In the wake of the London bombings, the British arts press has been focusing on a West End play that would be controversial under any circumstances, a docudrama called “Talking To Terrorists.” The fact that such a production even exists speaks volumes about London’s attitude towards political theatre, and makes for a striking contrast with an increasingly prickly American public.
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Where Have You Gone, Arthur Miller?
Julia Keller looks around at an increasingly frightening world full of violence and political grandstanding, and misses the old familiar outrage of playwright Arthur Miller. “We need a writer whose ferocity won’t be diminished by concerns for balance or propriety, who won’t get sidetracked by niceties. We need someone who will write with unapologetic rage. Yet moral certainty is in bad odor these days. Many see it as the cause of most of the world’s problems, from terrorism to less lethal forms of intolerance — and it’s true that a powerful cadre of holier-than-thou politicians is a special menace in America just now. Moral certainty indeed makes for bad public policy. But it makes for great art.”
Manufactured Radio – Hold The Local Sound
By now, nearly every major market in the U.S. has a radio station sporting the newfangled “Jack” format, in which blocks of hit music selected for its familiarity to an “average” national audience is interspersed with prerecorded voice tracks. “When a new Jack or Bob or Mike station enters a market, there tends to be a spike in ratings. But according to a new study… Jack and Bob face two problematic trends. At many such stations the audience size has diminished as the novelty of the format wears off, and the time each person spends listening to the station – an important statistic for advertisers – is fairly low, suggesting that people tune in for the fun of the songs but tune out in a short time for what other stations offer: on-air personalities and local news, perhaps.”
Selling Out
It has now become the norm for museums to sell their art, rent their space for blockbuster exhibitions, and otherwise exercise judgment more indicative of a for-profit corporation than a non-profit keeper of culture and art, says Michael Kimmelman. “A steady corrosion of faith in the integrity of institutions will be the long-term price for short-term wheeling and dealing. With faith goes the delicate ecosystem of charitable contributions and tax-free privileges. Why, the public will ask, do institutions like these reap the benefits of nonprofit status if they service private interests who shape the content of what’s on view and/or reap cash rewards?”
The Watchers & The Watched
The streets of Los Angeles have become a battleground for paparazzi and the Hollywood stars they hunt. “Emboldened by the sudden willingness of law-enforcement officials to take their complaints seriously, celebrities and their lawyers have painted a picture of paparazzi as criminals, stalkers and provocateurs-at-the-wheel, using their vehicles as weapons if necessary to catch a celebrity looking ugly, angry or upset. To the paparazzi, however, this portrayal is utter nonsense, at best the result of stars seeing something happening in their rear-view mirrors but failing to understand it.” Moreover, the real battle may be not between stars and photogs, but between the paparazzi themselves.
Nothing Better Than A Whole Bunch Of Naked Brits
Spencer Tunick has taken his passion for photographing mobs of naked people across the pond, and mounted his first large-scale UK event in the Tyneside district. “Volunteers from around the world – including Australia, Belgium and Peru – signed up, among them a vicar. They had to dodge chips and kebab remnants dropped by the previous night’s revellers as they made their way around a cordoned-off section of the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides.”
The Musicians You Never See
Pop quiz: what member of a symphony orchestra typically knows the most about every piece of music on every program, and knows it before most of the orchestra is even aware of what they’ll be playing? Answer: the librarian. “Each year the symphony music librarians prepare approximately 80 different programs for the orchestra to perform — about 600 compositions totaling 35,000 parts for as many as 250 artists in a given performance. Those parts are rarely only a single page and often run to dozens of pages — all of which must be checked… The sheer volume of work in the library can be daunting.”
Better Movies Through Poker
Making a film can sometimes seem easy compared to the monumental task of financing it. Lining up investors, pitching your project to seemingly everyone, scraping together enough cash for the cameras – it’s all just a bit overwhelming. Wouldn’t it be easier if you could just win your financing at a poker table?
Gambling On Art
“The French countryside could not be farther away, in distance or sentiment, from the long stretch of neon lights that line the Las Vegas Strip. But as the impressionists launched a revolution in the art world more than a century ago, a small art gallery inside the Bellagio resort has been quietly doing the same, albeit to a lesser degree, over the past six years… This month, the gallery launched its ninth exhibition, titled The Impressionist Landscape from Corot to Van Gogh. On the heels of a wildly successful Claude Monet show, gallery officials are confident they are accomplishing their mission of bringing art to the masses — even if it is in a casino.”
Learning From The Best
Training is everything in the dance world, and the chance for young hopefuls to hook up with seasoned pros is both rare and intensely valuable. So as you might imagine, the Summer Intensive program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance is the high point of the year for its enthusiastic (and exhausted) participants. “For four weeks, 55 advanced dancers ages 14 to 23 chosen by audition from the Bay Area and beyond forked over (or their folks did) $1,800 tuition to study with some of the best in the business — the business of artistry.”