Ideas STORIES FROM THE WEEKEND EDITION (20 stories) Art from Iraq's National Museum goes on display - for two hours - and sparks protests from archaeologists. Julian Lloyd Webber is tired of all the doom and gloom about the classical music business. Frank Rich writes that patriotism isn't just slogans and yeehaws but is expressed through creativity. And New Jersey finally abolishes its poet laureate program. Posted: 07/07/2003 6:59 am McLennan: Why Classical Music Has Fallen Off The Cultural Literacy Menu What do you need to know to be considered culturally literate these days? Certainly a knowledge of current movies, an idea of what books are hot this season, maybe a passing interest in what’s wowing Broadway and an awareness of the latest blockbuster show to hit the local museum. But where once classical music was a core art, it is now no longer essential, one of those things educated people believe they ought to know something about in order to be considered educated. Newsweek 07/03/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 10:10 pm The Link Between Language, Dementia And Creativity "Where in the brain does artistic creativity reside? Can the "damaged" mind give rise to true art?" There appears to be a link between some kinds of dementia and creativity. "One of the tragic aspects of it is the beginning of creativity heralds the onset of disease. And as the disease progresses, we go through a period where someone perfects the artistic skill, so it steadily improves as the disease is progressing, and then the disease eventually overwhelms the process and eventually the creativity is gone." National Post (Canada) 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 8:45 pm Visual Arts Painting Turns Up After 300 Years An Italian Baroque painting lost 300+ years ago, has turned up. "The picture, The Montalto Madonna, has been copied many times by artists in Rome, both in painted and engraved form. It was last mentioned officially in 1672 by the biographer Gian Pietro Bellori but thereafter vanished without trace and has been considered lost ever since. When a client took a small copper panel bearing the familiar composition of The Montalto Madonna into Sotheby’s head office, the instinctive reaction was that it was not the real thing - or rather that it could not possibly be the genuine article after a lapse of more than three centuries. However..." The Scotsman 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 10:50 pm Art's Big Spenders - Who Are They? "Rated as number one spender on art this year is London resident Sheikh Saud al-Thani of Qatar. His interests range from antiquities, Islamic art, furniture and jewellery to Old Masters, Impressionist paintings and vintage photographs. The surprise entry is the London jeweller Laurence Graff, who is included in the top 10." The Telegraph (UK) 07/07/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 10:47 pm Sensational: The Mayor And The Elephant Dung "Four years ago, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani blasted a painting of the Virgin Mary that was decorated with elephant dung. In an exhibit that opened Wednesday, it's the portrait of Giuliani that has elephant dung painted in it..." Newsday 07/05/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 10:37 pm Dia - Will They Come? The new Dia home in upstate New York is big and comodious to large-scale art, writes Peter Plagens. And at the start it will get many curious visitors. But the flow will diminish and the question remain: Is there really an audience for the kind of art Dia advocates? Newsweek 07/03/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 10:26 pm Experts Criticize Iraq Exhibition Last Thursday, American authorities in Baghdad put objects from the Iraq National Museum on display. But only for two hours. "As propaganda stunts go it was not very successful. American archaeologists immediately accused the authorities of putting at risk the fragile 3,000-year-old golden ornaments by rushing them from the vaults of the Central Bank and back again to show that the looting of the museum had not been as bad as first claimed. 'I think it is an act of propaganda. It is to show that nothing really happened to the museum. No curator in the world would allow this sort of exhibition unless ordered to do so'." The Independent (UK) 07/04/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 10:52 am Music Your Concert Buddy Would it be nice to have someone with you at a symphony concert explaining what's happening with this music? "Still in the testing stages, the Concert Companion provides written cues to guide listeners through a concert hall performance, moment by moment, as it's happening - in real time, as they say. Conceived by a former Kansas City Symphony executive and designed in conjunction with two Silicon Valley software firms and a UCLA musicologist, the Concert Companion is creating a buzz in the symphonic world." San Jose Mercury-News 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 9:23 pm Yesterdays Are Made Of... Where did Paul McCartney get the tune for "Yesterday"? "The origins of 'Yesterday', which has been recorded by more than 2,000 artists and played on the radio more than six million times, has always been a mystery - not least to McCartney himself. He woke up in his flat in London in May 1965 with the song in his head. He realized that he might have borrowed the arrangement from another song and asked friends if they could suggest any similar tunes. They convinced him it was his and that it had come to him in a dream. Now musicologists have identified echoes of Answer Me, the 1953 U.K. hit for both Frankie Laine and David Whitfield, which was later covered by Cole." Calgary Herald (Times of London) 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 