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Wednesday, March 2




 

Ideas

Life, The Universe, And Everything? Don't Hold Your Breath. Some prominent scientists believe that modern physics is quite close to being able to announce a Grand Unified Theory of Everything - multiply the Big Bang Theory by a couple of million and you've got the general idea. However, a new book argues that, while science has made undeniably great strides in the understanding of our universe in recent decades, no one is even remotely close to having a complete understanding of the way in which all of reality is bound together. The book also argues that the popular "string theory" of quantum physics is completely wrongheaded, and seems to suggest that much of what is now assumed to be fact in quantum mechanics doesn't quite jive with reality. Meanwhile, the universe continues to exist, against all logic and reason... Wired 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 6:11 am

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Visual Arts

Gehry's LA Concert Hall To Get A Bit Duller Los Angeles's glittering jewel of a concert hall, as designed by Frank Gehry, seems to be glittering a bit too much. Disney Hall will undergo a $90,000 exterior renovation this spring to dull the sheen on a convex section of the building's reflective outer walls, following extensive complaints from pedestrians and nearby residents about sun glare and excessive heat. Newsday (AP) 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 5:19 am

Today's Museums - Stepping Away From The Bilbao Effect? For a while now, museums have built flashy new homes intended to impress. "But eight years after Bilbao, a reaction is setting in. While art museums in the United States are expanding at a breathtaking pace, the desire to emulate Gehry’s Spanish miracle looks increasingly like the exception, not the rule. And while museum directors continue to justify large expansion projects in terms of the tourism and attention they attract, they’re talking less and less about spectacular architecture as a primary goal. Instead, they emphasize the importance of showcasing collections, creating larger spaces suitable for the demands of contemporary art, and serving local audiences rather than attracting tourists." ARTnews 03/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 7:20 pm

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Music

Dont Have A Conservatory? Import One. Washington, D.C. is one of America's legitimate centers of classical music, with excellent venues, a top-ten orchestra, a major opera company, and countless smaller ensembles. But the nation's capital is missing one crucial element of a thriving classical scene: music students. "Most of the country's great orchestras draw enormous energy from their close relationships with nearby world-class schools, and eager concertgoers can engorge themselves on their endless stream of open recitals." The District's Kennedy Center is attempting to fill the void with a series of recitals put on by top music schools from around the country, and so far, the results have been impressive. Washington Post 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 6:50 am

St. Louis Musicians Ratify Contract, But Take One Last Shot The musicians of the St. Louis Symphony have ratified a new contract with a 56-36 vote following a bitter 8-week work stoppage which was settled only after a local office of the National Labor Relations Board declared it an illegal strike. The new contract, which runs for 3-1/2 years, calls for modest pay raises, and also contains unusual signing bonuses for the players in place of more significant pay hikes. However, the conflict may not be over yet: at the same meeting in which they ratified the contract, the musicians overwhelmingly approved a vote of no confidence in SLSO President Randy Adams. St. Louis Post-Dispatch 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 5:46 am

Cincinnati To Build On Recent Fiscal Success Months after announcing that it had paid off all its debt and balanced its annual budget, the Cincinnati Symphony is preparing to launch a major capital campaign which could reach $60 million. The CSO's recent budgetary success has come at a cost - the cancellation of a popular summer festival - and balance was only achieved through extraordinary donations from an anonymlous supporter. The money raised in the campaign will go to bolster the orchestra's endowment, which currently stands at $67 million. Cincinnati Enquirer 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 5:29 am

Musicians Support Overhaul Of Failing Utah Symphony and Opera Musicians of the combined Utah Symphony and Opera have voted 63-1 to endorse a consultant's report on how to turn around the financially ailing organization. The report is critical of executive director Anne Ewers, who has overseen the controversial merger of the opera and symhony. "There is no question that we had deficits far larger than I ever would have hoped," Ewers said. "I take full responsibility for the fact that we struggled to put a staff in place and restructure. There is no question that it took away from the fund-raising effort." Salt Lake Tribune 02/28/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 6:24 pm

La Scala's Winter Of Discontent La Scala has been wracked with dissent - strikes, resignations, a firing. "Last week staff at La Scala staged strikes and demonstrations in protest over the theatre’s management. A banner suspended from the top of the building read ‘Tradesmen out of the Temple of Opera’ – a protest at the perceived market-driven running of the theatre." Gramophone 02/28/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 5:42 pm

Judge: Rachmaninoff Manuscript Case Goes Forward A judge has ruled that a challenge to the ownership and sale of a Rachmaninoff manuscript can go ahead. "The Russian composer's score for his Second Symphony was expected to fetch around £500,000 at the Sotheby's sale. But the 300-page work was withdrawn after members of Rachmaninov's family claimed to be the true owners. Sotheby's sought to have the case dismissed but a judge ruled both sides could win so the case must proceed." BBC 03/01/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 4:59 pm

Musicians Lobby Supreme Court To Spare File-Sharing Services A group of prominent musicians is urging the US Supreme Court not to crack down on file-sharing services. "Musicians are not universally united in opposition to peer-to-peer file sharing as the major records companies claim. To the contrary, many musicians find peer-to-peer technology . . . allows them easily to reach a worldwide online audience. And to many musicians, the benefits of this . . . strongly outweigh the risks of copyright infringement." BizReport 03/01/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 4:43 pm

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Arts Issues

Reason To Believe "The long awaited opening of the Detroit School of Arts could not have happened at a better time. Financial troubles have so dominated the news coming out of the [Detroit school] district that it's a welcome change to have a development truly worth cheering. The DSA is a big, shiny six-story reminder of the sort of modern-thinking focus the district needs to embrace if it's going to compete and survive... The [school] comes complete with talking elevators, an 800-seat auditorium, acoustically efficient vocal and band rooms, a similarly designed recital hall, radio and TV studios, not to mention tons of security and surveillance systems." Detroit Free Press 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 5:35 am

