Author: Laura Collins Hughes

Sleepy Jazz Musician Wakes On Subway, His Horns Stolen

“Matthew Jodrell, a jazz musician, was riding the subway home after a Sunday night performance in Lower Manhattan. Then he made the mistake of nodding off,” whereupon he was robbed. “The thief did not take Mr. Jodrell’s money, but he did take two beloved brass instruments: a flugelhorn made in Switzerland and a Bach Stradivarius trumpet, together worth nearly $10,000.”

Carving Crazy Horse Out Of The Black Hills (Since 1948)

“It’s easy to feel affection for Mount Rushmore’s strange grandeur, but only if you forget where it is and how it got there. … The Crazy Horse Memorial has some of the same problems: it is most definitely an unnatural landmark. Some of the Indians I met in South Dakota voiced their own misgivings, starting with the fact that it presumes to depict a proud man who was never captured in a photograph or drawn from life.”

Planned For 2012: A Giant Lunar Clock On The Thames

“The aim is to create a new London landmark close to the proposed Olympic stadium as a monument to a more natural way of marking time. The proposed site is at East India Dock, six miles along the river from Westminster Palace. Its designers hope their clock will become as iconic as Big Ben, which has been marking time for 150 years. The site is currently a bedraggled nature reserve.”

The Google Books Settlement’s Fundamental Problem

It “places one company in a prime position to become the world’s de facto librarian instead of encouraging open access, open standards and a plurality of services and service providers. Neither Google nor any other company should be entrusted with that responsibility, and nothing in the detail of the agreement or the funds that will be made available to authors as a consequence can change this.”

Alfred Hitchcock Offers Oscars A Cautionary Tale

“When there were more than five nominees for best picture between 1934 and 1943, the preferential ballot was used to choose winners,” which is why it’s being reinstituted now, likely leading to “schizophrenic and illogical” results. “One of the most notable disagreements between those races back in the old days led to one of Oscar’s greatest tragedies: the snubbing of one of Hollywood’s greatest directors, Alfred Hitchcock, who ended up going to his grave Oscarless….”

Google Books Settlement Gains Another Foe: Germany

“Germany opposes the Google Inc. book settlement, claiming in court papers it would ‘irrevocably alter the landscape of international copyright law.’ The agreement ‘runs afoul of the applicable German national laws, as well as European public initiatives to create non-commercial worldwide digital libraries,’ the government said yesterday in federal court papers in New York.”

Stores That Play Up Their Role As Cultural Spaces Survive

“Surprisingly, as many music and book retailers have shuttered in recent years, a number of stores … haven’t seen their sales fall at all. How have they managed to do that? The book and record stores that have survived are playing up their roles as community centers that serve as unique cultural spaces rather than just a place to buy a quick CD or magazine.”

Bill Cosby Hits The Streets To Aid Detroit Public Schools

“Entertainer and activist Bill Cosby returned to Detroit on Tuesday to help Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb take to the streets his message that city schools will get better. Wearing T-shirts that read: ‘Education is free! Get it now!’ the pair went door-to-door in a northwest Detroit neighborhood to support Bobb’s campaign to restore the schools and change the culture.”