such films "focus on the spirit-sapping contradictions between being well-known and mortally flawed, of trying to reconcile private needs and public demand." Toronto Star 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:47 am

What If They Gave Out The Emmys And Nobody Watched? The Emmy Awards telecast is coming up this weekend, and from all reports it ought to be one entertaining evening, with the multiple stars of Desperate Housewives battling each other in the same category. But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and with Americans demonstrating a decided fatigue with the culture of self-congratulatory celebrity, will anyone be watching? "Last fall, the Emmy telecast suffered the second-lowest ratings in history. Then the Golden Globe Awards, the People's Choice Awards and the Grammy Awards were all clobbered in the ratings by original episodes of Housewives, which aired opposite each of the ceremonies." Chicago Tribune (LA Daily News) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:13 am

Daytime Emmys Moving West The Daytime Emmy Awards are moving to L.A. for 2006, marking the first time the telecast will originate from a city other than New York. Another change: the nominees for the awards, which honor game shows, soap operas, and other tripe, will now be announced on ABC's The View, which is, of course, eligible for Daytime Emmys itself. New York Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:10 am

of self-congratulatory celebrity, will anyone be watching? "Last fall, the Emmy telecast suffered the second-lowest ratings in history. Then the Golden Globe Awards, the People's Choice Awards and the Grammy Awards were all clobbered in the ratings by original episodes of Housewives, which aired opposite each of the ceremonies." Chicago Tribune (LA Daily News) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:13 am

Daytime Emmys Moving West The Daytime Emmy Awards are moving to L.A. for 2006, marking the first time the telecast will originate from a city other than New York. Another change: the nominees for the awards, which honor game shows, soap operas, and other tripe, will now be announced on ABC's The View, which is, of course, eligible for Daytime Emmys itself. New York Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:10 am Desperate Housewives battling each other in the same category. But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and with Americans demonstrating a decided fatigue with the culture of self-congratulatory celebrity, will anyone be watching? "Last fall, the Emmy telecast suffered the second-lowest ratings in history. Then the Golden Globe Awards, the People's Choice Awards and the Grammy Awards were all clobbered in the ratings by original episodes of Housewives, which aired opposite each of the ceremonies." Chicago Tribune (LA Daily News) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:13 am
- Daytime Emmys Moving West The Daytime Emmy Awards are moving to L.A. for 2006, marking the first time the telecast will originate from a city other than New York. Another change: the nominees for the awards, which honor game shows, soap operas, and other tripe, will now be announced on ABC's The View, which is, of course, eligible for Daytime Emmys itself. New York Post 09/16/05
  Posted: 09/16/2005 6:10 am
Click here for more Media stories...
i>

Click here for more Media stories...

Dance

Washington Ballet Settles Labor Case "Rather than proceed with a National Labor Relations Board hearing, the Washington Ballet has settled a discrimination complaint with the union representing its dancers, bringing to a close an episode that shone an unflattering light on the inner workings of the institution. The American Guild of Musical Artists had alleged that Artistic Director Septime Webre had illegally dismissed two dancers in retaliation for their efforts enabling AGMA to represent the dancers. The ballet maintained that the two were let go for artistic reasons. One dancer, Brian Corman, was rehired after AGMA filed its complaint... Nikkia Parish, the other dancer in the case, has not been rehired." Washington Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:51 am

Click here for more Dance stories...

Dance

Washington Ballet Settles Labor Case "Rather than proceed with a National Labor Relations Board hearing, the Washington Ballet has settled a discrimination complaint with the union representing its dancers, bringing to a close an episode that shone an unflattering light on the inner workings of the institution. The American Guild of Musical Artists had alleged that Artistic Director Septime Webre had illegally dismissed two dancers in retaliation for their efforts enabling AGMA to represent the dancers. The ballet maintained that the two were let go for artistic reasons. One dancer, Brian Corman, was rehired after AGMA filed its complaint... Nikkia Parish, the other dancer in the case, has not been rehired." Washington Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:51 am

Click here for more Dance stories...



