IDEAS
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A New Improved Analog Future The recent technology revolution has been powered by digital processors. But that’s not the future. “Weird as it sounds, the road to smaller, cheaper, more energy-efficient consumer electronics may be paved with analog technology. These circuits are built from the same components as their digital counterparts but suck 90 percent less battery power. The difference? In an analog device, each transistor acts like a dial, with a wide range of readings that depend on the sinuous fluctuation of voltage, current, amplitude, and frequency. Digital circuits, on the other hand, use the same transistors as simple on-off toggle switches. Analog transistors capture far more information, so you need fewer of them.” Look for the new improved analog at a store near you. Wired 02/22/03

Today’s Teens – Totally Manipulated? Are today’s teenagers totally at the mercy of the corporate messages that everywhere lie in wait for them? “By sheer virtue of their population numbers, buying power and savvy, teens are not merely in vogue. Entire carpeted auditoriums of middle-age movie, TV, retail and Internet executives devote themselves to tracking the spending habits of these juniors, decoding their preferences, catering to their every mass hiccup.” A new book suggests that today’s teens are a “sad, hollow, cheated generation, thoroughly saturated by artful product placement, co-opted by viral marketing, oppressed by the trickle-down effect of the (now rather pockmarked) "contemporary luxury economy." New York Observer 02/19/03

In Pursuit Of Ennui A new academic history of boredom brings up some interesting notions about the way we spend our lives. The idea of being bored is actually a somewhat recent one, but the minute it got a name, absolutely everyone had to have a piece of it. As the world becomes more saturated with entertainment options, boredom has actually increased, as have attempts to cure it with, well, more entertainment options. "One of the more unexpected findings is that the best cure for boredom might be... more boredom. Or wearing a polar bear costume. In the war against monotony, people have tried all sorts of unusual remedies." Los Angeles Times 02/23/03

Connecting Up Study About Who We Are "Do we want the center of culture to be based on a closed system, a process of text in/text out, and no empirical contact with the real world? One can only marvel at, for example, art critics who know nothing about visual perception; 'social constructionist' literary critics uninterested in the human universals documented by anthropologists; opponents of genetically modified foods, additives, and pesticide residues who are ignorant of genetics and evolutionary biology. A realistic biology of the mind, advances in physics, information technology, genetics, neurobiology, engineering, the chemistry of materials—all are challenging basic assumptions of who and what we are, of what it means to be human. The arts and the sciences are again joining together as one culture, the third culture." Edge 02/03

Stifling Creativity - Control Concern "How does an economy best promote innovation? Do patents and copyrights nurture or stifle it? Have we gone too far in protecting intellectual property? In a paper that has gained wide attention (and caught serious flak) for challenging the conventional wisdom, economists Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine answer the final question with a resounding yes. Copyrights, patents, and similar government-granted rights serve only to reinforce monopoly control, with its attendant damages of inefficiently high prices, low quantities, and stifled future innovation, they write." Reason 02/20/03

Emotionally Impressed - Studying Emotion And The Arts "Emotion has always been at the core of the humanities: Without the passions, there would not be much history, and even less literature. Indeed the very word "philosophy" begins with philos (love). But only in recent years have scholars begun focusing, without embarrassment, on emotion itself, producing a body of work that regularly crosses the line between the humanities and the social sciences, with occasional forays into neurophysiology." Chronicle of Higher Education 02/17/03

ARTS ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Philanthropy Survey Suggests Troubling Trends The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s third annual survey of “America’s most-generous donors” shows a huge drop in giving – the total for the largest 60 givers declined from $12.7 billion to $4.6 billion. “A troubling sign of the slowdown: a growing tendency among donors to make long-term pledges rather than outright cash gifts. Some donors also are delaying payments on previous pledges, and fund raisers see an increasing reluctance among wealthy people to make new giving commitments of any sort." Chronicle of Philanthropy 02/21/03

Putting The Corporate Brand On The Arts The movement towards corporate support of the arts in the face of dwindling public funding is nothing new in the US, but the overt nature of the partnerships has been ratcheting up considerably in recent times. From new concert halls named for corporations like Disney and Verizon, to publicly touted partnerships between theatres and clothiers, the arts seem to be increasingly going the way of the sporting world in terms of corporate culture and product placement. Not everyone likes the idea, but in an era when most cultural organizations are gasping for breath, few have the temerity to argue against any system which will provide them with new revenue streams. Boston Globe 02/23/03

Texas Commission On the Arts Braces For Cuts After a seven percent cut in its budget the Texas arts council cut some programs. State agencies have been asked to trim 12.5 percent. And there's at least one recommendation to do away with a freestanding arts commission and its employees altogether. With a state deficit of $10 billion, arts supporters are bracing for trouble. Midland Reporter-Telegram (TexaS) 02/20/03

States Hack Away At Arts Funding Several US states propose eliminating arts funding. Others - like Virginia - are considering major cuts of 50 percent of their arts budgets. "As a result of these cuts, many arts councils and nonprofit cultural groups will lose matching funds from private donors and the federal government. The $3.9 million cut in Missouri, for example, will mean the loss of about $1 million in federal matching funds." The New York Times 02/20/03

Minnesota Joins The Party Minnesota is facing a staggering $4.5 billion budget deficit, and the state's new Republican governor has promised to get rid of the imbalance without raising taxes. So it came as no surprise to anyone in the state's arts community when Gov. Tim Pawlenty's budget proposal included a sizable slash in arts funding. While the proposed 22% cut is far from the "zeroing out" being suggested in some states, Minnesota has always prided itself on its commitment to the arts, and artists are preparing a massive lobbying effort to defeat the plan in the state legislature. St. Paul Pioneer Press 02/20/03

