Is This The Best Of Times For Classical Music? (Or The Worst?) Our panel: Peter Dobrin, Philadelphia Inquirer; Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Janelle Gefland, Cincinnati Enquirer; Klaus Heyman, Naxos; Barbara Jepson, Wall Street Journal; Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle; Allan Kozinn, The New York Times; Frank Oteri, NewMusicBox; take on the topic...
ArtsJournal.com Posted: 1:48 pm
TV + Studying = A Bad Combination "Multitasking may be necessary in today's fast-paced world, but new research shows distractions affect the way people learn, making the knowledge they gain harder to use later." Chicago Tribune (AP) 07/25/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 6:43 am
Why Wikipedia Rules "As was the Encyclopédie, Wikipedia is a combination of manifesto and reference work. Peer review, the mainstream media, and government agencies have landed us in a ditch. Not only are we impatient with the authorities but we are in a mood to talk back. Wikipedia offers endless opportunities for self-expression. It is the love child of reading groups and chat rooms, a second home for anyone who has written an Amazon review." The New Yorker 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 6:41 pm
Coming: A Better Form Of Academic Publishing? "Scholars... who are as comfortable firing off comments on blogs as they are pontificating at academic conferences, are beginning to question whether the printed book is the best format for advancing scholarship and communicating big ideas. In tenure and promotion, of course, the book is still king — the whole academic enterprise often revolves around it. But several scholars are using digital means to challenge the current model of academic publishing." Chronicle of Higher Education 07/28/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 10:33 am
Art A Risky Investment, Study Says "Art is one of the worst ways for investors to try to make money, even as paintings by Picasso and Klimt sell for more than $100 million apiece, according to a Merrill Lynch & Co. study." Dallas Morning News (Bloomberg) 07/24/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 7:56 am
Philly's City Hall, Minus The Coal Stains Philadelphia's hulkingly opulent city hall, an architectural lightning rod since shortly after its completion in 1901, may be about to see its best days yet. "A restoration of the building’s lavish statuary and exteriors, perhaps the nation’s largest-ever art conservation effort, is slowly transforming its dingy main floors into bright granite and marble. Ironwork that was once rusty is now a crisp white. Viewed from the northwest, the renewed facades are a shining panorama its builders could only imagine." The New York Times 07/25/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 4:43 am
Survey: Many American Museums Haven't Checked Provenance Of Nazi Era Art "Of the 332 museums that were sent questionnaires by the conference in February, 214 responded before a deadline of July 10. Of those, approximately 114, or slightly more than half, said that they were actively conducting provenance work. The remaining 100 museums either said they were not doing such work or did not provide enough information for the Claims Conference to be able to make a determination." The New York Times 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 11:33 pm
How Do You Tell A Real Pollock? Jackson "Pollock at his peak burned his past conditioning and present turmoil, his very identity and character as a man, and he burned them clean. There’s nobody to recognize. That’s why it can be hard at first sight to tell a true Pollock from a fake. He prepared us to believe that absolutely anything was possible for him. What determines authenticity for me is a hardly scientific, no doubt fallible intuition of a raging need that found respite only in art." The New Yorker 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 6:43 pm
A Protest To Save Stonehenge "English Heritage is particularly worried because Unesco, the United Nations education and cultural body, has warned it may remove the monument's World Heritage status unless Britain tackles the serious problem of traffic passing right beside Stonehenge, which is one of the world's richest reservoirs of Stone Age circles, henges and alignments." The Observer (UK) 07/23/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 5:49 pm
Levine Is Top-Paid Conductor In U.S. With paychecks totaling $3.5 million, "James Levine is not just among the most acclaimed music directors of his time. His combined salaries from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and New York's Metropolitan Opera make him the highest-paid conductor in the country, according to the most recent Internal Revenue Service filings." This does not, however, mean he wins the world title for highest paid conductor. Boston Globe 07/25/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 7:42 am
An On-Time Finish Would Mean An Under-Rehearsed Orchestra "The Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center is slated to open Sept. 15, but builders are racing to finish at least a month earlier — the leeway the hall needs to have a fighting chance of sounding right in its debut. Its resident orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, needs the time to become acclimated to the 2,000-seat venue in Costa Mesa, which is considerably more intimate and acoustically sensitive than its previous home of nearly 20 years." Los Angeles Times 07/25/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 6:07 am
Raving Mad - UK Raves Return The legal club scene in the UK is limited so illegal raves are returning. "First signs of the rebirth of the outdoor rave came last year, but partygoers now appear to be more emboldened to challenge laws brought in 12 years ago by the Conservative government to crush a scene that epitomised the dance and drug culture of the early 90s." The Guardian (UK) 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 5:43 pm
Lebrecht: South Bank's Anti-Art Move London's South Bank has offered work to a pair of talented English composers that will keep them away from composing, writes Norman Lebrecht. "In the prime of life and apparent good health, the pair ought to be at the height of their fertility yet such is the English aptitude for seducing artists away from art - and the concomitant avidness of English artists to accept state honours and financial honoraria - that no-one, not even their loyal publisher, would aver that Oliver Knussen or George Benjamin has come within a nautical mile of fulfilling a truly remarkable potential." La Scena Musicale 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 4:51 pm
Cork After Culture Cork, Ireland, was the European Capital of Culture in 2005. So what was the lasting impact? "As you travel through the city barely six months after the cultural year ended, there is little sign that Cork is the new Milan, or even Cologne, for that matter. Two of the main arts venues are promoting reruns; the only cinema in the city centre has been sold for apartments; and an independent art gallery on the city's north side has been forced to close its doors due to lack of business. It seems Cork is suffering from something of a cultural hangover." New Statesman 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 7:14 pm
