Harvard's Expansion: Where Are The Architects? "The people who read the Harvard tea leaves -- let's call them Harvardologists -- duly noted the absence of an architect from the World's Greatest Graduate School of Design on the newly formed task forces president Larry Summers has appointed to map out Harvard's march across the river into Allston... The word on the street is that Summers has had more than his fill of GSD architecture mavens, who greeted the newly arrived president with Rem Koolhaas's bizarre 'Moses Scheme' for rechanneling the Charles River near Harvard. More recently the GSD championed the Ugliest Building Ever Built, the near-universally reviled 1 Western Avenue, a 235-unit housing facility for students, faculty, and staff in Allston." Boston Globe 12/18/03
Posted: 12/18/2003 5:43 am
The WTC Tower Compromise Later this week, the compromise design of the tower at the World Trade Center by Daniel Libeskind and David Childs is to be released. "As details of that compromise were uncovered, in interviews conducted over the last week, it appeared that except for a few elements, the tower will closely resemble a design forged initially by architects at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, house architects for Ground Zero leaseholder Larry Silverstein, in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. That was long before Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind was involved in the redevelopment process." New York Observer 12/17/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 6:30 pm
Man (Alias "The Monkey") Arrested In Van Gogh Threat A Dutch thief known as "the Monkey" has been arrested inconnection with the theft of two Van Gogh paintings from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum in 2002. "Investigators were baffled by the theft at the time because guards patrolled the premises at night and there was tight security inside, including infra-red systems and cameras. The thieves got in through the roof and police found a rope and a 4.5-metre (15-foot) ladder leaning against the rear of the building." BBC 12/17/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 6:17 pm
A Tale Of Two Clubs In New York City, famous performance spots abound, and countless bars, clubs, and watering holes can lay claim to having "launched" the career of a superstar or two. But few clubs have the lineage of the Bottom Line, which was recently ordered to close after falling behind in its rent payments to New York University, and few have the social cache of CBGB, which has played host to the cutting edge of the American punk movement for three decades. There are lessons in the contrast between the current fortunes of these two clubs, and the hardest one may be that, all too often, it isn't enough to be legendary, or even good at what you do. You've got to be lucky, too. Toronto Star 12/18/03
Posted: 12/18/2003 6:36 am
Waiting For A Revolution That's Already Here At a recent music industry conference in Aspen, "the divisiveness and panic in the room were evident" whenever conversation turned to the state of recorded music. The problem seems to be that, while most in the industry recognize that a major sea change in the way the public consumes recorded music is upon them, few are willing to hitch their wagon to a particular horse before knowing what the new industry standard will be. In the meantime, the CD market continues to tank, and the people for whom that particular piece of turf is sacred continue to fight like cornered rats to forestall the digital revolution. Denver Post 12/18/03
Posted: 12/18/2003 5:56 am
Baltimore Cutting Music Lessons For Kids Fifteen children, dressed to the nines, gathered in the rotunda of Baltimore City Hall yesterday to play their violins and cellos for the politicians who are closing their music school. The Baltimore Talent Education Center provides after-school music training for 180 children from across the city. "The school system, facing a financial crisis, has reassigned the three full-time teachers who run the weekly lessons, saying their talents will be better used in music classrooms in schools. The teachers' redeployment is the result of an immense school system staff reduction; layoff notices were sent to more than 700 employees last month." Baltimore Sun 12/18/03
Posted: 12/18/2003 5:10 am
Of Rings, Wagner and Tolkien Lord of the Rings certainly has a Wagnerian feel, writes Alex Ross. And not just because rings are at the center of the two epics. "Tolkien refused to admit that his ring had anything to do with Wagner’s. 'Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceased,' he said. But he certainly knew his Wagner, and made an informal study of 'Die Walküre' not long before writing the novels. The idea of the omnipotent ring must have come directly from Wagner; nothing quite like it appears in the old sagas." The New Yorker 12/16/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 6:46 pm
