The Next Frontier: Elective Neurology? "Some neurologists have recently wondered whether their field is the next frontier in elective medicine. The specialty now tries to protect ailing brains from conditions such as Parkinson's disease or migraine headaches. But doctors' efforts may one day extend to improving normal brains. This is coming, and we need to know it's coming. There's even a name for the field: cosmetic neurology." Philadelphia Inquirer 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 8:09 am
Plug In (And Get Smarter) "Sending a weak electrical impulse through the front of a person's head can boost verbal skills by as much as 20 percent, according to a new study by the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke." Side effects? A little itching or "fizzing" around the electrodes... Wired 11/07/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 10:22 pm
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Impressions At Auction Last week's New York auctions of Impressionist and Modern art hit records and signaled a strong market. "What detracted from what was in most respects an astonishing sale was that Sotheby's marketing machine had hyped it so much and set such high estimates to get the business from vendors that the prices almost seemed disappointing." The Telegraph (UK) 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 8:55 am
Report: Taj Mahal Isn't Sinking An investigation has concluded that India's Taj Mahal is not sinking. "Indian authorities launched an investigation in October when historians reported that the Taj Mahal was leaning and in danger of sinking.But the four Taj minarets were observed to be inclined at various angles by the Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI’s) first scientific survey in 1941, which examined the position and verticality of the minarets as well as the foundations' stability." New Scientist 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 8:13 am
Munch Museum: Bolting Art To The Walls Oslo's Munch Museum might be closed until next summer as the museum deals with recommendations for new security measures. "National and international art icons must be shielded using glass bolted onto the wall. The remaining pictures must be fastened onto the wall or made so heavy that they are difficult to run away with. The report also suggested metal detectors, a surveillance control room, a labyrinth to delay possible robbers and an automatic gate to lock them in." BBC 11/07/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 10:08 pm
Should Smithsonian History Museum Be Representing Current Events? The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has put up a new display dealing with the current war in Iraq. Some historians disapprove. "Treatment of current events without benefit of historical distance and analysis is a risky enterprise... the choice to include the operations in Iraq under the "Price of Freedom" title "presents a partisan view of the current war and is counter to our neutral public mission." Washington Post 11/07/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 9:49 pm
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Cleveland Orchestra Voting On New Contract Musicians of the Cleveland Orchestra are voting this week on a new contract. "The orchestra's previous contract expired Aug. 29, but it was extended to Oct. 31 to allow negotiations to continue. Last week, the parties agreed to continue talks past the second deadline." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 9:30 am
Australia's First-Ever Ring Australia is about to see its first-ever fully-staged production of Wagner's "Ring." "After the weightiest of preparations in the history of Australian opera, the singers, orchestra and conductor are in place, the costumes finessed, and the audience readying itself to descend on Adelaide, mostly from interstate, America and Europe." The Age (Melbourne) 11/06/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 6:13 pm
Encore, Schmencore! What is it about pop concerts and encores? "There isn't a soul on earth with even a passing connection to the popular culture who isn't familiar with the faux art of the encore. Jackson's divalicious milking of the audience was an especially unsavory example, but the fact is that, by and large, most encores are simply the final two or three songs of a show preceded by a built-in adulation break. They're not only prescribed, they're scripted. Typed on the set list. Preprogrammed by the lighting technician. Complete with pyro, videos, and confetti-strewn finales. We live in the auto-encore age, and we jump through the hoops like trained animals." Boston Globe 11/06/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 4:46 pm
- Encores? What's Wrong With A Little Extra Sugar? "Yes, encores are as predictable as a Nor'easter in January. Yes, crowd members not only can predict that there will usually be an encore, they can sometimes name at least one song that will be performed -- for Prince, it's ''Purple Rain"; for Patti LaBelle, it's ''Over the Rainbow." Still, encores are part of the unwritten covenant between artist and audience. It's dessert, the last bit of sweetness to polish off a stunning meal. The main show finishes, the fans stomp and scream, fire up their lighters if they're feeling kitschy, and when the artist feels he has been duly adored, he returns like a conquering hero." Boston Globe 11/07/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 4:10 pm
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In Arts - Where The Money Goes Just what so arts institutions spend their money on? You might think it was musicians' or actors' salaries. But most of the costs of running the modern arts enterprise are behind-the-scenes costs. Take Detroit arts groups, for example... Detroit News 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 9:33 am
Bay Area Artists Weigh In On Election How are artists feeling about last week's re-election of George Bush? The San Francisco Chronicle asked several... San Francisco Chronicle 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 7:55 am
Bloom: Key To Cleveland's Renaissance "In 1915, Cleveland's city fathers had the foresight to recognize that if Cleveland was to become a major business center, its citizens would require a first-rate cultural environment. In that year, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Play House were established. At this critical juncture in Cleveland's history, we desperately need arts, corporate and civic leaders to come forward and demonstrate the same understanding. The arts are one of Cleveland's great success stories. But even a newcomer such as myself knows it is one of America's best-kept secrets." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 11/06/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 7:22 pm
