“Gordon Waller, who formed half of Peter and Gordon, a successful pop duo that followed the Beatles to America as part of the British Invasion of the 1960s and that scored a No. 1 hit with ‘A World Without Love,’ died on Friday in Norwich, Conn. He was 64 and lived in Ledyard, Conn. . . [...]
Archive for July, 2009
R.I.P. – Gordon Waller (1945-2009)
Posted in Counter Culture, Obituaries, Popular Culture, Popular Music, Rock 'n' Roll on July 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Rocking the Boat: Giorgia Boscolo Becomes Venice’s First Female Gondolier
Posted in Europe, Foreign Travel, Sex & Gender on July 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“With the splash of her oar, nine centuries of taboos in this romantic canal city shattered as [Giorgia] Boscolo passed a rigorous exam of brains and brawn to become Venice’s first official female gondolier — or gondoliera in Italian, a term that didn’t even exist until her achievement made it necessary. . . . “Boscolo’s breakthrough [...]
Oh Julia, Where Art Thou? or, The End of French Food?
Posted in Books, Europe, Food & Wine, Foreign Travel on July 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“On Bastille Day, as chefs from the Flatiron District were holding a benefit in Madison Square Park inspired by food from around the world, a couple of blocks away Michael Steinberger was sounding the death knell for the most legendary cuisine of all. The occasion was the launch, at Idlewild Books, of his book ‘Au [...]
R.I.P. – Tom Wilkes (1939-2009)
Posted in Counter Culture, Design, Obituaries, Popular Culture, Popular Music, Rock 'n' Roll on July 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Tom Wilkes, an art director, photographer and designer whose posters for the Monterey Pop Festival and album covers for the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, George Harrison and others helped illustrate the age of rock ’n’ roll, died on June 28 in Pioneertown, Calif., in the high desert east of Los Angeles. He was [...]
Today’s Sign of the Apocalypse: Candy Maker PEZ Sues PEZ Museum Over Giant Snowman Dispenser
Posted in Collectors & Collecting, Crimes & Misdemeanors, Museums & Exhibitions, Popular Culture, Sign of the Apocalypse on July 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“It took more than 30 years for the creators of Pez candy dispensers to give the little plastic figurines feet, and they never did get hands. But now the long arm of the Pez Candy Co. has reached all the way from Linz, Austria, into U.S. District Court, where it has slapped the tiny faces that [...]
Collecting Blues: Collecting Fragile 78 R.P.M. Records in a Fragile Economy
Posted in Antiques & Folk Art, Blues & Jazz, Collectors & Collecting, Popular Culture, Popular Music on July 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »
“John Heneghan tugged a large shellac disc from its brown paper sleeve, placed it on a turntable and gently nudged a needle into place. Behind him, in the corner of his East Village apartment, sat 16 wooden crates, each filled with meticulously cataloged 78-r.p.m. records. The coarse, crackling voice of the blues singer Charley Patton, [...]
Baseball Pioneer Harry Wright’s Letters Pulled from Hunt Auction
Posted in Antiques & Folk Art, Baseball, Collectors & Collecting, Crimes & Misdemeanors, Sports on July 3, 2009 | 1 Comment »
“Harry Wright, a Hall of Fame manager and pioneer during professional baseball’s gestation period in the 19th century, kept his letters in scrapbooks along with pictures and ledgers from his distinguished career. These faded pieces of paper are fragile evidence of some of the earliest business practices in baseball. “Hunt Auctions was scheduled to sell [...]
