Monday, January 30
The People Without Music "Research has shown that some people, termed 'amusic', can neither produce nor perceive music. It isn't a problem of the ears - they can understand other sounds perfectly well - but when it comes to music, all tunes sound the same. It's no surprise, then, that music, which tends to move in small steps, is literally 'lost' on them. Though most amusia sufferers find listening to music pointless, some even find it annoying and unpleasant." BBC 01/30/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 8:10 am
iPod As Learning Machine Apple is teaming up with universities to offer college lectures for iPods. "Internet access to college lectures is nothing new, but listening to them on portable gadgets is a more recent phenomenon of the digital age, spurred in part by the popularity of podcasts, or downloadable audio files." Yahoo! (AP) 01/29/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 11:54 pm
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African American History On The Mall A decision about where a new museum in DC celebrating African-American history is to be made this week. "The country has always been reluctant to come to grips with the slave part of its history. Washington, more than any other city, has that contradiction. People look at the South with the cotton plantations and sugar plantations and say, yes, slavery. But the idea of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as slaveholders is a much more difficult idea. You don't sit in Lafayette Square and think about the slave auction block." Washington Post 01/30/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 9:21 am
Piano's Remake Of LA Museum Comes Into Focus Renzo Piano fills in more details of his design for the makeover of the LA County Museum of Art. "I was yesterday in New York where we're working on the Whitney Museum. So different! There is no reason to repeat yourself — unless you are a stupid guy. There is always a new story to tell." Los Angeles Times 01/30/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 9:03 am
- LA County Museum Plan Tests Architect's Reputation "Renzo Piano Building Workshop is the firm you hire when what you need from your architect is clarity, craftsmanship and refinement. But the latest version of the architect's scheme for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art suggests that in this case, the combination of a tight budget and an ill-matched collection of existing buildings is severely testing those skills." Los Angeles Times 01/30/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 8:55 am
Italy Says Talks With Met Museum Have Soured An Italian culture ministry lawyer says talks between his government and the Metropolitan Museum on disputed artifacts have soured. " 'I'm very worried,' said Maurizio Fiorilli, a ministry lawyer involved in the talks, saying the Met's lawyers are demanding excessive proof that the objects were stolen. The Met said it doesn't see any snag in the talks and expects to send Italy a proposal for a settlement next week." Bloomberg 01/27/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 8:32 am
Detroit Museum Takes Disputed Painting Out Of Storage The Detroit Institute of Art has filed suit to keep a disputed Van Gogh painting that a family claims was stolen from them by the Nazis in World War II. "In the wake of the publicity surrounding the controversy, the museum took 'The Diggers' out of storage late in the day Thursday so weekend museumgoers could see it." Detroit Free Press 01/27/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 8:05 am
Faking Russia Someone is flooding the Russian art market with fakes. "Fueled by the country's burgeoning wealth and the desire for prestigious assets with patriotic cachet, Russia's upper class has driven the market for Russian art to unprecedented heights. The frenzy has also attracted some very skilled and knowledgeable crooks." Washington Post 01/28/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 12:07 am
Fossil Museum Criticized For Lamentable Collection Practices Seattle's Burke Museum is coming under fire for its collection. "A team of outside experts that examined the museum's collection concluded last week that the excavation site of many specimens was so poorly described in museum records that the bones and fossils have little scientific value. The team also questioned whether the museum had the proper permits to collect fossils from federal, state and tribal lands." Seattle Times 01/28/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 11:37 pm
Vancouver Art Gallery's Big Plans The museum has outgrown its current building and plans to build someplace new. "The gallery, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, seems to have its sights set on a world-class facility that would reflect its ambitious programming and reputation in the contemporary arts. That is why the master planning summary included photos of the Denver Art Museum, the Guggenheim and the Mori Art Center in Tokyo." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/28/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 11:34 pm
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Why Iran Bans Beethoven Western music was once welcomed in the Arab world. No longer. "The fact that Beethoven's Ninth is singled out for condemnation points to the reason why Western music is so mistrusted. It speaks of freedom, and the brotherhood of all men regardless of race or creed. This can't be music to the ears of Iran's President Ahmadinejad, who would like to see Israel wiped off the face of the map." The Telegraph (UK) 01/29/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 12:38 am
