Software That Can Pick Pop Hits "The magic ingredient set to revolutionise the pop industry is, simply, a piece of software that can 'predict' the chance of a track being a hit or a miss. This computerised equivalent of the television programmer Juke Box Jury is known as Hit Song Science (HSS). It has been developed by a Spanish company, Polyphonic HMI, which used decades of experience developing artificial intelligence technology for the banking and telecoms industries to create a program that analysed the underlying mathematical patterns in music." The Guardian (UK) 01/17/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 7:58 pm
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Repatriating Remains - Let's Understand Why Aboriginals are asking for return of remains in museums. But the returns are controversial. "Large-scale and unique collections of valuable material could be destroyed, when very little is known about an object’s provenance." The Times (UK) 01/16/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 9:20 pm
FBI Forms Art Theft Unit With art theft on the rise, the FBI is forming its first art theft unit. "The eight agents, who will be deployed around the country, are learning not just about art theft, but about art itself, including art history and how to distinguish artists, periods and styles." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/14/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 9:07 pm
Art Of The Blind "The Helen Keller award began in 1933 as an essay competition, after the famous American campaigner visited Scotland, and has been an art award since 1992. Anyone can enter, as long as the art is on the subject of deaf-blindness; this year over 200 entries were sent from across the world. To create a level playing field, the judging panel - including, this year, sculptor Kenny Hunter - aren’t told which artists are deaf or blind, both or neither. This presents challenges, both for the judges and the organisers." The Scotsman 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 8:54 pm
Redeveloping Manhattan (A Missed Opportunity?) A 40-block area on Manhattan's west side is a major opportunity for redevelopment, writes Nicolai Ouroussoff. But "despite the tinkering, the city is left with a vague, crudely executed master plan whose main selling point is that it gives developers the freedom to articulate their own visions. Even with a few interesting flourishes, it essentially relies on developer-driven planning formulas. What's missing is a voice that could give the plan a cohesive and vibrant identity." The New York Times 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 8:19 pm
Get Your Picasso At Costco A Florida art dealer is offering a Picasso for sale through Costco. "Dealer Jim Tutwiler of Orlando, Fla., says collectors can find bargains when they buy from Costco because its markup is just one-tenth that of traditional galleries. He's been selling art through Costco for the past decade." Miami Herald (AP) 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 8:13 pm
The Seattle Solution (A Public Nude) A computer analyst dies in Seattle, leaving the city $1 million for public art on the condition that an artist be commisssioned to create a male nude and place it in a prominent place. The city's solution? It approached sculptor Louise Bourgeois, and plans to place the work in the Seattle Art Museum's new sculpture park... Seattle Post-Intelligencer 01/15/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 10:23 am
Back To The 80s (We're Talkin' East Village) New York's East Village was an art phenomenon of the 1980s. But, writes Peter Schjeldahl, "there was something toxically facetious about the East Village versions of avant-gardism and la vie bohème which heralded a shift to arch self-consciousness in American culture. But the half-cooked epoch was significant in ways that merit closer consideration than it has received." The New Yorker 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 9:58 am
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Healthy Music Industry? Look North. "The Canadian recording industry, written off as obsolete after music downloading surged in popularity, has finally rebounded from a six-year slide. Record labels chalked up an increase in 2004 sales to everything from anti-piracy campaigns and consumers' frustrations with the glitches of file sharing to lower CD price tags and a popular crop of new releases." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 6:03 am
So The Sky Isn't Falling, Now? Music sales may have dipped slightly in 2004, but sales of legally downloadable music went through the roof, according to a new report from the UK recording industry. "Legal downloads from the 230 online music stores that now exist generated $330m (£175m) for the music industry in 2004." BBC 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 5:43 am
Eddins To Edmonton "American conductor William Eddins, well known in the classical-music world for his charismatic and outspoken style, is the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's new music director." Eddins has formerly served as a staff conductor for the Chicago Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra, and is the principal guest conductor of Ireland's National Symphony. He was reportedly the only candidate for the job to win the approval of ESO members. The Globe & Mail (CP) 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 5:39 am
Win-Win Situation In San Diego The San Diego Opera has signed an agreement to use the San Diego Symphony as its pit orchestra for all future productions. Previously, the company had hired its own orchestra from the ranks of area performers, many of whom were also SDS players. The deal means more revenue for the orchestra, more weeks of paid work for the musicians, and guarantees continuity without a lot of extra cost for the opera company. San Diego Union-Tribune 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 5:16 am
All Opera Isn't Local The Scottish government's plan to "save" Scottish Opera has looked a lot more like an attempt to destroy it, as many in the music world have noted. But politicians don't tear down public institutions simply for fun, so the question is begged: what exactly turned the Executive against the opera? Andrew Clarke thinks he has the answer: "In a small, newly devolved country, there is no political capital to be made from supporting the most capital-intensive art form. Rightly or wrongly, opera is perceived by many Scots as a class-ridden activity without local roots." Financial Times (UK) 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 5:10 am
Elvis Racks Up Another No. 1 Hit Elvis Presley hits the UK singles charts at No. 1 - again. "The king's latest triumph - if that is the word for a CD that managed to top the chart with just 30,000 sales - is also the 1,000th No 1 since the UK chart began in 1952. Low sales or not, the music industry is rolling out a series of promotions to tie in with the milestone." The Guardian (UK) 01/17/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 8:48 pm
