Alan Hollinghurst’s win of this year’s Booker Prize has propelled his fourth book “The Line of Beauty,” close to the top of best-seller lists and into the awareness of a vastly wider audience.
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CBS Appeals FCC Janet Jackson Fine
CBS has appealed a $550,000 fine levied against it by the FCC for the Janet Jackson Superbowl show last January. “No one at the network knew, or had reason to suspect, that the halftime show would end with a glimpse of nudity,” CBS said in its hefty filing with the FCC.
Shouldn’t A State Constitution Inspire With Style?
David Kipen has been reading California’s state constitution – an “imperfect transcript of a continuing 155-year constitutional convention, which shows no sign of adjourning. And there’s not a drop of poetry in it, unless you count the surreal juxtaposition of our right to fish in public waters and, on the very next page, the state’s right to execute prisoners without falling afoul of the ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ clause.” Compare this to the US Constitution, which is short and sings to its citizens…
Cleveland Chamber Symphony On The Abyss
The Cleveland Chamber Symphony has “won numerous national awards for adventurous programming, presented more than 100 world premieres and kept a familiar group of the city’s superb players – not to mention a largely familiar audience – on the edge of their musical seats.” But after 23 years, the orchestra is on the verge of extinction…
Milwaukee Theatre Pioneer Moves On After 30 Years
“Montgomery Davis, one of the prime architects of Milwaukee’s sustained theater boom, will leave his artistic director position with the Chamber Theatre at the end of this season. He will step aside in the spring, 30 years after he founded the Chamber Theatre with actress Ruth Schudson.”
Ancient African Rock Paintings Endangered
International experts on ancient rock art in Africa say the paintings are in danger of being destroyed. “These early works of mankind have survived the continent’s harsh weather, but not, increasingly, Africa’s burgeoning population.”
Long Lost Kapell Recordings Revealed
A cache of privately recorings from pianist William Kapell’s last tour (he died in a 1953 plane crash in Australia at the age of 31) has surfaced. “The emergence of these more than three hours of recorded music is a tale of serendipity, of a collector’s passion and of a music lover’s act of selflessness. And when the recordings, preserved on three 16-inch acetate discs, are turned over to Kapell’s widow at a New York restaurant tomorrow, a new chapter will begin: the question of whether they will be commercially released.”
Gibson Kente, SA Playwright
Kente died in a Soweto hospice of HIV-related illness. “Kente’s work remains memorable because he was so innovative. Employing the extremely limited resources available in the urban townships, he was able to craft a host of musicals and dramas depicting the fears, trials, tribulations, hopes and aspirations of the urban African communities.”
The Met’s Most Expensive Acquisition Ever
The Metropolitan Museum has made its most expensive purchase ever – more than $45 million for a painting by the early Renaissance master Duccio di Buoninsegna no bigger than a sheet of typing paper. In reporting the acquisition, the Met would not discuss price beyond confirming that it was the most costly purchase in its history. (In such deals, buyers are often legally bound not to reveal the sale price.) But art experts familiar with the deal, insisting on anonymity for fear of jeopardizing the sale, said the price was $45 million to $50 million. That would top the Met’s previous record purchase, of Jasper Johns’s “White Flag” (1955) for more than $20 million in 1998.”
Investigation Of WBUR Finds Some Mismanagement
Boston University has released results of an investigation of management of public radio station WBUR (which it owns) a month after general managers Jane Christo resigned amid allegations of mismanagement…