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Tuesday, August 29




Ideas

Vital Signs Poor? Cue The Harpist! A study at New Jersey's Morristown Memorial Hospital, where a harpist strolls the recovery room, is looking into the effectiveness of harp music as a healing aid for heart-surgery patients. Researchers believe "the gentle arpeggios of the harpist might have helped regulate ... heart rate, blood pressure and breathing.... Results will be collected as part of a four-week study, one of several around the country trying to measure the health benefits of music in hospitals. One research project by a doctor at the Carle Heart Center in Urbana, Ill., has suggested that harp music in particular helped stabilize irregular heartbeats." The New York Times 08/28/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 4:18 am

The Pitchfork Phenomenon "Though the music industry has seen drastic changes in recent years, what has remained constant is the fact that most listeners still find their music with the assistance of a filter: a reliable source that sifts through millions of tracks to help them choose what they do (and don't) want to hear. The filters we traditionally depended on – music magazines, radio stations, music video channels, even the recommendations of a trusted record store clerk – have diminished in influence enough to give a player like Pitchfork room to operate." Wired 08/28/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 8:53 pm

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Visual Arts

When Disaster Struck New Orleans, An Art Critic Stepped In "As the art critic for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Doug MacCash spent years cruising amiably through the rarified world of galleries, exhibitions, painters and sculptors. He described himself as 'the guy with the plastic glass of wine, stroking my chin.' Hurricane Katrina changed all that. The soft-spoken MacCash, a former museum curator who had never covered a breaking news story, found himself a year ago volunteering to venture out into the devastated city and report on what had happened." Baltimore Sun 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 7:03 am

FBI Investigating Painter Thomas Kinkade "Former gallery owners said that after they had invested tens of thousands of dollars each or more, the company's practices and policies drove them out of business. They alleged they were stuck with unsalable limited-edition prints, forced to open additional stores in saturated markets and undercut by discounters that sold identical artworks at prices they were forbidden to match. Some also have accused Kinkade — touted as the most widely collected living U.S. artist — of scheming to devalue his public company, Media Arts Group Inc., before taking it private two years ago for $32.7 million as Thomas Kinkade Co." Los Angeles Times 08/29/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 10:48 pm

Canadian Court Dings Sotheby's For Price Fixing "The order, obtained by Canada's Competition Bureau, directs Sotheby's to take measures to ensure it complies with existing rules. Sotheby's also must pay for the C$800,000 ($720,000) probe and is barred from 'doing any act or thing directed in the commission of an offence' forbidden by Canada's competition law." Bloomberg.com 08/28/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 7:15 pm

Returned Nazi-looted Painting Causes Controversy The restitution last month of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 1913 painting 'Berlin Street Scene' to a descendant of the Jewish family who owned it before World War II has "sparked an indignant response from art experts and the regional parliamentary opposition. London-based Christie's International estimates the oil painting may fetch as much as $25 million at its Nov. 8 auction in New York." Bloomberg.com 08/28/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 7:12 pm

Aaron Betsky To Lead Cincinnati Museum of Art "The 48-year-old, whose birthday was Monday, comes to the museum after six years as director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute, the world’s largest architectural museum. He’s a Montana native who was raised in the Netherlands after his parents, both college professors, received Fulbright Fellowships to travel there." Cincinnati Enquirer 08/28/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 5:11 pm

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Music

Who Will Run Bayreuth? "The battle for the succession has been fierce in recent years, but the frontrunner is now Wolfgang Wagner's chosen heir, his 28-year-old daughter Katharina -- great-granddaughter of Hitler's favorite composer. Yet it remains uncertain when or whether she will take over as director of the Bayreuth Festspiele, which closes on Monday night for the season. Her strong-willed father may not give up the post or another might still seize the crown." Yahoo! (AP) 08/28/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 10:14 pm

