Blog

Ground Zero, Take Two

The newly redesigned Freedom Tower that New York officials are hoping to build on the ruins of the World Trade Center was unveiled this morning with a number of architectural changes and a major security upgrade. “While the original plan called for a parallelogram base, eight isosceles triangles now rise out of a cubic base to a perfect octagon in the new reinforced middle of the tower, which supports a glass parapet. The tower will be capped with a mast incorporating an antenna, meant to suggest the torch of the Statue of Liberty.” The building’s actual location on the lot has also been changed as part of a plan to make it more resistant to truck bombs.

South Florida’s Ambitious New Troupe

Miami has a new children’s theatre company, and it’s no small-time operation. “The PlayGround Theatre for Young Audiences has been up and running only since April, but it has already made a deal for its own permanent playground. The ambitious young company has taken over the lease on the long-struggling Shores Performing Arts Theater, a spacious former movie house,” thanks to a major grant from a foundation with family ties to the company’s founders. In addition to presenting serious children’s theatre, the company intends to offer theatre classes and summer camp experiences to kids throughout South Florida.

The Chelsea Transformation

The New York art world’s migration to Chelsea continues unabated, and the formerly unfashionable neighborhood now sports twice as many galleries as SoHo had at the height of its own art boom in the 1990s. With the trendy galleries, of course, come upscale restaurants and hip nightclubs, which is exactly the fast-moving gentrification process that causes New York artists to seek out a new (and affordable) neighborhood every decade or so. But for now, Chelsea is unquestionably the place to be in the Big Apple.

The Great 2005 Film Slide: It’s The Economics, Stupid!

Lots of film aficionados would like to make the argument that movie ticket sales are down because of a decline in quality, but that’s a tough sell, since Americans have embraced cinematic mediocrity (and worse) for years. A more likely explanation has to do with the steadily rising cost of tickets, a trend which stands in stark contrast to the dropping price of DVD rentals and on-demand movies. A family of four wanting to see this summer’s big blockbusters can expect to drop at least $34 ($23,971 if the family lives in New York,) and that’s before popcorn and soda pop.

Court Ruling Will Only Delay The Inevitable

Turning away from the immediate legal implications for a moment, the Supreme Court’s ruling holding Grokster liable for the actions of its customers may hurt the very industry that is celebrating victory. “By helping maintain the status quo, the ruling could further delay the death of the old way of doing things and postpone the birth of new strategies that successfully build on unstoppable peer-to-peer technologies… It’s time for the entertainment industry to accept the inevitable and stop trying to use the courts to put a leash on unpredictable new technologies. In the end, the business model in the entertainment industry is going to change, and these companies can either find a way to insert themselves into the new order, or risk finding themselves frozen out forever.”

Sirota Leaving Peabody For MSM

“Composer Robert Sirota, who has directed the Peabody Conservatory for 10 years, has been named president of Manhattan School of Music, succeeding Marta Casals Istomin… Sirota, who has written solo and chamber music works, studied at the Juilliard School, the Oberlin Conservatory and Harvard, where he received his Ph.D. in composition. He has been a member of the composition faculty at the Peabody Institute since 1995, when he became director.”

PBT Orchestra “Stunned” By Contract Proposal

Negotiations between the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and its orchestra have broken down in the wake of the company’s latest proposal, which includes a 25% pay cut and would give PBT the right to substitute recorded music for the live orchestra on a case-by-case basis. “The orchestra took a 12 percent pay cut in 2002 and an additional 5 percent pay cut in October 2003 to help offset red ink for the financially troubled ballet.” No new talks are scheduled between the two sides.

SF Ballet Finds A New Stickman

The San Francisco Ballet has tapped frequent guest conductor Martin West to be its new music director, replacing Andrew Mogrelia, who stepped down after only two years in the post. West “is the former principal conductor of the English National Ballet and has served as music director of the Cambridge Philharmonic Society. He has also conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Halle Orchestra, the London Concert Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra.”