Pirate radio stations have been broadcasting live from local music clubs in the UK, and police are beginning to crack down, fining club owners. “Between 80 and 100 illegal stations are on air in the UK at any one time, according to the Radiocommunications Agency, who said pirates put lives at risk by interfering with air traffic control and emergency service frequencies.”
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The Pressure To Make It
Students at America’s top universities have little time for fun. They’ve had to work too hard to get in. “They’ve usually started a few companies, cured at least three formerly fatal diseases, mastered a half dozen or so languages, and marched for breast cancer awareness through Tibet while tutoring the locals on conflict resolution skills and environmental awareness. Their main lack is time. Students boast to each other about how little sleep they’ve gotten, and how long it’s been since they had a chance to get back to their dorm room…”
Who Rates Backstage
Dancers and dance companies are judged by their work on the stage. But the people who work backstage have another set of criteria for judging performers…Brooklyn Academy stagehands’ “relationship with Mark Morris, which dates to the early 80’s, has sparked a degree of critical discourse between them and his work; and aside from their technical strengths, they understand theater. These Brooklyn Academy stagehands have taste.”
Problems Plague Arts School Startup
Pasadena California School Superintendent came up with the idea to create an arts high school as a way to lure back families who had abandoned the public schools for private schools. About 850 students signed up and the school became “one of the most closely watched new school projects in Southern California.” So how’s the first year going? Not good. “Since opening in September, McKinley – which uses the site and the name of a long-shuttered campus near the Pasadena Playhouse – has been dogged by poor planning and a variety of start-up problems, according to parents, teachers and students.”
Honor In Not Reading
Okay – so everyone’s mad at Michael Kinsley for admitting he didn’t read all of the 400 books he was asked to judge for this year’s National Book Awards. Come on. Is it really such a big deal? I mean, who needs to read everything? The book that was supposed to win actually won, didn’t it? “Well, thank God we live in a country where admitting you’re ill–read and proud of it makes people buy more of your books!”
Fire Threatens Moscow Conservatory
A fire at the Moscow Conservatory forced the evacuation of the school and threatened the historic building. “The fire started on the second or third floor of the wing that includes the conservatory’s small recital hall, library and several classrooms containing a collection of keyboard instruments, including pianos and an organ.”
Recently-Discovered Mahler Score May have Been Annotated By Another
“A recently found score of Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony, said to contain the composer’s own handwritten revisions, actually may have been annotated by someone else, a scholar said Tuesday.”
WTC Plans – Going Up…
Ideas for rebuilding on the World Trade Center site were unveiled in New York Wednesday. In general, Herbert Muschamp was impressed. “In our hype-drenched era, a critic will have to risk raising cynical eyebrows with superlatives adequate to the occasion. Let them rise. Let them arch into furious knots. The architects have risen to the occasion.”
What Happens When Reality Sets In?
The designs are most impressive, says Benjamin Forgey, and the rollout was “rousing good theater.” But at some point, one of these designs is going to have to actually be built, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is thinking a great deal about such annoying details as funding, phasing of the project, and what purpose the building(s) will serve upon completion. “For the next month or so, however, attention will be focused on the plans revealed today, and deservedly so.”
It All Comes Down To Height
The new set of designs presented as possible replacements for the Twin Towers are certainly impressive, says Lisa Rochon, and they’re also awfully… um… tall. “There are towers that kiss in mid-air, while others stand up like soldiers aligned in a military grid. Some are beautiful. Most of them carry a tremendous wallop of architectural ego.”