“Online music firms scored three victories last week at the expense of record labels, songwriters and/or performers. In the long run, however, those victories could end up helping everyone in the music business.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Egypt Wants Treasures Back — Temporarily
“Egypt plans to seek the temporary return of some of its most precious artifacts from museums abroad, including the Rosetta Stone and a bust of Nefertiti. The country’s chief archeologist, Zahi Hawass, said the Foreign Ministry would send letters this week requesting that the ancient artifacts be loaned to Egypt. Hawass has previously demanded the permanent return of many of the artifacts, claiming some of them were taken illegally.”
“Sesame Street” Returns To Middle East
“New episodes of ‘Sesame Street’ are going on TV in Israel and the Palestinian territories, producers report, years after the original versions signed off because of a lack of funds. … Gary Knell, president of Sesame Workshop, the New York-based nonprofit group behind ‘Sesame Street’ programming worldwide, said the goal was to counter the potentially negative influences of society, because children as young as 3 can begin to demonstrate prejudice.”
New Orleans Fest Signals An Upswing For The City
“The culture of New Orleans — the thoroughly local music, food and rituals that are connected to African processions, European carnivals, Caribbean rhythms and America’s history of slavery and intermingling — is a draw not just for tourists, but for New Orleanians. Through sheer perseverance, it is being rebuilt.” Over the weekend, the “38th annual Jazzfest was its old celebratory self, with an undercurrent of determination.”
One Way To Kill The Movies: Ignoring Women
“While Hollywood has not stopped making films appealing to women and girls … women here worry that the future will not be so bright. They are nervous about the disappearance of many of the movie world’s most visible female power brokers and concerned that a box office dominated by seemingly male-oriented action films like ‘300’ means less attention for movies that have obvious appeal to female audiences, 51 percent of moviegoers.”
London’s National Neglecting Classics For Cutting Edge
“Something strange is happening in London theatre: a form of theatrical cross-dressing on which no one has yet commented. If you want to see cutting-edge experimentalism, the National Theatre is currently the place to go. Meanwhile, if you want to explore the English classic tradition, you have to visit the fringe.”
“Prostate Pandemonium”: A Theatregoer’s Revenge
“In the western world, middle-aged women are the chief supporters of the arts,” and yet the inexplicable international hit, “Menopause the Musical,” is one of the few theatre pieces that’s ostensibly about them. Germaine Greer muses, “I’m thinking of a moneyspinner called Prostate Pandemonium…. Wouldn’t it be empowering to see ageing men living their urinary chaos out loud, being upfront and honest about their humiliations, dressing in purple, high-kicking and wetting themselves?”
What’s Lost When A Book Supplement Is No More
As American newspapers’ book sections disappear one by one, John Freeman makes a plea for their necessity. “Book reviews are one of the few places in a US newspaper one can stop to appreciate the beauty of language, the pleasures of knowledge. They are also footbridges to artistic tradition, however rickety. In a country as plagued by anti-intellectualism as America, where books are frequently banned for even hinting at sex, these are vital byways.”
One’s Library As A Window To One’s Soul — Or Not
“Here’s a great statistic: a third of British adults have lied about what they read in order to appear more intelligent. … Judging character from someone’s reading habits is a favourite game in the media” — and among prospective romantic partners. “But how much can we really deduce from a collection of books?”
One More Time, Bill For Artists’ Deductions Introduced
“For the fifth consecutive session of the US Congress, a bill has been introduced that would allow artists to deduct the fair market value of works of their own creation from their taxes, if they donate them to museums and libraries. Existing provisions enable collectors to deduct the value of donated art, but artists can deduct only the cost of supplies such as canvas and paint.”