Latest news with #Nutcracker
Hamilton Spectator
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
A musical from Tomson Highway, dancing skateboarders among NAC's upcoming lineup
A long-awaited musical from playwright Tomson Highway, a '90s take on 'Macbeth' and skateboarding stunts are among the spectacles bound for the National Arts Centre. Canada's multidisciplinary home for the performing arts released a 2025-26 lineup Thursday that includes the return of holiday favourites including Handel's 'Messiah' by the NAC Orchestra and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's 'Nutcracker' in December. In between are dance, orchestral, pop music and drama productions from new voices and established veterans. Here's a look at some of the highlights. THEATRE Highway brings the third instalment of his 'Rez Cycle' to NAC's Indigenous Theatre program, with the world première of his musical 'Rose.' The 2003 play is set on the Wasaychigan Hill Reserve in 1992, and revisits several characters from 'The Rez Sisters' and 'Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing.' The story here centres on Emily Dictionary and her biker pals 'as they fight to reclaim their community.' NAC says the musical has never been staged 'due to its scale and ambition.' In the English Theatre lineup, artistic director Nina Lee Aquino directs two world premières: 'Copperbelt' by Natasha Mumba, a co-production with Soulpepper Theatre about the daughter of a powerful African family caught between ambition and the cost of success; and the eco-thriller 'cicadas,' created by David Yee and Chris Thornborrow and co-produced by Tarragon Theatre, in which a very strange house sinks into the earth. The English Theatre lineup also includes Marie Farsi's stage adaptation of 'Fifteen Dogs,' André Alexis's Giller Prize-winning novel about a group of dogs suddenly granted human consciousness. The French Theatre season closes with Shakespeare's 'Macbeth,' directed by Quebec visionary Robert Lepage. The original Stratford Festival production, created in collaboration with Lepage's company Ex Machina, set the action amid the biker wars of the 1990s. ORCHESTRA Music director Alexander Shelley's final season with the NAC Orchestra opens with Giacomo Puccini's opera 'Tosca' and boasts an all-Canadian edition of the Great Performers series, including Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Quebec City-based chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy and recitals by Calgary-born pianist Jan Lisiecki and Grammy Award-winning violinist James Ehnes. Soloists include violinists Hilary Hahn and Joshua Bell, cellist Bryan Cheng, and pianists Lang Lang, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Hélène Grimaud. DANCE Danish choreographer Mette Ingvartsen unleashes what NAC describes as a 'zany' production dubbed 'Skatepark,' in which skateboarding thrill-seekers encounter a group of dancers. Also, Guillaume Côté and Lepage present a dance version of 'Hamlet,' the Royal Winnipeg Ballet offers up a surreal 'Hansel & Gretel' and the National Ballet of Canada presents a new work, 'Procession,' from choreographers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber. POPULAR MUSIC AND VARIETY The Pops lineup will see singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright hit the stage Oct. 15, followed by Ariane Moffatt on Oct. 16 and Choir! Choir! Choir! on Nov. 23. There's also a tribute to Aretha Franklin featuring Broadway star Capathia Jenkins and soul singer Ryan Shaw, Troupe Vertigo fuses acrobatics and symphonic music, and live concerts of film scores from 'The Muppet Christmas Carol' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.' International artists include the Manchester-based instrumental trio Gogo Penguin on Oct. 17, the Soweto Gospel Choir on Nov. 29 and an onstage conversation and food demonstration with British chef, restaurateur and food writer Yotam Ottolenghi on March 1, 2026. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
