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Tuesday, November 8




 

Ideas

UK Academics See Danger In New Terror Bill When Britain's Parliament begins debate this week on a new bill designed to combat terrorism, the country's academics and university librarians will be watching closely. Some in the academic world fear that the bill as currently worded would brand the dissemination of some chemistry textbooks (which include basic explosive ingredient lists) as a terrorist act. "The Association of University Teachers says the new offences of encouraging or training for terrorism could effectively outlaw an ethics debate about political violence, or a chemistry lesson." The Guardian (UK) 11/08/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 8:46 pm

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Visual Arts

Punk Princess Clears Space In Her Collection "Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis likes motorcycles and rock stars, lavish parties and jewels. She is known among the international jet set as the 'punk princess' who collects contemporary art. But sometimes, she cleans house. Last night she put 50 works by some of today's trendiest artists - including Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman and Paul McCarthy - up for sale at Phillips, dePury & Company... The sale totaled $6.3 million, [but] art dealers familiar with her collection say she has held on to the best work." The New York Times 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 6:03 am

That's Gratitude For You "Art Exhibitions Australia began 25 years ago with $1 million from government and orders not to come back for more. Charged with bringing international art to Australia, it has staged 57 exhibitions - the latest being Dutch Masters - and attracted more than 10 million visitors. With a total turnover of $130 million, it has raised $42 million in sponsorships, started a million-dollar foundation, and has an enviable $9.5 million in reserves... Naturally, then, it has a cache of variously motivated critics," and many in the Australian art world say that the AEA has outlived its usefulness. Sydney Morning Herald 11/08/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 9:48 pm

Looking Back At The Art Movement That Made You Want To Look Away Dada stands as one of the strangest art movements of the 20th century, rising from humble beginnings to embrace grotesquery as a reflection of the violence and desperation of the era. "When we look at the remains of Dada, we see the 20th century with its skin peeled off. Surrealism was to reject Dada in favour of something supposedly less gestural. Yet Dada spoke the truth." The Guardian (UK) 11/08/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 9:33 pm

Collecting Hitler It's a fairly well known fact that Adolf Hitler started out as an artist. It's also fairly well known that he wasn't a very good one. But that hasn't stopped the market for authentic Hitler artworks from booming. "Isn't the business of collecting the personal effects of Nazis - even their artwork - rather questionable?" Of course it is, and most art dealers won't go near the stuff. But for the "narrow band" of collectors who are interested, price (and geo-political baggage) seem to be no object. The Guardian (UK) 11/07/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 9:17 pm

Bigger Budget For Australia's New Gallery Australia's federal cabinet has approved a AUS$20 million increase in the budget for the soon-to-be-built National Portrait Gallery, bringing the total budget for the project to AUS$74 million (US$54 million) just as the shortlist of architects vying to design the gallery is announced. Sydney Morning Herald 11/08/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 8:52 pm

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Music

Giving Whole New Meaning To "Crossover" The East Village Opera Company is almost guaranteed to make purists groan, but the bare-bones company has suddenly become the talk of New York. "It features [two vocalists], a seven-piece rock band and a string quartet... They take classic operatic arias and perform them to rock grooves with electrifying results. Are you ready for a version of 'La Donna E Mobile' that winds up feeling a lot like 'Bohemian Rhapsody'? You may not think so, but it works amazingly well and the group's debut CD on Universal is already causing ripples in both the classical and rock music scenes." Toronto Star 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 5:34 am

Baltimore Scales Back D.C. Season When the Baltimore Symphony announced that it would play an ambitious season of concerts at the newly constructed Strathmore Music Center in suburban Washington, D.C., in addition to its home schedule in Baltimore, critics noted that the move was a direct incursion into the National Symphony's territory, and questioned whether there was enough consumer interest to support the move. Apparently, there isn't. Ticket sales for many BSO shows at Strathmore have been sluggish, and with the BSO running a deficit, the orchestra has made the decision to cut back on its visits to Washington. 12 concerts have been scrapped in the current season alone, with more cuts possible next year. The good news is that the BSO's traditional classical concerts at Strathmore are drawing well. Washington Post 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 5:26 am

