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Fast Food Nation - Not Such a Cultural Monolith After All For years, fast food - particularly of the McDonald's variety - has been the poster child for globalization and the unrelenting blandization of world culture. But scholars are increasingly disputing "the idea that mass production threatens the existence of particular cultural identities, either abroad or at home. After all, regional cuisines are displaying an unexpected vitality in this age of chain restaurants and global brand-names. Why? Many people, it seems, are content to preserve their local cultures through food that is as processed and mass-produced as a Happy Meal." Boston Globe 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 9:30 pm
The Age Of Irony Is Post-Modernism dead? No - it's deeply embedded in popular culture. "The increasing influence of postmodernism on pop culture is born of our overfamiliarity with the tricks of conventional storytelling, according to Poe. We now have generations growing from infancy bombarded by TV and film that employ narrative conventions. What used to be necessary storytelling devices - a recognizable chronology, character development, emotional identification with characters and situations - are becoming clichés. Fans of postmodernism think of themselves as too educated and too smart to fall for those clichés. Postmodernism is ironic; it's always winking at the audience and making them part of the game, enlisting them as co-conspirators." Orange County Register (KC Star) 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 5:47 pm
Manchester And Liverpool Pull Ahead On Museum Spending After a decade of big spending on museum spending in London, last year the northwest pulled ahead. "Manchester and Liverpool profited to the tune of £100m with the money spent on two new culture palaces, one extension and one revamp, in a year when just £33.7m was spent on new or updated buildings in the capital." The Guardian (UK) 02/08/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 9:11 pm
Painting Lost In Crash Of Space Shuttle "One of the treasured objects lost in the Columbia space shuttle disaster was a painting of the Earth as it might look from the moon, created 61 years ago by a Jewish teenager in a Nazi concentration camp." Los Angeles Times 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 7:24 pm
A Rebirth Of Roman Architecture Rome is so full of classic architecture, modern Romans have mostly shrugged their shoulders and said - can't top that. "So it may be a surprise to learn that Rome is regaining its creative momentum. Over the past several years, the city has seen the launch of a series of major building projects designed to update its cultural profile. The first of these, a $157-million complex of three concert halls by celebrated Italian architect Renzo Piano, was unveiled in December. Two major civic projects by American Modernist Richard Meier are under construction." Los Angeles Times 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 7:19 pm
Compromises On The Way To A Design For Lower Manhattan These are serious architects vying to design a replacement for the World Trade Center. "But the selection also underscores the degree to which commercial considerations and political maneuverings will determine what the final master plan will look like. What the Libeskind and Think designs share, to different degrees, is an ability to bend to the political needs of the various interests that control the site's future, in particular downtown's commercial power brokers. And in that sense, the designs say less about our collective ideals than about the limits of the democratic process when it comes to building in New York." Los Angeles Times 02/10/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 7:12 pm
- WTC - Questions Of Design/Process "In light of the emerging power struggle that will determine how much of the grand designs for ground zero get built, any effort to assess the finalists may come off like an exercise in aesthetic hairsplitting. But as the redevelopment officials who sponsored the competition vie with real estate developers and others who remain intent on overstuffing the 16-acre site with commercial space, such an analysis becomes essential, if only because it reminds us what this exercise is all about." Chicago Tribune 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 7:10 pm
Spanish Government Refuses to Talk About Painting Looted By Nazis An American citizen claims that a Pissarro painting in a Spanish museum was stolen from his family by the Nazis. "But despite a persistent claim to the Pissarro painting, the Spanish authorities say that the museum is the legal owner and that any claim should be made in the courts, a response that has drawn criticism from American lawyers familiar with the claim. 'The reaction of the Spanish government is quite astonishing. Why should a government that already has a law relating to the return of Holocaust property refuse to have a discussion on the issue'?" The New York Times 02/10/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 7:00 pm
Double Down - Curators Play Cards To Get Art To convince collectors of important Picasso and Matisse art to loan their work for a show, curators started playing cards with them. "The object of the game? To create sparks for a three-city show in which the two artists would face off on the gallery walls. Collectors got to shuffle the deck, juxtaposing the cards in various ways. But the game always ended the same way: the collectors were asked to part with their card, their art, for a year. It worked." The New York Times 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 6:02 pm
Cleveland Museum's $225 Million Addition Even when you're spending $225 million for an "extension" of a museum, there are trade-offs. Will the Cleveland Museum get its money's worth? "For me, the answer at this point is a resounding yes. Rafael Vinoly's design, which would cost $225 million to build, is undergirded by a precise, diamond- hard logic that mar ries dramatic physical changes with a new vi sion about the muse um's potential. The key is whether Vinoly can follow through with details big and small that will make all the difference in the final product. This is no minor question."
