Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code was based on Leonardo’s Last Supper fresco. Now “authorities in Milan have banned a billboard featuring an all-female version of the 15th Century fresco, which the fashion house itself says was inspired by the hotly debated book. The campaign has run without controversy in both Paris and New York. But its use of religious symbols could offend Milan, the town hall ruled.”
Tag: 02.06.05
The Great Neon Way?
Is Broadway being eclipsed by an even glitzier and more glamorous new center of American theater? In a word, yup. “Las Vegas has taken over for New York — certainly for a generation, perhaps for good. This is a seismic shift in the American cultural landscape that has yet to be fully realized. Led by the constantly self-reinventing Cirque du Soleil, which has taken over the high-end entertainment world here and moved light-years away from its street-circus roots, Las Vegas is running full-tilt toward experimental, high-end art created by figures from the opera and performance worlds, even as Broadway drowns in a sea of movie knockoffs, retreads of rock-music catalogs and other forms of cheap pastiche.”
Swank, Foxx Score At SAG
“Jamie Foxx was named best lead male movie actor for his portrayal of the late R&B legend Ray Charles in Ray, and Hilary Swank won best female lead actor for playing a scrappy boxer in Million Dollar Baby on Saturday night at the 11th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Foxx and Swank both won acting awards three weeks ago at the Golden Globes, and both are nominated for Oscars. It remains to be seen whether the SAG awards will live up to their reputation as a prognosticator of the Academy Awards.”
Yo, Theatuh in Brooklyn, What!
“The industrial corner of Brooklyn located about five minutes from the East Village by L train is known as a haven for Orthodox Jews and art school hipsters. In the 1990’s, it became home to an alternative gallery district. But over the past few years, Williamsburg, Brooklyn has also evolved into something else: a full-fledged theater district. Call it Off Off Off Broadway.”
Montreal – The Next Big Thing?
“The American pop music scene has frequently depended on cities at the edges of the cultural map to provide a much-needed shot of originality. Seattle, Minneapolis, Austin, Tex., and Athens, Ga., have all served as temporary pivot points, churning out bands and defining the sound of the moment. Even Omaha had its 15 minutes not so long ago. The momentary consensus seems to come out of nowhere – as if someone blows a whistle only those in the know can hear, and suddenly record executives and journalists are crawling all over what had previously been an obscure locale. So which American city is the next stop on this fickle, itinerant history? It’s a trick question for the time being, because the answer seems to be Montreal.”
The Great Big Music Debate
Last week, composer James MacMillan and alternative rocker Alex Kapranos got into something of a public slapfight over the relatve merits of popular music and modern classical works. Unfortunately, what could have been a serious debate wound up being little more than the usual name-calling between artists on opposite sides of the populist divide. “At the end of the day, we’re left with no more than a difference in taste. And that matters, because these disputes feed into a very serious dispute about public funding for the arts.”
America’s New Two-Orchestra Town
With the new Music Center at Strathmore open for business in suburban Washington, D.C., featuring regular appearances by the Baltimore Symphony, a unique head-to-head orchestral competition is shaping up in the nation’s capital. “Indeed, with the Baltimore Symphony’s incursion into the back yard of the National Symphony Orchestra, the capital area becomes the first metropolis in the country in almost 80 years to present listeners with a choice of programs by two full-size, full-time, regularly scheduled orchestras every week of the season.”
Pay-For-Play In Hartford?
“It was all smiles and handshakes in October when state politicians, town officials and Hartford Symphony Orchestra administrators attended a groundbreaking for a $1.5 million outdoor band shell… But the good cheer has given way to some behind-the-scenes negotiating, as the town’s first selectman is suggesting charging the symphony a fee [for the use of the shell]… Both sides say they are trying to reach an agreement and look forward to working together. But critics question whether the town should charge a cash-strapped nonprofit that brings culture, professional-level music and thousands of visitors to its downtown.”
When Did Philly Get So Tall?
Philadelphia has long been an architectural throwback by American standards – a huge but almost entirely horizontal city of rowhouses and sprawling urban landscapes, with only a few towering skyscrapers marking its colonial-era downtown. But a new round of development is threatening to take the city vertical, and while residents and historians are understandably wary of becoming just another overcrowded concrete jungle, there may be some virtue in the towers now rising in the city center. “The new skyscrapers are a largely stylish and urbane group – especially compared with designs in other downtowns. Despite some clumsy assemblages of historical parts, most have the virtue of clean, sleek lines. A few even aspire to artful design.”
The New Christian Bands
“Within the last several years, there have been a number of very popular bands – including P.O.D., Evanescence, Switchfoot, Sixpence None the Richer and Mercy Me – that got their start by signing with Christian record labels or by playing at Christian music festivals. These bands have succeeded in large part because, unlike Petra and the other successful Christian rock bands of the 80’s and early 90’s, they have avoided being too preachy and yet found a way to keep God between the lines.”