Saving The Culture A government agency is warning that Great Britain "faces a cultural crisis if the government does not set up tax breaks to prevent important art going overseas." The government has been scrambling recently to prevent several important works of art from winding up in the hands of US museums and collectors. So far, the only thing preventing the art export is a set of temporary bans, but officials say that the only permanent solution is to provide financial inducements for the art to stay in the UK. The US already has such a system. BBC 02/20/03

New Mexico Legislature Votes To Restore Arts Education The New Mexico House of Representatives has voted unanimously to restore arts education in public schools. "Arts education has been shown to enhance many aspects of a child's intellect, including critical thinking and creative problem solving," said the bill's sponsor. "The bill was supported by members of both parties." Santa Fe New Mexican 02/19/03

Cynical Critics vs. Thin-Skinned Artists One of the most frequent complaints artists make about critics is that they always get the last word, and rarely have to face the people they tear down in print. Critic Russell Smith recently had a chance to buck that trend, facing off against nearly a hundred angry Toronto artists whom he has offended in some way or other. In Smith's view, the problem is that too many artists simply believe they ought to be immune to all outside assessment. "It was interesting that none of my interlocutors wanted to attack any other newspapers for their art coverage - because most newspapers don't cover visual art at all. I honestly think that some of my critics prefer that." The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/19/03

Struggle For The Soul (Pocketbook?) Of Bertelsmann Media giant Bertelsmann is locked in a power struggle among owners and management. "The new generation took Bertelsmann into television and the internet and promised that before long the privately owned and secretive organisation would be transformed into a transparent, publicly traded multinational with stock market listings in the US and Europe by 2005. Yet the modernisation process has been an uneasy one, compounded by the deepest advertising recession in 30 years and a number of questionable acquisitions." The Guardian (UK) 02/18/03

The Inevitability Of Arts Education Cuts California is facing big budget cuts, and San Francisco alongside it. So state and city governments are making cuts wherever they can. And what's likely to get cut? In the schools - arts education. Why? because it's easier than cutting general teachers. "The cuts will come with apologies and heart-wrenching statements from City officials, SFUSD leaders, and school site decision makers. They will give the arts their verbal support and let us all know how much they love the arts and how important arts are to the education of our youth, but then will say, 'What choice do we have'?" San Francisco Classical Voice 02/18/03

The Israeli Academic Boycott A boycott of Israeli universities and their academic by-products is underway across Europe, organized by European and American academics who revile the Sharon government's hardline policies in the occupied territories. One of the main targets of the boycott is Neve Gordon, who fires back that "Israeli universities continue to be an island of freedom surrounded by a stifling and threatening environment. In the past two years the Israeli media, which was once known for its critical edge, has been suppressing critical voices... To fight the anti-intellectual atmosphere within Israel, local academics need as much support as they can get from their colleagues abroad." The Nation 02/14/03

Philanthropy Takes A Dive "The 2002 Slate 60, the annual list of charitable gifts and pledges from the country's top philanthropists, totaled $4.6 billion, less than half of 2001's total of $12.7 billion." The good news is that two of the biggest gifts last year in America were art-related. Walter Annenberg's bequest of $1 billion worth of art to the Metropolitan Museum led. And "Ruth Lilly, heiress to the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical fortune, came in at No. 2 with a $520 million pledge to various arts organizations, including a $100 million gift to Poetry magazine." Slate 02/17/03

DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/dance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Danger Of 'The Next Big...' Everyone wants to know when the next Nureyev is coming. Or the next Baryshnikov. Or the next Balanchine. Or the next Graham. But why, asks Jack Anderson, are we so bound and determined to replace these legends? They were irreplacable, and the fact that they are gone shouldn't mean that today's dance stars should be expected to live up to what they accomplished. By constantly focusing on what the dance world has lost, we risk not recognizing the true innovators of today. The New York Times 02/23/03

The Ballet Workout "Few people think of ballet, a highly structured dance form developed in Europe, as a viable exercise alternative, probably because it has evolved as a performance art that required dedication and early training to achieve mastery. There are a lot of people out there who want to dance. They don't realize you can have all of the aerobics, abdominal work, stretching and strengthening and get it all in ballet." San Francisco Chronicle 02/16/03

MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/media
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Canada Increases Tax Credit For Foreign Film Productions Hollywood, trying to encourage producers to stay in the US to shoot their movies, have proposed legislation to give producers tax incentives. But last week, to try to keep producers coming to Canada, the Canadian government said it would increase production tax credits from 11% to 16% for foreign producers shooting there. Hollywood is protesting. Backstage 02/21/03

Polanski Sweeps Cesars "Director Roman Polanski's The Pianist has won six prizes at the Cesars - France's version of the Oscars - including best picture. Polanski also won the award for best director while US actor Adrien Brody won the best actor prize for the English-language film... Last year the film won the prestigious Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival and has been nominated for six awards at next month's Oscars ceremony." BBC 02/23/03

Smart Economics Or The Americanization Of Canada? Canada has always made a point of keeping its culture distinct from its neighbor to the south, and even has laws to ensure that it stays that way. So it's no surprise that this week's federal budget, which appears to allow greater American incursion into the Canadian TV marketplace, is taking no small amount of flak from producers, critics, and the public. The government insists that the new plan will bring great economic benefit to Canada's entire cultural community, but John Doyle disagrees: "If you, the viewer, think that the federal government's new screw-you tactic on Canadian TV production will matter little in terms of content or culture, you're dead wrong." The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/21/03