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For those who have been wondering what the big deal is about Apple's new iPod/phone hybrid, and even more for those who have become more than a little resentful about the whole iPod phenomenon, here's a pleasant thought: the MP3-playing phones, which come with powerful built-in speakers, may just have the potential to jerk us back into a reality in which music is meant for sharing with others. If the basic iPods "suggest that music is a solitary experience, comprised solely of plugging into your own greatest hits," the phone version allows for the possibility that music "can once again be something that is not just the soundtrack to your own little world, but which you enjoy with other people." The Telegraph (UK) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:46 pm

Mozart: More Than Just Hold Music No matter where you live, you're probably going to be hearing a lot of Mozart this year, as the classical music world celebrates the composer's 250th anniversary. "Mozart is so easy to underestimate. His music chimes in every muzak-infested lift or restaurant or shopping centre, and in these days of the call centre, Mozart's is among the music you hear most often when on hold. You can claim to know nothing about classical music, but you have heard of Mozart, and heard Mozart. Yet just when you are about to write Mozart off as over-exploited and over-exposed, there is the music, utterly direct, communicative yet emotionally elusive, simple yet infinitely complex, which has been moving listeners for over two centuries, offering different qualities to new generations." The Guardian (UK) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:29 pm

Click here for more Music stories...

Arts Issues

Scottish Arts Overhaul May Be DOA "The Scottish Executive is likely to turn its back on 'Culture Scotland', the arts super-quango proposed in its Ł600,000 policy review, according to those who recommended its creation... A leading member of the Cultural Commission, believes there is little appetite for the sweeping changes it recommended earlier this year. It proposed abolishing the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen in favour of two new agencies, Culture Scotland to handle policy and the Culture Fund to manage the cash." The Scotsman (UK) 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 10:01 pm

Richmond PAC Promises To Get Realistic Richmond, Virginia's proposed new performing arts center has been controversial from the beginning, with critics complaining that the project is far too ambitious and expensive for a small city. The mayor has demanded that organizers scale back by 2/3 their plans for "a $112 million cluster of theatres, music venues and a jazz club on an entire city block," and while there are currently no plans to comply with that request, the PAC proponents this week agreed to tackle the project in stages, and not to begin construction on any individual part of the project until that component is fully funded. Richmond Times-Dispatch 09/14/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 8:25 pm

Richmond PAC Leader Takes A Pay Cut "Virginia Performing Arts Foundation President Brad Armstrong has taken a $100,000-a-year pay cut in hopes of eliminating a 'distraction' for the planned downtown arts center." The city's mayor and other critics of the project have frequently made reference to the salaries being earned by the project's top executives. "Armstrong's decision to reduce his pay from $275,000 to $175,000 was" completely voluntary, according to sources on the PAC's board, and the same sources say that the president's job was never in danger. Richmond Times-Dispatch 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 8:23 pm

Click here for more Arts Issues stories...

s="TextBody">Scottish Arts Overhaul May Be DOA "The Scottish Executive is likely to turn its back on 'Culture Scotland', the arts super-quango proposed in its Ł600,000 policy review, according to those who recommended its creation... A leading member of the Cultural Commission, believes there is little appetite for the sweeping changes it recommended earlier this year. It proposed abolishing the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen in favour of two new agencies, Culture Scotland to handle policy and the Culture Fund to manage the cash." The Scotsman (UK) 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 10:01 pm

Richmond PAC Promises To Get Realistic Richmond, Virginia's proposed new performing arts center has been controversial from the beginning, with critics complaining that the project is far too ambitious and expensive for a small city. The mayor has demanded that organizers scale back by 2/3 their plans for "a $112 million cluster of theatres, music venues and a jazz club on an entire city block," and while there are currently no plans to comply with that request, the PAC proponents this week agreed to tackle the project in stages, and not to begin construction on any individual part of the project until that component is fully funded. Richmond Times-Dispatch 09/14/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 8:25 pm

Richmond PAC Leader Takes A Pay Cut "Virginia Performing Arts Foundation President Brad Armstrong has taken a $100,000-a-year pay cut in hopes of eliminating a 'distraction' for the planned downtown arts center." The city's mayor and other critics of the project have frequently made reference to the salaries being earned by the project's top executives. "Armstrong's decision to reduce his pay from $275,000 to $175,000 was" completely voluntary, according to sources on the PAC's board, and the same sources say that the president's job was never in danger. Richmond Times-Dispatch 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 8:23 pm

Click here for more Arts Issues stories...

in-left:150px"> Click here for more Arts Issues stories...

