Take A Pill And Forget Me In The Morning What if you could take a pill and erase memories that were painful? "Some memories can be very disruptive. They come back to you when you don't want to have them -- in a daydream or nightmare or flashbacks -- and are usually accompanied by very painful emotions. This could relieve a lot of that suffering." Research continues. But there are skeptics... Washington Post 10/19/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 7:50 pm
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The Earthquake That Rebuilt San Francisco's Museums The 1989 Bay Area earthquake the best thing to happen to the area's museums in a long time. Many museums were damaged in the quake and had to address plans to rebuild. "In the mid-1980s, nothing had happened to any of our museums in 50 years. The scene felt very retarded. Now, all these museums have reinvented themselves with new buildings and new initiatives that make people feel differently." San Francisco Chronicle 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 8:50 am
Serota: UK Government Breaking Museum Promises Earlier this summer the British government promised extra funding help to the country's ailing museums. But "since the summer, a mysterious silence has fallen, and Tate director Nicholas Serota now condemns what he believes is a broken promise. 'My fear is that far from it being the museums' turn, the museums will go to their traditional place - at the back of the queue'." What will get the funding? Sports. The Guardian (UK) 10/21/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 8:14 pm
An El Greco Out Of The Envelope An old man in Spain pulls out a dirty old envelope and reveals... an El Greco. "The elderly man said The Baptism of Christ had been in his family for over a century: he had no idea where it came from before that, and was astonished at its value - estimated at up to £600,000, although it could go for more at auction in December." The Guardian (UK) 10/21/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 8:12 pm
London's Contemporary Moves In the past decade London has emerged as a major hotspot for contemporary art. "The rise of the contemporary art market is being driven both by the age-old laws of supply and demand and by a change in taste. Collectors are finding it increasingly hard to buy great Impressionist and Old Master pictures, many of which are in museums, while living artists can feed a hungry market. Contemporary art is also more fashionable, especially among the new rich who have made their money in the past decade." The Telegraph (UK) 10/20/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 4:23 pm
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Opera's New Contemporary Themes "With many opera companies facing stagnating ticket sales and aging audiences, composers and producers are turning to contemporary conflicts and headline news in a bid to lure new crowds. A new batch of contemporary operas -- from rappers rhyming about Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to an experimental musical about Microsoft boss Bill Gates -- sets out to change that image." Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP) 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 8:56 am
What Does It Mean To Be A Classical Music Critic? What's the role of a classical music critic in the 21st Century? A symposium in New York last weekend dissected the profession. "The idea of critic as advocate was a central theme of the symposium and was alternately supported, tolerated, and scornfully dismissed." Gramophone 10/20/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 8:50 pm
Philadelphia Orchestra, Players, Extend Contract Talks Seeking to head off a strike by musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra set for Thursday, the city's mayor called players and management into his office Wednesday and got both sides to agree to a ten-day extension of talks. "Orchestra management says it is facing a $4.2 million deficit, and had asked the musicians to agree to a reduction in the size of the orchestra or a pay cut or a combination of both. It also wanted to change the pension system in a way the musicians say would reduce benefits. The musicians countered that cuts in personnel or pay would undermine the quality of one of the world's great orchestras." The New York Times 10/21/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 7:59 pm
- Philadelphia Orchestra Players Pessimistic In Contract Talks "Players of the Philadelphia Orchestra [Tuesday] reviewed the latest contract proposal from management, which they said was a lot like the first contract proposal from management, which they said looked a lot like management was trying to force a strike." Philadelphia Inquirer 10/20/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 5:06 pm
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The Canadian Artist "Close to one-half of Canada's artists live in just three cities -- Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal. And while the number of artists across Canada has increased by almost 30 per cent in the last decade, they're earning on average 26 per cent less than other workers in the labour force, a study released yesterday shows." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 8:32 am
Lincoln Centre's $1.5 Billion Impact On NY A new study measures the economic impact of Lincoln Centre on New York City. It's significant. "Direct spending on operations by Lincoln Center and all of its resident organizations, the report says, totaled $530 million in 2003; fully $350 million of that figure represented spending on employee wages and benefits. This translated into 9,000 full-time, part-time, and contract positions, equal to approximately 5,500 full-time employees." Back Stage 10/20/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 4:17 pm
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Far Leaving Bristol Old Vic "David Farr is leaving the Bristol Old Vic to take over the Lyric Hammersmith in London. He joins the theatre next June, replacing current artistic director Neil Bartlett, who steps down at the end of this month." The Guardian (UK) 10/21/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 8:18 pm
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Garcia Marquez Book Hits The Streets Nobel Prize author Gabriel Garcia Marquez's first book in a decade went on sale in Latin America Wednesday (released early because pirated copies were being sold on the streets) and the interest has been intense. "Editors said demand for the book has been so strong that they were already in the process of publishing a second edition of 50,000 to add to the initial Mexican release of 100,000 in softcover and 30,000 in hardcover." Chicago Sun-Times (AP) 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 8:24 am
Dispute Threatens English PEN A dispute about the "modernizing" of the English PEN writers' organization threatens to bring down the group. "Suspicion, distrust, backbiting, smear tactics, simple loathing and sometimes extremely unliterary abuse have come to characterise a struggle that has been waged until now behind the closed doors of London's literary salons." New Statesman 10/18/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 8:57 pm
Wal-Mart Cancels Order For Stewart Book Jon Stewart's "America" is the best-selling book in the country right now, but Wal-Mart has "canceled its order for the book after learning that page 99 features a doctored photo of nine naked bodies with the heads of the Supreme Court justices attached." Yahoo! (E-Online) 10/20/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 7:55 pm
Declining Use Cripples UK Libraries Book borrowing from public libraries in the UK is down dramatically, says a new report. "These figures mean that book issues have fallen by on average 31% in Britain since 1995. In England the fall since 1995 was 33% , in Wales 38%, in Scotland 32% and in Northern Ireland 28%." The Guardian (UK) 10/15/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 4:37 pm
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BBC Digital Radio Surges The BBC's digital radio stations are doing well. Very well, in fact, and commercial stations are complaining of "unfair competition"... BBC 10/21/04
Posted: 10/21/2004 6:53 am
Canadians: US Inflates Damage Of Runaway Productions A new study suggests that American TV and movie producers have exagerated the impact of American productions that film in Canada. "A Canadian consulting firm last week released a hard-nosed 45-page report accusing the U.S. industry of employing inflated statistics and scare tactics in blaming its northern neighbor for wooing productions away from the United States." Back Stage 10/20/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 4:19 pm
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New Scottish Ballet Wins Award Last year Scottish Ballet reinvented itself, cutting half its dancers and becoming a modern company. But the new company has won a prestigious award. "Scottish Ballet claimed the Outstanding Achievement in Dance prize from the Theatrical Management Association (TMA) in recognition of its modernisation programme and dynamic performances." The Scotsman 10/19/04
Posted: 10/20/2004 8:40 pm
