International outrage was sparked in 2001 when Afghanistan’s repressive Taliban regime ordered two 1,600-year-old statues of Buddha in the country’s Bamiyan Valley destroyed, but despite pressure from Western countries to preserve the massive artifacts, the statues were wiped out. Now, a Japanese artist plans to commemorate the Buddhas with a laser-based installation in the Bamiyan Valley which is drawing funding from the United Nations. “Fourteen laser systems will project 140 overlapping faceless ‘statues’ sweeping four miles across Bamiyan’s cliffs in neon shades of green, pink, orange, white and blue.”
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Roth Joins Elite Company
“Cementing his position as one of America’s leading 20th century literary voices, Philip Roth will see the nonprofit Library of America publish an eight-volume collection of his novels and stories beginning later this summer. Roth, a two-time National Book Award winner, joins Saul Bellow and Eudora Welty as the only American writers to have their complete works preserved by the Library of America during their lifetimes… Initially backed by the National Endowment of the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the Library of America published its first books in 1982 on a mission to preserve what it considers the most significant of American writing.”
The Dream(works) Fades
When Hollywood legends Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen joined forces in 1994 to form Dreamworks Studios, the company was predicted to become the most important force in the American movie industry in decades. It hasn’t exactly worked out that way, and these days, Dreamworks is widely considered to be a prime example of a company that really never lived up to its potential.
Black Publishing Pioneer Dies
Magazine publisher John Harold Johnson has died of heart failure, aged 87. Johnson was the most influential African-American in the history of American publishing, having created and nurtured the widely influential magazine, Ebony, and he later branched out into radio programs aimed at both black and integrated audiences. He resisted calls from within the black community to make his offerings more militant, and instead chose to work within the white-dominated media world and change it by his very success.
German Rappers Going Ghetto, Raising Hackles
For obvious historical reasons, the German government likes to keep a close eye on purveyors of extremist language and exclusionary rhetoric, and watch lists have existed for years to monitor the activities of neo-Nazi skinheads and other hatemongers. But lately, Germany’s increasingly gangsta-oriented rappers have begun to land on these watch lists as well. “German gangsta rappers have made a strong showing on the charts… and shaken a society not used to hearing ghetto tales of death and revenge in its own language. German parents and the news media have expressed shock at hardcore lyrics, which, they say, glorify a dangerous American ghetto fantasy that doesn’t exist in Germany and shouldn’t be encouraged.”
When Can We Go Back To Just Listening To Music?
The Supreme Court’s Grokster ruling, which held that compaies producing software used for illegal file trading can be held liable for the actions of consumers, has been hailed by the music recording industry and decried by the tech industry. But what does the ruling really mean for a world which in which digital media is obviously the distribution method of the future? “The movie and music bosses didn’t get everything they wanted. The justices left the Betamax doctrine intact. That 1984 ruling said that even though a technology – such as a VCR – might be used to infringe copyright, it could still be sold if it also allowed substantial legal uses.” And then there’s the likelihood that one or both sides in the debate could go running to Congress for relief…
Critic Hughes Disparages BBC Art Poll
The BBC is polling its audience to choose Britons’ favorite piece of art. “In what the BBC has described as the first ever national survey of paintings to be held anywhere in the world, the public have been invited to vote for any painting in Britain to determine the nation’s greatest work of art. The poll has attracted such artistic luminaries to discuss their favourite painting as Jack Vettriano and Boris Johnson, but held no attraction for Time Magazine critic Robert Hughes who was scheduled to appear on Saturday’s broadcast. Yesterday, he dismissed the poll as a ‘minor circulation-building exercise’ and said he refused to discuss it because it was of ‘no relevance’.”
Court Rules For Stern Family
Ever since legendary violinist Isaac Stern passed away in 2001, a vicious court fight has been raging between the executor of Stern’s will and the performer’s children, who believe that he was taken advantage of on his deathbed and convinced to sign over most of his property to his wife of five years. The deathbed transfer led directly to the semi-secret sale of Stern’s priceless violins by the executor, a fact which his children learned about only when tipped off by a musician in the Philadelphia Orchestra. This week, a Connecticut court ruled in favor of the children and ordered executor William Moorhead to pay back $562,000 in fees he had charged to the Stern estate.
Producer Takes Shot At Edinburgh Fest
A prominent theatre producer has publicly suggested that the sitting board of the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival lacks the expertise and judgment to select a new director for the festival. The current director, Sir Brian McMaster, will depart in another year, and producer Nica Burns is concerned that those in charge of selecting his replacement will be insufficiently versed in contemporary theatrical realities.
But It Supports Two Daily Newspapers, Right?
The Pittsburgh Symphony may end its fiscal year with a deficit of a half million dollars, with the promise of much more red ink to come next season, when the musicians will be due a $17,000 salary increase. Such money woes, combined with falling ticket sales, have convinced one of the city’s daily newspapers that it might be time for the PSO to throw in the towel and stop trying to compete with other major American orchestras. “The harsh reality is that a metropolitan area barely ranked among the top 25 in population does not have pockets deep enough to support [an orchestra] the way New York and Chicago support theirs.”