AJ Logo Get ArtsJournal in your inbox
for FREE every morning!
HOME > Yesterdays


Monday, November 13




Ideas

Mozart On Wheels There are all sorts of ways you can play Mozart, of course, but with your feet? And wheels? VideosLegais (Media player required)
Posted: 11/13/2006 11:12 am

Picking Hits (Scientifically) "Every year, a handful of songs do much, much better than all the others, and nobody has much idea why. If the hits only did a little better than the non-hits, this unpredictability wouldn't matter. But that's not how it works. Only about one-fifth of artists end up making money for the label, and a few make so much that they subsidise everyone else, but you can't tell in advance which ones will do well." But new software hopes to have cracked the hit code. The Guardian (UK) 11/11/06
Posted: 11/13/2006 10:20 am

Click here for more Ideas stories...

Visual Arts

Change Roils Scotland's Biggest Art Fair The head of the Glasgow Art Fair may step down after criticism. "Pete Irvine was criticised by some Glasgow galleries for deselecting them in favour of more high-profile London and international collections. And following this year's annual event in April, two of the Scottish galleries excluded called for a public consultation over the event's future."
Scotland on Sunday 11/12/06 Posted: 11/13/2006 10:26 am

Study: Most UK Art Is Unaccessible A new study of art in Britain's public institutions says that "over 80 percent (120,000 pictures) are probably held in storage or in buildings without access. What is publicly owned is not publicly accessible. Of the 150 collections which have so far been recorded by the foundation, only one (a hospital) was able to provide a complete set of data on the first attempt."
The Art Newspaper 11/11/06 Posted: 11/13/2006 10:23 am

Fires Have Taken Toll On Historic Chicago Architecture "The succession of fires that has destroyed three Adler & Sullivan buildings in Chicago this year, casting a pall over the 150th anniversary of Sullivan's birth, presents a daunting challenge to city officials: How to prevent fire from sending more of Chicago's architectural treasures to the graveyard?"
Chicago Tribune 11/12/06 Posted: 11/12/2006 7:26 pm

Click here for more Visual Arts stories...

Music

Puccini In The Rain? Naw! Washington National Opera is simulcasting some performances to giant screens on the National Mall. But unlike last year, the crowds didn't appear for this weekend's offering. "In fact, a quick tally suggested that between 200 and 300 people had chosen to spend the afternoon watching 'Butterfly' in the rain. They wore raincoats and huddled around heating lamps. Some sat on grimy patio furniture lugged from home; others shared wet blankets and shivers." Washington Post 11/13/06
Posted: 11/13/2006 11:17 am

The Odd Case Of Ivo Pogorelich The pianist's "once-moody temperament and unconventional dress gave him rock-star appeal during the peak of his popularity in the 1980s, but he has since devolved into a kind of keyboard oddity and largely disappeared from the scene." Denver Post 11/12/06
Posted: 11/13/2006 10:33 am

Click here for more Music stories...

Arts Issues

Scottish Politicians Plan To Direct Their Own Arts Policy Scottish cultural policy is undergoing a major change in direction. The Scottish executive plans to abolish the national arts council and direct arts policy itself. Glasgow Herald 11/12/06
Posted: 11/13/2006 10:29 am

S. Cal Indian Tribes Become Big-Time Arts Funders "California has 108 Indian tribes, of which 56 operate casinos that rake in hundreds of millions of dollars annually. With eight tribal casinos, San Diego County is regarded as the gaming casino capital of California. Among county arts groups, San Diego Opera and San Diego Symphony currently receive the most Indian gaming casino support." San Diego Union-Tribune 11/12/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 9:38 pm

Click here for more Arts Issues stories...

People

Eric Bentley At 90 "Bentley won early and intense fame with his 1946 book 'The Playwright as Thinker,' which made the study of drama intellectually respectable for the first time. He then published several other ambitious and penetrating books, including 'Bernard Shaw' (1947), 'The Life of the Drama' (1964) and three collections of theater criticism, that fixed his place in the tiny pantheon of permanently interesting drama critics." The New York Times 11/12/06
Posted: 11/13/2006 10:47 am

The "Preposterously Gifted" Caryl Churchill Caryl Churchill is "that paradox, a dramatist who deals with the most basic and timeless of issues while reacting as speedily as anyone to the urgent topics of the day, like cloning or, with Owners, the housing crisis of the early 1970s." The Times (UK) 11/13/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 8:24 pm

Click here for more People stories...

