When A Mime-Lover Becomes Mayor Bogota Colombia's mayor had an unusual approach to getting citizens to behave. He hired mimes to "follow, imitate and mock citizens who committed public incivilities like jaywalking, picking pockets and driving recklessly. So successful were the first mimes that 400 more were trained as "traffic mimes" to monitor pedestrians at street corners. Just how the good citizens of Bogotá responded to mimes holding up signs chiding their manners, I cannot say. To my knowledge no mimes met an untimely end. But the experiment was successful enough to be replicated in Lima, Peru." The New York Times 07/09/04
Posted: 07/09/2004 9:26 am
Europe: Rethinking Work With 35-hour work weeks and two months annual vacation, Europeans work much less than Americans. "From the 1970's until recently, Europe followed a philosophy of less is more when it came to labor, with the result that Europeans work an average of 10 percent fewer hours a year than Americans." But the realization is dawning that less work might not be working. "We have created a leisure society, while the Americans have created a work society. But our model does not work anymore. We are in the process of rethinking it." The New York Times 07/07/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 11:07 pm
Casino Bill = Philly Design Disaster Philadelphia is to have casinos under a new measure passed last week. The deal, writes Inga Saffron, is a potential design disaster for the city. "The slots bill, which was rushed through the legislature without the usual opportunities for public comment, strips Philadelphia of planning and zoning powers over its future casinos. Instead, a seven-member, state-run gambling control board will decide the big design issues, from the location of the casinos down to the location of their garage driveways." Philadelphia Inquirer 07/09/04
Posted: 07/09/2004 9:17 am
Diana Museum To Close? The Eral Spencer has denied reports that the museum dedicated to his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales, will close because of declining visitor numbers. "Last year, an estimated 80,000 people turned up to visit the tribute. Accounts in 2003 showed the 450-acre Althorp estate had made a loss for the past three years. It is said to need 120,000 visitors annually to break even." The Guardian (AP) 07/09/04
Posted: 07/09/2004 7:19 am
Royal Mail To Gallery: We Own Queen's Picture The UK post office has told a London art gallery to "destroy prints showing postage stamps of the Queen in a gas mask - and tell them of anyone who owns copies. Royal Mail says Cauty's prints - which were on show at the Tom Tom Gallery in Covent Garden - breach its copyright, based on photos of a portrait bust of the Queen by Arnold Machin." The Guardian (UK) 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 7:23 pm
Philadelphia Schools Unearth Art Windfall Philadelphia public schools go on a hunt for artwork in schools and come up with art worth millions. "The artworks -- 1,200 in all, including paintings, sketches, sculptures, murals, tapestries and ancient artifacts -- had been donated to the school system or bought for small sums long ago. Over the decades, many of them were taken down when the walls were painted and were put into storage, where they apparently were forgotten altogether. The collection is probably worth tens of millions of dollars, school officials and art experts said." Washington Post 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 6:39 pm
Legendary Tosca To Close A legendary Royal Opera House production of Tosca is finally seeing its final curtain. "The production was first staged 40 years ago in 1964, starring the legendary Maria Callas as Tosca and Tito Gobbi as the police chief Scarpia. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli, it has returned to Covent Garden year on year and been staged more than 230 times." BBC 07/09/04
Posted: 07/09/2004 7:23 am
Opera - A Lost Plot? "Down in the mists of Greenwich, miles from the nearest Ring, they are dusting off Graham Greene's only opera. Never seen it, say the buffs. Worth a tube trip for curiosity value. Add it to the stock of esoterica for the bar chat at Bayreuth. That's how opera fans go about their business, collecting wayside works for the inevitable Wagnerian longueurs." La Scena Musicale 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 10:56 pm
Road Show Opera - But Why? Wagner at Glastonbury, Boheme in Trafalgar Square... why are English opera companies hitting the road? "It does not matter whether anyone was in fact converted to opera by the Glastonbury Valkyrie, Wednesday's Bohème, or any of the educational programmes that have become de rigueur. No, what counts is that opera is seen to be reaching out to the unconverted, is seen to have outgrown its image as a bastion of privilege, is seen to be democratical ly accountable, however token the gesture." Financial Times 07/09/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 10:11 pm
A Bad Year In English Music In England, 1934 was the worst of years. Three of the country's best composers died within a six-month period. "The greatest, Edward Elgar, had been the first to die, full of years and loaded with honours, at his home in Worcester on February 23. Two months later, on May 25, Gustav Holst passed away in a London nursing home aged only 59. And on June 10, Frederick Delius passed away." The Guardian (UK) 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 7:18 pm
Music Industry Says Study Shows Downloading Hurts Music Sales Some say music downloading helps music sales. But a new study by the big music producers says that's not the case. Some "28 per cent of the people surveyed who reported buying less music in the last 12 months said the decline was mainly due to downloading, file sharing and CD burning. Fifty-two per cent of music consumers who don't download said they paid for music in the past month. Thirty-five per cent of downloaders said they'd bought tunes in the past month. When those who'd purchased were asked how they heard about the CD, only 2 per cent cited downloading." Toronto Star 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 6:45 pm
Philadelphia Orchestra, Musicians Union Far Apart In Contract Talks The Philadelphia Orchestra's contract with its musicians expires in September, and negotiators seem to be far apart. "Deficits are nothing new at the orchestra, but this season's shortfall is unusually large: $4 million. In response, management has already implemented a number of surprising cuts, asking music director Christoph Eschenbach to take a 10 percent pay cut, reducing fees for guest soloists and conductors by 10 percent, and asking administrators to take a week's unpaid vacation." Philadelphia Inquirer 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 11:40 am
