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Does Testing Kill A Love Of Literature? Children's author Philip Pullman says relentless testing of reading and writing in UK schools is causing students to hate reading. "The things you can test are not actually the most important things. When teachers are under pressure to get so many pupils to such-and-such a point, in order to meet an externally imposed target, they have to do things - for the sake of the school - that might not be things they'd do for the sake of the children." The Guardian (UK) 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 9:49 pm
Danielle Steel Opens A Gallery Mega-selling author Danielle Steel is opening a gallery in San Francisco. "She plans to favor work by lesser-known and younger artists. 'Not necessarily chronologically young, but those who are really struggling with something.' Steel anticipates skepticism and even ridicule in her new venture. 'The first thing that was said about us came from San Francisco Magazine. We hadn't even put the carpet in yet and they wrote, 'Can you spell dilettante'?"
San Francisco Chronicle 09/30/03
Posted: 09/30/2003 7:55 am
Adventures In Retailing - Museum Shuts Down For-Profit Retailer Two years ago, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts was the first American museum to create a private company to "run its gift shops, publish its glossy mail-order catalog, and hawk posters, T-shirts, and jewelry on the Internet." But "with the company losing $2.9 million its first year and $3 million for the fiscal year that ended June 2002, the museum could no longer support it," and so the company is being closed. Boston Globe 09/30/03
Posted: 09/30/2003 6:36 am
White Cube... It's So.... Yesterday! Dealer Charles Saatchi says the white box gallery space is dead. "Many in the art world, artists included, feel contemporary art can only be seen properly in a perfect white space. If art can't look good outside the antiseptic gallery spaces dictated by museum fashion of the last 25 years, then it condemns itself to a worryingly limited lifespan. What's more, that once cutting-edge gallery style is beginning to look like a cliche trendy bar or loft conversion. It's time for a rethink." BBC 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 11:22 pm
Us - Reflected In A Football Stadium Early reviews of Chicago's new Soldier Field have been critical. But Herbert Muschamp suspects the verdict will change: "I suspect that it won't be long before the city embraces the new field. The design's urban and architectural merits are considerable. Its conceptual qualities are better still. If you set out to write something bad about the design, you ultimately end up with a critique of the society that produced it. But the design is much more than a symptom of our time. It is a creative response to it. Soldier Field is a daring study of urban America in extremis, precariously poised for a future beyond its widely unlamented demise." The New York Times 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 10:46 pm
Rhizome/New Museum Merge Manhattan's New Museum has taken in the Rhizome.org digital artist internet site. The museum world still doesn't really know what it's relationship with digital art is, so this is an interesting partnership. "When digital artists began to create online artworks in the mid-1990's, much of the art form's energy was derived from the notion that the works did not need museums or galleries to reach an audience. Spawned by that sensibility in 1996, Rhizome quickly became one of the most popular Internet sites devoted to the digital arts. It is an online-only meeting place where members can announce new artworks, request technical assistance or argue over obscure aesthetic issues." The New York Times 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 10:36 pm
Bringing Weather To Tate Modern Artist Olafur Eliasson has "constructed a reversed waterfall in which the water shoots up rather than down; a massive disc which loomed low over the city of Malmo in Sweden, lit at night by yellow light so that it resembled a night-time sun; and a long, snaking slick of green dye in the waterways of Stockholm." Now he's taken on creating something for the giant turbine room at Tate Modern, which he hopes to tunr into a "microclimate." The Telegraph (UK) 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 10:03 pm
US Congress Considers Tax Break For Donated Artwork A change in the American tax law would allow artists to get tax deductions for the full value of artwork they donate to museums. "Now, for example, if a collector gives his Jasper Johns paintings to a museum, he can deduct their full market value. But if Jasper Johns gives the paintings he made himself, he can deduct only the cost of the materials used to make them. Ironically, when their creators die, these same items suddenly gain conventional market value for estate-tax purposes. Definitely out of whack!" OpinionJournal.com 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 7:00 pm
