Stories

How AI Changes The Whole Notion Of Creating Music

The ability to create lyrics in five seconds, and you can keep refining these things. Oh, I don't like the second version. Can you rewrite this? This is just, there's never been anything like this. And then the fact that you can use it in so many different ways. - WBUR

Meet Maceo Harrison, The Savannah Bananas’ Choreographer

“When I choreograph for dancers, I put a lot of thought into it. But for the Bananas, I’m quick. I have to (remember) the KISS (‘Keep it simple, stupid’) method. If I make something up that's easy to me, I break it down a bit to make sure everybody looks good.” - Dance Spirit

The End Of Handwriting?

US public schools still require that kids be taught handwriting, so it’s not yet a lost art, but there is some evidence that digital natives are less “ready” for writing now than students in the past. - Wired

Judge Strikes Parts Of Florida’s Book Ban Law

The lawsuit was brought by some of the nation's largest book publishers and some of the authors whose books had been removed from central Florida school libraries, as well as the parents of schoolchildren who tried to access books that were removed. - Scripps

Opera Australia Board Chair Out After Criticism From Ex-CEO

Rod Sims has departed as chair of Opera Australia after three years, a decision both he and the company said was voluntary despite an extraordinary swipe at his leadership style by a former chief executive. - Australian Financial Review

Fired US Copyright Chief Tells Federal Court To “Connect The Dots”

Attorneys for Shira Perlmutter, who is suing the Trump administration for what she argues is her illegal dismissal as U.S. Register of Copyrights, said in a memorandum that “the dots are not difficult to connect” between her office’s report on AI training, her firing the following day, and the administration’s new AI policy. - Publishers Weekly

What AP Canceling Book Reviews Means For Books Culture

The standard 800-word, single-title review has long been an anemic, disparaged creature surviving off scraps along the edges of the features pages. - Washington Post

MSNBC Announces Its Rebrand (Gee, Rebranding Is Hard)

Outside the network, the rebrand became a subject of bemusement and mockery. - The New York Times

Philanthropies Step In To Help Rescue Public Broadcasters

Now, some of those philanthropists are banding together in hopes of staving off that worst-case scenario by providing an emergency $26.5 million cash injection to stabilize the stations most at risk. The group is aiming to raise additional money for the fund and hopes to reach $50 million this year. - The New York Times

The Bayeux Tapestry: A Quick Refresher Course

As the 230-foot-long, 950-year-old embroidered cloth is returned to England for the first time since it was completed, here’s an explainer with all the basic facts — when and where it’s from, what it depicts, why it’s important — that you once learned in history class and perhaps have forgotten. - Artnet

The Promised Layoffs At Minnesota Public Radio Have Arrived

American Public Media Group, MPR’s parent organization, warned last month that between 5% and 8% of staff would see their jobs eliminated; the arrived-at figure is 6%, or 30 employees. No newsroom positions were cut; affected departments are data journalism, IT, YourClassical, The Current, and national distribution. - The Pioneer Press (St. Paul) (Yahoo!)

When Music Notation Goes Way Beyond Dots And Stems On A Staff

“Musicians routinely wrestle with interpreting oblique, ambiguous and outright surreal markings as they try to bring a composer’s idea to life” — from Satie’s direction “light as an egg” to the poetic instructions of Anna Thorvaldsdottir to the  circular staves of George Crumb and beyond. - The New York Times

Milwaukee Repertory Theater Loses Its Entire Production Shop To Flooding

“Intense rainfall Aug. 9 and 10 left the relatively new facility (in Wauwatosa) under three feet of water. … (Executive Director Chad) Bauman described the situation as close to ‘a total loss.’ Because that rainwater was mixed with sewage, many of the items immersed in that water can't be salvaged.” - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

San Francisco Theater Director Resigns After Anti-Predator Vigilante Group Posts “Catch” Video

“The executive director of Boxcar Theatre in San Francisco resigned Sunday, the organization said, after anonymous internet vigilantes accused him of attempting to meet up with someone who had posed online as a 14-year-old boy.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Britain’s Top LGBTQ+ Book Prizes Cancelled After Mass Withdrawal Of Nominees

Organizers have decided to “pause” the Polari Prizes after multiple nominees and two judges withdrew in objection to the inclusion on the longlist of the novel Earth by John Boyne, who once wrote an article supporting the controversial views on transsexuality of J.K. Rowling. - BBC (MSN)

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