“Plain Dealer music writer Donald Rosenberg covered the Cleveland Orchestra for 28 years. That is, until his critiques of Franz Welser-Möst apparently unseated him from the prestigious role. What happened along the way gives a rare look at two powerful institutions and raises the question of what it means to be a critic.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Microsoft Bankrolls Challenger To Google Books Settlement
“Last October, Google settled the lawsuit brought against it by book publishers and authors concerning its massive book-scanning project. … The only obstacle remaining for the settlement to take effect is final court approval.” It’s unsurprising that one interested party that’s “nudging its way into the settlement is an internet-issues-oriented group from New York Law School. But what does raise an eyebrow is the source of New York Law’s funding on this matter: Microsoft.”
Bad News For Scouts: Toronto’s Location Library Shutters
“A location ‘lending library’ that helped bring such films as Chicago and Cinderella Man to Toronto is closing today, adding another irritant to efforts to revive the city’s film and television production industry.” The library’s managing director “said film and TV production in Toronto has declined dramatically over the past five years due to a number of factors.”
Failed Company Gives Its Funds To University Drama Dept.
“Milwaukee Shakespeare, which closed suddenly in October when it lost its principal funder, is giving its remaining financial assets,” about $38,000, “to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee theater department. … The money is being given to the UWM Foundation for an endowment that will help underwrite student Shakespeare productions.”
Thanks To Slumdog, Bollywood Dancing Is A Fitness Hit
“I’m standing in Pineapple Studios in central London, clad almost entirely in Lycra, and writhing for all I’m worth. … This is the warm up to the beginner-level Bollywood class, and it is tremendous fun. It is also, it would seem, fast becoming the Next Big Thing in fitness.”
Booker Judges Give Back, Sort Of, Planting Oaks In Essex
“Booker Prize judges have planted an avenue of oak trees in a symbolic gesture over felled timber used to produce books entered for the prize. The group, led by Michael Portillo – chair of last year’s panel, planted 13 saplings in a woodland site in Essex. They mark the ‘Booker Dozen’ – the 13 titles long-listed for the prestigious award every year.”
How The Arts Truly Performed During The Depression
“The engine of the arts in the ’30s was not escapism, as we sometimes imagine, but speed, energy and movement at a time of economic stagnation and social malaise. … If we look at the arts as a life-giving form of social therapy, many other fads and fashions of the 1930s fall into place. The thrust of the culture, like the aims of the New Deal, was to get the country moving again.”
Suddenly Secretive: MPAA Won’t Reveal Spending Numbers
“Reversing a longstanding practice, the Motion Picture Association of America won’t disclose the average amount of money that studios spent on making and marketing movies last year.” Speculation is “that the reversal came about as a result of pressure from … studio bosses, who are never eager to cast a spotlight on how much they spend, particularly during a time of recession and layoffs.”
Stars Lobby For More NEA Funding
“A woman held a BlackBerry over the crowd surrounding Linda Ronstadt to get a shot of the onetime queen of country rock. Someone else thrust an album insert and pen at Josh Groban. ‘Just one more photo, please,’ followed jazz musician Wynton Marsalis out of the room. The three musicians were among a group who appeared Tuesday on Capitol Hill to speak in favor of increasing funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to $200 million in the 2010 budget.”
Maurice Jarre’s Power
“Without Maurice Jarre, who died last week at 84, who would David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia be? Peter O’Toole’s deliquescent eyes, shimmering in the desert light, would have been little more than a silent mirage. Jarre’s 1962 film score, which won an Academy Award, is a reminder that in the movies there is no character and no landscape unless there is a musical soundscape too.”