A New Orleans Jazz History, 1895-1927. Even before jazz, for most New Orleanians, music was not a luxury as it often is elsewhereâit was a necessity. Throughout the nineteenth century, diverse ethnic and racial groups â French, Spanish, and African, Italian, German, and Irish â found common cause in their love of music.
Edward Herrmann. Edward Herrmann -- perhaps best known for playing Richard Gilmore on  Gilmore Girls  -- died this morning in a hospital in New York. He was 71. Herrmann's family tells TMZ he had been battling brain cancer and had been in ICU for the last 3 1/2 weeks.
Alan Rickman, the accomplished British stage actor who brought an erudite dignity to film roles like Hans Gruber, the nefarious mastermind of âDie Hard,â and Severus Snape, the dour master of potions in the âHarry Potterâ series, died on Thursday in London. He was 69.