Musicians’ and technicians’ unions call for temporary closure of troubled Covent Garden to deal with technical problems. Rebuilt opera house has been plagued with technical equipment failures since reopening last month. – The Independent
In his 75th year, Pierre Boulez goes on a conducting tour. Then, he says, from 2001 on, he’ll stop conducting. – London Telegraph
Just where is the line between them? – New York Times
London’s TAG Sales, founded five years ago, “make lips curl in the upper echelons of the art market, but they have found their niche. They are part of a growing market in affordable art aimed at people with a limited knowledge of art and even less confidence about buying it from traditional galleries, but who have vacant wall space and disposable income.” – The Telegraph (UK)
A writer in the New York Times recently dated the contemporary period in art as beginning in 1970, writes Hilton Kramer. Oh really? And just how are we defining “contemporary?” – New York Observer
Not yet 30, Dave Eggers is already shaping up as the Andy Kaufman of New York letters. The buzz on his first book, due out next month, is so frenzied that The New Yorker has bought an excerpt, editors at Time are clamoring for him, and his hero, David Foster Wallace, has provided a back-cover blurb so effusive it’s almost embarrassing. It’s not all smooth, though – the book is a memoir spilling family secrets so sad and self-revelations so awful that he sometimes wishes he had never written it. – New York Magazine
Two seasons ago, faced with a dwindling number of affordable touring shows to book into their theaters, a couple of East Coast theater presenters entered the business of producing on their own. Nothing big budget, nothing flashy, but at least the shows fit these 1,200-seat venues. – Philadelphia Inquirer
— big winners at Golden Globes. – St. Louis Post-Dispatch 01/24/00
Robert Redford reflects on the dance of independents as Sundance opens. – Variety 01/24/00
