Week of  January 21-27, 2002

1. Special Interest
2. Dance
3. Media
4. Music
5. People
6. Publishing
7. Theatre
8. Visual Arts
9. Arts Issues
10. For Fun

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1. SPECIAL INTEREST  
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#specialinterest
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THE GREAT VANILLA MIDDLE: How's this for a definition of the middle class - "pacific, tolerant, secular, preferring prudence and profits to glory, conscious of itself as a group and, crucially, inward-looking to the point of neurosis." A new book charts how "throughout the 19th century, this minority - just 12 per cent of western populations - grew in influence until it ruled cultural and political life. 'The lower orders can feel but not speak, the aristocracy can speak but has nothing to say; only the bourgeoisie interpret and express the national will,' the French critic Emile Faguet wrote in 1890. What was it like to belong to this elite?" Financial Times 01/25/02

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2. DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#dance
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FORBIDDEN DANCE: Capoeira is "a 400-year-old Brazilian martial art that arrived in North America only 25 years ago. Developed by slaves as a weapon to strike for their freedom, it was outlawed in Brazil for such a long time - it only became legal in the 1930s - that in order to survive it was disguised as dance. The outcome is an exhilarating art form that in North America has undergone yet another metamorphosis." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/26/02

POSITIVELY PINA: "One of the seminal performance figures of the 20th century, Pina Bausch is a choreographer who has expanded the possibilities of modern dance, opening up the genre to snatches of dialogue, stage visions and chaotic intrusions from everyday life. She is based in an obscure German town where her avant garde, often violent, work attracted furious hostility. Her own company rebelled over her methods but more recently, after she overcame personal tragedy." The Guardian (UK) 01/26/02

IN LOVE WITH ISADORA: Dancer Isadora Duncan was one of the great dancers (according to some). On the other hand, Balanchine remembered her as a "drunk fat woman who for hours was rolling around like a pig." A new book examines her life: "Isadora's melodramatic death in 1927, at the age of 50, came too late to save her reputation from ridicule. Blowsy and reckless, she commandeered a ride in a sports car (the marque was an Amilcar, not a Bugatti) in order to try out the handsome driver. The long fringe of her red shawl caught in the rear wheel, her neck snapped and her body was dragged along the road for 30 metres. The perfect end, according to Jean Cocteau: 'A kind of horror that leaves one calm'." The Observer (UK) 01/27/02

SHOOTING STARS: "Of course, ballet has always been a profession for the young. What's different right now at the New York City Ballet is the large number of promising young dancers." Christian Science Monitor 01/25/02

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3. MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#media
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DANGEROUS TO BE SO BIG? Clear Channel Communications now has its fingers in more and more of the average American's entertainment choices. The company "garnered relatively little attention as it evolved during the 1990s from a family owned San Antonio radio chain into an international conglomerate that is now the size of NBC. Today it is the nation's largest radio owner, and a world leader in outdoor advertising. And it is the largest promoter and presenter of live entertainment on the planet; CCE promotes and/or produces 26,000 events a year, drawing 62 million people to its 135 theaters, arenas, and amphitheaters around the globe, the company says." Boston Globe 01/27/02

THE OSCAR SECRETS: Want to win an Oscar? Here's how: "We all know that the Oscars bear scant relation to the merits of the films in question. So what do they bear relation to? In order to answer this question, we processed the winners and losers of the past 20 years into a computer and asked it to come up with a set of rules as to how you win an Oscar." Some hints - it helps to be disabled and have a rousing end to your film. The Telegraph (UK) 01/26/02

MINORITY RECRUITING: Two years ago the major American TV networks came under fire for their lack of minority actors on programs. Now the networks are hosting "talent workshops" in an effort to recruit more minority actors. Critics say it's about time: "We expect to see real change in the new shows, or else we're going to have a real problem. The new shows will be announced in May, and we see it as a make or break time for the networks." Toronto Star 01/23/02

