It seems clear that one of the hallmarks of the 21st century American mind will be the increasingly popular devotion to blind faith over intellectual pursuit. Call it the Age of Unreason: “If Americans are flocking to religious faith, to revealed dogma, to creationism, to a place where no one pays any heed to a logic based on if x then y, it’s because reason gave us a world that hardly makes sense anymore… Face it: People want Truth and Beauty. They want to be touched. They want mystery, because without it, life would be dreary indeed.”
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Curtis Institute At A Crossroads
Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute may be the most exclusive music school in the world. “Curtis has thrived under the smiling and benevolent leadership of Gary Graffman, who, himself a Curtis graduate (he entered the school at age 7) and major-career pianist, restored order to a turbulent institution after he took over in 1986. Now, Graffman has announced his intention to step down, and despite his strong leadership, the school will soon have to undertake enormous change if it wants to protect its much-envied traditions.”
Form & Function, Together At Last
How do you get a community to embrace the construction of a water treatment plant in its backyard? Hire a really good architect, and build the coolest-looking water treatment plant ever. “From New Haven to Hiroshima, architects best known for signature museums and concert halls are now designing buildings filled with tanks and filters… Why shout ‘Not in my backyard!’ if your backyard can be made to resemble a sculpture garden?”
Perhaps Some Directors Are Going Through Mid-Life Crises?
Broadway seasons tend to have an overall feel to them, a theme through which various disparate productions can be linked. This season, the common thread seems to be men behaving like perfect louts. “A look around town suggests that male dysfunction is providing much of the dramatic grist in the current season. By any fair count, there are a lot more than 12 angry men working the stages of Manhattan.”
Ford Pulls Out Of Detroit Jazz Fest
The Detroit International Jazz Festival is in dancer after the Ford Motor Co. declined to renew its $250,000 title sponsorship. “If Music Hall, which produces the festival, cannot replace Ford’s annual contribution — 21 percent of the proposed budget for 2005 — then one of the city’s signature cultural events could fold on the brink of its 26th anniversary.”
Brits On Broadway
“This spring there’s an unusually rich crop of [Broadway] entries from American Theater 101. Opening in a span of less than two months are three of the American theater’s best-known and best-loved classics: Tennessee Williams’s Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire, and Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? This is noteworthy in itself – producers tend to get out of each other’s way when it comes to name-brand, star-spangled revivals – but another phenomenon is even more intriguing: all three plays have been placed in the hands of British directors. Conspiracy? Certainly not. Coincidence? Not exactly.”
Sideways Cleans Up At Indie Awards
“The comedy Sideways has dominated this year’s Independent Spirit Awards, winning all six of the awards for which it was nominated. It was named best film while Alexander Payne won best director and best screenplay, along with writing partner Jim Taylor. It also won acting awards for stars Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen… The awards, now in their 20th year, are given to films made outside the traditional studio system, and are traditionally held the day before the Oscars.”
Only In The Movies…
All the Oscar hype surrounding the surprise hit film Sideways may be missing some significant disapproval from a rather large moviegoing demographic: namely, women. Sideways may be a great buddy film from a guy’s point of view, but the concept plays out like just one more variation on the endless Hollywood theme of disgusting men with no discernible social skills or sense of humor seducing beautiful women who they love and leave with no consequence. “Imagine, if you can, a movie about two unattractive, gross women slobs going on a week-long spree and ending up with Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck. Imagine that becoming a hit, nominated for five Academy Awards, acclaimed by critics.”
Brits Love Their Digital Radios
For the first time, sales of digital radio receivers have outpaced traditional analog sets in the UK, where the technology has taken firm hold and a complete changeover to digital broadcasting is expected to occur by the end of the decade. By contrast, digital radio receivers are nearly unheard of in the US.
Back To Work In St. Louis, But At What Cost?
It’s been a very long two months for the striking musicians of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, but with a tentative agreement awaiting their official approval, most of the players are relieved and cautiously optimistic about the ensemble’s future. Still, some veteran members say that this strike was different from past work stoppages in St. Louis, and are worried that the damage done to the orchestra’s reputation and to the relationship between musicians and management will not be easily repaired.