It’s no real surprise that filmmaker Spike Lee is supporting Barack Obama for president, and Lee describes Obama’s possible inauguration as the next logical step in America’s long and troubled history of healing the wounds of slavery. “That’s the way the world works, you do something, you die, but somewhere down the line, we’ve moved the ball forward because of what you did.”
Author: sbergman
Robert Giroux, 94
“Robert Giroux, an editor and publisher who introduced and nurtured some of the major authors of the 20th century and ultimately added his name to one of the nation’s most distinguished publishing houses, died on Friday in Tinton Falls, N.J.”
Rent‘s Gone, But Will It Endure Like Its Inspiration?
The smash-hit Broadway production of Rent officially plays its last performance this weekend, but the show, which was based on Puccini’s La Boheme, has a chance to live on just as the opera has. “Just as Puccini’s opera would fall flat were the music not so impassioned and savvy, Rent would not be so powerful if Mr. Larson’s score were not so rich and emotionally honest.”
TIFF Gets A Lot Less Political
“Politics — national, not studio, that is — is in surprisingly short supply [at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival,] given the imminence of a United States election and the festival’s past record.” So what’s filling the void? A dose of good, old-fashioned Hollywood fun.
Raging Against The Party Machine (Both Of ‘Em)
Commentators often decry the seeming inability of today’s musicians to engage their fans in political protest, but don’t tell that to the organizers of this year’s DNC and RNC Conventions. “For two weeks straight, both in Denver and in Minneapolis, Rage Against the Machine, a rap-metal band formed in 1991 and known for its big noise and ferocious politics, formed an ad-hoc convention in opposition to both major parties.”
SPAC Attendance Plunges; PhilOrch Takes Biggest Hit
“Overall attendance and income for Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s classical programs fell 9 percent this year… Philadelphia Orchestra and Freihofer’s Jazz Festival both experienced 16 percent attendance declines, while New York City Ballet was down 6 percent and Saratoga Chamber Music Festival 2 percent. The orchestra suffered a 21-percent drop in revenues.”
Looking Back At How A Concert Hall Rose In Seattle
Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony, is ten years old, and its construction changed the fortunes of its primary tenant forever. But getting it built was a massive project, undertaken at a time when the orchestra was in dire financial straits, and the electorate was in no mood to publicly finance a concert hall.
CBC Insulting It’s Audience?
“There was a time when CBC Stereo, as [Radio 2] was called then, led and did not condescend. Listeners tuned it in to hear what they could not readily hear anywhere else. Now the programmers are chasing after some imaginary ‘demographic.'”
Radio 2 Needed To Change
Lost in the debate over whether the new CBC Radio 2 (much less classical, more pop/rock) is any good is the larger question of whether there was anything wrong with the old Radio 2, which was nearly all classical. The news director at one of Canada’s main TV networks says that he likes classical music, too, up to a point, but the fact is that the all-classical Radio 2 was anachronistic and boring.
How To Grow An Art Prize
The Sobey Art Award, given annually to an emerging Canadian artist under the age of 40, has attracted criticism as well as praise since its inception in 2002, but organizers have been remarkably quick to respond to concerns and tweak their practices. This year’s finalists are on display at the Royal Ontario Museum.