How Music Affects Our Brains "Music plays tunes in the brain that scientists are just beginning to hear. Recent discoveries include how people's emotional reaction to music can alleviate pain, why certain musical intervals sound more pleasing than others, and how musical training alters the growing brains of children." Miami Herald (DMN) 01/15/04
Posted: 01/16/2004 7:51 am
So Secure We're In Danger All this increased security and impingements on personal privacy... does it make us safer? A growing number of experts say no - in fact trying to photograph, fingerprint, search and profile more and more people makes us less safe, not more. Jeffrey Rosen is the latest to weigh in, with a new book. spiked 01/14/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 7:58 pm
Of Intellectual Property And Agribusiness Subsidies...hmnnn Lawrence Lessig writes that intellectual property laws and agribusiness subsidies ought to be tied together. "Both the subsidy of agribusiness and the subsidy of local culture and science violate the principles of free trade by ignoring American intellectual property laws. Both violations are bad. But the two bads should be resolved together. Indeed, if anything, American subsidies should be ended first. The actual loss to US firms from piracy worldwide is not terribly high - if 'actual loss' means the amount Americans would get if the piracy ended." Wired 01/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 7:41 pm
American Indian Museum To Open The National Museum of the American Indian will open on the National Mall in Washington DC in nine months. The Smithsonian's newest outpost will have "an unmatched collection of artifacts and displays designed to set the record straight on the history and contributions of native peoples. That will culminate a 20-year push to establish a museum on the Mall that would enshrine 10,000 years of Native American life and culture as a central chapter of history." Washington Post 01/16/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 11:11 pm
Tax Breaks For UK Art Donors? Britain's museums are struggling financially since they dropped admission charges last year. So ho can the government help? One idea is to "introduce tax breaks for individuals and companies who donate to national and regional museums, which could cost the Treasury £30m a year in lost tax revenue." The Guardian (UK) 01/16/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 10:37 pm
Is Picasso The World's Most Expensive Painting? "Pablo Picasso's Boy with a Pipe, painted in 1905 when he was 24, could become the world's most expensive painting at an auction at Sotherby's in New York. The painting is estimated to sell for $70m (£38m) at the auction in May, but could easily outstrip Van Gogh's portrait of Dr Gachet, which had a before-commission price tag of $75m in 1990." The Guardian (UK) 01/15/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 9:20 pm
Country Music Sales Down 10 Percent In 2003 Sales of Country Music declined in the US last year by a whopping 10 percent. That compares to an overall decline in music sales of one percent. "Country album sales fell from 76.9 million to 69.3 million units - a 9.8 percent drop, according to figures released Monday by Nielsen SoundScan, a group that monitors music sales." Music executives blame the lack of new blockbuster releases in 2003. Dallas Morning News (AP) 01/14/04
Posted: 01/16/2004 7:29 am
Boston: What, No Tchaikovsky? James Levine is taking over the Boston Symphony next season. And he's taking the orchestra in a direction it hasn't been. "What is new in Levine's programming for the orchestra is an emphasis on the whole of the 20th century, not just the first third. Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Bartok appear, as they have for decades -- but so do midcentury figures as diverse as Gershwin and Messiaen, and such late-century masters as Ligeti, Lutoslawski, and Elliott Carter. The 21st century is represented on Levine's programs by new works from Milton Babbitt, Charles Wuorinen, and Boston's John Harbison." Boston Globe 01/16/04
Posted: 01/16/2004 7:19 am
Orchestra To Perform Silent Cage On Radio For the first time in the UK an orchestra will be performing John Cage's silent work 4'33" on the radio. "Cage’s seminal work, 4’33”, which consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of silence, will be the highlight of a concert on Radio 3 at 7.25pm. In readiness for the performance, Radio 3 bosses will have to switch off their emergency back-up system – designed to cut in when there is an unexpected silence on air." The Scotsman 01/16/04
Posted: 01/16/2004 6:54 am
