If You Tell A Lie And Nobody Cares, Is It Still Wrong? Literary controversies rarely generate much national debate these days, but the dust-up over James Frey's alleged fibbing in his memoir exploded into something larger this week when Oprah Winfrey, who had selected Frey's tome for her famed on-air book club, weighed in with the opinion that Frey's manufactured truth just isn't that big a deal. The controversy is bigger than Frey, of course, and even bigger than Oprah. The issue is that major lies seem to have lost their power to outrage us as a nation. "Are we so used to being duped that over time, our outrage muscles have gone all slack and gooey? ... Softened up by relentless hyperbole and the hot air of advertising, it's easier for us to roll over and play dead when confronted with an actual lie." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 01/15/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 11:27 am
Click here for more Ideas stories...
Ideas stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
How Documentarians Became Artists Photographs celebrating "real life" - gritty, unadorned reality undisturbed by notions of art or beauty - are the hottest thing going these days. But are such snapshots of life really the type of thing that belongs in a gallery alongside more traditional genres? "In these unelitist times, most of us would now question the old distinction between art on the one hand and photography (and documentary film) on the other... We don't usually look for sociological information from drawings and sculptures. But there are times of crisis when artists are commissioned to do their bit for the nation, and even before the war, in the early 1930s, Benjamin Britten, WH Auden and William Coldstream were all contributing to the documentary movement. Art was to be brought to the people, and the people into art." The Guardian (UK) 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 11:11 am
Using Art To Attract Celebrity, Cash, and Youth A new generation of art enthusiasts is coming of age (as are their investment portfolios,) and museums are scrambling to find new ways to integrate the new blood into their existing mix. "All the major museums in New York sponsor junior groups," which seem to exist mainly to throw lavish parties and attract celebrities and cash. "Junior museum boards were originally closed, invitation-only groups aimed at the children of established donors. Over the years, however... the boards have opened wider. Today the junior groups are open to anyone who can pay the annual dues (which range from $500 to $1,000), and foot the $150 to $200 needed to attend the galas. And each party is more opulent than the last." The New York Times 01/15/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 10:46 am
Hecht Speaks Out As Prosecution Continues To Lay Out Its Case Art dealer Robert Hecht, accused of illegally trafficking in stolen art, is firing back at prosecutors in his trial in Rome, saying that he is being made a scapegoat for the crimes of others. "Mr. Hecht, 86, spoke during a recess in a long trial hearing. Inside the courtroom, a Rome prosecutor, Paolo Ferri, continued to build his case, detailing a web of connections among dealers who he said traded in freshly dug-up artifacts by routing them through Switzerland or prominent auction houses and into the collections of museums and private individuals." Hecht and Getty Museum curator Marion True are both being prosecuted in the case. The New York Times 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:08 am
Donor Forces Met To Cancel Sculpture Auction "Acceding to a request from an angry donor, the Metropolitan Museum of Art [has] canceled plans to sell a large steel sculpture by the Spanish artist Eduardo Chillida - the only work in its collection by that artist... The sculpture was donated to the Met in 1986 by Frank Ribelin, a Dallas collector. Mr. Ribelin contacted The New York Times on Thursday to complain that the Met had never informed him of the planned sale and that he had learned of it only after a friend pointed it out to him at Sotheby's Web site." The New York Times 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:06 am
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
Visual Arts stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Leading From The West Whether New York is really losing its primacy as the undisputed American center of the arts is quite debatable. But it is becoming increasingly clear that the heart of the American orchestral organism is beating strongly 3,000 miles southwest of the Big Apple. The Los Angeles Philharmonic has achieved that rarest of confluences in recent years - a first-rate ensemble, a finely tuned promotional operation, a top-flight music director, and an outstanding and inviting concert hall. Perhaps more importantly, the LA Phil's success may provide a blueprint for America's more staid and stagnant orchestras (one of which resides in New York) to overhaul their own product. The New York Times 01/15/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 10:35 am
The Compositional Catch-22 Musicians and orchestras love to pay lip service to the concept of promoting new music, but increasingly, composers are facing a world in which their services are viewed as optional. "Something fundamental has changed in the music marketplace: Where once patrons consisted of people outside the music business - church leaders, emperors, members of the bourgeoisie, impresarios - today they are almost always from within. The world of classical music is becoming self-absorbed, for it is the musician himself who commissions new music with the flickering hope of selling it as a commodity to consumers. Consumers, in turn, are becoming too obsessed with iPods, the Internet and video-on-demand to bother with live concert performances." Charleston Post & Courier (SC) 01/15/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 10:23 am
NACO Players Divided Over Zukerman's Leadership Details are continuing to emerge in the sordid tale of Pinchas Zukerman's abrupt "sabbatical" from Ottawa's National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the divisive and outspoken Zukerman appears to have left behind a divided orchestra. "While it's not unusual for orchestra musicians to have varying opinions about their leader, some longtime NACO musicians say they've become polarized in a way they have never been before... The kind of reasonable debate musicians used to have about conductors has become difficult." Furthermore, some within the NACO are openly acknowledging that the orchestra's artistic standard has diminished under a conductor they see as authoritarian and uninterested in expanding his artistic horizons. Ottawa Citizen 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:54 am
