Judging by his last three projects, David Mamet is in a major slump. Now a scathing London Times review of the author/playwright’s new book, which is so bad, goes the speculation, it can’t even find an American publisher. Mamet’s American agent refuses comment. – Boston Globe
Author: Douglas McLennan
CHAPTERS ON PARADE
Canadian mega-bookseller Chapters defends itself to Canadian government inquiry into the book business. Chain denies it has tried to run independent bookstores out of business. Independents have claimed that Chapters has 55 per cent of the Canadian market. “This is categorically false,” says Chapters. “We have somewhere between 20 and 23 per cent of the consumer book market in Canada.” – CBC
IT’S NOT ME
Authors worried about publishing sensitive writing have a new, anonymous way of doing it – online. – Wired
DON’T BEAT A DEAD “CATS”
Please oh please oh please say it isn’t so – since the announcement that “Cats” will close in June, ticket sales have sky-rocketed, making it the hottest show on Broadway. The whiff of “extend-me” is in the air. – New York Times
CRACKDOWN
- Three robbers were recently executed in China for stripping a tomb of murals with the intention of selling them. Is China cracking down on the plundering of cultural artifacts? – The Art Newspaper
BLOOD IN THE WATER
With Sotheby’s and Christie’s busy with investigators, the auction-house competition behind them consolidates. After buying Phillips, the world’s third largest auction house, less than four months ago, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton buys Tajan, France’s largest auction house. The deal will allow Phillips to enter the French auction market, which remains closed to foreign auctioneers. It will also give Tajan’s customers access to the London and New York markets, where Phillips has sales and where taxes are lower than in France. – New York Times
- And: Sotheby’s/Christie’s problems could level the playing field. – BusinessWeek
GLASS HOUSE
At the Philip Glass Inc. studio, the background noise “sounds more like a stock exchange than a creative haven. Assistants, collaborators, friends and journalists are yelling for the master’s attention. ‘The phone is always ringing off the hook,’ he admits cheerfully. ‘I always have more work than I can handle.’ ” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
EDUCATIONAL CHIC
A spate of new British college buildings bring a refreshingly fashionable sense of style to academia. – The Telegraph (UK)
IS IT A TEAR? AN EGG? A UFO?
No, it’s Beijing’s spectacularly daring new French-designed theater complex. “But fears that foreign design will nevertheless raise cultural hackles are so pervasive that Peking has imposed a media blackout on the topic, even though demolition around the site has started.” – The Independent (UK)
SANTANA TIES RECORD –
– for most Grammy Award wins. Complete coverage – pictures, interviews, stories. – Los Angeles Times
- List of winners. – Grammy.com 02/23/00