“The man, Finn Martin, was supposed to use a rope to help him vertically slide down the façade of a building while playing a saxophone before dozens of cheering fans [in Leipzig] late Friday evening. But during the attempt, the harness apparently broke and Martin plunged to his death before the shocked audience.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Satirical Dutch Reality TV Show Has Competition For Asylum Seekers
“The nation that brought the television world Big Brother and a hoax game show with a donor kidney prize has now pitted five young rejected asylum seekers” – real ones, not actors – “against one another to compete for €4,000 ($5,600) for when they are kicked out of the country.”
The Five Craziest Things People Used To Believe About The Sun
Author Bob Berman gives the list, and some of them are pretty crazy.
Bassoonists Strike Back!
“The bassoon is one of the most difficult instruments in the orchestra to play, but people just don’t take it seriously. That’s not surprising when you get a glimpse of the thing.” But these days bassoonists are showing how their instrument can sing, swing and rock – solo and in groups like The Bassoon Brothers and The Breaking Winds.
Death Metal Patchwork Quilts
“If you were a metal-head in a past life, you probably have a collection of concert t-shirts stashed away somewhere. … A San Francisco artist who goes by the name Ben Venom has come up with an unusual use for [people’s] old heavy metal shirts – he sews them into quilts.”
Has Welsh-Language Theatre Found Its Voice?
“Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, the Welsh-language national theatre, brilliantly dramatises Wales’s tussle of languages and identities – and its ambitions stretch far beyond its own borders.”
BBC Cuts Audio As Protesters Disrupt Israel Philharmonic Prom
“The BBC was forced to suspend a live Proms broadcast on Radio 3 on Thursday night when a performance by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra was disrupted by [anti-Israel] protests.”
Costa Rica Fires Conductor Of National Symphony Orchestra
A culture ministry official said that “the decision to drop Nazareth was mainly owing to budget constraints, as the ministry could not meet Nazareth’s salary demands. But [he] also cited conflict between Nazareth and members of the symphony and Culture Ministry as a reason for the conductor’s dismissal.”
L.A. Police Refuse To Return Stolen Rembrandt (Because It Might Be Forged)
“Investigators are refusing to return a purported Rembrandt drawing that was stolen from an auction at an upscale hotel and then recovered last month, citing questions about [both] the authenticity and ownership of the piece.”
Women Writers And Directors Are Getting Ahead – In Iranian Filmmaking
“Some of the most high-profile movies about Iran in the past few years have all been directed or co-directed by women, including Shirin Neshat’s video-art shorts and feature Women Without Men, and Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s Persepolis. And the Iranian New Wave that’s livened up world cinema over the past 20 years has been notable for a string of strong feminist films, some of them directed by men.”