AMÉLIE OVERTAKES LA CAGE: "Amélie, the little French movie that could, has broken a longstanding record to become the highest-grossing French-language film to be released in the United States. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's whimsical tale has grossed $20.9 million, breaking the previous record, $20.4 million, held by La Cage Aux Folles since 1979. Last week Amélie crossed the $100 million mark for worldwide box-office receipts." New York Post 01/23/02

AUSSIE ASSAULT: With Australian movie folk cleaning up awards at the Golden Globes this week, "the Aussie assault was the main topic of conversation at the Globes' after parties and on entertainment shows this morning." The Age (Melbourne) 01/23/02

• AUSSIE HOTBED: Everyone's talking about the film talent coming from Down Under right now. Says Steven Spielberg: "Australia has produced the most amazing new wave of talent since, probably, Britain in the 1940s." The Age (Melbourne) 01/23/02

NOT MUCH OF A STRIKE, THEN, IS IT? The UK film industry is reeling from the effects of an actors' strike that has been going on since December. Or is it? Despite calls for British actors to refuse all work until a settlement is reached, the union has allowed some studios to cross the picket line and sign individual deals with stars so current big-budget Hollywood productions are not halted. BBC 01/22/02

MOULIN ROUGE/BEAUTIFUL MIND BIG WINNERS AT GLOBES: Golden Globes, as chosen by the Hollywood foreign press, are given out. Best movies awards go to A Beautiful Mind and Moulin Rouge, which can be considered front-runners for the Academy Awards. Los Angeles Times 01/21/02

THE MOST-HATED FILM AT SUNDANCE: Director Gus Van Sant used to be an art-film director. Then, after a breakout hit, he wasn't. At this year's Sundance he was back in high-art form again. "His feature Gerry may be one of the most hated movies in American film-festival history." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/21/02

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4. MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#music
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FIGHT! FIGHT! It's not often these days that a true artistic brawl breaks out on the pages of a North American newspaper. But Canadian critic Tamara Bernstein, never one to pull her punches, picked one with opera director Atom Egoyan recently, and Egoyan has taken the bait, firing off a furious response to Bernstein's charges of anti-Semitism and brutality in his production of Salome. Better yet, the paper is promising a Bernstein response yet to come. National Post (Canada) 01/24/02

• SHOULD SALOME BE SANITIZED? Richard Strauss's Salome has never been an easy-to-swallow opera. It has been panned constantly since its debut nearly a century ago for being vulgar, anti-Semitic, and just generally shocking. A new Canadian production is drawing particularly nasty fire from one local critic: "I left the Hummingbird Centre in a rage after Friday night's opening, feeling violated as both a woman and a Jew." National Post (Canada) 01/21/02

FOLKLIFE: There are more venues for folk music in New England than ever before - hundreds of them - and more musicians making a living performing. ''The folk world allows a person to be a professional musician without dealing with the mainstream music industry. That doesn't mean that everyone decides to go that path, but the opportunity is there if you want it." Boston Globe 01/25/02

BACK TO THE PIANO: Another post-9/11 effect - piano sales are up, as people spend more time at home. "Some Seattle piano dealers have seen a 30 percent jump in the number of pianos they have sold in the past three months compared with the same period a year ago." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 01/24/02

A NEW IDEA IN PIANOS: After 16 years of working on his ideas, Australian Ron Overs has designed and manufactured a new piano. "He developed the new action on computer. 'On my computer screen I had a hammer that strikes the string, and a key. 'Now,' I thought, 'I'm going to draw the intermediate lever. I'm not even going to consider what's been done before. I'm going to reposition the levers so that we reduce energy loss'." Sydney Morning Herald 01/24/02

BOHEME ON BROADWAY: The movie Moulin Rouge is a wacky take on a modern musical form. Now the movie's director Baz Luhrmann wants to bring the opera La Boheme to Broadway later this year. "We're bringing it back to the audience for whom it was written. Opera was like the television of the time, created for everyone to experience, from the simple street sweeper to the King of Naples. So it seems a natural for it to play on Broadway. We're bringing it back to its popular roots." New York Post 01/23/02

