“The show, [in a staging] by a troupe from St. Petersburg, was to have been staged Nov. 1 in Omsk, Russia’s seventh-most-populous city. But a local group called ‘Family, Love, and Fatherland’ filed a complaint that the musical mocked religious faith.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Italian Mafia Groups Are Trading Weapons To ISIS For Looted Antiquities: Report
According to an investigation by the newspaper La Stampa, “the ‘ndrangheta and Camorra mafia groups in southern Italy … are reportedly handing over to [ISIS] weapons smuggled out of Moldova and Ukraine by Russian criminal groups in exchange for Roman and Greek artefacts illegally excavated from ancient sites including Leptis Magna, Cyrene and Sabratha in Libya – all UNESCO World Heritage Sites.”
Shrewd And Wealthy Commodities Trader Says Art Professor At Tiny College Sold Him Forgeries
“When [Andrew J.] Hall set out last year to stage an exhibition of [Leon] Golub’s art at the private rural museum he operates in [a Vermont] village, he found out to his surprise that more than a third of the Golubs he had bought were forgeries, according to a lawsuit he filed last month. And the people he says hoodwinked him … seem to have disappeared.”
Philadelphia Orchestra Adopts *Some* Recommendations From The Michael Kaiser Report
“The Philadelphia Orchestra will program musicals. It will set up new philanthropic councils made up from donors with special interests and, starting in 2018, from outside the city. The orchestra is starting a series of master classes with guest artists. And it will develop more ways to lure and keep younger donors.”
Michael Bloomberg Gives $50 Million To The Museum That Changed His Life
“Everyone around here knows Michael Bloomberg … built a multibillion-dollar company and served as a three-term mayor of New York. But what people might not know is that Bloomberg credits the Museum of Science for helping to shape who he became. ‘I went every Saturday, and it changed my life,’ recalled Bloomberg, 74, who attended classes there starting when he was about 10 and through his high school years.”
Paris Museum In Hot Water Over Exhibit On Segregation In US
“The Musée du Quai Branly Jaques Chirac in Paris has come under fire for literature published for children alongside their exhibition, ‘The Color Line: African American Artists and Segregation.’ The booklet appears to play down the European role in slavery, and claim some slaves had enjoyable lives. Following public outcry, the museum destroyed the inaccurate pamphlets.”
The Double-Bass? For Weaklings. Check Out The Octobass
It’s almost 12 feet tall, weighs 289 pounds, sounds four octaves lower than a double-bass, and the player has to use levers for fingering because there’s just no hope of reaching the fingerboard. The octobass was invented in 1849, and the Montreal Symphony is now the first orchestra in the world to have one. (includes video)
Cuba’s National Ballet School Enrolls Its First American Student
“Communist-led Cuba is renowned for its rigorous, state-subsidized ballet education and has produced an outsized share of dance stars, such as Carlos Acosta and José Manuel Carreño, for a small island of 11 million inhabitants. Cuba’s National Ballet School, which claims to be the world’s largest with 3,000 students, has long trained many foreign dancers. But no American had joined its full-time program during the half-century long conflict between Cuba and United States.” Until now.
Ted V. Mikels, 87, Film Auteur Of ‘The Corpse Grinders’ And ‘Blood Orgy Of The She-Devils’
“[He] was a flamboyant figure – known for his waxed handlebar mustache and the boar tusk he wore around his neck – who often produced, wrote, directed and edited his films. He relied on outlandish plots, cheesy special effects and curvaceous actresses like Tura Satana … [as he] cranked out an endless stream of bloody shockers, sci-fi thrillers, action films and jiggle-fests.”
David Antin, 84, Known For His ‘Talk Poems’
“Identified by the Poetry Foundation as part of ‘a group of artists and poets who brought new definitions and ambitions to poetry in the early 1970s,’ Antin won acclaim for his signature ‘hybrid of criticism, poetry and storytelling that involved Antin discoursing freely on a subject in front of an audience,’ as the foundation described his talk poetry.”