“Not every artist will be Isaac Stern or Meryl Streep or Jennifer Bartlett, but for each one who makes it into the mainstream, a hundred more are struggling to move the form forward, creating a cultural identity. The payoff for encouraging them will rarely be measurable in economic terms. So here’s a different strategy for the arts endowment. … Create a public- private alliance to fund the NEA so it can really begin making the arts central to the lives of all Americans.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
How Leonard Bernstein’s Mass Creeped Nixon Out
“Because ‘Mass’ was scheduled to have its première at the Kennedy Center, a shrine to a fallen President, Nixon felt some pressure to attend. But the F.B.I. warned that Bernstein might be perpetrating something ghastly, and other disturbing reports reached the White House in the summer of 1971. Some of the more curious characters on Nixon’s staff went to work on the problem,” as these memos attest.
Edinburgh Fest Director Breaks A Leg — Well, An Ankle
“The old theatrical term is ‘go break a leg’. It is usually meant as a message of good luck. But Jonathan Mills, the director of the Edinburgh International Festival, has done just that. Mr Mills has fractured his right ankle on an uneven area of Edinburgh pavement.”
Woman Throws Ceramic Mug At Mona Lisa
“A Russian tourist sparked a security alert when she threw a mug at the Mona Lisa, the world’s best-known painting, officials at Louvre Museum in Paris have revealed. Screams erupted from the 40-odd tourists jostling for position around Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic painted lady when the empty terracotta mug flew over their heads and smashed into the portrait,” which was unharmed behind its bullet-proof screen.
After Sotheby’s Split, Auctioneer Closes, Consignors Fret
“Three nervous consignors congregated in the Ritchies Auctioneers parking lot in Toronto yesterday, hoping to collect unsold items and money owed to them from the auctioneer, which unexpectedly closed its doors last week following its split with Sotheby’s. The consigners and a company delivery man left empty handed. … Meanwhile, a new account of the company’s difficulties has surfaced. “
Studios Releasing Fewer Movie Soundtracks, Scores
“Slumping CD sales and the increasing influence of iTunes over the music industry have taken a toll on the once reliable revenues of movie soundtracks — and that’s left studios increasingly reluctant to release soundtracks to many films. … The story isn’t much better for the ‘score’ album, once a staple of the industry….”
Out-Of-State Film Tax Incentives Have Domino Effect In LA
“Hollywood’s competition is now states like New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan and Louisiana — states that never had much film and television production before” but now use tax incentives to lure on-location production that used to happen in Los Angeles. “That exodus, in turn, affects the entire Los Angeles economy: the caterers, store owners, dry cleaners, restaurants and even Hollywood’s biggest prop house, 20th Century Props, which went out of business last week with a huge auction.”
At Edinburgh Fringe, Sex Is A Hotter Ticket Than Usual
“[T]his year’s recession-hit fringe is more sex-crazed than ever. The Chippendales are on at the Gilded Balloon; Jane Austen’s Guide to Pornography is at the Zoo Southside; porn star Ben Dover is billing himself ‘innocent till proven filthy’ at the Underbelly; and Ashley Hames, sometime reporter for cable TV sex show Sin Cities, is at the Pleasance Courtyard telling some disturbing tales about his adventures with ‘sexual astronauts’.”
Star Roles Caused Spike In Straight-Play Audience
“[A]ttendances at straight plays in the first half of 2009 are up by 19% on the previous year,” and the reason is obvious. “Audiences are hungry for new plays that deal with big issues and provide fat lead roles. I am not anti-ensemble, and I always hesitate to tell dramatists what to do. But history proves that the plays that endure are those that provide rich gifts for actors.”
Plagiarism Scandal Rocks Prison News Poetry Page
“The prisoners’ newspaper Inside Time has introduced strict checks on its poetry page because some contributors had copied out well-known poems and submitted them under their own names. In one case an inmate stole work by Robert Frost, the American poet, and another lifted song lyrics from James Brown, the soul and funk singer who died in 2006.” Poems compete for a monthly £25 prize.