Preserving A Landmark, And Living In It Aficionados lust after houses designed by famous architects, but owning one isn't an easy task. The 1929 Lovell House, a Richard Neutra masterpiece, needs expensive renovations, and its elderly owner wants to do them. But she says Neutra's son is pressuring her to forbid alterations by future owners. Los Angeles Times 10/06/04
Posted: 10/06/2004 6:50 am
So What If It's Ugly? It's New Elbowing postmodern architecture aside, modernism has come back in vogue. As Caltrans' hulking new district headquarters in downtown Los Angeles suggests, this may mean a return to the days when architects and officials pretty much ignored city residents' vigorous opposition to the unfriendly designs they would have to live with. Slate 09/30/04
Posted: 10/06/2004 6:02 am
Art Rises On Taiwan-China Battlegrounds What with having to persuade the Taiwan military and get approval from China's Culture Ministry, an artist's vision for an exhibition that examines the legacy of war between Taiwan and mainland China took 13 years to be realized. But now, in the abandoned bunkers and minefields of Quemoy, Taiwan, the show has finally taken shape. The New York Times 10/05/04
Posted: 10/06/2004 2:51 am
Victoria & Albert Museum Robbed Thieves smashed a cabinet at London's Victoria & Albert Museum on Monday, and made off with the nine antique jade objects it contained. The pieces are estimated to be collectively worth over $100,000. The museum has launched an internal investigation into its security. BBC 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 10:29 pm
A Troubled Museum Comes Of Age The Los Angeles museum created by billionaire Armand Hammer to house his personal art collection got off to a terrible start when it opened in 1990. First, Hammer himself died only days after the opening, and lawsuits over the money used to build the museum followed. The organization "limped on with no clear identity, serving chiefly as a venue for staid traveling shows. [But] no more. Today the Armand Hammer, on Wilshire Boulevard in the Westwood section of Los Angeles, is considered one of the city's hottest cultural attractions, with a keen eye for emerging artistic talent and a busy schedule of 'destination evenings' that routinely draw crowds to the museum for readings, concerts and films." The New York Times 10/06/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 9:41 pm
Art That Aims To Stop A Killer Over the last decade, 380 young women have been brutally raped, tortured, murdered, and dumped along a remote stretch of the Texas-Mexico border. 800 more women are missing, with no real attempt being made to find them. "But now, a proliferation of art is emerging from the tragedies amid the blood and sand of the dusty industrial border town across from El Paso, produced by artists and performers fuelled by moral outrage and responding to what has become a human rights crisis and a bi-national scandal." The Telegraph (UK) 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 9:32 pm
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Minor Orchestra, Major Discord Canada's Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra made headlines a few months back with a pitched internal battle over a decision to terminate its music director. The orchestra has been trying to put the incident behind it, but much bitterness remains. Three members of the board of directors have resigned in the last month, and the remaining members are still sharply divided, with the minority side pushing for conductor Martin Fischer-Dieskau to be rehired. CBC News 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 10:10 pm
- Previously: Ontario Orchestra Decides Not To Rehire Music Director Several months ago the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony fired music director Martin Fischer-Dieskau. But an uprising among the orchestra's supporters won a commitment to re-hire him. After months of negotiations, though, the orchestra has decided not to rehire him. "Negotiations between Fischer-Dieskau, the symphony board and management fell apart over the weekend, with the symphony eventually deciding Tuesday evening that it could not meet with the Berlin-based conductor's demands, which reportedly included full artistic leadership of the symphony." CBC 04/28/04
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Where Is This Generation's "Guernica"? Among artists and intellectuals onstage at last weekend's New Yorker Festival, "questions were repeatedly raised about the political potential of art and the role of intellectuals to be socially responsible. There was an urgency to the question that reflected the reality of time and place, of a presidential election four weeks away and of the inescapable reminders of Sept. 11." But the answers remained debatable. San Francisco Chronicle 10/06/04
Posted: 10/06/2004 5:04 am
Major Layoffs Planned At Royal Festival Hall The refurbishment of London's Royal Festival Hall, which will begin with the hall's closure next summer, is expected to create 181 so-called "redundant" positions, and fully one-third of the venue's staff will likely be laid off. The staff will be increased again when the hall reopens in 2007. The Guardian (UK) 10/06/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 8:52 pm
