To commemorate one of the greatest Hollywood icons, Vince Spinnato held the legendary Judy Garland 100th Birthday Gala and Fragrance Reveal. Known as a perfume developer and cosmetic chemist, Vince held the event to celebrate the upcoming unisex scent: JUDY – A Garland Fragrance.
The aroma was created in honor of Judy’s rich history and legacy. Her children, Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft, attended the gala to further memorialize their mother’s impact on the industry and world.
A custom-made design was invented for Judy’s bottle that showcases a passionate, dreamy theme. The exclusive 100th birthday collector’s bottle was revealed on the night and even up for grabs. The official release of the fragrance is slated for this autumn.
Throughout the evening, the venue exuded elegance. From the “Get Happy! Exhibit” to the House of Racanelli fashion show, attendees were immersed in chunks of Judy history. Her renowned Oscar was exhibited to further showcase the star that Judy truly was and forever will be.
Judy was not only an icon in the entertainment industry, but, too, as an activist for the queer community. With the celebration being held on June 10, it was perfectly aligned with LA Pride weekend. Additionally, the soiree served as a special commemoration for LGBTQ+ cohorts. Lastly, Garland was born during Pride month; and ironically, she passed on the same day as the Stonewall riots in NYC.
In short, the evening served to pay tribute to the work that Judy has accomplished in her career, but also to defend a broader mission.
“Lineage for a Phantom Zone marks an important milestone in Rolls-Royce’s creative history. The newly commissioned work by artist Sondra Perry, sees Muse, the Rolls-Royce Art Programme’s inaugural award, the Dream Commission, come to fruition. Initiated to advance the medium of moving image art, the Dream Commission has consisted of a two-year process during which leading lights of the artistic world selected Sondra Perry to create an entirely new work. I am pleased to confirm this work will be shown at the prestigious Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland, before travelling to Serpentine, London. On behalf of Rolls-Royce, I congratulate Sondra Perry on this exciting commission, and we look forward to sharing her installation this year.”
Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Torsten Müller-Ötvös.
American artist Sondra Perry joins forces with the Rolls-Royce Art Programme Muse to produce the immersive experience known as Lineage for a Phantom Zone. The program was shaped in support of the Dream Commission, and will open for one full month from February 13 to March 13 at Foundation Beyeler, Switzerland.
One of the most powerful mediums in art today is moving image art. This new program promises to embrace and highlight nothing but that, with film, animation, artificial intelligence and virtual reality pieces incorporated throughout the course. The emergence of social media combined with the affects of the COVID-19 pandemic have altered our world as we knew it, pushing for the rise of the digital age.
In support of the Dream Commission, Rolls-Royce aims to back developing artists in the field of art creation. The establishment of this new platform of moving image artwork expands the realm that we previously knew. With constant visualization of revolutionizing technical and conceptual boundaries, Rolls-Royce fulfills this through their exploration in cooperation with the Dream Commission.
May 2021 Dream Commission winner Sondra Perry works as a moving medium artist specializing in pieces relating to the topics of race, identity and technology. Perry received this honor out of a limited four differing artists in the same field, chosen by a Jury of modern-day art figures. Lineage for a PhantomZone navigates through Perry’s journey of life highlighting the importance of dreaming. The philosophies of memory, lineage and longing are touched as well, explored through sensory elements that induce the physical, emotional and mental feelings of dreaming.
The 2022 inaugural Dream Commission was made possible through cooperation with Fondation Beyeler, Basel and Serpentine, London.
Country superstar Kane Brown and multi-Platinum singer-songwriter-producer blackbear released “Memory” today, their first collaboration as artists and songwriters. You can listen to the song HERE.
Produced by Andrew Goldstein and blackbear, and written by Brown, Matthew Musto (blackbear), Andrew Goldstein, Joe Kirkland and Ernest Smith, “Memory” will officially impact Top 40 radio on Monday, July 12 via RCA Nashville in partnership with RCA Records. The song follows Brown’s 2X Platinum hits “Be Like That” ft. Swae Lee and Khalid and “One Thing Right” with famed DJ Marshmello, which have amassed over 567 million and 1.01 billion on-demand streams worldwide, respectively.
Recently, Brown graced the cover of Billboard’s Country Power Player issue while his collaboration with Chris Young, “Famous Friends” hit No. 1 at country radio this week. This weekend, Brown is set to present at 2021 ESPYS, Saturday, July 10 at 8:00 PM EST on ABC and will take part in the MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball Game on Sunday, July 11, which will air Monday, July 12 at 10:00 PM EST on ESPN.
