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Today's Stories

Hollywood Bowl LA Phil Season Opens On A Down Note

One of the highlights of this season has fallen victim to a baffling Venezuela travel ban. Gustavo Dudamel can no longer bring his Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in August. That now means that Dudamel will spend only a single week at the Bowl during his penultimate summer as L.A. Phil music director. - Los Angeles Times

Historic Documents Stolen Ten Years Ago From Dutch National Archives Are Found In Attic

A decade ago, an employee stole 25 priceless documents from the Netherlands’ National Archives in the Hague. The trove included 16th-century records of clandestine government affairs, a 15th-century letter from a knight and documents from the Dutch East India Company. - Smithsonian

AI Slop Is Swamping Publishing

Creative professionals have long found themselves amid an existential crisis in a market where profits are slim and the vast majority of them will not make a living wage solely from their art. Those matters have become exacerbated tenfold by the speedy implementation of generative-AI technology within their spaces. - Paste

Bronx Museum Picks A New Director

Shamim M. Momin is, most recently director of curatorial affairs at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle and co-founder of Los Angeles Nomadic Division, succeeds Klaudio Rodriguez, who left his executive director post last August. - The New York Times

First Look At LACMA’s New Home

Created to house the museum’s permanent art collection, the David Geffen Galleries increase the total museum space from 130,000 square feet to 220,000 square feet. - Los Angeles Magazine

Columbia University In Discussion To Pay Trump Administration $200 Million

Part of the money would be paid to the government, people familiar with the matter said. White House officials said the deal also includes payments to individual students and professors whose rights allegedly have been violated. - The Wall Street Journal

Kennedy Center’s Director Of Jazz Joins Long Line Of Leaders Quitting

He is the latest administrator to leave the performing arts center following the Trump takeover. Other administrators who also left included Renée Fleming, Shonda Rhimes and Ben Folds. - OperaWire

Restaurants Consider Ditching Recorded Music Because Of Higher Licensing Fees

The National Restaurant Assn. said its members pay an average of $4,500 per year to license music, or 0.5% of the average U.S. small restaurant’s total annual sales. “This may not seem like a large amount, but for an industry that runs on an average pre-tax margin of 3%-5%, this cost is significant." - Los Angeles...

The Harvard Linguist Who’s Figured Out How Algorithms Have Shaped Our Language

“I want to balance being a ‘ha-ha funny’ TikToker with academic credibility. It’s a little hard to strike that balance when you are talking about ‘Skibidi Toilet’ on the internet.” - The New York Times

La Scala To Ticket-Buyers: No Flip Flops! (We Mean It!!)

The venue is stepping up the enforcement of its dress code this summer, reminding patrons via signs in the foyer to dress “in keeping with the decorum of the theater.” The underdressed will not be allowed inside, according to its policy, which is also printed on tickets, nor will they be reimbursed. - The New York Times

Is It An Honor Just To Be Nominated?

These shows, and actors, may find out tomorrow at the Emmy nominations. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

It Might Be Time To Revive This Forgotten Pulitzer Prize-Winner’s Plays

“Gale didn’t coin the term ‘think global, act local,’ but that’s what Sodality does: Gale’s stories imagine an anti-capitalist vision of ‘sodality’ that could extend across the world, if only women were in charge.” - LitHub

Perhaps Inevitably, A British MP Has Called For The Bayeux Tapestry To Travel To Hastings

Sure, why not just take that fragile tapestry to the south coast and “reserve at least 1,066 tickets to the exhibition for people from Hastings.” - The Guardian (UK)

Can The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center Survive?

The venerated, invaluable theatre incubator is facing, like so many performance-related sites, money trouble. - The New York Times

Navigating The Cluttered World Of Author Newsletters

Authors love to write, and some choose Beehiiv, Ghost, Buttondown and other alternatives to converse with a similarly word-obsessed public. Here are a few of the best. - The Guardian (UK)

Doubt Can Fuel A Life Well Lived, And Maybe Take The Edges Off A Too-Certain Body Politic

“Certainty serves a powerful social identity function. Declaring a clear position, especially a strong one, signals belonging. … Certainty is rewarded not just with clarity, but with community. Ambivalence, by contrast, is lonely.” - Salon

The Superman “Backlash” Is Super-Overwrought

And Superman himself is hardly an icon of liberal values. Instead, he’s a white dude from Kansas struggling to make it, hiding who he is to survive. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Clare Chambers Learned How To Expand A Novel By Reading Iris Murdoch

Upon reading The Bell, she says, "I realised that a novel, if perfectly executed, could be about absolutely anything.” - The Guardian (UK)

Charles Reinhart, Who Brought Modern Dance Into Prominence, Has Died At 92

He managed the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Meredith Monk, and he produced modern dance festivals in New York, but “it was as the director of American Dance Festival that Mr. Reinhart had an outlet commensurate with his ambitions.” - The New York Times

On Bastille Day, Just How French Are The Irish?

