Author: Douglas McLennan

AFTER TWO DECADES —

— Googoosh is touring again. “In Iran, Googoosh, 50, is not merely a pop star. She is a singer whose fame and post-revolutionary exile from the public eye have turned her into a national icon. For her thousands of expatriate Iranian fans, hearing Googoosh live after two decades of silence is a dream come true. Her fame has often been compared to that of Elvis Presley in the West.” – New York Times

CONSUMERS WEB

“But a general malaise appears to have gripped consumers; in part due to what many consider unfairly priced CDs. Consumers have flocked to file trading networks such as Napster, Scour, and the nearly 100 other applications that allow users to trade and sample music for free. Even as a federal court prepared to shut down Napster for violating copyrights, 3 percent of the entire Internet home population logged on to the application in search of free music.” – Wired

CONSUMERS WEB

“But a general malaise appears to have gripped consumers; in part due to what many consider unfairly priced CDs. Consumers have flocked to file trading networks such as Napster, Scour, and the nearly 100 other applications that allow users to trade and sample music for free. Even as a federal court prepared to shut down Napster for violating copyrights, 3 percent of the entire Internet home population logged on to the application in search of free music.” – Wired

FESTIVAL POWER

“Think of Edinburgh today: boomtown, glittering northern capital, as beautiful a city centre as any in Europe; full of history, packed year round with visitors, draped with pavement cafés, bright with flags. Then glance back at Edinburgh as it was 53 years ago, when the Festival was founded: a lost capital almost crushed by the pressure of two world wars – the austerity, the rationing, the sheer exhaustion – into a kind of dour British provincialism from which it seemed unlikely ever to recover.” – The Scotsman 08/08/00

  • EDINBURGH OPENS FOR BUSINESS: “Everything from theatres to circuses, orchestras to book-readings, stand-up comedy to experimental dance is featured on the programme, making the festival the largest celebration of the arts anywhere in the world – it is listed as such in The Guinness Book of Records.” – CNN 08/08/00

CONSCIENCE OF THE NATION?

Hollywood is pondering the possibility of Joe Lieberman becoming vice-president of the US. “Lieberman is widely regarded as ‘the moral conscience’ of the Senate and has continually blasted TV, movies and the recording industry for featuring too much sex and violence.” – New York Post 08/08/00

SURVIVING CULTURE

Do cultures have an inherent right to survive? “There is no great moral distinction, such rhetoric seems to suggest, between allowing a culture to assimilate into the wider surrounding society and actually going out and killing its members en masse. If we take these arguments at face value, cultural survival is something very close to a moral absolute; to refuse to endorse it is to sign up on the side of cultural atrocity and numbing global conformity.” – Civilization 08/00

WHO, THEN, WILL LEAD US?

“No longer do our poets, both musical and otherwise, define society; instead, they reflect it. Some of the most significant philosophers of our time have provided nothing more than political fuel, and fashion designers have been left with the sole responsibility of directing the masses. We can hardly claim to perpetuate the age-old search for nobility. Knowledge is no longer a reward in itself, and a good number of us believe Socrates to simply be a character in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” – *spark-online 08/00

A NEED TO ACT

Scotland hasn’t had great luck in recent years with its major performing arts companies – the national ballet and opera companies are deeply in debt. Nonetheless, the Scots want a national theatre of their own. “Arts institutions are like Pokémon cards: every country wants the complete set.” – The Guardian