There are too many categories at the Grammys. Way too many. “This year, the 45th annual awards are up to 104 categories, including completely indistinguishable ones like best R & B album and best contemporary R & B album; more are doubtless on the way.” So with all those statues waiting to be given out, why are the Grammys so singularly incapable of rewarding musicians who deserve it?
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Classical Grammy: Who Would Win If The Heathens Didn’t Get a Vote?
“A perennial anticlimax for classical fans is the fact that, although a blue-ribbon committee of classical specialists determines the Grammy nominees… the opportunity to cast votes for the winners is thrown open to all Recording Academy members, including many from nonclassical genres. In previous years, they appear to have picked classical winners on the basis of artist name recognition and weight, in tons, of marketing materials behind each album.” Of course, since almost no one watches the Grammys to see who wins the classical awards, we might as well just decide now who ought to win. Gwendolyn Freed is up to the task.
Audience Sues Movie Theatres For Showing Ads
“The practice of showing commercials before the start of movies defrauds the public and should be stopped, according to lawsuits filed in Chicago against two movie-theater chains. The on-screen commercials delay the start of films beyond the posted times, which deceives theatergoers, the lawsuits claim.” The plaintiffs appear to be treading on very shaky legal ground, but it’s a good bet that they’ve got a fair amount of public sentiment on their side.
In Pursuit Of Ennui
A new academic history of boredom brings up some interesting notions about the way we spend our lives. The idea of being bored is actually a somewhat recent one, but the minute it got a name, absolutely everyone had to have a piece of it. As the world becomes more saturated with entertainment options, boredom has actually increased, as have attempts to cure it with, well, more entertainment options. “One of the more unexpected findings is that the best cure for boredom might be… more boredom. Or wearing a polar bear costume. In the war against monotony, people have tried all sorts of unusual remedies.”
MacGregor Toes A Hard Line
“The Elgin marbles will never be returned to Greece, even on loan, the director of the British Museum has told The Telegraph. In a ruling which will infuriate the Greek authorities, Neil MacGregor – who took over as director of the museum last August – said that the marbles could ‘do most good’ in their current home, where they are seen in a broader historical context… Mr MacGregor’s decision ends any hopes that the marbles could be loaned to the Greeks for the Athens Olympics next year and will outrage campaigners who hoped that his appointment marked a change in the museum’s attitude to ownership of the friezes.”
Sink Or Swim At The National
Charles Saumarez Smith didn’t get much of a honeymoon as the new director of the UK’s National Gallery. Faced from the outset with questions about his qualifications, and basic sniping over whether he might be ‘too nice’ for the job, Smith is now staring down the barrel of a public relations cannon. His mission: to persuade the Heritage Fund to pony up a sizable chunk of the £29 million he needs to raise to keep a famed Raphael on the gallery’s walls.
Bridging The Canadian Culture Gap
Publisher Pierre Turgeon has started a new English-language publishing house, and the more he talks about it, the more people he convinces that there may be a way to bridge the gap between the French and Anglo worlds of Canadian culture. Never one to shy away from controversy, Turgeon is attempting to sell the notion that French Canadians have an interest in Anglo-Canadian culture, and vice versa, a theory which has seen richer men to the poorhouse. Still, if anyone can bridge the gap, say the experts, it’s Turgeon, and if the new house is a success, it could also provide a much-needed shot in the arm to the rest of the English-language publishing industry.
Breathing A Little Easier In Michigan
Michigan arts groups appear to have escaped the full blow of the budget-cutting axe which has been decimating arts funding in other states, at least for now. In the first round of budget-cutting designed to balance the state’s books for the fiscal year already underway, the state will trim 1.5% from the amount allocated to the arts, and the state arts board plans to apply the cut evenly to all its grant recipients. But another, much larger, round of budget cuts will be announced in March, and as one arts administrator points out, “Arts grants can be very tempting to legislators.”
Winds Of War Waft Through The Theatre
Remember those days just after 9/11/01, when everything had changed and nothing would ever be the same again? Satire was dead, and Hollywood would surely have to rethink its mission. Well, 18 months later, as we all know, little has really changed, satire is alive and well, and Hollywood is still as it was. In fact, with the world on the brink of an uncertain war, the only artistic discipline which really seems to be meeting current events head-on is the theatre. “As the whiff of war emanates from the White House, for the first time in years the theater feels like a place where world events in the making can be remade for the stage, speedily and purposefully.”
Wright House, Wrong Time
An architecturally significant house in Chicago designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is being threatened. By a baby. The house’s owners are about to see their family expand, and have been looking to sell the four-bedroom home so that they can move to a larger place. But so far, only one bid has come close to the asking price, and that was from a man who wants to tear the home down and erect his own newfangled mansion on the property. The owner rejected the offer, and says he wants to preserve the house, but time is running out, and it appears that unless a more preservation-minded buyer comes forward soon, the house could be demolished by this summer.