The Meaning Of Cage As a major festival of the music of John Cage begins, musical luminaries talk about Cage's influence on music. "I do believe the future, let's say 25 to 50 years from now, will place Cage as the most important composer of the 20th century. This is not sticking my neck out." The Guardian (UK) 01/16/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 10:34 pm
Death Of The CD Single? Experts predict that within three years CD singles will no longer be made. "With broadband becoming far more common, it is easier to simply download a track than go out and buy it, the industry argues." BBC 01/16/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 9:54 pm
Presidential Candidates And The Arts The American Arts Alliance is asking presidential candidates to state their positions on the arts. "We have an agenda for the American Arts Alliance: federal funding for the arts, tackling issues around artists from foreign countries wishing to perform here, and tracking all legislation that affects arts groups, such as nonprofit accountability reform. For 2004, we feel it's important to engage candidates in the presidential race -- in all parties -- a little bit more than they have, say, in the past on the subject of the arts. So we sent each of their campaigns a letter asking them to make a pledge -- a commitment to encourage the creative development and appreciation for the arts." Backstage 01/15/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 7:51 pm
Austin Arts Outdraw Sports A new national study reports that "despite a flagging economy and a stubborn reputation for elitism, Austin Texas's performing arts outdraw sports events and live music, while their audiences are more diverse than is commonly assumed. Those are among the findings of a national study on attendance and attitudes toward theater, dance, symphony, opera and related arts in five cities." Austin Statesman 01/15/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 7:30 pm
Uta Hagen, 84 Hagen played Broadway stages for 50 years, and "wrote what many consider the actor's bible on performing." She was "particularly known for playing the brutal, braying Martha in the original production of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", was as at ease with such modern playwrights as Albee, Clifford Odets and Tennessee Williams as with the works of Shakespeare, Shaw or Chekhov." New York Daily News 01/16/04
Posted: 01/16/2004 8:02 am
Uta Hagen, 84 Hagen played Broadway stages for 50 years, and "wrote what many consider the actor's bible on performing." She was "particularly known for playing the brutal, braying Martha in the original production of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", was as at ease with such modern playwrights as Albee, Clifford Odets and Tennessee Williams as with the works of Shakespeare, Shaw or Chekhov." New York Daily News 01/16/04
Posted: 01/16/2004 8:02 am
The Trouble With Taboo What went wrong with "Taboo," the Broadway musical that is closing after losing $10 million? "There are no 'villains' in this story, really - just a volatile, distracted and ultimately ineffectual producer; a weak director; a timid bookwriter who watched his key scenes get cut because they couldn't be acted or directed properly; and a star, Boy George, who wrote a fine score (let's give him his due) but wasn't much of an actor. One person involved in "Taboo" calls the show a "missed opportunity. There are a lot of really good things in it, there just wasn't anyone around who could pull it all together." New York Post 01/16/04
Posted: 01/16/2004 8:05 am
The Theatricality Of Time "As playwrights explore new ways of delivering storylines and delineating characters, they are tinkering, more and more boldly, with innovative ways to theatrically depict the passage of time. And the basic idea is as old as time..." Backstage 01/15/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 10:06 pm
Theatre - A Tale Of Two Cities "The Sydney Theatre Company's second theatre, an 850-seat building at Walsh Bay, opened last weekend with the additional gift of $2.5 million to create a full-time ensemble of actors." That's doing it right. So what about Melbourne? The Age (Melbourne) 01/16/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 9:45 pm
The Trouble With Taboo What went wrong with "Taboo," the Broadway musical that is closing after losing $10 million? "There are no 'villains' in this story, really - just a volatile, distracted and ultimately ineffectual producer; a weak director; a timid bookwriter who watched his key scenes get cut because they couldn't be acted or directed properly; and a star, Boy George, who wrote a fine score (let's give him his due) but wasn't much of an actor. One person involved in "Taboo" calls the show a "missed opportunity. There are a lot of really good things in it, there just wasn't anyone around who could pull it all together." New York Post 01/16/04