Renowned NFT artist Captvart (Cameron Burns), created an original piece for the cover art of “Memory,” using his background in photography and computer-generated astronaut imagery. Additionally known for his work in the music community, Brown is the first country artist collaboration for Captvart.
Directed by ACM and CMT Music Award winner Alex Alvga, the “Memory” music video made its broadcast premiere on MTV Live, MTVU, CMT and on the ViacomCBS Times Square billboard in New York. You can watch the music video HERE.
Brown recently announced his Blessed & Free Tour, marking the first time a country artist will bring a headlining tour to all 29 NBA Arenas, including New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and Los Angeles’ STAPLES Center which he sold-out in January 2020, one of only 11 country artists to accomplish this. For tickets and more information, click HERE.
Houston Methodist, Rice U. launch neuroprosthetic collaboration
Center for Translational Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces to focus on restoring brain function after disease, injury
Neurosurgery’s history of cutting diseases out of the brain is morphing into a future in which implanting technology intothe brain may help restore function, movement, cognition and memory after patients suffer strokes, spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders. Rice University and Houston Methodist have forged a partnership to launch the Center for Translational Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces, a collaboration that brings together scientists, clinicians, engineers and surgeons to solve clinical problems with neurorobotics.
“This will be an accelerator for discovery,” said center co-director Dr. Gavin Britz, chair of the Houston Methodist Department of Neurosurgery. “This center will be a human laboratory where all of us — neurosurgeons, neuroengineers, neurobiologists — can work together to solve biomedical problems in the brain and spinal cord. And it’s a collaboration that can finally offer some hope and options for the millions of people worldwide who suffer from brain diseases and injuries.”
Houston Methodist neurosurgeons, seven engineers from the Rice Neuroengineering Initiative and additional physicians and faculty from both institutions form the center’s core team. The center also plans to hire three additional engineers who will have joint appointments at Houston Methodist and Rice. Key focus areas include spinal cord injury, memory and epilepsy studies, and cortical motor/sensation conditions.
“The Rice Neuroengineering Initiative was formed with this type of partnership in mind,” said center co-director Behnaam Aazhang, Rice’s J.S. Abercrombie Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who also directs the neuroengineering initiative, which launched in 2019 to bring together the brightest minds in neuroscience, engineering and related fields to improve lives by restoring and extending the capabilities of the human brain. “Several core members, myself included, have existing collaborations with our colleagues at Houston Methodist in the area of neural prosthetics. The creation of the Center for Translational Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces is an exciting development toward achieving our common goals.”
The physical space for the center’s operation includes more than 25,000 square feet of Rice Neuroengineering Initiative laboratories and experimental spaces in the university’s BioScience Research Collaborative, as well as an extensive build-out underway at Houston Methodist’s West Pavilion location that’s expected to be completed late this year. The Houston Methodist facility will include operating rooms and a human laboratory where ongoing patient/volunteer diagnosis and assessment, device fabrication and testing, and education and training opportunities are planned.
“This partnership is a perfect blend of talent,” said Rice’s Marcia O’Malley, a core member of both the new center and university initiative and the Thomas Michael Panos Family Professor in Mechanical Engineering. “We will be able to design studies to test the efficacy of inventions and therapies and rely on patients and volunteers who want to help us test our ideas. The possibilities are limitless.”
Houston Methodist neurobiologist Philip Horner describes the lab as “a merging of wetware with hardware,” where robotics, computers, electronic arrays and other technology — the hardware — is incorporated into the human brain or spinal cord — the wetware. The centerpiece of this working laboratory is a zero-gravity harness connected to a walking track, with cameras and sensors to record feedback, brain activity and other data.
While the Houston Methodist space is being built, collaborations already are underway between the two institutions, which sit across Main Street from one another in the Texas Medical Center. Among them are the following:
O’Malley and Houston Methodist’s Dr. Dimitry Sayenko, assistant professor of neurosurgery, will head the first pilot project involving the merging of two technologies to restore hand function following a spinal cord injury or stroke. O’Malley will pair the upper limb exoskeleton she invented with Sayenko’s noninvasive stimulator designed to wake up the spinal cord. Together, they hope these technologies will help patients achieve a more extensive recovery — and at a faster pace.
Rice neuroengineer Lan Luan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Britz, a neurosurgeon, are collaborating on a study to measure the neurovascular response following a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a life-threatening stroke caused by bleeding just outside the brain. Two-thirds of people who suffer these brain bleeds either die or end up with permanent disabilities. Luan invented very small and flexible electrodes that can be implanted in the brain to measure, record and map its activities. Her work with mice could lead to human brain implants that may help patients recover from traumatic brain injuries caused by disease or accidents.