French: American Movies Make Stupid Children In France, as in most countries, American movies dominate the theatres. "But a number of French critics are attacking Hollywood movies for what they see as a poverty of ideas, which in turn is having an adverse effect on the country's children. If the technology is controlling us, it will transform us into stupid children, and in a way, part of the American cinema does that." BBC 02/20/03

Hollywood Offers Money For Piracy Snitches The Motion Picture Association of America is offering rewards to informats on DVD piracy in Asia. The "MPA estimates that pirated DVDs cost Hollywood $3 billion in lost revenue in 2002, and $646 million in Asia." The MPA declines to say how much informants will be offered, that "rewards would be significant and dependent on the quality of information provided. 'If we need more money we'll get it. Money isn't the issue'." Wired 02/19/03

Blockbuster 'Ratings' Policy Under Fire Blockbuster Video has a policy of not carrying any movie rated NC-17, or any unrated film which violates the chain's vaguely defined decency standards. But when an edited copy of the critically lauded film Y Tu Mamá También appeared on Blockbuster shelves recently, missing a key scene in which two gay men share a passionate kiss, critics of the Blockbuster policy, and of the MPAA's ratings standards, were furious. "Regardless of who made the decision and why, the kiss that dare not show itself reflects another Hollywood trend: Lesbian sex scenes between buxom beauties... are acceptable, even fashionable, while a smooch between male buddies is forced to hit the road." City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul) 02/19/03

Slapping The Mouth You Feed? With funding for public broadcasting under fire in Canada, you would think that the CBC would take all the help and support it could find. But a new organization agitating on behalf of the $900-million-a-year public network is being regarded with some suspicion by CBC higher-ups. Our Public Airwaves, a pro-CBC lobbying group which sprang into existence last summer, has so far done nothing to which the company could object. But OPA is a creation of the two unions representing CBC workers, and at a time when relations between management and labor have not exactly been cozy, the CBC brass are not openly embracing the group. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/18/03

MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/music
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jones Dominates Grammys Twenty-three-year-old jazz vocalist Norah Jones surprised many Sunday night by dominating the Grammys' major awards, "capturing the marquee categories of year's best album, record and new artist. The surprise win for Jones has cemented the reputation for the Grammys as an unpredictable entertainment gala." Los Angeles Times 02/24/03

• And The Winners Are... A Complete list of all the winners. Grammy.com 02/24/03
• A Fun Show This Grammy production was actually fun to watch as entertainment. "The producers bucked conventional award show wisdom and dumped the host as an unnecessary element. They emphasized performance and kept the pace as frantic and energetic as the music being honored." New York Post 02/24/03

CD's: A "Business Without A Business Model" The music recording industry is in trouble. "The uncertainty facing the major recording labels has led a wave of others to seek new paths, either voluntarily or involuntarily. 'It's a business without a business model today because unfortunately it's predicated on people actually buying CDs. I don't know about you but my 12-year-old, he's burning them pretty fast. That's the reality and it was coming and everybody closed their eyes to it'."
Los Angeles Times 02/24/03

Music From Out Of This World The Kronos String Quartet has lately been preoccupied with sounds from out of this world - outer space. Sounds collected from the cosmos have been incorporated into the music. "What's amazing about the noises is how organic they are - sometimes you feel they could be the sounds of insects or whales. The visuals, too, make the universe seem conscious - the Sun close up seems like a living body, with a pulsing heart." The Telegraph (UK) 02/24/03

Re-Understanding Prokofiev Fifty years after Prokofiev’s death, his operas are taking on different meanings from when they were first created. “Perhaps the art of Soviet Russia will come to resemble the art of revolutionary France. For a while, for decades after the Terror, there were paintings of David's that caused such horror that they could scarcely be shown - for David was notorious as a supporter of terror. But then that part of their meaning drained away. For 50 years Prokofiev wrote operas. In the 50 years since his death, these works have begun to make their way. It's the slowness of the process that's impressive -the slowness and, to be sure, the sureness too.” The Guardian (UK) 02/23/03

Popularity – A Matter Of Volume? When a singer like Norah Jones has a big success – more than 4 million albums served – theories about why abound. “Overlooked in all this conjecture is the essential trait of Jones' music, the thing that makes it appeal to all those constituencies: It's quiet. Intimate. Drawn to human scale. Come Away is the first multi-platinum success in years to suggest that a singer doesn't have to shout, physically or metaphorically, to be heard. Now that is radical.” Philadelphia Inquirer 02/23/03

The Ever-Expanding, Never-Improving Grammys There are too many categories at the Grammys. Way too many. "This year, the 45th annual awards are up to 104 categories, including completely indistinguishable ones like best R & B album and best contemporary R & B album; more are doubtless on the way." So with all those statues waiting to be given out, why are the Grammys so singularly incapable of rewarding musicians who deserve it? The New York Times 02/23/03

Classical Grammy: Who Would Win If The Heathens Didn't Get a Vote? "A perennial anticlimax for classical fans is the fact that, although a blue-ribbon committee of classical specialists determines the Grammy nominees... the opportunity to cast votes for the winners is thrown open to all Recording Academy members, including many from nonclassical genres. In previous years, they appear to have picked classical winners on the basis of artist name recognition and weight, in tons, of marketing materials behind each album." Of course, since almost no one watches the Grammys to see who wins the classical awards, we might as well just decide now who ought to win. Gwendolyn Freed is up to the task. The Star Tribune (Minneapolis) 02/23/03

Music For The Modern Age The sooner the industry embraces digital technology, the better off we'll all be, says Don Tapscott. Not that internet audio is perfect - far from it. But unlike traditional media, the MP3 has created a world full of choice, and that's what modern society demands. "This is great news for budding musicians, since music isn't exclusionary in its use. In an increasingly hectic society, almost all of us have less time for the activities we enjoy, except listening to music. Music makes a good experience better." The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/22/03

