Ideas Learning To Improvise "For almost as long as we've had digital computers, enterprising programmers have been trying to teach them how to play music. Perhaps the most challenging remaining hurdle is the spontaneous back-and-forth flow of improvisation. Machines are quick to learn when it comes to rolling out standard chord progressions and following predictable rhythms. But they turn out to be lousy at riffing, precisely because riffing is a much more chaotic sort of pattern, one that relies on intuition more than structure. But as daunting as it sounds, free improv may yet become a part of the computer's musical repertoire, thanks to sophisticated software programs." Discover 02/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 6:44 pm Visual Arts Hamilton Gets Tanenbaum Collection "Real-estate and steel magnate Joey Tanenbaum and his wife Toby have announced an immense donation of 211 European 19th-century works to the Art Gallery of Hamilton, a gift that will make the Southern Ontario city a destination for scholars of the period." The collection is valued at as much as CAN$90 million, and includes works by Gustave Doré, Jean Léon Gérôme, and Eugene Carrière. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/12/03 Posted: 02/12/2003 5:13 am Phillips Collection To Expand Washington's Phillips Collection is expanding. "The Phillips has bought an adjoining four-story, 15-unit apartment house on 21st Street NW fashioned in the early 20th century out of two town houses. The museum will keep that building's cream-colored facade while gutting the interior. The museum bought the apartment house for $1.4 million two years ago, and it has budgeted $20 million for the expansion, a figure that museum officials expect to rise." The New York Times 02/12/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 7:29 pm 2002's Most Popular Museum Shows What were the most popular art exhibitions of 2002? The Art Newspaper does its annual survey. This year "Van Gogh and Gauguin" was the top show on both sides of the Atlantic. At the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam the show drew almost 7000 visitors a day - for a total of 739,117. The Art Newspaper ([pdf file] 02/07/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 7:06 pm Fixing The 70s...What To Do With Those Ugly Buildings? What to do with all those ugly (usually) concrete buildings of the 1960s and 70s? "Demolition is cathartic and the idea of a blank piece of paper seductive. But though developers can make a profit tearing down 1960s office buildings, elsewhere comprehensive redevelopment has proved hellishly expensive. That sort of money is never going to be available for the arts, though," so how to make arts buildings of that period work? The Telegraph (UK) 02/12/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 7:00 pm Melbourne Museum Proposes Free Admission The Melbourne Museum is asking the state government to eliminate the museum's admission fee. "The museum raises $10 million a year from admission fees but visitor numbers have consistently fallen below expectations. The museum faces a $6 million deficit by June 2004, if nothing is done, despite a management shake-up in December when three senior executives lost their jobs." Museum officials believe if the museum is free it will attract more visitors and customers to the cafes and gift shops. The Age (Melbourne) 02/12/02 Posted: 02/11/2003 5:29 pm Chicago Art Institute Shrinks Plans The Chicago Art Institute is shrinking its plans for an addition designed by Renzo Piano. "When museum officials announced plans for the wing in 2001, they envisioned a five-level structure of about 290,000 square feet, with 75,000 square feet of galleries. But the latest plans, approved Monday, foresee a slimmed-down structure of 220,000 square feet, with 60,000 square feet of galleries. Museum officials said they have raised $100 million. The project's construction cost is now placed at $198 million." Chicago Tribune 02/11/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 5:25 pm Music Music and Race In Annapolis The Annapolis (Maryland) City Council is considering a resolution which would chastise the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra for its dismissal last fall of music director Leslie Dunner. The firing made waves among musicians in the ASO, and the orchestra management never made public the reason behind it, leading to no small amount of speculation in the community. The issue that bothers the city council is that Dunner is black, and while no one is overtly crying racism, a number of councilors are hinting at it, much to the ASO's dismay. Baltimore Sun 02/09/03 Posted: 02/12/2003 4:32 am Previously: Big Times In A Small Town In Annapolis, Maryland, a drama is unfolding surrounding the local symphony orchestra, and while the ensemble may be small, the intrigue is worthy of a much larger organization. It all began when Annapolis music director Leslie Dunner’s contract was not renewed last fall, sparking protests from the orchestra’s musicians, and shock from donors and concertgoers. At the time, the board cited declining ticket sales as the reason for the change. Speculation has been growing that there may have been other, darker reasons for the dismissal. Baltimore Sun 01/15/03 