People

Robert Wise, 91 "Robert Wise, a conscientious craftsman in many movie genres who twice received Academy Awards as best director, died yesterday at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 91... His career soared with West Side Story, the 1961 filming of the landmark Broadway musical, for which he shared an Oscar as best director with the choreographer Jerome Robbins. He received a second Academy Award as producer when the film was voted best picture. He gained his third and fourth Oscars with The Sound of Music, the lavish 1965 adaptation of the musical stage hit, in which he was again cited as best director and as producer of the best film." The New York Times 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:39 am

Inviting Shaw Back Into The Room It's been 55 years since Irish-born playwright George Bernard Shaw died, but the mark he left on theater and society as a whole has scarcely begun to fade. Shaw, "whose exceptionally long and fecund career as a center of London theatrical and political life is being celebrated beginning tomorrow in a festival of talks, readings and performances at the New York Public Library, titled 'Man or Superman?'", was also a particular enigma for fans and detractors alike. "Shaw was cutting a calculated, irresistibly dangerous figure as a firebrand critic, polemicist and soapbox orator long before his plays were first produced in London. It was a fire-breathing persona, stoked over seven decades, that expected, nay demanded, to be caricatured." The New York Times 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:53 pm

America's Anti-Sweetheart You need only say the name Mae West to conjure up a world of images remniescent of a particular era in Hollywood's (and America's) history. And while she may be remembered today primarily for some of her more acerbic and sexually-charged quips, West was a constant crusader for the right of artists to push the boundaries of society's moral code, as well as a cutting-edge "social critic, satiriser of the age-old battle of the sexes and advocate of the primacy of the surviving woman. Even bedecked with gems, as Diamond Lil, she remained a model for all those who felt that her sassy rebellion against conventional morality was a precious gift in a prudish, harsh world, which soon plunged into the Depression." The Guardian (UK) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:34 pm

Progress on KCS Slaying Four suspects have now been arrested in the murder of Kansas City Symphony bassist Steven Peters. At least one of the suspects has been charged with second-degree murder in the case. Kansas City Star 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 8:47 pm

Previously: KC Symphony Musician Murdered 51-year-old bass player Steven Peters, a 21-year veteran of the Kansas City Symphony, was found murdered in his home on Tuesday. Police are releasing little information about the crime, but Mr. Peters' brother-in-law has been quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the house had been burgled four times in the last six months. Members of the orchestra were notified by phone Tuesday night. Kansas City Star 09/07/05

Click here for more People stories...

Theatre

Clear Channel To Get Out Of The Theatre Biz When media giant Clear Channel got into the live theatre business several years back, many in the business feared that the corporate monolith would shortly rule Broadway. But it hasn't worked out that way - Clear Channel's stock has been plummeting as its name has become synonymous with bullying tactics and monopolistic business practices - and this week, the company will announce plans to spin off its live entertainment unit. "The general view is that while the spinoff company (as yet unamed) will still have plenty of clout in the touring business (it still controls all those theaters), its presence and influence on Broadway will be greatly diminished." New York Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:33 am

Sheffield's Man On A Mission London's Sheffield Theatres has a new artistic director, and while Samuel West is best known for his boyish good looks and serious acting chops, but it may be his fierce commitment to cutting-edge interpretation of classic theatre, as well as his leftist politics, that speak the loudest in his new career. "Even if we're unlikely to see West in the pages of Hello magazine, he is self-evidently a man with a mission: a Botticelli cherub with balls." The Guardian (UK) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:23 pm

Click here for more Theatre stories...