Warner Bucks Record Industry Trend - Music Sales Up Major recording companies have been fighting sales declines. "But Warner Music's sales of worldwide recorded music in its most recent quarter rose 15% from a year earlier to $678 million. In the first half of 2006, Warner Music was the only major music company to increase its U.S. market share. That's a significant accomplishment for a company that, when it went public last year, the stock debut was criticized by at least one high-profile analyst as a dud." Los Angeles Times 08/28/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 5:25 pm

When Opera Debuted In San Francisco Who came out to San Francisco Opera's first opera ever, back in 1923? There were 6000-7000 "opera addicts." "By taking a poll of the addicts, it was easy to see their ranks included gentle blood and unlicked cubs, gentlemen and gaberlunzies, kitchen mechanics and knights of the kid glove, overlords and underlings, big bugs and plain bugs, rajahs from Russian Hill and garlicked gents from Broadway, the bosses and the bossed, the squirarchy from St. Francis Wood and the waldgraves from Westwood Park, the sahibs from Sea Cliff and the bluebloods from Burlingame, the bobbed-haired brigade from Telegraph Hill and..." San Francisco Chronicle 08/27/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 5:14 pm

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Arts Issues

New Orleans, Where Gallows Humor Lives "They say that comedy is tragedy plus time. What they don't say is how much time it takes to turn a massive death toll into a laugh riot," Josh Levin writes, pondering the defiant humor that has thrived in New Orleans in the year since Hurricane Katrina. "So, what's so funny about a devastating hurricane?" Slate 08/28/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 6:36 am

The Victorians: An Arts-District Success Story "There is a widespread belief in what might be called cultural healing. We have faith that cities can be lightened and ventilated by a couple of museums and galleries, a theatre, an opera house. It can be done, I think - if you emulate the Victorians. Anyone who has visited London with children this summer will probably have experienced what is, surely, the most inspiring example anywhere of a museum and arts quarter that enriches city life: South Kensington." The Guardian (UK) 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 5:38 am

Islamic Art? It's Art (Not A Bridge) "There is today a deliberate reverence and respect about the west's dealings with Islamic culture. If this new mood increases interest in Islamic art, that can only be a good thing. But despite the fact that we are now much more likely to know Muslims personally, our appreciation of their culture hasn't gone as far as it might. If we have any interest at all, it is likely to be stuck at the level of museum culture - expressing wonder at beautiful antique objects in an enthusiastic but faintly uncomprehending way." The Guardian (UK) 08/29/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 10:00 pm

A Company "Owns" Basic Educational Software? "In a move that has shaken up the e-learning community, [a company named] Blackboard has been awarded a patent establishing its claims to some of the basic features of the software that powers online education." Wired (AP) 08/27/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 8:13 pm

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People

Tenor Léopold Simoneau, 90 "Léopold Simoneau, the Canadian lyric tenor who dominated international Mozart performance in the 1950’s, died on Thursday night in Victoria, British Columbia. He was 90 and lived in Victoria." The New York Times 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 4:09 am

Chuck Close Versus The Developer Chuck Close "is gearing up for a full-fledged battle with Olmstead Properties over a five-story condo building the company wants to build on a 6-by-12-foot portion of an L-shaped lot on Bond Street, next door to Close's co-op. The complex - which would have 50 feet of frontage on Lafayette Street - would plunge Close's studio into darkness, he says." New York Post 08/28/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 6:42 pm

Oscar Peterson At 81 "As reclusive as he is legendary, Mr. Peterson is an artist whose amazing technical command and uncanny musical instincts have for decades instilled in other musicians the kind of awe and fear he expresses about his idol, the late Art Tatum (he once compared that piano master to a lion: an animal that scares you to death, but one you can't resist getting close enough to hear roar). Over a decade ago, however, Mr. Peterson suffered a stroke that debilitated his left hand and left him in a weakened condition. He has been battling his way back ever since. It's an arduous challenge." OpinionJournal 08/28/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 5:50 pm

