“As any digital marketeer with their crosshairs on millennials will tell you, the way we “consume” culture has fragmented. Put in less depressing terms, we have a greater range of representative voices to choose from than in Brett Easton Ellis’s decadent brat-pack days. The aim of publishing now should be to widen that range further.” – The Guardian
Blog
Michael Feinstein On Championing Music
Feinstein has been unique in advocating for this music not only onstage and via albums but also through his books, PBS specials and NPR broadcasts, plus his Great American Songbook Foundation and eponymous cabarets and, of late, his work as principal pops conductor for the Pasadena Symphony. – Chicago Tribune
What The Music Presidential Candidates’ Play Says About Them
The music booms as people enter the rallies, and then candidates take the stage to a “walk-up” song that can become associated with their platforms. The New York Times analyzed playlists used by nine Democratic candidates and President Trump to see how they help set the tone for each campaign. – The New York Times
Study: Republicans Are Turning Against Higher Education
As the Pew Research Center finds in a new survey, there’s been a sharp increase in dissatisfaction with America’s colleges and universities among Republicans in recent years, and it makes perfect sense for right-of-center policy makers to want to do something about it. – The Atlantic
Study Of Violinists Debunks The 10,000-Hour-To-Mastery Rule
The work is the latest blow to the 10,000-hour rule, the idea promoted in Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 book, Outliers, which has been taken to mean that enough practice will make an expert of anyone. In the book, Gladwell states that “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness”. – The Guardian
Can Dance Be Meaningful For People Without Sight?
“The intangible exchange of energy between moving and witnessing bodies in real time is what makes the art form so impactful. It’s a beautiful and grandiose idea that I imagine resonates with many dance artists, but, in creating Translations, that belief was truly put to the test. If you take the visual away from dance, what is left? What are we performing when we aren’t being watched? What do we miss and what is revealed?” – Dance International
A Giant Hand With A Glowering Face Is Freaking Out New Zealand’s Capital
The 16½-foot-tall sculpture, titled Quasi and perched on top of City Gallery Wellington to glare at passersby, was sent up from Christchurch by its creator, artist Ronnie van Hout — and Wellingtonians are describing it with such phrases as “nightmarish fever dream” and “some hideous malevolent being.” It will be there for three years. – The Guardian
Kennedy Center’s New “Reach” Is Great Counterpoint To The Original Building
Justin Davidson: “The Kennedy Center’s new complex is not just more fluid, usable, and versatile than we had any right to expect — it is also the rare project that improved on its way from concept and digital renderings to final construction.” – New York Magazine
Going Through The Archives With Bill T. Jones
Reporter Michael Cooper joins the choreographer as he examines photos from the history of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and tells stories of the time Robert Mapplethorpe photographed the diminutive Zane carrying the very large Jones on his shoulder, why he had to change the title of one of his most famous works from the original Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin Featuring 52 Handsome Nudes, and the evening he told an Italian audience, “Tonight, I am the Pope” and got denounced by the Vatican the next day. – The New York Times
MCA Denver Gets New Director
Nora Burnett Abrams, 41, will step in to replace Adam Lerner, the director and chief animator who stepped down this June after leading the museum since 2009. The Denver museum saw its attendance grow by 200 percent over the last five years, under his leadership, and has become a gathering place for the city’s teenagers. – The New York Times