By Frank James

I've seen my kids reading books in the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series and after All Things Considered host Michele Norris' interview with author Jeff Kinney, I now have a better idea why they and countless other children have enjoyed the DOAWK books: they're fun, just like their author.

As Michele told Kinney during the interview, a day earlier she asked on air for children in NPR's audience to send in questions for the children's book author. We wound up getting 400 or so submissions. Here's a sampling of questions and Kinney's answers.

From Ethan Herbst, River Edge, N.J.: "My name is Ethan and I'm 7 years old and I want to know what happens to the muddy hand!"

Look under your bed tonight, and the muddy hand will be there waiting for you!

From Kenneth Raudales, Fort Mill, S.C.: "What is the funniest part in the books for you?"

Fregley's note to Greg is the funniest part in the book for me. Fregley has been terrorizing Greg by chasing him around during a sleep-over, and then Greg locks himself in the bathroom. So, Fregley slips a note under the door and it says, "Dear Greg Heffley, I'm very sorry I chased you with my booger. Here, I put it on this piece of paper so you could get me back."

Continue reading "'Wimpy Kid' Author Kinney Fields Fans' Questions On NPR" >

By Frank James

This from the Oh-What-A-Tangled-Web-We-Weave department.

The Associated Press claims in legal documents filed Tuesday that it doesn't believe the revised version of events told by Shepard Fairey, the artist who took an AP photo and transformed it into the iconic "Hope" poster.

The Associated Press doesn't buy the changing story of Obama "Hope" poster creator Shepard Fairey about his confusion over the source photo for the artwork.

Fairey admitted last week that he used the photo the AP said he used all along, a solo shot of Obama from a 2007 Darfur news conference where Obama was accompanied by actor George Clooney.

Incidentally, I attended the news event in question at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The poster is about the only substantive thing that came out of that press conference.

In any event, Fairey had previously said he used a photo of both Obama and Clooney which he cropped Clooney from.

But in his on-line confession last week he acknowledged that he had learned early in the case that the AP was right. He stuck with his story however, even destroying computer files that would have been evidence against him.

The AP's position is that Fairey knew from the very beginning that he used the photo the news agency said he used.

Continue reading "Obama 'Hope' Poster Creator Not Credible: AP" >

By Frank James

A new era in American orchestral history dawned Thursday with the debut of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's new music director, the 28-year old Venezuelan-born Gustavo Dudamel.

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel in September 2009. (Damian Dovarganes) / AP Photo)

Dudamel's relative youth and energy is expected to breathe new life into one of the nation's most important symphony orchestras and perhaps attract a new, younger audience for classical music.

His resume appears up to the challenge. He began conducting when he was 11 and became music director of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Venezuela when he was 18. He's been a guest conductor for orchestras around the world for the past five years.

NPR's Ina Jaffe reported on Dudamel on Morning Edition. An excerpt:

Before a rehearsal at the (Hollywood) bowl last Friday, Mark Swed, the classical music critic for the Los Angeles Times, said that despite Dudamel's youth, the Los Angeles Philharmonic was not really taking a risk by putting him in charge.

Continue reading " Los Angeles Philharmonic's New Leader Dudamel Debuts" >

By Frank James

Legendary and influential photographer Irving Penn, known for his riveting fashion photography and portraits, has died at age 92.

As Britannica.com notes:

Penn, the brother of the motion-picture director Arthur Penn, initially intended to become a painter, but at age 26 he took a job designing photographic covers for the fashion magazine Vogue. He began photographing his own ideas for covers and soon established himself as a fashion photographer. In 1950 he married model Lisa Fonssagrives, whom he photographed for much of his best work. His austere fashion images communicated elegance and luxury through compositional refinement and clarity of line rather than through the use of elaborate props and backdrops.

Penn also became an influential portraitist. He photographed a large number of celebrities, engaging each subject to sit for hours and to reveal his or her personality to the camera. In his portraits the subject is usually posed before a bare backdrop and photographed in natural northern light. The resulting images combine simplicity and directness with great formal sophistication. A memorable series of portraits he created in 1950--51, collectively called Small Trades, was of labourers in New York, Paris, and London formally posed in their work clothes and holding the tools of their trade. This project eventually extended to places such as Nepal, New Guinea, Dahomey (now Benin), and Morocco. Penn's later platinum prints of female nudes and of cigarette butts are characterized by the same tonal subtlety, compositional virtuosity, and serenity that mark his fashion photography and portraiture.

Continue reading "Photographer Irving Penn Dead At 92" >

Marcelo Alvarez, center, performs as Caravadossi alongside Karita Mattila, right, performing the title roll and George Gagnidze, left, performing as Scarpia during the final dress rehearsal of Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca," Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (Mary Altaffer / AP Photo)

By Frank James

Most serious opera lovers know what they like and like what they know. Many saw something they didn't like or care to know last night at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, a new interpretation of Tosca, Giacomo Puccini's beloved warhorse.

