IDEAS
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas
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Thoroughly Modern Jazz? Is jazz "modern"? "There has been no systematic discussion of jazz as a branch of artistic modernism, and jazz’s own 'modernity' has for all intents and purposes been taken for granted." A new book tries out definitions of modern jazz. Alfred Appel "believes that if modernism itself is to survive as an idiom of continuing interest, it will only be through the work of those artists who sought to be 'accessible' and 'tonic' rather than inaccessibly abstruse and hermetic, who drew their inspiration from vernacular culture, and who endeavored to speak not merely to the 'insular, marginalized' world of 'enthusiastic fans' but to a popular audience." Commentary 01/03

ARTS ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues
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Disney Breaks Ground On New Hong Kong Theme Park Disney initially expects the 310-acre park - the company's fifth - to draw at least 5.6 million visitors a year, one-third of them from the Chinese mainland. Attendance is expected to eventually reach 10 million annually. Disney head Michael Eisner: "This historic day brings with it the dawn of a new era in tourism for Hong Kong, and also marks a symbolic milestone in the partnership between Disney and China." Nando Times (AP) 01/12/03

Discovering Los Angeles - The New Avant Garde While seemingly nobody was looking, Los Angeles has become fertile ground for cutting edge art. "Today, seemingly all of a sudden, theater, dance, music and strange hybrids thereof are cropping up all over the Los Angeles basin. Many of the attractions are well known at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and around the country, although their proliferation represents a decided plus for Southern California. What is really exciting, though, is the steady evolution of an arts sensibility distinctive to this part of the country." The New York Times 01/12/03

DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/dance
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Bringing The University Into the Dance Studio Dancers are often so busy working on their careers, they don't get to university. After they retire, then what? A new program at Pacific Northwest Ballet brings the university in to dancers. The goal is to introduce dancers to college courses and help them slowly build university credit, be it a quarter at a time, for free. "What the class is designed to do is to give the students sort of a bridge between their life as dancers and their life as university students. They're just protecting themselves in case they get hurt, or when they're fortunate to retire. That's a lot of life, after they retire." Seattle Times 01/12/03

Why Is There So Little "American" Dance? In the 40s, "Rodeo" took the dance world by storm. So what's happened to dance with "American" themes? Some "observers might be puzzled that ballet repertories today do not have more works on American themes at a time when American companies and dancers are respected all over the world. Could it be that some dancers and dancegoers still secretly regard ballet as essentially foreign? For them, Americana may seem uncouth..." The New York Times 01/12/03

MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/media
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A Movie Critic's Lament "These are rotten times to be a movie critic. In a bad economy, an independent voice delivering judgments on a multibillion-dollar industry that represents a tremendously lucrative source of ad revenue is likely to be perceived as a detriment. It has become increasingly common for critics to be pressured by their editors (who themselves may be under pressure from the sales department) to change their opinions. Pressure that no paper would think to bring to bear on their Op-Ed writers is routinely applied to movie critics. This has nothing to do with the quality of a critic's writing but solely with the content of their opinions, the area where a critic is supposed to be given free rein." Salon 01/13/03

Sundance Festival Opens This Week With the economy down, maybe it's not such a good time for a film festival? Actually, hard times often make for great personal films, and that's what the Sundance Festival is counting on when it opens this week. "Independent filmmaking is tough out there, and most of these films are works of creative passion, and are works that take a great deal of tenacity and, essentially, determination to get made. You see a lot of work that has a kind of idiosyncratic creativeness to it. That's something that drives these works into existence, rather than saying they're driven by commercial considerations."
SaltLake Tribune 01/12/03

Amid Funding Challenges, PBS Says It's Poised To Succeed "Despite concerns about diminished corporate and government funding, PBS President Pat Mitchell insisted Friday that public television's structure - as a loose confederation of independent stations - will be an asset in the face of a rapidly consolidating media landscape." Los Angeles Times 01/11/03

MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/music
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Big Changes Ahead For Big Music Cracks in the music recording business are becoming more obvious as there is a growing recognition that senior recording execs are out of touch with new realities. "The industry is now selling 100 million fewer CD's and cassettes than it did in 2000. According to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks album sales, 681 million were sold in 2002, down from 785 million in 2000. At the same time, music-swapping on the Internet, perceived as a major threat, continues to grow. The industry's immediate problem is that although costs must be cut, the biggest costs of all — talent and marketing — are the toughest to rein in." The New York Times 01/13/03

