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- Why Schmigadoon’s Music Sounds At Once Fresh And So Very Familiar
“Every number is a homage to at least one classic musical, and often two or three. Here, the hills are alive with the sound of pastiche; the plains and the valleys too.” – The New York Times
- Spain Has A Ton Of Crumbling Castles
What should it do with them, and all of the material therein? – El País English
- So, Does Peter Gelb Have ‘The Most Difficult Job’ In The World?
“Gelb, who is paid $1.2 million annually, oversees a $326 million budget. … Beyond the often caustic scrutiny of opera critics and patrons, Gelb must reckon with the demands of 3,000 full- and part-time employees, 15 labor unions and a 144-member board of directors.” – The New York Times
- What Both Old And New Amadeus Teach Us
Every great artist needs a nemesis – fictional or not! – in order to stand out. – Salon
- A Skateboarder’s Lament For San Francisco’s Vaillancourt Fountain
“A spark from one of the torch-cutters likely ignited debris that had accumulated in one of the fountain’s tubes during the last year of its dormancy, sending flames and smoke shooting into the air over a structure that once pumped 30,000 gallons of water.” – The Guardian (UK)
- The Met Is Publicizing An Opera About Frida Kahlo In Restaurants And Cemeteries
Well, why not? “For me, it’s more about singing the music and just communicating it and making that as accessible as possible in the moment to the audience.” – The New York Times
- The Head Of France’s Biggest Film Producer Is Prepared To Bow To A Right-Wing Billionaire
“The open letter, published earlier this week to coincide with the opening of the Cannes film festival, was signed by more than 600 figures, including … Juliette Binoche.” Now the head of Canal+ says the organization will no longer work with any of the signers. – The Guardian (UK)
- The Smithsonian Adds That Impeachment Language Back To The Portrait Of The Current President
“In the new wall text accompanying a portrait of Mr. Trump, the impeachments are mentioned in a list of important events from the president’s first term.” – The New York Times
- Artists, Writers, And Musicians Experiencing Despair As Generative AI Collides With Art
“Musicians, artists and writers generally possess something AI does not, which is the lived human experience out of which they create. That experience includes the accidents, serendipities and epiphanies that shape our arts.” – KC Studio
- What Will Win At The Tonys, And What Should Win
At least, according to The New York Times’s Helen Shaw. For instance: “When I think about the sheer old-fashioned ebullience of Cinco Paul’s Schmigadoon! — its compositional invention and depth of talent — I find myself hoping the voters will give it the laurel.” – The New York Times
- The Story Of The Community College Prof Who Suddenly Found Out Her Novel Was A Pulitzer Finalist
Stacey Levine’s Mice 1961, published by a very small press in Oregon, is “a deeply weird book, a kind-of coming-of-age comedy with no easy takeaway, full of twangy dialogue that reads like an alien in a human suit going ‘hello fellow Earthlings.’” – LitHub
- The Plight Of Hollywood Has, Weirdly, Become A Key Issue In The Los Angeles Mayoral Race
“For decades, elected officials have not had to focus on the film and TV business, let alone turn it into a campaign issue. It was simply a given that local production would continue to play a dominant role in the city’s economy.” – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- Documentary Filmmaker Brian Lindstrom Has Died At 65
“Lindstrom, until the end of his life, was committed to portraying stories of trauma overcome. Though he possessed an exceptional grasp of cinema’s tools from cinematography to editing, Lindstrom’s greatest artistic gift was his blend of empathy and curiosity.” – Oregon ArtsWatch
- For No Reason The Artist Or Anyone Else Knows, FIFA Destroys A Huge, Beloved Mural In Dallas
The massive whale mural is “’gone forever,’ [artist] Wyland told me, … sounding at turns shattered and furious.” But why? Could be for some sports marketing, of course, since the men’s World Cup is coming soon. – Dallas Morning News
- Two kinds of archaeology
Good Morning,
Two kinds of archaeology today. One uncovers what’s real and was buried; the other exposes what was always artificial.
In the first category: a forgotten manuscript in Rome turns out to have been hiding the oldest English poem ever found — three centuries earlier than the previous record (Seattle Times). Then, an Egyptian mummy was buried with a copy of the Iliad, apparently a “cheat code” to the afterlife for Roman-era royals (The New York Times). Cy Twombly’s granddaughter has surfaced a trove of unseen portraits her grandmother took of the artist (The New York Times). And a documentary about the Harlem Renaissance, shot at Duke Ellington’s townhouse in 1972, is finally getting its debut (The Guardian).
In the second: a viral marketing executive estimates 90% of what we see online is advertising — and the machinery has started to show (Vulture). Seth Rogen, asked about AI screenwriting, says anyone who wants to use it “should simply stop working as a writer” (Variety). And ArXiv will now ban researchers for a year if their submissions contain unedited AI slop (The Verge). Edited, is apparently still okay.
The signal, it turns out, is in the archives. The noise is in the feed. All of our stories below.
See you tomorrow.
