NEW ISN’T BETTER

Lottery money has led to massive building of theatres in Britain. But “theatre isn’t about bricks and mortar – or, these, days, concrete and glass. It’s about what happens on that stage inside. It’s about imagination, about content and about ideas. The heresy that a new building was more important than a new idea began about a generation ago. The glamorous, if sometimes tacky, Edwardian music halls were pulled down. Lottery money made this obsession with rebuilding even worse.” – London Evening Standard

BODY PARTS IS BODY PARTS

Promoters of a production of “The Vagina Monologues” in West Haven, Connecticut put up a billboard overlooking the New England Thruway. But “it seems that the word ‘vagina’ writ large shocked a number of people who drove past.” The marketer “started receiving rambling, incognito messages of outrage on his answering machine, and the local media picked up the story. He has been accused of deliberately enlarging the inflammatory word on the billboard, though, as he points out, he’s simply using the play’s logo.” – Variety

MOOG LIVES

In the ’60s the Moog synthesizer was synonymous with electronic music. But for years Bob Moog hasn’t been able to put his name on his instruments (he sold it in the ’70s). Now he’s back with a new instrument he hopes will take on the market again. – Chicago Tribune

MUSIC ON THE SIDE

It costs more to buy a movie soundtrack recording than to see the movie. But sometimes the music is better than the movie. “There may have been a dearth of Oscar contenders this year, but there was no shortage of noteworthy soundtracks. Some were loaded with new hits, others more like mix-tapes of beloved oldies.” – National Post (Canada)

WHY BOOKS ARE PUBLISHED

“Forty years ago an editor decided to publish a book because it, or the author, captured their fancy. Marketing, accounting, and publicity mattered, but not nearly as much as editorial preference. This led to the discovery of some great writers who wouldn’t have stood a chance in a more dollar-conscious environment, but it also led, as you might expect, to a reasonable share of self-important blather. Over the last decade the ethos of narcissism once so common has been displaced by an equally dubious operating principle: The corporate mindset.” – Feed

WORKING FOR THE CAPITAL OF CULTURE

Okay, so maybe Liverpool isn’t the first place you think about when you think about culture. But the city has been named the European Capital of Culture for 2008 and the city is fixing up. “Museums and galleries are expanding, public buildings are being spruced up after years of neglect, a theatre has come back into the limelight after three dark years, and the city’s symphony orchestra is looking forward to a stable financial future under a new conductor.”- The Guardian 12/29/00