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A Kiss Is Still A Kiss

A lingering kiss between gay partners and their declaration of love in front of the cameras at the Tony Awards, stole the show Sunday night. “It was certainly the most prominent assertion of gay confidence at the awards yet, and comes at a time of a backlash against gay and lesbian relationships. ‘I thought, ‘No, no, no, this is the whole point.’ The whole point is that we all have to risk something personal to make something happen. The more it’s talked about the more it becomes commonplace, the less it becomes freakish. I think it’s a good thing’.”

Has Mark Morris Peaked?

Laura Jacobs acknowledges that Mark Morris is the natural heir to Balanchine. But then he peaked. And it’s been downhill ever since. “I became disenchanted with Mark Morris in the 1990s. I tired of a gender neutrality that yet left women with the short end of the stick, mainly because the dances showed so little interest in la femme (these girls are kind of like Anybodys in West Side Story, heartfelt tomboys). And Morris’s gift for metaphor began to seem played out, or perhaps abandoned, as if he was no longer interested in his most fundamental poetic device. Metaphor, after all, is artifice. It was increasingly clear that Morris’s early work was his best work, and it never got better than Dido and Aeneas.”

Trying To Lure The Young With Arts

Cincinnati is losing its 20-somethings, who are moving out of the city. But instead of trying to lure new businesses to the city in an effort to keep its younger citizens, the city is promoting lifestyle and the arts. “New plans promote sidewalk cafes, hip local music and an energized entertainment strip. Attention to arts, culture and downtown living are replacing old ideas about building new department stores and riverfront towers. ‘I would love to see a Cincinnati that has sidewalks full of people after the offices close, that has local music all the time, that has people attending arts events on a regular basis’.”

Studios Take Action Against Late Scripts

TV studios and network executives are cracking down on writers and directors who deliver their scripts late. “A survey found that of the 651 hourlong episodes studied in the latest survey, 333 (51%) were on time, while 318 (49%) were late from one to 15 days, while 20% of the late scripts were late by as many as seven to 15 days.” Studios say the late scripts add greatly to the budgets of the shows.

Corporatizing The Juice Out Of Radio

Those who think that the corporatization of hasn’t destroyed local radio aren’t listening to radio. “Radio stations where unknown bands might once have come knocking at the door no longer even have doors. They have become drone stations, where a once multifarious body of music has been pared down and segmented in bland formats, overlaid with commercials. As record companies scramble to replicate the music that gets airplay, pop music is turning in on itself and flattening out.”

St. Louis: Record Ticket Sales, But $1.6 million Loss

The St. Louis Symphony sold a record number of tickets this season, and for the first time box office exceeded $4 million. Still, “even with the strong ticket sales last season, the symphony will show an operating loss for fiscal 2003 of $1.6 million, as predicted by the long-term financial restructuring plan of the symphony. Ticket revenue makes up just 35 percent of the symphony’s expenses, with annual giving contributing 25 percent and concession and miscellaneous revenue accounting for 15 percent.”

More Choice, Smaller Audiences?

There is more choice for classical music in Scotland than ever before. “Things have changed dramatically. For a start, more people are actually listening to classical music, thanks largely to the populist phenomenon of Classic FM. The radio station that rams lollipops down your lughole with the systematic Pavlovian persuasiveness of Radio 1 may chop up the classics into snippets that match the diminishing concentration span of today’s average listener – and may be driven by blatant commercial forces such as one-sided Faustian contracts with artists and recording companies – but it has had the astonishing effect of shaking up BBC’s Radio 3.” One problem thoug – many of the live concerts don’t sell many tickets, and that’s because…

World Through The End Of A Bow

Yo-Yo Ma has had remarkable success attracting audiences to hear his latest musical explorations. So does he ever think about slowing down? “There have been times at the end of the year when I can’t even remember where I’ve been. I’m trying to spend more time with my family and only to go to places there’s a good reason for going and do only things I really care about.”

Who Said What About Iraq Museum Looting?

It is obvious now that the Iraq Museum was not looted of all its art. So what accounts for the reports that it had been, and statements made by t6he museum’s director, Donny George? Says George: “There was a mistake. Someone asked us what is the number of pieces in the whole collection. We said over 170,000, and they took that as the number lost. Reporters came in and saw empty shelves and reached the conclusion that all was gone. But before the war we evacuated all of the small pieces and emptied the showcases except for fragile or heavy material that was difficult to move.” This indictment of world journalism has caused some surprise to those who listened to George and others speak at the British Museum meeting. “Donny George himself had ample opportunity to clarify to the best of [his] knowledge the extent of the looting and the likely number of missing objects. Is it not a little strange that quite so many journalists went away with the wrong impression, while Mr George made little or not attempt to clarify the context of the figure of 170,000 which he repeated with such regularity and gusto before, during, and after that meeting.”