Aazhang, Britz and Taiyun Chi, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice, are collaborating on the detection of mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) from multimodal observations and on alleviating mTBI using neuromodulations. This project is of particular interest to the Department of Defense.
Christine Englehardt: Marathon runner. Nursing student. An animal lover. Manager of Jules Thin Crust. A daughter and a friend with a laugh that lit up a room. Much like many other young people, Christine traveled to Miami Beach for Spring Break, looking forward to a relaxing vacation. Unfortunately, she traveled alone to The Magic City and was met with an unforgivable turn of events.
Christine was just 24 years old when Dorian Taylor and Evoire Collier drugged and brutally raped her on March 18, 2021. Miami Harold stated Christine was left for dead while her rapists stole her phone and credit cards before heading out to continue their night of partying. Christine was later found dead inside of her hotel room. Miami-Dade Medical Examiner is determining her cause of death.
Taylor and Collier continued to make purchases with Christine’s credit cards while Taylor was found with her phone days later. Miami Beach Detectives were able to track the men down with help from the hotel’s surveillance footage.
Vigil for Christine Englehardt
Please join us in honor of Christine Englehardtwho tragically lost her life this week. Residents of Miami Beach stand with the family of Christine Englehardt and vow for justice and these crimes to come to an end.
Last week, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reached more than 1,000 supporters and raised nearly $3 million during their eleventh annual “What You Do Matters” New York Tribute Event. This event is held in support of the Museum’s critical role as a living memorial to the Holocaust. This year, fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg served as master of ceremonies for the event’s inaugural virtual platform.
Von Furstenberg shared her personal connection to the Holocaust and the Museum, “As a daughter of a Holocaust survivor, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is especially personal to me. … My mother used to tell me, ‘God saved me so that I gave you life. By giving you life, you gave me my life back, you are my torch of freedom.’”
Von Furstenberg’s mother was arrested in occupied Belgium in 1944 when she was just 21 years old and was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where she spent 13 months as a forced laborer, surviving at a mere 49 pounds. Her daughter was born nine months later despite doctors’ warnings of the impossibility of a safe pregnancy.
“I have been involved in the Museum since its inception,” Von Furstenberg said. “When you think about the moment we are living now – the enormity of changes and challenges – remember this history and its lessons about the fragility of freedom, the nature of hate and the consequences of indifference could not be more relevant…We have to make sure that everybody remembers. To remember is to give voice to the six million that were silenced.”
During the virtual event, celebrities including Jason Alexander, Jamie Lee Curtis, David Eigenberg, Morgan Freeman, Camryn Manheim, Tim Matheson and Daniela Ruah read excerpts from the Museum’s collections, giving voice to the victims of the Holocaust, and participated in the Museum’s pledge to Holocaust survivors to never forget.
The New York virtual tribute event also featured an interview with 100-year-old Benjamin Ferencz, the last surviving Nuremberg prosecutor, and the Museum’s partner in the Ferencz International Justice Initiative. Ferencz said that in order to have a better and more peaceful world than the one he’s witnessed, the slogan “never give up” must be added to his well-known philosophy of “law not war.”
Photograph of Diane von Furstenberg and her mother, next to live shot of Diane von Furstenberg
Ben Ferencz and Naomi Kikoler, Director, Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide
Yvonne Maria Irby was born on 14 October 1941 in Asheville, N.C. She is the firstborn of Mary Elvira Wilson and James Edward Irby. Both met and married in Washington DC. There were five children in that marriage. Yvonne was the eldest and was referred to as Irby. Her beautiful godmother MaryAnna helped raise, love and adored Yvonne. She also provided equal love and admiration to the children of Yvonne. She came each summer and created wonderful memories. Yvonne really appreciated the relationship.
Yvonne grew up a Catholic and attended private school throughout college. She was only a few months from becoming a nun, until a special person came and changed the direction of her life. While studying at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, she met and married her beautiful teammate Joseph Echols Lowery Jr. of 1964. The couple decided to advance and relocate to Detroit, Michigan. Before moving out of Ohio, Yvonne and Joseph opened a restaurant in Dayton. They had a fish market in Detroit, too. Following the closure of the businesses, Yvonne started new businesses. With her warm and friendly personality, she chose to run for the Detroit District Council (yes, there was a district council at the time). She was trying to change things within her community.