YOU'RE LEAVING THE CONCERTGEBOUW???: Why would Riccardo Chailly give up conducting one of the top five orchestras in the world to go to a lesser band? "For a conductor to abandon a top mount voluntarily for a lesser one is without precedent in 150 years of podium history. Conductors are creatures of hunger and habit. Once they reach the top, they cling on for life. So the shock that Chailly sprang was felt not just in Holland, where it made the front pages, but in the nervous system of an already nervous concert industry. It was the equivalent to George W Bush becoming governor of Nebraska, or Bill Gates quitting Microsoft to run Aeroflot." The Telegraph (UK) 01/23/02

ST. LOUIS CUTS SEASON: Musicians of the financially troubled St. Louis Symphony have agreed to take cuts in their season. The agreement "cuts 10 weeks from the playing season but keeps salaries at a level competitive with peer ensembles." What programs the orchestra will cut will be announced later this week. St. Louis Post-Dispatch 01/22/02

SONG RECITALS FOR THE CAPTION-IMPAIRED: Opera companies have used supertitles for several years now, and the captioning of operatic lyrics are popular. So why not use the system for song recitals? As it turns out, there are several reasons... The New York Times 01/23/02

LA SCALA OPENS IN NEW TEMPORARY HOME: A first performance (of Rigoletto) by La Scala in the company's new temporary quarters is judged a success. "In Europe's second-largest auditorium after the Opera Bastille, the Arcimboldi theatre is a jewel-case of metal, glass and precious woods and has been described as a cross between a conference centre and the Palais des Festivals in Cannes." The Guardian (UK) 01/21/02

WORRIED MUSIC INDUSTRY MEETS: The international music industry is meeting in Cannes this week to talk business. Things aren't good. Global sales of recordings are down 10% after poor figures in the world's two biggest markets - the US and Japan. "The music industry needs to re-invent itself. By 2005, we will be looking at a very different music industry than today." BBC 01/21/02

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5. PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#people
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PEGGY LEE DIES: "Soulful singing legend Peggy Lee has died of a heart attack at the age of 81... Lee is best known for her rendition of Fever and in 1969 she won a Grammy award for best contemporary female vocal performance for the hit Is That All There Is?" BBC 01/22/02

TAUBMAN APPEALS: Former Sotheby's chairman Alfred Taubman, convicted in December of price-fixing, has filed a motion for a retrial, saying the case against him was presented unfairly. Among other things, Taubman says the government was "wrongly allowed to read a quotation at trial from Adam Smith to the effect that higher prices invariably result when people in the same trade meet." The Art Newspaper 01/22/02

IT IS BETTER TO SOUND GOOD...(BUT DON'T LET THAT STOP THE MARKETING): Magdalena Kozena is 28, and "the blue-eyed, blonde Czech mezzo-soprano is the classical recording industry's latest hot property. But does Kozena owe her success to her looks?" The Guardian (UK) 01/21/02

• SOUND BEFORE LOOKS? "A tall and willowy 28-year-old, Kozená is a delightful girl with a crisp sense of humour and - sorry, chaps - a nice new French boyfriend. More important, she is blessed with an impressive vocal technique and a clean, warm and alluring mezzo-soprano that reaches, in the modern style of Anne Sofie von Otter, Ann Murray and Susan Graham, into soprano rather than contralto territory." The Telegraph (UK) 01/21/02

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6. PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#publishing
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RENOVATING OUT THE LIBRARY EXPERIENCE: The New York Public Library of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center has a great collection. It recently reopened after an extensive renovation. "But — a sign of the times? — the research division is no longer a pleasurable place in which to read a book or listen to a recording." The New York Times 01/27/02

THE BEST BOOK REVIEW? "The Times Literary Supplement - known universally as the TLS - is a hundred years old this month. From its first densely printed, eight-page edition of Jan. 17, 1902, to its special bumper 48-page centenary issue currently on newsstands, it has carved out a unique position in the world of papers and journals as the reviewer of all that is best and most important in new books, from novels and poetry to academic studies and biographies." Los Angeles Times 01/24/02

