Everybody's Favorite Color There's just something about the color blue that seems to excite people. "Remember how cool it was when scientists declared the universe turquoise? What a letdown when they admitted their mistake and pronounced it beige instead. Interesting how a color can be traditional, exciting or electrifying as well. Despite its basic ordinariness as a primary color, blue often manages to be startling or unnatural... Similarly, blue is what stirs the hearts of collectors because, for whatever reason, blue has not been the go-to hue for most creators of things (unless you're talking Smurfs)." Chicago Tribune 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 5:50 am
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London's Booming Art Market "London is one of the dominant forces in the world's contemporary art market, second only to New York. At least that's the conclusion suggested by the success of the Frieze art fair, which opened in the capital yesterday. At last year's inaugural event, dealers sold art works worth up to £20m, according to the organiser, Matthew Slotover. The number of exhibitors this year has risen from 125 to 150, and hopes are that business will be better still." The Guardian (UK) 10/15/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 9:18 pm
And Next Season, The Worst Orchestra Has To Burn Its Violins A new reality TV show in the UK will ask viewers to help determine which hideous example of architecture gone awry is the country's "worst building." Viewer nominations will be accepted, and then a panel of experts will decide on the winning - or is that losing? - structure. The building will then be demolished on live TV. Somewhat surprisingly, the program is supported by the Royal Institute of British Architects. The Guardian (UK) 10/14/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 9:12 pm
Liz Taylor Sued Over Nazi-Looted Art Actress Elizabeth Taylor is the defendant in a new lawsuit over the ownership of a Van Gogh painting seized by Nazis in World War II. "The South African and Canadian descendants of a Jewish woman who fled Germany in the late 1930s say the actress should have known when she bought the painting for $US257,600 in 1963 that it had been stolen by the Nazis." The Age (Melbourne) 10/14/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 8:42 pm
Overpainted Raphael Discovered In Italy A previously unknown painting by Raphael has been discovered in a church in Umbria, where it had been hidden behind another work. The work's authenticity has been verified beyond doubt, and London's National Gallery is considering making a request to display it alongside a similar work it currently has on view. The painting "was only re-examined in the course of a survey of diocesan art works ordered by the present bishop of Gubbio, Pietro Bottaccioli. Restorers discovered the banner had been painted over, and decided to remove the later work, millimetre by millimetre, with scalpels." The Guardian (UK) 10/15/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 8:40 pm
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Miami Losing Classical Radio (Again) The AM radio station that stepped into South Florida's classical music void when the local public radio station abandoned the genre three years ago has been sold to a religious broadcaster, and will likely cease its classical programming by the beginning of 2005. WKAT had struggled to attract advertisers since going classical in the fall of 2002, and even arts benefactors in the area weren't terribly interested in helping the station out. Eventually, the station's owners were forced to sell in order to pay outstanding bills. Miami Herald 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 6:21 am
Jazz Finds A Home At Lincoln Center Lincoln Center's new $128 million performing arts center has finally brought jazz officially into the fold at New York's flagship musical institution. "No longer will it be squatting in someone else's territory, as it was at Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. Now Jazz at Lincoln Center can create concerts with a much greater sense of freedom in the practical aspects of scheduling and staging than it could in the past. The new complex, within the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, includes three performance spaces," ranging in size and style from a 140-seat nightclub to a full-size hall seating 1,200. The New York Times 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 5:08 am
Will Safe Programming Be The Orchestral Death Knell? Orchestras seem to be pulling away from adventurous programming as a knee-jerk reaction to short-term fiscal problems. But Norman Lebrecht fears that such decisions will only hasten the demise of orchestral relevance. "While a programme of family favourites may stabilise finances and reassure creditors, it casts into acute doubt the survival of the symphony orchestra in the modern world. Who, after all, needs so many orchestras if they all play the same music and none of it is new? It is a question that is starting to trouble hardcore supporters of live music." La Scena Musicale 10/14/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 10:15 pm
