“The largest, showiest and probably most somber of the readings here took place at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Two sold-out houses of 587 filled the Roda Theatre for a performance presented by Upon These Boards, for which the producer and adapter, Randall Stuart, had assembled a cast of 100 noted Bay area actors, musicians and singers.
The show was both aptly silly and stately.”
Blog
And All Over…
The readings took place all over the world. “The latest count was heading beyond 919 readings in 56 countries, including Venezuela, China, India and Honduras.”
Clamping Down On Free Speech
How does the Digital Millennium Copyright Act threaten freedom of expression? “The DMCA gives corporations the power to essentially purge from the Internet what they deem to be copyright and trademark violations, usually by forcing Internet service providers to remove offending Web sites. The act encourages such behavior because the law states that ISPs and Web host companies can avoid liability only if they comply with copyright owners’ demands to quickly remove so-called infringing materials. Search engines are also liable under the law for simply pointing users to Web sites, though they too can avoid lawsuits if they cave to the demands of overzealous copyright owners by removing certain search results. Intellectual property owners can simply make your voice disappear if they do not like what you have to say about them—whether you are liberal, conservative or neither. This is something that was much more difficult in a non-digital world.”
How These Things Start – Did Picasso Hate Matisse? Did Matisse Dislike Picasso?
A competition is an odd aesthetic for an art show. So how did the Matisse–Picasso opposition come about? It “was invented almost a hundred years ago by a handful of avant-garde poets and painters who had an appetite for grand pronouncements. The rivalry was also fostered by Gertrude and Leo Stein, who, in their salon, liked to put other people’s neuroses in a pot and let them simmer till they boiled over. Early on, Leo Stein made a point of telling Matisse and Picasso, then freshly aware of one another, that an important Parisian art dealer had spent the large sum of 2,000 francs on new paintings by Picasso and the very slightly larger sum of 2,200 francs on new paintings by Matisse. Then came a press release by the poet Apollinaire, and the duel was officially on…”
Wouldn’t You Like To Write A Children’s Book Too?
So Madonna’s got a contract for a series of children’s books. That’s got Malene Arpe thinking about other “role models” who might have a future in kiddie books. How about “Chemistry For Toddlers” by Saddam Hussein, “The Silly Silly Voices In My Head Head” by Phil Spector, or “Look At You! You Forgot Your Pants” by Pee-Wee Herman?
Australia’s Booming Art Market
Australians spent $100 million on fine art last year, “with a record $80 million passing through the hands of the nation’s art auctioneers. Despite the uncertain economic and world political climate, that record could be broken this year as well-to-do newcomers who boosted sales last year by taking their money out of the sharemarket continue their splurge on paintings, prints and drawings. Salesroom turnover last year was up by $10 million on the previous year and four times greater than a decade earlier.”
Berlin’s Opera Battles
“The future of government-sponsored opera in Berlin may be in the balance. In practice, even more is at stake. In a peculiar way over the last three years the opera story has become a gauge of the still volatile relations between the two halves of this long-divided city and even a test of Germany’s willingness to give Berlin the profile of a genuine capital city.”
Time To Abolish Queen’s Master Musician?
With the death of the latest Master of the Queen’s Music, maybe it’s time to abolish the position. “There is little evidence that Her Majesty takes much interest in music (Her website finds room for the Master of the Horse but not, alas, of the Music). As with the poet laureate, one’s heart bleeds for anyone given the unenviable task of having to write memorial verse or songs for most royal or state occasions. So the kindest thing might be quietly to declare the job redundant. That would be a shame. There have been many undistinguished composers since the first Master in 1626, but also many distinguished ones – including Bax and Elgar.”
Reinvent It – Maybe A Musician Laureate?
Maybe it’s time to revitalize the idea of a Queen’s Musician. “Of course the whole notion of having a master of the queen’s music is an anachronism, especially with a royal family that shows little obvious interest in the arts, but then so, equally, is the role of the poet laureate, and the present holder of that post, Andrew Motion, at least has shown how a nebulous role can be used effectively. There are plenty of issues that a publicly confident and committed master of the queen’s music could get behind, numerous ways in which he or she could promote new music and expand its audience.”
UK Government Backs Down On Live Performnce Licensing
British culture minister Kim Howells has bowed to objections by musicians and withdrawn a bill that would have required pubs to license live music. “Musicians believe the bill would have a devastating impact on the number of venues where they can perform. Says Howells: “We saw it as a civilising bill, relaxing licensing laws, cutting down on bureaucracy. It was only when it started going through the Lords we realised how it would be interpreted.”