Bail-Out For Winnipeg Symphony (WSO Sold Only 40 Tickets For Opener) Three levels of government bailed out the Winnipeg Symphony on Friday, amid rumors of financial mismanagement and a $1 million deficit this season (added to a $1.8 million accumulated deficit). "For its gala season opener in September, the consultant reports, the WSO sold only 40 tickets at full price when the Centennial Concert Hall had a capacity of 2,223. The WSO claimed 1,456 tickets were sold, but 1,230 of these were freebies." Toronto Star 01/12/03

MP3 - Learning To Listen In A Different Way Sure, portable MP3 players are convenient, but they also change the way you listen to music. "Play with these portable gadgets enough, and you find yourself listening more actively, thinking like a DJ - seeking the mind-bending segue or the track that kicks things into another gear, savoring this surreal mix-and-match moment in which historical artifact rubs up against disposable remix. You start to imagine all sorts of new-frontier ideas - kiosks in airports offering custom mixes (by Moby, Nikka Costa, anybody) or an hour's worth of music from unknown talents selected by some veteran coolhunter." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/12/03

Down Days For Jazz The jazz business is in a bad way right now. "The talent level has never been so high. But jazz economics are at a nadir not seen since the late 1960s, when Miles Davis, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra went electric and brought fusion to rock-oriented baby boomers. In this attenuated climate, jazz sales accounted for about 2% of the total market, mostly from back catalogue and new product by singers like Diana Krall and Norah Jones, who helped their labels stay solvent by going platinum." New York Daily News 01/12/03

PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/people
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Heppner Returns When last we heard from Ben Heppner, he was walking offstage in the middle of a program complaining of vocal problems. Now he's back, singing a program in Boston. Richard Dyer reports: "The Canadian tenor has emerged from 18 difficult months of vocal problems and cancellations. He has taken charge of his life; he must have dropped 50 pounds since the last time we saw him, and he looks terrific. And it is a relief and a joy to report that the mighty voice is back in full flood. This listener heard only one insecurely supported tone in the program, and it was quiet and in the middle register." Boston Globe 01/13/03

VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/visualarts
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My Life As A Critic Village Voice art critic Jerry Saltz seems a little overwhelmed by by his job as an art critic. "It is a thrilling, humbling, weird business. You go to shows, sometimes as many as 40 a week, looking, always looking, and thinking, 'Is this the show I'll write about? Is this the one?' It's like wondering who you'll marry. You're constantly dangling the line of your responses into the stream of exhibitions. For better or for worse, shows usually choose you." Village Voice 01/013/03

Material Breach - Moden Art Falling Apart Modern art materials are falling apart in their cases and storage closets. "As the most adventurously made art ages, inherent vice has overtaken collectors and museums largely unprepared for its ravages. Fat is melting. Cellulose nitrate is powdering. Rubber is disintegrating. Nettles are crumbling. Dried mud is flaking and blowing away. The contemporary art conservator must be open to ingenious and humble solutions, not just technically sophisticated ones." Washington Post 01/12/03

Selling A Raphael To Save Art Heritage After loaning his Raphael painting "The Madonna of the Pinks" for ten years to the National Gallery, the Duke of Northumberland decided to sell the painting to help pay for the upkeep of his estate. LA's Getty Museum agreed to buy the painting, and the Duke has faced a barrage of criticism in Britain. Unfair, he says. He's got to pay for his other obligations somehow. "I employ hundreds of people, maintain a historic landscape and look after one of the most important art collections in the country, enjoyed by more than 100,000 visitors each year. The cost is astronomic, but the entire business is vital to the economy of the region in tourism and related employment." The Telegraph (UK) 01/13/03

Will UK Government Keep Raphael In Country? The British government is expected this week to grant a temporary halt to export of Raphael's "Madonna of the Pinks" to the US. "The new director of the National Gallery will then begin the fight of his life, to persuade the heritage lottery fund that saving Raphael's exquisite Madonna of the Pinks is worth paying £20 million to one of the richest men in the country. The fund has the money: despite the sharp fall in lottery ticket sales it will have about £300 million to give away this year, as well as the interest on grants which have been allocated but not yet paid out." The Guardian (UK) 01/13/03