Lucerne's All-Star Orchestra There was a time, not too long ago, when the Lucerne Festival was only a minor blip on the classical music scene, but these days, the Swiss town is among the most important stops for the world's top touring orchestras. But it wasn't until Claudio Abbado came on board in 2000 that the festival developed the idea to create its very own dream ensemble. "What Abbado proposed was for the festival to have its own orchestra once again, but one of a very special nature... Its 40-odd members would be supplemented by players from the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, as well as front-rank chamber musicians and soloists. Indeed, the orchestra's roll-call was astonishing." The Guardian (UK) 10/15/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 10:08 pm
Getting Political, Without Words As artists, pop stars, and authors leap headlong into the political fray, why can't composers do the same? Obviously, it's a bit tricky for artists who work with notes and rhythms alone to make it explicitly clear that their latest symphony is meant as an endorsement of a particular candidate or policy, but some are trying anyway. "Although we rarely hear about it, the new music community is actively challenging convention, as it always has, using a wide range of artistic means to engage in a civic dialogue that stretches well beyond the scope of the upcoming election." NewMusicBox 10/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 9:48 pm
- Where's The Anger? Composer Phil Kline, who has penned a song cycle based on Pentagon briefings and anti-war material, worries that composers aren't angry enough about the state of the world to really make a difference. "I have a feeling that as far as the pain and the anger and the alarm in the music, we probably haven't heard anything yet, because I think a lot of us are just beginning to wake up." NewMusicBox 10/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 9:45 pm
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Arts PAC Prepares To Up The Ante Americans For The Arts has announced that it will create a political action committee to directly lobby politicians for greater arts support. The new PAC is funded by a $120 million grant from the Lily Foundation, and "one of the group's first moves will be to issue congressional report cards on individual legislators' support of the arts and arts issues. Another of the group's functions will be training advocates on how to promote bond, tax or other arts-funding issues in their communities." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 6:38 am
Brits Can Force ISP Reveals "The British music industry has been granted a court order forcing internet service providers (ISPs) to reveal the names of illegal music swappers." The ruling comes only days after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a federal decision prohibiting the American recording industry from using the same practice. BBC 10/14/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 8:31 pm
- Previously: Court Deals Recording Industry A Major Blow The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of the federal court ruling that barred the music industry from compelling internet providers to turn over the names and addresses of their subscribers. The decision could throw a major monkey wrench into the industry's tactic of suing illegal file-traders anonymously, then forcing providers to match the computer footprints with user information. A high court decision on whether it will rehear a separate case concerning the liability of manufacturers in piracy cases has not yet been announced. Wired 10/12/04
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Author Of Pop Music Encyclopedia Dies "Robert Lissauer, a music historian whose vast encyclopedia of American popular song, considered the definitive reference book in the field, settled innumerable arguments and started innumerable others, died yesterday... The first edition of Lissauer's Encyclopedia of Popular Music in America listed more than 19,000 songs, from Aaron Loves Angela to Zsa Zsa." The New York Times 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 5:42 am
Gee, They Always Say Such Nice Things About You Prominent operatic and theatrical director Jonathan Miller is taking shots at the audiences at large venues such as London's Royal Opera House, saying that "when people pay £150 a seat to see a production funded by the state, there is a sort of desire to see, reflected from the stage, an image of their own wealth." Miller prefers small theaters packed with devotees, where "you don't feel like you are waiting for the interval to go to the crush bar where you've ordered very grand drinks, and you bear your wife there like an ornamental hawk on your wrist. That's when I hate the arts. When it's enjoyed by a group of people who are there to display their privilege." The Independent (UK) 10/15/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 9:40 pm
Legacy Of A (Gay) Composer Benjamin Britten's homosexuality was either the most important factor in his life, or completely irrelevant to his career as a composer, depending on which historian is doing the talking. A new collection of Britten's letters purports to say the latter, and to "rescue" Britten's legacy from the clutches of historians bent on making him "the gay composer." But when scholarship starts with an agenda, it usually winds up leaving out a fact or two... Financial Times (UK) 10/14/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 9:02 pm