And vice versa, of course. For instance: James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and Oscar Wilde all found some freedom in France, but Charles de Gaulle? He loved Ireland. - Irish Times

By Topic

Doubt Can Fuel A Life Well Lived, And Maybe Take The Edges Off A Too-Certain Body Politic

“Certainty serves a powerful social identity function. Declaring a clear position, especially a strong one, signals belonging. … Certainty is rewarded not just with clarity, but with community. Ambivalence, by contrast, is lonely.” - Salon

On Bastille Day, Just How French Are The Irish?

And vice versa, of course. For instance: James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and Oscar Wilde all found some freedom in France, but Charles de Gaulle? He loved Ireland. - Irish Times

Saving Material History Isn’t Always Easy, But These Queer Communities Are Finding A Way

There’s “a growing wave of collaborative projects in which Latin American LGBTQ+ communities preserve and share their struggles and triumphs. They digitize photos, collect testimonies, and build databases of letters, personal memories, and other items that have survived dictatorships, censorship, and stigma.” - Wired

As You Might Have Suspected, A Small Percentage Of People Are Ruining Social Media For Everyone

“Most people aren’t posting, arguing, or fuelling the outrage machine. But because the super-users are so active and visible, they dominate our collective impression of the internet.” - The Guardian (UK)

How Ancient Water Clocks Changed Our Notions Of Time

As ancient civilisations began to need more reliable timekeeping mechanisms, the technology took an extraordinary leap forward with the advent of dependable water clocks, which would remain the best technology available for the next 1,800 years. - Aeon

How Leisure Became Digital

For many Canadians, play has migrated from board games or the rec leagues to smartphone screens. It’s no longer confined to the weekend or even to a full hour of downtime. Instead, it creeps into moments between work calls, while waiting in line, or during that ambiguous half-hour between Netflix and sleep. - The Walrus

Columbia University In Discussion To Pay Trump Administration $200 Million

Part of the money would be paid to the government, people familiar with the matter said. White House officials said the deal also includes payments to individual students and professors whose rights allegedly have been violated. - The Wall Street Journal

Kennedy Center’s Director Of Jazz Joins Long Line Of Leaders Quitting

He is the latest administrator to leave the performing arts center following the Trump takeover. Other administrators who also left included Renée Fleming, Shonda Rhimes and Ben Folds. - OperaWire

Why Derek Dixon Decided To Go Public With Claims Against Tyler Perry

“Everyone deserves to go to work and do their job without their boss trying to have sex with them. … My goal is to help ensure that the next generation of actors and creatives don’t have to choose between their dreams and their dignity.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

The BBC Fired A Presenter After Tons Of Allegations, But What Happens To The Show’s Unaired New Season?

A former winner of MasterChef says, ""I can't imagine what it would be like for people who've waited all this time, biting their nails, only to be told that no-one is going to see your achievements, your stresses, your growth. It would be awful.” - BBC

Oakland Eliminates Its Top Arts Manager Position

The Oakland City Council passed a budget on June 11 that eliminated its Cultural Affairs Manager position, citing budgetary concerns. But critics say money-saving justifications haven't been made in good faith. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

How Trump’s BBBill Will Impact Non-Profits

Provisions in the new law raise unsettling questions about how the nonprofit world will be affected — and the answers may not be known for months or years. - Chronicle of Philanthropy

Hollywood Bowl LA Phil Season Opens On A Down Note

One of the highlights of this season has fallen victim to a baffling Venezuela travel ban. Gustavo Dudamel can no longer bring his Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in August. That now means that Dudamel will spend only a single week at the Bowl during his penultimate summer as L.A. Phil music director. - Los Angeles...

Restaurants Consider Ditching Recorded Music Because Of Higher Licensing Fees

The National Restaurant Assn. said its members pay an average of $4,500 per year to license music, or 0.5% of the average U.S. small restaurant’s total annual sales. “This may not seem like a large amount, but for an industry that runs on an average pre-tax margin of 3%-5%, this cost is significant." -...

La Scala To Ticket-Buyers: No Flip Flops! (We Mean It!!)

The venue is stepping up the enforcement of its dress code this summer, reminding patrons via signs in the foyer to dress “in keeping with the decorum of the theater.” The underdressed will not be allowed inside, according to its policy, which is also printed on tickets, nor will they be reimbursed. - The New...