TRANSLATING THE UNTRANSLATABLE: The poet Czeslaw Milosz once wrote that "exile is the worst fate that may befall a poet, since poetry cannot live without its roots in native speech," and another poet, Robert Frost, wrote that "Poetry is what gets lost in translation." Still, translators continue trying to wrestle the poetry of one language into another, and sometimes bring it off. The Economist 01/24/02

WHO'S "BORROWING" FROM WHOM? The issue of plagiarism is more complex than black-and-white. "On the one hand, formal rules against plagiarism grow ever more abundant and ever more stringent (even if no more original), and Op-Ed columnists wax furious in their condemnation of plagiarism by public officials. On the other hand, many Op-Ed columns are written by individuals other than the one whose name appears on the byline, and for that matter many newspaper stories are more-or-less verbatim versions of press releases sent out by political organizations, trade associations, or other interest groups." The Idler 01/23/02

BLACK HOLES: "Six months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that publishers don't own the rights to online freelance articles. The publishers have responded by purging freelance articles - sometimes entire newspaper archives - from online databases. Almost 20 years' worth of newspaper history, a vital source of information for those studying history, politics, society, the media, and other subjects, is shot through with more holes than a block of Swiss cheese. Scholars worry that they might find holes in their research. No one in academe seems to know how many articles, and which ones, are missing from the databases. After all, online databases, with their ethereal form, aren't like broadsheets of newsprint - you can't open them like you would a morning paper and see the holes cut out." Chronicle of Higher Education 01/21/02

GOODWIN CHARGED WITH COPYING: Now it's historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's turn to be accused of plagiarism. A letter to The Weekly Standard (the publication which revealed historian Stephen Ambrose's plagiarism two weeks ago) pointed out that "Goodwin's The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys borrowed with insufficient attribution from three earlier works by other authors." The magazine's "examination of the works in question confirmed the correspondent's allegation." The Weekly Standard 01/28/02

• BY WAY OF EXPLANATION: ''All that really happened was she sent me a letter saying not all the passages that relied on her work had been as fully footnoted as she would have liked,'' said Goodwin. ''I agreed with her.'' A monetary settlement was paid. Boston Globe 01/22/02
• WHAT'S THE STANDARD? "Goodwin has not only committed plagiarism, but lied about whether it was plagiarism (and, incidentally, paid hush money to one of the people she plagiarized)." Slate 01/22/02

SO WHAT'S A LITTLE PLAGIARISM...: Historian Stephen Ambrose may be scorned for his plagiarism revealed in the past few weeks. But in his hometown of New Orleans, few seem to care. The Times-Picayune wrote in an editorial Jan. 11: "He has been 'a great friend to this community ... No one wants to see Mr. Ambrose's numerous achievements diminished by the present allegations." Others wonder: "So what if he plagiarized? Everyone plagiarizes to some extent. He has raised awareness of history among a whole new population of Americans." Nando Times (AP) 01/21/02

THE CLASSICS, ONLINE: "Project Gutenberg, named after the inventor of the printing press, Johann Gutenberg, is an online, worldwide database of books in electronic form - and it's free. Since 1971, volunteers have transposed or scanned more than 4000 books on to the US site." The Age (Melbourne) 01/22/02

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7. THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#theatre
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THE GREYING OF BROADWAY: This season Broadway stages are populated with senior citizens. "The aging of Broadway is a serious matter, and many theater people say that its impact on their industry, and the new stage generation, is crucial. Some say the presence of so many theater veterans is an exciting chance for Broadway giants to display their wares to those who know them and those who don't. But other people in the theater see it as a symptom of what they consider major problems: the age of the theater audience, the inability to attract and keep young, innovative playwrights, and the unwillingness of Broadway to take a chance on anything but the familiar." The New York Times 01/27/02

SHAKESPEARE SENSIBILITIES: Are "ethnic sensibilities" hindering American theatres from producing some Shakespeare plays? That's what one theatre company manager told the annual conference of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America last week. The group includes more than 70 companies of the 130 to 150 that use the name of Shakespeare in their title. Chicago Sun-Times 01/21/02

