Friday, February 10
Baaaah! The Music We Like? Turns Out We're All Sheep! "A new study reveals that we make our music purchases based partly on our perceived preferences of others. Researchers found that popular songs were popular and unpopular songs were unpopular, regardless of their quality established by the other group. They also found that as a particular songs' popularity increased, participants selected it more often. The upshot for markerters: social influence affects decision-making in a market." LiveScience.com 02/09/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 6:40 pm
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Trump Breaks Sky In Chicago Donald Trump's new 92-story skyscraper is under construction in Chicago. "The heart beats faster at the prospect of Chicago reaching into the sky. Busting into the clouds is in the city's blood. Nothing like this has happened since the boxy, black mass of the 1,450-foot Sears Tower, once the world's tallest building and still the nation's tallest, soared above the gritty Loop in 1974." Chicago Tribune 02/10/06
Posted: 02/10/2006 10:36 am
Lauder - Where's The Provenance? Ronald Lauder is chairman emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art, former treasurer of the World Jewish Congress and, most important, a major advocate of Holocaust-era art restitution. But "despite his high-profile advocacy for openness — including testimony before Congress in 1998 — Lauder has never publicly listed the works in his own collection, many of which are by painters who were popular with Jewish collectors before the Holocaust. And a museum that he founded has failed to fulfill its pledge to post provenance information for its collection." The Forward 02/10/06
Posted: 02/10/2006 8:51 am
- Fallout From A Previous Lauder Story Jan Herman points out that the last reporter who tangled with Lauder was David D'Arcy. "D'Arcy's contract with National Public Radio "was terminated after a piece he did on Holocaust art theft and the Museum of Modern Art sent MoMA board chairman Ron Lauder so far around the bend that museum officials accused D'Arcy of 'shabby reporting' and pressured NPR to repudiate it." Straight Up (AJBlog) 02/10/06
Posted: 02/10/2006 8:20 am
Pollocks To Be Retested For Authenticity The Pollock-Krasner Foundation says that six Jackson Pollock paintings tested and spotted as frauds by physicist will be retested. "All of Jackson Pollock's poured paintings analysed by my research group are composed of a highly specific and identifiable form of fractal patterning. Pollock's specific fractal signature has not been found in the submitted paintings. The analysis has also revealed that the patterns vary between the paintings, indicating that they may have been painted by different hands."
BBC 02/10/06
Posted: 02/10/2006 8:11 am
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American Idol Beats Grammys In The Ratings "For the first time in 12 years, the Grammys did not win its night in the ratings. From 8 to 9 p.m. nearly 29 million people decided they'd rather watch the lousy performances and histrionics of wannabe pop stars in Hollywood than be entertained by Madonna, Coldplay, John Legend and U2 at the [Office Supply Retailer] Center in downtown Los Angeles." Washington Post 02/10/06
Posted: 02/10/2006 11:11 am
I Won A Grammy? No Big Deal "For these relative unheards fronting large jazz bands, a Grammy, while nice, probably won't transform a career. A few extra commissions might come through, a hall might get booked a little more easily. But there will be no need for Ray-Bans and floppy hats, or checking into hotel rooms under assumed names." Los Angeles Times 02/10/06
Posted: 02/10/2006 8:16 am
Miles, The Way He Never Meant To Be Heard Miles Davis has always sold well. But there are so many boxed sets that feature outtakes and performances not meant to be heard. What's the point? "There's something intimate, even creepy, about listening to the vast quantity of recordings on these boxes; many of the tracks are out-takes - never intended for the market. And they seem to have become more obsessive, more microscopic." The Guardian (UK) 02/09/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 11:21 pm
What Happened To Schumann's 150th? Norman Lebrecht wonders why, amid "the universal mush of Mozart's 250th birthday, few are bothering to contemplate the 150th anniversary of Schumann's death, an event that changed the course of music." La Scena Musicale 02/09/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 10:37 pm
Bolcom's Grammy Triple Delight William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience won the Grammy Awards for best classical album, best choral performance, and best classical contemporary composition at the Grammys. Here's a complete list of classical Grammy winners... Playbillarts.com 02/08/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 8:19 pm
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Munitz Out At Getty Tyler Green reports that Barry Munitz is stepping down as president of the Getty Trust. Munitz has been under fire in the past year. "In a letter to the Board, Dr. Munitz said that with the Getty's vision and strategic priorities clarified and supported, a new museum director in place, the Getty Villa reopened after an eight-year period, the Trust endowment in solid financial shape and talks underway to resolve issues surrounding the Getty's antiquities collection, his work at the Getty was complete." Modern Art Notes 02/09/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 6:48 pm
