When it opened in 1981, Dublin’s National Concert Hall took the city off the list as the only European capital without a major concert hall. But “ask the individuals for whom it was designed as a workplace and you’ll pick up the strongest strand of dissent. It wouldn’t be far off the mark to say that there’s a feeling among the members of the National Symphony Orchestra that the hall may qualify as a ‘sick’ building.” – Irish Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
ANTI-TECH MONKS
A group of Greek monks released a CD last summer and it quickly caused a sensation in Greece, going platinum. Now they’ve made a video warning about the dangers of technology. “The video features a gold-garbed man who represents an evil computer user, armed with personal data. The bearded monks belt out the lyrics to ‘Tsipaki’, or ‘Little Computer Chip’: ‘I’m a chip, so small, that will lead you to slavery’.” – San Francisco Examiner (AP)
WHERE IS SOUTH AFRICA’S NEW GENERATION?
“There seemed to be an expectation that as apartheid collapsed and its legacy faded a new generation of young black writers (let’s call them YBWs) would emerge in their full glory, spurred on by the new freedoms of a new democracy. It was thought that the combination of apartheid censorship and lack of educational advantage had held them back, but now their time had come. Yet they are scarcer than viable South African feature film projects.” – Daily Mail & Guardian (South Africa)
BEST IN SHOW
What were the best academic books of the 1990s? The readers of Lingua Franca vote. Camille Paglia is No. 1? Really? – Lingua Franca
PROTECTING PERFORMERS
“A global treaty to protect actors’ rights is on hold because of a disagreement over movie royalties.” – CBC 12/22/00
AS LONG AS THE NAME REMAINS
Manhattan’s landmark Rockefeller Center is being sold for $1.85 billion private investors. “For the first time since the family built the center 70 years ago, in the midst of the Depression, the Rockefellers will have no involvement with the 10 landmarked office buildings, Radio City Music Hall or the Rainbow Room.” – New York Times 12/22/00
PERHAPS A PERSIAN PRINCESS?
When she surfaced in October in Pakistan, it was widely reported that the mummy was the Persian princess daughter of ancient Xerxes. Bidding to acquire her quickly soared to $11 million. But carbon dating of a piece of wood from the mummy’s coffin reveals it is only 250 years old. – Archaeology Magazine
RESTORING THE QUEEN OF SHEBA’S TEMPLE
Archaeologists have finished restoring a temple in Yemen that they say belonged to the Queen of Sheba. “According to scholars, the temple was built in the 10th Century BC at the time of Balqis, the Queen of Sheba, and access was restricted to the kingdom’s elite.” The structure is so impressive, excavators say it could become one of the world’s great tourist attractions. – BBC
THE YEAR IN LONDON THEATRE
Highlights and reviews from the London stage in 2000. – Theatre.com
NEW YALE DIRECTOR
The Yale Repertory Theatre is expected to announce that Oskar Eustis, artistic director of Trinity Rep Theatre and its conservatory school in Providence, is the likely new artistic director of the Yale Repertory Theatre and dean of its Yale School of Drama. The job is considered one of the plums in regional theater and theater education. – Hartford Courant