An Invented World (It's Nice In Here) "In an entertainment culture suffused with spectacle, the desire to be dazed, dazzled, carried away and left speechless has never seemed more compelling. In movie houses and theaters, rock concert arenas and horse-filled tents, visual amazement abounds and overwhelms. Language, lyrics, character and narrative make way for sensory superabundance. Buffeted by world events too menacing to fathom, we've become eager, wide- eyed witnesses, our faces longingly pressed to ever larger windows. We want to be enveloped and transported by intensity now, not merely diverted. Consider some of our current fixations." San Francisco Chronicle 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 7:43 am
Why You Can't Understand Sopranos Why is it so difficult to understand what sopranos are singing when they sing high notes? "Acoustical physicists have carried out an experiment that demonstrates why different vowel sounds are almost impossible to distinguish when sopranos are singing in the highest octave of their range. The experimental subjects were eight professional operatic sopranos." Physics Today 03/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 6:24 pm
Foster Chosen For Smithsonian Project The Smithsonian has announced that Norman Foster has been selected to design a huge glass canopy that will enclose the courtyard of the Old Patent Office Building in Washington DC. "The building, which is home to the Smithsonian's American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, is undergoing a top-to-bottom renovation." Washington Post 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 7:31 am
Survey: Swiss Have The Museum Habit A new survey reports that "half the Swiss population visits a museum at least once a month. A quarter of those polled said they had attended an exhibition at least ten times in the past six months." Neue Zürcher Zeitung 04/16/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 10:01 pm
Berlin Biennial A Drag Berlin is a great art city. But its Biennial is oh so wrong. "The biennial is subtitled Complex Berlin, and it is a complicated affair. It supposedly deals with the city itself; with politics, economics, club scenes, subcultures and "sonic scapes"; the city as a leitmotif, migration as a metaphor, division, history, integration and paradox. You get more sense of this, of course, walking Berlin, doing the Walter Benjamin thing, losing yourself. This biennial is a grind." The Guardian (UK) 03/16/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 9:29 pm
Royal Academy Row Over Destroying Art To Get At Art Below "A row has broken out among the guardians of Britain's cultural heritage over the proposed destruction of an acclaimed series of Victorian paintings on a ceiling at the Royal Academy of Art, to "reveal" an earlier masterpiece." The Guardian (UK) 03/16/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 9:26 pm
Trafalgar Statue Chosen Judges have chosen the statue of a pregnant victim of thalidomide to occupy the fourth vacant plinth in Trafalgar Square in London. "Alison Lapper says her portrait, by the artist Marc Quinn, is 'naked, pregnant and proud'. Her portrait, made when she was eight months pregnant, was chosen last night by the judges to be created on a monumental scale, 4.5 metres high (15ft) in white marble, and take its place among the bronze generals and grubby pigeons on the fourth plinth which, despite more than 150 years of arguing, has been empty since the square was created." The Guardian (UK) 03/16/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 9:20 pm
A Resale Fee For Australian Artists Proposed A proposal for Australian artists to receive 3 percent of the resale of art is on the table. "Unlike writers, musicians and composers, Australian artists do not receive royalty - or droit de suite - payments. This means that if an artist's work is resold at auction, or by an agent or private gallery for more than its original price, artists do not reap the rewards." The Age (Melbourne) 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 4:46 pm
Is Aboriginal Art Boom Sustainable? "Aboriginal art is now worth $10 million a year to the salerooms - up from a mere $620,000 a decade ago. But Sotheby's has been taking 60 per cent or more of the total and its main competitors want to grab their share. Others have tried, however, and failed. And whether there are enough collectors in Australia or overseas to keep five big salerooms running profitably seems highly doubtful." The Age (Melbourne) 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 4:41 pm
Larsen: Women Composers Making Progress When composer Libby Larsen started out, there weren't many women composers successfully making careers writing music. "After 30 years, it's 'like night and day.' The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers has 900 entries. There is now community, history, a consistent body of professional work and generations upon which to build. 'I can see the next one coming,' says Larsen knowingly. 'You need seven generations to make a big change. We can now, at least, find five'." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 8:03 am
Tower Records' New Lease On Life Tower Records emerged from bankruptcy court Monday. "Tower leaves bankruptcy protection with a far lighter debt load and a sunnier outlook. The music business seems to be coming back - CD sales nationwide are up 14 percent this year, according to Nielsen/SoundScan market research - and Tower's revenue has inched up since August, reversing a multiyear decline. Tower says 90 of its 93 stores make money." Sacramento Bee 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 7:58 am
iTunes: 50 Million Served Apple has sold 50 million songs through its iTunes service, and is currently selling about 2.5 million songs a week. "Crossing 50 million songs is a major milestone for iTunes and the emerging digital music era," said Apple boss Steve Jobs. BBC 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 7:24 am
