“Here’s the thing: in order for fees to work, there needs be something worth paying to avoid. That necessitates, at some level, a strategy that can be described as “calculated misery.” Basic service, without fees, must be sufficiently degraded in order to make people want to pay to escape it. And that’s where the suffering begins.”
They’ve Gone Mad For Tango In Tbilisi
“Caminar, cruce, gancho, ocho. The dance steps are not usually associated with the South Caucasus, but thanks to a prolonged period of stability following Georgia’s 2003 Rose Revolution the country is increasingly connected to the outside world – and starting to enjoy pastimes that come from afar.”
Is Art Dead In New York? (Naw, Just Reinvented)
“Embedded in the premise that art in New York is dead is often a fetishized nostalgia for the 1970s and early ’80s, a cheaper, more chaotic time when high crime, civic neglect and the threat of bankruptcy opened whole neighborhoods to artists.”
How Much Can You Trust Published Scientific Research?
“Has published research become less reproducible than it was in the past? We’ll likely never know, but the history of science is filled with examples of researchers arguing over the reproducibility of a published result—and then stumbling onto a completely new discovery.”
The “Culture” Problem (What Is It?)
It goes without saying that “culture” is a confusing word, this year or any year. Merriam-Webster offers six definitions for it (including the biological one, as in “bacterial culture”). The problem is that “culture” is more than the sum of its definitions. If anything, its value as a word depends on the tension between them.
What The Met Opera’s Downgraded Bond Rating Really Means (And Doesn’t Mean)
“How bad is this rating? Bloomberg noted it was ‘three steps above junk’. … [But] this does not mean, as some have interpreted, that the Met is three steps away from being placed in the worst possible category of borrower.”
Free The Calder In The Senate Office Building!
“The four, black aluminum clouds comprising the once-mobile component of Mountains and Clouds – one of the final works of sculptor Alexander Calder, which dominates the Hart Senate office building’s 90-foot-high atrium – haven’t drifted for more than a decade. They once rotated at a gentle speed, but have been frozen in place for years after a bearing failed.” Now one senator is trying to get the sculpture moving once more.
Buddy DeFranco Played The Clarinet With Frank Sinatra, But His Great Jazz Skill Shone In Other Venues
“Captivated by the complex, challenging new sounds and increasingly aware that the music market was evolving, Mr. DeFranco moved quickly to carve out a fresh career in bebop, a perilous undertaking on an instrument that requires nearly superhuman skill and dexterity to keep up with bebop’s sometimes freakishly fast tempos.”
When, And How, Did Western Movies Embrace Hinduism?
“‘Look at the first Matrix movie,’ says producer Peter Rader. ‘It’s a yogic movie. It says that this world is an illusion. It’s about maya – that if we can cut through the illusions and connect with something larger we can do all sorts of things.'”
The Departing Smithsonian Chief Has Spent Thousands Of Hours Looking For Hometown Artifacts
“The secretary said that his quest would have been easier had the Smithsonian finished digitizing its vast collection, but added, ‘I wish I started it earlier because it’s made me appreciate these collections in a way I didn’t when I took on the job’ six years ago.”
City Opera Doesn’t Have Much, But It Does Have Its Name
“Inheritance battles propel plenty of operas … but the one playing out in court over the few remaining possessions of the bankrupt New York City Opera — mainly its name and its Manhattan thrift shop — is proving rich in operatic drama and characters.”
How Do Iraqi Arts Students Get U.S. Dance, Music, Or Art Instructors?
Skype, of course. “For the pianist Hersh Anwer, 24, of Erbil, the visits meant access to trained professionals. ‘After they’re gone, there is no piano teacher,’ he said.”
What’s The Classical Music Equivalent Of ‘The Nutcracker’?
“Those working in the trenches of classical music must view ‘The Nutcracker’ with envious despair. For choruses everywhere, the holiday season is the time for Handel’s ‘Messiah,’ and there is a sizable audience happy to hear it annually. Music doesn’t get any better than this.”
Dancers And Other Artists Protest After Belgian Opera House Kills Off Its Entire Dance Budget
“The potential break with dance is startling at a theater that has had exceptionally strong links to the form since 1960.”
“The Interview”: It’s A Hit In China
“In one sign of the enthusiasm for the film, whose theatrical release was initially held up after a hacking attack on the studio, “The Interview” scored an 8.0 rating on the Chinese Internet movie database Douban, with more than 10,000 people posting reviews.”
India’s Traditional Brass Bands Facing A Difficult Future
“As the tastes of young, wealthier Indians shift to more modern music, young couples increasingly choose DJs playing electronic music instead of live bands. The shift is leaving band owners and musicians struggling to find gigs, exacerbating an already difficult existence.”
“The Interview” Makes A Million Dollars On Its First Day
“The film made just over $1 million in ticket sales from 331 locations for an impressive $3,142 per theater average, according to distributor Sony Pictures. Many theaters reported selling out showings.”
Jazz Great Buddy DeFranco,
“Buddy DeFranco almost single-handedly was the clarinetist who moved the harmonic and rhythmic language forward from where Benny Goodman left off into the much more adventurous territory of bebop and beyond, while never forgetting his roots in swing music. He was also unfailingly kind and supportive to every other clarinetist who came after him,” said leading jazz clarinetist Ken Peplowski.
Report: UK Libraries Need To Be Rebranded For The 21st Century
“The 21st century librarian will need to be more of a community impresario with digital and commercial expertise who can champion their communities’ needs and generate new business and audiences for the library.”
Now Trending: Artists Exploring The Environment
“Artists and scholars are quick to pay lip service to the environmental catastrophe underway, but what’s needed is a response to E.O. Wilson’s clarion call in their work — a greening if you will of arts and letters. This is the goal of the burgeoning eco-arts and eco-criticism movement, which has slowly been gaining respectability in the academy.”
Here’s Why Classic Directing Endures
“In critical circles it’s fashionable to mock the discipline and caution of these less-obtrusive directors, but I would like to cheer the artisans and chameleons who quietly pursue their craft in the shadow of more sacred monsters.”