| Kurt Vonnegut was born in
Indianapolis, IN of German American background. He was into journalism
and chemistry before WWII. In WWII he was an advance scout w/ 106th Inf.
Div. in the Battle of the Bulge and captured. His experiences as a POW
in the city of Dresden, Germany had a lifelong impact the was eventually
a stimulus to much of Vonnegut's writing. The novel Slaughterhouse-
Five (1969) is considered one of the most important works of
American fiction in the 20th century. Based on Vonnegut's experience the
novel focuses on American POWs in a slaughter-house during the Allied
firebombing of the city of Dresden. However, being "unstuck in time" one
is transported to various time frames and experiences in the main
character, Billy Pilgrim's sorted life. Realism, language and graphic
context place Slaughterhouse-Five in many banned book lists. It
also challenges the efficiency, accuracy and usefulness of massive
conventional bombing. A film was released in 1972.
|
Andy Warhol represents one of the
founders of the 'Pop Art' Movement in America. He was an artist,
filmmaker, writer and as he saw it a "Superstar". Warhol was of
Slovakian (Ruthenian) descent and born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburg, PA.
At an early age he was struck with St. Vitus disease, a complication of
Scarlet Fever which effected his appearance and nervous disposition.
Andy Warhol got a scholarship to Carnegie Mellon U. and excelled in
commercial art. Initially, he went to NY and landed jobs with fashion
magazines. Eventually, he began making paintings of American
iconographic images of products, celebrities and front page news items.
To increase production he developed silk screens of these images
reflecting the metaphor of a machine produce his pop art. He hired
other artists and developed a studio called "The Factory". For a time
Warhol managed Lou Reed's band Velvet Underground.
The "Superstar" lifestyle and continuous production of art, film and
music propelled Warhol through the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Only a serious
gunshot wound by a radical feminist in 1968 threatened his production.
He has been extensively criticized, yet his images and the shift of pop
art into the avant garde and the general public. The first break through
came with the image of a Campbell's Tomato Soup label that graced the
shelves of many American pantries. Although a "Superstar", Warhol
was very religious and humble often volunteering in homeless shelters.
He died of complications and neglect after gall bladder surgery in 1987.
 |
Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman) is an
American singer-songwriter who has consistently changed in such a way
that leads the way in popular music from folk, rock, country, blues,
gospel, jazz, and swing traditions. From the early 1960s to
the present day with his latest hit album, "Modern Times" 2006 at age
65. Dylan grew up in Hibbing, Minnesota and went to college at the
U. of Minnesota where in got into the emerging folk music scene and
coffee shops. When Dylan went to New York he became part
of the early Folk Scene in Greenwich Village. Dylan also visited a dying
Woody Guthrie in a New Jersey hospital and took on his persona with folk
singing in the 'village'. In 1962 John Hammond signed Bob Dylan with
Columbia Records and produced his first album. Subsequent albums led to
major folk hits like "Blowin In The Wind" that were covered by more
commercial performers like Peter, Paul and Mary. By 1965 Dylan was
fusing folk with rock and went electric with hits "Like A Rolling Stone"
on his "Highway 61 Revisited " album. This was the stimulus for a shift
by many performers like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sonny and Cher, The
Byrds and The Mamas And Papas to the genre Folk Rock.
Bob Dylan continues to produce innovative and cutting edge music,
even with his latest album "Modern Times" 2006). |
The "Superstar" lifestyle and continuous production of art, film and
music propelled Warhol through the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Only a serious
gunshot wound by a radical feminist in 1968 threatened his production.
He has been extensively criticized, yet his images and the shift of pop
art into the avant garde and the general public. The first break through
came with the image of a Campbell's Tomato Soup label that graced the
shelves of many American pantries. Although a "Superstar", Warhol
was very religious and humble often volunteering in homeless shelters.
He died of complications and neglect after gall bladder surgery in 1987.