What is it about Martin Amis that causes the British literati to shriek and howl and begin sharpening their metaphorical knives? Is it that his famous father is still casting too long a shadow? Or is it Martin’s own predilection for baiting his detractors? Or is it, possibly, simple jealousy for the man’s success, commingled with a passionate intellectual distaste for the vernacular style favored by Amis? In truth, it’s probably a little of each. But whatever the cause, Martin Amis is a hunted man, and he doesn’t seem to mind all that much.
Blog
NLRB Rules Against Lincoln Center In Union Dispute
“In a decision issued on Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Lincoln Center had violated federal labor law when it sought to have the police arrest union supporters distributing leaflets in front of the center, while it permitted nonunion groups to do so… The labor board ordered Lincoln Center to post a notice acknowledging that it violated federal labor law.” The center’s lawyers are considering an appeal.
Grann Trying Again At Random House
“Phyllis Grann, who oversaw a virtual assembly line of blockbuster books as chief executive of Penguin Putnam but later lasted just six months as the vice chairwoman of Random House Inc., is returning to Random House in a new capacity.” Grann had told acquaintances that her time at Random House was “deeply unsatisfying,” due largely to the lack of real responsibility that came with the job because of the autonomy enjoyed by Random House’s various imprints. “In her new role, as a senior editor of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, Ms. Grann is expected to acquire and edit as many as 10 books a year, both fiction and nonfiction.”
Met Opera Gets Major Grant For Broadcasts
“The Annenberg Foundation has given $3.5 million to the Metropolitan Opera to help keep its treasured Saturday afternoon live radio broadcasts on the air next season, the opera company said yesterday. The money, it said, is the largest gift ever made to the Met’s annual-giving fund. The contribution is a response to ChevronTexaco’s decision in May to withdraw its support after the 2003-4 season, ending a 63-year relationship that has been the longest continuous commercial sponsorship in broadcast history… But the Annenberg gift takes the Met only halfway there, and for only one year; the broadcasts cost the Met $7 million a year, so another single corporate sponsor is still being sought to replace ChevronTexaco.”
Bottom Line Falls Victim To… well, you know…
The Bottom Line, New York’s famous Greenwich Village nightclub, has been ordered to shut its doors by the end of the week, and to pay $190,171 in back rent to New York University. NYU had been seeking to raise the club’s rent by more than 100%, a move which club owners fought in court. Previous reports suggested that NYU may convert the space to classrooms or offices.
Insensitivity Alleged at Toronto’s Factory
A Toronto theater has cancelled a production of Chilean playwright Carmen Aguirre’s play, The Refugee Hotel, after Ms. Aguirre complained publicly that director Ken Gass was disorganized, culturally insensitive, and ethnocentric in his casting decisions. Gass insists that he made every effort to find minority actors for the production at the Factory Theatre, but was unable to cast more than one. Aguirre claims that Gass stated flatly that “I want superb actors for your play and actors of colour are not superb.”
Is Disney Headed For A Fall?
“Charges that the Disney company has lost its way under current company head Michael Eisner are not new. But the departure of the final Disney family member from the fabled company has thrown the charges into a new relief… Disney’s core animation and theme-park businesses have been battered by the competition. [Roy] Disney and his fellow departing board members charge that the company is pushing profits over innovation and quality.” Worse yet, the public seems to agree, and the Disney name no longer carries the automatic consumer respect that it once did.
Crackdown? What Crackdown?
“Hollywood’s all-out war against movie piracy is turning into a big-budget bomb, with illegal copies of virtually every new release — and even some films that have yet to debut in theaters — turning up on the Internet… The abundance of bootlegs arrives just as the movie studios have launched their most aggressive campaign yet to protect their business from the rampant downloading that has plagued the record industry… The steps may have made some thievery more difficult, but overall, piracy appears to be up from previous years… In fact, the new security measures seem only to have emboldened some pirates.”
View From The Top – Museum Directors Speak Out
A roundtable of blue chip museum directors talks about the challenges faced by museums. “The more art museums look like multinational corporations and the more their directors sound like corporate CEOs, the more they risk being cast by the public in the same light.”
Steel City Windfall
A gala fundraiser held to mark the opening of Pittsburgh’s new convention center has raised nearly $700,000 for area cultural groups, according to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. “Checks in the amount of $115,000 each were received yesterday by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Symphony and the Cultural Trust.” The amount raised is far in excess of what any of the arts groups had expected to receive from the event.