The New Divas "This fall has seen a remarkable outpouring of albums by female opera singers," writes Charles Michener. "The majority of them, as it happens, are not sopranos but mezzo-sopranos; we’re living in an age when, curiously, many of the most interesting female voices belong not to the leading ladies who impersonate the tragic heroines around which most operatic plots creak, but to a powerful group of slightly lower-voiced women who rival, and frequently outstrip, the prima donnas for vocal charisma." New York Observer 12/17/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 6:35 pm
Scotland's Coming Arts Overhaul "The launch of a long-promised review of Scotland’s arts policy has been delayed to reflect better the First Minister’s new agenda for 'cultural rights'... The cultural review - seen as the Scottish Executive’s move to put its post-devolutionary stamp on the arts - is being overseen by the culture minister, Frank McAveety, and his advisers... The review will be closely watched by arts organisations in Scotland, and is anticipated with a mixture of nervousness and hope. The closely guarded consultation paper could pave the way for a shake-up of organisations such as the Scottish Arts Council, which administers £60 million in Executive and lottery funds, and Scottish Screen." The Scotsman (UK) 12/18/03
Posted: 12/18/2003 5:34 am
Paper To Arts Groups: Show Us Why We Should Care In Detroit, voters and politicians have demonstrated time and time again that they are not interested in a significant public funding program for the arts, and the editorial board at one of the city's newspapers thinks it knows why. "Cultural leaders should have learned from their election defeats that they've not done an adequate job persuading the people that what they offer both enriches individual souls and feeds this community's comeback." Detroit Free Press 12/18/03
Posted: 12/18/2003 5:26 am
What Kind Of Silly Law Is That, Anyway? City leaders in Cleveland are moving ahead with plans to place a levy on the March ballot with the intention of dedicating a new source of funding to the arts. But there's a catch: state law prohibits cities of under 500,000 from creating a specific arts district, so Cleveland (population 478,403) must instead use a standard "economic development" levy, which may be used to fund artistic initiatives. The concern with such a non-specific funding plan, of course, is that the ongoing status of the new arts funding would be reliant on the "arts friendliness" of the county commissioners in office at any given time. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 12/18/03
Posted: 12/18/2003 5:18 am
The Power Of Images To Tell Stories After a weekend of staring at images of the humiliated Saddam Hussein, Philip Kennicott ponders the power of images to change how we feel about something. "Images that emerge from photo ops unravel because people tug on the loose threads of their constructedness. His capture, without a fight, no doubt has extraordinary power for the Iraqis who hate him. But the great leader brought low is a more complex image than has yet to be acknowledged." Washington Post 12/16/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 8:53 am
Barenboim Apologizes (Sort Of) And Gets Prize Daniel Barenboim will be awarded Israel's Wolf Prize after all. "The education minister, Limor Livnat, had demanded that Mr. Barenboim apologize publicly for defying an unwritten Israeli ban on Wagner. Holocaust survivors still associate Wagner with the Nazis. In an interview on Tuesday with Israel Radio, Mr. Barenboim said he had no regrets about playing the work, but added, 'If people were really hurt, of course I regret this, because I don't want to harm anyone'." The New York Times (AP) 12/18/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 10:48 pm
Assistant To A Star Being an assistant to a star is tough work. So now there's a new association of assistants to ease the bumps. "Last week, the UK Association of Celebrity Assistants (UKACA) was unveiled at a low-key launch party in Belgravia. The guests were Moneypennys to megastars and, as you might expect, they were excruciatingly well-behaved and sober. Cards were exchanged, telephone numbers swapped and everyone left by 8.45. As the PAs of celebrities, these people are used to melting into the background, which is exactly what they did." The Telegraph (UK) 12/18/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 10:34 pm
Producers To London The Producers is going to London. Richard Dreyfuss and Lee Evans are to star in a West End version... London Evening Standard 12/17/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 10:37 pm
A Year For Issues Theatre What kind of year was it for British theatre? Michael Billington writes that: "A year ago I bemoaned British theatre's detachment from politics. Where were the plays that dealt with the big issues? The heartening thing about 2003 has been theatre's reconnection with the wider world. We have had plays about Iraq, David Kelly, the railways, racial tension and Belfast. Theatregoing no longer seems a pleasantly marginal activity. The most cheering aspect of the year was the varied and rapid response to the Iraq crisis." The Guardian (UK) 12/18/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 7:16 pm