Michigan In New Arts Funding Cuts? A year after Michigan slashed arts funding, another round of cuts appears to be on the way. "Across Metro Detroit, arts and cultural institutions are surviving — if not thriving — in the face of budget cuts, a sluggish economy and shrinking corporate and private sponsorship of the arts. But with another state budget deficit looming, they’re bracing for the state arts budget to be cut again, if not eliminated entirely." Detroit News 07/09/04
Posted: 07/09/2004 10:37 am
US House Rejects Limiting Patriot Act Library Searches The US House of Representatives has defeated a measure that would have limited the Patriot Act. "On a vote of 210 to 210 — a roll call that GOP leaders extended for more than 20 minutes to sway dissident Republicans — the House rejected an amendment that would have limited the Patriot Act by preventing the Justice Department from searching library and bookstore records to probe individuals' reading habits." Los Angeles Times 07/09/04
Posted: 07/09/2004 8:48 am
State Arts Funding Stabilizing? US state budgets are in better shape this year, and so arts funding may not be targets of cuts this year in most parts of the country. One survey sees "state expenditures growing by a national average of 2.8% during the next fiscal year. And one of the primary reasons why state legislatures and governors have cut arts funding so deeply -- deficits -- appears to be cresting and perhaps even receding a bit." Backstage 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 5:16 pm
Gordon Brown, Polymath Chancellor Gordon Brown is prime minister in waiting. This week he delivered a speech on Britain's place in the world that was the picture of erudition. He's a well-read polymath who draws on an amazing array of sources... The Guardian (UK) 07/09/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 7:46 pm
Janet Jackson To Broadway's Bombay Dreams? "The producers of the $14 million musical about Bollywood, which is hanging in there at the Broadway Theater despite some crushing reviews, have approached the pop singer and half-time flasher about joining the cast at some point, production sources confirmed yesterday." New York Post 07/09/04
Posted: 07/09/2004 9:35 am
Spamalot Gets A Cast The new Monty Python musical Spamalot is due to open on Broadway in February 2005. "Based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it will star Frasier actor David Hyde Pierce, alongside Tim Curry and Simpsons star Hank Azaria. Python star Eric Idle wrote the book for the musical, and collaborated on music and lyrics with John Du Prez." BBC 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 5:07 pm
Report: Why Americans Don't Read A National Endowment for the Arts report documents the decline of reading in America. "The NEA, like many other observers of trends, blames technology. In 1990 consumers spent 6 percent of their leisure spending on audio, video, computers and software. Now, according to the report, those items account for 24 percent of recreational spending. Book-buying hasn't done that badly, standing at 5.7 percent in 1990 and 5.6 percent in 2002." Washington Post 07/09/04
Posted: 07/09/2004 8:55 am
Fusilli: Why I Quit Book Reviewing Jim Fusilli quit his job reviewing crime fiction for the Boston Globe. "Writing that monthly column for the Globe was easily the worse job I've ever had, and this coming from a man once responsible for the nightly hamburger run for a dock's worth of Teamsters. The assessment has nothing to do with the Globe or Boston, which, one could argue, is the epicenter of American crime fiction." Why was it so bad? Too many books... Wall Street Journal 07/05/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 11:03 pm
New Saddam Novel Published Portions of a new novel by Saddam Hussein have been published in London. "The manuscript was found in Iraq's Ministry of Culture after the U.S. military overran Baghdad. The newspaper said it had received its copy from Saddam's physician, Alla Bashir, who fled the country following the war." CBC 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 10:37 pm
Defusing The Diffusion Of Grammar (Our Most Common Mistake) What's the most common grammar mistake in English? "Misuse of "diffuse" or "defuse" (as in "A coach can diffuse the situation by praising the players"). Research for the new Concise Oxford English Dictionary, published today, found that this word crime was committed in some 50% of examples on the database. It is now rated as the commonest in the language." The Guardian (UK) 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 6:58 pm
Writing Off Mr. Peck Reading critic Dale Peck on criticism, one gets to know what motivates him. "Loving and liking are as much a part of criticism as are hating and hacking; and that the impulse underlying good criticism ought to be affection for literature rather than animus toward writers. After his novels, after his memoir, and especially after Hatchet Jobs, we know pretty well whom Peck has hated, and why. Now it's time to say goodbye. The serious critic, after all, is measured—and judged—as much by what and how he praises as by what and how he blames; and he should be as stimulated by the pleasure he gets from his reading as he is by the pain." New York Review of Books 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 6:29 pm
LA Times Replenishes Critics' Ranks After the New York Times raided the LA Times' culture section for critics, the LAT moves quickly to find replacements. "The newspaper named recently hired TV critic Carina Chocano as its new movie reviewer, and show-biz columnist Paul Brownfield to be Chocano’s replacement as TV critic. Meanwhile, Los Angeles magazine’s star writer Amy Wallace confirmed to L.A. Weekly that she is being considered for the key entertainment industry beat position vacated by the NYT-defecting Michael Cieply." LA Weekly 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 6:06 pm
Law: Public Libraries Must Enforce Anti-Porn Act On Computers In the US "public libraries must begin taking steps to prevent child pornography and other harmful content from reaching the eyes of youngsters using their PCs under the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which went into effect July 1. If they don't, the libraries will lose critical technology funding from the federal government." SearchSecurity.com 07/08/04
Posted: 07/08/2004 5:53 pm
