If the New York City Council approves a nomination already endorsed by the local community board, the corner of East 48th Street and Second Avenue will be called Kurt Vonnegut Way — and, mind you, the neighborhood is a bit more selective about its street namings than the rest of the city is. Bestowing the honor on Vonnegut, who died last month at age 84, “was a ‘no-brainer,’ board members said.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Will U.S. Orchestras “Take A Punt On Wild Youth”?
Across Europe, the music directors are getting younger and younger. Not so in the U.S., with the notable exception of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recent appointment of 26-year-old Gustavo Dudamel, who may just change the landscape. “If the fiery Venezuelan galvanizes attention, as seems likely, the ripple effect will spread as far inland as Chicago and New York, dispelling the paralyzing caution and opening the box to a new breed.”
Ad-Blocking With Curated Art: Two Guys’ Solution
“There has long been a cat-and-mouse game between Web advertisers, which pay to place their messages on sites where people view content, and ad-blocking services, which let people hide those messages from their browsers. Steve Lambert, a conceptual artist, plans to add his own twist to one type of software that blots out commercial messages. His add-on will replace the display ads — which are usually papered over with blank windows — with curator-picked artwork from contemporary artists.”
Below Ground In SoHo, An Innovative Reading Space
When the project calls for a public space to be constructed mainly underground, as the New York Public Library’s new Mulberry Street branch did, it is indeed possible to keep it from feeling like a giant basement. “In the space for older children (just below street) level, the architects installed clear glass to give young visitors a front-row seat on Manhattan bedrock. ‘We wanted a Harry Potter dungeonlike atmosphere,'” one of the architects said.
Paper Mill Playhouse Unveils Its Survival Strategy
“The financially floundering Paper Mill Playhouse announced a plan yesterday that it said would allow it to finish its season on schedule and continue operating next year. The plan is a mixed bag that includes administrative restructuring, a sizable bank loan and help from the government of Millburn, N.J., where the theater is situated. … Until recently it was unclear whether the theater would have to close its doors for good.”
Online, Real World’s Royalty Logistics Get Complicated
“Since Pandora.com closed its box of digital musical delights this month to users outside the United States, the complaints have been pouring in from Dubai to Patagonia. … Internet radio sites are global by nature, streaming musical programs digitally to users all over the world. But there is no one-stop global shopping for royalty collections, which means that Pandora has to negotiate separate agreements with institutions from each territory or directly with music labels. Global demand, though, respects no boundaries.”
Dancer And Teacher Stanley Holden, 79
“Stanley Holden, whose Chaplinesque blend of wistfulness and wit made him one of the finest character dancers in Britain’s Royal Ballet before he settled in Los Angeles and became one of the area’s most popular ballet teachers, died on Friday in Thousand Oaks, Calif.”
Latest Medical Specialty: Writing For The Masses
“Like the racket of dozens of birds on a clothesline, the sound of doctors is filling the air. The strongest voices at the moment belong to Dr. Jerome Groopman and Dr. Atul Gawande, both clinicians at Harvard and writers for The New Yorker, both with articulate new books garnering impressive reviews and climbing in parallel to best-sellerdom. But they are only two of many doctors holding forth these days, in escalating volume.”
First, The Bad News: No Tony Nod For Handel
The Tony Awards Administration Committee has ruled on the eligibility of 13 Broadway productions. Among the edicts is one concerning a straight play in a musical category: “The music for Coram Boy — penned by Adrian Sutton — will be eligible for nomination in the Best Original Score category. Only Sutton’s original music is eligible; the Handel selections heard in the production are ineligible.”
For Art Bargains, Europeans Buy In Dollars
“A sea change in the art market was stunningly apparent last night at Christie’s sale of Impressionist and Modern art, where most of the buyers spending millions of dollars on everything from stark Giacometti sculptures to dreamy Signac landscapes were mainly Europeans taking advantage of the weak dollar. While the prices may have seemed high to the Americans in Christie’s packed salesroom at Rockefeller Center, the successful European bidders acted as if they were getting bargains.”