A musical from Tomson Highway, dancing skateboarders among NAC's upcoming lineup
A long-awaited musical from playwright Tomson Highway, a '90s take on 'Macbeth' and skateboarding stunts are among the spectacles bound for the National Arts Centre. Canada's multidisciplinary home for the performing arts released a 2025-26 lineup Thursday that includes the return of holiday favourites including Handel's 'Messiah' by the NAC Orchestra and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's 'Nutcracker' in December. In between are dance, orchestral, pop music and drama productions from new voices and established veterans. Here's a look at some of the highlights. THEATRE Highway brings the third instalment of his 'Rez Cycle' to NAC's Indigenous Theatre program, with the world première of his musical 'Rose.' The 2003 play is set on the Wasaychigan Hill Reserve in 1992, and revisits several characters from 'The Rez Sisters' and 'Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing.' The story here centres on Emily Dictionary and her biker pals 'as they fight to reclaim their community.' NAC says the musical has never been staged 'due to its scale and ambition.' In the English Theatre lineup, artistic director Nina Lee Aquino directs two world premières: 'Copperbelt' by Natasha Mumba, a co-production with Soulpepper Theatre about the daughter of a powerful African family caught between ambition and the cost of success; and the eco-thriller 'cicadas,' created by David Yee and Chris Thornborrow and co-produced by Tarragon Theatre, in which a very strange house sinks into the earth. The English Theatre lineup also includes Marie Farsi's stage adaptation of 'Fifteen Dogs,' André Alexis's Giller Prize-winning novel about a group of dogs suddenly granted human consciousness. The French Theatre season closes with Shakespeare's 'Macbeth,' directed by Quebec visionary Robert Lepage. The original Stratford Festival production, created in collaboration with Lepage's company Ex Machina, set the action amid the biker wars of the 1990s. ORCHESTRA Music director Alexander Shelley's final season with the NAC Orchestra opens with Giacomo Puccini's opera 'Tosca' and boasts an all-Canadian edition of the Great Performers series, including Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Quebec City-based chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy and recitals by Calgary-born pianist Jan Lisiecki and Grammy Award-winning violinist James Ehnes. Soloists include violinists Hilary Hahn and Joshua Bell, cellist Bryan Cheng, and pianists Lang Lang, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Hélène Grimaud. DANCE Danish choreographer Mette Ingvartsen unleashes what NAC describes as a 'zany' production dubbed 'Skatepark,' in which skateboarding thrill-seekers encounter a group of dancers. Also, Guillaume Côté and Lepage present a dance version of 'Hamlet,' the Royal Winnipeg Ballet offers up a surreal 'Hansel & Gretel' and the National Ballet of Canada presents a new work, 'Procession,' from choreographers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. POPULAR MUSIC AND VARIETY The Pops lineup will see singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright hit the stage Oct. 15, followed by Ariane Moffatt on Oct. 16 and Choir! Choir! Choir! on Nov. 23. There's also a tribute to Aretha Franklin featuring Broadway star Capathia Jenkins and soul singer Ryan Shaw, Troupe Vertigo fuses acrobatics and symphonic music, and live concerts of film scores from 'The Muppet Christmas Carol' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.' International artists include the Manchester-based instrumental trio Gogo Penguin on Oct. 17, the Soweto Gospel Choir on Nov. 29 and an onstage conversation and food demonstration with British chef, restaurateur and food writer Yotam Ottolenghi on March 1, 2026. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2025.
