Archive for July, 2011
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Her Greatest Performance
Posted on July 24, 2011 | 2 CommentsI recall sending this clip to a friend (see below) who agreed that it was indeed a profound moment and he was sorry for Amy Winehouse’s need to crash into the same brick walls Billie Holiday crashed into previously. We... -
Roslyn Dexter
Posted on July 20, 2011 | 1 CommentOne of the very best exhibitions you can see in New York just now is on the corner of 57th Street and 8th Avenue, at the Hearst Building, and it’s free. There, on the building’s street level, one can view... -
Style and Jane Bowles
Posted on July 19, 2011 | No CommentsDiana Vreeland once described style by saying “It helps you get down the stairs.” What if you have to get down the stairs with a limp? The brilliant Jane Bowles (1917–1973) walked with a limp–the result of a teenage illness.... -
Ava Cherry and Luther Vandross
Posted on July 19, 2011 | No CommentsIn 1975, I was fifteen years old and a frequent babysitter for my sister, Lulu, now of St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. In those days she lived in a large apartment in Brooklyn; she shared it with her then husband, a native... -
Billie Allen
Posted on July 19, 2011 | No CommentsShe knew me as I was. And she knew, too, the artist I’m writing about currently: the late filmmaker and director, Bill Gunn. The two Bills. Companeros. She of the beautiful mind and skin, he of the same. I met... -
Us Two
Posted on July 11, 2011 | No CommentsThere had always been the dream of collaboration. As she lay dying, she had to write a letter. Her friend suggested they do it together; the letter would be better that way; their collaboration would result in a third person...
