Imagine photographing the people lining the streets for 28 different parades in the U.S. – in 2016. “The very existence of each group portrait produces an illusion of unity, as if the people in each frame, at least for that instant, cohere. Maybe an act as basic as standing alongside other people still counts for something.” – The Atlantic
Blog
The Director Of The Planned CGI James Dean Movie Says It’s Not A Gimmick
The director says, “At the end of the day, what we really want people to know is the movie is about love and friendship, the veterans that served in the Vietnam War and especially the dogs that were with them. … We never want to lose that emphasis and this [social media reaction] becomes a distraction of what the story is about.” Unh hunh. Who could have predicted this backlash? (Hint: Almost anyone.) – The Hollywood Reporter
The Chattanooga Symphony And Its Concertmaster Are At Serious Odds
Holly Mulcahy hasn’t performed with the orchestra since April because of a contract dispute – a dispute so intense that one board member has resigned over it. That board member, film composer George S. Clinton, said that the entire dispute had been “badly mishandled and allowed to deteriorate to the point that now the symphony has lost what I and many others consider to be one of its finest assets.” – Chattanooga Times Free Press
Sesame Street Had A 50th Birthday Party, But Who Was The Audience?
Was it kids? Maybe, if they truly love music. It was shiny, with a ton – a ton – of celebrity appearances, as befits, well, a show that’s on HBO. That’s a problem: “The celebration is also slightly dulled by the fact that the once widely accessible show is getting harder to access.” – Los Angeles Times
A New Sculpture For Brooklyn’s New ‘Golden Age’
But is it worthy? The sculpture started out with the name “We’re No. #1” and moved to, uh, “Unity,” a little less focused on the longstanding animosity between Brooklyn and Manhattan. “Perhaps Mr. Thomas is saluting the new Brooklyn — the one of rising property values and more anodyne art.” Ouch. – The New York Times
The Paris Review’s New Poetry Editor Has Hope For The Future Of Literature
Vijay Seshadri, who became poetry editor for the legendary literary magazine in August, says that going through the Review‘s slush pile is invigorating. “You kind of feel that something new is happening, among all of this chaos and turmoil.” – NPR
Why Does The Minnesota Orchestra Do Overseas Tours?
Apparently, it’s not the money. There’s diplomacy, there’s prestige, and there’s the desire of areas of the world – China definitely included – to be seen as supporting Western classical music. – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Broadway Is Becoming A Place For Chummy Nights With Actors And Their Fanbases
Seriously, it seems to be almost a new genre. “These performances were rendered with a disarming, self-interrupting casualness, suggesting a happy ham at home among friends. And they often directly involved the audience. ‘Do you want it? Do you want it?’ [Kristin] Chenoweth shouted to the audience, before she hit a high D in concluding a song. [Ian] McKellen, in his show’s second act, asked theatergoers to yell out names of plays by Shakespeare, to cue whatever he did next.” – The New York Times
Should The LA Phil Take Over The Ford Theatre?
On the agenda for Tuesday’s Los Angeles Supervisors board meeting: Having the L.A. Philharmonic take over the outdoor Ford Theatre. According to the supervisor who made the proposal, “It is the most wonderful, intimate summer night venue. … You’re outside, the hills are beautiful, but you’re not in a great, great, great big Bowl — which is fine for a whole lot of stuff.” – LAist
Is It Worth Waiting Two Hours In Line For A Few Minutes In A Kusama Infinity Mirrored Room?
Well: “That depends on how much you value your time — and what you expect of art in the age of Instagram. The smartphone, with its ever-finer cameras and ever-shinier screens, now shapes our experience of art as thoroughly as the church did in 14th-century Italy or the unadorned, white-cube galleries did for midcentury abstract painters.” – The New York Times