Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Whitmans in the News

The things that one can do with Google ...

Kate Whitman, the daughter of Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, was injured yesterday when she was hit by a car while jogging in South Africa, a spokeswoman said.

His hefty debut novel, Walk Hard, Talk Loud (1940, Bobbs-Merrill), is about Andy Whitman, a scrappy African-American boxer turning pro.

"Individual style is giving this generation a personality," said Katryn Whitman, sophomore fashion merchandising major.

Uber-yuppie Rachel Whitman worries about the teasing her slow-witted six-year-old son Dylan suffers at the hands of his brilliant playmate Lucinda at the fancy Massachusetts North Shore day care center he attends; worse, she fears that her college drug experimentation caused Dylan's deficiency.

One of these is real. Can you guess which one, he asked scrappily?

4 comments:

Karen said...

oooo! you are a proud dad, i'm sure! awesome! go katryn!

John McCollum said...

The Case: McCollum et. al. v. CBS, Inc., et. al.

On the evening of October 26, 1984, nineteen year old John McCollum shot and killed himself while listening to the recorded music of rocker Ozzy Osbourne. That night, John listened repeatedly to several of Osbourne’s albums, including Blizzard of Ozz, Diary of a Madman, and Speak of the Devil. With his headphones on and the music playing, John placed a .22-caliber handgun to his head and took his life.

John’s parents filed a lawsuit in a California civil court alleging several causes of action against Osbourne and his music label, CBS Records. The central premise of each cause of action was essentially the same: the lyrics, tones, and pounding rhythm of Osbourne's music had the cumulative effect of encouraging self-destructive behavior. The McCollums asserted that CBS Records and Osbourne knowingly cultivated an audience of young people struggling with the transition into adulthood and, therefore, should have known that Osbourne's music would likely result in self-destructive behavior on the part of fans such as John. At the time of his death, John was suffering from alcohol abuse and emotional problems. The McCollums claimed that their son, and listeners like him, were particularly susceptible to being influenced by Osbourne's music because of their emotional instability.

John McCollum said...

The American tenor, John McCollum, was initially active as journalist and publisher of magazines. Then he got training of his voice with Mynard Jones in Oakland, with Edgar Schofield in New York, at the Berkshire Music Centre and at the Goldovsky Opera School in Lenox.

John McCollum’s stage debut came in 1953 at the New England Opera Theatre as Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff. He also appeared in 1958 at the Festival of Spoleto in the premiere of the opera Scarf by Hoiby. His career took place to a large extent in North America. He sang there at the operas of Boston, Seattle and Santa Fé, in Washington, Cincinnati, Vancouver and Toronto, but mostly at the New York City Centre Opera.

From John McCollum’s lyric repertoire should be mentioned: Paolino in Il Matrimonio segreto by Cimarosa, Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande, Belmonte in Entführung aus dem Serail, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Tamino in Zauberflöte, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Idamante in Idomeneo, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Alfredo in La Traviata, Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Titelheld in Faust by Gounod, Licinio in La Vestale by Spontini, Jason in Médée by Milhaud, the Male Chorus in Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia and Pêcheur in Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol.

Beth said...

Gosh, I'm boring. There's a Beth Koruna somwhere in Canada getting her degree in early childhood development. Yawn.

And Andy, I had no idea about the boxing.