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Theatre

Americans Stay Home; Shaw, Stratford Struggle "U.S. tourism to Canada fell by 5 per cent in 2005 and will have dropped another 1.6 per cent by the end of this year, the Conference Board of Canada predicts. That leaves the Shaw and Stratford festivals struggling to balance budgets in which as much as 40 per cent of box-office dollars come from across the border, and weighing the economic and political reasons that Americans still aren't travelling." The Globe and Mail (Canada) 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 7:33 am

How Oregon's Acting Scene Can Trump New York's "Ashland, Ore., the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, is a small town with a population of around 20,000. The theaters are full, and the audiences — the majority of whom are from California, Oregon, and Washington — enthusiastic. But Ashland is definitely off the radar of New York casting agents. Working here isn't like doing a stint at the Williamstown or Berkshire Theatre Festivals, where well-known New York actors regularly do shows in the summer. What Ashland offers, however, is significant: a warm, supportive community, a chance to play an unusual variety of roles, and, not least, a degree of job security almost unknown in the theater world." New York Sun 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 6:02 am

Plan For Transforming A City: Restore A Theatre "Arts-minded visitors to the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts may think of Pittsfield as little more than an urban speed bump on the way to Stockbridge, Williamstown and the glories of Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow. But the city is betting that, with the help of a long-neglected jewel of a theater, it too can make a place for itself on the region’s arts map. After a two-year, $22 million restoration, the century-old Colonial Theater will reopen tonight for a year-round season that kicks off with a week’s visit by a touring company of 'Rent.'" The New York Times 08/29/06
Posted: 08/29/2006 4:02 am

Dramatists Speak Out Against Theatre Critic The Dramatists Guild of America is protesting theatre critic Heidi Weiss' reviews of eight projects in the Chicago Sun-Times a few weeks ago. "These musicals were presented in workshop. Every musical in workshop is understood to be a work in progress. Workshopping a new musical provides an opportunity for writers to evaluate their work as it evolves, protected from the consequences of critical appraisal. This security allows writers to take chances, to be bold, maybe even to embarrass them­selves—in short, to do their work." Dramatists Guild 08/28/06
Posted: 08/28/2006 5:44 pm

  • Previously: Eight Chicago Musicals And Nothing To Recommend "The eight deeply flawed new musicals showcased in this year's Stages 2006 marathon at the Theatre Building seemed to suggest the artform has fallen on very hard times. None of the shows presented last weekend, whether in semi-staged or concert reading style, was ready for prime time." Chicago Sun-Times 08/16/06

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    Publishing

    For Somali Immigrants, Bilingual Children's Books "Imagine being the parent of a small child who wants to read a bedtime story, but you're just learning English and you can't find children's books in your native language. That has been the plight for many Somali parents new to [Minnesota], but the Minnesota Humanities Commission hopes to change that with the publication of four children's books with both English and Somali text. The first, 'The Lion's Share' ('Qayb Libaax'), will be available in October." Star Tribune (Minneapolis) 08/28/06
    Posted: 08/29/2006 7:52 am

    Moscow Development Threatens Pushkin Square "For more than 120 years Alexander Pushkin has seen off every threat. Joseph Stalin deported him (if only 100 metres), McDonald's first outlet in Russia opened nearby and Chechen militants allegedly detonated a bomb not far from his left foot. All along, the statue of Russia's most famous poet preserved a bubble of calm in the centre of Moscow. Now, finally, it seems the killer blow is at hand. If the city government gets its way, a four-storey shopping mall and traffic tunnel will soon be built on the square where Pushkin stands on his pedestal." The Guardian (UK) 08/29/06
    Posted: 08/29/2006 5:23 am

    An Imprint Aimed At Women Hyperion is planning to start an imprint aimed at women. "Called Voice, the imprint, which will publish its first title in April, is the brainchild of Ellen Archer, Hyperion’s publisher, and Pamela G. Dorman, a 19-year veteran of Viking. It will be just one of a number of new imprints aimed at female readers: Warner Books already has a women’s imprint called 5 Spot and in the fall is starting the Springboard Press, for baby boomers, with a large portion of its titles catering to female readers." The New York Times 08/29/06
    Posted: 08/28/2006 9:42 pm

