“The $24.5 million Jepson Center for the Arts, which opens Friday, is a shockingly modern addition to both the historic downtown of Georgia’s oldest city as well as the annex’s 138-year-old sister museum.”
Month: March 2006
A New Music Download Policy?
Recording companies are reconsidering their policy of selling singles online for download. “If the industry determines that restricting digital sales pays off with bigger album sales, fans may soon find the instant gratification of snapping up new songs online becoming a little less instant. No one is talking about a wholesale shift away from the now-common practice of selling singles online ahead of new albums.”
Culture Minister Jowell Cleared
UK culture minister Tessa Jowell has been cleared by a parliamentary watchdog of any wrongdoing in not declaring a business deal by her estranged husband.
The Case For Google Print
“Would publishers object if Google’s project led to an increase, rather than a decrease, in book purchases? I think not. There are already signs in America that Google Book Search is leading to a strong rise in demand for out-of-print books (although unless traditional publishers get their acts together the fruits of this boom may go to the new breed of print-on-demand publishers). I would be amazed if the same did not happen to books in copyright. So let American publishers sue to find out what ‘fair use’ means.”
SF Opera Taps Wallace/Tan For New Work
“In addition to the previously announced Philip Glass commission, San Francisco Opera director David Gockley has tapped composer Stewart Wallace to work with Bay Area author Amy Tan on an operatic adaptation of her novel “The Bonesetter’s Daughter.”
Small Theatres Struggling In Minny
Minneapolis-based Pig’s Eye Theatre has canceled the remainder of its 2005-06 season and will focus on raising enough money to mount a comeback next winter. Pig’s Eye, which operated on a shoestring and was known locally for an offbeat combination of classic repertoire and edgier fare, is at least the second small company in the Twin Cities to face its own mortality in the last year, as high rents and economic malaise take their toll in a region loaded down with theatre.
It Stinks, It Bites, It Sucks – So Buy A Ticket!
It’s not often that a critic will mercilessly pan a performance, and then suggest that readers attend anyway. But David Patrick Stearns says that everyone within spitting distance of New York ought to hustle to see a new Metropolitan Opera production that he refers to as “breathtakingly vulgar, amazingly wrongheaded,” and a disaster on the scale of the Exxon Valdez.
Denver Museum Gets $30 Million In Art, Plus A Summer House
The Denver Art Museum is preparing to accept one of its largest bequests ever – “more than $30 million in contemporary artworks by such marquee names as Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Cindy Sherman; Fifteen million dollars in cash; [and] A house and gallery in Vail.” The gift comes from a Vail couple who “have spent more than 14 years acquiring work from around the world, anticipating collecting trends and tapping new sources, including the booming Chinese market. They are included on ARTnews magazine’s prestigious annual list of the world’s top 200 art collectors.”
Idol Hands Do The Devil’s Work
Fox TV’s runaway hit, American Idol, is apparently making kids more interested in singing, and some school music teachers are even using Idol-style competitions to add some spice to their otherwise dry curriculum. But are the Idol worshippers really interested in music, or just in bandwagon jumping? And more importantly, are they really learning anything about music by prancing around in a classrom mimicking the godawful singing technique of the average Idol contestant?
Grammy-Winning African Guitarist Dies
“Ali Farka Touré, the self-taught Malian guitarist and songwriter who merged West African traditions with the blues and carried his music to a worldwide audience, winning two Grammy Awards, died in his sleep on Monday at his farm in the village of Niafunke in northwestern Mali, the Ministry of Culture of Mali announced.”