New York Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
George Lee, Trailblazing Chinese Ballet Dancer, Dies at 90
George Lee, a Chinese-born ballet dancer who was likely the first Asian to perform at New York City Ballet when he danced in George Balanchine's original production of Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker' in 1954, died on April 19 in Las Vegas. He was 90. Jennifer Lin, who directed a short documentary about Mr. Lee called 'Ten Times Better' (2024), confirmed his death, in a group home while under hospice care. He had no immediate survivors. Mr. Lee, who immigrated to the United States in 1951, was studying at the School of American Ballet, City Ballet's affiliated school, when Mr. Balanchine asked him to demonstrate his talent. Mr. Lee, then known as George Li — he changed the spelling of his surname in 1959, when he was naturalized — had been trained by Russian teachers in Shanghai. He responded to Mr. Balanchine, who was raised in Russia, in the choreographer's native language. 'He said, 'What can you do good? Show me what you can do good,' so I show him something,' Mr. Lee told The New York Times in 2024. 'I did things like splits and double turns, down and up, turn again like a ball, and that's it. He picked up some things and put them together.' During a dress rehearsal, when a makeup artist covered him in yellowface, Mr. Balanchine intervened. 'He is Asian enough!' Mr. Lee recalled Mr. Balanchine saying. 'Why do you make him more?' The elements of Mr. Lee's costume as the character Tea — the Fu Manchu mustache, queue ponytail and rice paddy hat that have routinely been used in the role — are now widely considered racist stereotypes, but Mr. Lee said he didn't mind. 'Dancing is dancing,' he told The Times. Mr. Lee appeared in Act II, when Marie and her prince visit the Land of Sweets. After being wheeled out in a box by two women, he performed and then returned to the box. John Martin, in his review for The New York Times, wrote that Mr. Lee 'jumps wonderfully and exhibits some equally wonderful extensions in the Chinese dance.' In The Brooklyn Eagle, Paul Affelder praised his 'almost unbelievable elevations in the dance of tea.' Mr. Lee was not asked to join City Ballet; at 5-foot-5, he was told that he was too short. He graduated from the Manhattan School of Aviation Trades (now Aviation High School), in Queens, and then attended Indiana Technical College (now Indiana Tech), in Fort Wayne. He toured occasionally with a ballet troupe run by the great Russian dancer Andre Eglevsky. But it wasn't steady work, so he looked to Broadway. In 1958, he auditioned for the original Rodgers and Hammerstein musical 'Flower Drum Song,' a story about Chinese assimilation in San Francisco. He danced the Bluebird pas de deux from 'Sleeping Beauty,' performing it for Gene Kelly, the musical's director. After, Mr. Kelly told him: 'George, I know you like to do ballet. Why don't you learn something new?' Mr. Lee said he went home to discuss the offer with his mother, Stanislawa Lee, a Polish-born former ballerina, who responded: 'Maybe you should go ahead and try it. We've got to make a living.' He stayed with the show through its run of 600 performances, and continued with it on tour. He would appear twice more on Broadway (in the musicals 'Baker Street' and 'Darling of the Day,' in the 1960s), but the rest of his career featured little ballet. He found regular work in summer stock theater and danced in a cabaret show, 'Carol Channing With Her 10 Stout-Hearted Men'; in a touring arena show, 'Disney on Parade'; and in a Las Vegas revue, 'Alcazar de Paris,' at the Desert Inn, his final act in show business. 'Whether he was in ballet or not, he used his ballet training,' Phil Chan, a choreographer and a founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, an initiative dedicated to ending offensive depictions of Asians in ballet, said in an interview. 'If you look at clips of 'Flower Drum Song,' he's doing great ballet technique.' In his mid-40s, Mr. Lee pivoted to a new career — dealing blackjack in Las Vegas — and receded into dance history. George Li was born on Feb. 18, 1935, in Hong Kong. His father, Alexander Li, was a circus acrobat who taught him how to do handstands; his mother was his first dance teacher. When Japan occupied Hong Kong in 1941, the family fled to Shanghai, and then his father went to western China to find work. In Shanghai, a city with a vibrant population of émigrés, George took dance lessons from Russian teachers; at 7, he began performing polkas and Russian dances in nightclubs to help his mother get by. Sometimes he was paid in rice. In 1945, George's father died in a truck accident while trying to return to Shanghai. Four years later, George and his mother, fearing