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Wednesday, December 21




Ideas

Thinking Pain-Free "Researchers asked people in pain to try to control a pain-regulating region of the brain by watching activity in that area from inside a real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, machine. Initial results showed subjects could reduce their pain, some quite dramatically. It's the first evidence that humans can take control of a specific region of the brain, and thereby decrease pain." Wired 12/21/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 7:46 am

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Ideas stories submitted by readers
OUR MAN WATSON Straight Up 11/13/05
Bacteria Makes Living Photograph Discovery 12/15/05
Hold the Photons! Wired 12/15/05
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Visual Arts

Christie's Is Champ In France Christie's maintains its three-dominance as the leading auction house in France. "Christie's, the biggest art seller, had French sales of 115 million euros ($138 million) in 2005, up 33 percent from 86.4 million euros last year. It is now selling 2.6 times more art in France than Sotheby's Holdings Inc., the No.2 auction house." Bloomberg 12/20/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 7:19 am

The Art In The Midst Of The Wasteland Six months ago, the New Orleans Museum of Art was on the verge of launching a $100 million capital campaign and planning a major expansion of its building. Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath, of course, changed everything, although the museum and its collection escaped largely unscathed. Six weeks after the storm, the museum was forced to lay off all but a skeleton staff. Now, the museum's director finds himself attempting to sketch out a future in a city that may not have one of its own. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 9:12 pm

Leaner, Meaner, and More Tech-Savvy As museums around the country struggle to make themselves relevant to a generation raised in front of computer screens and conversant with high-tech gadgetry, some institutions seem to be having more luck than others. In Pittsburgh, which like many mid-sized cities boasts one dominant museum and an array of smaller, more specifically targeted ones, it has been the less prominent museums which have made the most progress in integrating new technologies into their existing collections. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 9:00 pm

EU, UK Clash Over Art Sales Levy A years-long dispute between the UK and the European Union over art sales and those who benefit from them is coming to a head this month, with the EU set to try and force Britain to accept the "artists' retail rights levy" already in force on the continent. "Supporters of the levy... say that artists and their descendants should benefit from rising prices, while opponents argue that it will drive business away to nations that do not impose it, such as the United States and Switzerland." UK officials say that they would be disproportionately hurt by the levy, since the country accounts for better than 50% of the European art market. The Telegraph (UK) 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 8:51 pm

A Revolution In Full Color Andre Derain painted 30 landscapes of London during two brief visits in 1906 and 1907. Inspired by Claude Monet's paintings of the River Thames just below the Houses of Parliament, Derain's works in fact changed the face of landscape painting, and caused a generation of artists to rethink their use of color. "By saturating his London views in colours so fierce it hurts to look at them, Derain was entering into unknown aesthetic territory - territory in which colour had become independent of the form it was used to construct, a pictorial element in the picture subject only to the painter's expressive intentions." The Telegraph (UK) 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 8:41 pm

BBC Reverses Course on Newfangled Architecture "When the BBC commissioned three landmark new buildings it was praised as a patron of cutting edge architecture. But now the architects of two of the projects have been dropped and the third may not even happen... The BBC has hardly been forthcoming about these expensive schemes - understandable, perhaps, considering the regular bashings it has had in recent years - but isn't it fair to ask what, exactly, it has been doing with the vast sums of the public's money earmarked for these buildings?" The Guardian (UK) 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 8:30 pm

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Music

Zukerman's Curious Working "Vacation" Pinchas Zukerman's abrupt decision to skip out on the second half of the sesaon with his National Arts Center Orchestra is puzzling. "During the 5½ months he won't be performing with the NACO, Zukerman is booked for dozens of guest appearances with 14 orchestras on three continents. In sum, Zukerman is skipping out of his salaried gig, but keeping all the freelance work." Doesn't sound like a man "taking a sabbatical"... The Globe & mail (Canada) 12/21/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 9:23 am

