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Clive Barnes RIP
Published: 11/19/2008 12:21 PM
Last Modified: 11/19/2008 12:21 PM

This hasn't been a good month for people who write about the arts.

Clive Barnes, who died Wednesday, was one of the best writers about dance in the world, one of those passionate people who seemed to have seen everything, remembered it clearly, and could express exactly what effect it had upon him in sparkling prose.

When Tulsa Ballet Theater went to New York City for the first time in 1983, Barnes reviewed that performance, writing that "Tulsa Ballet Theater is one of the best things to be associated with Oklahoma since Rodgers and Hammerstein."

He also summed the feeling that a lot of people who write about so many aspects of the arts have about the work they do.

“The job’s impossible,” he once said, “and one must pray that one will be only moderately incompetent.”

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James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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Past Articles By James D. Watts Jr

2/15/2013		'Concept/OK' exhibit ends Saturday
2/14/2013		Symphony to host piano soloist
2/14/2013		Broadway tours bring 'Shrek,' improv musical to Tulsa area this weekend
2/14/2013		Arts roundup: Improv reigns at several upcoming theater events
2/14/2013		'Lion King' returns to Tulsa PAC June 4
2/12/2013		Review: Signature Symphony reprises '100 Years of Oklahoma Music'
2/11/2013		Tulsa Symphony's concert salutes diverse American music
2/10/2013		Cherokee artist weaves messages into baskets
2/10/2013		Tesla Quartet set for Tulsa residency next week with variety of activities
2/10/2013		Jim Murphy wins 2013 Anne Zarrow Award
2/10/2013		LBJ chronicler Robert Caro to speak at TU on Tuesday
2/9/2013		Theater review: Playhouse makes "Barefoot in the Park" believable

James D. Watts Jr's Blog Archive:

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8/2012	7/2012	6/2012	5/2012	4/2012	3/2012
2/2012	1/2012	12/2011	11/2011	10/2011	9/2011
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