Long Live the King: The Songwriters who made Elvis Presley a legend This past Sunday would have 76th birthday of the King of Rock and Roll himself, Elvis Presley. The very name of this pop music icon immediately calls to mind a host of images from his unprecedented career; the sleepy-eyed smile and gyrating hips […]
The Kennedy Center Honors and Blackwing Pencils The Kennedy Center Honors, which recognizes a select few recipients for their sterling contributions to culture through a lifetime in the performing arts, airs tonight on CBS throughout the United States. Though the awards gala actually took place on December 4, tonight viewers can watch the best and […]
Sketchy Details: Pencil Sketches of Jane Austen She sits at work, her back erect in over a small writing table. Scattered across its surface are the tools of her trade: a tablet of paper, a pen or two. Westminster Abbey looms outside her window, and a cat is coiled in sleep, not in the folds […]
From Blackwing to Blue Eyes – Happy Birthday Frank Sinatra The 1950s were a turbulent decade for legendary singer and actor Frank Sinatra. Early years saw him lose his voice due to vocal chord hemmoraging, he divorced his first wife and entered into a stormy relationship with Ava Gardner, and most damaging of all, his […]
Christmas Carols: Creating the Sounds of the Season “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…Jack Frost nipping at your nose…” Chances are you are probably singing the rest by now; ”The Christmas Song” is one of the most popular Christmas carols of all time, covered by everyone from Nat King Cole to Frank Sinatra, James Taylor […]
Pursuing Your Passions: Lessons Learned from Walt Disney Walt Disney once said of the origins of his most famous character, “Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were […]
Have You Read Your Mark Twain Today? Trying to write about Mark Twain on this, the 176th anniversary of his birth, is a distinctly daunting task. For one, the man born Samuel Clemmens is responsible for some of the greatest novels of all time. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn” […]
When Words Aren’t Enough: Music in Film There is a story surrounding composer John Williams and the score for “Schindler’s List,” one of the most moving and memorable instances of music in film. As both director Steven Spielberg and Williams tell it, Spielberg showed Williams a draft of the film before asking Williams to compose […]
Pencils and Pop Culture: Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio Never Goes Away “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns it’s lonely eyes to you…” There is an aura that surrounds the life of Joe DiMaggio that doesn’t occur with any other baseball player in history. Perhaps it doesn’t even occur with any other athlete. For […]
It’s a good month to be Martin Scorsese. Not only does one of America’s greatest film-makers turn 69 today, but his latest film, “Hugo,” has already garnered positive critical buzz before its November 23 release date. Looking back at some of Scorsese’s greatest film achievements is a thoroughly subjective enterprise, but we encourage you to […]
