During her lifetime, some children were afraid of the woman in the “Witch’s House” on Beach Drive in Fox Point. Nowadays, the house’s owner, Mary Nohl (1914-2001), is remembered for the fund she endowed, giving scholarships

 John Steinbeck is familiar to film buffs for the raft of Hollywood movies based on his novels, including such classics as The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden; and many of us encountered Steinbeck in a high school or college

 Looking back at the 20th century, it seems as if some philosophers deliberately marginalized philosophy by refusing to address important issues in language meaningful to the general public. Perhaps that disengagement

 Opera is a rebuke to the dogma of realism; after all, no one sings the dialogue of his life, and key moments aren’t emphasized with the roll of kettledrums or a resounding swell of orchestration. Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker

Nothing is forever in rock anymore, least of all breakups. Whether local heroes or global superstars, defunct bands regroup nowadays with alarming regularity. Many of them downright suck; many more reemerge as mere outlines

Leonard Cohen held his audience spellbound through a three-hour show Friday night at the Milwaukee Theatre. His 3,700 fans spanned generations, much as his two long sets spanned the decades, covering favorite songs

 Dracula author Bram Stoker is the unspoken reference

 In 1919, the Italian futurist poet, novelist, screenwriter and aviator Gabriele D'Annunzio marshaled a private army and seized the Adriatic seaport of Fiume. In the confusion of post-World War I Europe, D'Annunzio was able to rule