Brain Pills - A Good Idea? Within a few years, you may have the option of taking a “cognitive enhancer”—a drug that sharpens your mental faculties. But should you be allowed to do it? Is it fair? These and other ethical issues... The Economist 09/16/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 4:32 pm
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New MoMA Aspires To Culinary Heights, Too "The better the food, the more intense the museum experience," says Glenn D. Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art. So it should come as no surprise that the new MoMA, reopening Nov. 20, will include restaurants that complement the art, both aesthetically (the tableware can also be seen in the design collection) and in terms of aspiration (the restaurants are created by Danny Meyer). Ideally, people will refuel in one of the dining spaces and venture back into the galleries, refreshed. The New York Times 10/27/04
Posted: 10/27/2004 6:23 am
U.S. Seizes Nazi-Looted Picasso "FBI agents have seized from a prominent Chicago art collector a Picasso painting that European authorities say was looted by the Nazis. The government is allowing 'Femme en blanc' ('Woman in White') to remain in the possession of the collector who bought it nearly 30 years ago until the courts can resolve questions about its legal ownership. The oil painting, valued at more than $10 million, has been in legal dispute since 2002." Chicago Tribune 10/27/04
Posted: 10/27/2004 5:43 am
The Tate's Giving Program A number of well-known artists is promising artwork to the Tate to help fill in the museum's gaps in contemporary work. "In all, 23 artists are committed to giving - and the gallery naturally hopes this will become a fashionable bandwagon which others will wish to scramble aboard. At the most conservative estimate the promised gifts are worth £2.5m. But if an auction house could assemble such a collection, it would certainly go for many times more." The Guardian (UK) 10/26/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 5:59 pm
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Crisis Over, Pittsburgh Symphony Is In The Black "The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra finished its 2003-04 fiscal year with a $463,000 surplus, a far cry from the $1.73 million shortfall the year before." Foundation, individual and corporate giving was up, and operating expenses were down by $2 million, largely due to pay cuts of 7.8 percent for musicians and 10 percent for staffers. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 10/27/04
Posted: 10/27/2004 5:06 am
Modern Maturity (Needed For Levine & Boston) James Levine may indeed be what the doctor ordered for the Boston Symphony. But his first concerts indicate that the relationship needs consderable maturing, writes Justin Davidson. "The classical music world is hoping for a golden age in Boston, and the inscrutably genial Levine isn't lowering any expectations. This concert was not the apotheosis of that relationship, but the prelude. Let the work of subtlety begin." Newsday 10/26/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 9:31 pm
Hot Off The Ringer Cell phone ring tones have become a big source of revenue for recording companies. Now Billboard Magazine says it will start publishing a weekly top ringtones chart. "The new chart, known as the Billboard Hot Ringtones Chart, will reflect the "Top 20" polyphonic ringtone sales for each week, including song title, artist, previous week's position and number of weeks on the chart." Yahoo! (AP) 10/26/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 6:42 pm
ABBA-Slumming With von Otter Mezzo Anne-Sofie von Otter is an established star. And what is she recording next? And album of ABBA songs. Really? "Why apply a refined instrument that is trained to achieve a supernatural range on the works of a band that groomed itself for the most feeble-minded of musical conventions, the Eurovision Song Contest?" La Scena Musicale 10/21/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 6:37 pm
de Waart: Rebuilding Hong Kong The Hong Kong Philharmonic has had a tumultuous few years. Now Edo de Waart has taken over the orchestra. "Although de Waart's primary appeal is to the government, his comments seem equally pitched to the business community, from which he hopes to generate more private support. 'The challenge for a symphony orchestra in Asia is figuring out what and for whom we play. On one hand we're an inventor, trying to perfect our product. But we're also the shopkeeper, keeping track of who's buying'." Financial Times 10/26/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 5:50 pm
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Per-Capita Spending Falls in NYC Arts Education The New York City public schools' revised arts curriculum has yet to reach all students. "The Education Department has a spanking-new arts and music program this fall - but nearly 200 schools lack a full-time arts teacher and more than 500 do not have a music room, it was revealed yesterday. Meanwhile, arts funding has dropped to $57 per student from $63, school officials said yesterday after a City Council hearing on arts education." New York Daily News 10/27/04
Posted: 10/27/2004 3:25 am
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Lilian Kallir, 73 "Lilian Kallir, a pianist known for her elegant Mozart performances, both as a soloist and in duet recitals with her husband, the pianist Claude Frank, died on Monday at her home in Manhattan." The New York Times 10/27/04
Posted: 10/27/2004 3:04 am