Media

The "Poor Me" Genre Of Celebrity Film As America and the world become ever more obsessed with fame and the people who have it, it seems that celebrities themselves become increasingly unhappy with their lot. In fact, a stunning number of the films currently on view at the Toronto International Film Festival seem to be about the liability of celebrity, and the great sacrifices one makes in order to be famous. Such navel-gazing may ring hollow with some movie-goers struggling to make ends meet, but Geoff Pevere says that at their best, such films "focus on the spirit-sapping contradictions between being well-known and mortally flawed, of trying to reconcile private needs and public demand." Toronto Star 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:47 am

What If They Gave Out The Emmys And Nobody Watched? The Emmy Awards telecast is coming up this weekend, and from all reports it ought to be one entertaining evening, with the multiple stars of Desperate Housewives battling each other in the same category. But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and with Americans demonstrating a decided fatigue with the culture of self-congratulatory celebrity, will anyone be watching? "Last fall, the Emmy telecast suffered the second-lowest ratings in history. Then the Golden Globe Awards, the People's Choice Awards and the Grammy Awards were all clobbered in the ratings by original episodes of Housewives, which aired opposite each of the ceremonies." Chicago Tribune (LA Daily News) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:13 am

Daytime Emmys Moving West The Daytime Emmy Awards are moving to L.A. for 2006, marking the first time the telecast will originate from a city other than New York. Another change: the nominees for the awards, which honor game shows, soap operas, and other tripe, will now be announced on ABC's The View, which is, of course, eligible for Daytime Emmys itself. New York Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:10 am

Click here for more Media stories...

Daytime Emmys Moving West The Daytime Emmy Awards are moving to L.A. for 2006, marking the first time the telecast will originate from a city other than New York. Another change: the nominees for the awards, which honor game shows, soap operas, and other tripe, will now be announced on ABC's The View, which is, of course, eligible for Daytime Emmys itself. New York Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:10 am Desperate Housewives battling each other in the same category. But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and with Americans demonstrating a decided fatigue with the culture of self-congratulatory celebrity, will anyone be watching? "Last fall, the Emmy telecast suffered the second-lowest ratings in history. Then the Golden Globe Awards, the People's Choice Awards and the Grammy Awards were all clobbered in the ratings by original episodes of Housewives, which aired opposite each of the ceremonies." Chicago Tribune (LA Daily News) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:13 am
- Daytime Emmys Moving West The Daytime Emmy Awards are moving to L.A. for 2006, marking the first time the telecast will originate from a city other than New York. Another change: the nominees for the awards, which honor game shows, soap operas, and other tripe, will now be announced on ABC's The View, which is, of course, eligible for Daytime Emmys itself. New York Post 09/16/05
  Posted: 09/16/2005 6:10 am
Click here for more Media stories...
i>

Click here for more Media stories...

Dance

Washington Ballet Settles Labor Case "Rather than proceed with a National Labor Relations Board hearing, the Washington Ballet has settled a discrimination complaint with the union representing its dancers, bringing to a close an episode that shone an unflattering light on the inner workings of the institution. The American Guild of Musical Artists had alleged that Artistic Director Septime Webre had illegally dismissed two dancers in retaliation for their efforts enabling AGMA to represent the dancers. The ballet maintained that the two were let go for artistic reasons. One dancer, Brian Corman, was rehired after AGMA filed its complaint... Nikkia Parish, the other dancer in the case, has not been rehired." Washington Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:51 am

Click here for more Dance stories...

Dance

Washington Ballet Settles Labor Case "Rather than proceed with a National Labor Relations Board hearing, the Washington Ballet has settled a discrimination complaint with the union representing its dancers, bringing to a close an episode that shone an unflattering light on the inner workings of the institution. The American Guild of Musical Artists had alleged that Artistic Director Septime Webre had illegally dismissed two dancers in retaliation for their efforts enabling AGMA to represent the dancers. The ballet maintained that the two were let go for artistic reasons. One dancer, Brian Corman, was rehired after AGMA filed its complaint... Nikkia Parish, the other dancer in the case, has not been rehired." Washington Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:51 am

Click here for more Dance stories...