the Communist takeover of Shanghai, evacuated to the Philippines, where they spent two years in a refugee camp. Before they left the Philippines, George's mother warned him about what would be required if he wanted a future in dance. In an oral history interview for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in 2024, he recalled her saying, 'Look here, George, you are Asian, part of you, and we're going to America, and there will be all white people, so you better be 10 times better.' Their immigration to the United States was sponsored by a friend of the family who also introduced George to the School of American Ballet. When he later stopped dancing, his career was largely forgotten by the public. In 2022, Ms. Lin, the filmmaker, was looking at old photos at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, when she spotted a publicity shot of Mr. Lee from 'The Nutcracker.' Knowing how rare it was to see dancers of color perform at City Ballet, she wondered who this pioneering Asian was. 'I just became obsessed with finding George,' she said in an interview. 'I started tracking him and found an obituary for his mother, which said that she was survived by a son, George, living in Las Vegas.' Ms. Lin, a former reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, called five George Lees in Las Vegas. When she finally located the former dancer, she said, Mr. Lee asked her, 'Why are you looking for me? I'm nobody.' It took about a year for her to complete 'Ten Times Better,' which showed Mr. Lee at the Four Queens Hotel and Casino, where he dealt blackjack for 40 years, and at a reunion in Los Angeles of 'Flower Drum Song' performers, including Patrick Adiarte, who died last month. (The half-hour documentary is available on PBS's American Masters Shorts website.) Graham Lustig, the artistic director of Oakland Ballet, said in an interview that he had been unaware of Mr. Lee's dance career until he saw the documentary: 'It's like he was the ultimate undercover ballet dancer.' On May 4, Oakland Ballet performed the world premiere of its 'Angel Island Project,' seven dances by Asian American and Pacific Islander choreographers, set to music by Huang Ruo, about the harrowing experiences of Chinese detainees at the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay in the early 20th century. The company dedicated the performance to Mr. Lee. As Mr. Lustig said, 'It seemed like the most fitting way to recognize George — an immigrant who pursued a dancing dream.'
Russia Today
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Russia Today
185 years of Tchaikovsky: Honoring the composer who gave the world its most iconic ballets
Thanks to 'The Nutcracker', this Russian composer gifted the world some of its most beloved Christmas melodies. His 'Swan Lake' became an unexpected symbol of the 1991 August Coup that signaled the Soviet Union's collapse. His ballets packed theaters when impresario Sergey Diaghilev, who brought Russian ballet to the world stage, introduced them to Western audiences. And even those who know little about classical music instantly recognize the stirring opening chords of his 'Piano Concerto No. 1'. A socialite who struggled against his own inclinations, a man of deep sensitivity known to friends as having a 'glass soul,' he also composed some of the most significant sacred music in the Russian Orthodox tradition. We're talking, of course, about Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Discover the life, work, and personal trials of Russia's most celebrated composer in this RT feature. A child of the Empire Many great composers seemed destined for music from birth – Beethoven's father sang at court, Mozart's was a deputy kapellmeister. These prodigies grew up in refined, aristocratic homes. Pyotr Tchaikovsky's story, however, took a different path. Born in 1840 in the industrial town of Votkinsk in the Ural region, Tchaikovsky came from a family rooted in the Russian Empire's rising professional class. His father, Ilya Tchaikovsky, managed an ironworks – one of the Empire's most advanced metallurgical plants. On his father's side, Pyotr's family traced its roots to the Cossacks of Little Russia (modern-day Ukraine), who had served Russia faithfully since the 17th century. During the Great Northern War, his ancestor, Colonel Fyodor Chaika, sided with Tsar Peter I against Hetman Ivan Mazepa's betrayal. After the Battle of Poltava, the family eventually adopted the surname Tchaikovsky and joined the Russian nobility. His mother's family added Western European flair. French sculptors and Austrian officers – including Michael Heinrich Maximilian Assier, who became Andrey Mikhailovich Assier upon settling in Russia – rounded out the family tree. Assier rose to the rank of active