Everyone’s focusing on Norah Jones, who won big at the Grammys last week. “Sure, listeners worldwide love her, scooping up 6 million copies of her debut album, ‘Come Away With Me.’ Yes, the album has been on The Billboard 200 chart for 52 weeks. And fine, Grammy voters awarded her best new artist, best pop vocal album, album of the year, record of the year and song of the year honors.” So why are critics taking pot shots at her?
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Alexandria Library Wants To Offer All Books In The World – Online
The ancient library at Alexandria claimed to own copies of all the books in the world. Now “the directors of the new Alexandria Library, which christened a steel and glass structure with 250,000 books in October, have joined forces with an American artist and software engineers in an ambitious effort to make virtually all of the world’s books available at a mouse click. Much as the ancient library nurtured Archimedes and Euclid, the new Web venture also hopes to connect scholars and students around the world.”
Fire In Alexandria Library
Fire broke out in the new Alexandria Library on Sunday. “No books or Bibliotheca Alexandrina resources were damaged, according to a library spokesman. Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in October amid great fanfare. The £150m project aspires to reflect the spirit of the ancient Alexandria library, which was founded around 295BC by Ptolemy.”
The Year In British Publishing
Last year was a pretty good one for British publishers. “There are two universal anxieties for British publishers, one shared with their American counterparts, one not: the shared problem is that of an essentially flat book market, with sales that are simply not keeping pace with a growing population. The anguish that is special to British publishers is the extraordinary pressure on margins created by the ever-increasing push for higher discounts, especially by supermarkets that sell books.”
Ronald Lauder – Looted Art Champion Faces Question About Own Collection
“As chairman of the Commission for Art Recovery of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder has been a patron of scattered efforts to help Jews reclaim what had been theirs. In testimony before Congress, he called these stolen artworks ‘the last prisoners of war.’ But in an interview he also conceded that he had artworks in his collection whose provenance was at best ambiguous and at worst unknowable.”
Bay Area Art Schools Call Off Merger
The San Francisco Art Institute and the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland have called off a previously announced merger. “The merger would have produced one of the nation’s largest fully accredited, independent school of visual arts outside of New York City. Currently, the Art Institute has about 650 students and 137 faculty members; California College of Arts and Crafts has about 1,300 students and 370 teachers.” The schools said that after much negotiation, “at the end of the day, out of respect for the two institutions, we concluded it just couldn’t be done.”
Channel Islands Ballet Cancels Performances
The Channel Islands Ballet in Southern California told its dancers last week it has a $150,000 debt and can’t afford to pay them. “While two performances have been canceled, the company’s board of directors is still hoping the money can be raised by April 1 so the troupe can finish the remainder of the season, which ends in June. The company had planned for two more performances in May and June.”
Spacey’s Plans For The Old Vic
Saying he was “born to run the Old Vic” Theatre Kevin Spacey talks about his plans for when he takes over next year. “He exudes a passionate enthusiasm mixed with a kind of awed delight as he contemplates his task when he becomes the troubled theatre’s artistic director in the autumn of next year; but there’s a lot for him to do before then.”
Broadway Musicians Set Strike Deadline
Broadway musicians have set a strike date of Thursday after talks with producers failed to lead to a new contract. “The parties continue to be very far apart, and there’s not going to be a settlement tonight. We have set a strike deadline for Thursday midnight March 6.”
Cable TV Prefers Alphabet Soup To Real Names
The Learning Channel, The History Channel, Black Entertainment Television – they’re all proper names for their respective cable networks. But those networks have been abandoning the names for letters. It’s a matter of branding. “If you think about a lot of brands and how they are successful – Tide or Cheer – it’s because they have simple, short names that people can remember.”