Digital Conversion - CD Sales Fall, Downloads Rise "According to Nielsen SoundScan, the information system that tracks sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada, sales of music CDs in the States are down almost 7 percent from last year. Album sales in 2004 totaled 480.6 million; sales through late October of this year reached 446.9 million. Meanwhile, legal digital downloading shows no signs of slowing down. Nielsen reported digital sales in 2004 of 101 million. Spurred by the iPod revolution, that number grew to 264.4 million this year. There are more than 230 online sites where consumers can buy music legally, up from 50 a year ago." San Francisco Chronicle 12/21/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 9:16 am

Smith Resigns From ENO Martin Smith has resigned as chairman of the English National Opera. A campaign was mounted against him recently after a series of black eyes for the company. "It is clear my ability to continue helping ENO has been damaged by a campaign against me." BBC 12/21/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 7:14 am

Cleveland Orch Gets $3 Million Boost The Cleveland Orchestra has received a $3 million grant from a local foundation to help the ensemble get back on its financial feet after running $10.3 million in deficits over the last two seasons. "At its annual meeting on November 15, the board of the Musical Arts Association, the orchestra's parent organization, adopted a plan for financial recovery that includes plans to widen its base of support beyond Cleveland and to cut costs." The Kulas Foundation offered the grant as a show of support for the recovery plan. Playbill Arts (NY) 12/21/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 9:31 pm

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Music stories submitted by readers
A homeland for Jewish music "Grammophone 12/20/05"
Why classical music matters to me "Grammophone 12/19/05"
Goodbye classical. Howdy country? Boston Herald 12/18/05
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Arts Issues

A Guide For Everything, Anytime "In the digital age, everyone's a tour guide. Professionals and amateurs alike want to show you around neighborhoods, museums and historic sites around the world. Whether you download them to your Nano, connect via cell phone or load a CD into your Discman, the experience is the same: Hit Play or the Call button at a designated spot, go where you're told and allow a local expert to turn your walk into a narrated tour." Washington Post 12/21/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 9:12 am

Swed: A Theory About Performance In Performances Music critic Mark Swed knows all the caveats about which performances to avoid: "Opening night is a glorified dress rehearsal, so avoid it. Everything comes together about the middle of the run. By the end, the performers are starting to get a bit bored, and it's best, once more, to stay away. Oh, and matinees are never as inspired as evening events." But he's got a new theory: "A performance that begins with proper commitment will likely just keep getting better. One that starts out cynically or inherently weak will tend, like a small crack in a windshield, to get only worse." Los Angeles Times 12/21/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 7:53 am

Why Is Scotland Neglecting The Arts? It was a rough year for the arts in Scotland, and Duncan MacMillan says it didn't have to be that way. "Since devolution public funding of the arts has increased, but by considerably less than it has in the same period in England. So words and deeds don't match and there is ground to be made up before any new dispensation can even begin." More disturbing is the seeming indifference of the Scottish executive to the problem, and the unwillingness of politicians to confront the atrophy of treasured Scottish institutions. The Scotsman (UK) 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 9:24 pm

Tax & Spend, Or Tax & Tax? A proposed entertainment tax in Toronto has bar, restaurant, and theatre owners spitting nails over what they say is yet another assault by the Ontario government on industries that are only marginally profitable to begin with. Canadian businesses already pay hefty (by American standards) taxes on items such as tickets and hotel charges, in addition to sales taxes imposed by both provincial and city governments. Toronto's city council says the purpose of the new tax would be to encourage cultural development, and it plans to set up special "tax-incentive zones" that would offer property tax breaks to cultural institutions. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 8:17 pm

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People

Prominent LA Violinist Burned In House Fire Violinist David Ewart, 48, was listed in critical but stable condition with second- and third-degree burns to his face, hands, chest and back. The fire "also destroyed one of Ewart's prized possessions, a violin dating from the 1770s. The maker of the instrument was not immediately known. Ewart's father, Hugh Ewart, concertmaster emeritus of the Portland Symphony, suffered facial burns and a broken nose." Wired 12/21/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 7:48 am

