– classical music. The city’s only classical music radio station is the top music station in town, narrowly beating an adult-contemporary station. “The breezy, unchallenging classical format currently in favor at KDFC may have raised the ire of committed music lovers, but the station clearly has found a niche among a wider Bay Area audience.” – San Francisco Chronicle
Blog
RETURN TO SENDER
An author is horrified to discover her personal letters offered for sale on the internet – and chagrined to think her life’s aspirations are worth only $125. – Salon
GIANT ONLINE CANADIAN BOOKSELLER —
— Chapters racked up large losses in 1999. – CBC
ART ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK
All internet, all the time. Coming to a website near you. – New York Times 02/10/00
DIGITAL RIGHTS
Musicians and other artists whose work streams across the Web may finally see some of the profits after Microsoft announced new software that enables pay-per-view and pay-per-download distribution of Windows Media audio and video files. The Recording Industry Association of America strikes a deal to pay royalties to millions of major-label artists whose work is webcast. – Wired 02/10/00
FOREVER OR FIVE YEARS … WHICHEVER COMES FIRST
Archivists grapple with digital storage. New-media records of today may make researching us impossible tomorrow. – Boston Globe 02/10/00
GAUGUIN OR BUST
A New Zealand gallery-owner is selling six paintings he maintains are by Paul Gauguin and worth a fortune. But critics say the paintings are fake, the work of master forger Karl Sim, aka C.F. Goldie. – New Zealand Herald
BEYOND THE LOUVRE
A group of French museum directors begins a tour of American regional museums. Last fall officials from nine French and nine American art museums formed a consortium to promote exchanges of artworks, technical expertise and exhibitions. The organization is called FRAME, an acronym for French Regional and American Museum Exchange. – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
MORE THAN A MUSEUM
Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum has become a major repository for the work of the pop artist. Now, “it wants to become an adventurous and vital cultural center that also hosts dance performances, plays, performance artists and concerts, offers lectures and symposia on topical issues, acts as an incubator for the region’s avant-garde artists and serves as a gathering place for young people.” – Pittsburgh Post Gazette
CHRISTIE’S/SOTHEBY’S PRICE FIXING SCANDAL —
— could have big repercussions for art Down Under. – Sydney Morning Herald
- Australian dealers have long suspected collusion. – The Age (Melbourne)