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Friday, September 16

Visual Arts

Stolen Rembrandt Recovered "A self-portrait by Rembrandt has been recovered by Danish police, nearly five years after it was stolen in a daring raid on Sweden's National Museum. It was retrieved on Thursday during an operation at a Copenhagen hotel that resulted in the arrest of four people... The artwork - which was reportedly undamaged and still in its original frame - is worth an estimated Ł34m." BBC 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 5:55 am

Can A Single Painting Do More Than A Whole Exhibition? Not every museum can afford to bring in the so-called blockbuster shows that have increasingly come to be the financial backbone of the visual arts industry, but smaller institutions do have another option for drawing a crowd: a single, spectacular, and (most importantly) high-profile work borrowed or bought to get bodies in the door. These "destination pictures" not only serve as a draw unto themselves, but unlike a blockbuster show, they sit well in the midst of the museum's larger collection, inviting patrons to experience all the museum has to offer. Sydney Morning Herald 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 10:04 pm

New York's New Boldness The Freedom Tower may be looking ever more like a lost cause, but "four years on, there is an architectural renaissance in New York that would have been difficult to imagine in the weeks that followed 9/11. Since the 1960s, the shape of New York’s skyline has been under the control of savvy developers who made fortunes erecting uniform brick apartment towers and boxy office buildings. Architects wanting to do something new had little choice but to look to Europe or Asia. This is changing: New York is once again becoming a city where adventurous architecture can happen." Financial Times 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:20 pm

Click here for more Visual Arts stories...

Music

Rich New Deal For L.A. Phil The Los Angeles Philharmonic has a new contract with its musicians which will make it the highest-paying orchestra in the U.S. in the deal's final year. The ensemble, which currently has a minimum salary of $2025 per week, will get a better than 20% raise by 2009, eventually reaching an annual salary in excess of $127,000. "Among other provisions, the contract includes measures to streamline the Philharmonic's auditioning, hiring and vesting processes; allows for free local radio broadcasts; reduces the orchestra by two players (through attrition); redesigns the musicians' healthcare plan; and calls for the members to donate three concerts to help finance pension costs and raise money for the orchestra's endowment fund." Los Angeles Times 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 5:44 am

Kahane In Colorado Jeffrey Kahane debuts this week as the Colorado Symphony's new music director, succeeding Marin Alsop, and he has big plans for the ensemble. "He envisions the orchestra in four or more years playing in New York's Carnegie Hall and perhaps even touring to Europe or South America." Kahane is also promoting a "chamber music style" of music-making in which he and the musicians work as colleagues, rather than a conductor simply barking orders from on high. In that vein, he will conduct several concerts this season while seated at a piano keyboard, playing a concerto while leading the orchestra. Denver Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 5:34 am

Apparently, It's True: There Are No Good Conductors The prestigious International Sibelius Conductors' Competition, held every five years in Helsinki, has ended with the jury declining to award a prize to any of the three finalists. Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, speaking for the judges, declared the level of competition to be "disappointing," and further announced to the audience that "not one finalist conducted the symphony by Sibelius in a way that would entitle him to any of the first three prizes." The jury awarded each of the finalists a lesser prize instead, but the competition's chairman was clearly displeased by the decision. Helsingen Sanomat (Helsinki) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 5:17 am

Or Maybe It'll Just Mean More Unwanted Phone Noise For those who have been wondering what the big deal is about Apple's new iPod/phone hybrid, and even more for those who have become more than a little resentful about the whole iPod phenomenon, here's a pleasant thought: the MP3-playing phones, which come with powerful built-in speakers, may just have the potential to jerk us back into a reality in which music is meant for sharing with others. If the basic iPods "suggest that music is a solitary experience, comprised solely of plugging into your own greatest hits," the phone version allows for the possibility that music "can once again be something that is not just the soundtrack to your own little world, but which you enjoy with other people." The Telegraph (UK) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:46 pm