SUPER-SIZE IT? When planning a new show for New York, one of the first things a producer must ask is - how big a show should it be? "In some ways this is always the question a producer asks in trying to balance the art and commerce of putting on a show. But over the last few seasons, with more musicals crowding into the pipeline, musical-friendly theaters in short supply and Broadway economics more daunting than ever, the conventional wisdom regarding what size show belongs in what size theater has been challenged as never before." The New York Times 01/25/02

SO MUCH FOR THE 21st CENTURY: Theatre Basel has just opened a new theatre - one its artistic director proudly proclaimed on opening night is a "theatre for the 21st Century. "The audience, not sure it had heard correctly, was sitting on wobbly seats in a gray, cold and uncharismatic concrete house with two galleries and cheap chipboard walls. To get in, people had crossed a foyer as charming as a baggage-claim office and clambered up small wooden stairways to narrow gallery passages squeezed between red concrete walls and the glass facade of the building, all the while feeling like uninvited guests in the proverbial can of sardines. If this was the theater of the 21st century, you would not want to see any theater again in this century. Or else the artistic director was telling tall tales." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 01/22/02

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8. VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#visualarts
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POLLOCK'S MATHEMATICAL APPEAL: A mathematician contends that Jackson Pollock's drip painting appeals to the logic "not in art but in mathematics, specifically in chaos theory and its offspring, fractal geometry. Fractals may seem haphazard at first glance, yet each one is composed of a single geometric pattern repeated thousands of times at different magnifications, like Russian dolls nested within one another. In Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, as in nature, certain patterns are repeated again and again at various levels of magnification." The Age (Melbourne) 01/25/02

THE WEIGHT OF EXPECTATION: When it opened 25 years ago, Paris' Pompidou Centre was meant to stem a sense of decline in French art. But while the building has been an undeniable success in other ways, the Pompidou "did nothing to reverse that decline. For all its architectural radicalism, it has not infused new energy into French culture. Visitors come to see its outstanding collection of classic modern art - the art of Picasso, Braque and Matisse - or for temporary exhibitions on the same subject. Almost without exception, what is of interest had been created before 1971. The contribution of the Pompidou Centre, and indeed Paris, to art since that date has been minimal." The Telegraph (UK) 01/26/02

WHAT ROCKWELL MEANS TO THE GUGGENHEIM (OR IS IT THE OTHER WAY AROUND?): "Until very recently, any art insider would have found the notion of the Guggenheim playing host to a Rockwell show laughable and absurd. Founded as the Museum of Non-Objective Art, the museum promoted abstract art - art that depicts no object - and opposed everything Rockwell stood for." But he brings in the crowds and "it was a win-win situation, so the Guggenheim sold its soul and signed onto the exhibition tour, and in so doing ratcheted up Rockwell's reputation and legitimized a show other museums might have regarded as a dangerously kitschy gamble." Baltimore Sun 01/27/02

THE SMITHSONIAN PROBLEM: In the weeks after September 11, attendance at the Smithsonian museums plunged 40-45 percent as tourists stayed away from Washington. Over the week between Christmas and New Year's visitor numbers bounced back up, leading to hope that things were getting back to normal. But January has busted again - the second week of January numbers were down 55 percent. "Life at the Smithsonian, said Lawrence Small [the Smithsonian's secretary], is "a dramatically different situation" than last summer, when an attendance record seemed likely." Washington Post 01/23/02

CONTEMPORARY ART THAT HAS TO BE REINVENTED: Documenta is one of the most anticipated forums for contemporary art. This year's edition is supposed to open in Kassel, Germany in May, but even now it's difficult to get a sense of what exactly will open. "It is certainly true that the Documenta has to be reinvented every time. It does not exist in the sense of an institution that can by definition guarantee continuity. Inevitably, curators believe they have to come up with a completely new idea rather than merely gathering all the art world's current representatives together in Kassel." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 01/24/02

CHAGALL IN KANSAS: "A painting believed to be a Marc Chagall work stolen last year from the Jewish Museum in New York City turned up at a postal installation in Topeka, Kansas." Nando Times (AP) 01/22/02

DOES NOT PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS: Because artists are often highly individualistic people, artistic collaborations are generally fragile constructions. When, on top of that, the collaboration is national as well as personal, chances are someone will be unhappy about it. That's what happened to the shared Czech-Slovak pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year. Central Europe Review 01/22/02

