Talk:Famous American artists
Joachin; Rudolf Nureyev was a dancer, not Rudolph Valentino. And Pet. Clarke is a Brit. And when the link to Stephen Schwartz is activated we get the writer. AlanE 22:17, 19 November 2008 (EST)
- OK, working on it. Thank you! --User:Joaquín Martínez, talk 06:42, 20 November 2008 (EST)
Standards for Inclusion?
While I'm thankful for your efforts to class this place up with your articles on art and artists, I'm rather perplexed as to how you're choosing the folks you feature here. While "famous" and "artist" are inherently subjective terms, by almost any standard many of your choices are--frankly--bizarre. Take the Musicians category, for example--Steve Lawrence and Ethelbert Nevin? I can't imagine any discussion in which they'd be more famous or more artistic or more influential than a plethora of people not on the list (from Louis Armstrong to Frank Zappa). Or the Writers category--you list Bayard Taylor and Stephen King and Chuck Palahniuk, but leave off Steinbeck and Melville and Hawthorne and Emerson and Dickinson and Frost and any number of others? The other categories have similar issues to some degree or other. I think you need to focus your efforts, decide on a standard of some sort, and ask for help/opinions. I am reluctant to make wholesale changes here, as this is largely your baby, but I am more than happy to assist. --RossC 22:38, 21 November 2008 (EST)
- May be you could help also with some red links. --User:Joaquín Martínez, talk 07:25, 22 November 2008 (EST)
- With all due respect, mate, if Steve Lawrence doesn't disappear from the list within a day, I am going to do it myself, which will ruin the looks of that lovely line of "Joaquín Martínez (Talk | contribs)etc" on the history page and slow down by one your rush towards the 25,000contribs total (which I sometimes think you will reach by Christmas. :)) I really do wish you hadn't included him because I have not been able to stop humming "Go away, Little Girl" since I saw him there three days ago and the family is starting to talk about leaving home! So please, Joaquín....! AlanE 14:29, 23 November 2008 (EST)
- This time the name of the list is "musicians" not "composers" like in "Famous Artists". And as far I as know he is a famous one; nicht wahr? --User:Joaquín Martínez, talk 17:50, 23 November 2008 (EST)
- Bis heute nur 20,554, affenschande! --User:Joaquín Martínez, talk 17:59, 23 November 2008 (EST)
Yes, he was...for a little while. He was one of the thousands of artists who came and went. He hasn't had a particularly high profile in recent decades. But he is not immortal like so many are that are not included in the list. Where are the singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, the classical singers like Jesse Norman, Robert Merrill, Marion Anderson, the band leaders, the conductors, the greats of jazz (now there is America for you, Joaquín - jazz! And remember; "the real American folksong is a rag...so said (I think) Ira Gershwin.)? Where's Charlie Parker? If the criterion is "fame" - especially lasting fame - then Steve Lawrence doesn't really qualify. (I have been desperately singing Nat King Cole songs this morning to rid my mind of Go away Little girl...now there is an immortal! Replace Steve with Nat King Cole. It may have been the late great Isaac Hayes who said: "Nat was cooool before it was cooool to be cooool."
- And I've just realised you left out possibly the most influential and famous all-round musician of the twentieth century...bar none. Leonard Bernstein. He was a conductor, pianist, classical composer, Broadway composer, song writer, educator, writer and so on. He would have to go on the top of any list.
- Another morning...thanks for putting in those greats, but Ira Gershwin should not be there: he was his brother's lyricist and is not considered a famous musician. (He wrote the words to a song called The Great American Folksong (is a rag). That's why I mentioned him...which reminds me: Scott Joplin should be there.) I enjoyed your choice of the divine Joséphine. The French will be happy. (But I still hate Steve Lawrence being there when there are literally thousands of better candidates!)
- I'll get rid of some red links for the musicians later but I am finishing other things this morning. AlanE 13:27, 24 November 2008 (EST)
- Another morning...thanks for putting in those greats, but Ira Gershwin should not be there: he was his brother's lyricist and is not considered a famous musician. (He wrote the words to a song called The Great American Folksong (is a rag). That's why I mentioned him...which reminds me: Scott Joplin should be there.) I enjoyed your choice of the divine Joséphine. The French will be happy. (But I still hate Steve Lawrence being there when there are literally thousands of better candidates!)