IDEAS
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas
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Eco: Books Trump Computers Any Day Umberto Eco is a fierce defender of the printed page: "In the course of many interviews I have been obliged to answer questions of this sort: 'Will the new electronic media make books obsolete? Will the Web make literature obsolete? Will the new hypertextual civilisation eliminate the very idea of authorship?' As you can see, if you have a well-balanced normal mind, these are different questions and, considering the apprehensive mode in which they are asked, one might think that the interviewer would feel reassured when your answer is, "No, keep cool, everything is OK". Mistake. If you tell such people that books, literature, authorship will not disappear, they look desperate. Where, then, is the scoop?" - Al Ahram 11/26/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas/redir/20031126-34232.html
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/musichttp://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20031126-34229.html
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Kroc Leaves San Diego Opera $10 Million In addition to giving National Public Radio $200 million, Joan Kroc has left the San Diego Opera $10 million in her will. "In appreciation of the bequest, the San Diego Opera will dedicate its 2005 40th anniversary season to Kroc. Thereafter, one of the five operas scheduled each season will be dedicated in memory of Kroc." San Diego Union-Tribune 11/26/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20031126-34236.html
Note To Schubert Guardians: Get Over It! The Scubert purists didn't like Lang Lang's recent Carnegie performance. But Charles Michener was thrilled: "Unlike the droves of super-trained but faceless young graduates—many of them of Asian parentage—who pour out of our conservatories, Lang Lang isn’t afraid to show us exactly who he is. Like Liszt, Paderewski and Horowitz, to name a few of his most adored predecessors, he comes to us not just as a virtuoso, but as a showman. If he was overdoing it the other night in front of the German crew who were filming the concert, I say God bless him. Another Liberace I can do without—but right now, classical music can use all the sensational showmanship it can get." New York Observer 11/26/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20031126-34235.html
World Idol - Will It All Sound American? There is to be a "World Idol" music competition. One wonders what it will be like though, based on the "Australian Idol" experience. The "biggest problem with Australian Idol: all those talented young people performing as if they were country and western singers straight off a Qantas jet from Nashville. Even Beatles songs were Americanised. Sacrilege! In the context of the debate over the proposed free-trade agreement with the US, in which Australia may have to sacrifice its right to set local content quotas on TV for such things as Australian drama, it really grated." The Age (Melbourne) 11/26/03
PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/people
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Zephaniah: Why I Don't Want Royal Honor Poet Benjamin Zephaniah doesn't want the Royal honor for which he has been put forward. "This OBE thing is supposed to be for my services to literature, but there are a whole lot of writers who are better than me, and they're not involved in the things that I'm involved in. All they do is write; I spend most of my time doing other things. If they want to give me one of these empire things, why can't they give me one for my work in animal rights? Why can't they give me one for my struggle against racism? What about giving me one for all the letters I write to innocent people in prisons who have been framed? I may just consider accepting some kind of award for my services on behalf of the millions of people who have stood up against the war in Iraq. It's such hard work - much harder than writing poems." The Guardian (UK) 11/27/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/people/redir/20031126-34240.html
THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre
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Scottish Theatre's Poor Fortunes Coming For A Long Time Scotland's 7:84 Theatre is suddenly in a precarious place, after the government announced it was thinking about quitting the theatre's subsidy. That subsidy accounts for 48 percent of the theatre's budget. "While 7:84 will tell you this has come out of the blue, concern has been growing about the company for some time. Reviews of recent productions have been mixed, two board members have resigned, and the company took a long time to appoint artistic director Lorenzo Mele. The job was, in fact, advertised twice." The Scotsman 11/26/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre/redir/20031126-34237.html
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/visualarts
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Did Hirst Get Back His Best Work? Evidently Saatchi's sale to Hirst signals a truce between the two. "There was speculation last night that Hirst had reclaimed arguably his most powerful work, A Thousand Years, a rotting cow's head on which flies hatch only to perish moments later on an electric trap, which had some delicate souls retching when it was first shown at the Royal Academy. The installation has been missing from the Saatchi gallery since September, as has One Little Piggy Went to Market, another example of Hirst's taste for the grotesque." The Guardian (UK) 11/27/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20031126-34239.html
4th Century Italian Mosaic To Be Buried Under Parking Lot Archaeologists in Rome are dismayed that an important mosaic from the 4th Centuery is to be covered up and buried underneath a parking lot. Along with the mosaic, Italian archaeologists found "traces of warehouses, workshops and offices, along with numerous coins, lamps and amphoras, the tall, two-handled jars that were used to transport oil, wine and garum, a salty, fish-based sauce popular in the ancient world." The Guardian (UK) 11/27/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20031126-34238.html
In Memoriam - Getting Past Maya Lin The finalists for the World Trade Center memorial can all trace influences from Maya Lin's Vietnam memorial. "As successful as Ms. Lin’s Vietnam memorial was, the eight finalists prove that it has become a crutch, rather than an inspiration, for American memorial architecture. Indeed, Ms. Lin’s aesthetic presence in the plans speaks volumes about the state of memorial design in America. On one hand, the continued presence of Lin-esque minimalism in American monuments points to the long-awaited emergence of an American memorial style; on the other, the finalists’ failure to move beyond the threshold she set more than two decades ago points to a severe lack of vision in the way Americans build memorials to tragedy." New York Observer 11/26/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20031126-34234.html
WTC Tower Shaping Up (And Up) In three weeks, designs for the tallest tower at the World Trade Center site must be finished. And there is constant negotiating going on. "Although many aspects of the proposed new tower are still in flux, several features are consistent to every recent draft rendering of the tower. Surviving from Daniel Libeskind’s original proposal is the asymmetrical shape of the tower, along with its narrow spire feature, both of which are meant to simulate the torchbearing arm of the Statue of Liberty seen from the harbor. Also surviving is the slanted roof that gives a spiraling sweep to the shape of the circle of the five skyscrapers, of descending height, called for in his master plan." New York Observer 11/26/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20031126-34233.html
