This weekend, on the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, “artist Michael Pestel performed improvisational tunes while seated at a baby grand piano, floating on a section of a dock going down the back channel of the [river]. The performance art, which lasted about an hour, was videotaped… for showing during an exhibition that will open Friday at Chatham College, where Pestel is an assocate professor.” The event was inspired by composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, who once wrote of dreaming such a scene. Was it particularly groundbreaking? A window to a new breed of performance and/or photographic art? No, not really. But you’ve gotta see this picture.
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Alexander Brott, 90
“Canadian conductor, composer and violinist Alexander Brott has died. He was 90. With his late wife and cellist Lotte, Brott was the founder and music director of the McGill Chamber Orchestra, which is now in its 65th year. He also conducted the Kingston, Ont., symphony, started a series of pop concerts in Montreal and set up a program to train young musicians.”
A Plan To Pump £100 Million Into UK’s Regional Museums
A plan to spend £100 million on museums across the UK should make a major impact on regional museums say officials. “The money from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) – under the Renaissance banner – is intended to transform regional museums. he government created hubs in each of the nine English regions, consisting of a leading museum and up to three partner museums. The plan is that they would work together to provide leadership in museum practice and improve standards in the museums sector.”
A Post-Classical Vision
Classical music might be over. But now we’ve got post-classical. And it ain’t a bad time to be a composer. Joseph Horowitz: “Suddenly we’re at a moment when composers are personally prominent in our music life. A) We have important composers who reach a very large audience, and again I’ll just talk for the moment about the most obvious three guys, Reich, Glass, and Adams. B) They’re performers. That’s enormously important. They’re not Ivory Tower figures.”
Why Philly Feels Conflicted Over Venturi
Architect Robert Venturi has had a major career. So the question is: “why does an architect who helped break the harsh grip of authoritarian modernism provoke such extreme reactions in Philadelphians?” The city is his home town, and yet it’s been ten years since Venturi’s had a major commission there.
Graphic Noveldom Hath Arrived
Graphic novels – comic books – are a big and growing market. “Big sales and increasing interest from movie studios in recent years – to wit, Sin City, a movie opening today, based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller – has helped transform these book-length comics from the butt of the joke to the belle of the ball.”
Yo – You Must Remember This (Casablanca Updated)
“Ashton Kutcher as Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine, the cynical yet courageous Yank? Paris Hilton as Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa Lund, a woman torn between her heart and her duty? Owen Wilson as Paul Henreid’s Victor Laszlo, a man more admired than adored? Topher Grace as Claude Rains’ Capt. Renault, twirling his moustache in mock surprise?” Wow – an all-star cast. And it’s great! Outstanding! Shouldn’t miss it! (catch it quick, though – it’s only playing 4/1)
Smithsonian Jumps In To Music Download Business
The Smithsonian is opening a new music download store to offer music from its collection as MP3’s. “Folkways will offer music that ranges from the earliest American folk songs to contemporary groups doing traditional music from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. The music includes the songs of Woody Guthrie; the music of Mwenda Jean Bosco, the late guitar pioneer from Congo; the sound of the Turkish saz, a stringed instrument similar to a lute; playground songs by Suni Paz of Argentina; and the rich North Indian music of Kamalesh Maitra. Global Sound will charge 99 cents a song, which are available in MP3 format. The Smithsonian will pay royalties to the artists, as its recording label has done with records and CDs.”
The New Chick Lit: He’s Just Not That Into You
A new generation of non-fiction advice books does a disservice to women. “Pink is the colour of chick lit, that universe of trade paperbacks covered in cartoon martini glasses and lipstick tubes. Faced with these new self-help books, each a litany of romantic woes and female humiliations not unlike those that befall Shopaholic and co., it seems apt to borrow phrasing from Sex and the City heroine Carrie Bradshaw: Could it be that non-fiction is the new chick lit?”
Two Unions Try To Take On Rockettes Representation
Two unions – Equity and AGMA – are joing forces and vying to take over representation of the Radio City Rockettes. A Equity representative say that “over the years, the Rockettes have expressed their dissatisfaction with the American Guild of Variety Artists, citing lack of service and regular meetings and the inability to get copies of appropriate documents, including the contract and the constitution, from the union.”