Yvonne worked for Amurcon Management Group in the 1970s and early 1980s as a property manager. One of the properties she ran for some years was Research Park Apartments and Townhouses, which she and her family lived on for years. For over forty years, Yvonne and her children have created genuine friendships which continue to this day. Later, Yvonne and Joseph both earned contract positions with Detroit Edison (now known as DTE) in 1981 as analysts. This gave them a tremendous opportunity to contribute to the Hawaii hurricane disaster in 1982. They spent about four to six weeks in Hawaii to help evaluate electric damage in 1983. In 1984, Yvonne came to Rivers Investment Group as a property manager and remained there for several years.
Yvonne got sick in the early 1990’s. Her health was up and down for many years thereafter. She was quite a winner, to say the least. She remained a human being. Always optimistic, positive and cheerful. She’s become very fiery in recent years. If you know one of her kids, then you know, they’re part of her personality.
She was always proud of all her children and grandchildren. She was so proud and enjoyed spending time with her family, especially her grandkids. She liked to joke with them. Sometimes she laughed so loud that she almost fell and we had to run and grab her. She loved my candy! Her favorites were Tootsie Rolls, Mentos, Mints, and Milky Ways. She loved watching local sports and cheering for the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Tigers every season. She was a ray of light that will always continue to shine above us all!
She leaves in memory of her passing:
Her parents: Mary Stephen and James Irby, (both deceased) her brothers, James Irby (deceased) Charles Irby of Charlotte, North Carolina, her sisters Jane Tahir (Melvin) of Baltimore, Maryland, Regina Gates-Flowers (Michael) of Los Angeles, California.
Her children: Joseph Lowery III of Silver Spring, Maryland, Dawn Lowery-Campbell (Gregory) of Detroit, Michigan, Rashawnda Lowery of Detroit, Michigan, Vaughn Lowery of Los Angeles, California, thirteen grandchildren and two-great grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and family friends.
III Points will return for its sixth and largest installment on February 15-17, 2019 in Miami.SZA,Herbie Hancock,Tyler, The Creator,James Blake,Beach House,A$AP Rocky,Erykah BaduandBlood Orangewill headline, with further highlights includingVirtual Self,Yaeji,Four Tet,Peggy Gou,Ben UFOb2bJoy Orbison,SOBxRBE,DeanBlunt,DJ Stingrayand many more. Tickets are available now viaiiipoints.com.
“We’re so excited to celebrate our local scene on a national level— with some of the most creative minds in music and art— right here in Wynwood,” says III Points co-founder and Miami native, Erica Freshman. “This is our biggest and most diverse lineup to date and we look forward to sharing III Points 2019 with Miami and beyond.”
With over 100 musical performers and sets running until 5:00a.m.each night, III Points blends visual art, film, food and style in Miami’s vibrant Wynwood Arts District. In addition to an international and wildly acclaimed lineup, respected curators will present stages of local, rising and experimental music. The festival’s visual arts lineup—taking over the 100,000 square foot Mana Wynwood—will be announced in the coming weeks.
III Points is proud to partner with Florida activism network Dream Defenders on a series of initiatives in the coming months. Dream Defenders is a diverse group of young people who build power by organizing and educating for community civic engagement and transformational justice. For more information, or to get involved, visit:www.dreamdefenders.org
III POINTS 2019
SZA, Tyler, The Creator, A$AP Rocky, Erykah Badu, James Blake, Beach House, Herbie Hancock, Blood Orange, The Internet, Virtual Self, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah performing “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx,” Khruangbin, Peggy Gou, Godspeed You! Black Emperor,
Pussy Riot, DJ Koze, Yaeji, Mariel Ito b2b Danny Daze, SOB x RBE, Ty Segall & White Fence,Ben UFO b2b Joy Orbison, Honey Dijon, Toro Y Moi (DJ Set), Masego, Mall Grab,David August, Kelsey Lu, Dean Blunt, Tim Hecker Live + The Konoyo Ensemble, John Maus, JPEGMAFIA, Keinemusik (&Me, Adam Port, Rampa), Moscoman, DJ Stingray, Laurel Halo, DJ Seinfeld, Yokoo, Baba Stiltz, Jacques Greene, Smerz, Stavroz, Egyptian Lover, Be Svendsen, Lena Willikens, Marvin & Guy, Channel Tres, PNTHN, Trill Sammy, Auntie Flo,
Simple Symmetry, Durante, Goddollars, VHS Collection, Nick Leon (Live), Paperwater,Aaaa (Live), Will Buck, Ms. Mada, Rat Bastard, Poorgrrrl, Nicholas G. Padilla, Plastic Pinks, Bear, Virgo, Thunderpony, Danyelino, Donzii, Austin Paul, Anshaw Black, Bird Feet Bird, Telescope Thieves, Tama Gucci, Seafoam Walls, INVT, Haute Tension, Brother Dan, Lilith, Butterfly Snapple, Ghost Flower, Loka, Dracula, True Vine, Eveava, Rick Moon, Goiz, Ackdaddy, Kamari Esson, Maccabi, Saki, Sister System and more to be announced.
