February 2000 – Page 7 – ArtsJournal Wayback

BLOOD IN THE WATER

With Sotheby’s and Christie’s busy with investigators, the auction-house competition behind them consolidates. After buying Phillips, the world’s third largest auction house, less than four months ago, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton buys Tajan, France’s largest auction house. The deal will allow Phillips to enter the French auction market, which remains closed to foreign auctioneers. It will also give Tajan’s customers access to the London and New York markets, where Phillips has sales and where taxes are lower than in France. – New York Times

And: Sotheby’s/Christie’s problems could level the playing field. – BusinessWeek

GLASS HOUSE

At the Philip Glass Inc. studio, the background noise “sounds more like a stock exchange than a creative haven. Assistants, collaborators, friends and journalists are yelling for the master’s attention. ‘The phone is always ringing off the hook,’ he admits cheerfully. ‘I always have more work than I can handle.’ ” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

EDUCATIONAL CHIC

A spate of new British college buildings bring a refreshingly fashionable sense of style to academia. – The Telegraph (UK)

IS IT A TEAR? AN EGG? A UFO?

No, it’s Beijing’s spectacularly daring new French-designed theater complex. “But fears that foreign design will nevertheless raise cultural hackles are so pervasive that Peking has imposed a media blackout on the topic, even though demolition around the site has started.” – The Independent (UK)

SANTANA TIES RECORD –

– for most Grammy Award wins. Complete coverage – pictures, interviews, stories. – Los Angeles Times

List of winners. – Grammy.com 02/23/00

ON SECOND THOUGHT

Salzburg Festival director Gerard Mortier changes his mind about quitting the festival to protest Austrian politics, according to the Vienna daily Der Standard. – Times of India (AP)

SCORE ONE FOR THE BLIND

New software allows instant translation of sheet music/recordings into Braille for blind musicians. – Wired

OF DOGS, CATS AND BOOKFLAPS

Why is it that so many writers feel the need to include aperçus to their pets on the backs of their book-jackets? The muse finds many forms. – New York Times

BIG BROTHER’S WATCHING

Was George Orwell his own Big Brother? After compiling a list of “crypto-Communists and fellow-travelers” including Charlie Chaplin and writers George Bernard Shaw, John Steinbeck and J.B. Priestly, Orwell turned it over to British authorities. Was this an act of capitulation by the man who supposedly hated authority? – National Post (Canada)

ARM’S LENGTH

A Boston public radio station faces questions about its journalistic independence after a series of underwriting announcements. – Boston Globe 02/24/00