Detroit Tries A Few Gimmicks Orchestras across the country are scrambling to attract new audiences with such gimmicks as video screens, loquacious conductors, and hot young soloists, but much of the experimentation is in the trial-and-error realm, since there isn't a lot of evidence concerning what works and what doesn't. The Detroit Symphony launched a new series this season aimed at cultivating demographics it doesn't currently see much of, but Mark Stryker says the idea will need a lot of tweaking before it yields dividends. Moreover, its possible that orchestras are barking up the wrong tree with the idea that younger audiences want less substance and more flash. Detroit Free Press 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:45 am
That Same Old Orchestra Sound Critics have long complained about a supposed "homogenization" of orchestral sound, an abandonment of the distinct traditions that used to characterize each city's unique orchestra. Some of the griping is overblown, but some stereotypes are rooted in truth. "North American orchestras still tend to show off their wind soloists at the expense of ensemble sound, a situation made more obvious by the players' polyglot origins and training... Orchestras used to have a much more localized identity, which helped give them a more individual personality." Of course, the nationalization of the audition process has also resulted in a surfeit of great orchestras, where many of the "distinctive" ensembles of the past used to be quite mediocre due to a lack of top-notch musicians outside the major urban centers. Toronto Star 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:32 am
The Mozart Obsession Mozart could certainly be said to be overexposed, especially in central Europe, where his visage graces everything from concert programs to chocolate wrappers. Many of his most famous compositions long ago entered the dreaded realm of Muzak, and the film adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus didn't exactly paint a flattering portrait. And yet, somehow, Mozart's life and music continue to captivate audiences and musicians in an almost completely unique way. Toronto Star 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:27 am
Click here for more Music stories...
Music stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
More Cash, Less Control For Scottish Arts Council "Government funding for the arts in Scotland will be increased, it will be announced this week, although the figure looks set to fall significantly short of the extra £100m recommended by the Cultural Commission... Although negotiations are continuing this weekend, it now seems certain that the Scottish Arts Council will be stripped of responsibility for the national companies - Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, the National Theatre of Scotland, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra - and merged with Scottish Screen... In future, the five national companies will be funded directly from the Scottish Executive, although sources say they will be protected from any direct influence from civil servants." The Observer (UK) 01/15/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 10:41 am
Bringing Art To America's Beach Party Capital Not so very long ago, Miami was a cultural wasteland, a city of beach bums and water skiiers with little to no artistic presence. Today, Miami and its sprawling South Florida surroundings are fast becoming one of America's most intriguing arts centers. Why the change? One organization that had a lot to do with it is the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. Miami Herald 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:50 am
Merger In Pittsburgh Two struggling Pittsburgh film organizations are merging operations in order to streamline operations and retire debt. "In August 2004, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts had a debt of more than $1 million, and the center's board closed the facility and laid off 13 staff members. A month later, Pittsburgh Filmmakers agreed to lend its executive director, Charlie Humphrey, to the center, and he has divided his time between the organizations since then... The two organizations will merge their budgets as of July 1, with a combined preliminary budget of $3.4 million." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:25 am
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
Arts Issues stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Shostakovich The (choose only one) Visionary/Fraud There may be no composer whose life and work divide critics more than Dmitri Shostakovich. Was he a courageous rebel working against the Stalinist regime from within, or a Communist stooge too fond of his privileged place in Soviet Russia to worry about the politics of it all? Does his music represent a visionary advancing of the traditions established by Russia's 19th-century compositional luminaries, or is it all "undercomposed" and second-rate stuff? "It is extraordinary how vitriolic such discussions... become, both inside and outside Russia." The Guardian (UK) 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 11:14 am
Shelley Winters, 85 "Actress Shelley Winters, who went from blonde siren to respected double-Oscar winner during a distinguished Hollywood career, died yesterday at the age of 85." The Independent (UK) 01/15/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 10:22 am
Click here for more People stories...
People stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Changing The Equation "It looked a lot like a reality show. Last month, [Toronto's] Soulpepper Theatre Company held the ultimate audition... Unlike most drama training programs (such as the National Theatre School, George Brown College, and so on) in which inexperienced students pay tuition in exchange for training and connections to the 'real world,' Soulpepper Academy is the real world, and its students working artists. As such, it reverses the financial equation. It will pay its students for their time. Each will receive an annual income of $30,000." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 8:24 am
Click here for more Theatre stories...