Posted: 01/16/2004 8:05 am
The Theatricality Of Time "As playwrights explore new ways of delivering storylines and delineating characters, they are tinkering, more and more boldly, with innovative ways to theatrically depict the passage of time. And the basic idea is as old as time..." Backstage 01/15/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 10:06 pm
Theatre - A Tale Of Two Cities "The Sydney Theatre Company's second theatre, an 850-seat building at Walsh Bay, opened last weekend with the additional gift of $2.5 million to create a full-time ensemble of actors." That's doing it right. So what about Melbourne? The Age (Melbourne) 01/16/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 9:45 pm
Fringe Books For Edinburgh A writers' group in Edinburgh has announced plans for a fringe festival for books next summer. "They would aim to piggy-back on the growing success of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, with its 550 authors and £7 tickets. They would offer slots to writers or poets, published or unpublished, and keep ticket prices low or non-existent." The Scotsman 01/16/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 11:02 pm
A Poetically Difficult Year It's been a rocky year for Poetry magazine after the magazine learned it was bequeathed $100 million. "Poetry's first order of business was to form a foundation to satisfy IRS regulations. But later developments seemed not just to suggest growing pains but to hint at the old adage that money ruins everything. Joseph Parisi, who had edited Poetry for 20 years, was named executive director of publications and programs of the new Poetry Foundation in May 2003, but by summer's end, he had resigned. Then the foundation filed a lawsuit against a bank in Indiana for mismanagement of two of its trusts..." Christian Science Monitor 01/16/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 7:18 pm
TV Ratings Down...What To Do? If American TV execs are panicking about their ratings being down, they're not showing it to critics. "This TV season, viewership for NBC is down 9 per cent, for CBS it's down 3 per cent, ABC is down 5 per cent and Fox isn't down at all, but it isn't growing either. In fact Fox can thank a handful of avidly watched baseball games for its holding-steady starts. You'd think this might cause a touch of panic at NBC, for instance, but devil the bit of it." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/16/04
Posted: 01/16/2004 7:41 am
From Granola To Cell Phone - The Evolving Sundance It's been 20 years since Robert Redford took over the Sundance Film Festical. Since then, the festival has "morphed from the "granola Sundance" of the 1980s into the "cell-phone Sundance" of the 1990s and now, as the shoestring cinéastes of the early days, true anti-studio aesthetes like Jim Jarmusch, Victor Nuñez and Allison Anders, were shoved aside by Hollywood heavies looking for the Next Big Thing among talented newcomers." Toronto Star 01/16/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 11:21 pm
Local NPR Member Stations Still Need Help Yes, National Public Radio just got a gift of $200 million. But "the truth is that the Kroc gift will have no effect on the financial needs or the fundraising efforts of NPR's 750 member stations. Instead of receiving financial support from NPR, these stations have to pay for NPR programming." And the gift might even have a negative impact as donors assume public radio is now awash in cash. Christian Science Monitor 01/16/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 7:00 pm
Tobias: Hubbe's "Apollo" The Finest I've Seen Next up in New York City Ballet's Balanchine celebration - Apollo. "At the first showing of Apollo in the New York City Ballet’s Balanchine 100 Centennial Celebration—in the curtailed staging, alas—Nikolaj Hübbe offered an Apollo in the tradition that charts the god’s evolution, giving a performance that I consider one of the finest accounts of the role that I’ve witnessed and one of the most illustrious in his career." Seeing Things (AJBlogs) 01/15/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 8:59 pm
- At The Ballet - A Musical Scandal Terry Teachout attends City Ballet's latest Balanchine installment and is appaled by the orchestra: "I learned long ago not to expect miracles out of the NYCB pit orchestra, but I was shocked by what I heard. The playing of the string section in both pieces was ill-tuned and inaccurate, and in the case of Concerto Barocco the performance, particularly in the first movement, was so rhythmically uncertain as to adversely affect the quality of the dancing on stage. Dancers can't do their job when they're not sure what tempo to take. My friend was appalled. I was embarrassed." About Last Night (AJBlogs) 01/15/04
Posted: 01/15/2004 8:45 pm