Looking For The Perfect Fit In Philly The Philadelphia Orchestra needs a new president, and it's willing to go outside the industry to find one. "A job description being circulated by the orchestra and its search firm outlines a job that offers expanded authority, since the new president will also be the chief executive officer, a title currently held by the chairman of the board." Orchestra officials say that they are willing to boost the job's salary as well - former president Joe Kluger earned $285,000 per year, well below the income earned by his colleagues at other major American orchestras. Philadelphia Inquirer 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 5:19 am

The Hard Life Of UK Musicians The insurance crisis that recently hit British orchestras is threatening to have a profound impact on the players, too. But they're used to that by now. "These orchestras offer their members no pension schemes, no health insurance beyond in-house benevolent funds and, in some cases, no fixed retirement age. Players in salaried positions with the Hallé and BBC orchestras, for example, have increased stability, but less flexibility and less ready cash. Money was more plentiful in the 1980s; now there are fewer recording sessions, less sponsorship and more competition for work such as film scores and advertising. With house prices high and instrument prices soaring, players are increasingly turning to alternative sources of income: teaching, property development, massage and more." The Independent (UK) 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 5:11 am

  • Previously: UK Orchestras Face Crippling Insurance Bill Britain's symphony orchestras have been thrown into crisis, as the government says orchestras have failed to pay their share of National Insurance assessments and now owe £33 million. The debt could force several major orchestras to fold. "Since a change in working laws in 1998, freelance singers and musicians have been classed as employees for NI purposes, but self-employed for tax purposes. The issue affects ever major orchestra and smaller orchestra in this country and would have huge effects upon how they operate." BBC 10/31/05

As Schools Devalue Music, Outside Groups Step In With music education in many American schools having long since been whittled down to nothing, students with an interest in the subject have had to look elsewhere for the experience of performing in an ensemble. Youth orchestras have tried to take up the slack in most urban areas, and some ensembles have even begun to allow any child with an interest to join, instead of the traditional method of conducting auditions. Rather than learning about music during the school day, kids with an interest in music now have to give up a chunk of their weekend. Not that they mind... Washington Post 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 5:03 am

Musical Education or Indentured Servitude? "The last bars of Ravel's Bolero had just died away to applause, but when conductor Volker Hartung tried to return to the stage for an encore, dozens of police officers blocked his way. To the shock of spectators, Hartung was led from the concert hall in handcuffs. The German maestro spent the next two nights in jail as investigators questioned him for allegedly violating French labor law in a case that suggests the European dream of free movement of goods and services remains a long way off... Ever since that February 2005 night at Strasbourg's Palais de la Musique, Hartung and his orchestra have been embroiled in a costly and time-consuming legal mess... French and German unions say Hartung is exploiting young musicians from Eastern Europe and Russia, and the German union went so far as to call work in Hartung's orchestra 'a kind of modern slavery.'" The Moscow Times 11/08/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 8:25 pm

Those Crazy Swedes In what must surely be one of the oddest pairings in awards history, Sweden's prestigious Polar Music Prize will be shared this year by conductor Valery Gergiev and rock band Led Zeppelin. The winners, who will be honored by Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustav in May, share a love of dramatic performance techniques, a worldwide following, and not a whole heck of a lot else. Monsters & Critics (UK) 11/07/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 8:20 pm

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People

Emperor of Islington In America, he is known almost exclusively as the evil Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars films. But Ian McDiarmid is one of British theatre's respected eminences, and he sees his role in one of America's dominant pop culture phenomena as an interesting sidebar, but hardly the signature moment of his career. Still, the role seems to have grown on him, in all its one-dimensional glory. "I thought Palpatine was a pretty good character. I like the notion that he didn't have any psychological subtlety or depth, that he was just solidly evil and the dirtiest word in his vocabulary was 'friend'. I thought that was terrific." The Guardian (UK) 11/07/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 9:23 pm

French Lieutenant's Author Dies John Fowles, author of The French Lieutenant's Woman, has died at his home in the UK, aged 79. "Fowles' writing career spanned more than 40 years and also included works such as The Magus and The Collector." BBC 11/07/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 8:36 pm

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Theatre

Juilliard Drama Icon To Step Down The Juilliard School's director of drama is stepping down to devote himself full-time to his other job, as head of the Washington, D.C.-based Shakespeare Theatre Company. The company is preparing to open a new 776-seat theatre in Washington, and Michael Kahn felt he could no longer juggle both jobs. "He has taught at Juilliard since 1968 and run the drama division since 1992... The list of actors Kahn has helped train includes Val Kilmer, Laura Linney, Frances Conroy, Mandy Patinkin, Patti LuPone, Christine Baranski, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Bradley Whitford and on and on." Washington Post 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 6:39 am