UK's Best Concert Hall - In Glasgow? Glasgow's City Halls have been under renovation for four years. "The main concert hall is now a comfortable auditorium with an acoustic even better than before. Indeed, it is easily among the finest in the UK. The main beneficiary is the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, which has moved into the building and will use the hall as its base." The Observer (UK) 01/29/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 11:59 pm
Heavenly Savior Wanted: Conducting Skills A Plus "Finding the right conductor is one of the hardest yet most critical things an orchestra can do. As someone once observed, God himself would not be too impressive a candidate... The problem is analogous to love affairs, when initial attraction and subsequent passion are followed by a discovery of long-term incompatibility. As one veteran Toronto Symphony player has observed, 'we go out on a date with these guys once or twice and are expected to get married to them.'" Moreover, the list of duties assumed by a conductor once the title of 'music director' is bestowed has lengthened considerably in recent decades, meaning that orchestras are no longer looking merely for an outstanding musician. "More than catalysts, they almost need to be Messiahs." Toronto Star 01/28/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 9:08 am
San Fran Sym Contract Talks Won't Stop Tour The San Francisco Symphony and its musicians are deep in negotiations for a new contract, and tensions have recently exploded into press and public. But an agreement struck this weekend insures that next month's SFS tour of China will go ahead as scheduled, regardless of the status of the larger negotiations. San Francisco Chronicle 01/28/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 9:05 am
Rattle's Phil Ever since Sir Simon Rattle took up the reins of the Berlin Philharmonic, the critical press has been rife with discussion of his impact on the ensemble that many call the world's greatest orchestra. Rattle and his band are in New York this month, and David Patrick Stearns says there is no doubt that this is a changed orchestra. "Berlin Philharmonic concerts under [longtime chief conductor Claudio] Abbado were the ultimate deluxe experience. The orchestra's gold-plated sound seemed like such an end in itself that even minor fissures in the glistening facade - such as missed notes - felt like a betrayal. Now, the Berlin Philharmonic feels like an intense meeting of many well-defined voices, all of them luminescent and intensely colored." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/28/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 8:57 am
Digging Into An Ugly Orchestral Underbelly Orchestra musicians can seem like the ultimate team players, sitting on stage in their matching tuxedos, moving in harmony in the service of the music. But in reality, musicians have a long history of ugly problems - alcoholism, drug abuse, severe workplace bullying, hearing loss, performance anxiety and more. "The problems are so serious that this weekend the Association of British Orchestras launches the Healthy Orchestra Charter, creating a code of practice to help tackle or prevent the afflictions." The Guardian (UK) 01/28/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 8:47 am
Bringing Mozart Home Thousands gathered on Friday in Salzburg, Austria, for the culmination of the worldwide celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Vienna Philharmonic performed, with Riccardo Muti on the podium and mezzo Cecilia Bartoli standing in for the hastily dismissed Renee Fleming. "There is much around Salzburg at the moment that smacks of unabashed exploitation of a composer whose relationship with it was, to put it mildly, ambivalent. But these concerts seemed to be genuine efforts to do right by the essence of Mozart." The New York Times 01/28/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 7:56 am
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What Ails Arts Journalism? Jay Handelman notes the diminishing presence of arts coverage in American newspapers. Why isn't it obvious the arts deserve coverage? "Maybe critics and reporters aren't doing enough to make editors and readers realize the importance of such stories and the many areas they touch." The Herald-Tribune (Florida) 01/29/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 9:35 am
Religious Hate Bill Worries Artists Britain is considering a bill that would make it illegal to insult religions. "I am deeply concerned for all performers and entertainers, because the climate in which we work will be very different if the government gets its way. If the wording of the revised bill is read carefully, it can be seen that the new freedoms the government provides with one hand it deftly removes with the other." The Guardian (UK) 01/29/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 12:43 am
Sticking Up For Modernism We've done post-modernism. So does that mean modernism is dead? Well, critics have been trying to club modernism to death for decades. That doesn't mean it doesn't still wreak enormous influence... The Observer (UK) 01/29/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 12:18 am
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Wendy Wasserstein, 55 Wasserstein, who had been battling cancer in recent months, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Lincoln Center Theater spokesman Philip Rinaldi said. Andre Bishop, head of Lincoln Center Theater and a close friend of Wasserstein, said the cause of death was lymphoma.
