“The fundamental premise of The Lost Symbol is that Washington is a ‘mystical city,’ and it is this error that makes the book so maddening. … [A]nyone who has spent more than a Tourmobile ride in D.C. knows that what makes Washington interesting is its very smallness, the contrast between its grand architecture and the human machinations that take place within it.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Former Museum Director Charged With Theft Of Artifacts
“The ousted director of Long Island University’s Hillwood Museum stole Egyptian artifacts from the collection and peddled the precious antiquities through Christie’s auction house, the feds charged yesterday.” Barry “Stern is accused of stealing nine artifacts — all more than 2,000 years old — and delivering them to Christie’s in the month after his employment contract was terminated….”
Regina Spektor Pens A Musical
“The Russian-born Spektor, whose latest alt-rock album ‘Far’ was released earlier this year, currently is writing the music for the show, collaborating with playwright Tina Landau, whose one-act play ‘Beauty’ provides the inspiration for the production.”
Obama Appoints Three To Arts And Humanities Committee
“A prominent movie and television producer, a New York theater producer and a high-ranking university arts scholar are headed to Washington to join the president’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.”
Long Beach Slashes $400,000 From Art Museum’s Funding
The city budget “gives the [Long Beach Museum of Art] $169,000, down from $569,000 the previous year.” In part, the cut “was spurred by officials’ ire at having to pay off a $3.06-million bond that museum leaders had promised years ago to cover but then failed to when their fund-raising campaign fizzled.”
Google, Settlement Partners Ordered To Address Concerns
“Google Inc. and a group of authors and publishers are talking to the Justice Department about modifications” to the Google books settlement. The judge in the case “yesterday ordered Google and the other parties to the settlement to respond to an outpouring of viewpoints questioning the plan to create a digital book library.”
Boston Art Dealers Get Boost From Thriving Film Industry
“As the film industry booms in Massachusetts, it’s creating a ripple effect across many businesses. Some come readily to mind, such as caterers and hotels. But others are more obscure such as galleries and antique shops that lease or sell paintings, maps, and photographs” to be used as props.
Studio Theatre Founder Zinoman Retiring After 35 Years
The departure next year of artistic director Joy Zinoman “augurs one of the most significant changes in years at the top of a Washington performing arts organization.” It “is at once a stunning development, and the first sign that turnover at other major companies is inevitable.”
Recovery Watch: Damien Hirst Values Have Bounced Back
“Auction estimates — if not realized prices” for Hirst’s work “– are similar to those seen at Sotheby’s event last September, which raised the most money for a single-artist auction. … An increase in estimates shows some confidence returning to the market after contemporary-art prices dropped as much as 30 to 50 percent this year, said dealers.”
Like A Bird On A Wire, But Also Like Sheet Music
“Brazilian composer Jarbas Agnelli saw a photo in a newspaper of birds sitting on five parallel wires, and was inspired to treat their positions as avian sheet music. He interpreted what he saw as music and orchestrated the tune.”