Digital Music Gets A Bar Code It's so basic, you wonder why no one thought of it earlier. The recording industry has unveiled a system it says will make it easier for artists and record companies to be compensated for digital music purchased online. The system is called GRid (Global Release Identifier,) and it works much like a UPC code attached to each song, allowing the seller to track songs sold. All sides seem to be guardedly optimistic about the system, although privacy advocates worry that the GRid could be used to pursue consumers who buy a tagged song and then allow it to be traded on a song-swapping site. Wired 02/12/03 Posted: 02/12/2003 4:17 am Opera - MIA On PBS? Opera is disappearing from American television. "The prospect is not a pretty one for full-length opera on PBS. Shadowed by ever-diminishing ratings, opera telecasts are being chased even from the not-for-profit airwaves. This coming season, the most familiar, and once constant, 'content providers' - the Metropolitan and New York City Operas, respectively - find their programming plans in disarray. After twenty-five years of televising three to four operas a year, the Met has only one scheduled for 2002-2003." Opera News 02/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 6:52 pm Arts Issues Yahoo Cleared In Nazi Memorabilia Suit "In what might end a three-year legal fight, a Paris court Tuesday threw out accusations by French human rights activists who said Yahoo should be held legally responsible for auctions that were once held on its website of Nazi paraphernalia. The court ruled that Yahoo and its former chief executive, Tim Koogle, never sought to 'justify war crimes and crimes against humanity' as they were accused of doing by human rights activists, including Holocaust survivors and their families." The suit was a complicated one, since France does not allow the display or sale of racist material. At one point, a judge had ordered Yahoo to block French users from viewing or participating in auctions of Nazi material. Wired (AP) 02/11/03 Posted: 02/12/2003 4:25 am A Real Deal On Culture? Britons spend £3 billion a year on culture." According to one study, "the amount spent by UK adults on going to the theatre, cinema, concert or art gallery is more than 15 times that spent on tickets to Premiership football matches in a season (classical musical ticket sales at £359 million a year account for almost twice the revenue of Premiership tickets). Yet how many of us are getting our money's worth?" The Observer (UK) 02/09/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 6:30 pm Cultural Council Comes Back After Disastrous 9/11 The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council lost everything on September 11—and "not just their offices in 5 WTC, the databases, the archives, the stage on the plaza. An artist in their residency program died in his studio on the 92nd floor of Tower One. Others had harrowing close calls. A tech crew was mopping the plaza stage for that night's dance performance as debris started falling. Another artist made it safely down the steps from the 91st floor. And executive director Liz Thompson was on the last elevator out of Windows on the World." Now they're into a new home. "They didn't just survive—they bounced back, stronger and more necessary than ever. Founded 30 years ago to help revitalize a moribund downtown, they face that challenge anew, but this time with a long track record of arts advocacy behind them." Village Voice 02/11/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 6:14 pm People Muschamp Uncensored New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp has been one of the loudest voices in the debate over what should fill the huge space currently known as Ground Zero. But now, some observers are charging Muschamp with promoting the designs of architects to whom he has close ties. "Critics love to provoke, of course, but with the Ground Zero discussion down to a pair of finalists chosen by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, another question is being asked: Is Mr. Muschamp—long a lightning rod for criticism—getting too cozy with his advocacy? Some within the architectural community think so." New York Observer (first item) 02/17/03 Posted: 02/12/2003 5:42 am Welcoming Back One Of The Greats Ben Heppner is back at The Met, after more than a year of recuperation from health problems that stole his famous voice. Heppner looks great (he's lost 60 pounds,) feels better, and this week at New York's famous opera house he gave "a performance greeted by roars of approval from the Met audience and applause from James Levine himself, who put down his baton at one point to join in the ovation." Toronto Star 02/12/03 Posted: 02/12/2003 5:34 am Previously: 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 Theatre Cabin Fever - An Actor's Inflight Torture Think the inflight entertainment is bad? For actors it's worse. "The overcrowded cabin, tasteless food and germ-infested air-conditioning usually found on aeroplanes held no terrors for me - after all, I've worked at the Barbican - but I also knew that, with a journey time of just over 11 hours, the in-flight entertainment was likely to include several hours of recent television favourites. Actors go on holiday to forget