Theatre stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
The Future Of The Written Word "If Bill Gates has his way, those of us who love the tactile pleasures of reading should proceed into 2006 with a degree of caution. The way we read books, and the way they are distributed globally, is about to undergo radical transformation similar to changes in the way we acquire, distribute and consume music." But with Google and Microsoft locked in competition to be the first to digitize all the printed words that have come before, and to transform the future of publishing itself, debate is raging over what is good for the marketplacem, and what is good for the consumer. The Age (Melbourne) 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 11:03 am
Canadians Going All-American Canadians take great pride in their national artists, actors, and authors, and go to great lengths to avoid being swamped by the tidal wave of American culture looming just to the south. But increasingly, Canadian readers seem to be going off the national script, buying and reading far more American titles than Canadian. Moreover, bestseller lists that have long placed Canadian titles in the top tier are now known to have somewhat suspect data-gathering operations. National Post (CanWest) 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:00 am
Frey's Lies: Are The Readers The Problem? Does it really matter that James Frey wrote a book falsely claiming to have been a drug-addled bad boy in his youth? Perhaps not. "There is, however, a deeper issue worth considering buried in all this pop-cultural titillation: Why are people so easily victimized by this sort of emotional con man? For some years, book publishing, television and — more recently — a growing segment of the news media have been sinking deeper and deeper into a particularly fetid sinkhole carved by two social currents that now dominate our collective lives. One is narcissism, which has turned the confessional memoir into the dominant literary genre of our age. The other is the public's prurient interest, which creates a readership for the literature of self-absorption and supports a metastasizing culture of celebrity." Los Angeles Times 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 8:33 am
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Publishing stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Oscar Loves The Crying Scenes The Academy Awards are supposed to represent the last word in Hollywood quality, and to make a practice of honoring the best, not just the best-connected. But a quick glance through the best picture winners of the last two decades shows another side of Oscar. It would appear that Academy voters are absolute suckers for shameless tear-jerkers, and will always reward raw emotion over substance and relevance. It's that preference for over-the-top melodrama that explains how Forrest Gump beat out Quiz Show, how Saving Private Ryan lost out to Shakespeare in Love, and it's also the reason that such thought-provokig films as Syriana, Munich, and Good Night and Good Luck haven't got a chance against Brokeback Mountain. The New York Times 01/15/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 10:54 am
Selling The Scandal (Right After You've Manufactured It) As horror films become ever more violent and gruesome, the PR reps whose job it is to get us to the cinema to watch people being tortured have developed an almost amusing strategy. Rather than shying away from controversy and claiming the high ground, studios and promoters do whatever they can think of to upset a few easily offended people and use the supposed outrage to promote the gorefest as some sort of oddly subversive experience. In fact, scandal has become such a reliable predictor of financial success that in Hollywood, "controversy is cultivated more often than it occurs naturally." Toronto Star 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:39 am
Super Double-Triple Half-Caf Mochachino, With A Side of Jim Carrey To Go It's been fairly well proven over the last decade that, not only will Americans pay $4 or more for any 25-cent coffee drink that comes with a Starbucks logo, but we'll also buy pretty much anything else sold alongside the lattes, no matter how peripheral the connection to coffee. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that Hollywood is jumping on the Starbucks gravy train in an effort to boost DVD sales and promote its new movies. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 8:29 am
Montreal's FilmFest Glut The New Montreal FilmFest lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in its first run last summer, and with two other major film festivals ongoing in the city, a merger with the smaller Festival du nouveau cinéma has been rumored for months. But with a self-imposed deadline for the New Fest to retain its primary sponsorship looming, there has been no substantive progress in merger talks, and Festival du nouveau cinéma appears to have little interest in rushing towards a partnership merely to rescue a less successful rival. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 8:12 am
Click here for more Media stories...
Media stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
NYC Ballet's Bright Future Arrives Bright Sheng might not be the first person a ballet company would think of when contemplating the creation of a composer's residency. (He's never written a ballet score, or expressed any interest in doing so.) On the other hand, New York City Ballet is hardly the first arts organization you might assume would be in a position to strike a major, multi-year deal with one of the preeminent composers of the era. (Ballet companies are not exactly rolling in money these days.) But Sheng is enthusiastically embracing his newest task, commuting to New York from his home in Michigan nearly every week, and getting involved in fundraising and education as well as the artistic side of the organization. The New York Times 01/14/06
Posted: 01/15/2006 9:15 am
Click here for more Dance stories...
Dance stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