Pirates With Principles What the anti-piracy forces in the recording industry may be missing in their quest to eradicate free download services is that their own refusal to lower CD prices despite indisuptable evidence that the cost of producing the discs is negligible has fueled such consumer mistrust that many reasonable people simply consider the free downloads to be a victimless crime. And the refusal of the industry to come up with a viable music download service of its own has merely added fuel to the fire. Lower the cost of music, say the pirates, and we'll happily rejoin the system. Boston Globe 02/23/03

Calgary Back On Stage Good news has been hard to come by in the orchestral world in the past year or two, and the sorry saga of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, which ceased playing concerts and filed for bankruptcy protection last October, was one of the hardest blows. But as of last week, the CPO is back in business, and out of debt. At the inaugural reopening concert, orchestra musicians greeted concertgoers at the door to the hall, shaking their hands and thanking them for their role in rescuing the ensemble. All told, the CPO raised better than $1.5 million over the months it was inactive to satisfy its creditors. Calgary Herald 02/20/03

Layoffs In St. Paul The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, America's only full-time professional chamber orchestra, has laid off ten administrative employees in an attempt to balance its books in the face of a shrinking endowment and below-average donations. Observers were surprised by the layoffs, since the SPCO finished last season in the black, one of only three American orchestras to do so. The ensemble survived a brush with bankruptcy a decade ago, but has operated without deficits for nine straight seasons. St. Paul Pioneer Press 02/21/03

Metzmacher Resigns In Hamburg "Conductor Ingo Metzmacher says he will step down when his contract as general music director in Hamburg expires in 2005 because he is disappointed with the attitude of city officials toward arts and culture... Metzmacher, who heads both the Staatsoper and Staatsorchester in Germany's second-largest city, told a newspaper that the city was unwilling to make adequate commitments toward the arts. He said that subsidies for the arts have remained stagnant for a decade while expenses have climbed." Andante (Deutsche Press-Agentur) 02/20/03

A Cello's Tale Several cellists in the New York Philharmonic could have solo careers. Some have. But there's something special about being a member of an elite orchestra. "Ask cellists to define the part the cello plays in an orchestra, and they describe it as subtle but essential. 'It's a foundation role. It provides stability and structure." The New York Times 02/21/03

Dresden Cathedral Decides On Modern Organ, Purists Protest Music purists are protesting the decision at Dresden's famed Frauenkirche to replace the organ there with a more modern instrument. "The board of trustees of the foundation in charge of reconstructing the cathedral, which was destroyed at the end of World War II and left as a ruin during more than four decades of communist rule, decided on Monday to give the contract to an organ builder in Strasbourg. In doing so, they rejected a competing proposal for an exact reproduction of the original organ was described by a number of prominent supporters as 'historically correct'." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 02/21/03

Giving Russian Musicians A Reason To Stay The Russian government hs established a set of grants designed to provide incentive for the nation's top musicians to keep their talents in country, rather than seeking out higher-paying positions in Europe and America. The average Russian orchestra musician currently makes around US$120 a month. The grants, which will be doled out to seven musical organizations in Moscow and St. Petersburg, will be used principally to increase those salaries to as much as $1400 a month. The money is a welcome relief for cash-strapped orchestras and conservatories, but many fear the fix may be temporary. Gramophone 02/19/03

Houston Symphony Standoff The Houston Symphony and its musicians are locked in a contract dispute that threatens the future of the orchestra. The orchestra is carrying a big deficit, and management proposes cuts in musicians and musician salaries. The musicians, not surprisingly, have a different idea. How did the situation deteriorate to the point of work stoppages and accusations? Houston Press 02/19/03

One Way To Lower CD Costs A new study of the European music market indicates that a significant reduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT), which EU countries append to the price of goods for sale, would go a long way towards reducing the price of CDs and could dramatically expand how much music European consumers purchase. The VAT is unlike the American sales tax in that the rate of the tax varies with the type of item being sold. "VAT on sound recordings is set between 16% and 25% while other cultural products, including magazines and entrance to zoos, starts from 5%." BBC 02/18/03

Recording Companies Want Access To Student Computers Big recording companies have petitioned the Australian federal court to "allow their computer experts to scan all computers at the University of Melbourne for sound files and email accounts, so they can gather evidence of claimed widespread breaches of copyright." Sydney Morning Herald 02/19/03

Unfunding Scottish Music The Scottish Arts Council has come under fire for its funding intentions. But not much noticed was a decision to remove funding for two organizations that have been essential to the cause of new music in Scotland. How does this serve the cause of Scottish culture? Glasgow Herald 02/19/03

Chorus Strikes Troubled English National Opera Chorus members of the English National Opera have voted to strike next week, forcing the company to cancel performances of Berlioz's "Les Troyens." Cancellation of the epic choral-opera will cost the company more than £50,000 in box office income, plus thousands more in wages for front-of-house and production staff. The chorus voted unanimously for five strike actions throughout the season in protest at plans to make one third of them redundant when the Coliseum closes for refurbishment in June." The Guardian (UK) 02/19/03

Rethinking Opera In San Francisco A few weeks ago San Francisco Opera made some big cuts in its budget and schedule. SFO director Pamela Rosenberg says the cuts are an indication of the company's deire to rethink how it does opera. "The road to long-term vitality is not an easy one, but it provides a necessary opportunity to re-examine many aspects of how we do business, including how we might proceed more effectively and more efficiently." San Francisco Chronicle 02/18/03

