The American book industry is buzzing about a review that ran in The New York Times Book Review January 26 of Whitewater figure (and Clinton friend) Susan McDougal’s new memoir. What’s amazing about the review, notes Gene Lyons, is that it’s quite obvious the reviewer never read the book. “Assuming minimal competence, Lowry simply cannot have done so.”
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V’s Are Okay, But You Can’t Print The “P” Word..
Last year when “The Vagina Monologues” came to Sacramento, the Sacramento Bee carried ads for the play – no problem. But evidently the “p” word is a bigger deal. The paper has refused ads for “Puppetry of the Penis,” the hot Australian show currently touring the US.
Pop Criticism, Served Fresh Daily
How do you stay fresh if you’re a popular music critic? NYT critic Ben Ratliff says it’s the most difficult thing: “The real challenge of the job – and particularly in writing for a daily – is to keep in motion, always putting more distance between you and what you thought was cool when you were in your early 20s. (You can always admire the old favourites again, but carefully: you must meet them on new ground, as a more developed person.) You have to keep going against assumptions, especially your own. Hipness is a disease, it really is. It freezes thought.”
Reports Of My Death Are…
Why do critics so often rush to declare the “death” of painting? “The supposed death of painting springs in part from another misbegotten belief that each new art movement or technology renders earlier ones obsolete, that it is impossible to go backward once something has gone forward. Among the many holes in this theory is its simple defiance of history. The arts long have been cyclical, not just a forward unbroken continuum, and artists frequently look to the past for inspiration and reinvigoration.”
Tycoon Gives Hamilton Museum $50 Million Art Collection
Toronto tycoon Joey Tanenbaum is donating $50 million worth of 19th Century European art to the Art Gallery of Hamilton. “Tanenbaum, a contrarian investor in art as in business, has amassed a flamboyant collection that probes some of the more eccentric corners of art production in that period. Since the 1980s, the pendulum has swung in art scholarship of the period, with interest turning from the well-known work of the Impressionists to the works of French academic and salon painters such as Jean Léon Gérôme and William Bouguereau, as well as Symbolists Odilon Redon and Gustave Doré, and the marketplace has followed suit.”
Fast Food Nation – Not Such a Cultural Monolith After All
For years, fast food – particularly of the McDonald’s variety – has been the poster child for globalization and the unrelenting blandization of world culture. But scholars are increasingly disputing “the idea that mass production threatens the existence of particular cultural identities, either abroad or at home. After all, regional cuisines are displaying an unexpected vitality in this age of chain restaurants and global brand-names. Why? Many people, it seems, are content to preserve their local cultures through food that is as processed and mass-produced as a Happy Meal.”
Live Music In Broadway Orchestra Pits? Essential
As union and producers duke it out on Broadway over live music, ‘it’s easy to be misled that it’s all about the numbers. In the talk about minimums and control, we shouldn’t forget what’s most important about the issue: the music. The essence of live theater is in the adjective ‘live.’ No matter what is said, it’s never the same when electronic music or pre-recorded music replaces live acoustic sounds. In this pre-recorded environment the control goes from the baton of the conductor to the dial of the programmer, who has become the actuary of this new musical world. The difference between a live orchestra and a virtual orchestra is the difference between a football game and Game Boy.”
The Story On Houston Ballet’s New Director
Aussie Stanton Welch succeeds 66-year-old Ben Stevenson at the head of Houston Ballet. “One of ballet’s brightest young stars, Welch has created several critically successful one-acts at American Ballet Theatre (ABT), San Francisco Ballet and other major companies. His appointment automatically boosts Houston Ballet’s international profile, and not just because he’s generated good media buzz for nearly a decade.”
TV Networks Scan For Appropriateness After Big Events
When a national crisis hits, TV networks scramble to examine everything they’ve got on the schedule to see if it’s appropriate. “Promos and scheduled commercials are reexamined as well. The discussions include heads of programming, sales departments, standards and practices and other top officials. The shuttle tragedy on Feb. 1 illustrated the intricacies of these behind-the-scenes machinations. Heavily promoted episodes of fictional dramas were yanked; movies and specials were sidelined.”
Flopped On Broadway? Hit The Road Jack (There’s Money Out There)
So a much-publicized show doesn’t make it on Broadway. “In recent years several flop productions have all taken to the road and experienced financial and, to a lesser extent, critical success, sometimes by altering their look and content for a national audience hungry for splashy Broadway fare.”