Mozart: More Than Just Hold Music No matter where you live, you're probably going to be hearing a lot of Mozart this year, as the classical music world celebrates the composer's 250th anniversary. "Mozart is so easy to underestimate. His music chimes in every muzak-infested lift or restaurant or shopping centre, and in these days of the call centre, Mozart's is among the music you hear most often when on hold. You can claim to know nothing about classical music, but you have heard of Mozart, and heard Mozart. Yet just when you are about to write Mozart off as over-exploited and over-exposed, there is the music, utterly direct, communicative yet emotionally elusive, simple yet infinitely complex, which has been moving listeners for over two centuries, offering different qualities to new generations." The Guardian (UK) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:29 pm

Click here for more Music stories...

Arts Issues

Scottish Arts Overhaul May Be DOA "The Scottish Executive is likely to turn its back on 'Culture Scotland', the arts super-quango proposed in its Ł600,000 policy review, according to those who recommended its creation... A leading member of the Cultural Commission, believes there is little appetite for the sweeping changes it recommended earlier this year. It proposed abolishing the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen in favour of two new agencies, Culture Scotland to handle policy and the Culture Fund to manage the cash." The Scotsman (UK) 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 10:01 pm

Richmond PAC Promises To Get Realistic Richmond, Virginia's proposed new performing arts center has been controversial from the beginning, with critics complaining that the project is far too ambitious and expensive for a small city. The mayor has demanded that organizers scale back by 2/3 their plans for "a $112 million cluster of theatres, music venues and a jazz club on an entire city block," and while there are currently no plans to comply with that request, the PAC proponents this week agreed to tackle the project in stages, and not to begin construction on any individual part of the project until that component is fully funded. Richmond Times-Dispatch 09/14/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 8:25 pm

Richmond PAC Leader Takes A Pay Cut "Virginia Performing Arts Foundation President Brad Armstrong has taken a $100,000-a-year pay cut in hopes of eliminating a 'distraction' for the planned downtown arts center." The city's mayor and other critics of the project have frequently made reference to the salaries being earned by the project's top executives. "Armstrong's decision to reduce his pay from $275,000 to $175,000 was" completely voluntary, according to sources on the PAC's board, and the same sources say that the president's job was never in danger. Richmond Times-Dispatch 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 8:23 pm

Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
s="TextBody">Scottish Arts Overhaul May Be DOA "The Scottish Executive is likely to turn its back on 'Culture Scotland', the arts super-quango proposed in its Ł600,000 policy review, according to those who recommended its creation... A leading member of the Cultural Commission, believes there is little appetite for the sweeping changes it recommended earlier this year. It proposed abolishing the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen in favour of two new agencies, Culture Scotland to handle policy and the Culture Fund to manage the cash." The Scotsman (UK) 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 10:01 pm
Richmond PAC Promises To Get Realistic Richmond, Virginia's proposed new performing arts center has been controversial from the beginning, with critics complaining that the project is far too ambitious and expensive for a small city. The mayor has demanded that organizers scale back by 2/3 their plans for "a $112 million cluster of theatres, music venues and a jazz club on an entire city block," and while there are currently no plans to comply with that request, the PAC proponents this week agreed to tackle the project in stages, and not to begin construction on any individual part of the project until that component is fully funded. Richmond Times-Dispatch 09/14/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 8:25 pm

Richmond PAC Leader Takes A Pay Cut "Virginia Performing Arts Foundation President Brad Armstrong has taken a $100,000-a-year pay cut in hopes of eliminating a 'distraction' for the planned downtown arts center." The city's mayor and other critics of the project have frequently made reference to the salaries being earned by the project's top executives. "Armstrong's decision to reduce his pay from $275,000 to $175,000 was" completely voluntary, according to sources on the PAC's board, and the same sources say that the president's job was never in danger. Richmond Times-Dispatch 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 8:23 pm

Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
in-left:150px"> Click here for more Arts Issues stories...