How Easy Listening Took Over The Top 10 Time was that the UK's Top 10 charts bristled with pop energy of the latest thing. But look at them now - the list is dominated by easy-listening and soft jazz. "Of the few pop acts that remain in the Top 10, the mellow Zero 7 and newly-soulful Will Young sound distinctly adult. So how did every day come to sound like a dinner party?" BBC 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 7:18 am
LA Opera In The Fast Lane "Los Angeles Opera is growing like a rambunctious weed. In 2004-5 there will be 100 performances, a 30 percent increase over this season. The budget of $48 million is up by a third over this season and double what it was when Plácido Domingo took over as general director five years ago. These numbers put Los Angeles in position to challenge San Francisco's longtime West Coast operatic primacy and to surpass, in terms of quantity if not necessarily quality, other worthy companies like those of Seattle and San Diego." The New York Times 03/16/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 9:34 pm
Saving The Building Blocks Of Jazz "In a campaign long on ambition and short on funding, music aficionados and historians have targeted for preservation nearly 2,000 New Orleans-area buildings connected to the birth of jazz — from the childhood homes of its pioneers to the mammoth halls where they performed. By poring over old phone books and dusty property records, through word of mouth and even the stubs of timeworn rent checks, researchers and historians have identified more than 600 homes and 1,300 performance halls linked to the early days of jazz." Los Angeles Times 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 5:37 pm
Wanted Above All: A Singer Of (Vocal) Heft Yes there's a trend towards hiring svelte singers who can look more like the opera roles they're performing. But "if there is a truly extraordinary voice, you'll make a place for it, regardless of how the singer looks or moves." Apparently not, writes Charles Ward, if you're London's Royal Opera. Houston Chronicle 03/10/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 5:32 pm
Out, Damn Obscenity! America's morality police are on the warpath again. "The threat of tougher punishment for those who outrage public decency has the broadcast industry in a semi-panic. The National Assn. of Broadcasters issued a statement last week that, somewhat nervously, said, 'We hear the call of legislators and are committed to taking voluntary action to address this issue.' One wonders exactly what that portends." Los Angeles Times 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 9:01 am
Another Cuban Artist Denied Visa To US The US continues its puzzling policy of denying visas to artists wanting to visit the United States. Latest victim, reports a gallery in Washington DC, is Cuban artist Sandra Ramos, whose work is in the permanent collection of American museums including The Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She's visited the US many times, but her visa was denied to attend the opening of her new show at DC's Fraser Gallery. Fraser Gallery News 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 8:10 am
Florida Legislature Considers $21 Million In Arts Funding A bill providing $21 million in state funding for the arts is being considered by the Florida legislature this week. "It marks the end of a one-year funding hiatus begun when the Legislature emptied the state’s arts trust funds, leaving no money for cultural grants. Florida’s museums and other arts centers have more than $8 million in private donations from as far back as 1999 that they can’t touch, awaiting matching state money." The News-Press (Florida) 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 5:27 pm
Miami PAC Construction "Spiralling" Out Of Control? Miami's new Performing Arts Center is in trouble. The $255 million project is late and over-budget. "With construction costs threatening to spiral 'out of control,' the Performing Arts Center's completion date has been pushed back about another six months to the summer of 2006. Change orders from the builders requesting more money are pouring into Miami-Dade County at the rate of $1 million a week. County officials fear cost overruns could reach close to $100 million." Miami Herald 03/13/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 4:31 pm
Rapped Attention - Is Police Scrutiny Of Rappers Proper? Across America "police have been secretly keeping tabs on dozens of visiting rap artists such as 50 Cent, Ja Rule and P. Diddy. At issue: Are investigators violating constitutional freedoms by gathering dossiers and taking pictures of artists in public places -- merely because they're part of a hip-hop industry that has been tainted by murderous violence?" Miami Herald 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 4:15 pm
- Big Brother And The Rappers Revelations that American police officers nationwide have been tracking rappers' movements have shocked some. Using a police network "to track rappers takes Big Brother tactics to a new, ''onerous'' level. 'This is, from what I can tell, unprecedented. There's been nothing on that scale.'' Miami Herald 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 4:04 pm
Bolshoi Ballerina Barred From Leaving Country Russian ballerina Anastasia Volochkova, who was fired from the Bolshoi Theater (for supposedly being too big)and then rehired by court order, was barred from leaving the country for a performance Monday. Officials took her passport, and later said she was prohibted from leaving because of claims by construction companies that she owed them $76,000 for renovations on her apartment. She has disputed the claims. Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP) 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 7:46 am