Backstage (AP) 01/30/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 8:36 am
Video Artist Paik Nam-june, 74 "Paik completed degrees in music and aesthetics in Japan before pursuing graduate work in philosophy. Some of his experiments were in radio and television, and he is thought to have coined the terms 'information superhighway' and 'the future is now'." The Guardian (AP) 01/30/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 8:29 am
In Cleveland - Here's The Rub Timothy Rub is taking over as director of the Cleveland Art Museum. "In person, Rub is an imposing figure. Tall and trim, with blue eyes and a full head of sandy hair, he looks like a museum director from central casting. But he's not stiff or formal. Moments after greeting a visitor recently at the Cincinnati museum, he scooped a clump of dust off the museum floor and swept it into the pocket of his well-cut navy suit. Most striking, however, is Rub's manner. His speaks in a calm, deliberate way and answers questions in full paragraphs, not sound bites." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 01/29/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 12:32 am
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Can You Copyright Stage Direction? An ongoing legal dispute between a New York director and the theatre he was working for could wind up having wide implications for the theatre world at large. The director, who was fired after disputes with the producer and the playwright, "claims in his complaint that his staging contributions... constitute a copyrighted work of intellectual property, owned by him, and that the defendants must therefore pay for infringing the copyright," since the show went on after the director was let go. The New York Times 01/29/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 10:04 am
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What Did Frey's Publisher Know And When Did She Know It? "Nan Talese was in no position to call Frey's book 'brutally honest' in 2004 because that was after her conversation with the Star Tribune [which published a piece questioning the book's accuracy]. But she didn't tell Oprah that. Nor did she say she had no idea in 2004 that there were problems with the book, which would be an outright lie. Instead, Talese said, '[T]his whole experience is very sad' and observed that you can't 'get inside another person's mind.' This last is an especially preposterous non sequitur because by 2004 you didn't need to 'get inside' Frey's mind to find out that his memoir wasn't factual." Slate 01/30/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 8:45 am
Behind The Scenes Of Oprah's Frey Prosecution Oprah's takedown of James Frey last week on live television was a moment of high TV drama. Oprah was angry. And yet, there were questions about why she waited so long. "After the lights went down, Oprah said goodbye to Talese with a warm embrace. Publishers, who owe so much to Oprah, are hoping she'll remember her show's second credo: learn how to forgive." Newsweek 02/06/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 8:23 am
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Where Did All The Stars Go? "Who killed the movie stars? Conversations with dozens of Hollywood insiders result in a forest of pointed fingers. Certainly, the entertainment media are blamed for their obsession with tearing down talent as fast as it blooms, but so is the death of the midlevel movie, the dismantling of the studio system, competition from television and the Internet, the enormous paydays with their just as enormous expectations, not to mention the sometimes questionable behavior and talent of the young stars themselves." Los Angeles Times 01/30/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 9:18 am
The Pixar Deal - A Steep Price For Talent Just what is Disney getting for its $7.7 billion purchase of Pixar? "Disney executives are assuming that Disney will get back $1 billion from Pixar's cash and investment portfolio and recoup another $700 million from what Pixar will earn from its share in the past coproductions and from future video, pay-TV, and television sales. If so, the net cost of acquiring John Lasseter's talents—and employment contract—will be just over $6 billion. The deal memo in fact specifies that Disney can pull out of the acquisition if Lasseter does not agree to provide his services." Slate 01/30/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 8:51 am
Judges, Audience Agree On Sundance Top Prizes "For the first time in the festival's 22 years, Sundance jurors and audience members gave the same two films grand prizes in the documentary and dramatic competitions. "God Grew Tired of Us," a look at the so-called lost boys of the Sudan and their relocation to the United States, swept both documentary awards, and "Quinceañera," the coming-of-age story of a Hispanic girl in a gentrifying Los Angeles neighborhood, won the dramatic prizes." The New York Times 01/30/06
Posted: 01/30/2006 12:48 am
Oscars - Year Of The Gays? Several of the leading movies for Oscar honors this year have gay themes. "It could end up being the all-gay Oscars. We could have every major category won by gay-themed pictures. Needless to say, that would be a first. No gay-themed film has ever been named best picture. For all the right wing's blather about Hollywood's liberal agenda, the big studios are actually conservative, concerned not so much about politics as about their bottom line." Chicago Tribune 01/29/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 11:51 pm
Grumbling Over Oscar's Documentary Taste As usual, there's grumbling about documentaries that are left out of Oscar contention. "There's an inherent conflict between how the academy determines eligibility and how most documentary filmmakers make money. Because European television has government money and spends it on films that tackle controversial subjects, American documentarians often look there for financing, in exchange for the chance to show the film on the air. To be considered for an Oscar, however, a documentary must have made its debut in theaters and played for at least a week in New York or Los Angeles, and films that appeared only on television - or even those that appeared on television before moving to theaters - are disqualified." The New York Times 01/29/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 11:46 pm
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Ailey Archives Going To Washington "In early February, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will announce that it is giving its extensive archives to the Library of Congress... The collection of papers, films and audiotapes includes 8,500 black-and-white photographs of Ailey dances and 4,000 programs from 1958 to 2004." The New York Times 01/29/06
Posted: 01/29/2006 10:10 am
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