state counselor, equivalent to a major general. From an early age, music filled Tchaikovsky's home. His father played flute, his mother played harp and piano, and the family owned a grand piano and a mechanical organ known as an orchestrion. Through it, young Pyotr first encountered Mozart's 'Don Giovanni', leaving a lasting impression. His earliest music teacher was Maria Palchikova, a former serf who had taught herself to read and play music. He also absorbed French cultural influence from Fanny Dürbach, a governess brought from St. Petersburg. This blend of European classical training and authentic Russian heritage shaped his artistic vision. Even as a child, Tchaikovsky showed a deep emotional connection to music. He once became so engrossed while tapping rhythms on a window frame that he broke the glass and severely cut his hand. 'In daily life, people were drawn to him because they could feel how deeply he cared,' recalled his brother Modest. 'He was so sensitive that the slightest thing could hurt him. He was like a child made of glass.' This emotional intensity would later complicate his life – but it also fueled his extraordinary creativity. From bureaucrat to composer Ilya Tchaikovsky envisioned a stable career for his son in law or government. At age ten, Pyotr entered St. Petersburg's prestigious Imperial School of Jurisprudence. Though the school's rigid discipline made him feel isolated, Tchaikovsky quickly earned the affection of teachers and classmates. Remarkably, he avoided both corporal punishment and bullying – no small feat in that era. Even in a school focused on legal studies, his love of music persisted, though his talents weren't immediately obvious. While clearly more musically inclined than his peers, no one yet foresaw the heights he would reach. At 19, after graduating, he landed a civil service job at the Ministry of Finance – a respectable, if uninspired, start to his career. But the lure of St. Petersburg's vibrant intellectual and social scene soon proved irresistible. He befriended future poets, writers, and critics, attended salons, banquets, and musical soirées, and embraced a hedonistic lifestyle. 'I, a sickly man with neurosis, cannot live without the poison of alcohol. Every night I find myself drunk,' he later confessed. Along with mounting debts, this lifestyle clashed with his government duties. At 21, he enrolled in music classes offered by the Russian Musical Society, which soon became the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He was among the first composition students. When he abandoned his bureaucratic post, no one in the office seemed to notice. 'He simply stopped showing up.' The greatest musical talent in Russia At the conservatory, the now mature Tchaikovsky finally began to realize his full potential. He composed his first significant works: a cantata based on Schiller's 'Ode to Joy' and the overture 'The Storm', inspired by Ostrovsky's play. These works revealed his ability to draw equally from Western and Russian musical traditions. While artistic circles can be competitive, Tchaikovsky inspired admiration rather than jealousy. His classmate – and future critic – Herman Laroche declared, 'You are the greatest musical talent in contemporary Russia. In fact, you're our only hope for the future of Russian music.' Graduating with the conservatory's top honor, the grand silver medal, Tchaikovsky soon moved to Moscow to teach at the conservatory there. During the late 1860s and early 1870s, he composed the 'Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture', which a biographer described as revealing the main themes of his future work: the psychological drama of unfulfilled love, youthful passion, and the omnipresent shadow of death. He also embraced Russian history and folk culture, which shone through in his opera 'The Oprichnik', set during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Premiered at the Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theaters, the opera was, in Tchaikovsky's words, 'a triumph beyond anything I could have imagined. A huge crowd of students escorted me back to my hotel.' Not all his works were instant hits. The now-iconic 'Swan Lake' struggled at first and only gained worldwide acclaim after his death. Triumph and turmoil By the 1870s and 1880s, Tchaikovsky's fame had soared. His concerts sold out. For his '1812 Overture', celebrating Russia's victory over Napoleon, Emperor Alexander III awarded him an order of merit and helped him clear his debts. He toured Europe, receiving praise from luminaries like Wagner and Liszt, and traveled to the United States, where he conducted at Carnegie Hall's grand opening. By then, he had composed all the operas, ballets, and symphonies that would become his lasting legacy. Yet