For Canadians, By Canadians "Last March, Grant Dexter cheerfully stepped into the mess that is the North American recording industry to launch MapleMusic Recordings, an independent Toronto record label built on Dexter's successful music e-commerce portal, MapleMusic.com. At the time, Dexter declared that the label would promote great Canadian pop music to Canadians, and treat artists fairly, spending reasonable time and money developing their music - and their markets." The music industry was amused at Dexter's efforts. Now, they're amazed, after Maple successfully launched two top singers into the upper echelons of recording success in its first year alone. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/18/03

Lower Ticket Prices - What A Concept! The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is rolling back ticket prices to 1998 levels, and offering a new package of discounts and ticket deals in an effort to get more people into their hall for the coming season. Aside from being simply cheaper, the new ticket plans give subscribers more options to tailor the concert schedule to their own life, a strategy more and more orchestras are adopting. The PSO is running at a deficit, and is also searching for both a music director and a new chief executive. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 02/18/03

Why Orchestras? Philippe Herreweghe is a leader of the period instrument movement. But the conductor wonders about the use of tradional symphony orchesras. "Must we go on with these traditional orchestras? The ancient music movement is very strong. First they played Baroque music, and the attitude of the traditional orchestras was to say 'OK, it's not serious music. Let them do it, but they are not good enough to play real music.' But later, we played Mozart and Beethoven. We play Brahms, Schumann and Bruckner, and we noticed that there was an interest from the public and the press. And now, when there is a concert of Schubert symphonies on gut strings here in Antwerp, it attracts a full audience with young people, but when some local orchestras play the same symphonies of Schubert or Haydn in a traditional way the hall is half empty." The Telegraph (UK) 02/18/03

Music Man Raymond Gubbay is the kind of populist promoter who draws contempt from more traditional arts managers. "His success is based on providing what he has accepted is middle-brow populist material." But his shows consistently sell, and he prides himself on finding entertaining ways to present music and opera. The Guardian (UK) 02/18/03

Death Of The Blues? The US Congress declared 2003 the Year of the Blues. But the blues are in trouble. "When the blues tries to grab a mainstream crowd, it cleans up and cools down a genre that began as raw field songs and work hollers. Today's popular version reeks of facsimile, with theatricality replacing raw passion, and mimicry usurping originality. Rare is today's blues singer or guitarist who doesn't call to mind his biggest influences with familiar riffs first played with fire a half-century ago. Rarer still is the songwriter who can craft an inventive blues tune. It is as if imagination has been banned." OpinionJournal 02/18/03

Oslo Begins Construction Of New Opera House Construction began Monday on the Norwegian capital's new opera house. "The project, budgeted at NOK 3.3 billion (nearly USD 500 million), sparked years of political debate. Oslo's current opera house at the central square known as Youngstorget is well past its prime, but the sheer cost of a new opera, not to mention where it should be located, was the subject of seemingly endless argument." Aftenposten (Norway) 02/17/03

PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/people
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Head Of The Class – Covent Garden’s Pappano Covent Garden waited four years waiting Antonio Pappano, its new music director. “The man is a live wire, and after a few months he has electrified the entire building. The Royal Opera needed just an invigorating shock. ‘Years ago, some one gave me Solti’s memoirs, and when I got to the part where he described coming to Covent Garden as music director I had the weirdest feeling: I knew in my bones that I would get this job’.” The Observer 02/23/03

South African Playwright Has AIDS Gibson Kente, 69, one South Africa’s most prominent playwrights, said last week that he has AIDS, “becoming one of only a handful of celebrities to go public about AIDS in the country worst hit by the disease.” Kente helped pioneer theater in South Africa’s black townships during the years of apartheid rule. Why go public? “I have HIV, why not make some use of it?” Backstage 02/21/03

Sink Or Swim At The National Charles Saumarez Smith didn't get much of a honeymoon as the new director of the UK's National Gallery. Faced from the outset with questions about his qualifications, and basic sniping over whether he might be 'too nice' for the job, Smith is now staring down the barrel of a public relations cannon. His mission: to persuade the Heritage Fund to pony up a sizable chunk of the £29 million he needs to raise to keep a famed Raphael on the gallery's walls. The Guardian (UK) 02/22/03

Ted Perry: Music With A Conscience Ted Perry was a singular voice in the music business. He founded and ran Hyperion as a small recording label and "modest as it was, Hyperion became a marque of musical conscience, a reproach at the preposterous Classical Brits to the fixed smiles of the bottom-liners and their forgettable novelties. 'When I first knew him, he was driving a minicab at nights to pay the musicians he recorded by day. The gleam in his eye was an urge to share good music with anyone who might love it - chaps like himself, without social pretensions or academic qualifications, whose grey horizons could be tinted by an exposure to aural glories." London Evening Standard 02/19/03

Lou Harrison: "The Take-Home Pay Is A Melody" Kyle Gann remembers Lou Harrison, who died recently at 85. "The 'greatest living composer' label some pasted on him in recent years was an uneasy fit. He was too one-of-a-kind personally, too multifaceted musically. His works contain passages of aimless wandering that are hard to defend to skeptics, yet emblematic of what we love about him: that he relished life and didn't believe in hurrying." Village Voice 02/18/03

PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holiday Book Sales Languished Barnes & Noble reports that last quarter's book sales were sluggish, with growth coming only in newly-opened stores. And "according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, total bookstore sales fell 3.2% in last year's fourth quarter, to $4.42 billion." Publishers Weekly 02/24/03

Tolkien Vs. Tolkien Simon Tolkien, the grandson of J. R. R. Tolkien, is a successful barrister, and he has a book contract in Britain and America. But five years ago he had a fallingout with his father over the movies to be made from his grandfather's books. Seems the Tolkiens had no control over the movies since JRR had sold them years ago. Simon's dad wanted mothing to do with the movie-makers, but Simon... The Telegraph (UK) 02/24/03