Australia's Arts Policies: Same Old, Same Old It's an election year in Australia, and as Prime Minister John Howard struggles to hold his Liberal government majority together, the arts have taken a back seat to more hot-button issues. And despite some serious problems in the country's orchestral industry, and uncertainty surrounding the future of the National Portrait Gallery, neither the ruling Liberals nor the opposition Labour Party appear to have any new strategies for the arts. In fact, "the arts policies of the major parties appear to cancel each other out rather than break any new ground." Adelaide Advertiser 10/06/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 8:32 pm
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Republicans To Moore: No Underwear For Votes "Republicans are calling for film-maker Michael Moore to be prosecuted for offering prizes of noodles and underwear to encourage voting. The Michigan Republican Party accuses the director of bribery on his speaking tour to encourage students to vote." BBC 10/06/04
Posted: 10/06/2004 5:15 am
Comedy's Lovable Loser Dies Comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who built an extremely lucrative film and performing career on a single catchphrase (you know what it is,) has died of complications from heart surgery. Dangerfield's act was exceedingly personal, and consisted mainly of one-liners at his own expense, delivered with a chuckle and a sad-sack shake of the head. He got his first big break on the Ed Sullivan Show, and acted in more than 20 movies. Dangerfield was 82. The New York Times 10/06/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 9:55 pm
San Francisco Jazzer Vernon Alley Dies "Vernon Alley, the most distinguished jazz musician in San Francisco history, died Sunday after a long illness. He was 89. A man who broke down many racial barriers in his lifetime and played with the greatest musicians of his generation, Alley could have become one of the most famous names in jazz, but the bassist chose instead to spend his career in his beloved hometown." San Francisco Chronicle 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 9:26 pm
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There's A Downside To Winning A Nobel? "Winning the Nobel prize turns writers into icons and takes best sellers far beyond their own culture, but there is a price to pay for often reclusive people whose work requires solitude; the media spotlight. Thursday, a writer somewhere who may be unknown to most of the planet or almost a household name will get a call from the Swedish Academy which has awarded the top accolade in the world of letters since 1901. The phone will not stop ringing." Yahoo! (Reuters) 10/05/04
Posted: 10/06/2004 5:30 am
Arab World In Spotlight At Frankfurt Book Fair "Many popular Arab authors remain unknown in the West. That may change as the Frankfurt Book Fair invites the Arab League as guest of honor this year. But the nagging issue of censorship (in the Arab world) might not be touched upon at all." Deutsche Welle 09/29/04
Posted: 10/06/2004 4:19 am
But Your Money Is So ... Dirty When a well-known political figure pens a book, the automatic assumption is that all profits must go to charity. "But why this need to give away writing income at all?" wonders Erica Jong, who suspects the belief has something to do with the way we view writers and writing. "Of all natural resources, it seems, only literary talent needs disinfection, when what it really needs is nourishing." The New York Times 10/03/04
Posted: 10/06/2004 2:43 am
Those Crazy Nobel Voters "The annual Nobel Prize in Literature, which is to be awarded in Stockholm on Thursday, assures the happy laureate a gilded place in posterity. Or does it? The Swedish Academy is so eccentric in its choice that the astonished winner often enjoys 15 minutes of fame and is quietly forgotten. No less bizarrely, the academy has overlooked some pillars of modern literature, like Proust and Joyce. Then there are those well-known writers who year after year are considered to be contenders only to be disappointed. This year the word in Stockholm is that it is time for a woman to win again..." The New York Times 10/06/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 10:26 pm
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Where's The Truth In Web-Traffic Numbers? "The commercial web is 10 years old, yet the online publishing industry still hasn't figured out how to measure accurately the number of people visiting each site. What's at stake? More than $8 billion a year." Wired 10/06/04
Posted: 10/06/2004 5:41 am
Network Comeback The hottest shows on American television this fall aren't reality shows, and they aren't on HBO, or any other cable network. In fact, they're good, old-fashioned over-the-air network programming, with emphasis on "good." As it turns out, the networks that so many critics had all but dismissed as dinosaurs are still capable of drawing an audience, when they actually put a little effort into churning out high-quality programs. The New York Times 10/06/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 9:46 pm
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Congratulations, You Almost Have The Job A principal dancer with New York City Ballet has been named as the "lead candidate" to become artistic director of Seattle-based Pacific Northwest Ballet. PNB is stressing that 39-year-old Peter Boal does not have the job yet, and will return to Seattle later this fall for another round of meetings with the company's board members and dancers. Barring any unforeseen hitches in those interviews, Boal is expected to sign a contract by early 2005. Seattle Post-Intelligencer 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 8:24 pm
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