People

Robert Wise, 91 "Robert Wise, a conscientious craftsman in many movie genres who twice received Academy Awards as best director, died yesterday at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 91... His career soared with West Side Story, the 1961 filming of the landmark Broadway musical, for which he shared an Oscar as best director with the choreographer Jerome Robbins. He received a second Academy Award as producer when the film was voted best picture. He gained his third and fourth Oscars with The Sound of Music, the lavish 1965 adaptation of the musical stage hit, in which he was again cited as best director and as producer of the best film." The New York Times 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:39 am

Inviting Shaw Back Into The Room It's been 55 years since Irish-born playwright George Bernard Shaw died, but the mark he left on theater and society as a whole has scarcely begun to fade. Shaw, "whose exceptionally long and fecund career as a center of London theatrical and political life is being celebrated beginning tomorrow in a festival of talks, readings and performances at the New York Public Library, titled 'Man or Superman?'", was also a particular enigma for fans and detractors alike. "Shaw was cutting a calculated, irresistibly dangerous figure as a firebrand critic, polemicist and soapbox orator long before his plays were first produced in London. It was a fire-breathing persona, stoked over seven decades, that expected, nay demanded, to be caricatured." The New York Times 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:53 pm

America's Anti-Sweetheart You need only say the name Mae West to conjure up a world of images remniescent of a particular era in Hollywood's (and America's) history. And while she may be remembered today primarily for some of her more acerbic and sexually-charged quips, West was a constant crusader for the right of artists to push the boundaries of society's moral code, as well as a cutting-edge "social critic, satiriser of the age-old battle of the sexes and advocate of the primacy of the surviving woman. Even bedecked with gems, as Diamond Lil, she remained a model for all those who felt that her sassy rebellion against conventional morality was a precious gift in a prudish, harsh world, which soon plunged into the Depression." The Guardian (UK) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:34 pm

Progress on KCS Slaying Four suspects have now been arrested in the murder of Kansas City Symphony bassist Steven Peters. At least one of the suspects has been charged with second-degree murder in the case. Kansas City Star 09/15/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 8:47 pm

Previously: KC Symphony Musician Murdered 51-year-old bass player Steven Peters, a 21-year veteran of the Kansas City Symphony, was found murdered in his home on Tuesday. Police are releasing little information about the crime, but Mr. Peters' brother-in-law has been quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the house had been burgled four times in the last six months. Members of the orchestra were notified by phone Tuesday night. Kansas City Star 09/07/05

Click here for more People stories...

Theatre

Clear Channel To Get Out Of The Theatre Biz When media giant Clear Channel got into the live theatre business several years back, many in the business feared that the corporate monolith would shortly rule Broadway. But it hasn't worked out that way - Clear Channel's stock has been plummeting as its name has become synonymous with bullying tactics and monopolistic business practices - and this week, the company will announce plans to spin off its live entertainment unit. "The general view is that while the spinoff company (as yet unamed) will still have plenty of clout in the touring business (it still controls all those theaters), its presence and influence on Broadway will be greatly diminished." New York Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:33 am

Sheffield's Man On A Mission London's Sheffield Theatres has a new artistic director, and while Samuel West is best known for his boyish good looks and serious acting chops, but it may be his fierce commitment to cutting-edge interpretation of classic theatre, as well as his leftist politics, that speak the loudest in his new career. "Even if we're unlikely to see West in the pages of Hello magazine, he is self-evidently a man with a mission: a Botticelli cherub with balls." The Guardian (UK) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/15/2005 9:23 pm

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Media

The "Poor Me" Genre Of Celebrity Film As America and the world become ever more obsessed with fame and the people who have it, it seems that celebrities themselves become increasingly unhappy with their lot. In fact, a stunning number of the films currently on view at the Toronto International Film Festival seem to be about the liability of celebrity, and the great sacrifices one makes in order to be famous. Such navel-gazing may ring hollow with some movie-goers struggling to make ends meet, but Geoff Pevere says that at their best, such films "focus on the spirit-sapping contradictions between being well-known and mortally flawed, of trying to reconcile private needs and public demand." Toronto Star 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:47 am