Does Banning Musicians For Content Make Us Safer? The UK has banned two reggae artists from perfoming and is investigating the lyrics of 8 others for their homophobic lyrics. "Reported homophobic assaults have risen 10 per cent in the past year and racially motivated attack and abuse, up elevenfold, reflect a wider picture." But will banning singers really make gays safer? Hmnnn... The Observer (UK) 11/06/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 4:58 pm
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Grandage On Top Ten years ago Michael Grandage was unemployed and broke. Then he directed his first play and there was no looking back. In just a few years he jumped to the top of his profession, succeeding Sam Mendes as director of Donmar Warehouse. "Whereas Mendes's programming was essentially Anglocentric, Grandage has made it a much more European-based house, with outstanding productions of plays by Camus, Pirandello and Strindberg." The Telegraph (UK) 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 8:48 am
Recollections: Steve Martin Buys Some Art Steve Martin recollects a vist to a friend's house and seeing a drawing by the friend on the wall. Years after first seeing it, with the friend ill, Martin decides to offer to buy the drawing bothy because he remembers liking it and because he thinks the friend might be able to use the money... The New York Times 11/07/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 7:58 pm
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Prediction: Nathan Lane Will Win The West End "In a week when the culture gaps between Britain and America have been much discussed, here's another: a performer few Britons have heard of is simultaneously the biggest star on Broadway. Only now, finally, Britain is starting to get it. Nathan Lane is a name half-glimpsed on a billboard or in the entertainment listings of newspapers. He is still on the periphery of our vision, almost focused and almost famous, but come Tuesday he will step magnificently centre stage." The Observer (UK) 11/07/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 7:48 pm
Starting Over (Takes A Mass Firing?) Should a theatre's incoming artistic director fire his resident ensemble acting company and starting over? The Denver Center Theatre Company's outgoing director suggests the move is essential. "If anyone came in from the outside and made the blanket statement, 'I want everyone to stay,' then I would say that person is not qualified to take the job" Rocky Mountain News 11/06/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 5:52 pm
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Plans To Replace Nevada Poet Laureate Surprise Poet Laureate Norman Kaye, 82, a "Las Vegas resident who's written tunes for crooner Perry Como, is not happy the state wants a new promoter of the iambic pentameter. Kaye was torqued to learn the Nevada Arts Council recently sent out a press release seeking nominations for the post of poet laureate. The announcement does not mention the state has an existing poet laureate in Kaye, a grievous slight in my book." Lohantan Valley News (Nevada) 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 9:19 am
The Flawed Bestseller Lists Many newspapers publish their own list of bestselling book. But the methodology of the lists is flawed, and they are not timely (data is often weeks old) "It's a deeply unscientific -- one is almost tempted to call it whimsical -- compilation, which has a veneer of a certain kind of science." So why not use the more scientific Bookscan lists? Washington Post 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 7:30 am
Miami Means Books The Miami Book Fair opens. "This year, 365 authors from 30 countries are participating in the eight-day fair that began on Sunday and runs until next Sunday on the downtown campus of Miami-Dade College and on the streets surrounding it. There will be readings in five languages - English, Spanish, Portuguese, Creole and French - and about half a million people are expected to attend. More than 30 writers were turned away because the full schedule could not accommodate them, organizers said." The New York Times 11/08/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 10:43 pm
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Movie Ads - Turning Down The Volume A growing number of filmmakers have been complaining that movie trailers and ads before movies are too loud. "As a consequence, the Cinema Advertising Council is putting together its first set of sound standards to govern the loudness of commercials and preshow entertainment." BackStage 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 9:08 am
Cutting $10 Million From The CBC Canada's CBC is facing a government-mandated $10 million cut in its budget. "The CBC is already dealing with other financial pressures, including rising production and health-care costs, renewed contributions to the CBC pension plan and a massive loss of advertising revenue as a result of the NHL lockout (estimated to be about $50-million)." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/08/04
Posted: 11/08/2004 8:02 am
A Low-Budget Indie W/ Symphony-Size Dreams These days there are plenty of low-budget movies. But how many movies with a $750,000 budget can field a professional symphony orchestra for the score? And the Vancouver Symphony, for that matter? "I guess it is a low-budget film. But for anybody who has come from the subsidized art world, the strictures of being frugal and using your resources well are very familiar. I'm trying not to think about the budget and focus on the creativity." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/07/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 8:15 pm
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Ailey's New Digs This week, the Alvin Ailey Company moves in to a new home. "To passersby, 405 West 55th Street may well seem just another sleek new building in New York. But to the dancers who will be moving into it on Friday, it represents something far more significant: the Ailey's first permanent home and what the company is billing as the largest building in the United States devoted exclusively to dance." The New York Times 11/08/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 10:38 pm
Can Romance Survive In Our Time? "The lyrical dancing style Fokine requires in his neo-Romantic vein is almost a foreign language to dancers bred to thrill audiences with their dazzling technical accomplishment, not to beguile the public by means of subtle evocation. The combination of traditionally masculine and feminine elements in the main role makes a good chunk of the current audience uneasy, while an even larger chunk has trouble believing that anything created nearly a century ago can have the force, the significance, and the power to persuade the emotions as do the products of the present." Seeing Things (AJBlogs) 10/31/04
Posted: 11/07/2004 7:41 pm