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 5:36 pm
Architects Buzzing Over Muschamp's Flip-Flop On Libeskind Last December New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp wrote of Daniel Libeskind's plan for the World Trade Center site that "If you are looking for the marvelous, here's where you will find it. Daniel Libeskind's project attains a perfect balance between aggression and desire. It will provoke many viewers to exclaim that yes, this design is actually better than what was there before." Then this past Friday he wrote that "It [Libeskind's idea] is an astonishingly tasteless idea. It has produced a predictably kitsch result." Architectrue watchers are wondering what happened, and some are angry... Archlog 02/07/03
- A Poll On The Finalists Says... So which of the two competing finalists to design a replacement for the World Trade Center do people like? Hmmmmn...one poll says neither (by a wide margin). NY1 02/09/03
Painting Confirmed As Van Gogh Sells For $500,000 A painting thought to be anonymous, but revealed to have been by Van Gogh has sold for $500,000. A Japanese auction company was "planning to auction off the small portrait of a peasant woman for between 10,000 and 20,000 yen ($83 to $167) after struggling to establish the identity of the artist. But a last-minute fax from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam confirmed that the picture was an early work by the Dutch impressionist master." BBC 02/08/03
Curry Kicker Cancels Project A British performance artist was paid £12,000 to kick a carton of curry through the middle of the town of Bedford. But the event was canceled today for "fear of too much interest" and large crowds. The proposed stunt got a lot of publicity this week after controversy when some declared the idea a "waste of taxpayers money." The concept behind the take-away box performance was "to highlight rowdy Saturday night behaviour" and "destabilise and question this revelry by kicking a take away curry and carton from one end of the High Street to the other." BBC 02/09/03
Minority Report - Competition Tries To Encourage Young Musicians Blacks and Latinos make up just 3 percent of the musicians in American orchestras. And though some attempts have been made to try to help diversify, the number of minority classical musicians is still small. So in Detroit, "for six years, the Sphinx Competition for young minority string players has been on the front lines of rewriting the odds. Prizes include more than $100,000 in cash and scholarships to top summer music camps. Winners also receive recital opportunities and solo appearances with major orchestras..." Detroit Free Press 02/09/03
Posted: 02/10/2003 7:27 am
English National Opera Chooses New Director English National Opera has chosen Sean Doran - currently heading the Perth Arts Festival in Australia - as the beleaguered company's new artistic director. It will be a tough job. "By the time he arrives in April, the result of the strike ballot among the 68 members of the chorus, faced with one in three redundancies to reduce the company's deficit, will be known, and the Musicians' Union will have decided whether to initiate grievance procedures over the treatment of the orchestra." The Guardian (UK) 02/08/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 9:14 pm
How About A Seat Sale? UK business leaders came to talk to orchestra managers this week about ways to market and sell tickets. One idea, popular in the airline business, is "yield management", where "tickets become more expensive as departure dates approach. Concert-goers who book their tickets well in advance might pay £10 for the best seat while those who turn up at the box office on the day could pay up to £30." The Guardian (UK) 02/10/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 9:08 pm
Classic Music At Fire Sale Prices Prices for classical recordings have never been better. "Several factors have brought prices to this nadir. Contrary to any number of reports, the classical recording industry isn't dying. But it's definitely contracting. Far fewer new recordings are being made, so to keep market share, major labels are reissuing older titles when they aren't even old." Some of the deals n classic recordings are amazing... Philadelphia Inquirer 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 5:41 pm
San Francisco Opera's New Tune - A Good One No one likes cutting back, but San Francsico Opera is making the right move in scaling back its budget for the next few seasons. "The courageous decision by General Director Pamela Rosenberg and the board to finally get real about the company's perennial financial difficulties represents that classic first step in the breaking of any bad habit - admitting you have a problem." San Francisco Chronicle 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 5:20 pm