KC Cellist, 30 Veronica Freeman, a popular cellist with the Kansas City Symphony since 2000, died Thursday, one week after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. She was 30." The orchestra described Williams as “the heart and soul of the band ... the uniting factor of the orchestra.” Kansas City Star 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 6:28 pm
Sitarist Khan, 76 Vilayat Khan was a pioneer sitar player of Indian classical music, "he was one of the first sitar players to take his music overseas. Khan came from six generations of musicians, and taught and performed Indian classical music in the United States." BBC 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 3:48 pm
Vagina Monologues Banned In Madras A production of The Vagina Monolgue starring Hollywood actresses Jane Fonda and Marisa Tomei has been banned in the Indian city of Madras. The show, which has been a controversial sell-out around the world, explores female sexuality and strength through individual women telling their stories through monologues. Madras police refused permission to stage the show after finding certain portions of the script 'objectionable' and warning it could pose a threat to public order." BBC 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 3:53 pm
Shakespeare et al Online Britain's National Archive is busy putting thousands of historical documents online. "Shakespeare's will reveals how he bequeathed his second-best bed to his wife, Anne Hathaway. Wills from Jane Austen, Sir Christopher Wren and Horatio Nelson - the latter's with a personal diary - can also be viewed at DocumentsOnline. The documents span six centuries of British history from 1384 to 1858." BBC 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 7:26 am
Movie Directors Vy For The TV Screen "In a remarkable crossing of media, 23 feature directors, including Rob Reiner, Ivan Reitman, Barry Sonnenfeld and Bryan Singer, are preparing pilots for shows vying for placement on all six broadcast networks. At most, only a few will be picked up. But the effort shows an important swing in the entertainment pendulum: the acceptance of television as a creative and thriving medium that no longer stands as the stepchild to the big screen." Los Angeles Times 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 8:55 am
Tsing Loh Offered Job Back, Refuses A week after firing commentator Sandra Tsing Loh for uttering an obscenity in a commentary, the Santa Monica public radio station KCRW offered her her job back. "Late last week, station General Manager Ruth Seymour apologized to Loh and reversed her decision to terminate the commentator for using a four-letter obscenity on KCRW-FM (89.9). But Loh turned down the station's offer Monday, citing what she called a "toxic" environment there." Los Angeles Times 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 8:50 am
- Previously: Tsing Loh Fired From KCRW The new American crackdown on broadcast "obscenity" has claimed its first public radio personality. Commentator Sandra Tsing Loh, who is known nationally for her contributions to Public Radio International's Marketplace and This American Life, has been fired from her regular position at Los Angeles-area station KCRW after using an expletive in one of her Sunday monologues. Loh claims that the word was supposed to be bleeped out in editing, but the station claims it was a deliberate attempt to flout broadcast standards, and, in a telling statement, called the firing "a precautionary measure to show the station has distanced itself from Loh in case the FCC investigates the matter." Los Angeles Times 03/04/04
- Are Public Broadcasters Wimping Out? Why do public broadcasters seem even more afraid of an FCC crackdown than commercial broadcasters? "That no broadcaster has ever lost its license for obscenity or indecency, however, seems entirely lost on public broadcasters. Although they preen over their intellectually superior, cutting-edge programming, they have devolved into some of the most timid and conformist contributors to the programming mix. In this environment, the government need never take any real action to accomplish a chilling effect on an already jittery broadcast community. The head of the FCC or an influential congressional committee chairman need only clear his throat, and industry 'leaders' are set scrambling to shoot their wounded." Los Angeles Times 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 8:40 am
Digital Flames Do In Bollywood f/X Teams Bollywood's effects teams are a busy lot. "They blow up buildings and cars, create rain, storms, smog, smoke, fire, confetti and rig up explosions and organise stunts. But today the 500 or so movie effects artists are a despondent lot. With Bollywood cinema becoming slicker, special effects shops have sprung up all over Bombay, taking away a lot of their business. BBC 03/16/04
Posted: 03/16/2004 7:14 am
TV's High Definition (Worry) Lines "Although high-definition television promises to bring sporting events into the nation's living rooms in unequaled clarity, it's also delivering something else to the television business: worry lines. With HDTV -- which provides images five times sharper than those on a regular TV set -- makeup cannot be caked on to hide acne scars because the heavy layers are plainly evident. Too much powder looks obvious." Chicago Tribune (OS) 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 6:15 pm
Waltz With Me "Sunday marked the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss I, a hugely popular composer of nearly 300 works, whose legacy lives on long after his death in 1849. Strauss' music, along with that of a contemporary named Joseph Lanner, sparked what became known as the Viennese waltz, a faster, more elegant and more intimate version of the rigid box-step that preceded it. Originally dubbed the "forbidden dance" because couples touched while twirling about, the Viennese version was highly controversial when it first emerged in Austrian ballrooms and dance halls." Chicago Sun-Times 03/15/04
Posted: 03/15/2004 4:51 pm