Doug
- Fifty Years Later, A Documentary About The Harlem Renaissance Gets Its Debut
“The documentary centres on a cocktail party [director William] Greaves hosted at Duke Ellington’s townhouse in Harlem in August 1972 – an attempt to capture the voices of artists, writers, musicians and organisers whose work had transformed Black American culture in the 1920s.” – The Guardian (UK)
- The Egyptian Mummy Buried With The Iliad
Was Greek literature a “cheat code” to the afterlife for Egyptian royals of Roman-era Egypt? – The New York Times
- Our Feeds Are Products Of Stealth Marketing — And Thus, Mostly Fake
The head of one viral marketing firm says 90 percent of what we see online is advertising. And of course, “the point of this kind of marketing is that nobody is supposed to notice it. But lately, the machinery has started to show.” – Vulture
- Seth Rogen Says If You Want To Use AI To ‘Write’ Your Scripts, You Should Simply Stop Working As A ‘Writer’ And Go Do Something Else
“Every time I see a video on Instagram that’s like, ‘Hollywood is cooked,’ what follows is the most stupid dog shit I’ve ever seen in my life.” – Variety
- Taking Broadway On The Road, But In Baseball
This Tony-nominated actor is finding more theatrical work – and, let’s face it, likely better pay – as a member of the Savannah Bananas, playing a relief pitcher who comes on dressed as, and singing, the Phantom of the Opera. – The New York Times
- The Problem With Venice
If you go to the Biennale, including this year’s intensely controversial edition, “Do you marshal skepticism or let the feelings flow? Whatever your preference, you’ll get a lot of practice.” – The Atlantic
- A Forgotten Medieval Book In Rome Was Hiding A Copy Of The World’s First Poem In English
“Prior to the discovery of the Rome manuscript, the earliest one was from the early 12th century. So this is three centuries earlier than that. And so it attests to the importance that was already being attached to the English in the early 9th century.” – Seattle Times (AP)
- What Happens When The European Fine Art Foundation Comes To Town
“The pursuit of beautiful things is still a magical aspect of our world. … It is much more than finding the right art for your mantelpiece.” – The New York Times
- Police Find Stolen Skull Of Czech Saint Encased In Concrete
The suspect was about to throw the concrete, and the 800-year-old relic inside it, into a river. – Agence France-Presse (The Guardian UK)
- A Playwright Turns Movie Director
Aleshea Harris: “It felt natural and inevitable because I am a very particular playwright. … I already have strong ideas and impulses about not just writing the thing, but helping people to understand.” – The New York Times
- Why Is Hollywood Avoiding Cannes?
Basically? It can’t take the heat: “In theory, attending Cannes should be a no-brainer for major U.S. studios. Talent loves it because of the glamour and global exposure. … This year, however, multiple high level sources said the conglomerates are particularly thin-skinned about the scathing Cannes critics.” – Variety
- When This Young Soprano Died, The Role Of The Queen Of The Night Fell Empty All Over The World
“That sprint of a succession of high notes in such a short time is legendary, which adds a layer of difficulty not only to singing the role but finding a reliable queen.” – The New York Times
- How Tamara Rojo Is Remaking The San Francisco Ballet
“Ballet can be a pretty conservative artform, with many companies trundling out Swan Lakes, Nutcrackers, and Cinderellas year after year. Every now and again, though, someone like Rojo comes along and truly shakes things up – even if that has meant ruffling tutus in the process.” – NPR
- A Popular Pre-Print Publication Will Ban Anyone Who Sends Papers With Evidence Of AI Slop
“If a paper has ‘incontrovertible evidence that the authors did not check the results of LLM generation,’ such as hallucinated references or “meta-comments” left by an LLM, authors will be banned from ArXiv for a year.” The responses have been … er, interesting. – The Verge
- Racists Can’t Handle Having Helen Of Troy Played By One Of The Most Beautiful Women In The World
- Why Are Public Media In Trouble All Over The World?
“The second century of European public media looks less certain than its first as its original competition – from private broadcasters – is eclipsed by heated rivalry from deep-pocketed streaming platforms.” – Irish Times
- Newly Discovered Portraits of Cy Twombly Add Texture To The Life Of The Artist And The Photographer, His Wife
The Twomblys’ granddaughter, Maia, discovered the negatives – and she has a new appreciation of the photographer: “I remember her now not as an 80-year-old woman, but as a 30-year-old. It’s like she is no longer my grandmother but my friend.” – The New York Times
- Lost Your Ability To Enjoy Reading?
Try returning to some things you cared about as a kid. – The Atlantic
- It Took Way Too Long For Art From The Asian Pacific Rim To Gain Interest In Britain
Why? For one thing, “conservation specialists … have been navigating the practical challenge of safely transporting the works across the globe.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Getting younger with the arts
This Week’s Highlights:
Artists this week were busy with the past — and the political forces around them were busy editing it. Davóne Tines’s operatic adaptation of Langston Hughes’s 1931 monologue The Black Clown condenses 300 years of Black American experience into 18 stanzas (Philadelphia Inquirer). Washington National Opera, freshly severed from the Kennedy Center, announced a season featuring a world premiere about Georgia O’Keeffe (The New York Times). And visual artists, in response to AI, are reviving the labor-intensive techniques of the Old Masters (Artnet).
At the same time, the canon is being narrowed by force. Knoxville schools pulled Alex Haley’s Pulitzer-winning Roots from libraries (WATE). Georgia sentenced the renowned bass Paata Burchuladze to seven years in prison for organizing an election-day protest (OperaWire). Pianist Jayson Gillham is suing the Melbourne Symphony for canceling his recital after he dedicated a piece to journalists killed in Gaza (ABC). National pavilions closed across the Venice Biennale to protest Israel’s inclusion (The Guardian).
A quieter finding to close on: participating in the arts is now associated with measurably slower biological aging (The Guardian). The work does something.
All this week’s stories below, organized by topic.