personal happiness eluded him. His engagement to Belgian soprano Désirée Artôt, a frequent performer in Russia, ended due to her family's objections. Heartbroken, he poured his emotions into 'Romance', Op. 5, for piano. At 37, he married Antonina Milyukova, a former student. Though she adored him, their marriage quickly soured. Just three months in, he fled to Switzerland. Though they never divorced, they lived apart for the rest of his life. Speculation about Tchaikovsky's homosexuality persists. While he had close relationships with prominent homosexual figures and young male students, serious biographers suggest his attachments were largely aesthetic and intellectual. In his letters, he often lamented his inclinations and struggled to repress them. Finding solace in faith The turbulence of his personal life took a toll on this man with the 'glass soul.' But in his 30s, Tchaikovsky found solace in Orthodox Christianity. Though indifferent to religion in his youth, by the 1870s and 1880s he had turned to faith for comfort. He studied the Gospels and became deeply engaged with Orthodox church music. Religious themes began to surface in his compositions. In his 'Sixth Symphony', the hymn 'With the Saints Give Rest' foreshadows death. The 1812 Overture features the troparion 'Save, O Lord, Your people and bless Your inheritance.' He also composed music for major liturgies, including the 'Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom' and the 'All-Night Vigil'. Metropolitan Ilarion observed, 'He was not just a believer but was deeply rooted in the Orthodox Church. The beauty and profound poetry of Orthodox worship always drew him.' Tchaikovsky himself once said, 'My love for Orthodoxy is tied directly to my deep affection for the Russian spirit.' A legacy beyond time Tchaikovsky died suddenly at age 53 during a cholera outbreak in St. Petersburg. His death shocked the nation. The emperor placed the Imperial Theaters in charge of his funeral and paid the expenses himself. The requiem Mass at Kazan Cathedral was so crowded that many mourners couldn't even get inside. Tchaikovsky's life shows that it's never too late to follow your true calling, that the path to greatness is rarely smooth, and that passion and hardship often go hand in hand with genius. His body of work – blending Western European influences with the soul of Russian Orthodox culture – created masterpieces that still captivate audiences worldwide. Today, ballets like 'The Nutcracker', 'Swan Lake', and 'Sleeping Beauty' are staples of every major opera house. Immune to politics or sanctions, these timeless classics stir emotions ranging from bittersweet nostalgia to warmth and inspiration. So, when you hear the 'Waltz of the Flowers' from 'The Nutcracker' drifting through city streets on Christmas Eve, remember the brilliant Russian composer who gave the world such beauty – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Chicago Reader columnist Michael Miner, ‘a conscience of our profession,' dies at 81
For many people, Michael Miner was best known as the astute, must-read chronicler of all things media in his 'Hot Type' column in the Chicago Reader. 'In an era of robust competition among newsrooms all over town, Michael Miner was an unsentimental watchdog of Chicago journalism and a conscience of our profession,' says Robert Feder, longtime Chicago media critic. 'He didn't originate the 'Hot Type' column, but he made it his own, and he made it the first thing we turned to when The Reader came out every week.' Miner died on May 1 of natural causes. He was 81 years old and surrounded by his family. Almost immediately, the internet was filled with memories, many of them do-it-yourself obituaries that smacked of self-aggrandizement. That certainly was not Miner's style. Feder goes on, saying, 'About 10 years ago, around the time Mike was stepping down from The Reader, I nominated him for a lifetime achievement award from the Chicago Headline Club. No question he deserved it, and I figured he was a sure win. But when he learned what I'd done, he had his name withdrawn. 'I am easily embarrassed,' Mike explained, 'I don't want to go through anything like a nominating process. Besides, I have a good idea of who deserves what.' 'Humility like that is rare in our business.' That quality was apparent to those who knew Miner best. 'He was the smartest, most honest and most ethical person I have ever known,' says Betsy Nore, Miner's wife of 48 years. 