American Immigration Bars Canadian Actor After weeks of trying to get an important Canadian actor into the United States for an upcoming production, San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre finally gave up and recast locally. "Since the creation the Department of Homeland Security, it has been increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for foreign artists to get into this country. While we tend to hear more often about artists from 'hostile' nations, such as Cuba, having the door slammed in their faces, the policy is obviously affecting Canadian artists as well." San Francisco Chronicle 12/17/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 6:07 pm
Playing Favorites - What Your "Favorite Book" Says About You "What's your favorite book?" is a stupid question. "Really, it's not about books at all, it's about distinguishing yourself through your distinctions, choosing a work that gives the fullest picture of the person you'd like the world to consider you to be. That's why everyone always says Catch-22 - not because they think Heller to be easily as good as Roth, Mailer, Updike and Vonnegut rolled into one. No one thinks that. It's because of the myriad excellent messages enjoyment of this book gives off - I have a fine sense of humour; I'm anti-war and probably broadly leftwing; I have a healthy, questioning disrespect for authority; I like a bit of nooky, but not in a mean way, not like that Rabbit or that Zuckerman; and I'm highly intelligent, but I won't get all in your face about it. You probably want to go out with me, it says, and you're dead right." The Guardian (UK) 12/17/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 7:19 pm
Barnes & Noble's Fiction Gatekeeper Sessalee Hensley is in charge of buying fiction for Barnes & Noble. "How many copies will be bought - of Proust, McMillan, John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen and Ms. Hensley's favorite, Barbara Kingsolver - how they'll be apportioned among the 652 Barnes & Noble branches and 200 B. Dalton Booksellers in her fiefdom, how they'll be placed and positioned--this is all part of the gig. 'There are some books that I've gone through three, four, five revisions of how I'm thinking about them,' says Ms. Hensley, 48. Concern that she's decided wrong sometimes keeps her up at night. Concern that she's decided wrong keeps publishers up as well..." OpinionJournal 12/18/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 6:04 pm
Golden Globe Noms Announced A historical drama which isn't even in theaters yet is the runaway leader in the nominations for the Golden Globes, Hollywood's bizarre and inexplicably important awards show. Cold Mountain earned nominations in every major category, and a few minor ones as well. Other films nominated for top awards are Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Seabiscuit, Mystic River, and the animated feature, Finding Nemo. CNN 12/18/03
Posted: 12/18/2003 6:12 am
Catching More Flies With Honey Online music piracy is a problem worldwide, but the heavyhanded tactics being employed in the U.S. to make file-swapping less tempting are controversial, and not every country is following suit. In Argentina, the recording industry is using dialogue, education, and partnerships with corporations whose employees use company computers for their piracy to stem the flow of illegal music. Wired 12/18/03
Posted: 12/18/2003 5:03 am
Suing Over Who Gets To Sell Pooh For 12 years a lawsuit has dragged on about who owns the rights to merchandising Winnie the Pooh. For Disney, which has been selling Pooh stuff for years, the stakes are huge. "The company earns about a billion dollars a year in Pooh-related revenues, and if the Slesingers win the case Disney estimates that it may be liable for several hundred million dollars." The New Yorker 12/16/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 6:40 pm
TV Going After The Gaming Audience TV ratings are down this fall. And where did many viewers go? Computer games. So "top cable networks like Spike TV, MTV and Game Show Network are focusing on original programming that revolves around video games in an effort to regain the loyalty of an audience segment coveted by advertisers." Wired 12/17/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 6:22 pm
Sydney Dance Star Retires Sydney Dance Company star Simone Goldsmith, 29, retires from the company after a "glittering 10-year career. As always, the shy star, one of the country's most critically acclaimed dancers, was keen to dodge the spotlight, but with tickets sold out last week in a rush from the public to witness her final performance, this was never on." Sydney Morning Herald 12/18/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 7:10 pm
Australian Ballet Lobbies For Expanding Sydney Opera House The Australian Ballet welcomes news that the Sydney Opera House renovation has been postponed. Why? The company feels the stage must be expanded. Indeed, "expanding the stage is crucial, as it posed an occupational health and safety risk to dancers, who 'were dancing into the walls, dancing into the wings' every time they performed." Sydney Morning Herald 12/18/03
Posted: 12/17/2003 7:07 pm
