Make It Real (But What Is Real?) "The way we perceive what we call 'real' speech in drama is constantly changing: the mirror held up to nature is a lens whose focal length changes with time. In the theatre the search for documentary truth is the logical extension of an art form that seeks to present slices of life while always reminding the spectator (unlike film) that what they are watching is a simulation of life, a metaphor for it, not the real thing. The desire to make that experience of simulated reality more "real", more like life as it is rather than how it's supposed to be, is the motor of modern theatre." The Guardian (UK) 02/21/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 5:20 pm
On The Trail Of Stolen Artifacts An ancient Egyptian stone stele unearthed a decade ago should have, under Egyptian law, "been turned over to the government, a recovered shard of the national patrimony. Instead, something considerably more commonplace happened. It became an outlaw. Quietly, it passed into the global antiquities market. Five years later, cleansed of its illicit origins, it emerged in New York as a rich man's prize, in the foyer of a Fifth Avenue apartment." The New York Times 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 6:21 am
A Raphael Forgery, A Caravaggio Copy "On Friday the National Gallery in London learnt that Raphael's gooey Madonna of the Pinks was probably a forgery; meanwhile the National Gallery of Ireland spent the week rebutting accusations that its precious Caravaggio, a moody nocturne representing Christ's arrest, was a second-hand Flemish copy, inferior to an original unearthed by a dealer in Rome. The reattribution wounded Irish national pride and the religious conviction that underpins it." The Guardian (UK) 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 5:06 pm
A Transit Station That Soars Architect Santiago Calatrava has a winner in the transit station he has designed for the World Trade Center site, writes Blair Kamin. "That design, unveiled last month and expected to be finished in 2009, seems destined to become the finest piece of architecture at ground zero, head and shoulders above the awkward "Freedom Tower" that resulted from the stormy collaboration between architects David Childs and Daniel Libeskind. The transit station will simultaneously provide a grandly scaled civic gateway to lower Manhattan and the kind of light-washed, cathedral-like public space that Chicagoans and other visitors rave about in Milwaukee." Chicago Tribune 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 4:52 pm
CD Sales Reverse Declines, Now Five Months Of Increses After a couple of years of sales downturns in the recording business, the industry has just racked up five straight months of sales gains. "So why are so few people in the music world ready to celebrate an industry comeback? 'The past four or five months has turned the predictive ability of all of us on its head. I think people are holding their breath'."
The New York Times 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 6:41 am
In RoadTrip: Struggling With A London Concert Hall Sam Bergman on tour with the Minnesota Orchestra: The orchestra plays Barbican Hall in London, a place the critics hate, and musicians find difficult to play in. "The audience is listening to the big picture, and we're working to create an understandable canvas, but the tiny muscle movements and mental adjustments required dictate that we must spend an inordinate amount of our time and effort on the seemingly insignificant details of our instruments and our surroundings. It's a bit like the paintings of George Seurat - huge, beautiful depictions of idyllic scenes, all created from tiny dots dabbed on the canvas one at a time. The artist obsesses over the dots..." RoadTrip (AJBlogs) 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 6:37 am
At The Philhamonic: Giant Video The New York Philharmonic, like many orchestras, is experimenting with giant video screens. "Just as, if you go to a football game, the camera focuses in on the face of the athlete. You wouldn't want to go to a movie and just look at the back of Cary Grant. You want to see his face." But the orchestra's players aren't enthusiastic so far: "It just seems like a bit of a sellout. Better we should spend the money on a hall that brings the audience closer to us. People might as well stay home with their big-screen TV's. It's going the route of MTV, and I'm not sure it's the way to go."
