Composer creates storm after calling attack on U.S. a 'work of art'
Associated Press
HAMBURG, Germany - Composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, 73, roused indignation in Germany for describing last week's catastrophic airplane assaults on New York as "the greatest work of art ever."
The renowned contemporary composer, who was speaking to journalists in Hamburg late Sunday, immediately retracted the remark and asked them not to report it.
But as a result of what he said, two concerts featuring Stockhausen which were to be given Tuesday and yesterday were cancelled by the organizers of a music festival at the request of the local cultural authorities and festival sponsors.
Hamburg's general director of music, Ingo Metzmacher, had invited the composer to stage performances of his own works at the current Hamburg music festival.
The German news agency DPA said the composer had quit Hamburg, greatly upset by the affair.
In a statement issued by the music festival organizers, Stockhausen said he had been asked whether characters in his work, such as Lucifer, were historical, and that he had replied "they are always contemporary, for example Lucifer in New York.
"I recalled the destruction of art. Any other words outside of this context have no relation to what I meant," he insisted.
Hamburg culture minister Christina Weiss said the composer's reported remark was inexcusable, given the grief and mourning in the United States.
"Out of feeling for the political culture of the city and the federal republic, the concerts had to be cancelled," she said.
According to DPA, the composer, who had been asked about the attacks on the United States, said: "What happened there is - they all have to rearrange their brains now - is the greatest work of art ever.
"That characters can bring about in one act what we in music cannot dream of, that people practice madly for 10 years, completely fanatically, for a concert and then die. That is the greatest work of art for the whole cosmos."
McDonald's millionaire arrested for domestic violence, failure to pay child support
Associated Press
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -Patrick Collier, 35, was released from the Volusia County Jail on $2,500 bond Tuesday after being arrested at his Ormond Beach home on a felony charge of aggravated battery against 29-year-old Sandra Fabian.
"It was just a fight," said Collier's attorney, J. Peyton Quarles. He said Fabian had left the state, and that the charge against his client could be reduced to battery.
According to a police report, Fabian was left bleeding from her mouth and nose, and had a swollen cheek. She was treated at a hospital for head and neck injuries, police said.
Collier went into a McDonald's in Holly Hill on Sept. 1 for a 99-cent breakfast sandwich for Fabian, and walked out the winner of a $1 million instant prize, one of five being given out by the company.
Just months before winning the prize, Collier and Fabian were homeless, sleeping on cardboard boxes and earning $50 a day as laborers when they could find work.
Collier is supposed to get $50,000 each year from McDonald's for the next 20 years. But he won't get anything from the first check, due next week, because he owes back child support and must reimburse the state and federal governments for welfare payments made to his children.
Collier was simply unable to make those payments the past four years because he didn't have a regular job and was living on the street, said Laurence Bartlett, his attorney in the child-support case.
Collier was arrested 14 times in central Florida in the past seven years, four times for domestic violence, state records indicate.
Quick-thinking 8-year old saves mom
Associated Press
PHOENIX - An 8-year-old Ahwatukee Foothills boy is being credited with saving his mother's life by steering her car to safety after she suffered an epileptic seizure.
Morgan Nordstrom was returning from a shopping trip with his 33-year-old mother, Laura, about 7 p.m. on Sept. 13 when she suffered the seizure.
The family car hit the median at Chandler Boulevard before the boy, sitting in the front seat, realized what was happening and took over the steering wheel.
"I tried to pull over to a curb and I turned off the car," he said.
Morgan said he didn't bother with the brakes ''because I couldn't reach them.''
Two drivers saw the incident and pulled over to help, then called 911.
Laura Nordstrom regained awareness of where she was while paramedics were treating her at the scene.
She said she had her first seizure at age 15 but has gone as long as 10 years without one.
Authorities said the boy's quick action saved his mother's life along with his own and possibly others if the car hadn't been stopped in time.
"I don't think there are many 8-year-olds that would do that," said firefighter Dale Cillian, who was at the scene. "They're really lucky."
