Thursday August 29 MILLER TAKES ON THE CRITICS: Arthur Miller isn’t fazed by the bad reviews his angry new play Resurrection Blues has received. “Most of my plays have been rejected to start with. The Crucible was destroyed first time out. It was the same with All My Sons. Every other critic condemned it. Why? … Continue reading “Theatre: August 2002”
Wednesday July 31 KENNEDY CENTER HONORS: This year’s Kennedy Center Honors have been announced. Chosen are Paul McCartney and Elizabeth Taylor, conductor James Levine, actor James Earl Jones and dancer and actress Chita Rivera. “Now in their 25th year, the Honors are presented by the nation’s performing arts center as a tribute to those who … Continue reading “Issues: July 2002”
Wednesday July 31 YOUR RIGHTS THREATENED: US lawmakers are seriously considering legislation that would allow movie and music companies to hack into personal computers to check for content. “Maybe this grotesque legislation will die the death it deserves, once sensible people understand the consequences. But if it or something similar goes through, its passage will … Continue reading “Media: July 2002”
Wednesday July 31 GREATER ROLE FOR ART: The Palace Museum in Taiwan holds some of China’s great art treasures. But the museum was also a political statement, created by Chiang Kai-shek after fleeing from the mainland in 1949. But now, “with the Nationalist Party’s fall from power in Taiwan, the museum has begun to change. … Continue reading “Visual: July 2002”
Sunday June 30 OVERREACHING AT THE GUGGENHEIM: The Guggenheim, that beacon of expansionist artistic fervor, is in trouble. Staff layoffs, cancelled exhibitions, and general fiscal chaos have combined to tarnish the reputation of director Thomas Krens, who has been considered an essential innovator for years. With some in the arts world calling for Krens’s resignation, … Continue reading “Visual: June 2002”
Sunday June 30 ROSEMARY CLOONEY, 74: “Rosemary Clooney, whose warm, radiant voice placed her in the first rank of American popular singers for more than half a century, died last night at her home in Beverly Hills. She was 74. The cause was complications from lung cancer.” The New York Times 06/30/02 MORE CONTROVERSY FOR … Continue reading “People: June 2002”
Friday May 31 FRAUGHT WITH FREUD: Lucien Freud is widely considered Britain’s best living painter. Next month he’ll get a major retrospective of his work in London. “As many of his sitters have found, having Lucian Freud recreate you in paint is not an unrelieved joy. Jerry Hall’s portrait turned her into an amorphous lump … Continue reading “People: May 2002”
Thursday February 28 DON’T PICK ON THE ARTS: The Atlanta City Council, facing budget shortfalls, proposed cutting funding for arts groups. But after a spirited council meeting at which arts supporters rallied to speak against the cuts, funding restored almost to 2001 levels. Atlanta Journal-Constitution 02/27/02 LEARNING THROUGH POP CULTURE: Does “teaching” popular culture dumb … Continue reading “Issues: February 2002”
Monday December 31 POET IAN HAMILTON, 61: “Highly regarded British poet and biographer Ian Hamilton, whose unauthorized life of J.D. Salinger was blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court, has died at the age of 61.” Nando Times (AP) 12/30/01 EDWARD DOWNES, 90: Edward Downes, famous to millions of opera lovers as the host of weekly Texaco Opera Quiz … Continue reading “People: December 2001”
Wednesday October 31 CHANGE AS THE ESSENCE OF CULTURE: “Some researchers are now wondering whether the dietary, social and environmental changes of the past quarter-century have not affected the ways we relate to art. Attention spans, we know, are shorter among the text-message generation. They may also respond to different cultural stimuli. The world is moving … Continue reading “Music: October 2001”
