Forget The Trial! What's Up With The Building? Libby Copeland is covering the trial of accused D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammed in Virginia Beach. It's a fascinating legal spectacle, but Copeland can't get her mind off the architecture of the city's judicial complex. It's not that it's ugly, exactly. But it's not very judicial, either. "Is there such a thing as too much brick? Can beige and brown -- the colors of all the signs here -- be considered colors of oppression with their monotony, ubiquity and utter authority? ... In short, this is a place where people bring their lunches from home. A place unfriendly to feet. A place that ceases to exist after dark." Washington Post 10/23/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 7:04 am
Arts: The Antidrug? A consortium of community groups, medical researchers, and arts groups in Cleveland has receieved a $1 million federal grant to mount a major study intended to determine whether the arts can play a major role in keeping children from indulging in illegal drugs and risky sexual behavior. The study will revolve around 300 test subjects, all African-American youths between 11 and 14 years old, who will participate in a specially designed arts curriculum, which will be partially designed by community leaders in the city. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 10/23/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 6:55 am
Yet Another Reason To Not Be A Bigot "Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, is getting a valuable painting by Rembrandt that might otherwise have come to Montreal if the donor, Alfred Bader, had not been refused admission to McGill University in 1941 because he is a Jew. The painting, estimated to be worth millions of dollars, is the latest bequest to Queen's from Milwaukee philanthropists Bader and his second wife, Isabel... [The] gift, titled Head of an Old Man in a Cap, was painted about 1630. It is one of only four paintings in Canada by Rembrandt van Rijn." Montreal Gazette 10/23/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 6:24 am
Art "Saved" By A Nation To avoid letting important artwork be bought and shipped out of Britain, Britons have bought many artworks over the past century. The Saved! show at the Hayward Gallery in London features some 400 artworks "saved" in this manner. The show features work by Michelangelo, Velasquez, Boticelli, Picasso, Mondrian, Rodin and Titian. "It is dedicated to sculptures, paintings and treasures saved by the National Art Collections Fund over the past 100 years." BBC 10/22/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 7:53 pm
Saving California's Missions California's historic missions are falling down. So the US House of Representatives has passed a bill to spend $10 million on repairs. "The missions have been ravaged by the passage of time and the invasion of natural pests, such as the beetles that are gnawing their way through the redwood beams and statuary in San Francisco's Mission Dolores. Two centuries of California earthquakes have left many of the buildings with seismic troubles. Irreplaceable artwork desperately needs preservation work." San Francisco Chronicle 10/22/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 7:50 pm
Disney Hall - A French Curve In A T-Square World Herbert Muschamp writes that LA's new Disney Hall is more than a building. "It's a home for everyone who's ever felt like a French curve in a T square world. Disney Hall is a riotous rebirth. Not just for downtown Los Angeles, where the building is situated, and not just for the whole sprawling mixed-up La-La. What is being reborn is the idea of the urban center as a democratic institution: a place where voices can be heard." The New York Times 10/23/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 7:43 pm
- Disney Hall's Great - But Where's Money For The Poor? Disney Hall's opulent opening may herald a redefined downtown for Los Angeles. But nearby homeless and advocates for the poor see Disney as a symbol of catering to the rich. "It's fine to have a music centre, but this has cost $276m and, if you add the $200m that the cathedral cost, that's almost half a billion dollars to provide services for the rich. Where's the half billion for the poor?" The Guardian (UK) 10/23/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 6:49 pm
Those Daring Young Pianists On The Flying Trapeze Piano competitions are a grand old classical music tradition, but in recent years, it's become harder and harder for some of the smaller events on the circuit to raise enough money to keep it all going. A case in point is Canada's Esther Honens competition, run by Andrew Raeburn, who has been employing every technique he can think of to generate interest, and cash. Inlcuding, believe it or not, trapeze artists. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/23/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 6:05 am