The Met staged a production of the opera as re-imagined by Swiss director Luc Bondy who evidently left out some of the traditional features opera goers associate with Tosca while creating post-modern sets, all of which proved too much for many in the audience.

As the New York Times reports:

When Mr. Bondy and the production team appeared on stage during curtain calls, the audience erupted in boos. If there were cheers among the jeers, they were drowned out. The conductor James Levine and the cast, headed by the charismatic soprano Karita Mattila in the title role and the impassioned tenor Marcelo ??lvarez as her lover Mario Cavaradossi, all received enormous ovations.

True, the reaction of an audience to a new production, especially when the opera is a staple of the repertory, is only one indicator of a production's impact.

Still, the booing, if a little unfair, was understandable. Mr. Bondy's high-concept staging featured stark, spare, cold sets and dispensed entirely with many of the familiar theatrical touches that audiences count on in this repertory staple: Tosca placed no candles by the body of the villain Scarpia after murdering him, and she did not exactly leap to her death at the end. Mr. Bondy had scoured the work, it seemed, looking for every pretense to flesh out, literally, the eroticism of the lovers and the lecherous kinkiness of Scarpia.

At least there wasn't a riot like the one that famously greeted the Paris premier of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

By Frank James

Celebrity photographer Annie Leibowitz has apparently gotten more time to find $24 million to repay her creditor, Art Capital Group though it's unclear how much more time she was able to negotiate, according to an Associated Press report.

Leibowitz was supposed to repay Art Capital by Tuesday midnight or lose her ownership of copyrights to all her photographs, past and future. Onerous doesn't begin to describe terms like those but anyone owed $24 million is obviously really serious about getting repaid and so would be taking some fairly significant collateral.

By Frank James

The Tuesday deadline has passed for famed photographer Annie Leibovitz to come up with $24 million to pay the note she owes Art Capital Group or lose ownership to the copyrights for her past and future photographs and her high priced real estate in Manhattan and New York.

But from reports, it appears Art Capital didn't drop the hammer on her at midnight and she still has a chance to save her property.

An excerpt from the Associated Press:

The deadline to repay the loan passed at 11:59 Tuesday without either party saying what would happen next. Leibovitz risked losing the lucrative copyright to her images if she didn't pay back the loan.

"Annie is continuing to work to resolve this matter with Art Capital," her spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik, said Wednesday.

By Frank James

The Kennedy Center announced this year's recipients for the Kennedy Center Honors: comedian Mel Brooks, jazz artist Dave Brubeck, opera diva Grace Bumbry, actor Robert DeNiro and rock star Bruce Springsteen.

The Boss is among this year's Kennedy Center honoree. (Robert E. Klein / AP Photo)

This is the 32nd year the Kennedy Center has awarded the honors for life-time achievement.

"This year, the Kennedy Center celebrates five extraordinary individuals whose unique and abundant artistry has contributed significantly to the cultural life of our nation and the world," said Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen A. Schwarzman. "With his hilarious movies and musicals, Mel Brooks has created comedic gems that will keep us laughing for years to come. Dave Brubeck's genius has dazzled us for six decades and has helped to define an American art form. Grace Bumbry helped to break the color barrier on her way to one of the most illustrious operatic careers in the 20th century. One of America's greatest cinematic actors, Robert De Niro has demonstrated a legendary commitment to his characters and has co-founded one of the world's major film festivals. With his gritty and honest songs that speak to the everyman, Bruce Springsteen has always had his finger on the pulse of America."

Continue reading "Bruce Springsteen, Robert DeNiro, Mel Brooks Among Kennedy Center Honorees" >

Famed photographer Annie Leibovitz must come up with $24 million Tuesday or lose the rights to her own photos, like this portrait of Queen Elizabeth 2. (Jacquelyn Martin / AP Photo)

By Frank James

It's deadline day for famed photographer Annie Leibovitz who must come up with $24 million today to repay a creditor or lose the copyrights to her photos.

Leibovitz, photographer of the rich and famous and a celebrity in her own right, put up as collateral her entire photographic catalog as well as real estate in Greenwich Village and upstate New York to obtain a loan to pay off some massive debts. Now that loan, from Art Capital Group, has come due.

An excerpt from the Associated Press:

Last year, the 59-year-old photographer put up as collateral her three historic Greenwich Village townhouses, a sprawling upstate New York property and the copyright to every picture she has ever taken -- or will take -- to secure the loan with ACG.

The company said she needed the money to deal with a "dire financial condition arising from her mortgage obligations, tax liens and unpaid bills to service providers and other creditors."

Continue reading "Celebrity Photog Annie Leibovitz Could Lose Rights To Her Own Work Today" >