Study: Canadian Artists Earn Less Minority artists earn less than other artists in Canada, says a new study. "The October study revealed a huge growth in the number of artists in the country; in fact, the growth rate for the profession expanded at almost three times the rate of the overall labour force since the early 1990s. Despite the popularity of the career choice, the pay was significantly lower for artists than for the average Canadian worker." CBC 03/01/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 5:11 pm

Bournemouth Works On A New Arts Complex Arts supporters have a plan to rescue an underused concert hall in Bournemouth, England. "Ambitiously billed as ‘Bournemouth’s Guggenheim’ after the famous art gallery with sites in New York and Bilbao, the centre will provide a home for Dance South West, the Big Little Theatre Company, the education and contemporary music arms of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and the town’s music competitions festival among other creative activities." The Stage 03/01/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 4:31 pm

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People

America's Best Living Conductor? Atlanta Symphony music director Robert Spano is one of the few truly successful American conductors left in the classical music world, and throughout his career, he has seemed to disregard all the hurdles traditionally placed in the way of stick-wavers of U.S. descent. Now firmly ensconced (and quite popular) in Atlanta, he is on something of a career high, forging partnerships with some of the top living composers in the world, and preparing to stand at the helm of Seattle Opera's Ring cycle next summer. His success has not gone unnoticed, either, among top U.S. orchestras who anticipate music director vacancies in the not-too-distant future. Financial Times (UK) 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 5:06 am

Chicago Tenor Stabbed To Death A veteran tenor with Chicago Lyric Opera has been found dead in his apartment. Detectives were investigating the apparent stabbing of Richard Markley, 45, who lived alone. His Lyric co-workers found his body about 11 a.m. Sunday, police said.
Chicago Tribune 03/01/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 4:39 pm

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Publishing

Is Scotland Just Too Depressing? Are Scotland (and the Scots) really a country of depressing, depressed people who "celebrate failure"? (ouch) More arguments to that effect this week: "Jenny Brown, a former director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said: "In an age where readers are looking for feel-good novels, Scotland excels at feel-bad books." The Scotsman 02/28/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 6:31 pm

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Media

Congress To Consider Censoring Cable Networks Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas) are teaming up to propose new broadcast content rules which would extend the FCC's jurisdiction to include cable TV networks. The measure is likely to be popular in the increasingly conservative Congress, but may not pass legal muster in the federal court system. "The Supreme Court held in 2000 that cable operators aren't subject to federal indecency rules because they are financed by subscribers who pay for access and because viewers can request that channels be blocked. Broadcasters have argued that cable should be subject to the same indecency rules as network TV." Philadelphia Inquirer (Bloomberg) 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 6:42 am

Reality-Based Art, Or Art-Based Reality? "It came long ago to the worlds of music ("American Idol"), moviemaking ("Project Greenlight") and fashion design ("Project Runway"). Now reality television is finally tackling the art world, one of the last creative frontiers still unvisited by the genre's camera crews, harsh judges and hordes of contestants hoping to turn a little fame into a lucrative career." The New York Times 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 6:28 am

Currently A Smash Hit Less than two months into Minnesota Public Radio's grand new experiment - a non-commercial progressive rock station where DJs pick the music, local artists are prominently featured, and eclecticism is the rule - Twin Cities music fans have become slobbering devotees of the new station, known as The Current. Even more astonishing, the station has already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from listeners without a single traditional over-the-air public radio fund drive (DJs occasionally remind listeners to pledge money at MPR's website). But some in Minnesota are wary of the new presence, mindful of MPR's expansionist agenda and the network's history of bullying smaller stations out of existence. City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul) 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 6:20 am

Big Changes Coming To The BBC The most venerable public broadcaster in the world will be getting a major behind-the-scenes overhaul under the terms of a new British government plan. The BBC will continue to be funded through revenue raised by the UK's mandatory television license fee, but a new trust will replace the company's board of governors, and will be directed to look into other methods of funding. The BBC will also be directed to buy programs from independent producers, and not to engage in a ratings chase with the UK's for-profit broadcasters. The Independent (UK) 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 6:02 am

Oscar Verdict: We Very Much Enjoyed Our Show, Mostly Critics may have judged this year's Academy Awards as a tiresome experience, but most of the Aademy itself was quite pleased with the revamped ceremony and its new host, comedian Chris Rock. Still, not everyone is happy: "The tweaks to the format--which involved bringing whole groups of nominees onto the stage and handing out some Oscars in the aisles of the cavernous Kodak Theater--have met with occasional disgruntlement. To some, it even seemed cruel to award Oscars in the aisles." Rock also came in for some criticism from older members of the Academy, who felt that he didn't show the proper reverence for the Oscar tradition. The New York Times 03/02/05
Posted: 03/02/2005 5:26 am

Unlikely Alliance - Hollywood And Conservative Christians Conservative Christians have fought Hollywood over the years. But now Hollywood is finding support from these critics, who are "stepping up to back the entertainment industry in its moment of need: a high-stakes battle against online file-sharing services that has reached the nation's highest court. File-swapping services make pornography easily accessible to minors, the social conservatives submit. The entertainment companies, meanwhile, blame sharing for declining sales and lost revenue. An unlikely alliance thus formed." Boston Globe 03/01/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 5:32 pm

Truth In Podcasting Podcasting is the hot new medium. But whre is it going? ''As is the case with advertising on blogs, there seems to be some potential. However, it is too early to tell if there is a serious market opportunity there." Boston Globe 03/01/05
Posted: 03/01/2005 5:24 pm

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