1:43 pm Goodbye To The Rock Bass? The electric bass has been a staple of the rock band. "In the past, the bass has played a role in most rock bands of any consequence. Music history has given us legendary bassists from Paul McCartney and Sting to Geddy Lee, from Bootsy Collins to Chris Squire." But the trend today is bands without basses - and the instrument may have hit a low point... Boston Globe 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 1:39 pm The Largest Jazz Fest On The Planet The Montreal Jazz Festival has become a monster. "More than 500 concerts featuring 2,000 musicians on 20 stages attracting 1.7 million visitors for 10 days and nights of the biggest and best jazz festival on the planet. As it approaches its 25th anniversary (next year), the Montreal International Jazz Festival - which ends Sunday - has become the model toward which all other world-class jazz soirees aspire, or ought to." Chicago Tribune 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 11:49 am Arts Issues Miami Building Its Center Of Art Miami's new performing arts center is rising under construction cranes. "For many, the $255 million PAC - which includes a 2,200-seat symphony hall and a 2,480-seat ballet opera house - represents the arrival of Miami's burgeoning cultural scene. The PAC has drawn comparisons to New York City's Lincoln Center and Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center. But beneath the surface, Miami's arts community remains a work in progress that will take at least another generation to complete." Miami Herald 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 8:37 pm Is The Performing Arts Center A Dinosaur? Is the performing arts center an idea whose time has passed? "Those performing arts complexes were conceived in the '50s, when the country was puffing out its civic chest and no one quite knew what burgeoning suburbs would mean for the cities they surrounded. By the time the first of the complexes was ready for audiences — Lincoln Center in 1962 — there were 68 others under construction, or planned, around the United States. Many were seen as tickets to legitimacy, playing the role that sports stadiums and museums would assume in later years. Now, decades later, the leaders of these monuments to the arts find themselves searching for new uses of aging halls and for more diverse new generations of patrons, all while spending hundreds of millions of dollars to make their fortress-like campuses more open. The performing arts center is being rethought, if not reinvented." Los Angeles Times 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 8:32 pm Patriotism In Creativity Patriotism isn't just about jingoism and flag-waving, writes Frank Rich. "Patriotism needn't make us so weary. Look around our culture, and it isn't hard to find a faith in America that is not defined by government-commissioned flag-waving, political demagoguery or cable news's jingoism-as-marketing-strategy. The most telling American fables don't come in the blacks and whites of our current strident political and cultural discourse, which so often divides Americans into either flag-draped heroes or abject traitors. The great American stories, from Huckleberry Finn's to the Dixie Chicks', have always been nuanced; they can have poetry and they can have dark shadows. They can combine a love of country with an implicit criticism of it." New York Times 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 9:54 am Why Invest In Arts? Because Of "We The People" California legislators are deciding whether to eliminate the California Arts Council. The state has a huge budget deficit, but doesn't the state have a compelling interest in investing in culture, too? "Not as a matter of deciding what pictures get painted, not as a matter of supporting this or that artist, but as a matter of promoting excellence, the 'common wealth.' We certainly pay enough lip service to these ideals..." Los Angeles Times 07/04/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 9:06 am People Domingo To Sing And Conduct Opera "Not content with continuing to sing both old roles and new in defiance of his 62 years, Placido Domingo is preparing to embark on another new project. For Domingo is about to sing in an opera - and then to conduct it. Far from passing the baton, he intends to pick the baton up." The Guardian (UK) 07/05/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 6:57 pm Theatre A Greek Theatre In America An American Hellenic group in Connecticut plans to build a replica of the classic theater, "modeled after the theater of ancient Epidauros, where an actor can whisper at center stage and be heard in the last row without a microphone. The first load of black-veined white marble for the new theater has already been shipped from Greece. But residents near the site have taken the decision to court, arguing that the 500-seat theater, to be built into a hillside on Dog Lane, will be too big and noisy and create parking problems. They also believe that the theater will have about twice the seating capacity the society is claiming." Hartford Courant 07/02/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 7:11 pm Publishing University Presses - State Of The Business University presses gather in St. Louis to talk about the "both public and private anxiety about the presses' position, at a time of diminished sales, rising returns and much disagreement as to whether publishing books with a stronger trade flavor is the best way to mend their fortunes or whether it simply leads to higher returns." Publishers Weekly 07/07/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 10:03 pm The Living Word Is there any way to figure out what books will live for posterity? "The idea that, although you will be dust, your