“Four U.S. senators are spearheading the formation of a new bipartisan Senate caucus to promote the vital role the arts and humanities play in American life — a coalition that will likely serve as a strong base of support for pro-arts legislation in Congress’ upper house.”
Blog
Beethoven Free For All
The BBC is playing the complete works of Beethoven. “These concerts will be aired on Radio 3 and ‘streamed’ for a week on the website. This, as never before, is Beethoven for free – a gift to the world, just as the longsuffering composer might have wished. So radical is this departure from all prior conventions of broadcasting and distributing works of music that the consequences are simply uncalculated. No-one knows if ten people or ten million will download the Beethoven symphonies and whether, if kept, they will form the cornerstone for a new habit of hoarding classical music, a surrogate for record buying.”
New OED Debuts
The New Oxford American Dictionary publishes a new edition electronically (and on paper too). “Of the new dictionary’s more than a quarter million entries, about 2,000 were added since the first edition came out in 2001. Words that gained currency in American English over the last four years, and gained entry in NOAD, include “bridezilla” (“an overzealous bride-to-be who acts irrationally or causes offense”) and “speed dating” (“a social activity in which equal complements of potential partners spend a few minutes in short interviews with all other participants in order to determine whether there is interest”).”
The Booker’s New Prize For Translators
Organizers of the Booker Prize have announced a new award for translators. “The £15,000 honour has been created to recognise the role translators play in bringing fiction to a world audience. The author of a work translated into English will collect the new award, and decide who should win if several people were involved in the translation.”
Tate Modern – More Than A Museum, A Tourist Attraction
“Tate Modern is five years old next week. By any terms, it is a success. In fact, it often feels swamped by its own popularity. Since it opened in May 2000, almost 22 million visitors will have passed through its doors, double the number originally estimated. They thought they had a museum. Instead, they have a tourist attraction.”
Blue Man Dispute Escalates
“Vowing to kick their campaign up a notch, theatrical unions have unveiled a bright yellow, 700-square-foot billboard as the next phase of their Blue Man Group boycott. ‘Why won’t the Blue Man Group work with us?’ asks the billboard, which is just south of the Panasonic Theatre where the Blue Man production is slated to open next month. A lunchtime information picket was held yesterday outside the theatre to mark the unveiling of the billboard. The unions — Canadian Actors’ Equity, Toronto Musicians’ Association, and Locals 58 and 822 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — are angry at the Blue Man Group’s refusal to sit down and work with the unions on issues such as wages and benefits.”
Daniel Libeskind is to Architect as Wolfgang Puck is to Chef
Architect Daniel Libeskind has been whisked into San Francisco to drum up interest in his design for the city’s new Contemporary Jewish Museum, and the PR process may be more interesting than the eventual result. “The Contemporary Jewish Museum is about something else: the way that building designs evolve in an era when so-called starchitects are public figures. An institution hiring an architect of Libeskind’s stature acquires a recognizable look; in this case, buildings that from some angles appear to have been carved by bolts of lightning… But in today’s world of powerful computers and constant travel, the gap has never been greater between how noted architects are perceived — and the design work they actually do.”
Sweet Debut Hits Broadway, But How Long Can The Fairy Tale Last?
After months of toil, strife, and seemingly endless backstage drama, the Christina Applegate-led revival of Sweet Charity has opened on Broadway. “This production has generated theater news of a kind you supposed didn’t happen anymore, or perhaps never really happened except in old backstage movies. Star breaks leg (well, a bone in her foot) twirling off lamppost onstage in Chicago; talented understudy (Charlotte d’Amboise) opens for star in Boston; producers decide to close show; star insists that she will, will get better in time for a delayed New York opening and helps raise the extra money to ensure show’s arrival, just before the deadline for Tony nominations.” But a fairy-tale ending requires more than determination, and Charity may not make the cut.
Determination No Substitute For Talent
“Valiant behavior is no replacement for musical talent or the know-how acquired in years of stage experience. Applegate possesses neither. She has limited musical theater instincts — she wanders off-key rather often — and though she makes admirable attempts to move like a real dancer, you’re aware in every pivot that she isn’t one. (The character, after all, is supposed to dance for her supper.) These deficiencies are as fatal to the production as root rot is to a garden.”
Freedom Tower Gets Political Support, But May Lose Its Look
In what could be viewed as either an attempt to restore public confidence in New York’s massive Ground Zero reconstruction project, or the continuing erosion of said confidence, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki have publicly endorsed the security-based redesign of the proposed Freedom Tower. “People involved in the rebuilding processs say that the tower, unveiled 18 months ago as the product of a contentious collaboration between two world-famous architects, is likely to lose its signature twisting form, along with its distinctive spire – a conscious reflection and reply to the Statue of Liberty’s upraised arm in New York harbor. Mr. Pataki, his aides and others stressed, however, that the Freedom Tower would not be reduced to an unsightly, fortress-like bunker, and that it would be built on the same general location planners had long ago settled on.”