Lesson Learned: Take Crappier Pictures With the increasing popularity of digital cameras, more and more retailers are offering top-quality printing services for those who want a hard copy of their photos. But your snapshots better not look too professional, or many retailers might refuse to print them. "There are a growing number of stories of amateur photographers being turned away by photofinishers for having photos that looked, at least in the eyes of a store clerk, too good to have been taken by anyone other than a professional. Their photos have become collateral damage in the war on digital copyright infringement." San Diego Union-Tribune 05/30/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 7:29 am
Investor: Art Prices Are "Fantasy" A major investor in art says that art prices for contemporary art "are in fantasy land -- they're near lunacy." "Prices for works by Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock have trebled since 1996, according to index-maker Art Market Research, and New York's $300 million of contemporary art auctions in May set more than 30 records. While some hedge funds may be putting investors at risk, buyers of contemporary art have more chance of losing money on their purchases." Bloomberg.com06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 3:51 pm
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Jazz Culture Meets L.A. Sprawl Los Angeles has a jazz scene. Really, it does. But you have to know how to look for it, and be ready to accept that it may not be a carbon copy of New Orleans or Chicago. "Contrary to popular grousing, there is jazz to be had in Los Angeles — and we're not just talking about high-profile clubs such as the Jazz Bakery or this weekend's Playboy Jazz Festival. The experience may come wrapped in a way we're not accustomed to, or it might take some seeking. The bad rap about L.A., from performers to listeners, is this: 'People don't come out.' Or, 'It's too over their heads.' But the jazz issue is deeper and more complex: It's an issue of sprawl, of competing distractions." Los Angeles Times 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 7:20 am
A Conductor And His Public It takes more than a good match between orchestra and conductor to make a truly successful long-term partnership - the audience has to buy into the pairing as well. And nowhere has that symbiotic relationship between musicians, maestro, and the public been more in evidence than Detroit, where music director Neeme Järvi is preparing to conduct the final concerts of his tenure. Detroit News 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 5:18 am
More Weird Drama At ENO When Paul Daniel, the outgoing music director of the English National Opera, conducted his last performance recently, he was sent out the door with a standing ovation, thunderous applause... and one incredibly persistent man booing him from a private box. The booing, as it turns out, was coming from the ENO's own director of marketing, who was offended by Daniel's recent criticism of some ENO management figures. In the wake of the incident, some members of the audience have called for the marketing director to be fired. The Guardian (UK) 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 5:09 am
Boy Choir Falls Short Of Recruits Europe's oldest boys choir school has fallen on hard times. "For centuries, parents brought their 9- to 14-year-old boys to the choir and its music school, known as the Escolania of Montserrat, then part company for most of the next 11 months. But in recent years, fewer parents in Catalonia, this northeastern region of Spain, have been willing to send their children away for so long. When only 8 students were admitted last year from a pool of 20, the fewest number of candidates in recent decades, it was clear the future of the school, which dates to at least the 13th century, was at stake." The New York Times 06/09/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:33 pm
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Illinois Non-Profits Teeming With Workers One out of every thirteen working people in the state of Illinois is employed by a non-profit organization, according to a new study. " In 2003, the report says, 441,814 people worked for hospitals, schools, cultural institutions, social-service agencies and other Illinois groups organized under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. That was more, for example, than the 406,300 workers in metal and machinery manufacturing or the 312,900 in finance and insurance." Chicago Tribune 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 6:11 am
Building A Better Critic? Why are there so few architecture critics in America? "For a long while now mainstream architectural journalism has been mostly synonymous with architectural criticism — with reviews of significant buildings. But you don't have to browse through too many Arts or Entertainment or Weekend sections to see that critiques of buildings are an odd, uneasy fit amid all the reviews of movies and plays and TV shows, of music and dance and literature — of arts that are easily accessible and (often) widely distributed, arts that you can affordably experience simply by visiting a local theater or gallery, buying a book or CD, or tuning in HBO." PixelPoints (AJBlogs) 06/02/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:00 pm
- What Critics Need... "What critics have trouble doing is developing their own robust, well grounded taste. "Taste" is an antique concept but an irreplaceable one. Most people, even cultural theorists who would not grant the concept any credence in their academic work, exercise taste all the time in their non-academic life. Just ask them about the last movie they saw, or (even better) the music their kids are listening to. But because taste is something of a taboo topic in academia, many well credentialed critics do not feel very confident of their own judgment, which makes them vulnerable to being swept up by one or the other side in the so-called culture war." Serious Popcorn (AJBlogs) 05/27/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 5:09 pm
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Karp Quits Random House Jonathan Karp has unexpectedly resigned as editor-in-chief of Random House. He apparently left of his own accord, and sources at the publisher have speculated that he wants to start a new business, possibly a publishing company of his own. Karp's duties at Random House will be assumed by the company's existing executive editor-in-chief. The New York Times 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 6:04 am
Previn At 75 Andre Previn is now pulling back from the 90-plus concerts he performs a year to concentrate on composing. Why is the self-confessed "conductor who composes" now putting composition at the heart of his musical life? "I am so peripatetic," he says. "I run around so much that I finally reasoned that composing is the one musical endeavour which you can do anywhere, anytime. I like writing, but it's only in the past 10 years that I've written a lot. Now, happily, I've got a whole file full of commissions." The Guardian (UK) 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 5:40 pm
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Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Shakespeare? Washington, D.C.'s new six-month Shakespeare festival is quite the undertaking, featuring 22 different arts organizations (including one that specializes in tiny plastic ninjas,) and promising to more or less claim the nation's capital in the name of the Bard. "What would the Bard himself think of all this? He lived in a time when his plays were performed in ill-lighted theaters where the bulk of the audience stood rather than sat in a big pit quite near the stage. Some of these patrons came bearing spirits, with which to endure some of the longer, duller speeches, and even rotten fruits, eggs and vegetables, with which to provide constructive criticism for the actors." Chicago Tribune 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 6:16 am
