IDEAS
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas
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How The Internet Is Changing Popular Culture "More and more people are consuming their popular culture on the internet, particularly as faster connections become more widely available." In the process, the business and creative sides of our creative industries are being transformed. - BBC 03/14/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas/redir/20040314-41807.html
Back To The 50s: Renegades Of Cool As Pitchmen Fifties icons of cool such as Miles Davis, James Dean and Jack Kerouacare being used in commercials to promote various products. "Sure, nothing's sacred. And certainly there's more to the enduring appeal of 'cool' - an attitude that says, 'I know who I am, whether you know it or not, and I really don't care if you do' - than the marketing strategies that threaten to cheapen its legacy. But there's a bitter irony in the fact that Davis, Dean and Kerouac were anything but unquestioning, lock-step consumers." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch 03/14/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas/redir/20040314-41803.html
The Growing Divide: Europe And The US International politics over the past few years have magnified the cultural differences between Europe and the United States. "These growing divisions — over war, peace, religion, sex, life and death — amount to a philosophical dispute about the common origins of European and American civilization. Both children of the Enlightenment, the United States and Europe clearly differ about the nature of this inheritance and about who is its better custodian." - The New York Times 03/13/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas/redir/20040314-41793.html
ARTS ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues
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Ottawa Tax Revolt Threatens Arts Funding Taxpayers in Ottawa are revolting over plans to hike taxes. "The tax-freeze movement finds itself pitted against members of the arts community who are banding together to fight council over proposed cuts. The proposed budget would wipe out funding for 28 major festivals, fairs and events. Critics of any cuts charge that arts spending in Ottawa is among the lowest for a municipality in Canada, at $3.89 per capita. A report by Toronto's culture division last year found that Vancouver spends $17.71 per capita; Montreal tops the list at $26.62; Toronto spends $14.64." - The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/13/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20040314-41800.html
DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/dance
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Pacific Northwest Ballet - What Next?: Pacific Northwest Ballet directors Francia Russell and Kent Stowell are leaving the company after 28 years. In that time they built a struggling regional ballet into one of the country's best. So what happens when the guiding forces of one of Seattle's primary arts institutions move on? Seattle Times 03/14/04
http://artsjournal.com/dance/redir/20040314-41804.html
The Self-Effacing Diva: Alexandra Ansanelli is a young star ballerina at New York City Ballet. But she's so unassuming and self-effacing....can you be a prima star without the ego? The New York Times 03/14/04
http://artsjournal.com/dance/redir/20040314-41795.html
MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/media
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Should Indie Filmmakers Worry About Piracy? Major movie studios are worried about piracy. But how about smaller, indie films? Since indie films don't open with "event" releases, there's no rush for pirates to copy movies and sell them. Still, a popular indie movie can find itself being undercut at the box office by bootleg copies. Indiewire 03/11/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/media/redir/20040314-41802.html
The Man Who Made A Movie Without Leaving His Room Kerry Conran has spent 10 years working on making a movie on his computer. "Conran has not constructed a single set or miniature. Rather, they are computer images, built and animated in a virtual 3-D environment, or stitched together from photographs, which are then draped around the flesh-and-blood actors, who have been shot separately on an empty set in front of a blank ''blue-screen'' background, along with those few minimal props with which they actually interact (a ray gun, a robot blueprint, a bottle of milk of magnesia). The film, in other words, is one long special effect with Jude-Law-size holes in it." New York Times Magazine 03/14/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/media/redir/20040314-41797.html
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/music
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Will That Be Tunes With Your Latte? Starbucks is unveiling a new instore music service. The ubiquitous coffee chain plans to offer 250,000 songs for sale in its stores. Customers can then order tracks they like, have them burnt on to a CD and buy it when they leave. BusinessWeek 03/13/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20040314-41808.html
Pavarotti's Final Opera Curtain Luciano Pavarotti's final Metropolitan Opera performance Saturday night was his last opera performance anywhere, he says. "At the end, there was an 11-minute ovation that featured four solo curtain calls as everyone from the orchestra to the standing room section applauded and yelled 'Bravo'." BBC 03/14/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20040314-41806.html