The New York Times 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 6:31 am
Celebrating The Out-Of-Tune As rap music became more commercial, it sounded more produced. So in the spirit of "keepin' it real", many of today's performers are eschewing the "fixing" of things like pitch and tone. And guess what? There's a lot of offkey singing... The Observer (UK) 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 5:27 pm
Sentenced To Listen - The Music We Don't Like Recently a Florida judge sentenced a man who was playing his music too loud to listen to opera. Andrew Mueller believes this is enlightened thinking: "It is time, surely, to update the legal code in this country, to enable judges to sentence the noisy to a punishment that fits their crime. Few things are as distressing to the spirit as music we don't wish to hear." The Guardian (UK) 02/21/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 5:16 pm
Wanted In Chicago - An Ambassador Of Music Conductor Daniel Barenboim paid close attention to the music as Chicago Symphony music director. But he was unwilling to be the orchestra's ambassador to the community. "In shirking the role of community ombudsman and de facto fundraiser that the CSO board had envisioned for Barenboim when large deficits are an almost yearly occurrence, he created an untenable position for the institution, in the view of the trustees. Rather than face compromise or divert himself from his main concern -- making music -- the controversial, 61-year-old musician chose a graceful exit." So what kind of director does the famed orchestra need? Chicago Tribune 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 4:48 pm
In Connecticut - Are Arts Supporter's Troubles Trouble For The Arts? Connecticut governor John Rowland has been a major supporter of the arts. Now the governmor's in trouble, and his "troubles couldn't come at a worse time for cultural groups. The arts are weathering tough economic times locally, statewide and nationally. New initiatives are being downsized or postponed. And a new state super-agency - established by the legislature at the governor's urging last year to oversee the state's interests in tourism, arts, history, culture and film - is still finding its identity, focus and voice. During this time of trials and tribulations for the governor, is the arts agenda lost?" Hartford Courant 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 6:30 pm
Kinnock To Head British Council Neil Kinnock, former leader of Britain's Labour Party and currently vice-president in charge of reforming the European civil service for the European Union, has been appointed head of the British Council. The Guardian (UK) 02/21/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 5:10 pm
Marathon Performance - Acting In Six Shows In One Night? Actress Jerry Hall is going to attempt to set a record for the most number of performances on London's West End in one night. She'll be appearing in at least half a dozen shows in a single evening. "The bid is part of One Amazing Week, a series of cultural events in London. The 47-year-old will have to dash across London's theatreland on foot and rickshaw to complete the feat." BBC 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 6:53 am
The National's Hytner Team "Nicholas Hytner took over as artistic director last April and in less than a year has turned the sometimes recalcitrant South Bank complex into a house of hits of an order unmatched by his predecessors. Is Hytner's a one-man fiefdom? No, actually, and certainly not in the style of Trevor Nunn, his predecessor, whose five-and-a-half-year tenure was very much given over to none other than Nunn." The Observer (UK) 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 5:24 pm
Books - Growing On Internet Time What accounts for the enormous explosion of book publishing in recent years? "There are many possible explanations for the Triffid-like growth of the book trade. You might blame the quest for the fool's gold of turnover. You could point to the global expansion of the English language and the consequent search for new markets. Follow this logic and you could also cite the opening up of new independent markets in Ireland, Scotland, India and China, indeed virtually anywhere in the known world. Beyond the hectic traffic of the marketplace, the IT revolution has liberated the business from the restrictive practices associated with hot metal. The new technology has accelerated book production. It has also speeded up the editorial side." The Observer (UK) 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 5:44 pm
Of Movies, America, And The Power To Shape Minds "America's dominance of the movie industry across much of the world is not just a matter of money and big business. Popular culture celebrates American values and it presents a particular American view of the past..." BBC 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 7:05 am
UK Closes Tax Loophole, Filmmakers Angry The UK has closed a tax loophole that helped finance movies, and producers say at least 40 movies in production will be affected, including some that now won't be made. "The loophole allowed 'tax partnerships' to be set up in which investors would put money into a project but pull out before the film made money." BBC 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 6:59 am
Canadian Digital TV Struggles Canadian digital TV was switched on in 2001 with 45 new subscriber channels. It's hardly been a success. "How do you market in a mass way when more than half of the country still doesn't have digital service? How do you persuade people to add the channel once they've already chosen their core package? But for a channel that will always earn 90 per cent of its revenue from subscribers - as opposed to advertisers - it's a problem that has to be solved." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/23/04
Posted: 02/23/2004 6:48 am
Judge Disallows DVD Copying Software A US Federal judge has ruled that a company must stop selling a software program that allows users to make copies of DVDs. But the company vows to appeal: "There is no difference between making a copy of a music CD for personal use and making a backup of a DVD movie for personal use. We are so firm in our belief in the principle of fair use that we will appeal this ruling immediately. And we will take our fight all the way to the Supreme Court, if that's what it takes to win." Wired 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 6:53 pm
Own Your Own TV Show "TV-themed DVD sales topped $1 billion in 2003, a gold mine for formerly overlooked assets that had been collecting dust in studio vaults. Nurturing the trend, the studios in 2003 doubled the number of TV titles released in 2002. The TV on DVD business is expected to grow substantially again this year. That's found money beyond the syndication market, a revenue stream that simply wasn't there before." Denver Post 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 5:00 pm
The Cuban Connection "After nearly half a century of defections, including 20 in 2003, Cuban dancers and teachers are exerting a powerful influence on American and world dance that brings to mind the profound impact Russian dancers brought to the West as their defections mounted in the dusk of the Soviet empire." Miami Herald 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 6:40 pm
A Shadow Of Mikhail Mikhail Baryshnikov is on another tour. But his aging body isn't keeping up. "In brief, he sells tickets on his reputation and performs whatever he's commissioned from contemporary dance-makers, slight though the result might be. But how much can a choreographer ask of a vintage instrument in a fragile condition? Fit though Baryshnikov is, he has endured knee surgery many times. For his European tour, he's had to abandon a tricky solo..." The Observer (UK) 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 5:41 pm
Remembering Isadora Duncan Isadora Duncan changed ballet with her unusual personal style. "Duncan has gone down in history as a hard act to follow - a one-off original who, from mixed motives of exhibitionism and evangelicalism, believed she could change the world. She was born in California in 1877 and raised by her mother in a very West Coast bohemian style." The Guardian (UK) 02/22/04
Posted: 02/22/2004 5:04 pm