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Poetry Is Hot Again Poetry has not been truly hip since the late 1960s, when the Beats ruled and coffeehouses served up readings alongside the java. But all of a sudden, a new generation of young people seems to be embracing poetry in all its forms. "Poetry readings, poetry slams, and spoken-word performances attract sellout crowds in clubs and auditoriums locally and across the country. Poetry anthologies and audio collections are selling briskly. And the weekly HBO program Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry is entering its fifth season." And this week, at the nation's largest poetry festival, two new awards dedicated to promoting emerging poets were announced. Philadelphia Inquirer 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 6:53 am
Key Porter Loses Copyright Case To Native Artist An Ontario judge has ruled in favor of a Mohawk artist in her copyright infringement case against Canadian publisher Key Porter. Tonya Maracle had agreed to allow some of her dreamcatchers to be photographed and used by Key Porter in a children's book, if proper credit were given to the artist and her company. But when the book came out, it wasn't for children (a significant point, since Maracle had only agreed to donate her work because the book would be aimed at kids,) and she was not credited. The judge called the publisher's conduct "disgraceful," and awarded Maracle $40,000 plus legal costs. Key Porter plans to appeal. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 6:31 am
Shriver Wins Orange Lionel Shriver has won the tenth £30,000 Orange Prize for Fiction for her seventh book, We Need to Talk About Kevin, a novel about a mother's hatred for her son. Financial Times (UK) 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:16 pm
BookExpo America, La Scena "The consensus on the annual three-day publishing and booksellers’ convention, which alternates cities like a traveling circus, was that there was no consensus—no standout theme, Bill Clinton memoir or looming election. The whole affair was a blur of cheap wine, mini empanadas and free books, punctuated by the odd wannabe author cruising the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center with a toilet seat around his neck. The fact that the expo took place in New York, as opposed to Chicago or Los Angeles, only lent a certain world-weariness to the proceedings." New York Observer 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 4:05 pm
Shelley Letters Sell For £45,600 Letters written by poet Percy Bysshe Shelley have sold at auction for £45,600. "The letters, which provide an insight into Shelley's views on atheism, were destined for a car boot sale until the owner contacted the auction house. They were found in a trunk at a house in south-west London alongside four written by Shelley's best friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg." BBC 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 3:57 pm
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GOP Heavy Set To Take Over CPB The controversial chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is pushing for a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee to be named president of CPB. Patricia de Stacy Harrison, who currently works in the State Department, has made statements concerning public broadcasting that are in line with CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson's desire to bring more conservative voices to public television and radio. CPB's 8-member board is "dominated by Republicans" at the moment, and Tomlinson has sparked a war of words in recent months with his appointment of an ombudsman tasked with tracking supposed liberal bias in PBS news programs. Washington Post 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 6:41 am
Listeners Over 35 Need Not Apply As America's corporate-dominated radio industry scrambles desperately to find and unveil the Next Big Thing (by which, of course, we mean the next highly profitable and easily compartmentalized format,) a not-so-subtle shift is occurring on-air. With stations and their advertisers eager to attract and hold the iPod generation, retro is in, but the classic format known as "oldies" is apparently being ridden out of town on a rail. "Many existing oldies stations are barely holding on, the victims of declining ratings and radio-industry apathy. 'Golden oldies' stations, home to artists like Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller, are in even worse trouble. Ultimately, observers say, the radio industry simply doesn't have much interest in baby boomers." The Christian Science Monitor 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 6:20 am
Why Won't Aussies Watch Aussie Movies? "Last year record numbers of Australians stayed away from Australian films. In January, the Australian Film Commission released figures showing that in 2004 the local share of box office takings was just 1.3 per cent. A record low. In international terms, that's appalling. In figures for 2003 quoted in April's inside film magazine the US domestic film share of local box office was 95 per cent." Sydney Morning Herald 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:46 pm
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PBT Touts Balanced Budget The beleaguered Pittsburgh Ballet Theater has announced that it will balance its budget next season, and plans to nearly eliminate an accumulated $1 million deficit by next year as well. But the numbers aren't set in stone just yet - the company's pit orchestra is up for a new contract after having taking two hefty pay cuts in recent years. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 06/09/05
Posted: 06/09/2005 5:28 am
Martha Graham Company Hits Another Troubled Patch The troubled Martha Graham Company is reorganizing. "An administrative 'streamlining,' as the leadership called it last week, left no room for the artistic directors, Christine Dakin and Terese Capucilli, who were universally credited with bringing the company back to life. The move has caused some members of the company to take sides, and confused others." The New York Times 06/09/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 6:28 pm
Merce And The Art Merce Cunningham has collaborated with some of the biggest artists of the past 50 years. "Given the celebrity of Cunningham's list of collaborators the cost of insuring most of these sets would now be astronomical, aside from the expense of transporting them. And this is one reason why his recent work tends to take place on barer stages, and his preferred designers work with lights and projection." The Guardian (UK) 06/06/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 5:50 pm
Robot Dance With Me "The world's first ballroom-dancing robot is set to take to the floor for its first public performance this week at the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. Developed by scientists at Tokhuro University, the Partner Ballroom Dance Robot (PBDR) is able to predict the steps of a human partner based on body movement and react accordingly on its three wheels." CNN.com 06/08/05
Posted: 06/08/2005 4:14 pm
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