“[I]deally how musicians are clothed should have no bearing on the sound they make. But the brute fact is that understated elegance inspires confidence in the performer, while ugly, ill-fitting and garish outfits (still the norm in our concert halls) make one sub-consciously doubt the wearer’s competence.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
London’s Foundry Gallery To Be Replaced By A Hotel
“[T]he Foundry, an east London gallery and pub that for more than a decade has served as a focal point for the area’s alternative art scene, is set to be demolished after the site’s owners drew up plans for an 18-storey hotel and retail complex.” But “a wall painted with one of the biggest Banksy murals in Britain” will be preserved.
Digital Tools Make Listening An Interactive Experience
“[W]hile albums and singles remain the mainstay of the music industry, technologists, innovators and composers are coming up with new tools to help modern listeners engage with the songs they love.” Among them are programs that let people “mix their favourite tracks in virtually any way they like,” then “share their creations.”
Pop-Culture Smackdown: Indianapolis Vs. New Orleans
One city is “famous for its sinful food and its scrumptious music and its freewheeling spirit, for legendary jazz performers such as Jelly Roll Morton. The other is a stolid, serious and responsible locale famous for … well, Jared, the Subway guy. … But America loves an underdog. And Indianapolis is no slouch in the cultural realm.”
In Portrait Gallery’s Past: Rat Stomping & A Murder-Suicide
“According to the records, 34 rats were captured and killed between 1940 and 1946, with the staff’s boots being the main weapon of choice. The events surrounding [a] 1909 murder-suicide, in which a man shot his wife then himself in one of the galleries, minutes after they had been seen looking at portraits together, are recorded in detail.”
How To Entice Audiences To Adventurous Fare?
“[T]he ‘butts in seats’ mantra that has long been intoned by many marketing directors skirts the issue of what kind of audience you’re getting. Yet the audience’s tastes … are key to the future of the field.”
Teens Don’t Tweet
“Think of the millions of text messages that teens send. Think of their endless hours on Facebook. Twitter has not caught on in nearly the same way — and experts suggest the difference is that most teens want to socialize with their friends and peers, not broadcast to the larger world.”
Someone Had To Open Salinger’s Mail — And Answer It
“The letters came from Sri Lanka or the Netherlands or Arizona. They included deeply personal admissions–cancer diagnoses, bankruptcy, divorce–and were often written in Salinger’s own brash style or, at the very least, incorporated the slang of the period he chronicled. ‘Dear Jerry, you old bastard,’ they tended to start. ‘I gotta tell you.'”
The Music Alan Lomax Found In Haiti
“Lomax’s microphones,” being of 1930s vintage, “tended to emphasize the higher notes,” but “some of the music is amazing. Lomax’s Holy Grail was the search for musical traditions as close to Mother Africa as he could find.”
When Marin Alsop Opened The Orchestra Up To Amateurs
“Alsop’s staff initially thought she was a little crazy. Major international orchestras work hard to be the best at what they do and be admired by their audiences, not mingle with them. Would amateurs be good enough to play with professionals? Would anybody be interested in such a scheme?”