Of Book Critics Who Don't Read... "Reviewing books is not a particularly well-paid form of journalism and it takes time. A book of any more ambition than a thriller can't be read for review at a rate of more than 40, or at most 60, pages an hour. Some books are only 120-pages long and can comfortably be digested in a couple of hours. Others, though, are 400, or 600 pages, or, in some dreadful instances, even more, and they can easily take days to get through. The reviewer's fee, however, usually remains the same. So, shocking as it may seem, the truth is that some reviewers skip some books. And there are a few who skip through all the books..." London Evening Standard 02/24/03

Bridging The Canadian Culture Gap Publisher Pierre Turgeon has started a new English-language publishing house, and the more he talks about it, the more people he convinces that there may be a way to bridge the gap between the French and Anglo worlds of Canadian culture. Never one to shy away from controversy, Turgeon is attempting to sell the notion that French Canadians have an interest in Anglo-Canadian culture, and vice versa, a theory which has seen richer men to the poorhouse. Still, if anyone can bridge the gap, say the experts, it's Turgeon, and if the new house is a success, it could also provide a much-needed shot in the arm to the rest of the English-language publishing industry. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/22/03

Roiling Politics At Writers' Union The controversial president of the National Writers' Union abruptly announced his departure from the post last week, but the infighting which has plagued the NWU in recent days doesn't appear to be waning with Jonathan Tasini's resignation. "Some in the anti-Tasini faction Your Union said they expect next fall's election to be intense," and nobody appears to be above taking shots at Tasini as he leaves the premises. Publishers Weekly Newsline 02/18/03

A Book A Day...Creating The Instant Book Forty German authors are hoping to set a new world record by conceiving, writing and printing a book in 12 hours. The team of writers will get their topic at 7.45 a.m. on April 23, World Book and Copyright Day. "They aim to have the finished book on shop shelves in 10 German cities by the evening of that day." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 02/21/03

Big Ambitions For New Culture Mag A new magazine on culture out of Los Angeles has attracted some high profile writers - among them Douglas Rushkoff, Kristine McKenna, Spike Jonze - despite not being able to pay high-profile fees. The magazine is called Arthur, and it's distributed free with a print run of 40,000 "Arthur's success in gathering talent comes in part from a promise that writers will be lightly edited, and that underground artists and controversial subjects will be championed. 'I know all this stuff sounds pompous. But there is no money here. This is an activist magazine. I have a clear idea of what's wrong with this culture and this world. This is the stuff I'm interested in, this is the work that's gratifying to me'." Los Angeles Times 02/20/03

Gregerson Wins Kingsley Tufts Poet Linda Gregerson has taken home a $100,000 prize from the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for her collection "Waterborne." The award is the largest of its kind in the US. Gregerson is a profesor at the University of Michigan, and the former poetry editor of The Atlantic Monthly. Boston Globe 02/20/03

Can Good Writing Be Taught? Judging by the number of writing courses offered, the answer for many is yes. But "a quick glance at the bestseller lists will tell you it's hard enough to find something halfway decent to read at the best of times, so no great synaptic leap is required to intuit that most writing courses produce writers who are only going to be read by those unlucky enough to be friends, family or fellow course mates. So there is a lurking feeling that many creative writing courses are driven by market forces rather than any altruistic desire to release untapped genius." The Guardian (UK) 02/18/03

Can Salon Survive? Can Salon magazine survive past the end of February? "The company has already been through several rounds of layoffs and cut everyone's pay by 15 per cent. It now employs fewer than two dozen staffers." But its remaining employees are loyal: "Our impending non-existence has been predicted in the press for so long and with such conviction that we considered adopting 'die another day' as a marketing slogan until the Bond franchise beat us to it." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/19/03

Another High-Tech Mag Goes Belly-Up "Citing economic woes in the technology sector, Multi-Vision Publishing Inc. announced yesterday that Shift magazine, the Canadian journal of digital culture, would cease publication. Just over two years ago, MVP was the proverbial white knight that saved Shift when it acquired the magazine out of bankruptcy... The decade-old publication had ceased production once before and, on another occasion, was saved by employees who agreed to buy it." National Post (Canada) 02/19/03

What's Up With These Poets? Poets have been much in the news of late. Poets are suddenly controversial (again). "Why poetry, why now? The answers might not be particularly mysterious. We are now into the second year of a period when words are being policed with particular vigor, hemmed in by off-the-record advisories as much as by Patriot Acts and Total Information Awareness. But such measures can't help but suggest that words themselves matter, now more than ever. Poets have been saying that all along." Village Voice 02/18/03

Blocked By Indulgence What's up with writers with writer's block? "You have to be able to afford to be blocked because, if you are a writer, not writing is a very expensive business - and it becomes more so by the hour. Therefore, it tends not to happen on Grub Street. I myself have written three novels and averaged 2,000 words of journalism a week for 15 years without ever experiencing the kind of bank balances where a block becomes a serious possibility." London Evening Standard 02/17/03

Poets Gather To Protest War A group of American poets who were to have performed at the White House before the event was canceled, gathered Sunday in Vermont for an event called "A Poetry Reading in Honour of the Right of Protest as a Patriotic and Historical Tradition." "About 600 people gathered at a church in Manchester, Vermont to protest a war with Iraq. BBC 02/16/03

THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ACTing Out: Lessons From A Seattle Theatre Theatre people across America were shocked last week when Seattle's ACT Theatre announced it was on the verge of closing, nearly sunk by debt. Could the theatre's predicament happen elsewhere, wonders Frank Rizzo? "The problems in Seattle only remind us that simply supporting building projects and not what happens when these buildings open is a short-sighted vision, one that could ultimately reflect a legacy of losers." Hartford Courant 02/23/03