'I loved him so.' They met in the early 1970s when Miner walked into a Lakeview shop called Presence that Nore had just opened. He purchased the then-unusual item, granola. And he asked her on a date. Since Miner was then working the night shift, getting off work in the early morning, it took a while for that to happen. At his suggestion, they played tennis at the Waveland Avenue courts, even though, Nore says, 'Neither of us really knew how to play.' But they dated on and off for a few years. Married on June 11, 1977, they would have three daughters. Daughter Molly Miner, a school administrator, married to Alex Rosenthal and the mother of Solomon and Neva, said, 'He was an incredible father. He made a point of having special traditions with my sisters and me. He made all of us feel special. One was our annual trip to Marshall Fields to see the holiday windows, visit Santa, pick out a Christmas gift for my mom. We did this into adulthood, until Fields was sold to Macy's. He always had a pocketful of change for us to give to the Salvation Army bell ringers. Christmas traditions were important to us, and he was thrilled to see my son Solomon dance in Joffrey's 'Nutcracker.'' Joanna Miner, married to Daniel Thomas and the mother of Elise and Jesse, said, 'He was fun. He did the can-can with other dads on the sidelines of my soccer games and he never missed a game. He did the crossword every day, often completing it before anyone else was awake. When we played Celebrity as a family, he would add 'celebrities' like 'Dagwood Bumstead,' much to everyone's confusion. Giving rides was his love language. No matter the time or how inconvenient, you could count on Dad to want to give you a ride. Even though I live off the Blue Line, he always insisted on driving me to the airport and picking me up. My kids and I deeply loved him and knew that he loved us.' Laura Miner, a grade school teacher and basketball coach, said, 'He was the best dad you could imagine. A true girl dad, who was deep. He instilled in us a need to work for justice and a desire to understand truth. My sisters and I are who we are only for the better because of him. I feel very lucky.' Michael Richard Miner was born in St. Louis in 1943. A self-described 'nerdy kid,' he graduated from high school at 15. After studying engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, he completed a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and was a 19-year-old member of Mensa. He worked, unsatisfyingly, as a door-to-door salesman for a short time and then wrote for, of all publications, the Disciples of Christ Christian Catalogue. Enlisting in the United States Navy, he served on an aircraft carrier off North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin. After an honorable discharge, he worked as a reporter and editor in St. Louis before moving here to work at the Chicago Sun-Times. Newsrooms then were raucous places, filled with loud voices, the constant clacking of typewriters, cigarette smoke and big, colorful personalities. Mary Dedinski was a young reporter then, later to be the paper's managing editor. She remembers, 'Michael was a distinctive presence in the newsroom, quiet but with a formidable mind and great skills of observation and writing. Always, he would bring a fresh perspective or idea to any situation, often with a dry sense of humor. We were passionate about Chicago and our stories and for more than five decades, he was a forever friend, warm and generous.' He took a leave of absence from the paper to return to Vietnam in 1975. As the war drew to a close, he did not avail himself of a seat on one of the last helicopters out of the capital city of Saigon. Instead he posed as the husband and father of a young Vietnamese family to help them escape. He would spend more years as a reporter at the Sun-Times, and was among the journalists to found and write for the now legendary the Chicago Journalism Review. He began freelancing for the Chicago Reader after writing a story for its first issue in 1971 and joined its staff in 1979, tasked with editing the weekly 'Hot Type' column before becoming its sole voice. He also wrote some longer stories and edited those of the paper's talented staff, among them John Conroy and his astonishing work exposing police torture. Miner was profiled in the Reader in 2011 by his colleague Steve Bogira, who notes that although his 'Hot Type' column was 'ostensibly about the media,' it was 'really about human nature.' In 2011, he wrote a chilling story about the 1982 rape and murder of the woman babysitting then-10 month old Joanna and a fire set in his house. The fireman who saved Joanna was at her wedding. And then in 2013, Miner wrote about having had primary sclerosing cholangitis, an inflammation of the bile ducts since 2001, which necessitated a successful liver transplant. His papers and other materials were donated to the Newberry Library, where his life will be celebrated at 2 p.m. May 19, and where his papers will reside for keeps, alongside a couple of other columnists named Ben Hecht and Mike Royko. rkogan@
