CIVIL RIGHTS FIGURE MOVING CLOSER TO A GOLD MEDAL
Rosa Parks, hailed as the mother of the civil rights movement, would be honored with a Congressional Gold Medal under legislation that has moved a step closer to its expected approval by the full House.The bill must also pass the Senate and be signed by President Clinton.
Clinton invited Parks to his State of the Union address in January, and the 86-year-old civil rights pioneer rose from her seat in the House gallery for a standing ovation.
The bill cleared a House Banking subcommittee Thursday by voice vote. It will go directly to the full House because it has the support of at least 319 members, more than the required two-thirds majority, or 290, co-sponsors.
MUSIC CHIEF GETTING WISH TO WORK WITH JAZZ GREAT
The New York Philharmonic's musical director is one step closer to his goal of working with jazz great Wynton Marsalis on an original composition.
Kurt Masur first spoke to Marsalis about a collaboration five years ago.
"I heard something he composed for his band and what he did with improvisation and thought he was someone who might be refreshing to work with the Philharmonic," he said this week. "He refused the first time. After 2 1/2 years he called me back and said, 'Maybe I can do it now.' "
"Uptown Blues: Ellington at 100" will be televised on PBS on April 7.
ANSWER ON CHER SINGLE HAS POSITIVE MESSAGE
Cher's latest hit single asks whether you "believe in life after love." Her answer: YES!
"I've experienced it. It's been a long time," she says in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. "I've never been alone this long."
While her song extols some of the upside of being single, Cher concedes there is a downside: "There's not someone who tells you how adorable you are and rubs your head and goes into a crowded press conference and stands at the back and winks at you so that you think, 'I can get through this.' "
BRITISH OPERA HIRES YOUNGEST MUSICAL CHIEF
Antonio Pappano has become the youngest musical director of the Royal Opera, the prestigious company based at the troubled Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden.
Pappano, 39, the musical director of the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie opera house in Brussels, will take over from Bernard Haitink in 2002.
The opera house has endured a period of financial uncertainty and infighting and hopes the new appointment will usher in a new era.