Winds Of War Waft Through The Theatre Remember those days just after 9/11/01, when everything had changed and nothing would ever be the same again? Satire was dead, and Hollywood would surely have to rethink its mission. Well, 18 months later, as we all know, little has really changed, satire is alive and well, and Hollywood is still as it was. In fact, with the world on the brink of an uncertain war, the only artistic discipline which really seems to be meeting current events head-on is the theatre. "As the whiff of war emanates from the White House, for the first time in years the theater feels like a place where world events in the making can be remade for the stage, speedily and purposefully." Chicago Tribune 02/23/03

Producers May Be Backing Down There appears to be some movement in the contentious negotiations between Broadway producers and the musicians who staff the pits of the Great White Way. The central issue in the talks is over the requirement that a minimum number of musicians be employed for every show. Producers have been insisting that the policy must be eliminated outright, but sources now say that they may be willing to accept reductions in the minimums instead. Why the change of heart? It's possible that producers aren't as ready as they suggest to start using canned music as accompaniment to Broadway musicals. New York Post 02/21/03

A Reprieve For Seattle ACT Theatre... Seattle's ACT Theatre gives itself a reprieve from oblivion. The theatre had said it needed to raise $1.5 million by this Friday to avoid closing. But "at a meeting yesterday afternoon, the 25-member board elected to pay ACT's skeleton staff of nine employees and the company's other essential expenses out of their own pockets for a month, while trying to raise the $1.5 million they say is needed to keep the theater from closing permanently." Seattle Times 02/20/03

• Seattle's ACT Theatre Breathing Its Final Gasps? How do you sell 120,000 tickets and still run up a $500,000 deficit? Seattle's A Contemporary Theatre did it last year, and last week said if it wasn't able to raise $1.5 million toward an accumulated deficit of $1.7 million, it would have to close its doors by this Friday. So far, no white knight has come forward... The New York Times 02/20/03

Hitting 'Em Where It Hurts Broadway producers are trying an unusual tactic in their battle with musicians over the set minimum number of musicians required to be included in every show. Ordinarily, in these disputes, the front office talks about fiscal responsibility, and the musicians counter with talk of artistic integrity. But in this case, the producers claim that the musicians' position is artistically indefensible, and that minimums, as they are known, are unfair to the composer of a show's score, and to the entire creative team. It's an innovative approach, but unfortunately, some rather high-profile Broadway composers are already refuting the claims. New York Post 02/19/03

Broadway Musicians Dispute - Who's Really Deciding? Broadway producers say that the number of musicians emplyed for a show "should be left to the composer, lyricist, and musical director of a Broadway musical." The head of the musicians union agrees: "We agree completely, absolutely 100%. The problem is they're not the people who make the decision. How do we know? Those people are members of our union. And they say, unless we protect the minimums, they can't work in the same parameters as they do now on Broadway, because the numbers are dictated to the musical creative team by producers." Musicians and producers are locked in contract talks. Backstage 02/17/03

VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/visualarts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Melbourne Museum A Top Draw Melbourne's new Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square has become one of the world's most popular galleries, says the National Gallery of Victoria director Gerard Vaughan. In its first three months of operation, the museum has attracted 750,000 visitors. "It has to be one of the most visited art museums in the world just now. We can't compete with the world's top group of super galleries, which also includes New York's Metropolitan and the Uffizi in Florence, but we are right up there compared to anywhere else." He said the Pompidou Centre and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris receive up to 4000 visitors a day - the Ian Potter Centre was getting about 8000. The Age (Melbourne) 02/24/03

Going Wild Over Van Gogh In Japan It was to be an ordinary auction in Tokyo, until a work for sale was revealed as a forgotten Van Gogh. “The ensuing media frenzy in Japan ensured that the auction in Ginza was mobbed. Over 500 buyers registered and those who couldn’t squeeze into the main auction room had to be seated on another floor, connected to the action by a television screen. When the Van Gogh portrait now known as “Peasant Woman” appeared, bidding was frenzied.” The Art Newspaper 02/21/03

National Gallery Gains A Boticelli London’s National Gallery has a new Boticelli. Well, not new exactly. The museum has reattributed a picture that had previously been attributed to one of the master’s followers. “The picture, 'St Francis with Musical Angels', is extremely unusual for a mid-15th century Florentine painting in its patterned, stamped gold background. The painting was purchased (as a Filippino Lippi) by the the National Gallery's greatest director, Sir Charles Eastlake in 1858 from the Costabili collection.” The Art Newspaper 02/21/03

So How Is Anyone Supposed To Know You Exist? "For today's artists there's no shame in being market-savvy. In the post-Warhol era, licensing agreements, movie deals and publicity campaigns are increasingly regarded as legitimate extensions of the art-making process. But one corner of the art world still embraces the ideal of art uncorrupted by commerce. In the field of outsider art, creators who show too much interest in marketing are likely to find their work devalued, if not shunned altogether." The New York Times 02/23/03

MacGregor Toes A Hard Line "The Elgin marbles will never be returned to Greece, even on loan, the director of the British Museum has told The Telegraph. In a ruling which will infuriate the Greek authorities, Neil MacGregor - who took over as director of the museum last August - said that the marbles could 'do most good' in their current home, where they are seen in a broader historical context... Mr MacGregor's decision ends any hopes that the marbles could be loaned to the Greeks for the Athens Olympics next year and will outrage campaigners who hoped that his appointment marked a change in the museum's attitude to ownership of the friezes." The Telegraph (UK) 02/23/03