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New Leadership at SPAC Upstate New York's embattled Saratoga Performing Arts Center has chosen a well-connected state Senate aid to replace longtime President Herb Chesbrough, who is leaving under a cloud after a scathing report took the center to task for its shoddy management practices. Marcia White, who will earn less than half the annual salary that Chesbrough enjoyed as president, will take over the running of SPAC in March, and plans to spend her first few months developing a new business plan for the center. The Saratogian (NY) 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 5:24 am
Texas Arts - Up 400 Percent, Funding Down 4 Percent In the past 20 year the number of arts organizations in Texas has increased by 400 percent. In the same period, public funding for the arts has actually decreased by 4 percent. How to do so much more with less? Houston Chronicle 01/15/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 9:55 pm
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A Most Ghostly Post-Poe Toast "[Last night], for the 56th year, a man stole into a locked graveyard early on Edgar Allan Poe's birthday and placed three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac on the writer's grave... No one knows the identity of the so-called 'Poe Toaster.' The visit was first documented in 1949, a century after Poe's death. This year, the visitor arrived at 1:10 a.m. in a heavy coat and obscured his face with a black pullover." Dozens of spectators traditionally gather to watch the anonymous dropoff, and the current toaster is believed to be at least the second man to play the role. Minneapolis Star Tribune (AP) 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 6:11 am
Licitra On The Move "Salvatore Licitra is one of several looking to fill the voids left by two of the Three Tenors, and he's making it look easy. Though he's still establishing himself in major opera companies, he's already on his first recital tour. His commitments to the big opera companies of the world now go through 2009. Besides being one of the world's most promising singers, he's probably the most fun. He hasn't been famous very long - for that matter, he hasn't been singing all that long - and as hard as he tries, his lips stay only partly buttoned." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 10:51 am
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Well, You Know How Hard It Is To Find Unionized Blue Men The popular and quirky Blue Man Group show is headed to Toronto this week, and the Canadian Actors Equity union isn't happy about it, and is organizing a picket lin to protest the group's lack of union participation. Blue Man Group's non-union status has never run afoul of the American version of Actors Equity, because "their show doesn't have a book (script) and consequently wouldn't fall under our jurisdiction." Blue Man's organizers are reportedly stunned at the objections of the Canadian union. Toronto Star 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 6:31 am
So It's Not A Good Show, Then? Dodger Theatricals has a history of mounting some of the worst flops on Broadway, and Michael Riedel says that Good Vibrations, the company's latest baby-boomer-magnet of a show is headed down the same path. " Two telltale signs of trouble emerged last week. The director David Warren was brought onboard to help bail out his friend, John Carrafa, the 'official' director and choreographer of the show; and the opening night has been pushed back a week... Poor Carrafa is already getting most of the blame what one Broadway insider calls 'the worst show ever booked in a theater.'" New York Post 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 6:18 am
Humana Chooses Festival Plays The Humana Festival has chosen the six plays for this year's festival. All the dramatists whose work appears in this year's festival arrive with accolades already in hand, and many have NYC connections. Back Stage 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 7:42 pm
Toronto's Theatre Sound Like A Shopping Directory Toronto's theatres are taking on corporate names. The latest is the New Yorker Theatre, which is becoming the Panasonic Theatre. The company reportedly paid $4 million for the deal, spread out over 10 years. "The theatre's lobby alone will be equipped with $250,000 worth of state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment from Panasonic, including its latest 65-inch high-definition plasma TV." Toronto Star 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 10:15 am
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All The Post-Globe Scuttlebutt That's Fit To Print The Golden Globe Awards may be a corrupt and frustrating institution, but they certainly provide plenty to talk about in the period leading up to Oscar night. Legitimate or not, a Golden Globe win makes a film, actor, or director into an instant Oscar contender, and this year's Globes provided a vey murky glimpse of who's in and who's out in the race for the prized Academy Awards. The Globe & Mail (AP) 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 6:05 am
UK Film Production Plummets The number of films produced in the UK fell by 40% in 2004. The drop-off has been attributed to a cut in the subsidies provided to filmmakers as incentives to shoot in Britain, as well as to a tightening of the tax code. The British government has since introduced a new round of incentives, which it hopes will bring some studios back in 2005. BBC 01/19/05
Posted: 01/19/2005 5:48 am
Record Russian Box Office Russian movie box office was up 41 percent last year. "Russians spent 7.5bn roubles (£143.5m) at cinemas between November 2003 and November 2004. The most popular film was the Russian sci-fi thriller Night Watch, which became the highest-ever grossing Russian film with takings of £16m." BBC 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 7:38 pm
Fox Censors Out Cartoon Butt (We're Scared Of The FCC) The Fox network is censoring out the butts of cartoon characters now. "Fox felt it had to pixelate the bare bottom of animated tot Stewie in an episode of "Family Guy" that aired a couple of weeks ago. When Fox ran the episode about four years ago, before Janet Jackson exposed her breast at the Super Bowl, endangering the moral fiber of American youth, it did not blur the shot of Baby Stewie's behind. 'FCC guidelines are not clear; we are now second- and third-guessing ourselves'." Washington Post 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 10:09 am
Rock Ruled (In The Past, But No More) Once, rock music was the dominant format of American radio. Not any more. "With baby boomers switching to other formats and younger listeners increasingly bypassing radio altogether, once-dominant rock stations are withering and in some cities dying." Washington Post 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 10:01 am
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Dance In The Tube Britain's Rambert Dance Company takes to the London Underground to perform and stimulate interest in dance. "The response of tube passengers to yesterday's performance was diverse. Some, clearly uncomfortable with their close encounter with cutting-edge choreography, stared intently at their knees. But most seemed delighted by what appeared, at first glance, to be a team of unusually graceful plumbers." The Guardian (UK) 01/18/05
Posted: 01/18/2005 8:42 pm
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