Florida City Bans Suicides At Concert The St. Petersburg, Florida city council passes an emergency ordinance making it "illegal to conduct a suicide for commercial or entertainment purposes, or to host, promote or sell tickets for such an event." The council was responding to plans by a local heavy metal band to feature the death of a terminally ill person at a concert this coming weekend. "I'm sickened that we even have to entertain such an ordinance. While I'm reasonably sure this is just a publicity stunt, we can't just sit idly by while somebody loses their life." St. Petersburg Times 09/30/03
Posted: 09/30/2003 7:35 am
The Ken Burns Effect PBS' Jazz series two years ago was a big success. Will the same happen for the new Blues series? "The dust from Ken Burns's Jazz has settled enough after 2½ years to allow some consideration of its impact - its successes and its consequences - now that Martin Scorsese's The Blues is on the air. Foremost among those successes are the sales for the Burns series CDs on the Verve and Columbia/Legacy imprints - a five-disc boxed set and 22 single releases devoted to individual artists..." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 09/30/03
Posted: 09/30/2003 7:00 am
Iraq Symphony To Perform At Kennedy Center The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra will perform in Washington DC's Kennedy Center. "The orchestra, which was formally organized in 1959, will play on Dec. 9 at the center with the National Symphony Orchestra with music director Leonard Slatkin and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The concert - with a program still to be determined - will be free. 'I want to put a spotlight, not just on them, but Iraqi arts and the needs of Iraqi arts . . . and encourage the building of institutions, bit by bit'." Washington Post 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 11:12 pm
Tribute Must Be Paid - The Soundalike Bands Can't see Elvis or the Beatles or the Eagles or ABBA in person? How about their soundalikes? "Overlooked for years in rock-music circles and most often dismissed by critics as schlocky Las Vegas lounge acts, tribute bands are increasingly becoming headliners at nightclubs, concert halls and state fairs, all of which see them as lucrative draws. They span the musical alphabet, from Abba to ZZ Top. There are dozens of Beatles tribute bands alone." The New York Times 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 10:39 pm
Are The Blues Dead? "The blues are a bore. Played currently by a well-meaning array of half-talents and schooled fakers, the music has taken on a bland, generic display, performed to audiences of doughy complexion by uninteresting players of minor status. The blues has lost its soul." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 09/29/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 9:10 pm
RIAA Settles With 64 Downloaders "The Recording Industry Association of America says it has reached settlements with 64 people accused of downloading copyrighted music over the Internet as music companies try to combat piracy they say cost them $700 million." Earlier this month the RIAA sued 261 people for file-trading. Denver Post (Bloomberg) 09/29/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 7:50 pm
In Defense of Tough Criticism After the Akron Beacon-Journal's music critic blasted the Akron Symphony's first concert of the season, readers wrote in to protest. Why so harsh, they wanted to know, particularly when the performance got a standing ovation? The Beacon-Journal's public editor writes that the orchestra must be held to a standard: "If it wants to charge major league prices for tickets, it shouldn't expect to deliver minor league performances and not be called on it. Readers deserve honest reviews from the music critic, not flattering boosterism." Akron Beacon-Journal 09/28/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 6:54 pm
Pass It On - The Gift Of A Mentor Last year Rolex initiated a program of arts mentorships, placing outstanding younger artists with older star qartists. "It began with a star-studded advisory board that included Frank Gehry, Christo and Jean-Claude, and Jessye Norman. Then the company arranged for nominations to be made by distinguished panelists working in anonymity, choosing potential protégés from a pool of 96 candidates in 39 countries. There was prize money, too: $50,000 for the mentors and a $25,000 stipend for the protégés. And of course, a Rolex watch for each." The New York Times 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 10:29 pm
The Lives Of Elia Kazan Creatively, Elia Kazan was multi-talented. "His creative life divides neatly into three acts: In 1932, he came to New York to change theater; in 1945, he redefined Broadway and Hollywood; in 1964, he launched a third career as a novelist and memoirist." Philadelphia Inquirer 09/29/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 10:53 pm
- Remembering Kazan Elia Kazan's movies, "seen today, are likely to seem less slices of life than social and psychological fables, more rhetorical and high-minded than tough and unvarnished. Which is what they always were of course, and why they stay with us. They are parables of conflicted conscience and unstable desire, studies of individuals — of men, to be precise — driven to rage, rebellion and sometimes to do the right thing." The New York Times 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 10:43 pm