The Bolshoi's Long Road Trip The Bolshoi is in the midst of a three-year £400 million renovation which has closed the theatre. "The Bolshoi maintains two and a half orchestras and a corps de ballet twice the size of the Royal Ballet's, allowing the company to perform in two places at once." Thus, the Bolshoi's constituencies are almost continuously touring... The Telegraph (UK) 07/23/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 6:01 pm
The Latest Insult To Turkey Bestselling Turkish novelist Elif Shafak is the latest to be charged by the Turkish government for "insulting Turkishness." "Shafak joins a roster of more than 60 writers and journalists to be charged under Article 301 of the Turkish criminal code since its introduction last year. University professors, journalists and novelists such as Perihan Magden, Orhan Pamuk and now Shafak have been charged under legislation drawn so broadly as to criminalise a wide range of critical opinions. Writers not only face the prospect of a three-year jail term, but the prosecutions also lay them open to a campaign of intimidation and harassment waged by rightwing agitators." The Guardian (UK) 07/23/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 5:53 pm
Painter Alexandr Zhdanov, 68 "Alexandr Zhdanov, a Soviet dissident artist whose life and work were marked by difficulty, defiance, determination and more than a touch of madness, died July 18 of a heart ailment at Howard University Hospital. He was 68. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was part of a group of independent-minded underground artists who challenged the authority of the Soviet Union's communist officials and sometimes paid a bitter price for rebellion." Washington Post 07/22/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 5:49 am
Blues Musician Jessie Mae Hemphill, 72 Award-winning blues musician Jessie Mae Hemphill, whose professional career didn't begin until the 1980s, died Saturday in Memphis. Memphis Commercial Appeal 07/24/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 5:05 am
Actor Mako, 72 "Mako, a distinguished stage and screen actor who was widely regarded as having blazed the trail for Asian-Americans in films, on television and in the theater, died on Friday at his home in Somis, Calif. He was 72." The New York Times 07/25/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 4:55 am
Oboist John Mack, 78 "He served as principal oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1965 until his reluctant retirement, due to an eye condition, in 2001. During those 36 years, a record in the post, he played under three music directors — George Szell, Lorin Maazel and Christoph von Dohnanyi — and the conductor who would become music director in 2002, Franz Welser-MÖst. Along with his legacy of performances and recordings, Mack taught oboists who hold positions in orchestras throughout the United States and abroad." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 11:28 pm
Pavarotti: I'll Be Singing Again Luciano Pavarotti recently had to stop his farewell tour to have an operation for pancreatic cancer. But he says he'll return. "I have every intention of returning to singing. I want to finish my tour. I can't give precise dates because I'll have to discuss it with the doctors, but I think I'll start again next year." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 10:37 am
When Electricity Goes Out, Theatrical Magic Begins "It's a joke among theater critics that readers ticked at a review often begin an acerbic e-mail with a variation of: 'I was at the theater, and you couldn't have seen the same show I did.' Well, I've got news for you. I was at the theater, and you can't see the same show I did. Because when you go, a storm will not be knocking out all the electricity 25 minutes before the last scene." Philadelphia Inquirer 07/25/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 7:06 am
"Wedding Singer" Romances The Soon-To-Be-Wed, Wins Big Box Office "The Wedding Singer" has found an unexpectedly ardent audience. "The feel-good play, based on the 1998 movie starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, received a ho-hum from some critics when it opened April 27, but it is a certified smash with the young-and-in-love set who are using the show's joyful ambience to create their own personal Kodak moments. With the blessing of the show's managers and promoters, a half-dozen couples have become engaged on stage at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, and women are lining up for the theater's Bachelorette Box package." Philadelphia Inquirer 07/25/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 6:57 am
No "Civil War Christmas" In D.C. This Year Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage has pulled the second of two new musicals from its upcoming season. "The company said yesterday it has been forced to postpone 'A Civil War Christmas,' an ambitious piece by Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel that was to have been the company's major holiday offering." Earlier, it delayed "The Women of Brewster Place," based on the Gloria Naylor novel. Washington Post 07/25/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 5:27 am
Selective Praise (Not) London theatres are playing loose with critics' quotes to hawk their shows. "More than one third of West End theatres have been found to use highly selective quotations, from the optimistic to the downright misleading. One of the most blatant offenders is Sinatra, a musical mixing footage of the late singer performing alongside a live band." The Times (UK) 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 7:19 pm
Book TV Would Be Big Jerome Weeks thinks books could be big on TV. "Here's my pitch: a book (or arts) program with news reports, stories from the field and irreverent opinions. Think of it as The Daily Show on books. In fact, Jon Stewart already interviews authors a great deal, so it's not such a stretch to move the emphasis from politics to books. Do I really think this'll fly on cable? Or even on satellite radio? Well, Dan Rather tells me that Mark Cuban's hiring. HDNet can sure use some fresh programming." Dallas Morning News 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 5:22 pm
AM Radio: Evidently Not Dead After All "A far cry from its midcentury pop culture zenith, when youngsters would defy their parents by listening to transistor radios under the bedsheets, AM is nevertheless a vital, vibrant and profitable force in the universe of audio entertainment even as it battles its image of having too much talk and commercials." Los Angeles Times 07/25/06
Posted: 07/25/2006 6:23 am
"Crash" Course Accounting (Where's The Money?) "Crash" won this year's Best Picture Oscar, cost only $7.5 million to make, and earned $180 million at the box office. So why aren't the creative talents who made the movie getting rich? The New York Times 07/25/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 11:38 pm
Smarter TV? "Can it be? Programmers have heard the clamor for smarter, more literate television, and they have responded. (Disclaimer: Nobody is saying all these shows will hold up past the pilots, but a significant number of pilots are better than ever.)" Denver Post 07/24/06
Posted: 07/24/2006 5:38 pm
