It was a sad week for one-hit wonders: Two rockers who composed singular hits passed away this week. First was classic rock-n-roller Dale Hawkins, who was best known for his Louisiana swagger and his swamp-rock anthem “Susie Q” (the best known version of which is Creedence Clearwater Revival’s cover from 1968). He died of cancer in Little Rock, Arkansas, a blow to many rockabilly and Southern music fans alike. And in California, musician Doug Fieger also passed away due to cancer, but at a much younger age. Fieger is best known for fronting the band The Knack, and singing “My Sharona,” the biggest hit of 1979. He was 57.
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The hottest play in New York this week is not on Broadway—rather, Alexi Kaye Campbell's The Pride is showing downtown, and has inspired a great deal of press due to its young stars, Ben Whishaw and Hugh Dancy. The British pair play gay lovers, spanning the long time period from the late 1950s to the near present. The show has been so popular that its run was extended through March 28. Read more about the play and the boys’ great performances, here.
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This week, the James Beard Foundation Award nominees list emerged (the cooking world’s version of the Oscars), and though many worthy chefs are up for “Outstanding Chef,” Top Chef host Tom Colicchio is no doubt the most recognizable. Though he has a great deal of worthy competitors (Suzanne Goin, Paul Kahan, Mark Peel), we wonder if the public at large will take a greater interest in the ceremony this year due to Colicchio’s involvement. You can peruse the nominees and make your fantasy league picks here.
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This has happened a few times before and it’s bound to happen again: Someone is suing the richest woman in the U.K., claiming that the Harry Potter author stole his idea. In this case, the estate of writer Adrian Jacobs (who died in 1997) claims that Rowling copied many parts of Jacobs’ The Adventures of Willy the Wizard from 1987. Rowling denies the charges and says she’s never read the book. “I am saddened that yet another claim has been made that I have taken material from another source to write Harry," she said. "The fact is I had never heard of the author or the book before the first accusation by those connected to the author's estate in 2004; I have certainly never read the book."
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This week, the World Economic Forum held a meeting of the creative minds at Carnegie Hall to discuss the future of the arts (no small subject). The Times’ Daniel Wakin reports that most leaders simply argued for the validity of the arts’ existence and for more subsidy money. “Art can be life-changing, but entertainment need not be," said Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg, chief executive of Strategic Investment Group and chairman of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. But music that does not move you is “dead art,” she said. Matthew Bishop, The Economist’s New York bureau chief, had a more pragmatic definition: "People pay for entertainment. Art is subsidized.” Conferences and panel talks won’t solve the deficit in the arts, but for now, it certainly helps those who have been most affected to bond together.
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Presented without much comment, perhaps the best piece of culture you can engage this week is Esquire writer Chris Jones’ moving profile of Chicago movie critic Robert Ebert, who lost his jaw to illness and now cannot speak at all, except through his film reviews. Perhaps the most profound development was Ebert’s response to the piece, in which he chose to be brutally honest: “I was a little surprised at the detail the article went into about the nature and extent of my wounds and the realities of my appearance, but what the hell. It was true. I didn't need polite fictions...the more interviews you've done, the more you appreciate a good one.”
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