Why The Colorado Springs Symphony Fell Apart How did the Colorado Springs Symphony get to the edge of bankrupcty and see its musicians revolt and start their own orchestra? Management of the orchestra says it was a "downturn in the economy, lack of a sustainable donor base and low market demand." Musicians say it's been poor management and a string of questionable decisions... Colordao Springs Independent 02/12/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 2:32 pm
- Previously: Colorado Springs Cancels Concerts The Colorado Springs Symphony has canceled upcoming performances in a dispute with its musicians. "A spokesman for the symphony musicians and their union local, said they view the postponement as a lockout, a description the orchestra's management rejects." Denver Post 01/21/03
No More Money - So Deal With It, Says Culture Minister Despite harsh public criticism in the past few weeks, the Scottish culture minister says there will be no injection of cash to help the arts. Nor will there be a bailout of the Scottish Opera, which is in dire financial condiction. And what of the National Theatre plan? That, says the minister, will still go ahead, and he hopes to attend first performances there while he is still in government. But with a static arts budget, observers are skeptical. The Scotsman 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 3:20 pm
From The Met To Disney (And Back Again) Francesco Zambello is an acclaimed director who has worked in the world's top opera houses. So why is she working for Disney, creating a show for their theme parks? "I'm a populist, an opera evangelist. I believe in making shows that speak to a broad audience. I'm not afraid of the word `entertainment.' So far the sort of mainstream hit scored by other 'serious' directors of opera and drama like Trevor Nunn (with "Cats"), Nicholas Hytner ("Miss Saigon") and Julie Taymor ("The Lion King") has eluded Ms. Zambello, and not for lack of trying." The New York Times 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 5:58 pm
V's Are Okay, But You Can't Print The "P" Word.. Last year when "The Vagina Monologues" came to Sacramento, the Sacramento Bee carried ads for the play - no problem. But evidently the "p" word is a bigger deal. The paper has refused ads for "Puppetry of the Penis," the hot Australian show currently touring the US. Sacramento News & Review 02/06/03
Posted: 02/10/2003 7:08 am
Live Music In Broadway Orchestra Pits? Essential As union and producers duke it out on Broadway over live music, 'it's easy to be misled that it's all about the numbers. In the talk about minimums and control, we shouldn't forget what's most important about the issue: the music. The essence of live theater is in the adjective 'live.' No matter what is said, it's never the same when electronic music or pre-recorded music replaces live acoustic sounds. In this pre-recorded environment the control goes from the baton of the conductor to the dial of the programmer, who has become the actuary of this new musical world. The difference between a live orchestra and a virtual orchestra is the difference between a football game and Game Boy." Hartford Courant 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 8:18 pm
Flopped On Broadway? Hit The Road Jack (There's Money Out There) So a much-publicized show doesn't make it on Broadway. "In recent years several flop productions have all taken to the road and experienced financial and, to a lesser extent, critical success, sometimes by altering their look and content for a national audience hungry for splashy Broadway fare." The New York Times 02/10/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 6:56 pm
Another Look At A Long-Ago Flop "House of Flowers" was supposed to be the big Broadway hit of 1954. An O. Henry Prize-winning short story by Truman Capote, lyrics by Capote and Harold Arlen, music by Arlen's, director Peter Brook (fresh from Covent Garden), George Balanchine choreographing, and Pearl Bailey and Diahann Carroll starring. But the show flopped, and remained dormant for almost 50 years. Now it's back for another look... The New York Times 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 6:39 pm
Amazon Dumps Ads - It's Prices, Not Ads That Inspire Customers Amazon has decided to dump its TV and print advertising. "Last year, the company spent just under than $50 million on its TV campaign, mainly in big cities right before Christmas. But it ran ads most of last year in Minneapolis and Portland, Ore., to see whether advertising increased sales in those areas." The results? The ads helped push business, but only a bit. Reducing prices was much more effective in driving sales... The New York Times 02/10/03
