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Thursday, July 17




Visual Arts

Miro Uncovered At The Guggenheim A large Miro mural not seen by the public since 1990 is on show at the Guggenheim this summer. "The 20-foot-long mural comprises 190 ceramic tiles, with the name 'Alice' in huge, exuberant letters surrounded by Miró's characteristic celestial shapes. The artwork was permanently installed in 1967, but it is usually hidden behind a false wall to accommodate the museum's array of special exhibitions." Philadelphia Inquirer (AP) 07/17/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 7:16 am

Saving Art For The Nation? Next week the UK's National Gallery will learn if it can get the money to buy a Raphael before it is sold to Americans. "Arguments have been raging over the fate of the painting with varying degrees of hysteria, sentimentality and anger since October. The Getty has been accused of 'baby-snatching'; there has been talk of "raids on the British patrimony". The language employed - including the nakedly over-emotional, quasi-evangelical notion of 'saving' - has not been helpful. Anyone would think that the National Gallery is protecting the picture from a gang of criminals, masterminded by evil geniuses in the guise of aristocrats, Sotheby's experts and ruthless foreign curators, intent on grabbing the Raphael and hurling it into the Thames." The Guardian (UK) 07/16/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 9:22 pm

Cleaning Michelangelo No Joke "The row over how to clean David has been reported around the world as almost comic, but it is not funny at all. It is frightening because, ultimately, those involved will do what they want. And if they permanently damage the greatest sculpture in the world, that will just be tough. David is a global property, a defining achievement of humanity. Italy has no more right to damage its surface than the Taliban had to blow up Buddhist masterpieces. Anyway, this is not Italy-bashing; it is a Florentine who has sounded the alarm." The Guardian (UK) 07/16/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 9:16 pm

Air & Space Museum Needs Money To Fly The Smithsonian's new $225 million Air & Space Museum still needs $97 million before it starts construction. But "when it's finished, the center will be the largest construction project in the Smithsonian's history and the only one built completely with private funds. The main hangar, which will house some 200 aircraft, will be the length of three football fields and 10 stories high. On June 12, the annex accepted delivery of an Air France Concorde. Work is also under way to refurbish another big draw, the Space Shuttle Enterprise. And a newly reassembled Enola Gay, the bomber that flew the missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will be displayed as well." BusinessWeek 07/15/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 8:16 pm

Music

New Symphony In San Jose It's unlikely that the San Jose Symphony - which closed almost two years ago - will reopen for business. So a new orchestra has been formed from an orchestra created for the area's ballet company orchestra. "The latest incarnation of the symphony is yet another attempt to keep symphonic music in San Jose. San Jose Symphony, which had been in existence for 123 years, closed in October 2001. Symphony San Jose Silicon Valley was formed under the auspices of Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley 10 months ago and employed the old symphony's musicians. That symphony, which last year played four concerts, is now changing its name to Symphony Silicon Valley and becoming a separate non-profit organization." San Jose Mercury-News 07/17/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 6:21 am

European Director Angers Japanese Singers With Upgrade Plans Overseers of Tokyo's New National Theatre wanted to improve the quality of their opera productions and decided that they needed to hire a European to accomplish it. But the Austrian director hired for the job has angered Japanese musicians and singers with his internationalist outlook. Daily Yomiuri (Japan) 07/17/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 9:42 pm

Next On Springer... I Love It! Jerry Springer, The Opera is a big hit in London, and Ben Brantley loves it. "Who could possibly forget that exultant song of self-celebration that begins, "This is my Jerry Springer moment . . ."? That number, performed by a grown woman in baby clothes on a swing, comes from "Jerry Springer: The Opera," the four-alarm fire of a show at the National Theater, and I find myself singing it while doing household chores, the way my mother used to with melodies from "Oklahoma!" and "My Fair Lady." The scary part is that though it's a song about parading your exotic sexual tastes on national television, I don't think, "What a camp," when I remember it; instead, I feel kind of starry-eyed." The New York Times 07/17/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 9:36 pm

NY Phil Votes To Pursue Carnegie Merger The New York Philharmonic board has voted to pursue a merger with Carnegie Hall rather than becoming a tenant at the hall. "That the Philharmonic even considered a tenancy arrangement after it had not been mentioned indicates the level of concern among some trustees that the orchestra might sacrifice its independence by becoming part of Carnegie Hall." The New York Times 07/17/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 9:31 pm

