From Siegfried

JW and I went to The Elixir of Love last night and I snapped these photos as we walked past the Dorothy Chandler.

Emile Norman

died Thursday. His obituary is here. Here's an excerpt:

Born in 1918 in San Gabriel to walnut ranchers and truck farmers, Norman carved his first piece of art from a riverside rock when he was 11.

He ruined his father's chisels, but the results gained his father's respect.

Norman enrolled in art school but dropped out after one day when a teacher told him he was doing the assignment "the wrong way," according to his website.

Art resulted from inspiration, not books, he later said.

He found his in the natural surroundings of his youth; in Big Sur, where he had lived since 1946; and with his life partner, Brooks Clement, who arrived to fix Norman's radio in 1943 and stayed to manage his career.

Married actors Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry produced a documentary, "Emile Norman: By His Own Design," about their former Big Sur neighbor partly because they wanted to share the inspirational effect Norman had on them and the lives of many others.

The idea behind the title of the film is that "he designed his life as well as his art," Eikenberry told The Times on Friday. "He created this extraordinary life in Big Sur with Brooks when it was not safe to be gay. . . . They had this incredible freedom to create the life they wanted at a time when people were hiding in closets."

Clement told Norman, "You go into the studio and I'll show the world what you're doing," according to the documentary, which debuted on PBS last year.

Marianne

I remain rather over UCLA Live -- and incidentally, it appears as though their Medea would do little to change my mind on the matter -- but they did manage to snag Marianne Faithfull for next weekend. It's tempting, particularly in light of some IMs from Kevin after seeing her last night at Town Hall in New York.

zenokb: She took off her blazer to reveal a sleeveless blouse -- a look that overall made her look slightly simian with her long arms and stooped shoulders -- and said, "You must remember what Carrie Fisher says about this, 'It's not the house that matters anymore. It's the furniture inside the house that matters now.'"

zenokb: Then later she said, "The house isn't so bad is it?" And we all cheered and told her she looks beautiful. And she said, "Because you know, daaaahling, it's going to get worse!"

zenokb: Best moment: She sat down on her stool during "Lucy Jordan" and began pulling herself out of her high-heeled boots--she had A LOT of trouble with the second one and the band had to keep playing to wait for her. Later she apologized saying: "Sometimes I don't know why we try. But I suppose me must try, musn't we? Until it just becomes too much!"

NPR posted a nice review (by Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein, no less) of last night's show here.

A nice interview

with another Arkansas playwright is here. Now I want to get my hands on a copy of Arkadelphia....

JW's in the UK,

leaving me to re-read The War of Art and make myself commit to some rewrites on a play I've had lying around for far too long. I've been unusually productive.

The rewrites keep making me sing this song in my head, and I was surprised to find a haunting Grizzly Bear cover on Youtube. Enjoy!