Robert Merrill, 85 Singer Robert Merrill, who had a long career singing opera, but was more widely known for singing the national anthem at New York Yankee games, has died. "Clad in a pinstriped shirt and a tattered Yankees necktie, Merrill sang the national anthem at the Yankees' season opener for three decades, beginning in 1969." New York Daily News 10/26/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 6:50 am
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Newfoundland Director Snags Coveted Prize "Canada's richest theatre award has gone to an artist from one of its poorest provinces. Jillian Keiley, 34, the founding artistic director of the St. John's-based Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, was named the recipient of the 2004 Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. The prize comes with a $100,000 cheque, of which the winner keeps $75,000 and gives the remainder to a protégé of her choice: in this case, fellow Newfoundland director Danielle Irvine." The Globe and Mail (Canada) 10/27/04
Posted: 10/27/2004 4:17 am
Two Broadway Shows In Danger Of Closing The opening of "Gem of the Ocean," the new August Wilson play set to open in November, is in danger after a major investor pulled out. Meanwhile, "Brooklyn the Musical," the new $7 million show that opened to mediocre reviews on Thursday and has relatively small advance sales of $1.5 million, is also in danger of closing... The New York Times 10/27/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 10:38 pm
West End Waits For Three In London's West End, theatre-watchers are waiting for three big landmarks in the season - the return of two titans of the industry with new high-profile projects, and the opening of a sure-to-be mega-hit - The Producers... Backstage 10/26/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 4:17 pm
Will Mary Poppins Be Mackintosh's Ticket Back? Producer Cameron Mackintosh is trying to hit another home run with a production of "Mary Poppins". It contains songs from the old Disney movie plus some new music. "The oft-predicted demise of the blockbuster musical is still a long way off, the impresario, unsurprisingly, believes. 'The only thing that really changes is the writers. The profession can often be wrong about what the audience wants, but then someone will come up with something different'." Glasgow Herald 10/26/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 7:38 am
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On Writing Prize Shortlist, One Very Familiar Name Of the writers shortlisted for Canada's 2004 Governor General's awards, one is going for her fourth win. "Alice Munro, who has won Governor General's awards in 1968, 1978 and 1986, was shortlisted once again in the fiction category for Runaway, her 10th story collection, when the finalists were announced yesterday." Toronto Star 10/27/04
Posted: 10/27/2004 4:40 am
Reading About Vietnam, Thinking Of Iraq With U.S. forces embroiled in Iraq, thousands of people in Philadelphia will be reading and discussing a novel about the Vietnam War, written by a Vietnam veteran. Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" is this winter's timely choice for the One Book, One Philadelphia program. Philadelphia Inquirer 10/27/04
Posted: 10/27/2004 3:52 am
Graham Greene In A Time Of Bush-War "Greene has always been a difficult writer for Americans to deal with, so frank was his contempt for American materialism and, especially, he noted, 'American liberalism.' Were Greene alive and writing today, it would be this liberal—not reactionary—spirit he would identify in the Bush administration's crusading zeal, the endless terrifying unrealizable bromides on freedom, democracy, etc., that animated poor Alden Pyle in The Quiet American. Paul Wolfowitz would be the Pyle who survived, and made it to the top." MobyLives 10/26/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 9:39 pm
Book TV - Lit On A TV Drama? Norman Mailer makes a guest appearance on the TV drama Gilmore Girls. A real live author on a TV series? But Dana Stevens writes that "literature has played a supporting role on the show since its inception. With its rapid-fire, hyper-caffeinated dialogue and who's-got-a-crush-on-whom plotlines, Gilmore Girls could easily pass as another wholesome WB teen show à la Dawson's Creek. But beneath its giggly female energy and family-friendly values lurks the most bookish series on network television." Slate 10/26/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 6:28 pm
Ode Of A Bibliophile Thomas Benton is mad about books. "Anyone who collects old books knows that most of what we call "literature" is never read. Large collections of books are fetish objects rather than authentic scholarly resources. I'm like all those architecture students who feel compelled to buy a pair of expensive and uncomfortable Barcelona chairs. I have not yet given up on my professorial aspirations, and each new book is a small investment in that future, which, with any luck, could last another 40 years." Chronicle of Higher Education 10/26/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 4:24 pm
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ABT Cuts Operations American Ballet Theatre slashes costs in an attempt to turn the company's budget upright. "About 50 staff members will take a one-week furlough without pay, and many will not receive raises this year. Thanksgiving-week performances at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in California were canceled because of the high cost of putting on shows during a holiday. And the company's general manager was dismissed in a move that the troupe said was among cost-saving measures imposed even as the company has grown in dancers, number of performances and time spent touring." The New York Times 10/27/04
Posted: 10/26/2004 7:02 pm
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