What If They Gave Out The Emmys And Nobody Watched? The Emmy Awards telecast is coming up this weekend, and from all reports it ought to be one entertaining evening, with the multiple stars of Desperate Housewives battling each other in the same category. But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and with Americans demonstrating a decided fatigue with the culture of self-congratulatory celebrity, will anyone be watching? "Last fall, the Emmy telecast suffered the second-lowest ratings in history. Then the Golden Globe Awards, the People's Choice Awards and the Grammy Awards were all clobbered in the ratings by original episodes of Housewives, which aired opposite each of the ceremonies." Chicago Tribune (LA Daily News) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:13 am

Daytime Emmys Moving West The Daytime Emmy Awards are moving to L.A. for 2006, marking the first time the telecast will originate from a city other than New York. Another change: the nominees for the awards, which honor game shows, soap operas, and other tripe, will now be announced on ABC's The View, which is, of course, eligible for Daytime Emmys itself. New York Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:10 am

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of self-congratulatory celebrity, will anyone be watching? "Last fall, the Emmy telecast suffered the second-lowest ratings in history. Then the Golden Globe Awards, the People's Choice Awards and the Grammy Awards were all clobbered in the ratings by original episodes of Housewives, which aired opposite each of the ceremonies." Chicago Tribune (LA Daily News) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:13 am

Daytime Emmys Moving West The Daytime Emmy Awards are moving to L.A. for 2006, marking the first time the telecast will originate from a city other than New York. Another change: the nominees for the awards, which honor game shows, soap operas, and other tripe, will now be announced on ABC's The View, which is, of course, eligible for Daytime Emmys itself. New York Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:10 am Desperate Housewives battling each other in the same category. But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and with Americans demonstrating a decided fatigue with the culture of self-congratulatory celebrity, will anyone be watching? "Last fall, the Emmy telecast suffered the second-lowest ratings in history. Then the Golden Globe Awards, the People's Choice Awards and the Grammy Awards were all clobbered in the ratings by original episodes of Housewives, which aired opposite each of the ceremonies." Chicago Tribune (LA Daily News) 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:13 am

Daytime Emmys Moving West The Daytime Emmy Awards are moving to L.A. for 2006, marking the first time the telecast will originate from a city other than New York. Another change: the nominees for the awards, which honor game shows, soap operas, and other tripe, will now be announced on ABC's The View, which is, of course, eligible for Daytime Emmys itself. New York Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:10 am

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Dance

Washington Ballet Settles Labor Case "Rather than proceed with a National Labor Relations Board hearing, the Washington Ballet has settled a discrimination complaint with the union representing its dancers, bringing to a close an episode that shone an unflattering light on the inner workings of the institution. The American Guild of Musical Artists had alleged that Artistic Director Septime Webre had illegally dismissed two dancers in retaliation for their efforts enabling AGMA to represent the dancers. The ballet maintained that the two were let go for artistic reasons. One dancer, Brian Corman, was rehired after AGMA filed its complaint... Nikkia Parish, the other dancer in the case, has not been rehired." Washington Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:51 am

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Dance

Washington Ballet Settles Labor Case "Rather than proceed with a National Labor Relations Board hearing, the Washington Ballet has settled a discrimination complaint with the union representing its dancers, bringing to a close an episode that shone an unflattering light on the inner workings of the institution. The American Guild of Musical Artists had alleged that Artistic Director Septime Webre had illegally dismissed two dancers in retaliation for their efforts enabling AGMA to represent the dancers. The ballet maintained that the two were let go for artistic reasons. One dancer, Brian Corman, was rehired after AGMA filed its complaint... Nikkia Parish, the other dancer in the case, has not been rehired." Washington Post 09/16/05
Posted: 09/16/2005 6:51 am

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