Dyer: The Meaning Of Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti sang his last performances in opera at the Metropolitan this week. Richard Dyer: "This is not the occasion to survey Pavarotti's nonoperatic career in concert, arena events, on film and television, with the Three Tenors, and as a newsworthy talk show celebrity; all of that continues. What is important is that Pavarotti let all of his outside activities feed back into opera. He could have left the opera house decades ago and made even more money than he has, but he chose not to. The musical world needs its celebrities because they vouch for the validity of the art." Boston Globe 03/14/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20040314-41805.html
Hip-Hop For Old People? (Naw!) "How does one grow old gracefully in hip-hop? Truth be told, I'd rather talk about hip-hop's aging than my own, and since I have watched hip-hop from its infancy, I've been thinking about the relevant and parallel question: How does a culture like hip-hop, so invested in its youth, experience its own aging process?" Los Angeles Times 03/14/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20040314-41798.html
PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/people
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Joan Kroc - Supersized Philanthropy Joan Kroc was a dream philanthropist. "The maverick salvationist proved to be a maverick philanthropist, too. She gave away money the way the non-rich fantasize it should be done: no fanfare or foundations, no red tape or robber baron formality. Just the unexpected personal proffer of $1 million to prevent nuclear war, $3 million for a homeless shelter, $100 tips to the immigrants at the drive-through inquiring if she'd like fries with that . . . All the better if the lady in the blue Mercedes got away with her Filet-O-Fish (and a burger for her King Charles spaniel) without being identified." Washington Post 03/14/04
Posted: 03/14/2004 10:50 am
Pop Critic Departs NYT Neil Strauss, longtime pop music critic for the New York Times, has resigned after signing a deal to "ghostwrite porn star Jenna Jameson’s memoirs without telling his superiors first." Women's Wear Daily 03/12/04
Posted: 03/14/2004 7:14 am
PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing
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Buy Canadian? How Hard A Sell Is That? "Ask a literary agent about the prospect of selling Canadian fiction at an international book fair, and what would you expect? A gleam in the eye as they talk about the chance to hustle in the big leagues? An adrenalin-fuelled soliloquy as they praise new discoveries? A dazzling grin as they recall the Champagne downed to celebrate the deals they've brokered? Try suicide metaphors." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/13/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20040314-41799.html
Preaching To The Choir? Politiucal books are hot. But who reads them, and do they change anyone's political opinions? A researcher tracked buyers and discovered there is little overlapping of political ideologies among readers. In other words, conservatives buy conservative books and liberals buy liberal books... The New York Times 03/13/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20040314-41792.html
THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre
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How Woody Allen Fired Me Last year actress Annabelle Gurwitch was hired by Woody Allen for his new play. She was thrilled. But quickly after rehearsals began, he changed his mind. "I just couldn't believe Woody Allen was ruining my Woody Allen experience!" she cried. Less than two weeks after rehearsals began, she was replaced - fired - and she slunk back to L.A., "like a small-time crook." Now she's taken the experience, and in true show biz fashion... The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/13/04
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre/redir/20040314-41801.html
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/visualarts
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Acropolis Museum Plans Criticized "Critics around the world are expressing outrage at the proposed design for the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, which many believe will fatally compromise the setting of the Parthenon. The issue has become so heated that it is thought to have contributed to the downfall of the Greek Government at last weekend's election." INTBAU 03/14/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20040314-41809.html
WTC - Contemplating The "Safest Building In The World" For a variety of oh-so-obvious reasons, project managers of the new tower to rise above the site of the World Trade Center say they're building the "safest building in the world." "In an attempt to live up to that very public promise — to overcome public fear, and reassure prospective tenants — the designers of the tower are carrying out a most unusual exercise that is in equal parts brainstorming, forensic analysis and Götterdämmerung-style what-iffing." The New York Times 03/14/04
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20040314-41796.html
Where The Art Is: Miami Miami is now home to some major contemporary art collectors. Some collectors have been so successful in their hording that they've even built personal museums for their collections. "When we arrived here Miami was acultural. Now there are all these energies coming together that give it the excitement of a frontier."
The New York Times 03/14/04
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20040314-41794.html
