Thursday's Art Notes

_Members of the "Etiwanda Marching Eagle Regiment":http://www.etiwanda.com/ from California perform during a warm up in Trafalgar Square on December 30, 2010 in London, England. The U.S. bands are to perform at the 25th anniversary New Year's Day Parade through Central London tomorrow. Many of the musicians have been stranded in the states after flights were canceled due to heavy snow. Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images_ * Prompted by online protests, Sotheby's removed an item from its scheduled February sale: a 16th-century Benin mask that is believed to have been looted by British forces during the 19th-century, via "The Independent":http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/sothebys-cancels-sale-of-looted-benin-mask-2171125.html * France begins a major crack down on music and video piracy on the Internet by informing 100,000 users that they have been caught downloading, via "The Guardian":http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12093316. * Geraldine Doyle, the woman who is believed to have been the model for Rosie the Riveter, has died in Lansing, Michigan at 86, age via "The New York Times":http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/us/30doyle.html. * Agathe von Trapp, the eldest daughter in the family that inspired the classic musical _The Sound of Music_ died in Maryland at the age of 97, via "BBC":http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12093316. * Grant McCune, the special effects artist who built the models for _Star Wars_ and helped create the shark in Jaws, has died of pancreatic cancer at age 67, via "Variety":http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118029530?refCatId=13. * Dr. Billy Taylor, a pianist, educator and broadcaster who drew the American attention to importance of Jazz as a national art form, died Tuesday of a heart attack at age 89, via "NPR":http://www.npr.org/2010/12/30/132450440/jazz-pianist-composer-billy-taylor-dies-at-89. **In this clip from the 1958 television series "The Subject is Jazz," Billy Taylor discusses the essentials of jazz improvisation before he turns to the piano to perform:**