words will outlive you is a potent one. Potent, but vain. The fate of most books, even successful ones, is a fairly swift rendezvous with Lethe. Realistically calculating the odds in the posterity stakes: 'A writer's ambition should be to trade 100 contemporary readers for 10 readers in 10 years' time and for one in 100 years'." The Observer (UK) 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 7:01 pm Australia In Berlin "Berlin's poetry fest, put on by the city's venerable literaturWERKstatt (literary workshop), is one of the world's most innovative literary festivals and it focused this year on Australia. The 10-day program comprised text-based works by Australian artists and writers, including collaborations with leading German writers." Sydney Morning Herald 07/07/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 11:31 am Media Fox Pulls Charlie Chan - For The Wrong Reason? "The Fox Movie Channel — citing protests about Asian stereotypes and white actors playing a Chinese sleuth — pulled its summer festival of antique Chan mysteries recently for the wrong reasons. Black stereotyping is much more offensive than Charlie in some of the Chan movies that Fox Movie Channel had planned on beaming to the 20 million homes it reaches." Los Angeles Times 07/07/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 8:26 pm Defending BBC Arts Why is anyone criticizing the BBC's new arts show? It's barely got to air. "Having recognised that in recent years we lost our focus with arts programming, the BBC is now injecting new energy and verve, along with extra money, into its cultural output. What makes me proudest of arts on the BBC right now is the increasing richness and diversity of its programmes, which are tailored for a range of channels and their specific audiences." The Guardian (UK) 07/04/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 6:39 pm Previously: BBC's New Arts Show: All About Yentob BBC1 has a new arts show. It's not very good, writes Patrick Wright. Perhaps it's because Alan Yentob the BBC exec is also Alan Yentob the producer and Alan Yentob the presenter. Is this too much Yentob around which to build an arts franchise? The Guardian (UK) 07/02/03 A Web Of Movie Success (Or Failure) The internet is becoming a big force in the success or failure of a movie. "The net has a very big effect on the success of a movie. If you took a journey through all of those sites and read about Hulk for six months, by the time it comes along you're either excited or not excited. I wasn't - and that's due to all the reviews I've read and the reviews that have been sent to me." Sydney Morning Herald 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 1:26 pm Sydney Police Raid Movie Theatre Police raid a theatre planning to show an American movie that has been banned in Australia. "The crowd was reported to be more than 500-strong with another 100 outside due to overcrowding. Organisers, under the banner of Free Cinema, said last night's event was not just about one film, but rather a wave of films that had been banned in recent years. 'Where does it stop? I hate what is happening as far as censorship in this country is concerned. We are not allowed to see a film that millions of people around the world have seen'." The Age (Melbourne) 07/04/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 1:00 pm Is America Ready For Radio Comedy Again? It's been 30 years since sketch-comedy has been popular on the radio. Now there's a plan to try to revive it. "In an age dominated by channel-surfing and accelerated lifestyles, a disparate group of national and Chicago-based writers, performers and programmers are hoping America is ready to sit down and listen, really listen, to something that is, for all intents and purposes, retro radio with a 21st Century sensibility." Chicago Tribune 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 11:52 am The Voice-Over A-List All sorts of A-list actors are showing up as voices in new animated features. What's the attraction? Animators get to cash in on the big names. As for the actors, it's easy work. "No hair and make-up necessary, not a personal trainer in sight and a four-hour work day: these are just a few of the enticements luring A-list actors, including Jim Carrey, Will Smith and Robin Williams, to headline animated features." The New York Times 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 10:38 am Dance ABT's Hands-On Chairman Lewis S. Ranieri, became chairman of American Ballet Theatre last August after "pledging $2 million to the company. While chairmen typically contribute to a cultural institution's general operating fund, Mr. Ranieri has personally paid for specific expenditures, including increased marketing, dancers' housing, consultants' fees and bathroom renovations at the company's headquarters. Chairmen usually do not work on the premises of their arts organizations, but Mr. Ranieri created an office for himself out of a dance studio at Ballet Theater's Manhattan headquarters — he pays the rent for his space — where he puts in time almost every day despite his job as lead director at Computer Associates on Long Island. Mr. Ranieri's unorthodox approach raises questions, arts executives say." The New York Times 07/07/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 8:54 pm Not In To The New Twyla John Parry is disappointed in the new Twyla Tharp. "Post-millenial Twyla Tharp is a reinvention I'm struggling to come to terms with. Her new chamber group, formed in 2000, is different from previous companies, and her latest work seems influenced by her successful Broadway show Movin' Out. No, she's not selling out but she is selling her dancers short on content, if not on aerobic workouts." The Observer (UK) 07/06/03 Posted: 07/06/2003 7:07 pm