Taylor Talks About Art During Crisis

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Top40 Charts) - Singer James Taylor says the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks should make people think about what in the American lifestyle is worth defending.

"It didn't make things more meaningful, it made them deeper, though,'' he said during a panel discussion Friday at Harvard University. "I became worried about my audience's reaction and what state they were in.''

The discussion, "Sprung From Ruins, A panel discussion on the Arts during a Time of National Crisis,'' focused on the Sept. 11 attacks and their impact on the arts and the creative process. About 1,000 people attended.

The panel also included: Jamaica Kincaid, an author and essayist and a visiting lecturer at Harvard; Mandy Patinkin, Tony Award winning stage and film actor; Elizabeth Murray, a visual artist; John Guare, a Tony Award winning playwright; and Trisha Brown, a choreographer and dancer and founder/artistic director of the Trisha Brown Dance Company in New York.