Low-Fi, High-Tech: Is Chip Music The New Punk? Technology has officially invaded pop music, and the results have been, well, bland. Endless digital remixes and computer-generated backing instrumentals have created an entire catalog of dull, generic, lifeless songs by artists who really ought to know better. But a new do-it-yourself movement known as "chip music," vaguely remniescent of 1970s punk, has emerged from the shadow of the technology beast, employing high-tech but low-fidelity "instruments," such as old Nintendo GameBoys, to create music which reeks of contempt for the mainstream music industry. "The essence of chip music is in reverse engineering an electronic interface - whether it's a Game Boy or a computer's sound chip - and subverting its original design." Wired Magazine 11/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 5:23 am
Music's Do-It-Yourselfers A new generation of musicians is producing recordings on its own. "It has never been easier to make a record than it is now. Computers and digital recording technology have put the means of production into the hands of the musician. So, if you can make a record that sounds every bit as polished as an expensive studio recording, press copies and produce an eye-catching sleeve with the aid of graphics programmes, what do you need a major record company for?" The Telegraph (UK) 10/23/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 10:09 pm
The Trouble With Slash-And-Burn Government With deficits plaguing cities, states, and provinces across North America, and a political culture that deplores anything that looks vaguely like a tax increase, the arts are increasingly becoming a victim of a me-first society that doesn't believe that government ought to be in the business of handing out any money to anyone, ever. Charles Gordon wishes more people would pay attention to the fundamental mistake that is being made by those who would zero out the arts as a budget item. "You feel for the artists, who are only trying to make half a decent living, and for arts organizations that are merely trying to give opportunities to young writers, actors, painters and musicians who struggle to find an audience in a world of couch potatoes." Ottawa Citizen 10/23/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 6:33 am
Back To Worrying About The Lincoln Center Problem With the New York Philharmonic back at Lincoln Center, attention is again turned on the need to rebuild New York's West Side cultural campus. "While Lincoln Center jump-started gentrification around Columbus Circle, this case study in superblock architecture also provided city planners with a definitive lesson in how not to design cultural institutions. Nor has the center exactly stood the test of time—with 10 million visitors annually, the place is in need of major repair, plagued as it is by pesky plumbing and crumbling floors." New York Observer 10/22/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 10:01 pm
Songwriter Elliott Smith Commits Suicide "Elliott Smith, whose fragile melodies and voice positioned him as a Nick Drake for a new generation, died yesterday of a knife wound to the chest, an apparent suicide; he was thirty-four... Smith's life and career eerily reflect that of Drake, who mined a similar vein of melancholy folk-rock before an overdose (it has never been determined whether intentional or not) ended his career at age twenty-six. Like Drake, Smith's output is striking and spare: Six full-length solo albums, three with his old band Heatmiser, and, true to the independent ethic that defined and dogged him throughout his career, a few handfuls of EPs and seven-inch releases." Rolling Stone 10/22/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 6:41 am
- Pain and Perspective Aside from one shining moment of Oscar glory, Elliott Smith's career was mostly of note only to critics and fans who bothered to look past the corporate mess of the record charts. His music was generally full of darkness and melancholy, but rarely did it descend into despair. "He wasn't a maverick in the Kurt Cobain sense. Or a satyr consumed by passion, like the late Jeff Buckley... He sang about rejection with a wistful air, and could sound as if he were enduring an ordeal and romanticizing its aftershocks at the same time." Philadelphia Inquirer 10/23/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 6:35 am
Is Bad Theatre Ruining The West End? A growing band of critics believe that "the increasing number of poor-quality shows in the West End are damaging its image. 'A lot of theatres are kept open because somebody will take something in that should never be in the West End. In the past five years there have been many shows in the West End that had no right to be there. They weren't good enough, shouldn't have been there and didn't stand a dog in hell's chance. It puts people off theatre'." The Guardian (UK) 10/23/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 9:31 pm
