lemonwade

Every time I hear that one more TV sitcom is being re-booted, I think: Please not “The Golden Girls.” I used to think that that show was safe — 3 out of the 4 actresses are dead. But as the just-announced reboot of “Designing Women” (pictured) reminds us, it doesn’t matter if one of the anchor performers has passed — Dixie Carter has been dead for eight years. At the rate we’re going, not only “The Golden Girls” will be rebooted but so will “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” — with somebody else playing Mary.

I love Storm King Art Center, in New Windsor, New York, so was happy to read this report: ‘In just the past year, Elaine Cameron-Weir’s diverse sculptural practice has adroitly conscripted materials including chemical lab equipment, World War II–era silk parachutes, frankincense, and labdanum, as seen in her works at the New Museum in New York and the Dortmunder Kunstverein in Dortmund, Germany, among other venues. Below, she discusses her site-specific installation “A toothless grin A STAR EXPANSION! GLOBE OF DEATH A graveyard orbit,” 2018, which is currently on view at Storm King, as part of the sculpture park’s “Outlooks” series of solo exhibitions, through November 25, 2018.’

“The Velvet Underground Experience,” a multimedia exhibition about the history and influence of the Velvet Underground will run in New York City October 10th through December 30th. The exhibition debuted in Paris two years ago and features rare photographs, portraits, films, videos, live concerts and musical workshops. The show will be housed at 718 Broadway in Manhattan.

Yesterday it was reported that a brief, never-used nude scene from The Misfits was discovered many years ago by Curtice Taylor, the son of producer Frank Taylor, and that it might slip out somehow. This morning an odd piece in Vanity Fair by Yohana Desta, titled “Monroe Nude Scene Has Been Found — What Happens Now?,” suggested maybe it shouldn’t. Desta says that because Monroe was sexually exploited throughout her career, it might be a good idea not to let anyone see the scene. Why re-boot that old cruel karma of ogling a naked but very sad movie star who died of an overdose at age 36? Monroe’s costar was Clark Gable.

Diana Evans writes: ‘An exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery gathers together the work of forty-eight disparate artists exploring the legacy of perhaps the most frequently depicted cultural figure in history, and his fame is their common palette. Michael Jackson is inseparable from this astronomical celebrity…It glows with a bright, mournful edge from every one of these artworks, probing what might have been if his success had not in some way required, or at least contributed to, his eventual annihilation.’

Pitchfork says: ‘Immersive portable audio—the ability to be out in the world while listening to your favorite music privately, on headphones—is a relatively new phenomenon. In 1972, a man named Andreas Pavel more or less invented it. At least that’s the way he tells the story in Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow’s fantastic 2017 book Personal Stereo.’

She is, quite simply, my favorite living singer. So I am most concerned about this report: ‘Aretha Franklin—the Queen of Soul—is “gravely ill” in a Detroit hospital, according to entertainment news site Showbiz 411. The report says Franklin, 76, is surrounded by her friends and family. Harry Hairston, investigative reporter for NBC News, appeared to confirm the initial report, saying: “Spoke with close friend of Aretha Franklin and family. Iconic singer not doing well.” Her family is reportedly asking for prayers and privacy. Franklin has won 18 Grammy awards and, during her 63-year career, sold more than 75 million records.’