As The Kennedy Center Loses Subscribers, What Will This Mean For The National Symphony Orchestra?

It’s not great: Subscriptions are down 36 percent. But “complicating things for a number of NSO supporters … is the energy surrounding the orchestra itself, which remains infectiously high, ascendant and alive with promise, especially following last season’s extension of music director Gianandrea Noseda’s contract.” - Washington Post (MSN)

Music Law Is Not Keeping Up With Technology

Musicians dealing not only with tiny streaming payments but now software-created “musicians” that steal even that limited option say they need some legal support. - CBC

Two Longtime Jazz Hosts In San Francisco Say They Were Forced Off The Air

The tale is a wild, sad one, and what’s at fault? The California’s public employees’ retirement system. - San Francisco Chronicle

Historic Documents Stolen Ten Years Ago From Dutch National Archives Are Found In Attic

A decade ago, an employee stole 25 priceless documents from the Netherlands’ National Archives in the Hague. The trove included 16th-century records of clandestine government affairs, a 15th-century letter from a knight and documents from the Dutch East India Company. - Smithsonian

Bronx Museum Picks A New Director

Shamim M. Momin is, most recently director of curatorial affairs at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle and co-founder of Los Angeles Nomadic Division, succeeds Klaudio Rodriguez, who left his executive director post last August. - The New York Times

First Look At LACMA’s New Home

Created to house the museum’s permanent art collection, the David Geffen Galleries increase the total museum space from 130,000 square feet to 220,000 square feet. - Los Angeles Magazine

Perhaps Inevitably, A British MP Has Called For The Bayeux Tapestry To Travel To Hastings

Sure, why not just take that fragile tapestry to the south coast and “reserve at least 1,066 tickets to the exhibition for people from Hastings.” - The Guardian (UK)

What Does Beauty Mean In The Age Of AI?

“When you have surgery to look like your best self as shown on a flat screen, the results in three-dimensional reality can be very odd indeed.” - The Guardian (UK)

Does It Matter if That Art You Liked Was Fake?

 I wondered what it meant if the Greek water jar I had been so moved by, depicting a woman who may have been Sappho bent over a scroll, had in fact been a worthless copy. Did that make the experience any less real? - The Guardian

AI Slop Is Swamping Publishing

Creative professionals have long found themselves amid an existential crisis in a market where profits are slim and the vast majority of them will not make a living wage solely from their art. Those matters have become exacerbated tenfold by the speedy implementation of generative-AI technology within their spaces. - Paste

The Harvard Linguist Who’s Figured Out How Algorithms Have Shaped Our Language

“I want to balance being a ‘ha-ha funny’ TikToker with academic credibility. It’s a little hard to strike that balance when you are talking about ‘Skibidi Toilet’ on the internet.” - The New York Times

Navigating The Cluttered World Of Author Newsletters

Authors love to write, and some choose Beehiiv, Ghost, Buttondown and other alternatives to converse with a similarly word-obsessed public. Here are a few of the best. - The Guardian (UK)

Clare Chambers Learned How To Expand A Novel By Reading Iris Murdoch

Upon reading The Bell, she says, "I realised that a novel, if perfectly executed, could be about absolutely anything.” - The Guardian (UK)

The Salt Path’s Author Had A New Book Coming Out, Then Came Last Week’s Revelations

“Penguin, publisher of The Salt Path, is delaying author Raynor Winn’s next book after reporting cast doubt over the truth of the 2018 memoir. The decision was taken to 'support the author.’” - The Guardian (UK)

How The Author Of Space Raptor Butt Invasion Went Legit This Summer

“Perhaps the best way to understand Tingle’s career plot twist is as part of a trend in horror fiction that speaks to contemporary identity issues.” - Slate

Is It An Honor Just To Be Nominated?

These shows, and actors, may find out tomorrow at the Emmy nominations. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

The Superman “Backlash” Is Super-Overwrought

And Superman himself is hardly an icon of liberal values. Instead, he’s a white dude from Kansas struggling to make it, hiding who he is to survive. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

The World’s Newest Gaming Obsession Is A Cow

Cow (as the cow character is known) “has become Mario Kart World’s breakout star, validated by her leading role in popular videos on Instagram and TikTok.” - The New York Times

Supe Saves The World, But Also Warner Bros.

Why in the entire heck did no one previously think of adding a dog? - The New York Times

Will Popcorn Buckets Save Movie Theatres?

