“Giant, corporate publishers with racketeering business practices and profit margins that exceed Apple’s treat life-saving research as a private commodity to be sold at exorbitant profits. … [Worse,] Elsevier has sued Sci-Hub, a website that provides free, easy access to 67 million research articles. … If we diversify our thinking away from the superficial field of journals and articles, and instead focus on the power of networked technologies, we can see all sorts of innovative models for scholarly communication.”
Blog
Robert Lepage’s Latest Theatre Piece Uses White Women To Play Black Slaves. Now Protests Have Shut It Down
Slav, which premiered last week at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, “bills itself as a ‘theatrical odyssey’ inspired by ‘traditional African-American slave and work songs.’ It also features a nearly all-white cast performing the music. Its director, Mr. Lepage, is white, as is its star Betty Bonifassi. … On Wednesday, the storm proved too much, and the jazz festival and Ms. Bonifassi canceled the show after only two performances.”
Boston Symphony’s Principal Flutist Sues Orchestra Over Unequal Pay
“Elizabeth Rowe, who joined the BSO in 2004 after winning a blind audition for the role of principal flute, says in the lawsuit she’s asked for years to be paid the same as the principal oboe — the best comparison to her unique position — but the orchestra kept her pay well below that of her peer.” The difference is currently $70,000.
Police Union Accuses SC High School Reading List Of Being ‘Anti-Cop’
“The Fraternal Order of Police [lodge for metro Charleston] is objecting to two books on Wando High School’s freshman [summer] reading list” – The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and All American Boys by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, both about police violence against black teens. Said the president of the union local, “It’s almost an indoctrination of distrust of police, and we’ve got to put a stop to that.”
LACMA’s New Building Is Running Late, Even As Costs Keep Rising
“The [Peter] Zumthor project is about six months behind schedule. The process, including building permits and entitlements, is taking longer than expected, [museum director Michael] Govan says. And the museum’s $650-million fundraising campaign, he adds, is ‘in pace with the project.’ Which is to say: going slowly.”
Sascha Radetsky Named Artistic Director Of ABT Studio Company
“[American Ballet Theatre] made the announcement yesterday, and it makes sense — Radetsky has served as a ballet master for the group since 2016, as well as a teacher for the main company. He succeeds Kate Lydon, who is leaving her post to direct the dance program at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire.”
Philippe De Baleine, Journalist And Inspiration For Character In ‘Tintin’, Dead At 96
In an astoundingly prolific career, de Baleine wrote some 50 books, ranging from reportage from West Africa and Southeast Asia to detective novels published under a pseudonym, and was editor-in-chief of several magazines including Paris Match, Marie Claire, and Sciences et Vie.
Kentucky Opera Has A New General Director
“Barbara Lynne Jamison will take charge Aug. 15, coming to Louisville from Seattle where she is Director of Programs and Partnerships for the opera there and part of the senior management team.”
How Much Will It Cost To Repair The Tretyakov’s Vandalized Ivan The Terrible Portrait? Nearly $8,000 Or Nearly Half A Million?
“An estimate last month to restore Ilya Repin’s painting Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581 (1885), damaged by a metal-pole-wielding assailant at Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery, was Rb30m ($474,000). This is 60 times the sum reported immediately after the incident on 25 May.”
Today’s AJBlogs Highlights 07.03.18
- Bill Watrous Has Died Trombonist Bill Watrous died yesterday in Los Angeles at the age of 79. Celebrated for his skill and speed, Watrous employed those attributes in a career that began with Billy Butterfield and … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-07-03 - Propwatch: the pencils in Fun Home The urge to rewrite the past is irresistible. To make yourself more cool, your family more content, to turn grim endings into happy ones. Fun Home (at London’s Young Vic), the engrossingly imaginative musical … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2018-07-03 - Trend Bender: Baltimore Museum’s “Canon Correction” Needs Correction In the interests of “canon correction” (as he calls it), Christopher Bedford, the Baltimore Museum of Art’s director, is doing the wrong things for the right reasons: He has acquired seven recent works (five of … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-07-03