ABC News In-depth (May 29, 2023) – On Easter Saturday, 95-year-old artist John Olsen made the final touches to four paintings and feeling unwell, laid down his paintbrush for the last time. A stroke had finally felled the old master.
On the day of his state funeral, Australian Story revisits the Olsens, a family forged by their father’s passion and drive for painting. As John became a darling of the art world in the 60s and 70s, his obsessive focus on dedication to his work often cast a long shadow on those around him.
Months after his death, the Vivid festival of light will pay tribute to John Olsen, projecting his art onto the “greatest blank canvas on earth” — the sails of the Sydney Opera House. His children, Tim and Louise Olsen, will be there to marvel at his achievements and celebrate the life that has shaped them.
BBC (May 8, 2023) – Sir David Attenborough was born in London on May 8, 1926 and educated at Wyggeston Grammar School, Leicester, and Clare College, Cambridge where he took an honours degree in Natural Sciences. He did two years National Service in the Royal Navy and then spent some time on the editorial side of the University of London Press.
Sir David’s broadcasting career spans over 50 years. It began in 1952 when he joined BBC Television as a trainee and then became a producer working in the studios of Alexandra Palace in north London, from which the world’s first television service was broadcast.
CBS Sunday Morning (March 5, 2023) – Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip “Peanuts” continues to garner fans 23 years after the cartoonist’s death, from the lovable loser Charlie Brown to the dog with the greatest imagination, Snoopy. Correspondent Lee Cowan talks with Schulz’s widow, Jean, and with “Pearls Before Swine” cartoonist Stephan Pastis, about the timeless influence of the man they called “Sparky” and his beloved cast of characters.
“I was visiting Ukraine by the end of last summer and stayed a few days in Kyiv. People called it the “New Berlin” back then and in fact it was a bustling city and daily life was as normal as it could possibly be. In many ways I even preferred Kyiv over Berlin, which has gotten so mediocre in recent years. Only a few month later the city has been under attack and tousands of people have been killed in the outskirts of Kyiv by Russian troups. I still can not wrap my head around that. At least for now it seems that Kyiv is safe again, but the fighting continues elsewere. It’s heartbreaking to think about all the lovely people there and the suffering that they have to endure. I know its difficult to enjoy these images from another time, but it’s a reminder how fragile and precious peace is and that we should not take it for granted.” – Joerg Daiber
A time lapse & tilt shift & aerial video by Joerg Daiber.
I was visiting Ukraine by the end of last summer and finished this edit a few weeks back. This was about the time when the news started reporting about Putin deploying his troops around the border of Ukraine. Ever since then I was hesitant to publish this film and it got worse every day with events proceeding.
So I know it’s a very difficult time to post a film that shows a beautiful and picturesque Ukraine, that looks like it’s straight out of a magical fairytale, while there are currently tanks surrounding the major cities, residential areas being shelled and millions of refugees trying to get out of the country.
It’s heartbreaking to think about all the lovely people there and the suffering that they have to endure now. Something like this was unthinkable just a few months back. Of course the Donbas war was ongoing and everybody was still mad about Crimea, but regular and daily life was as normal as it could possibly be. I spoke with many people about their opinion on Russia and none of them was in favour of Russian politics and literally everybody felt much closer to Europe than to Russia. Most of them didn’t even want their kids to learn Russian in school. I felt that the public mood towards Russian politics was even more negative as in many other former Soviet countries like Georgia, Moldova or Armenia. At least among younger people that I ran into.
I know its difficult to enjoy these images from another time, but it’s a reminder how fragile and precious peace is and that we should not take it for granted.
This film was shot mainly around the Carpathian Mountain area. Shooting locations: Lviv, Lutsk, Tarakaniv Fort, Olesko Castle, Pidhirtsi Castle, Tunnel of Love, Dovbush rocks, Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle, Chernivtsi, Yaremche, Vorokhta, Yasinya, Drahobrat, Hoverla
Legendary French fashion designer Pierre Cardin died Tuesday at the age of 98 at a hospital in Neuilly in western Paris, his family told AFP.
Pierre Cardin, was an Italian-born naturalised-French fashion designer. He is known for what were his avant-garde style and Space Age designs. He preferred geometric shapes and motifs, often ignoring the female form. He advanced into unisex fashions, sometimes experimental, and not always practical.
On Sunday, his family confirmed he had died of pneumonia at the Royal Cornwall Hospital on Saturday night. “We all deeply grieve his passing,” they wrote in a statement.