Well, why not? “Every movie is a new chance for a popcorn bucket artist to shine.” - NPR

Sometimes, You Just Need A DVD

“Amid the streaming deluge, there are signs — small, tenuous and anecdotal, but real — of a rebellion.” - The New York Times

The New Zealand Men’s Rugby Team Had A Problem With Their Toes – Until They Studied Ballet

The issue with “turf toe” (a ligament stress, or tear) was ending careers - until a coach visited the New Zealand Ballet and asked pointed questions. - New Zealand Herald (Internet Archive)

The Struggle For Pregnancy Protections And Parental Leave In The Ballet World

“Because the policies that do exist vary so widely, dancers can be impacted in different ways depending on which company they’re a part of; whether they’re freelancers or full-time; and, in some cases, what their role is within the company.” - Elle

Japan Has A Big Ballet-Fan Community. Now It’s Working On Homegrown Ballet.

“Until recently, that audience lavished attention mostly on prestigious foreign companies that tour Japan regularly, such as the Paris Opera Ballet and the Royal Ballet. The country has struggled to build world-class companies and hold on to the top talent it trains. The National Ballet of Japan wants to change that.” - Financial Times

Training A New Generation Of Dancers For A Different Kind Of Career

"Today’s young adults have also been through the Covid shutdown, and they’re starting their careers at a time of huge financial uncertainty." - ArtsATL

Doris Duke Theater At Jacob’s Pillow, Literally Risen From Ashes, Is Now One Of World’s Highest-Tech Dance Venues

With an advanced acoustical system, plenty of fiber-optic cable, responsive lighting, spatialized audio capabilities, virtual/augmented reality infrastructure, and a trippy immersive exhibition called “Dancing the Algorithm” in its gallery, the theater should be thrilling visitors at its opening this week. - The New York Times

India’s Most Progressive State Is Arguing Over Zumba Classes

“Some 14,000 state-run schools in Kerala have been asked to organise daily Zumba sessions as part of an anti-drug campaign launched by the government last month. The decision has been bitterly opposed by some Hindu and Muslim organisations in the state, who say the dance is a form of ‘cultural invasion’.” - BBC

It Might Be Time To Revive This Forgotten Pulitzer Prize-Winner’s Plays

“Gale didn’t coin the term ‘think global, act local,’ but that’s what Sodality does: Gale’s stories imagine an anti-capitalist vision of ‘sodality’ that could extend across the world, if only women were in charge.” - LitHub

Can The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center Survive?

The venerated, invaluable theatre incubator is facing, like so many performance-related sites, money trouble. - The New York Times

The Avignon Festival Copes With Ever-Increasing Temperatures

Days over 100°F are no longer rare, with serious effects on audiences and workers. … Recent changes include eliminating performances between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m., the hottest hours, … (and) a new rule for international artists: If you’re coming from overseas, you must have other touring dates in Europe. - The New York Times

Bay Area Theatres Are Folding. The Theatre Landscape Is Collapsing

"We, in the nonprofit theater world, rely on a model that is really not working for anybody. It wasn’t working before the pandemic. The warning signs were there. Nonprofit theater relies on subscribers and grants to invest in a season before it opens." - KQED

Oscar Wilde’s Forgotten Play About Russian Revolutionaries

The 1879 play Vera; or, The Nihilists is about a young woman and her band of radicals who plan to kill the tsar. Its 1881 London premiere was cancelled after Tsar Alexander II was actually assassinated, and the play has been neglected ever since. - The Guardian

Abrupt Leadership Change At Minneapolis’ History Museum

Richard Thompson, who joined the playhouse in January 2023, has been a mainstay of Twin Cities theater for decades, including directing shows at the Children’s Theatre Company and Penumbra Theatre. - The Star-Tribune (MSN)

Charles Reinhart, Who Brought Modern Dance Into Prominence, Has Died At 92

He managed the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Meredith Monk, and he produced modern dance festivals in New York, but “it was as the director of American Dance Festival that Mr. Reinhart had an outlet commensurate with his ambitions.” - The New York Times

Bill Dilworth, The Keeper Of Walter De Maria’s Earth Room, Has Died At 70

“From the beginning, the Earth Room drew pilgrims, like the woman who visited a few decades ago and would stand silently for a bit and then start to laugh. Or the pre-med student who changed her major to soil studies after her first visit.” - The New York Times

Eric Idle, Embarking On A Post-Cancer Tour Of The UK, Has Some Choice Words For The US

The former Monty Python star: “I’ve had a green card for about 28 years. I’d be proud to be thrown out because I’d be in very select company. The last English comedian to be thrown out of America for political reasons was Charlie Chaplin.” - The Guardian (UK)

Did Shakespeare Really Smoke Weed? The Answer Is Yes.