PARIS ON THE WANE? A new show in London examines the place of art in Paris. "Perhaps it is the problem of Paris - too many echoes, too many connections, too much art and history. Maybe this is why Paris is no longer, in 2002, capital of the arts. 'Why did Paris decline?' is the big, unanswerable question of the exhibition." The Guardian (UK) 01/22/02

• FADED PARIS: Since national schools of art faded away into globalization, Paris has lost its claims to be central to the world of art. "Paris has surrendered - not without a fight - to New York and possibly even London. Whenever I travel to Paris I have the feeling that I am entering a museum city, a place not only replete with magnificent museums, but a city whose very appearance has been turned into an exhibit. It is difficult to take a photograph of Paris and not produce a visual cliche." Financial Times 01/22/02

REMMING UP: "For years, Rem Koolhaas was famous as an innovative architect who’d built almost nothing but had written the fabulous cult book “Delirious New York.” When he won architecture’s top prize, the Pritzker, in 2000, he still had almost no projects in the United States. But now, look out. Koolhaas’s unorthodox architecture is invading America, starting with the launch last October of a Guggenheim branch in Las Vegas." Newsweek 01/28/02

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9. ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#issues
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TAKING A NATIONAL VIEW: The Scottish Arts Council's new chairman has a reputation for being tough. He's set himself a big task. "The arts council must match the significance of the circumstances. It’s got to take a national view, to lift its head from administrative purposes and say: ‘Look what can we do to push Scotland on’. It has to make far more impact, so it’s got to be riskier as well." The Scotsman 01/23/02

MARKERS: What is an appropriate memorial for the destruction of the World Trade Center? New York is full of memorials to other tragedies. "Those commemorating large-scale tragedy assume an astonishing variety of forms, from a 148-foot Doric column to a pocketful of blackened dimes and nickels. But each embodies the notion that even the most appalling catastrophe is part of a living continuum." The New York Times 01/25/02

• INSTA-ART: A flood of new artwork coming out responds to the events of September 11. But "can good art can really be summoned up on demand like that, even in response to cataclysm?" Some of the best, most enduring artistic responses to tragedy haven't appeared until years after the events. Public Arts 01/24/02
• ARTISTIC OUTPOURING: "Immediately after Sept. 11, thousands of people in New York and around the world set out to capture the meaning of those events through artistic expression. In the intervening months, thousands more have joined the effort, resulting in what may turn out to be the largest creative response in history to a single day's event. Poetry, prose, dance, architecture, photography, soundscapes, TV, popular music, theatre, comic books, film, painting and sculpture: They have all grappled with the attacks and their aftermath, in the process provoking questions about the nature of art, its practical usefulness, and the legitimacy of artistic aspirations by non-artists." But while such art may be therapeutic, is it good? "With art that is made in response to an immediate situation, it is rare that that kind of work is able to go beyond commemorating or documenting in the most straightforward manner." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/26/02

ENGLISH AS AN ENCROACHING LANGUAGE: English is turning up more and more in German speech and writing. "The unhostile takeover of English in trade journals, at conventions and in scientists' and economists' 'speechlessness' with regard to German have fostered a dilution of democratic discourse." Will the Germans follow the French and set up a national council to "protect" German from the encroachment of English? Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 01/21/02

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10. FOR FUN 
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#forfun 
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TAKEOUT BARD: If you can order pizzas and Chinese food to be delivered, why not Shakespeare? A small company of actors in New York has started a business delivering The dozen or so actors "offer Bard specials that can be ordered a la carte and performed in your home. Prices start at $50." New York Post 01/27/02

AND THIS AFFECTS LAW ENFORCEMENT HOW? Okay, follow closely: The police department of Penryn, Pennsylvania, is boycotting this year's YMCA triathlon, refusing to direct traffic and stand around looking important. Why? The YMCA apparently reads Harry Potter books to children. So? Well, the wee wizard is all satanic and stuff, y'know. Nando Times (AP) 01/24/02

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