A New York judge has dismissed a claim by writer Hector Feliciano, who claimed he should get a “finder’s fee” for helping to locate artwork looted by the Nazis in World War II. Feliciano “created an international sensation with his 1994 book, ‘The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World’s Greatest Works of Art,’ which focused attention on the missing artworks. He maintained that he was entitled to 17.5 percent of the estimated $39 million value of the paintings, an amount he said was ‘consistent with the standard art recovery fee of the industry’.”
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Conflicting Loyalties In Broadway Strike
Leaders of the stagehands union had told Broadway producers that the union would cross picket lines, but union members voted not to. “Among both actors and stagehands, some were frustrated that while they were walking the picket lines, the musicians failed to return to the negotiating table all weekend. Several actors also say that, in part, they felt compelled to support the musicians out of self-interest; they have a labor negotiation coming up in June 2004 and may need the musicians to back them.”
War Will Impact Book Industry
An Iraq war will hurt the book industry in a big way. “Book publishing is almost entirely dependent on the free publicity that authors receive in newspapers and on television and radio. On important programs, the time devoted to entertainment features will shrink considerably if a war occurs,” as time is given to covering the war.
Community Concerts On The Rocks
Since 1927, Community Concerts brought classical music to the corners of America, to communities that never would have been able to afford to stage concerts. But the organization is in disarray – performances have been cancelled, artists haven’t been paid, and Community’s network of local presenters is falling away…
R&B Awards Come Without Cash This Year
Winners of this year’s R&B Foundation Pioneer Awards didn’t get the cash awards that have accompanied the prizes in the past. “In the past individual acts have received $15,000 and groups $20,000. But this year the R&B Foundation has significantly altered the size of the awards and the way they are paid because of lagging fund-raising and a decrease in donations from record companies and individuals. Donations from our music industry sponsors are down about 60 percent.”
Booker Prize Judges Chosen
Judges for this year’s Booker prize have been chosen, and jurors include a mountaineer and a philosopher. “The judging panel should reflect the widest possible range of experience and taste, compatible with wanting to read 150 books very fast. I think we meet those requirements pretty well – better than last time I was in the chair, when we lacked both a philosopher and mountaineer.”
Nice Nice Nice – The Failure Of Architecture
“For centuries, the task of the architect was to build the ideal city, whether the city state of 15th-century Italy, or a Modernist backdrop for car-driving, welfare-state citizens. Naturally, they all failed.” In the 60s, a group of Italians called Superstudio “had the audacity to say that after 400 years of failure we should give it a rest. Utopia? It ain’t coming.” The problem is, they couldn’t come up with an alternative. So “three decades after the Italians exited stage left, architecture, and especially British architecture, has fulfilled all their prophesies. It’s cursed with niceness. It’s dull. Unquestioning. Terminally polite.”
Biography: A Creative Life
“Biography is the least naturalistic of literary genres. Poetry and fiction, in comparison, are pure documentary. Think about it: the experience of living a life is nothing at all like writing or reading a Life. In real life, memory is patchy, with some scenes and events standing out in neon and large blanks of time about which you can not remember a thing. There does not seem to be any pattern to it. We live in the evershifting present, and the future is uncontrollable. The whole thing is chronically unstable.”
All Together – English National Opera Ponders Future
The English National Opera is a mess. Critics contend that plans to save the company will strip the company of its artistic integrity. “The word ‘ensemble’ is at the core of the debate about ENO’s future. What does it mean, and why does it provoke such intense emotions whenever it seems to be threatened? At one level, the answer is simple. An ensemble performs together. It can be half a dozen actors touring Strindberg in the provinces; or a band of period- instrument specialists bringing baroque concertos back to life; or a company of 500 in an Edwardian theatre in London’s West End. Size doesn’t matter, but shared values, collective experience, training, exploring and changing together – these are what count.”
Tearing Down An Eyesore (Or Is It?)
Birmingham, England’s central library is only 30 years old. It has been controversial – seen either as part of an axis of architectural evil, along with the city’s Rotunda and New Street station, or as a bold brutalist design. Prince Charles described it as “looking like a place where books are incinerated”. Now it is to be torn down for a new library. But some worry that “although fashions of the 1970s have been reassessed and mined for information several times over, buildings of this period are still very little understood; if the library is demolished, Birmingham will lose a great building before its importance has been recognised.”