The tentative return of gigs could not have come soon enough for jazz performers. A 2008 study on the economics of the genre found that 49% of jazz musicians’ income came from live performances. - The Guardian
Declaring "Come to the theatre and arrest us," Lord Lloyd Webber vowed last week to reopen all his West End venues at full audience capacity on June 21, "come hell or high water." At the beginning of this week, with caseloads of the Delta variant of COVID rising, Boris Johnson postponed the lifting of theatre restrictions from the 21st...
As students of history know, fashions ebb and flow; it’s increasingly clear that the historical novel is being embraced and reinvented. - The New York Times
"Austen's personal values — namely, whether she supported slavery — have been debated by literary enthusiasts and experts who read her work like a cipher. A new discovery brother Henry was sent as a delegate to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840." What's more, one of Austen's letters "mentions her love of the work of Thomas Clarkson, an...
"Construction workers renovating an abandoned cinema in the northern Italian city of Verona have stumbled upon what's been dubbed a 'miniature Pompeii' during excavations of the building's basement. The ancient site was probably abandoned after a fire, but 'the environment was preserved intact, with the magnificent colors of the frescoed walls dating back to the second century,'" said the...
“It was still a gritty city, before gentrification really took over. Artists could afford to live in the city – they didn’t have to scramble to make rent, so they could concentrate on their work. You could afford to experiment.” - The Guardian
"The empty, dark dance floor at the Viruta Tango Club is a symbol of the pandemic-induced crisis facing dancers and musicians of an art form known for close physical contact and exchanging partners. … Equally damaging has been the closing of borders, preventing the arrival of tourists, the main source of financing for the local tango industry. Tango tours...
We get constant messages about what’s going on inside our bodies, sensations we can either attend to or ignore. And we belong to tribes that cosset and guide us. Still, we “insist that the brain is the sole locus of thinking. - The New York Times
It could indeed happen. Christie's is owned by François Pinault, CEO of luxury-goods conglomerate Kering (which includes, among others Yves Saint-Laurent and Gucci) and major art collector; French media magnate Patrick Drahi purchased Sotheby's two years ago; mega-collector and LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault (a rival to Jeff Bezos for the title of world's richest man) is based in the...
Sparks from a malfunctioning fan appear to have ignited sawdust at the factory of Dobson Pipe Organ Builders in Lake City, Iowa on Tuesday afternoon, starting a fire that consumed almost everything but part of the exterior walls. Among the instruments Dobson is best known for are the organs at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Cathedral of Our...
"The Justice Department has closed its year-old criminal investigation into former Trump national security adviser John Bolton and dropped a related lawsuit connected to the publication of his book about the ex-President's diplomatic bungling. The … criminal investigation had scrutinized whether Bolton's book illegally revealed national security information, while the lawsuit had sought to grab royalties from Bolton for...
In an initiative called the Vault by CNN, "the WarnerMedia-owned cable news channel … will 'mint' NFTs on the Flow blockchain of memorable moments from CNN's 41-year history. It will then sell them to the public as digital collectibles." Yes, TV coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the inauguration of Donald Trump, or the death of Anna...
The total of $2.7 billion in grants announced this week "marks the third time in 12 months that Scott … has issued a wave of donations worth a combined ten figures. It's also the first time she has funded arts organizations at scale. (The latest round of recipients also includes racial justice groups, universities, and other organizations.) Absent from...
"Particularly noted for her narrative work, … Marston will take over as new Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer for an initial period of two years, starting from the 2023-24 season. … Marston has previous directorship experience in Switzerland, having been Ballet Director at the Konzert Theater Bern from 2007-2013. There, she created several world premieres including Wuthering Heights (2009),...
