Thursday's Art Notes

_A ferry idles past as the "Sydney Opera House":http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/ sails are illuminated by American artist "Laurie Anderson":http://www.laurieanderson.com/ for the opening of "VIVID Live":http://vividlive.sydneyoperahouse.com/ across Sydney on May 27, 2010. The annual two-week festival of music, film, theatre and visual arts is being curated by Anderson and "Lou Reed":http://www.loureed.com/00/index.html, and will run until June 11. Photo by Torsten Blackwood/ AFP/ Getty Images_ * Former TV personality Art Linkletter has died at age 97, via the "New York Times":http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/arts/27linkletter.html. Linkletter hosted the shows "People Are Funny" and afternoon talkshow "House Party," which featured a segment called "Kids Say the Darndest Things," where earnest children were interviewed for comic effect. * Slate has two questions: "Is it possible to design a better stop sign?":http://www.slate.com/id/2254863/ And, "Is street art over?":http://www.slate.com/id/2254894/slideshow/2255000/ Answers: Yes and maybe. * Singer Elton John defied hostile Islamists to headline Morocco's biggest music festival on Wednesday night and received a rapturous welcome from a crowd of thousands, "reports Reuters":http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100527/en_nm/us_morocco_eltonjohn. * The house of "Alexander McQueen":http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2010/02/remembering-alexander-mcqueen.html has named Sarah Burton, a longtime colleague of the late designer, to be the new creative director of the brand, "reports the Associated Press":http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FASHION_ALEXANDER_MCQUEEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-05-27-12-19-13. * "Willie Nelson got a haircut":http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20006125-10391698.html.