Arts and Culture

Dubai Art Fair Aims to Defy Debt Worry; Top Sellers Want Abu Dhabi Merger Art Dubai opens its doors today with few of the world’s top-selling galleries present, four months after the Gulf emirate announced it was renegotiating its debt, sparking a global stock-market rout.

Johnny Cash's Raw Farewell Songs Overwhelm Sade's Silky Return: Mark Beech Johnny Cash’s rasp cracks and groans like a wooden galleon about to wreck on the rocks. Sade sings in a smooth voice as slinky as a cocktail dress. Corinne Bailey Rae’s crooning melts like fine chocolate.

Wall Street `Generosity Coach' Stresses Focus, How to Say `No': Interview Kathy LeMay lives in the college town of Northampton, Massachusetts, with a mortgage and a 2005 Honda Accord hybrid that she’s paying off mainly by counseling billionaires and others on how to give away their money.

Cameron Diaz, Recession Can't Stop Winemakers From Entering `Ugly' Market Vintner Ben Sharp was waiting to meet a distributor at a New York cafe last year when he spotted actress Cameron Diaz at a nearby table.

Sondheim Feted as David Hyde Pierce Sings to Tony Kushner, Alec Baldwin The Tony Awards Administration Committee ought to consider a category for “Best Stephen Sondheim 80th Birthday Fundraiser,” as a half-dozen are planned through July. The first -- the New York Philharmonic’s last night -- set a high bar for the rest.

Pistol-Packin' Cowboy Tony Blair Ridiculed by Painter Hamilton: Interview Tony Blair stands in the desert with a gun on each hip, wearing a cowboy shirt and a look of mild menace.

Luxury Hotels Lift Room Rates on Rising Demand for Butlers, Ocean Views Julian Saipe is finally taking his family on the dream vacation he put off amid last year’s recession. Apparently, so are plenty of other people.

Flesh -- Naked, Obese -- Overflows in Freud Paris Show: Jorg von Uthmann Lucian Freud is not exactly what French arbiters of taste expect from contemporary art. He is unashamedly traditional, stubbornly figurative and realistic to the point of being brutal.

Michelin Awards More Stars as 10,000 Bottles of Bubbly Popped: Food Buzz Michelin awards a second star to a Stockholm restaurant and recognizes five Budapest eateries in “Main Cities of Europe 2010,” to be published tomorrow.

Top Five Nonfiction Books From Ted Conover to Karl Rove: the Muse List With so many books in the stores, we’re often asked for recommendations. Here’s a list of recent nonfiction titles: