Celebrating Boredom "We're terrified of boredom and simultaneously sunk up to our knees in it, a post-"Seinfeld" generation running as hard and frantically as we can to avoid a condition we increasingly regard as inevitable. Not so fast. As more and more people seem to recognize, the universal experience of being bored -- unengaged, detached, afloat in some private torpor -- may be far more precious, fruitful and even profound than a surface apprehension might suggest. As ordinary as gray skies and equally pervasive, boredom deserves its own sun-splashed attention and celebration." San Francisco Chronicle 04/02/04
Posted: 04/02/2004 7:42 am
Lebrecht: Why American Arts Journalism Is So Bad Norman Lebracht doesn't think much of American arts journalism. "The failure to challenge is a fundamental flaw in US arts journalism. The tone in US arts coverage is uniformly respectful, uninquiring, inherently supportive." And how did this happen? Because there are few cities with multiple critical voices. "This monopoly places an unhealthy burden on critics. If theirs is to be the only voice to pronounce on a new show or the fate of an institution, they are obliged to wear a mantle of responsibility that is antithetical to good journalism. A critic is licensed to get it wrong from time to time. Restrict that license and the reviews grow safe and solemn. An era of incorporation fostered a pontifical tone in American arts criticism." La Scena Musicale 04/01/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 7:52 pm
Minimalism - Maximum Impact Minimalism seems to be everywhere these days, including a new retrospective show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. "Someone might surmise from all this that Minimalism's time has come, but it has always been around in architecture, music, dance, theater, literature, the ascetic impulse hard-wired in us. That is an implicit message of "A Minimal Future?," which includes Dan Graham's 1966 photographs of postwar tract housing, all of it identical except differently colored, illustrating how the Minimalist aesthetic of serial form is just out there, waiting to be noticed." The New York Times 04/02/04
Posted: 04/02/2004 6:52 am
The Kidnapped Sculpture - "Don't Go Breaking My Art!" Last week a sculpture was "kidnapped" off a London street. "The kidnappers, who call themselves AK47, have headlined their ransom note: "Don't go breaking my art" - believed to be a cryptic reference to the Elton John/Kiki Dee No 1 hit from 1976. They state: "We are AK47. We have captured Rodin's Drinker - a conceptual statue by art terrorist Banksy. Is it art or is it kidnap?" A second series of images shows the kidnap taking place. The sculpture has a strip of gaffer tape across his eyes and mouth. It is loaded on to a van and transported to what looks like a warehouse. The final picture is blurred, but it seems to show a hand holding a gun to the statue." The Guardian (UK) 04/02/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 7:29 pm
Anish Kapoor To Create 911 Memorial Anish Kapoor is creating a sculpture to the British victims of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. The sculpture will be placed in a square near the WTC site. "The sculpture will be crafted from a block of black granite into which a vertical chamber is carved of approximately 1m [3.3ft] by 2.5m [8.2ft] by 80cm [2.6ft]. The inner chamber is polished to give a mirrored surface," said the Bombay-born artist. The chamber reflects light so as to form a column, which hovers, ghost-like, in the void of the stone." BBC 04/01/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 6:43 pm
To Share Or Not To Share, That Is The Question Recording execs are blasting a Canadian judge's decision that allows music file-sharing. "But ask anyone else connected in some way with music -- from artists and small record company managers to listeners and file sharers themselves -- and you'll get myriad views on the matter, pro and con. The decision Wednesday in a Toronto Federal Court against the Canadian Recording Industry Association's attempt to sue file sharers in Canada doesn't seem to have changed opinions much." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 04/02/04
Posted: 04/02/2004 6:59 am
Age Of The Producer We are living in the age of the producer. That's the guy who takes the music and wrestles it around until it comes out a hit. Producers are now stars in their own right, and their status is only increasing now that anyone with a laptop computer can do what formerly took a roomful of mixing boards. Four producers talk about how their business has changed. Christian Science Monitor 04/02/04
Posted: 04/02/2004 6:36 am
American Mavericks Wins Peabody The American music series "American Mavericks" has won a Peabody Award"American Mavericks' tells the story of the tradition-breaking composers who shaped the development of American music, from Charles Ives to Henry Brant, Harry Partch, Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich and others." The Star-Tribune (Mpls) 04/02/04
Posted: 04/02/2004 6:32 am
Violins - Some Wood, Some Strings, Some Sound We have a romanticized image of the violin-maker. The reality tends to be much more clinical. "Violins are made of spruce, maple and ebony. So anyone with carpentry experience could actually go out and buy a do-it-yourself book and build one. But without an idea of sound, it would be hit or miss." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 04/02/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 7:21 pm
Cautious Recording Companies = Dull Music? EMI is laying off workers, and recording companies are slashing their expenses. So is that really a bad thing? "The real risk with major record companies being in a position where they have to be cautious with their money is that they'll play safe, and the way to play safe is to play pop. That's the thing that many people overlook when they see the downloading as simply stealing music from rich companies. If those companies aren't able to invest in long-term artists, they will just continue to churn out manufactured pop bands." The Telegraph (UK) 04/01/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 7:16 pm
Recording Industry - The Big Gouge? The recording industry says suing downloaders has helped reduce piracy. And new legal download stores are thriving. "None of these actions has done anything to change the public's view of the music industry as one that gouges its customers. One reason that the illegal sharing of music files online is still so widespread is that music-lovers know how little of the price of a compact disc goes on its manufacture, or to the artist. Musicians, too, are becoming fed up." The Economist 04/01/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 7:10 pm