Why You Want To Win A Booker Vernon God Little, a novel by DBC Pierre (a pseudonym,) was listed at 1,124 on the UK's bestseller lists two weeks ago. Then, Pierre was awarded the Man Booker Prize, and his satirical poke at American life shot up to 18th on the list. Not a bad upgrade, but Pierre still trails last year's winner, Yann Martel, which remains at #10. BBC 10/22/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 5:13 am
Seattle's Bookfest On The Chopping Block? Seattle's Bookfest saw attendance this drop to 9000 this year - less than half its regular number, after the festival instituted a $10 ticket fee. Now organizers are pondering whether this is the end for the 13-year-old event. "Bookfest's continuing travails may seem surprising in a city that boasts one of the country's most active book cultures. But Seattle's prominence as a book town has been a blessing and a curse for Bookfest." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 10/22/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 10:31 pm
Orwellian... (In A Good Way?) "Political reporters constantly employ the word 'Orwellian.' Though it stands for the kind of oppressive totalitarian regime he created in Nineteen Eighty-Four, it is now used chiefly to mean political manipulation of language to deceive the public. But we need to reclaim the term’s positive meaning, to suggest the bravery and idealism, the stubborn effort to be honest, in Orwell’s life and art." The New Criterion 10/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 8:22 pm
Glam Kid Lit - More About The Author Why are all these celebrities writing children's books? "Everyone agreed there was lots of money and publicity to be made in kid lit. It was a time, after all, when a young British woman — who didn't have a famous name when she started — wrote a series of books about a boy named Harry and, legend has it, became richer than Madonna, and richer, even, than the Queen of England." The New York Times 10/23/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 7:47 pm
Ultraviolence & The MPAA A slew of unbelievably violent and bloody new movies is hitting American multiplexes this fall, and absolutely no one seems concerned about it. Not only that, the Motion Picture Association of America appears not even to have considered assigning such gorefests as Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill its strictest rating of NC-17, which is generally given to films with graphic nudity and/or particularly harsh language. Should we care that movies are becoming bloodier by the day? Or, as the MPAA claims, is it all just good fun so long as the violence remains "cartoonish," whatever that is? Chicago Tribune (NYTNS) 10/23/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 5:46 am
- What Is Wrong With Us, Anyway? "We are so numb it no longer hurts when people call us demented. Once-unspeakable violence has moved from the unbalanced fringe into the middle of our surround-sound home theater systems. We've gone from 'Impeach Bill' to Kill Bill, from Animal House to House of the Dead, from the post-Sept. 11 death of irony to the postmodern death of revulsion." Denver Post 10/23/03
Posted: 10/23/2003 5:45 am
British Government Puts Culture Online The British government is launching an online culture site. "The venture, designed to for both adults and children, will sponsor 20 to 30 projects and will go live next year. One of the first projects is called Webplay and allows school children to direct a play online. Others include Scoop for would-be journalists and a virtual collection of plants curated by Kew Gardens." BBC 10/22/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 7:58 pm
Dismissed Ballet Star Sues Bolshoi Ballerina Anastasia Volochkova has filed suit against the Bolshoi Ballet after being fired last month for being "too heavy." "Russia's Labour Ministry said the dancer's firing violated Russian labour laws and called on the Bolshoi to reinstate her. But the ministry acknowledged that the final decision rested with the theatre, and the Bolshoi has refused to budge. 'Unfortunately, I have to do it because I am seeking justice and want to assert my rights as well as the rights of other artists'."
Sydney Morning Herald 10/23/03
Posted: 10/22/2003 8:28 pm
- Previously: Bolshoi Refuses To Rehire Ballerina The Bolshoi Ballet says it will not bow to pressure to rehire a ballerina fired last month for being "too big." "The labour ministry said the dismissal was illegal and she should be given her job back. 'The Bolshoi Theatre has not changed its decision with regard to Anastasia Volochkova'." Sydney Morning Herald 10/08/03