His longtime agent Jonny Geller described him as “an undisputed giant of English literature. He defined the cold war era and fearlessly spoke truth to power in the decades that followed … I have lost a mentor, an inspiration and most importantly, a friend. We will not see his like again.”
We remember Charley Pride, one of the first African Americans to become popular as a country artist. Pride died yesterday at the age of 86, of complications from COVID-19.
Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis Presley.[1] During the peak years of his recording career (1966–87), he had 52 top 10 hits on the BillboardHot Country Songs chart, 30 of which made it to number one. He won the Entertainer of the Year award at the Country Music Association Awards in 1971.
While he was active in baseball, Pride had been encouraged to join the music business by country stars such as Red Sovine and Red Foley, and was working towards this career. In 1958, in Memphis, Pride visited Sun Studios and recorded some songs.[14]
He performed his music solo at clubs and with a four-piece combo called the Night Hawks during the time he lived in Montana.[11] His break came when Chet Atkins at RCA Victor heard a demonstration tape and got Pride a contract. In 1966, he released his first RCA Victor single, “The Snakes Crawl at Night”.[11] Nashville manager and agent Jack D. Johnson signed Pride. Atkins was the longtime producer at RCA Victor who had made stars out of country singers such as Jim Reeves, Skeeter Davis, and others. Pride was signed to RCA Victor in 1965. “The Snakes Crawl at Night” did not chart. On the records of this song submitted to radio stations for airplay, the singer was listed as “Country Charley Pride”. Pride disputes that the omission of a photo was deliberate; he stated that getting promoters to bring in a black country singer was a bigger problem: “people didn’t care if I was pink. RCA signed me… they knew I was colored…They decided to put the record out and let it speak for itself.”[11] While living in Montana, he continued to sing at local clubs, and in Great Falls had an additional boost to his career when he befriended local businessman Louis Allen “Al” Donohue, who owned radio stations including KMON, the first stations to play Pride’s records in Montana.[11]
Soon after the release of “The Snakes Crawl at Night”, Pride released another single called “Before I Met You”, which also did not chart. Not long afterwards, his third single, “Just Between You and Me”, was released. This song finally brought Pride success on the country charts. The song reached number nine on Hot Country Songs on February 25, 1967.[15]
According to a news item by the Associated Press, Pride made this comment in a 1992 interview: “They used to ask me how it feels to be the ‘first colored country singer’ .. Then it was ‘first Negro country singer;’ then ‘first black country singer.’ Now I’m the ‘first African-American country singer.’ That’s about the only thing that’s changed”. [16]
Career peak
“Pride’s amazing baritone—it hints at twang and melisma simultaneously, and to call it warm is to slight the brightness of its heat”
The success of “Just Between You and Me” was enormous. Pride was nominated for a Grammy Award for the song the next year. In the late summer of 1966, on the strength of his early releases, he was booked for his first large show, in Detroit‘s Olympia Stadium. Since no biographical information had been included with those singles, few of the 10,000 country fans who came to the show knew Pride was black, and only discovered the fact when he walked onto the stage, at which point the applause trickled off to silence. “I knew I’d have to get it over with sooner or later,” Pride later remembered. “I told the audience: ‘Friends, I realize it’s a little unique, me coming out here—with a permanent suntan—to sing country and western to you. But that’s the way it is.’ ”[18]
In 1971, Pride released what would become his biggest hit, “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'”, a million-selling crossover single. The same year, he won the Country Music Association‘s entertainer of the year award, as well as its top male vocalist award in 1971 and 1972.[23]
“Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'” became Pride’s signature tune. Besides being a five-week country number one in late 1971 and early 1972, the song was also his only pop top-40 hit, hitting number 21, and reaching the top 10 of the Adult Contemporary charts, as well.
Acclaimed Scottish actor Sean Connery has died at the age of 90, the BBC reports. In 1999, 60 Minutes profiled the “James Bond” star. Steve Kroft asked Connery about how he separated himself from the movie character he had become so famous for.
Sir Thomas Sean Connery was a Scottish actor and producer. He was best known as the first actor to portray the character James Bond in film, starring in seven Bond films, between 1962 and 1983. Connery had been in smaller theatre and television productions until he got his break with the Bond films.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a fierce advocate for women’s legal equality and the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, has died at age 87. Watch key moments of her career and reflections by WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib and Jess Bravin.
PHOTO: Nikki Kahn/Getty Images.
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