    Were Illiad, Odyssey Written By Women? "Andrew Dalby, author of Rediscovering Homer, argues that the attribution of the poems to Homer was founded on a falsehood. Homer’s link to the poems, Dalby writes, stems from an 'ill-informed postclassical text, the anonymous Life of Homer, fraudulently ascribed to Herodotus,' a respected Greek historian who lived from around 484-425 B.C." Discovery 08/28/06
    Posted: 08/28/2006 7:08 pm

    The Reading Crisis (But Why?) "The ability and desire to read are really functions of a society that values them for their own sake, not as an afterthought in the selling of books and advertising. Yet, even though there's no end to America's literacy groups and the soliciting of donations, the concern persists that reading skills nationwide are getting worse. Perhaps what's needed is the acknowledgment that reading and the writing of good books needs to be encouraged after the literacy program ends." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 08/27/06
    Posted: 08/28/2006 5:19 pm

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    Media

    Internet Curators Use Web Sites As Spotlights "The Internet brings news about music, films, books and other art forms 24/7. But there's so much information out there it's impossible to sort through and separate the wheat from the Milli Vanillis. Now Internet arts curators are trying to help" via " '... of the day' arts sites, which select a single song, movie, poem, film, book, photograph, etc., to highlight each weekday." Denver Post 08/28/06
    Posted: 08/29/2006 7:17 am

    EFF To Barney: Back Off! The owners of the Barney brand have been extremely aggressive in going after anyone they think is infringing on their copyright. "On Wednesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group based in San Francisco, filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in New York against Lyons Partnership of Allen, Tex., which owns the Barney brand. The group’s aim is to bring an end to what it characterizes as the partnership’s relentless harassment of Web site owners who parody the Barney character, chiefly through threatening cease-and-desist letters from Lyons’s law firm in New York, Gibney, Anthony & Flaherty." The New York Times 08/28/06
    Posted: 08/28/2006 6:59 pm

    Canadians Are Watching More Movies They're buying more theatre tickets. "They're watching just as many movies at home, mainly on DVD, which accounts for 77 per cent of home video sales, said the report released Monday. About 70 per cent of Canadian households owned DVD players in 2004. But revenues from film distribution to cinemas rose sharply, up 16.6 per cent to $446.3 million." CBC 08/28/06
    Posted: 08/28/2006 6:24 pm

    Cruise/Redstone Feud A Fraud? Was the verbal war between Paramount's Sumner Redstone and Tom Cruise and his agents at CAA just a show? "Such wars of words can leave lasting scars. Yet the mudslinging between Redstone and CAA may be largely a show for each side's power base. Their interdependence is underscored by the dozen movie projects involving CAA clients pending at Paramount." Los Angeles Times 08/28/06
    Posted: 08/28/2006 5:28 pm

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    Dance

    When A Dancer Splits His Pants (And A Reviewer Has No Idea) "It was during his thrilling siguiriya at the recently concluded New World Flamenco Festival, that Spain's Andrés Peña did something I'd never seen at a flamenco concert before: Peña took off his suit jacket and tied it around his waist. ... Turns out that Peña had split his pants while dancing," Laura Bleiberg writes. "He tied the jacket around his waist to hide the rip, I found out a few days after the show. After laughing at the whole thing, I was reminded once again how careful a critic must be about what he or she sees onstage." Orange County Register 08/27/06
    Posted: 08/29/2006 8:07 am

    John Moran: An Approach To Dance "To me, a ballet is a larger, more complex structure than a dance. When I hear the word ‘dance,’ I automatically think, not good or bad, but of a consistent type of a cliché of girls really sweating it up in certain types of costumes. My work is constant choreography timed really specifically to a sound-score that I write as if it’s music, even if it’s made up of sound effects. We don’t like to see our performers break a sweat, even though it’s hard. It is dance but it’s dance that’s very deceiving because it completely imitates naturalism."
    The New York Times 08/29/06
    Posted: 08/28/2006 9:37 pm

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