Blue Skies Are So Overrated "Spring at last feels sprung, and most Britons are gazing upwards, searching for blue skies. But not all - a growing minority are speaking up in defence of clouds. Cloud lovers now have a spiritual home, the Cloud Appreciation Society, with billowing membership and a UK website that won the recent Yahoo award for Weird and Wonderful Site of the Year." The Observer (UK) 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 9:42 am
America's Ghost State Grandiose pronouncements about the glory of the great open West aside, there really aren't many places in America anymore that could truly be considered underpopulated. And when desolation does exist, it is rarely that poetic type of desolation described in flowery novels. More often, it is the quietly desperate solitude of a place like North Dakota, which has been losing people for decades, and may be on the verge of becoming America's first wholly forsaken state. "But even as the American small town continues what often seems like an irresistible decline, some in northwest North Dakota are mounting a resistance, an organized effort to draw people — new people, young people, families — to their small towns." New York Times Magazine 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 9:33 am
When The Arcane Becomes Essential We all know someone who insists on buying all his new recordings on vinyl rather than CD, or banging out correspondence on some ancient typewriter long after everyone switched over to the latest version of Word. The technical term for these people is "pretentious Luddites." But as Philip Marchand demonstrates, there is still great value in supposedly obsolete technologies, and for those interested in certain types of art, literature, and music, older may be the best, if not the only, option left. Toronto Star 04/08/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 8:58 am
The World's Funniest Archive (They Hope) Humor is universal, so they say, but quantifying it can be awfully difficult. For anyone to attempt to archive the history of American comedy, for instance, might seem like the ultimate quixotic mission. But Boston's Emerson College is attempting exactly that: "The archive's centerpiece is an oral history collection, which so far consists of videotaped interviews with 51 comedy professionals... Whatever their value to scholars, the interviews have a lot to offer anyone thinking about pursuing a career in comedy." The New York Times 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 8:31 am
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Havana Hardship Being a serious artist in Cuba is no easy matter, even though dictator Fidel Castro has made a point of using Cuban culture to soften his government's image abroad. "Throughout the city, museums have been refurbished, and installed with many politically charged works that speak both for and against the revolution, displays that seem to demonstrate the government's tolerance of dissenting voices." But beneath the surface, artists struggle for approval of their exhibitions, shows are canceled without warning, and the shadow of El Presidente looms large over every new work. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 10:20 am
The Neverending Battle Over Modernism Modernism absorbs a lot of body blows these days, and one UK critic recently claimed that the art movement was responsible for "more human misery than anything else in history." Hyperbole aside, though, was modernism really a bad thing? "The arguments boil down to claims that Modernism was inhuman, authoritarian and technically inept. But if it was really so bad, and if it was really confined to a tiny and irrelevant coterie, why does it look so good [in museum shows today,] and why was it so all-pervasive in its influence? Above all, why are its critics still so worried about it?" The Observer (UK) 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 9:51 am
- Modernist Redux Love it or hate it, there's no denying that modernism is back in a big way. From the much-celebrated iPod to Frank Gehry's shiny monoliths to "all the chrome-and-leather furniture and cubic shelving that sells to our most fashion-forward loft dwellers: It was all first dreamed up in the 1920s or before." Washington Post 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 9:50 am
Conquering The Renaissance "When Ottoman ruler Mehmed II asked Venice for a 'good painter', he was sent Gentile Bellini, whose portrait of him brought a lasting touch of the Renaissance to the east." At the same time, the influence of Bellini's portrait on Western art was unmistakable, and may represent the original globalization of the European art world. The Guardian (UK) 04/08/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 9:47 am
If It Works, They'll Install A Few Warhols In The Food Court Video art frequently has trouble finding a permanent place in traditional museums and galleries. So why not try displaying it somewhere else? In, say, a shopping mall? "Encouraged by the popularity of their free summer film series, which featured James Bond movies one year and Marilyn Monroe pictures another, managers of [a suburban Colorado mall] have begun screening classic video art in their courtyard." The New York Times 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 9:28 am
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Wired For Sound What does music do to our brains, and can it stimulate centers of activity left broken by diseases like Alzheimers? A group of researchers is hoping to find out by getting right to the heart of the matter. This weekend, "Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, five members of the orchestra, and 50 audience members were the guinea pigs -- wired with sensors as researchers stationed at two banks of computers backstage collected data about heart rates, muscle movement, and other physiological responses... Among researchers' questions: Do orchestra and audience members have strong physiological responses, as they suspect, to the conductor's thrusts and dramatic head tosses? Is there much difference between responses at a live show compared to watching on television, as a control group will do later?" Boston Globe (AP) 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 8:35 am
Orange County PAC Facing A Tidal Wave Of Red Ink The Orange County Performing Arts Center, a massive project years in the making, is five months away from opening night for its Cesar Pelli-designed concert hall. It's also $70 million short in its fundraising. "Unless fresh donations pile up in time, leaders of the Orange County center face having to explain why the new jewel comes with a big mortgage attached — and why an organization proud of never having run a deficit in its 20-year history could have to confront unprecedented financial challenges." Los Angeles Times 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 8:22 am