Some clay pipe fragments dug up from his backyard garden in Stratford-upon-Avon and dating from the time he lived there were found to contain cannabis residue. Okay, technically this evidence is circumstantial: there’s no proof that Shakespeare himself left those pipes there. (Maybe they were planted by the Earl of Oxford.) - Literary Hub

Scrappy Indie Publisher John Martin, 94

Martin, an adventurous independent publisher who brought out the raucous work of the poet Charles Bukowski, as well as the writing of other offbeat literary rebels like Paul Bowles, John Fante and Wyndham Lewis, died on June 23 at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif. - The New York Times

My Nightmare Job Taking Care Of Patricia Highsmith

“Pat was seventy-four and knew she was about to die. ... I was trapped in her world with her, trembling. She had weeks left to live and had spent so much time writing about how to get away with murder. I fantasized that she might try to kill me.” - The Yale Review

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Can The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center Survive?

The venerated, invaluable theatre incubator is facing, like so many performance-related sites, money trouble. - The New York Times

The Salt Path’s Author Had A New Book Coming Out, Then Came Last Week’s Revelations

“Penguin, publisher of The Salt Path, is delaying author Raynor Winn’s next book after reporting cast doubt over the truth of the 2018 memoir. The decision was taken to 'support the author.’” - The Guardian (UK)

As The Kennedy Center Loses Subscribers, What Will This Mean For The National Symphony Orchestra?

It’s not great: Subscriptions are down 36 percent. But “complicating things for a number of NSO supporters … is the energy surrounding the orchestra itself, which remains infectiously high, ascendant and alive with promise, especially following last season’s extension of music director Gianandrea Noseda’s contract.” - Washington Post (MSN)

The Multitude Of Ways Trump Is Preventing Musicians From Other Countries Getting To The US

It’s not pretty. Yet organizers persist. Why? "When you’re in the same room as the artist, when you feel the music move through your body, when you see the emotion on their face and hear their story — that creates a bond. … It counters propaganda. It softens xenophobia.” - Seattle Times

In A Tough Hollywood Job Market, YouTube And Other Social Media Provide Aa Rare Bright Spot

Yes, it’s true: "That part of the industry, once dominated by amateurs making funny viral videos with smartphones has blossomed into a formidable entertainment force, where video creators are setting up real businesses with large studios in Southern California funded through advertising by major brands. - Los Angeles Times

Remember The Collective That Sold Pieces Of A Damien Hirst Painting Dot By Dot? Look At What They’re Up To Now.

“Billed as a ‘financial trust fall,’ the project” — a sculpture of an infant, built to be taken apart and divided, which the collective MSCHF has titled King Solomon’s Baby — “invites collectors to take the plunge (and buy a piece), hoping others will follow suit in a reverse pyramid scheme that’s artfully self-aware.”...

Kyoto’s Overtourism Problem May Be Even Worse Than Amsterdam’s Or Barcelona’s

“Last year, more tourists visited Kyoto than Barcelona, Amsterdam, or even Paris. … (It's a) conundrum with no obvious solutions. Tokyo and Osaka are big enough to soak up tourists the same way New York and London can, but Kyoto is hemmed in by mountains, which keeps the city from expanding.” - New York...

Famous Art Detective Arthur Brand Recovers Stolen Documents So Historic That They’re UNESCO-Listed

The cache of papers, dating from the 15th through the 19th centuries, was stolen from the National Archives of the Netherlands in 2015. Among the recovered papers are archives from the early days of the world’s first multinational corporation, the Dutch East India Company. - France 24

Brad Pitt Is Fooling You

“The cumulative effect of F1 and its press tour have been a carefully tuned charm offensive meant to obscure, if not outright bury, the alleged violent particulars of his behavior toward ex-wife Angelina Jolie.” - Vulture (Internet Archive)

A Strad That Disappeared At The End Of WWII May Have Resurfaced

“The case of the Mendelssohn Stradivarius highlights the opaque trade for rare instruments, in which details about provenance, or the history of previous ownership, are often not well documented or, in some cases, intentionally obscured.” - The New York Times

Did The Salt Path Seem Like A Good Story?

That’s because the “memoir” (and its sequels, not to mention the new movie starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs) was at least partly fiction, covering up theft, a criminal case, and land in France. - The Observer (UK)

Museums Are Collecting People’s Goals And Hopes For The 250th Birthday Of The United States

And it’s weirdly hopeful, deeply compelling stuff. “People were especially motivated to share their input when they were told that their contributions would be archived for posterity” (assuming the country & institutions, ah, survive). - Hyperallergic

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