Company's Coming A new book asserts that the company as an organizational model is indispensible to progress. "The most important organisation in the world is the company: the basis of the prosperity of the west and the best hope for the future of the rest of the world." The Guardian (UK) 11/10/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 11:21 pm
Legacy And Profit: The Riopelle Battle "Jean-Paul Riopelle's three children fear some of their father's key works of art will be sold at the same fire-sale prices that purchased his beloved vintage cars... Yseult, Sylvie and Yann, the three children of the noted abstract artist, are asking the [Quebec Superior Court] for an injunction to stop what they describe as an unnecessary, amateurish auction. They say if so many Riopelles are sold at once on short notice, the value of Riopelle's art will diminish." Montreal Gazette 11/11/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 5:26 am
- Previously: Family Squabbles The estate of Quebec artist Jean-Paul Riopelle has announced plans to sell 43 of the abstractionist's works at auction this month, sparking controversy over the issue of who is calling the shots in the preservation of Riopelle's legacy. At the center of the debate are Riopelle's daughters, who are not executors of his estate; Riopelle's longtime companion, who is an executor; and the director of the Musee de Quebec, who is also an executor, and therefore in a potential conflict of interest regarding the sale. The announcement of the auction, which came only ten days before the auction itself, has many observers questioning whether the market value of Riopelle's work could be lowered by such a hasty selloff. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/04/03
Goya And The Art Of Violence Goya's images of war atrocities were shocking and appalling to the audiences of his time, which isn't surprising, since 'war art' in the early 19th century tended to consist of "generally heroic allegories, made to present a larger story of conquest and nobility through grand compositions and bold lighting." But why should the same images still shock us today, in an age when wars are broadcast live on television? Could it be because contemporary art has simply never found a serious way to deal with the horror of war? The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/11/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 5:14 am
Good Thing They've Got Those High Ceilings... "The world's largest signed Pablo Picasso canvas, which has not been seen in public for 20 years, was unveiled in London on Tuesday. A 10-metre high reproduction of his work Deux Femmes Courant Sur La Plage is on show at the Royal Opera House. The painting was copied from the original in 1924 by a scene painter for use as a stage curtain in a ballet. It will go on permanent display at London's Theatre Museum as part of a £12m redevelopment." BBC 11/11/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 4:20 am
Tate's Muslim Gaffe The Tate has offended many Muslims with a Pre-Raphaelite painting in a current show. "First, the picture's caption described it as depicting one of the wives of the prophet Mohammed. It was a concept that many Muslim visitors condemned as an act of blasphemy - since the Muslim faith prohibits human representations of the prophet, his wives or relatives." The Guardian (UK) 11/11/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 12:08 am
SPONSOR
From One Generation To The Next Some of the world's most distinguished artists gathered at Lincoln Center on November 10 to celebrate the completion of the inaugural year of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. www.rolexmentorprotege.com
Are Thug Feuds Killing Hip-Hop? Renee Graham has had about enough of the ongoing lyrical battle between rappers Ja Rule and 50 Cent, and she's also begun to wonder whether the hip-hop community really took notice of the violent deaths of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. seven years ago. "This was a cautionary tale written in blood to rappers, their fans, and the media that helped stoke the so-called East Coast-West Coast rap war. Less than a decade on, it's as if no lessons have been learned from the pointless deaths of two of the most influential artists in the history of rap music." Boston Globe 11/11/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 4:53 am
Two Strads For Sale Two Stradivarius instruments, a violin valued at $1.3 million and a cello estimated to be worth over $800,000, hit the auction block this week in London. As usual, there is little chance that either instrument will be purchased directly by anyone who can play them, as most of the world's high-end instruments are now bought and sold by collectors, who may choose to lend them out to performers, or not. Earlier this week, another million-dollar Strad violin failed to sell at auction when no one met the asking price. BBC 11/11/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 4:23 am
Scottish Opera In Long-Term Danger Scottish Opera's financial crisis is so profound and longterm that the company is being damaged. "With a key board meeting looming early next month, Scottish Opera is reported to be £3 million or more in debt. The Scottish Executive is reported to have turned down a request for more funding on top of a £7.5 million annual Scottish Arts Council grant, while officials say they want a long-term solution to the opera’s woes." The Scotsman 11/11/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 11:53 pm
Director Moons Booing Audience (Now He Pays The Price) When a Rio audience booed Gerald Thomas' reworking of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde," he went up on stage and dropped his pants, mooning the crowd. "Now Mr. Thomas, the eternal enfant terrible of Brazilian theater, is paying the price. Acting on a complaint filed by the local chief of police, prosecutors have charged him with public indecency, and on Nov. 11 he is scheduled to appear before a judge who will decide whether there are grounds to proceed with the case." The New York Times 11/11/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 11:47 pm
Rock Music And The Hungarian Revolution "Rock music played lead in giving Hungarian baby boomers the resolve to bring down their communist state, says one of those reformers who today is a government official." My Way News (AP) 11/09/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 11:25 pm
