Opera House, as part of a series curated by Solange. Appearing between poet Claudia Rankine and saxophonist Archie Shepp, Sharrock guided eight musicians through a fully improvised set while she howled powerfully over the cacophonous squall of free jazz in a declamatory style that evoked the evenings program title, The Cry of My People. It wasnt until after shed received multiple standing ovations that most of the audience realized the 76-year-old singer wasnt able to speak: Sharrock became aphasic after a 2009 stroke that paralyzed her right side; she now uses a wheelchair. A few weeks later at the Boston-area home of pianist Eric ... More

A giant Vegas-style sphere in London? Don't bet on it.
LONDON.- What happens in Vegas, it turns out, really does stay in Vegas. The American company behind the Sphere, the gargantuan orb that shimmers, twinkles and glows just off the Las Vegas Strip, has formally withdrawn its proposal to build a sister Sphere in London. Declaring that the plan had become a hostage to political rivalries, Madison Square Garden Entertainment said this week it would take the groundbreaking technology to other, more forward-thinking cities. The decision was not a major surprise: Last November, Londons Labour Party mayor, Sadiq Khan, blocked the Sphere, which would have been built on a 4.7-acre site next to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, in East London. The exterior of the building, wrapped in 54,000 square meters of LED lighting, would have been a glaring source ... More

Jewish group assails Film Academy's diversity efforts
LOS ANGELES, CA.- More than 260 Jewish entertainment figures including actors David Schwimmer, Julianna Margulies and Josh Gad, and producers Greg Berlanti and Marta Kauffman signed an open letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on Tuesday, criticizing the organization for excluding Jews as an underrepresented group in its diversity efforts. In 2020, the academy issued a set of standards as part of its diversity initiative that recognized a number of identities as underrepresented, including women, LGBTQ people, an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, or those with cognitive or physical disabilities. Religion is not one of the categories considered. These initiatives will become part of the standards required for a film to compete in the best picture category beginning this year. For a film to be eligible, ... More

Review: For Jews, an unanswered 'Prayer for the French Republic'
NEW YORK, NY.- Such is the sadness of our world that plays about antisemitism, however historical, cannot help but be prescient. Take Prayer for the French Republic, Joshua Harmons sprawling family drama about the Salomons, Jews who have been in France more than a thousand years, as one of them puts it, still sounding provisional. With violent incidents on the rise, and a fascistic, Nazi-adjacent party gaining in the polls, should they finally seek safety elsewhere? When it ran off-Broadway in 2022, Prayer for the French Republic already seemed painfully timely, with the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, the murder of a Holocaust survivor in Paris and other antisemitic atrocities barely in the rearview mirror. Two years later, with so much more awfulness to choose from, Harmon, revising his script ... More

Three dancers and three traditions converse, united by rhythm
NEW YORK, NY.- Can We Dance Here? Thats the title of Soles of Duendes signature work. But its also a question that the members of this percussive dance company often find themselves posing. Were constantly asking it weekly, daily, trying to book a rehearsal studio, tap dancer Amanda Castro said. Often, the answer is no because theres a fear that tap and flamenco shoes will damage floors, or that the groups rehearsals will be too loud. People have hung up the phone on us, said Castro, who is one of three members of Soles of Duende, along with flamenco dancer Arielle Rosales and Kathak artist Brinda Guha. People cut me off in the middle of the word flamenco theyre like, no, we dont allow that, sorry, click. Sometimes the problem is about logistics. Once, after showing up to a festival and finding that they were expected ... More

The best songs our readers discovered in 2023
NEW YORK, NY.- A few weeks ago, I asked New York Times readers to share the best older song they discovered or rediscovered in 2023. As usual, the Amplifier community did not disappoint. This playlist is a compilation of some of the best submissions along with your (condensed and edited) explanations of why these songs resonated so deeply. The track list is an eclectic mix, featuring rock, soul, jazz, hip-hop, folk, punk and just about everything in between. Quite a few of you introduced me to artists Id never heard before, like British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre, Los Angeles punk band the Brat and underrated North Carolina-born soul singer Bessie Banks. Ill definitely be seeking out more music from all of them. I was especially struck by the stories about rediscovered songs. Sometimes a piece of music weve ... More

Herman Raucher, screenwriter best known for 'Summer of '42,' dies at 95
NEW YORK, NY.- Herman Raucher, who turned his memories of a summer as a teenager in a Massachusetts beach town, which included a sexual encounter with a young war widow, into the screenplay for the nostalgic 1971 film Summer of 42, died on Dec. 28 in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 95. His daughter Jenny Raucher confirmed the death, in a hospital. Raucher spent the 1950s and 60s writing scripts for anthology television series and advertising copy for The Walt Disney Co. and various agencies. But recollections of his own summer of 42 lingered. So did the memory of one of his close friends, Oscar Seltzer, a medic who was killed on Rauchers 24th birthday, in 1952, while caring for a wounded soldier during the Korean War. Summer of 42 tells the story of three 15-year-old friends Hermie, Oscy and Benjie and their ... More