Stages by: Omnidisc, Keinemusik, Disco Halal, Link Miami Rebels, Electric Pickle 10 Year Showcase, Extra Credit, Castaway, Internet Friends, Space Tapes
ABOUT III POINTS
III Points is an alternative music and art festival in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. The festival, which was founded by four friends in 2013, arose as a means to represent and unite a unique and diverse community. III Points is a platform that showcases Miami’s up and coming music acts, along with local artists from many disciplines, by placing them alongside the greatest musical and artistic minds in the world.
As one of the most successful composers of the modern era, Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s repertoire includes some of the world’s most celebrated musicals; Sunset Boulevard, Cats, Aspects Of Love, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Starlight Express, The Phantom of The Opera, School of Rock and Love Never Dies – to name but a few.
Last year, Lloyd Webber became the only person to equal the record set in 1953 by Rodgers & Hammerstein with four shows running concurrently on Broadway (Sunset Boulevard, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera and School of Rock). Two of his shows are currently running in both Broadway and the West End: School Of Rock and The Phantom of the Opera, and his musicals have grossed more than $13.6 billion and have been watched by 302 million people across 44 countries. He has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide.
The collection is personally curated and overseen by Lloyd Webber to include classics from his earliest work starting with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat through his most recent School of Rock.
Of the new album, Lloyd Webber says: “I owe everyone involved in putting this compilation together a huge thank you. A vast amount of thought has evidently gone into selecting tracks from my almost fifty year old career. This compilation brings back a heap of memories – it has made this ancient composer very happy. I particularly love the new tracks and of course I love the orchestral suites. There’s nothing a composer likes more than hearing their melodies played by a cracking orchestra.”
Newly recorded songs from superstar artists Lana Del Rey (“You Must Love Me”, Evita), Nicole Scherzinger (“Memory”, Cats) and Gregory Porter (“Light at the End of the Tunnel”, Starlight Express) and add to the collection of his cherished works from the past five decades.
Of Lloyd Webber, Lana Del Rey says, “Andrew Lloyd Webber has been one of my primary inspirations in music, so to do a cover of one of his songs is a dream.”
Gregory Porter also expresses his admiration, “Andrew is an icon of not only musical theatre, but he’s an icon of music, our culture, and of our human experience.”
The Cats classic “Memory” by Nicole Scherzinger is available now as an instant grat track. Of being on the album, Scherzinger says, “Andrew’s music absolutely influenced me as an artist… It’s hard for me to fathom that I’m a part of one of Andrew’s career defining albums. That is in itself career defining for me. It’s a dream, and a lifelong accomplishment.”
The set also contains recordings by world-class performers such as Barbra Streisand, Madonna, Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman, Michael Ball, and released for the first time, Beyonce singing “Learn To Be Lonely” from the 2005 Academy Awards with Lloyd Webber accompanying on piano.
UNMASKED: THE PLATINUM COLLECTION is available as 2 CD and 4 CD editions. The 4-disc version contains an exclusive 40-page book with a personally penned introduction from Lloyd Webber and in-depth notes on each track, written by respected theatre critic and Lloyd Webber biographer Michael Coveney, together with tributes from Barbra Streisand and Glenn Close among others.
The fourth disc encompasses a mix of overtures and showstoppers from Lloyd Webber‘s key works, as well as newly created orchestral suites. The five new orchestral suites have been specially prepared from existing recordings, emphasising the grand orchestral aspects of his work. All CDs were mastered at Abbey Road Studios.
Lloyd Webber‘s productions have sold more than 330 million tickets worldwide. The Phantom of the Opera is the longest-running show on Broadway and second longest-running show in West End history. Cats and The Phantom of the Opera are two of Broadway’s four highest grossing shows. The Phantom of the Opera original cast album is the No. 1 Broadway album of all time in the U.S. and the #175 biggest seller among ALL albums of the SoundScan era in the U.S. In addition to his worldwide sales and audiences, Lloyd Webber has been recognised by critics and peers with numerous accolades and awards including seven Oliviers, seven Tonys, three Grammys, one Golden Globe and an Oscar.
“Andrew Lloyd Webber Tribute to a Superstar” airs TODAY – Wednesday, March 28 on NBC
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE IN CONCERT – airs Sunday, April 1 on NBC
Lloyd Webber’s new autobiography UNMASKED, was released by HarperCollins on March 6th.