- Understanding Kazan "Kazan will probably be remembered primarily for 'On the Waterfront,' which brings up the awkward issue of his politics. The film is regarded by some as his rationalization for testifying as a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee, confessing his own past Communist Party membership and naming other members. Some people never forgave him for that - they thought he was selling out to save his career." Washington Post 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 10:15 pm
In Search Of Help For Toronto Theatre The Toronto Theatre Alliance is looking for a leader. The organization is at a crossroads, and its mission, as well as its effectiveness, is a bit murky. "From a clear lack of initial purpose, the problem with the organization continues with its membership policies. They boast that they represent '200 professional theatre, dance and opera member companies,' but a look at those members makes you wonder what they're using as a definition of professional." Toronto Star 09/29/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 11:07 pm
How To Turn Around The Royal Shakespeare Company? Michael Boyd has a big job ahead of him turning around the RSC (which is in something of a mess). "When he took over as director from Adrian Noble last year, he inherited a £2.8m deficit and an institution in search of its soul. Now Boyd is confident enough to outline his long-term vision for the company, which includes the staging in Stratford of all Shakespeare's plays in 2006 and an international Shakespeare festival in 2007. But first... The Guardian (UK) 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 9:19 pm
The National Theatre's Turnaround Nicholas Hytner's reinvention of London's National Theatre has been a big success so far. "Hytner's gamble that the NT could get the same income from near 100% capacity at bargain basement prices as it could from 65% utilisation at traditional prices does, of course, depend on producing high-class shows. If Mr Hytner can continue as he has started, he has a real chance of turning the National into a People's Theatre. That would be a rare achievement." The Guardian (UK) 09/30/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 9:13 pm
Detroit Newspaper Kills Negative Book Review Of One Of Its Own The Detroit Free Press has killed a review it had commissioned of a book by Mitch Albom, the newspaper's star sports columnist, because the review came in negative. The paper's executive editor "confirmed that she decided not to run the review by freelance writer Carlo Wolff simply because the reviewer didn't much like the book. She said Albom was not involved in the decision. The book is titled 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven.' 'I was not really comfortable with disparaging one of my employees that way. Yes, it's because the review was negative'." The Sun-Sentinel (Florida) 09/27/03
Posted: 09/30/2003 6:42 am
Do Book Reviews Matter? Do book reviews matter one whit to anyone? Okay, maybe the author. But "I believe we are at best traffic wardens. It's a free-for-all out there. I have seen books praised to the skies that have scarcely troubled the check-out clerks at Borders or Hatchards. I have watched books comprehensively ignored by The Observer, the Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph being lugged out of Waterstone's, Books etc, Ottakars and Menzies by the bagload." The Observer (UK) 09/28/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 9:28 pm
Attack Dog - Why Must Critic Bloom Be So Negative? Literary critic Harold Bloom has been quick to condemn awarding the National Book Award to Stephen King. While Steve Almond doesn't necessarily disagree with Bloom about King, he is confused as to Bloom's purpose in attacking: "What I don't quite get—and maybe this is because I haven't spent long enough in academia—is why Bloom feels it necessary to sound off against writers he deems inferior, as opposed to celebrating the writers (and the ideas) he admires. And, furthermore, why he chooses to do so in such a lazy manner." MobyLives 09/29/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 7:23 pm
The Amazon Factor Amazon's book-selling rankings are becoming increasingly influential in promoting a book. "Amazon is an early indicator of consumer enthusiasm. It's a place where you look to for early signals as to a book's potential in the marketplace.' Authors indeed are paying increasing heed to Amazon's unique and influential role in publicizing and selling books. While the company doesn't break out its books sales, it sold $1.7 billion worth of books, music, videos and DVDs for the first half of the year." Seattle Times 09/29/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 7:19 pm
TV Goes Sexy American TV is showing more and more sex. And it's not just on cable anymore. "Experts say increased competition from pay cable channels and a general social acceptance of sexual matter has led to a loosening of standards for what gets on the air." New York Daily News 09/29/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 10:24 pm
Danish Ballet - Future In The Past The Royal Danish Ballet's history is inextricably linked with August Bournonville’s work. But how to keep the company pointed to the future while holding on to a grand tradition. Tobi Tobias checks out the company's new Sylphide... Seeing Things (AJBlogs) 09/26/03
Posted: 09/29/2003 7:59 am | 