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Maybe They Didn't Factor In The Exchange Rate "A Toronto production company has failed to come up with the mil lions of dollars it had planned to in vest in several of this season's new Broadway musicals, leaving the producers of those shows scrambling to fill significant last-minute gaps in their budgets." Affected shows include a revival of La Cage Aux Folles, and the new musicals Brooklyn and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. New York Post 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 6:24 am
Puppetry Getting Over The 'Kids Only' Hump Puppetry is suddenly hot again, with marionettes playing leading roles at the movies, on Broadway, and even at the Metropolitan Opera. These days, students at the University of Connecticut can even major in puppetry. "But all this sophistication can be a bit jarring for some audiences. For many, 'puppet show' doesn't suggest existential crises - just something fun for their kids. And when they get something else, there can be problems." Hartford Courant 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 6:06 am
Shrek Moving To Broadway The director behind the runaway Broadway hit, Avenue Q, has been tapped to produce a stage version of the Dreamworks movie Shrek. The production will begin with a non-New York run in 2006, and then move to Broadway shortly thereafter. Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire will write the stage play, and theater and film veteran Sam Mendes will produce. The New York Times 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 5:33 am
Reports Of Our Demise... Is the Broadway musical dead, or just hibernating while the theater world decides on the best way to revive the form? After all, in the 500-channel world, it's difficult to determine whether an art form as broadly based as the musical should be trying to find its niche market, or still seek to appeal to all corners of an increasingly fractured audience. But even if the musical does make a comeback, it's unlikely that Broadway's melodies will ever again be recognized as "America's soundtrack." The Christian Science Monitor 10/15/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 8:48 pm
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Taking Poetry's Name In Vain Fans of high-minded pop singers like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Billy Corgan like to talk of lyrics as poetry, and to celebrate their favorite performers as not only musical geniuses, but literary lights as well. But such trite assessments may be selling the art of poetry short, says Robert Everett-Green. "Rock poets who break out of their medium and into published poetry are still rare... And yet the cachet of calling oneself a poet continues, even as poetry declines as a subject of public interest." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 6:00 am
Literature Regains Its Sex Life The sexual memoir has been gaining steam (no pun intended) as a literary form in recent years, and far from being near-porn, many of the books read like throwbacks to an age when sex was allowed to be beautiful, and not simply an animal act. "At a time when so much sexual writing aims... to demystify and de-emotionalize sex — to reduce it to a physical and hormonal process not much different from, say, scratching an itch — [the author] belongs to the old tradition of hyperbole and overwriting, the tradition of Lawrence, Norman Mailer, Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin, which sees sex as an avenue to spirituality, to the mystical and sublime." The New York Times 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 5:24 am
They Can Pick 'Em The UK publisher of Yann Martel's Booker Prize-winning novel, The Life of Pi, has capitalized on the author's success to the tune of a "£1.1m pre-tax profit for 2003", enough to place the once-struggling Canongate Books firmly back in the black. Canongate, which had twice been in receivership before its current run of good luck, is also the publisher for Booker winner DBC Pierre. The Herald (Glasgow) 10/15/04
Posted: 10/14/2004 9:32 pm
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Is Canada Really Stealing Hollywood Productions? A new study commissioned by the Canadian film industry disputes the idea that "runaway" movie shoots are hurting U.S. interests. "Despite claims of U.S. job losses, employment in the U.S. production industry has actually increased by 6.6 per cent since 1998." The report also disputes the figures in an earlier study backed by American actors and producers, which claimed that Canada had caused $10.3 billion worth of economic loss to U.S. film interests. Toronto Star 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 6:50 am
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Kisselgoff Out (Sort Of), Rockwell In At The Times John Rockwell has been named as the new chief dance critic of The New York Times, replacing Anna Kisselgoff, who will continue to contribute to the paper. Rockwell is the author of several books, and has been the Times' jack-of-all-trades over the years, serving as "chief rock critic, classical music critic, European cultural correspondent and Arts & Leisure editor. Most recently, he has been senior cultural correspondent and author of the Reverberations column in the Weekend section." The New York Times 10/15/04
Posted: 10/15/2004 5:18 am
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