Renaissance

He writes verse, and one of his poems won an international poetry competition. He paints, and one of his works was displayed on the Web site of a major British newspaper. He blogs for another major British newspaper. He composes music that gets performed in high-profile places. He's the author of a book on prayer. Oh yes, and Stephen Hough also plays the piano. Brilliantly, incisively, compellingly. The British keyboard artist and 21st-century Renaissance man, a recipient of a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship (the so-called "genius grant")

If you want to see paintings by Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso, you don't have to visit the Baltimore Museum of Art. You can view works by those artists and many others at the new home of Renaissance Fine Arts in Pikesville. A "Masters" section is one of the many features of the gallery, which opened this fall at 1848 Reisterstown Road. There are also areas with contemporary art, sculpture, vintage posters and custom framing, and a separate boutique featuring jewel-encrusted frames and other art objects by Jay Strongwater.

Q-Tip wants to put "new flavor in your ear." In the process, he hopes you feel the love, too. The rapper's engaging new album, The Renaissance, glows with loving, downright sunny sentiments often unheard these days in mainstream hip-hop - or any other urban style, for that matter. With all the talk of hope surrounding the historic presidential election of Barack Obama, it seems appropriate that such an album landed in stores on Election Day. "I felt the music needed to have a reawakening of the spirit," says Q-Tip, who plays the 9:30 Club in Washington on Sunday.

Wilde Lake coach Doug DuVall introduces the Wildecats' kicker Graham Spicer this way: "Here is our Renaissance man," he said, describing him as a student with wide interests who is an expert in several of them. "He is a neat kid," said DuVall. "He got 800 on his math SAT. He couldn't do any better than that." Spicer, a 6-foot, 185-pound senior, has a 3.57 grade point average and has come through in the clutch this season. His other interests include music and playing Ultimate Frisbee.

The wenches should stay. And the pirates, too. That's what Anne Arundel County officials are saying in response to news that the owners of the Maryland Renaissance Festival are looking to relocate. Organizers of the Renaissance Festival - in its 32nd season of celebrating 16th-century English culture - recently undertook a location scouting effort across the region in order to expand their business, currently situated on 135 acres in Crownsville. The festival has seen record attendance this year, and organizers envision a larger site offering more amenities.

Q-Tip [Universal Motown] **** cds Within six years, Jonathan Davis, better known as celebrated rapper Q-Tip, bounced around five different labels. And although he recorded a wealth of material, none of it saw official release. Only one album, 2002's Kamaal the Abstract, came close to actually seeing the light of CD stores. But at the last minute, Arista, Q-Tip's label at the time, decided to shelve the project after promos had been sent out. It's a shame, because the album was a pointed and wickedly ambitious mash-up of soul-jazz, Beatles-inflected pop and New York-style hip-hop.

Corcoran Gallery of Art Where:: 500 17th St. N.W., Washington When:: Through Jan. 25 What:: Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power. Exhibit shows the artist's work on the subjects of politics and power. Composed of more than 200 images of government, media, business and labor officials, along with photographs of artists, activists and ordinary citizens caught up in national debates. How much: : Tickets are $14, $12 for seniors and military members, $10 for students with ID. Free for museum members and children ages 6 and younger.

Police investigate death of pedestrian in Bel Air State police continue to investigate a fatal pedestrian accident that occurred Saturday night in Bel Air. About 11 p.m., Feng Zhu Yang, 24, of New York City was crossing Route 924 north of Bel Air South Parkway when she was struck by a green Mercury Mountaineer sport utility vehicle driven by Latia Shawniece Baker, whose age and address were not available. Police said Yang sustained severe head injuries and was taken by a county ambulance to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Fallston, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

Paul Newman the actor, director, race car driver, political activist and philanthropist has died - and a buoyant strain of the American spirit has gone with him. He was 83 when he succumbed to cancer at his home near Westport, Conn., on Friday. For all his adult years, he imbued each of his arenas with unique, muscular vivacity. Mr. Newman wore the mantle of his superstardom lightly. Honored as an actor and a humanitarian, respected for putting forth liberal views without condescending to opponents, he was a Renaissance man and a stand-up guy. With Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting , Mr. Newman became part of our national pop fantasy life.

1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance By Gavin Menzies William Morrow / 368 pages / $26.95 Between 1421 and 1423, according to Gavin Menzies, a former submarine commander in Great Britain's Royal Navy, four Chinese fleets organized by the great eunuch-admiral Zheng He circumnavigated the globe. Seventy years later, Menzies maintains, Christopher Columbus used the maps the Chinese voyagers prepared to "discover" America. Despite the skepticism and scorn of professional historians, Menzies' 1421 became a best-seller in 2002.