Theatre

What Sunk Empty Space Seattle's Empty Space Theatre recently shut its doors after a 36 year run. "One wonders how a vital company went from announcing a next season one day, to closing up shop a couple weeks later. And why the recent emergency-funding drive didn't save it." Seattle Times 11/12/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 10:01 pm

Too Much Stage Disney? "Whether you live in New York or Newport Beach, Berlin or Shanghai, you're likely to be within driving distance of at least one Disney musical in the next 12 months. All that competing Disney product has some observers predicting trouble. There is that question of whether the Disney (musicals) will cannibalize each other." Orange County Register 11/12/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 9:13 pm

Hare Gambles On Broadway Playwright David Hare is bringing his new play straight to Broadway. But why? It is the only new play opening there this fall. "Though much of his professional success has been in America, until now - with Stuff Happens and The Vertical Hour - he has never felt comfortable writing about it. What he's most famous for are his dissections of British life, yet America has played a crucial part in his political - and theatrical - education." The Observer (UK) 11/12/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 7:10 am

Click here for more Theatre stories...

Publishing

Getting Around The High Price Of Books (The Old Fashioned Way) Having to cut back the budget? What about all those books you buy? "Few people know that the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States is the ‘Clan of the Cave Bear’ novels. You overspend on one, and, just when you begin to dig yourself out, the next installment comes along. Public libraries began during the Depression as a government measure against this very problem. They’re there for our protection, so we should use them." The New Yorker 11/13/06
Posted: 11/13/2006 11:25 am

Click here for more Publishing stories...

Media

Disney And Its Star Producer At A Fork Jerry Bruckheimer has made about $5 billion for Disney over the past 15 years. But his movies are expensive, and they don't seem to fit Disney's new direction. So who blinks? Will Disney lose one of its biggest, most-bankable stars? The New York Times 11/13/06
Posted: 11/13/2006 10:42 am

How Downloading Is Reinventing TV's Business Model "It's not just TV ratings anymore that affect network decisions, and shows aren't being produced just to appear on the air. Soon - probably very soon - everything that runs on the networks will just be the simple, economy versions of shows." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (SB) 11/12/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 9:22 pm

Self-Consciously Fictive "Meta-fiction is an umbrella term for works that are self-conscious and self-curious, and includes non-linear exercises in structural experimentation. As a way of translating the world into visual and narrative art forms, meta-fiction is probably as old as self-awareness. Today, however, it has become the blossoming byproduct of increasing introspection and accelerating technology." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 11/12/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 9:01 pm

Gaming YouTube's Video Rankings The internet has promised a great liberating democracy of content. "So great has this belief been that the power of user voting has become the central organizing principle of an entire genre of websites such as YouTube and Digg. Well, sometimes newborn democracies become Poland or Argentina and sometimes they become Iraq, and the Web's system of government suddenly looks precariously balanced between those models." Los Angeles Times 11/13/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 8:51 pm

Viewers Believe Medical Info On TV Dramas TV viewers are using dramas to educate themselves. "Science is invading scripts. Disease is increasingly a backdrop to plots. The woes of the nation's healthcare system are punch lines. Heroic characters have mental diseases or incurable neurological disorders. And behind the scenes, a body of communications research and an eager network of health and policy advocates are working with writers and producers to get the facts right." Los Angeles Times 11/13/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 8:43 pm

Why Do Kids Movies Have To Be So Vapid? "Despite the fact that 'kids' movies' have never been more financially profitable, artistic bankruptcy has rarely seemed so rampant. What a relief, then, to discover that many young audiences crave something different." The Observer (UK) 11/12/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 8:03 pm

Click here for more Media stories...

Dance

Minimalist Architect Meets Manic Choreographer Wayne McGregor is "a dance-maker who likes to think outside the traditional box. His keen embrace of science and technology, of pop and cyber culture, has made him one of Britain’s top-ranked choreographers. He’s the shot in the arm for ballet companies seeking the next big thing. So here he is back at the Opera House, home of the Royal Ballet, a company thirsty for new adventures." The Times (UK) 11/13/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 8:12 pm

In Praise Of Matthew Bourne "The most popular choreographer today, the man who is pulling in the crowds that otherwise leave dance alone, is the one who concentrates most on dance narrative: Matthew Bourne." San Francisco Chronicle 11/12/06
Posted: 11/12/2006 8:05 am

Click here for more Dance stories...


Home | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
Copyright ©
2002 ArtsJournal. All Rights Reserved