all the jobs they have missed, not to be reminded of them, and I braced myself for the worst." The Guardian (UK) 02/12/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 7:23 pm Recreating A Difficult Time The lives of people in North Yorkshire were ruined a few years ago when foot-and-mouth virus was detected, and livestock by the thousands were destroyed. Now a local theatre has produced a play about that time, using local people. "The non-professional cast have had only minimal rehearsal time, which gives the production a rough-and-ready quality. That doesn't diminish its effect, however. In fact, the lack of 'acting' only adds to the piece's power and the sense that what you are witnessing, rather than a mere performance, is a genuine dialogue between stage and audience." The Guardian (UK) 02/12/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 7:17 pm Seeing What They Say On Stage - Captioning Catches On An increasing number of English theatres are "introducing a captioned performance in the run of their plays. The obvious beneficiaries of being able to read, and therefore 'hear' performances, are people with hearing loss. But the technique also helps those for whom English is not their first language, but who want to experience and enjoy English theatre - i.e., tourists." Theatrenow.com 02/11/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 5:41 pm Publishing The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name? (For Kids?) "Books for younger children about gay relationships are rare. A recent book "Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin" has caused a big debate in England. "Is homosexuality such a tricky subject for parents that they must tactfully broach it through books? I doubt it. I remember my older son asking when he was eight or nine, unprompted by any book, whether love could exist between people of the same sex. And when I said it could, he was curious, unjudgmental. Unlike adults, children accept the world as they find it." The Observer (UK) 02/09/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 6:36 pm New Harry To Get 6.8 Million First Printing At more than 1000 pages, the new Harry Potter - due to hit stores in June - is already big. And it sports a big price too - $29 for a children's book. The first print run will also be huge - 6.8 million copies are being printed. "J.K. Rowling's previous Potter novel, 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,' came out in July 2000 with a first printing of 3.8 million. It sold out within 48 hours and now has over l6 million copies in print." Nando Times (AP) 02/11/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 5:52 pm The Next Children's Book Phenom? An English woman and her daughter are being touted as the next children's book phenomenon. "Lionboy, the tale of a boy who talks to cats, has been created by Louisa Young and her 10-year-old daughter Isabel. Publisher Puffin, the children's arm of Penguin, has signed the pair in a 'substantial' three-book deal said to be 'in the high six figures'. The amount dwarfs the £2,000 paid to J K Rowling for her first Harry Potter tale, The Philosopher's Stone." BBC 02/11/03 Posted: 02/11/2003 11:34 am Media Miramax Dominates Oscars Like No Studio In 50 Years After grabbing three of the five Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Miramax Studio has dominated the Academy Awards like no studio has in 50 years. "That achievement is all the more significant because Miramax is not one of the major studios, like Warner Brothers or Columbia Pictures, but an indie start-up begun in 1979 by a pair of hustling, film-loving brothers from Queens, Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Their company grew steadily through the 80's, became an independent division of Disney in 1993 and after today has to be considered the equal of any of the major studios in Hollywood." The New York Times 02/12/03 Posted: 02/12/2003 5:45 am At Least He Won't Have To Talk To Joan Rivers The last time Roman Polanski was nominated for an Oscar, Jimmy Carter was in the White House and disco wasn't quite dead yet. But just because Polanski's film, The Pianist was given a Best Director nod, don't expect to see the reclusive filmmaker on the red carpet. Polanski is officially still a fugitive from American justice, having fled the country in 1978 after having pled guilty to having sex with a minor, and the Los Angeles D.A. says that he would not hesitate to make an arrest, should Polanski choose to attend the Oscar ceremony. Detroit Free Press (AP) 02/12/03 Posted: 02/12/2003 5:44 am Who Knows Who Listens? With all the money in the commercial world hanging on the results, TV ratings folks are constantly reinventing the way they measure ratings, and updating the demographics numbers for various networks, stations, and individual shows. And yet, radio, which relies at least as much on advertising revenue as television, has a laughably ineffective method of measuring audience share and ratings. The Arbitron company, which collects radio listenership data, "has long been under siege from its clients — radio stations — for this extraordinarily funky system, which is often blamed for wild spikes up and down in a station's ratings." St. Paul Pioneer Press 02/12/03 Posted: 02/12/2003 5:26 am