CD Sales: A Record Year Not To Be Proud Of "The Australian record industry has just had its best year ever. But it doesn't want you to know about it. This month ARIA announced its sales figures for last year. In its press release, it talked about Delta, it talked about falling CD singles sales, it talked about the rise in DVD sales, but at no stage did it tell us it was the industry's best year ever. Why bury the good news? Record industry types aren't usually shy about success. But this time their success is a little embarrassing." Sydney Morning Herald 03/29/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 6:58 pm
Legal Downloads Up, Choice Too The amount of legally purchased downloaded music has increased 10 times in the past year. But what's really interesting, is what is being downloading. "Music fans are downloading a wide range of songs, with the top 100 downloads accounting for just 11% of sales. This contrasts with CD single sales, where the top 100 CD singles account for 77% of total CD singles sales." BBC 04/01/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 5:50 pm
States Look At New Regulation Of Non-Profits "The battle to force not-for-profits, including arts groups, to strengthen their fiscal accountability has moved from Congress, where it raged during 2003, to the states, where three attorneys general are pushing tough, charity-regulating legislation." Backstage 03/31/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 5:28 pm
Singing Lucien Freud's Praises "Few artists attain the same respect in their lifetime as is given to the 81-year-old Lucien Freud. Respect not just from fellow artists or lovers of contemporary art, but from museums around the world who treat this violent, deliberately ugly and ungainly portrayer of the naked human body as a titan, securely established in the great tradition of Chardin, Manet and Degas, rather than a contemporary whose reputation has yet to be tried by time." The Guardian (UK) 04/02/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 7:26 pm
Cincy City Council Deletes Theatre Company From Grant The Cincinnati city council has taken a theatre company's name off a list of grants. Last summer the company staged a production of Terrence McNally's "Corpus Christie." No protesters appeared before City Council during recent discussions about the grant, but a local group -- the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati -- sent a mass e-mail entitled, 'Cincinnati City Council Subsidizing Blasphemy.' In the e-mail, CJC's leader, Nathaniel Livingston Jr., wrote: 'This is America, and everyone has a First Amendment right to free speech, even if the speech is offensive. There are, however, consequences to your actions. And there should be no reward for the producers of 'Corpus Christi'." Cincinnati Post 04/01/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 7:43 pm
Authors Auction Naming Rights For Book Characters For a fundraiser, leading British authors auctioned off the rights to name characters in their books. "Successful bidders at the third charity auction for victims of torture included a man who paid £1,000 to see his mother’s name appear in the next novel by the Irish writer Maeve Binchy. Another secured a role in books by two authors, bidding £950 for the children’s writer Philip Pullman and £240 for Sue Townsend, the creator of Adrian Mole." The Scotsman 04/01/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 7:35 pm
The Way Bad Book That Sold Millions A newspaper editor had an idea. "In 1966, appalled by the best sellers of Jacqueline Susann and others, he challenged his colleagues at Newsday, where he was a distinguished editor and writer, to perpetrate a book so mindlessly crass it could not fail. 'There will be an unremitting emphasis on sex. Also, true excellence in writing will be quickly blue-penciled into oblivion'." The book went on to sell millions of copies, crack the New York Times bestseller list and earn its authors $1.25 million. Seattle Weekly 03/31/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 7:02 pm
Media Pro Named To Head BBC Michael Grade is to be named the BBC's new chairman, replacing Greg Dyke. "Grade has immense media experience - having headed Channel 4 - and was among the favourites to take the job despite being viewed as a maverick." BBC 04/01/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 5:47 pm
US Broadcasters Consider A Code Of Decency Scared that the US government might draft rules about what constitutes obscene content, 350 broadcasters meet to discuss alternatives. One idea? An industry code that broadcasters could follow. "I believe the industry could come together and craft a new code, perfectly able to pass court muster, and one that would serve the needs of businesses as well as those of concerned families." Washington Post (AP) 04/01/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 5:42 pm
Will Digital Save The Arthouse Film? "A New York-based company is trying to take art-house movies to small cities around the country by relying on digital projection. The company, Emerging Pictures, has sent computer hard drives to theaters in five cities to coincide with the opening on April 1 of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C. The hard drives, which can be connected to inexpensive digital projectors, contain 10 digital films from the documentary festival." The New York Times 04/01/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 5:38 pm
Canada Dance Fest Almost Shut For Lack Of $100,000 The Canada Dance Festival, the country's largest dance event, was almost canceled this year because of a $100,000 funding shortfall. But the biennial festival will go on in June, reduced to 14 performances, "less than half its previous scope. The festival had budgeted receiving about $100,000 in private sector sponsorships and support, but its requests were turned down." Toronto Star 04/02/04
Posted: 04/02/2004 7:33 am
Just Can't Stay Away - Aussie Ballerina Unretires "Former Australian Ballet principal dancer Simone Goldsmith has announced that she will dance in a new work at the Sydney Dance Company, just three months after retiring from the flagship ballet company." Sydney Morning Herald 04/02/04
Posted: 04/01/2004 7:38 pm
