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Designers Are Actually Making Solar Panels Attractive To Look At

In the hope that improved aesthetics will lead to wider adoption, solar technology companies and their designers are creating panels with decorative patterns, various colors and shapes that can be installed on building façades, and even solar-energy-generating textiles. - Fast Company

Sandra Jaffe, Co-Founder Of Preservation Hall In New Orleans, Dead At 83

She and her husband were driving home to Philadelphia from their honeymoon, stopped in New Orleans, heard traditional jazz, and basically never left. Their venue became a jazz mecca, and they helped turn the house band into stars who've toured the world. - AP

Classical Music Can Help Society Recover From The Pandemic, Says Director Of London’s Wigmore Hall

"Throughout the crisis, the industry has begun to construct a new narrative shaped to accommodate great artistic expression for everyone. As we rebuild our society and our economy, I'm convinced, more than ever, that participation in music is part of the solution for national recovery." - The Guardian

New York’s Three Big January Avant-Garde Festivals Are All Cancelled

The Under the Radar Festival (theater), Prototype (opera), and Exponential Festival (multiple genres) — much-anticipated events in what was once a barren January calendar — have called off this year's live performances due to the staffing and logistical problems caused by the Omicron variant. - The New York Times

Film Festival To Try Mass Hypnosis On Its Audience

In prior years, the Göteborg Film Festival, in Sweden's second city, has put viewers in coffins and kept one lucky attendee alone in an island lighthouse. For 2022, at three gala evenings, a professional hypnotist will attempt to mesmerize the entire room before the screenings. - The Hollywood Reporter

There Will Be No McDonald’s At Rome’s Baths Of Caracalla (Phew!)

The fast-food behemoth had originally obtained the city's permission to build the outlet on the site of a former garden center near the baths. Public outrage changed the city council's mind, and McDonald's (which already has 54 locations in Rome) has lost every appeal since. - Smithsonian Magazine

Stop Blaming Tribalism For What Ails Us

Although the notion that group solidarity leads inevitably to prejudice, animosity, and conflict is common, it is also incorrect and potentially dangerous. - The Atlantic

Latest Blockbuster Music Catalog Sale: David Bowie For $250 Million

The deal, for more than 400 songs, also includes soundtrack music; the material for Bowie’s short-lived band Tin Machine from the late 1980s and early ’90s; and other works. - The New York Times

Opera House Appoints Italy’s First Woman Music Director

The Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv said she was surprised to learn she was making history after receiving the offer from the Teatro Comunale opera house in Bologna. The 43-year-old begins the three-year posting as musical director on 22 January. - The Guardian

When Harry Reid Helped Michael Heiser Realize His Magnum Opus

A lesser-known part of his legacy—one that’s arguably just as enduring as his political feats—is his campaign to preserve Nevada land that is host to a famed Michael Heizer Land artwork. - ARTnews

Under The Radar Festival Is Canceled

The Public announced the cancellation on Twitter today. Considered one of the top international theater festivals focusing on new work, Under The Radar 2022 had been set to run from Jan. 12-30. - Deadline

Entertainment Stocks Didn’t Have A Great 2021

Disney had its worst year since 2008. Discovery, ViacomCBS, AT&T and AMC Networks also ended down. Netflix, Fox, Lionsgate and Sony rose. Comcast was flat. Fubo, a leader last year, took a hiding. Newcomer Endeavor, which went public in April, had a great run, as did Live Nation. - Deadline

Streaming Has Made Counting Viewers Trickier

Of course, there has been grumbling for decades about Nielsen’s methods or the validity of box office projections, but there was generally some kind of verdict once a show aired or a movie opened. Today, not so much. - Deadline

Hilton Als: What Joan Didion Knew About America

Global in mind but a small-town girl at heart, Didion stayed close to home because she was, first and foremost, a writer, and she was interested in what constituted an American voice. Including her own. - The New Yorker

American-Style Culture Wars Come To France

Politicians, media commentators, and scholars from both left and right all seem to agree that the French political debate has been contaminated by American ideas. - Catalyst Journal

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