Wright House, Wrong Time An architecturally significant house in Chicago designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is being threatened. By a baby. The house's owners are about to see their family expand, and have been looking to sell the four-bedroom home so that they can move to a larger place. But so far, only one bid has come close to the asking price, and that was from a man who wants to tear the home down and erect his own newfangled mansion on the property. The owner rejected the offer, and says he wants to preserve the house, but time is running out, and it appears that unless a more preservation-minded buyer comes forward soon, the house could be demolished by this summer. Chicago Tribune 02/23/03

Vivendi To Sell Off Art Holdings "Vivendi Universal has chosen two New York auction houses to sell its modern art and photography collection - valued at about $15 million - this spring as part of an effort to decrease the Paris-based entertainment conglomerate's multibillion-dollar debt. Christie's will offer the modern art holding, which includes works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Mark Rothko, at an auction that has yet to be scheduled. Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg will put the collection of photographs on the block April 25-26." Los Angeles Times 02/21/03

The Ax Falls In Detroit "Facing a revenue shortfall and a bleak economy, the Detroit Institute of Arts will eliminate 55 jobs - 13 percent of its 416-member workforce - and close both its satellite mall shops in moves designed to cut costs and restructure operations. The layoffs, which will go into effect in the next two weeks, will result in an immediate saving of $1 million." Detroit Free Press 02/21/03

Critics: More Must Be Done To Keep British Art Treasures Home Britain is losing some its important art to foreign buyers, the the current laws only delay export, not keep it permanently in the country. "The objects that have been temporarily kept here, but then exported, invariably through lack of funds, greatly outnumber those that have been saved. Several important pieces of art currently under temporary export ban are expected to end up overseas." BBC 02/20/03

"Brilliant" Art Collection To Be Split Up The Potamkin collection of American art, "one of the best of its kind in private hands," is being split up after the death of Vivian and Meyer "Pat" Potamkin's collection. The collection includes an "estimated several hundred paintings, sculptures, and works on paper" and most will be sold at auction by the couple's heirs. "The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which was widely expected to be the major recipient, gets just a small portion, but it is the choicest and most valuable - eight paintings, one pastel drawing and a sculpture, which are estimated to be worth from $18 million to $22 million." Philadelphia Inquirer 02/20/03

Venice's New Logo - License It And Pay The city of Venice has a new logo, a "rather severe-looking winged lion superimposed over a V. Winged lions, dating to Assyrian times, have been a symbol of Venice for hundreds of years." But the city wants merchants to pay for the logo. "We don't want to raise money just by selling T-shirts. Anyone who now uses Venice for private reasons to make private money, we're asking them to add our logo and pay a fee. This way they will state that they are participating in a worldwide campaign to save Venice — and to preserve its heritage." The New York Times 02/20/03

Paris Museums Moving Art Paris museums have begun moving about 100,000 works of art from underground storage rooms. "The decision to move this art to an undisclosed location north of Paris followed the floods that swept Central Europe last summer, damaging museums and other cultural institutions, notably in Dresden, Germany, and in Prague. Although French art collections were not seriously affected by the 1910 floods, the French government concluded that Paris museums were more vulnerable today." The New York Times 02/19/03

Art Auctions - Waiting For The Law Of Diminishing Returns This season's art auction sales held up. But there are ominous signs. "The law of diminishing returns suggests we are coming to the end of the back-toback, buy-to-sell cycle. The best of the "turning" and profit-taking has gone, and the contemporary collectors have stocked up on the prizes they missed first time round. This does not produce the growth the market needs. Not only are we looking for a new generation of artists, we're desperate for a new wave of collectors." London Evening Standard 02/18/03

Using Satellites To Catch Graffiti Taggers A company in Southern California has developed a system of satellites and high-tech sensors to catch graffiti taggers. "TaggerTrap, a graffiti eradication system being tested in several California cities, uses global positioning system technology, cell phones and sensors that recognize the ultrasonic pitch of spray cans to alert police when vandals begin their work." Village Voice (Reuters) 02/18/03

End Of The Line For Detroit's MONA? Detroit's Museum of New Art (MONA) has never had an easy road to follow. The very definition of a grassroots arts organization, MONA was founded in an abandoned suburban storefront in 1996, and moved to downtown Detroit in 2001. But the museum has had its share of recent turmoil at the top, and now, it faces eviction from its home in Detroit's Book Building, amid bizarre charges of vandalism from the landlord, and accusations of mismanagement from several resigned directors. Detroit News 02/15/03

The Secret Behind Van Dyck The Van Dyck painting that hung in Scotland's National Gallery for more than 100 years, was keeping a secret. "After a year of restoration and investigation, staff at the Edinburgh gallery have been able to shed light on a work Van Dyck wanted no one to see. Underneath the canvas of St Sebastian Bound for Martyrdom is a previous work, also of St Sebastian and almost an exact copy of a Van Dyck that hangs in the Louvre." The Guardian (UK) 02/18/03

Subjecting Leonardo To Science Dspite the small number of Leonardo da Vinci paintings there, they have never been studied with modern scientific instruments. So "the Universal Leonardo Project is being set up to coordinate the first scientific examination of all the artist’s paintings. Scholars are still unable to agree on which paintings should be attributed to Leonardo, with the number accepted by individual specialists varying from one dozen to two dozen. 'Even the Mona Lisa has not been subjected to a sustained technical examination'.” The Art Newspaper 02/14/03

Looted Art Sale The family of Eugene Gutman has recently recovered 233 works of art worth about £2 million .from the Dutch government, and will sell 90 of them at auction. The art was looted by the Nazis 60 years ago, and includes silver, Old Master paintings, furniture and other antiques. The sale will be one of the biggest of war-looted art ever. The Telegraph (UK) 02/17/03