A Sweet Romance We all know what Romantic music is. Even romantic music. But what does it mean to play it romantically? "The distinction is not trivial, for it is possible to play any kind of music—including the intensely subjective music of such romantic-era composers as Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt—in an infinite number of ways, some of which do not sound “romantic,” just as it is possible to “romanticize” the music of pre- and post-romantic composers. Yet the music itself remains unchanged, even when it is being performed in what we may perceive as an un-idiomatic way." Commentary 07/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 8:31 pm

Arts Issues

Boston To Create New Artist Center Boston is about to break ground on a new project to develop artist spaces in three hundred-year-old warehouses. The Fort Point artist project is a $23-million, 206,000-square-foot complex. "Architectural designs for the project include 200-seat and 50-seat black box theaters, classroom and rehearsal space, an art gallery and cafe, and 89 units of artist housing ranging from 920 to 2,300 square feet. The collaborative also plans to rent about 7,000 square feet of office and retail space to nonprofit arts groups and arts-related businesses." Boston Herald 07/17/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 6:38 am

Californians Rally To Save State Arts Funding Hundreds of Californians rallied in San Francisco Wednesday to protest state legislature plans to eliminate arts funding. "Beating drums, reciting poetry and waving signs, the crowd of artists and arts lovers danced, chanted and cheered as speakers urged the state Legislature to spare the 27-year-old California Arts Council. Legislators are considering slashing the agency's budget to help close the state's $38.2 billion deficit." San Francisco Chronicle 07/17/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 6:27 am

Ending Cal. Arts Funding Is Shortsighted (And Costly) A proposal to zero out the California Arts Council will make recovering it difficult later. "Eliminating the Arts Council in a bad budget year is like taking your car to the junkyard because you can't afford to buy gas this week. Times will get better, and when they do, re-creating a state arts council will be far more costly and complex than keeping the existing one in place." San Jose Mercury-News 07/16/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 8:27 pm

Delaying Hall Might Put Austin Arts Groups On The Street Because of funding problems, a long-awaited new performing arts center in Austin, Texas might be delayed. And that could be a disaster for the city's performing arts groups. "It remains to be seen whether the opening of the Long Center will come before the University of Texas must close Bass Concert Hall for safety improvements in 2006. If neither large hall is open, the city's symphony, opera and ballet and major touring shows will be left without a suitable home." Austin American-Statesman 07/15/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 8:23 pm

People

Appreciating Celia Cruz "Celia Cruz, who died yesterday of brain cancer at 78, was one of the great singers of the century. Her voice inspired awe, her phrasing was unimpeachable, her output was prodigious and she had more of the ineffable quality sabor than perhaps any other singer in the history of Latin music. Sabor means flavor, but in this context it translates best as swing, and that's what she did - swing hard - for 50 glorious years. She was the Aretha Franklin of salsa, the unchallenged queen. She practically invented the genre, and then went on to perfect it." Washington Post 07/17/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 7:29 am

Dylan Lyrics Trace Interesting Path Of Appropriation "Bob Dylan's appropriation of material from Junichi Saga's 'Confessions of a Yakuza,' first published in 1989 and translated into English in '91, isn't merely another tale of purloined text (see Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jayson Blair, et al.). It's a fascinating study in artistic process and influence. The path from a forthrightly anecdotal history of a professional Japanese gambler to a set of elusive, emotionally turbulent songs set in the American South is steep and mysteriously twisted." San Francisco Chronicle 07/17/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 7:26 am

The Mob Boss Wife And The Art Gallery The widow of crime boss John Gotti is apparently an artist. And she's having a show. "A Chelsea gallery is opening a show of Victoria Gotti's artwork tonight - and a portrait of the late Dapper Don is one of 20 paintings up for grabs. Gotti, who is rarely seen in public, told the Daily News she's been painting for years. She doesn't have any professional training, which may be obvious to some art critics. But like Picasso, she apparently does have a blue period." New York Daily News 07/17/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 7:10 am

Carol Shields, 68 Carol Shields, one of Canada's most acclaimed writers, has died of cancer at the age of 68. "Since the publication of her first novel, Small Ceremonies in 1976, Shields wrote numerous works of fiction - including the 1993 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Stone Diaries - plays, short story collections and poetry. Her books have also won a Canada Council Major Award, two National Magazine Awards, the Canadian Author's Award, and a CBC short story award." Canada.com 07/17/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 7:07 am

