Once admired as one of Europe’s most art-friendly cities, with collections rivaling those of several European capitals, Glasgow has seen its museums and galleries fall into disrepair and financial turmoil in recent years. No surprise why – funding cuts, due in large part to a remapping of municipal four years ago. “What is required is a change in the way the museums – and perhaps other cultural assets – are funded.” – The Telegraph (UK)
Month: August 2000
WHAT’S THE REAL STORY?
While the Napster controversy has enjoyed an avalanche of media attention, how much of it can be considered “good journalism”? “Too often the complicated dispute between the online start-up and the music industry has been painted in the most simplistic terms – a reductive tale of forward-thinking entrepreneurs outsmarting head-in-the-sand label executives. From the get-go, disturbing signs suggested the press was more interested in advancing Napster’s story as a David-vs.-Goliath tale than in seriously addressing the intricate issues at hand.” – Salon
SILICON VALLEY’S RESIDENT LUDDITE
Clifford Stoll is on a mission. “In his most recent book, ‘High Tech Heretic,’ Stoll writes that computers ‘dull questioning minds with graphical games where quick answers take the place of understanding.’ In his book, Stoll skewers calculators, laptops, desktops, and cell phones as gizmos that do nothing to provoke critical thinking. Instead, they swallow time and waste money that should be spent on books and teachers.” – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
LONDON’S SHAKESPEARE EXHIBITION
In the refurbished Globe Theatre (an exact replica of the theatre where the Bard’s works were all premiered) is becoming one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. More than 1,000 visitors go each day to see “Elizabethan special effects brought to life on touch screens: See how Ariel flew. Check out what Shakespeare used for onstage blood and how Macbeth’s thunder was created.” – Yahoo! News (Reuters)
THREE DECADES OF THEATRE
Theatre critic Benedict Nightingale reflects on 35 years of attending the Edinburgh Festival. “Unpredictability is the essence of Edinburgh. If I have seen plenty of chic schlock there – Stein, Sellars and Robert Wilson at their most overrated – I have also seen plenty that stays with me still. And here let’s agree that the distinction between Festival and Fringe is often slim.” – The Times (UK)
DOES THEATER NEED BORDERS?
The issue of whether to launch a National Theatre of Scotland has been bandied about for decades, but now that Scottish Parliament is taking the notion seriously and discussing possible funding, the debate has reached a new pitch. “The issue of whether ‘National’ equates with ‘quality’ is a potent question.” – The Herald (Scotland)
THE COMPLICATIONS OF LOVE AND HATE
“Any number of classical music lovers will tell you with glee of the bad pieces they love to hate. But people who will tell you about pieces they hate to love, but love anyway, are somewhat more rare. Saying you’ve got a thing for Brahms’ Hungarian Dances Nos. 4 and 5, for instance, especially if you’ve ever gone anywhere near a music school, is particularly dangerous – but only if you mean it sincerely. Irony does exist in classical music, but it’s mostly in the ears of cynical (younger) beholders.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
BETTER THAN BLEEPING?
It’s common practice today for record labels to create “clean versions” of albums with explicit lyrics, and some companies even ask artists to re-record versions without profanity. “”It’s getting like we almost have a McCarthyism in the business, but the censorship isn’t new; what’s new is the fear and the compliance going on to this extent. And I think a lot of artists go along with it because they’re afraid of being lost in the corporate shuffle and falling out of favor with their labels.” – New York Times
UNFAIR HEARING
Turns out those infrared enhanced-hearing headsets provided by theatres for hearing-impaired patrons are the perfect bootleggers tool. “Bootleggers can simply request an ALD headset, which provides a high-quality feed of a live show via a low-level FM frequency broadcast inside a facility. The music pirates then steal the headset feed, giving them concert performances devoid of the usual bootleg problems such as random crowd noise or distortion.” – Seattle Times (AP)
WOMEN’S WORK
This weekend’s British premiere of composer Judith Weir’s newest work, “woman.life.song,” is an unusual event in the world of classical music – the piece was conceived and written by women, and is based entirely on women’s life issues. The song-cycle is a collaborative effort among Weir, soprano Jessye Norman, the writers Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison, and Jungian psychoanalyst and mythologist Clarissa Pinkola Estes. – The Guardian