In the streaming era, tours have become the main source of cash as sales of recorded music have plummeted. However, a recent study by the Help Musicians charity found that an astonishing 98% are struggling to make a living. - The Guardian
A theatre belongs to the people who make it more than just a building. That includes the volunteers just as much as it does the stars, staff and audience. - The Guardian
Beyond the operating table, knowledge of how the body maps onto the motor cortex has been instrumental in the development of brain-machine interfaces that control prostheses to restore function to paralysed patients and amputees. - Aeon
"In 1972, hundreds of locals clambered to their seats at Armadillo World Headquarters for one thing only: Sunday night ballet. ... Guests settled in with overflowing baskets of nachos and ice-cold Lone Stars, the smell of marijuana drifting up to the lofted ceilings as the curtain rose." - Austin Monthly
Twenty twenty-three was a year of downsizing, diminishment, shelving, sidelining, retrenching, retreating and bet hedging. And 2024 is the year of consequences. - The New York Times
"Highlights of the video include the Bharatnatyam dance form becoming 'the living canvas for seat belt and cabin baggage instructions', with Kathakali and Mohiniyattam forms 'eloquently expressing the prohibition of electronic gadgets and smoking on board' against a backdrop of the backwaters of Kerala." - Business Traveller
Contrary to popular belief, copyright does not exist for the benefit of creators. Its purpose, according to founding documents and recent interpretations, is to foster a culture that produces great works of science, art, literature, and music. - The Atlantic
"(It's) a catalog so synonymous with cinematic achievement that ..., over four decades, through a combination of luck, obsession and good taste, this 55-person company has become the arbiter of what makes a great movie, more so than any Hollywood studio or awards ceremony." - The New York Times Magazine
Pop vocals, then, routinely run up against the physical limits of the human body. Yet what makes a song difficult to sing doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with having to hit a particularly tricky note. - The Atlantic
The gold-thread-and-royal-blue-silk garment, purchased in Beijing in 1913 and left sitting untouched in a cardboard box for over a century, would have been worn by the emperor as he led twice-yearly festival processions outside the Temple of Heaven. - Artnet
Once you've bought it, you're never going to find that the retailer has reached into your movie, CD, or record collection to remove it with no notice. You own it forever, and in the case of music, it's trivial to make copies to listen to on your phone, computer, or home media server. - Lifewire
That is, "to project 'feelings of patriotism and national pride' inside Russia and 'the authority of the country on the international stage.'" (The phrases come from Putin's decrees.) One good example: an August 2022 performance of Shostakovich's "Leningrad" Symphony (the 7th) in St. Petersburg. - Van
The latest battle (last time we checked, at least) was last week, when the image generator of Google's Gemini bot was found to default to women and people of color even when asked to create images of Vikings and popes. Conservative critics accused the bot of being woke, of course. - Wired
"There is simply no way that whiteness and Blackness will mingle as they have in music, cuisine, gesture, greeting styles, dating, and multiracial identity, and yet for some reason be halted at language. One might wish to enforce an artificial blockade here, but it’s far too late." - The New York Times
"For more than three decades Taviani and his brother Vittorio formed one of cinema’s greatest directorial duos. … (Their) film Padre Padrone won top prize at Cannes (in 1977, and in 2012 they received) the Golden Bear in Berlin for Caesar Must Die." - Euronews
