Category: issues

Nashville’s Music Row was a wonder. A collection of seedy bars that seemed to have been there forever, it was a smorgasbord of live music, played by musicians who played for tips. You could wander down the street, poking into whatever sounded interesting. It was all informal and kind of ramshackle. The city is booming, and now a tourist mecca, it’s “upgrading”… – The New York Times

The Merriam Theater, which the Kimmel acquired in 2016, was the city’s most uncomfortable, problematic major venue, and the plan for fixing it involved partnering with a developer who’d build a skyscraper above it. But, after doing due diligence, no developer has agreed to do it. — The Philadelphia Inquirer

Kevin hart blew his chance at the Oscars, and nobody wants to replace him; Rihanna and Cardi B both passed on the Super Bowl; the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has become so fraught that they’ve asked a historian to MC. These jobs have always been dangerous (look at the blowback if you say the wrong thing), but the opportunity used to be worth the risk. Here’s why that’s no longer the case. — The Guardian

Well, there’s bad traffic. And unaffordable housing. Unaffordable everything. And income inequality. And forget about getting anything done. But why should this be? Rich cities should be places where things get better. The fact they don’t lies with policy. – James Russell

Opened in 1960 as the home of the Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet of Canada as well as a venue for rock, jazz and other concerts, the O’Keefe Centre was renamed the Hummingbird Centre in 1996 under a sponsorship deal. After another such deal in 2006, it was called the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Now, thanks to the large credit union of the same name, it will be Meridian Hall — at least through 2034. — Ludwig van Toronto

The tour starts with a mock-up of a chief officer’s work space. A mannequin wearing a K.G.B. chief officer’s uniformis at a desk with a flag of Soviet Russia behind him. To the mannequin’s left sits a bronze desk lamp, which, according to the curators, sat in a villa belonging to the former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.  – The New York Times

The research has shone new light on the portfolio careers of artists: 20% of respondents work three or more jobs, and of those taking jobs, a third have roles in fields with nothing to do with the arts. Similarly, the report finds only one in five visual artists believe their work/art balance is correct. — Arts Professional

Every winter the Harbin (China) Ice and Snow Festival assembles 200,000 blocks of ice to make a city. Millions come to see it. “The workers, most recruited from local villages, spend over a month each year cutting 3-foot-thick blocks of ice from the river and transporting them to the festival site, where they are sculpted and stacked by an even larger team of workers. Beginning before dawn and working through the day in temperatures that average -13 degrees Fahrenheit, the workers earn around $35 a day for some of the world’s most backbreaking labor.” – Wired