“Radio stations have been padding their profits for years by milking tried-and-true hits and doing whatever they can to avoid taking chances on up-and-coming Canadian artists, a new federal report on the industry alleges.”
Tag: 02.28.08
Canadian Pols Want Control Over What Gets On The Air
Canada’s Conservative government has announced a plan to withhold federal funding for “any film or television show that it deems offensive or not in the public’s best interest – even if government agencies have invested in them.” Under Canada’s funding system, the plan would effectively give the Heritage Minister the ability to kill TV programs and films at will.
Coward Classic Might Come To Broadway
“At least 13 Broadway producers – a cynical lot who’d rather have Tony Awards where their hearts should be – are chasing the rights to a stage version of what the BBC recently called the most romantic movie of all time.” The adaptation of Noel Coward’s “Brief Encounter” is currently running in London to great acclaim.
Wanted: Aesthetically Challenged Extras
“The firing of a Pittsburgh casting director who called for odd or abnormal-looking people to populate a West Virginia ‘holler’ raises a loaded question in an era of heightened sensitivity on everything from race and ethnicity to disability: How do directors find specific traits for their characters without crossing the line into offensive description?”
Israel To Honor Three Cultural Activists
Director Atom Egoyan, playwright Tom Stoppard, and novelist Amos Oz have been named as the recipients of Israel’s $1m Dan David Prize, which recognizes humanitarian achievement in the cultural sphere. “The award to Egoyan is in recognition of his controversial 2002 near-epic Ararat, which concerned the 1915 Armenian genocide in Turkey and the attempt to deny it ever happened.”
William F. Buckley Dead At 82
American conservatism may never have a better or more eloquent than Buckley, but the author and commentator was so much more than a political crusader. “Such a vortex of contradictions: the Roman Catholic prep-school Skull and Bones Yalie heir to an Irish family’s Mexican oil fortune… Foe of anti-Semites, advocate of tattooing AIDS carriers on the buttocks, champion of McCarthyist Communist-hunting, and of the legalization of marijuana. His outrageousness immunized him against effective condemnation.”
Are Eschenbach And Washington Wooing Each Other?
Rumors have been flying for months within the music world that outgoing Philadelphia Orchestra music director Christoph Eschenbach is the frontrunner for the open top job at Washington’s National Symphony. Eschenbach showed up to conduct the NSO on short notice this week, fueling more public speculation…
Different, Yes, But Deeply Impressive Nonetheless
The musicians of the North Korean State Symphony, who collaborated with members of the New York Philharmonic this week, have few of the opportunities afforded to musicians in the West, and are rarely even permitted to play what Western musicians would consider the standard repertoire. But the New Yorkers professed themselves impressed with their Pyongyang counterparts.
Korea Trip A “Publicity Coup” For NY Phil
Forget whether the NY Philharmonic’s trip to Pyongyang was good for international relations. Was it good for the Phil? “At the very least, the trip has meant that the [Philharmonic] has made itself very much seen worldwide. This is certainly a publicity coup for an institution often perceived these days as dull and predictable and much in need of a lift.”
Stealing Culture For The Burbs?
The suburban town of Sandy, Utah, has been trying for years to turn itself into Salt Lake City’s “other downtown,” floating development ideas for theaters, hockey arenas, and other cultural amenities that would normally be expected in a downtown urban core. The driving force behind the projects is Sandy’s mayor, and his actions have not endeared him to Salt Lake politicians.