Too Far, Too Much Work, And They're Playing That Again? Why are classical concert audiences eroding? Composer Libby Larsen has been studying the problem, and has some ideas. For one thing, suburbanites (and a majority of the population in most metro areas lives in the suburbs) already make an average of 13 car trips a day, and aren't terribly keen on battling traffic into the urban core for a concert. For another, technology and its constant advance means that even hardcore music-lovers don't actually need the concert hall to get their fix. And then, of course, there's the repertoire problem... San Antonio Express-News 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 8:17 am
No Classical Left To Cross Over From "Classical crossover isn't a new category, but it's one that morphs more ceaselessly than any other, and appears to be going further afield from core classical than ever. Originally, the crossover chart was created for artists who fell through the cracks, like harpist-composer Andreas Vollenweider. Now, any disc is fair game if issued on a classical label, if featuring a classical artist (even in nonclassical repertoire), or if featuring a nonclassical artist taking a crack at the classics." Philadelphia Inquirer 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 8:11 am
Why Would Anyone Want This Job? There may not be a more demanding job in the music world than that of the opera conductor. Among the challenges: the orchestra must be kept together; the singers (who cannot hear the orchestra) must be explicitly cued, and sometimes need the words mouthed to them from the pit; the audience expects a brilliant and original interpretation, while the orchestra doesn't want to be taken too far outside their comfort zone; egos must be massaged without appearing to suck up; oh, and everyone involved in the production will have already made up their mind about whether the maestro knows what he's doing within thirty seconds of the start of the rehearsal, so watch those first impressions, hmm? The Age (Melbourne) 04/10/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 7:59 am
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The Icon Of Operatic Failure A new set of recordings of opera singer Olive Middleton have just become available. Who's that, you say? Some great legend of the stage of whom I was previously unaware? Well, not exactly: "Middleton's singing goes beyond parody. And it goes well beyond good singing. It's just plain awful." But her celebrity during her heyday in Britain was such that no one seemed to mind that her voice deteriorated so early in her long career. And besides, "all opera hovers on the border of parody. No other performing art — except possibly dance — so exposes its practitioners to ridicule. Part of the thrill of opera is pitting sheer volume against human limitations, the constant awareness of the possibility of failure." The New York Times 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 9:24 am
Secretary Of Chamber Music For many on the left, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has become a symbol of everything that is wrong with the Bush Administration's foreign policy. For many on the right, she's the next shining star of the Republican Party. But there is another side to Rice which she appears to take every bit as seriously as her work in government. "Ms. Rice is an accomplished pianist... Until college she intended to pursue music professionally. Now 51, she plays as often as every other week with [a standing chamber ensemble made up of Washington lawyers with a passion for music.] Until now it was a realm of her very public life that she kept private." The New York Times 04/08/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 8:51 am
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New Guthrie Faces Seating Headache When Minneapolis's Guthrie Theater moves into its massive new riverfront digs this summer, it will have by far the best facilities in the Twin Cities at its disposal. It will also have fewer seats in its main theater, and for some longtime Guthrie subscribers, that's a big problem. "Subscribers have been flooding the theater's phone lines for the past two weeks, trying to figure out where they'll be sitting — and why." St. Paul Pioneer Press 04/08/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 10:40 am
Best Of All, You Don't Have To Pay An Actor Beckett was known for his dialogue, of course, but some of the most intriguing moments of any Beckett play are the silences. Similarly, Beckett's most fascinating character may have been the one who never appeared onstage. And ever since Waiting For Godot, playwrights have been using the absent character in all sorts of ways. "Godot is the supreme example, but stage-shy characters can take many guises - despite not being there. They can expose hypocritical behaviour or create unease; they can trigger comedy or regret - or even encourage metaphysical speculation." Financial Times (UK) 04/07/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 10:16 am
Beckett Centenary Includes Some Rarities Samuel Beckett would have been 100 this year, and in Dublin, the celebrated Gate Theatre is commemorating the occasion by staging a full season of Beckett, including a play originally written for television, but never before seen on stage. "[The Beckett Estate] has intervened to stop certain productions that broke with Beckett’s exceptionally precise instructions, but the Gate has co-operated with it to permit certain changes in a number of Becketts. Taking Eh Joe from film to stage brings this collaboration to a new peak of imagination." Financial Times (UK) 04/08/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 10:10 am
Chicago's Newest Star "At the age of 36, the Chicago playwright Lydia R. Diamond has suddenly drilled her way out of a respectable but muted Midwestern career. This month, this articulate and self-revealing African-American scribe has two world premieres in simultaneous production at respected Chicago theaters -- a highly unusual and impressive feat. And Chicago is by no means the end of it. On a national level, she's white-hot." Chicago Tribune 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 10:04 am
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Politicians Have Such Lousy Timing When Tom "The Hammer" DeLay announced last week that he would resign from Congress in the wake of multiple scandals (and a few indictments), liberals across the country rejoiced. But for one leftist filmmaker putting the finishing touches on a new documentary slamming DeLay, the timing couldn't have been worse. The New York Times 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 9:16 am
The New Sitcom Prototype? If ever there was an argument for just leaving creative people alone and letting them work on their own terms, NBC's critically acclaimed but frequently ratings-challenged sitcom, Scrubs may be it. Now in its fifth season, the show's creators have always faced tremendous network pressure to add a laugh track, give up the single-camera technique, and just generally make a sitcom more like every other sitcom on every other American network. It may be formulaic, say the network brass, but viewers like it, and the numbers prove it. But Scrubs has hung on to become quite popular, and even as they defy TV conventions, its creators are also embracing every new technology they can get their hands on in an effort to connect with viewers. The New York Times 04/09/06
Posted: 04/09/2006 9:10 am
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