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Theatre

Stella vs. Katrina, and Guess Who Wins? "The news from New Orleans is that, yes -- the annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival will take place, as scheduled, from March 30 to April 2 in its usual French Quarter haunts. The four-day fete, in its 20th year, celebrates the life and legacy of the playwright who called the Big Easy his 'spiritual home' with panel discussions, celebrity events, theater and musical performances, French Quarter walking tours, food and wine tastings and -- what would a Williams celebration be without it? -- a Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest." San Francisco Chronicle 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 9:20 pm

Dublin Throws Struggling Theatre A Lifeline Ireland's beleagured Abbey Theatre is to receive a €4 million ($4.77 million) aid package from the federal government which will wipe out its €3.4 million debt and allow it to begin to dig out from several years of "catastrophic box office returns." The Guardian (UK) 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 6:40 am

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Theatre stories submitted by readers
L.A. report backs Latino groups to run theater center LA Times 12/19/05
City pursues theater redevelopment Charlotte Business Journal 12/13/05
Character issue: smoking Los Angeles Times 12/12/05
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Publishing

The Writer And The Immigration Service Beijing-born writer Yiyun Li has "had stories published in prestige magazines such as the New Yorker and the Paris Review. She's won the Pushcart Prize and the Plimpton Prize for New Writers. Random House has signed her to a $200,000, two-book contract. Her first book, a story collection called 'A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,' was published this fall to wide praise. Now she has another problem: How do you explain to the federal immigration bureaucracy what the word 'extraordinary' means?" Washington Post 12/21/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 9:09 am

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Media

Vintage Disney Animation Discovered "A collection of vintage Disney animation cells, sketches and background pictures has been uncovered in a warehouse at a Japanese university. About 250 pieces including works from Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, Fantasia and Cinderella were discovered at the building at Chiba University near Tokyo." CBC 12/21/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 7:30 am

FCC Knuckles Under To Hollywood, Delays New Kids' Programming Regs "The FCC said Friday it would delay implementation of new rules governing children's programming on digital television to consider an agreement struck by entertainment companies and children's advocates. The rules, which were to have taken effect Jan. 1, would require that digital broadcasters bump up the amount of children's programming they offer if they multicast, or subdivide their allotment of spectrum into multiple channels." Protests and lawsuits from entertainment companies such as Disney and Viacom led to the decision to delay implementation. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 9:06 pm

UK Anti-Piracy Efforts Not Working The recording industry has been pulling out all the stops to try to put an end to illegal file-sharing and other forms of high-tech piracy. But according to a new study, all the lawsuits, threats, and interventions aren't having much of an impact in the UK. 51% of iPod users in Great Britain continue to download music without paying for it, and fewer than 20% use legal pay-per-download services exclusively. "The survey... also highlighted a large degree of confusion among consumers about whether or not they were breaking copyright laws by using illegal sites. Only four in 10 said that they understood the law." The Guardian (UK) 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 8:33 pm

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Dance

Does Dance Die In College? So you want to be a dancer. Should you go to college? Debatable. "College-level dance programs are proliferating. Dance magazine's College Guide lists more than 500 such programs, up from 131 in 1966. But stable, paying jobs in the field are hard to find. And the utility of a college degree in dancing is a matter of endless debate." The New York Times 12/21/05
Posted: 12/21/2005 7:58 am

FINDing A New Direction In Montreal Montreal has a new dance festival to replace the collapsed Festival Internationale de Nouvelle Danse (FIND), and it will apparently have a theatrical component as well. Marie-Hélène Falcon, the artistic director of the new fest, is a big name in the Quebec theatre world. "[Her] winning proposal was determined by a rigorous open competition. The key to success was proposing an event that would satisfy the expectations of the dance community." The CAN$1.8 million budget reserved for FIND will go to the new festival. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/20/05
Posted: 12/20/2005 8:07 pm

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Dance stories submitted by readers
Dancer reaches a turning point Boston Globe 12/15/05
I Dance, Therefore I Am Wired News 12/13/05
MOVING AROUND NEW YORK Seeing Things 12/12/05
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