- Barry Munitz's Fall "Munitz's resignation marked a stunning downfall for a man who brought extensive business and academic experience to the world's richest art institution, not to mention a bevy of friendships with Los Angeles' power elite." Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times 02/09/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 6:29 pm
- Getty Prez Resigns Under Pressure "In interviews, Barry Munitz has defended his actions and his spending, saying that his job required him to court powerful collectors and donors around the world. He has also stressed that trust's board had approved all his expenses, including first-class air travel, stays at five-star hotels and a leased Porsche Cayenne." The New York Times 02/10/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 6:16 pm
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The Sad Strange Story Of A Writer Calling Himself Nasdijj Nasdijj claimed to be a native American and wrote a memoir that drew raves. But in tracking down the author, it appears Nasdijj might not be who he says he is. Is Nasdijj the reinvention of a struggling white writer of gay erotica? LAWeekly 02/09/06
Posted: 02/10/2006 9:34 am
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Australian Theatres Struggling "The Bell Shakespeare Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Sydney's Company B and Circus Oz are also forecasting losses this year, with combined deficits of $1.5million. Theatres were employing fewer actors and their work on stage was losing vitality because of growing financial pressures, a report released yesterday found." The Australian 02/09/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 8:18 pm
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Journalism In the Age Of Petroleum Geoloists The American Association of Petroleum Geologists has awarded its annual journalism award this year to Michael Crichton, the science fiction writer whose latest book, "State of Fear," dismisses global warming as a largely imaginary threat embraced by malignant scientists for their own ends. "It is fiction," conceded Larry Nation, communications director for the association. "But it has the absolute ring of truth." The New York Times 02/09/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 11:53 pm
HarperCollins Racks Record Profits Thanks to its 170 Narnia titles, HarperCollins has had one of its most profitable quarters ever. "Operating income jumped 24% at HarperCollins in the second quarter of fiscal 2006 ended December 31, to $77 million, despite revenue increasing less than 4%, to $390 million." Publishers Weekly 02/09/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 11:28 pm
So We Should All Read The Classics In School? (What A Turn-Off) Carol Sarler doesn't read books. Really. She blames it on school. "We read the books, we were tested on them and we passed or failed accordingly. Reading books was, therefore, the stuff of school in exactly the same way as was trigonometry or chucking a javelin — and since leaving my esteemed seat of learning, I am as likely to curl up with Jane Austen for the fun of it as I am to flirt with a cosine or risk the wrong end of a spear." The Times (UK) 02/06/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 8:31 pm
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FCC: TV Consumers Should Have Choice The Federal Communications Commission has reversed itself and come out in favor of allowing cable TV consumers to choose the channels they want to receive. "The latest report also said in most cases subscribers would save 3 percent to 13 percent on their bills under a la carte. It noted that earlier assumptions that a la carte would lead consumers to watch two hours less of TV -- and thus decrease revenue for cable TV companies and increase costs -- lacked factual support." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (AP) 02/10/06
Posted: 02/10/2006 9:59 am
Women MIA In Family Movies A new study reports that "male characters outnumbered females 3-to-1 overall in top-grossing G-rated films from 1990 to 2004." Toronto Star 02/10/06
Posted: 02/10/2006 9:43 am
Another Public Broadcasting Offical Quits Michael Pack, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's top TV executive has resigned. "This is the latest in a string of departures of officials and consultants who played central roles in an effort by conservatives to bring what they viewed as more balance to public television and radio." The New York Times 02/09/06
Posted: 02/09/2006 11:13 pm
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Pittsburgh Ballet Retrenches For Next Season Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is reducing its operations a bit next season in an attempt to stay alive. Having looked at PBT's financial records, George Clewer, president of the musicians' union, said, "They're not handing us a line. They're fighting for survival and we're here to support them. We want to get the orchestra in front of the public." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 02/10/06
Posted: 02/10/2006 9:52 am
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