The Queen vs. The Beatle

Back in 1970, a UK gallery displaying several drawings by John Lennon was prosecuted by the crown for supposedly violating an obscenity statute by publicly showing Lennon’s work. The case was thrown out on a technicality, and was chalked up to overzealous prosecution. But new documents released by the National Archives show that the case against Lennon’s art could have been much more serious, had not the prosecutor been alerted to the potentially wider implications of such a prosecution, and reconsidered, lest his actions lead to a nationwide precedent of censorship.

The Next Great Voice? (Here Now)

Last year extravagant claims were made for tenor Salvatore Licitra – that he was the Next Great Voice. After hearing him then, Joshua Kosman wasn’t entirely convinced. Now he is. “In a glorious return visit Sunday night to Zellerbach Hall, Licitra delivered on all the most extravagant claims being made on his behalf. His singing was expansive, powerful and superbly shaped, and he wooed the audience with all the dewy charm of a fresh-faced young suitor.”

The Mysterious Mr. Taylor

“After 50 years of making dances, there’s still a dash of mystery about Paul Taylor. His sensibility remains complex and elusive, a particular American blend of physicality, naivete and wisdom that has left its mark on the international scene. His themes, music and tonal nuances remain, in all their variety, unparalleled and irresistible.”

Mel Gibson On Top

Mel Gibson’s power in Hollywood has soared with the success of “The Passion of the Christ.” “Given the money Gibson stands to make from ‘The Passion’ and the media attention it generated, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t No. 1. In this minute, Gibson is the 800-pound gorilla on the Hollywood landscape. The real question, since there’s no possibility of a sequel, is just what’s down the road. That question is also on the mind of an industry reeling from the magnitude of Gibson’s unexpected success. In a town where money talks and jockeying for position on the power lists is an obsessive annual ritual, the director’s currency is higher than ever, Hollywood executives say.”

Recreating The Parthenon Marbles

The Parthenon Marbles are deteriorated and “strewn across 10 museums in eight countries” and wouldn’t give much of a sense of their original condition even if they were reunited. But the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies is scanning the fragments and recreating them in full as computer models. “It has produced 152 high-resolution models of the sculptures, and produced images which show each in its original position.”