Vaulting Ahead Of The Competition, Thanks To Microsoft When a Microsoft research scientist offered the Oregon Shakespeare Festival free software along with his usual cash contribution a few years ago, festival officials jumped at the opportunity to boost their techno-capability. "The festival's technical staff put together a lengthy wish list of software, some of it basic operating system software, some of it more specialized, and far more expensive... New computers were purchased, and a wireless network was built. A small group of programmers at the festival was able to write customized software to cue lights, position scenery, keep track of props and costumes, project synchronized video, sell tickets and administer the database of members." There isn't a single aspect of the festival that hasn't been transformed by the new equipment. The New York Times 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 6:07 am

Out With The Old... "Scotland's oldest working theatre faces demolition after the trust that runs it submitted plans to build a new theatre complex, including a restaurant and studio. JM Barrie, Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel have all trodden the boards at the Dumfries Theatre Royal, which was built from money raised in part by Robert Burns, Scotland's most famous poet. But the trust wants to raze it and build a new theatre." The Guardian (UK) 11/07/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 9:30 pm

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Media

Reality TV, Meet Your Melodramatic Soul Mate Classical music irrelevant? Hah! One of the latest reality-TV efforts being pitched to American networks focuses squarely on the appropriately melodramatic world of opera. Think of the possibilities! "Category-5 star fits, backstabbing left and right, failed high notes, plus Pavarotti-esque quantities of food... The proposed scenarios for the show's first few episodes have [the main character] handling financial problems over long distance, often just before going on stage costumed in the standard Rossini-opera wigs and tights. His 22-year marriage is full of tension. This father of two sons talks about three months at home being 'way too long. I'm a road guy.'" Philadelphia Inquirer 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 6:24 am

Congress May Kill Off Public Access TV Depending on where you sit, public access television (those grainy, amateurish channels on American cable systems that run a seemingly endless stream of school board meetings, religious services, and homemade shows with hosts who often appear to be drunk, disturbed or both) is either a vital method of keeping the airwaves in the hands of the public, or a pointless nuisance which has far outlived its usefulness. "Now, though, the future of the channels deemed 'electronic soapboxes' in 1972 by the Federal Communications Commission is uncertain, as proposed legislation about how the telecommunications industry is regulated winds its way through Congress." The New York Times 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 5:59 am

Grokster Follows Napster Down The Path Of Legality The file-sharing service known as Grokster has thrown in the towel in its battle against the recording industry, which has accused it of facilitating online piracy of copyrighted material. As part of the settlement, Grokster will halt distribution of its software entirely and pay $50 million in damages. It is also acknowledging on its website what everyone already knew: that trading copyrighted music and movies online is illegal. Like Napster before it, Grokster plans to reinvent itself as a legal music download service. BBC 11/08/05
Posted: 11/08/2005 5:41 am

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Dance

Is Political Correctness Dooming British Dancers? A leading figure in UK dance says that the next generation of British ballet dancers is being cheated of the training they deserve by a politically correct society and the health and safety laws that go with it. Jeffery Taylor charges that "teachers are no longer allowed to touch or manipulate young dancers' bodies into the correct positions - to straighten their backs, legs or arms - because of fears that they could be accused of sexual harassment... Teachers won't criticise you. They say all the students are as good as each other, that they are equally wonderful. It's obviously not true." Taylor's comments came as the shortlist for the UK's National Dance Awards was released - a list that, for the first time ever, included no native Britons. The Telegraph (UK) 11/07/05
Posted: 11/07/2005 8:52 pm

  • No, It Isn't Andrew Dickson isn't terribly impressed with Jeffrey Taylor's theory that laws preventing dance instructors from touching their charges are killing off the art of dance. "I wonder if laws preventing children from being turned into hobbling wrecks - even artistic hobbling wrecks - are really all that terrible." And one dance critic says that "People like Jeffrey Taylor would be the first to criticise if dancers at the Royal Ballet ended up injured because they were being pushed too hard." Culture Vulture (The Guardian) 11/07/05
    Posted: 11/07/2005 8:45 pm

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