Posted: 02/10/2003 7:57 am
A Book Reviewer Who Failed To Read The Book... The American book industry is buzzing about a review that ran in The New York Times Book Review January 26 of Whitewater figure (and Clinton friend) Susan McDougal's new memoir. What's amazing about the review, notes Gene Lyons, is that it's quite obvious the reviewer never read the book. "Assuming minimal competence, Lowry simply cannot have done so." MobyLives 02/10/03
Posted: 02/10/2003 7:12 am
Librarians Protest Porn In Libraries Young men in Ottawa public libraries are logging on to hard-core porn in full view of other library patrons. "The beleaguered librarians, feeling they have been left to deal with the problem by see-nothing, do-nothing managers, have filed grievances through the Canadian Union of Public Employees. And they're not alone. Behind it lies a major philosophical dispute about what libraries are for. Management, whose views are reflected in the stance of the Canadian Library Association, see this as an intellectual-freedom issue. They are afraid that censoring even the worst pornography will start a slippery slope, and eventually all sorts of Internet content will be banned, including a good deal that is legitimate and essential." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/10/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 11:46 pm
A Writing Life On Screen? A new series of movies about writers raises the question: "Can famous writers work as fictional characters without the fictional characters getting in the way of their work? Dramas about authors are encouraged by the high sales of biographies and tend to concentrate on their lives rather than their writing. But this isn't just because of a cultural preference for gossip over substance, fact above fiction. The process of turning thoughts into prose is passive and private, and the metaphors for it - balled-up foolscap, scrunched-up brows - have rightly become derided movie cliches." The Guardian (UK) 02/08/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 8:31 pm
TV Networks Scan For Appropriateness After Big Events When a national crisis hits, TV networks scramble to examine everything they've got on the schedule to see if it's appropriate. "Promos and scheduled commercials are reexamined as well. The discussions include heads of programming, sales departments, standards and practices and other top officials. The shuttle tragedy on Feb. 1 illustrated the intricacies of these behind-the-scenes machinations. Heavily promoted episodes of fictional dramas were yanked; movies and specials were sidelined." Los Angeles Times 02/10/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 7:15 pm
Women Gaining Power At The Box Office Women are featuring much more prominent roles in the movies of the past year. And their box office clout has been climbing. In an industry where male stars are routinely paid more than their female counterparts, the shift in the balance of power is changing the industry Sydney Morning Herald 02/10/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 3:12 pm
Two American Performers' Unions Talk Merger The two major American performers unions have taken the first step in merging to form a new union. "At a joint meeting, the national boards of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on Saturday approved principles of consolidation that are the first step in forming a new union. Supporters said consolidation would maximize their strength and resolve jurisdiction fights, such as who represents actors in digital productions." Nando Times (AP) 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 2:44 pm
The Story On Houston Ballet's New Director Aussie Stanton Welch succeeds 66-year-old Ben Stevenson at the head of Houston Ballet. "One of ballet's brightest young stars, Welch has created several critically successful one-acts at American Ballet Theatre (ABT), San Francisco Ballet and other major companies. His appointment automatically boosts Houston Ballet's international profile, and not just because he's generated good media buzz for nearly a decade." Houston Chronicle 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 8:13 pm
Moving With The Opera Dance has been a part of opera since its beginnings in the 17th century. But "the biggest difference between choreographing for an opera and a concert dance is not time or money — it's the role of the choreographer. 'Your goal is to realize the director's vision, not your own. Different art forms have more in common than people think. What makes good opera also makes good dance — structure and the ability to tell a story." The New York Times 02/09/03
Posted: 02/09/2003 6:15 | 
