To me, birthdays have always seemed an odd thing. I get celebrating a graduation or even an anniversary: These require hard work. But my birthday? I wasn't even there, at least not until the end of it. I just sort of showed up, like every day since.

But then there's a life like Lena Horne's. She marked her 90th birthday on Saturday, and that lady deserves a party.

Most of her online photos, even recent ones, are in black and white, and I think I know why. She personifies elegance. And wisdom. And old-fashioned class, unlike some young starlets we could name. … continue reading

On Sunday, The New York Times featured an article titled "Glorious Dissolution: Musicians on Film." It considers some forthcoming music biopics, whose subjects include Edith Piaf and Janis Joplin. The Piaf pic, La Vie en Rose (opening Friday in limited release) compares Piaf to her "spiritual double," Billie Holiday. I've never quite made that connection, but it's a fascinating one.

Director Olivier Dahan notes that Piaf and Holiday endured a fragility that was both boon and bane:

“I don’t believe that to be a great artist you have to be tormented,” Mr. Dahan said. But, he added, the very qualities that help musicians as artists may also render them vulnerable. “Maybe there is something about being fragile,” he said. “And to be fragile is to also be very receptive. You can’t be a great artist and not be fragile, so when you are fragile everything kind of hits you, the good and the bad for sure.”

That rings true, even if it does also make me frown. It's no fun when you know the person's going to self-destruct at the end. But thanks to some of the weird casting choices for upcoming biopics, the self-destruction is the least of my worries: … continue reading