Disney As Hard Rock Cafe? Alex Ross goes to Disney Hall: "Gehry’s building is enjoying a mammoth wave of publicity, the like of which has not been seen in classical parts since Lenny partied with the Panthers on Park Avenue. My first reaction was of slightly disappointed déjà vu; if more of these silver-winged creations touch down in cities around the world, they will begin to resemble quarter-of-a-billion-dollar Hard Rock Cafés." The New Yorker 11/10/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 9:20 pm
Tough Anti-Copy Laws Come To UK European digital rights management comes to the UK. "While much of what home users do with their CDs, DVDs and videos could now be legally questionable, the directive is instead aimed at large-scale privacy outfits." BBC 11/10/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 8:51 am
As If A Sing-Along Sound of Music Weren't Trauma Enough Eight audience members who plunged twenty feet into an orchestra pit while participating in a sing-along performance of The Sound of Music are suing the theatre which produced the show. "Several 'nuns' and others dressed in lederhosen suffered a variety of serious injuries after being invited on to a temporary stage set up over the orchestra pit for the Sing-a-Long Sound Of Music show. It is understood that the victims intend to claim damages for the psychological trauma of being involved in the 'horrific' incident, as well as their physical injuries." Ananova 11/11/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 4:43 am
Newark's Performing Arts Center - No Cure For Urban Blight In the mid-90s, Newark built a shiney new performing arts center in the middle of its blighted downtown with the hope of rejuvenating the area. Many cities have tried this. Terry Teachout reports after a visit this week that while the hall is a great place to attend performances, it seems to have done little to kick-start downtown. "Lincoln Center has its crippling flaws, God knows, but it did succeed in transforming New York’s Upper West Side almost beyond recognition. As of today, I’m still skeptical that NJPAC will do much more than make it possible for suburban New Jerseyites to see Miss Saigon without having to drive all the way into Manhattan. Somehow I doubt that’s what its founders had in mind." About Last Night (AJBlogs) 11/09/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 11:28 pm
Chicago's New Theatre - It Works Chicago's new theatre for mid-size arts companies had its debut over the weekend. It's not the warmest space to be in, reports Sid Smith. But "on the plus side, the seats are comfortable, and a steep rake, especially in the balconies, makes for superb sightlines, particularly for dance. The well-equipped stage is wide and deep, but flexible, able to accommodate both the large corps de ballet from George Balanchine's 'Serenade' and the natural intimacy of duets during Saturday's inaugural gala." Chicago Tribune 11/10/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 8:01 am
- Previously: An Off-The-Rack Success Story "Chicago's new theater for midsize music and dance companies easily could have been a wallflower of a building, drooping in the background alongside the grand metallic bouquet of Frank Gehry's Millennium Park bandshell. But the theater turns out to be something else: a solid, sometimes soaring example of "stealth architecture," a mostly underground building that packs far more aesthetic wallop than its modest, above ground profile lets on." Chivago Tribune 11/02/03
The Irony Of Success "Space for a writer is sometimes the most precious of commodities. It's possible, in fact, that if a certain government official in Tanzania hadn't been so pig-headed, Moyez Vassanji would be practising electrical engineering in that country instead of having to deal with the emotional effects of winning this year's Giller Prize." Toronto Star 11/11/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 5:49 am
Eubie Blake Musical Gets A Second Chance (60 Years Later) "More than 60 years after its premiere, the musical that Eubie Blake and Andy Razaf considered their masterpiece - 'Tan Manhattan' - finally is getting a second chance. To the songwriters' considerable dismay, the show died in February 1941, after just a few engagements..." Chicago Tribune 11/10/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 11:08 pm
Sucking Up To Guinness Today, the Guinness Book of World Records will sell its 100 millionth copy. In honor of the occasion, Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten is making an attempt to get himself into the book with "the shortest bylined newspaper story ever written." (For the record, his blatant suck-up is 1/56 the length of this blurb about it.) Washington Post 11/11/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 5:53 am
No More Fund Drives? Dream On. So, now that NPR has $200 million of the late Joan Kroc's money, it can stop holding those awful on-air beg-a-thons, right? Wrong. While fans of the public radio network may be dreaming ecstatically of what that kind of money could do for listeners, NPR execs are hoping that, if anything, the Kroc gift will inspire more large donations. There is also some fear of a backlash: NPR is not popular with the Republicans currently in charge of Congress, and many would like to see the network's public funding eliminated. New York Daily News 11/11/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 5:33 am
Sony's Latest Gamble Sony is preparing to begin selling a new type of copy-protected CD in Germany, with hopes to expand worldwide if consumers embrace the new technology. The CDs do not allow users to share their contents on illegal file-swapping sites, but contain a compressed digital copy of the music which individual consumers can "rip" to their computers and later download to Sony-based portable music players. In what has become a familiar dance, the company is calling its new CDs a breakthrough for consumers, and consumer groups opposed to copy protection of any sort are claiming that the discs can cause computers to malfunction, and are unfairly limiting in any case. Wired (Reuters) 11/10/03
Posted: 11/11/2003 4:33 am
What NPR Ought To Do With Its Money The Boston Globe editorial page offers some suggestions to NPR on what to spend some of its $200 million windfall: "Bring back music and culture programming. NPR's news reports are thoughtful and compelling. Its talk shows are topical and a nice way to bring listeners into conversations. And "Car Talk" is great entertainment. But occasionally all this talk is wearying. Balance could be provided by music shows and radio documentaries." Boston Globe 11/10/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 11:17 pm
Voters - Wanna See A Movie? With the Motion Picture Academy declining to send DVD copies of movies to voters of awards, studios are getting creative about getting voters in front of their pitcures. Backstage 11/10/03
Posted: 11/10/2003 8:26 pm