Mamet: Playwrights Must Confront Violence Of Racism David Mamet says playwrights have a responsibility to confront the violent past of racism in America. "I am old enough to remember separate waiting rooms, restrooms, and drinking fountains in the American south: one set for blacks, one for whites. Looking back, one says: 'Was there ever a greater, more widespread or persistent delusion than that of racial superiority?' And the answer was and is: 'No.' So, though I decry and abominate the computer, the mass media and, indeed, most things that differentiate the 21st century from the 19th, I remind myself that I have lived to see the beginning of the end of American racism - and that is something to have lived to see." The Guardian (UK) 07/17/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 9:26 pm

Theatre

Star Turns - Gotta Have 'Em The secret of box office success for touring shows? Stars. No matter who they are. "There are, for example, fading sitcom stars, former pop teen idols from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, or, in some cases, their extended families. When it comes to casting a touring musical in the American hinterlands or a self-dubbed world-class city like Toronto, any one of the above can headline a show and be guaranteed audience and media adoration." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/17/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 6:52 am

Mob Appeal "The fad for 'flash mobs', where hundreds of people gather at a place in the city, perform a bizarre if harmless mass action before scattering without trace, has spread in less than a month from its origins in the New York art scene to cities across the US. Now the movement is to come to Britain with a series of "flash mobs" in London, and if the craze picks up in Britain as quickly as it did in America." Glasgow Herald 07/17/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 9:40 pm

If It Can Go Wrong... No matter the planning and professionalism of those involved, mishaps happen often in the theatre. Indeed - being live pretty much guarantees something will fail. John Heilpern recounts some of the more memorable snafus he's seen or heard about... New York Observer 07/16/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 8:50 pm

Publishing

How Costco Hurts The Book Business Blockbuster books have led to huge sales this summer at places like Costco and Walmart - as well as smaller bookstores everywhere. But bookstore owners are not smiling. "The major discounting efforts of these non–bookstore chains are not stimulating and growing the market but simply shifting consumer dollars away from bookstores and other potential book sales. Consumers buying a mega–seller at a Walmart will not be discovering a book of promise, as such chains do not invest in authors and non–bestselling books. Bookstores do, and we are losing an opportunity to handsell other good books to these consumers who do not regularly visit and browse in a bookstore." MobyLives 07/15/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 6:32 am

Book Sales Down This Year The balance sheet for publishing is not looking good so far this year. Book sales were down again in May, and while Harry Potter sales should give the industry a bump, overall things are gloomy. "For the first five months of 2003, bookstore sales were down 1.7%, to $6.12 billion, with sales falling in three of the first five months of the year." Publishers Weekly 07/16/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 8:55 pm

The Old Write Way "Fountain pens are no longer remembrances, as they were a generation ago. Nor are they simply faddish symbols of resistance to technology. That counter-trend peaked a few years back. Today, this old and stylish implement has achieved an uneasy peace with the PDA and the keyboard. We deploy our pens less often these days, true. But we find that this makes them all the more important when we do. At least that's the rationale behind the lively and mostly under-noticed global enterprise of quality 21st century fountain pens." Los Angeles Times 07/16/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 8:42 pm

Media

This Year's Emmy Nominees This year's Emmy nominations are out. HBO's "Six Feet Under" got the most nominations, with 16, followed by three-time best drama winner "The West Wing" with 15. HBO's "The Sopranos" received 13 nominations, along with the comedies "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Sex and the City." Chicago Sun-Times (AP) 07/17/03
Posted: 07/17/2003 6:43 am

Aussies Flock To Illegal Screening Of Banned Movie Some 200 people in Sydney gathered this week for an illegal viewing of the American film "Ken Park" which has been banned in Australia. "A copy of the film, which was downloaded from the internet, was screened last night at a secret Sydney location without police action to close it down. The crowd of more than 200 had been told of the screening by email and word of mouth over the past 24 hours in a bid to avoid publicity and police scrutiny. The independent film was refused classification in May because of its depictions of teenage sex, incest and auto-erotic asphyxiation." The Age (Melbourne) 07/17/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 9:11 pm

Congress/Big Media Battle Over Deregulation There's a growing force in Congress to try to roll back the FCC's relaxed new regulations on TV ownership. But just as members of the Senate attempt to derail the new regs, lobbyists for big media companies are streaming in to Washington to oppose the rollback... Washington Post 07/16/03
Posted: 07/16/2003 8:38 pm


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