Is it true that the literary life is “swamped by its epiphenomena, that books’ blurbs and author photographs have become more important than their content, that the industry is overrun by middlemen and women whom writers had to pay for, that bookstores resemble supermarkets whose fruit and vegetables had mutated and lost their flavour in favour of external appearance?”
Tag: 05.08.04
How Globalization Is Killing Pop Music
“Put bluntly, Anglo-American popular music is among globalisation’s most useful props. Never mind the nitpicking fixations with interview rhetoric and stylistic nuance that concern its hardcore enthusiasts – away from its home turf, mainstream music, whether it’s metal, rap, teen-pop or indie-rock, cannot help but stand for a depressingly conservative set of values: conspicuous consumption, the primacy of the English language, the implicit acknowledgement that America is probably best. Even the most well-intentioned artist can’t escape.”
Shaw, Stratford Festivals Hoping To Rebound
It’s been a tough couple of seasons for Ontario’s Shaw and Stratford festivals. Attendance down sharply, revenues off, deficits mounting… But already in 2004, there are signs that the theatres may be bouncing back from their slumps…
Hotel Movies – Lap Of Luxury
Hotels are setting the standard in luxurious mivie-watching experience. “The Covent Garden Hotel in London has a screening room with 53 stone-coloured leather seats crafted by the Italian company that upholsters Ferraris. You don’t have to stay the night (rooms start at £210) to use it. For £40 per person, groups of 10 or more can have either Champagne and canapés or a three-course dinner before or after a private screening. Having a cinema for your exclusive use must be one of the most luxurious ways of watching a film.”
SF Mayor Surprises Arts Groups With 25% Funding Cut
“San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom riled some of the city’s big arts organizations Thursday night when he unexpectedly announced plans to cut city funding to the San Francisco Symphony, Opera, Ballet and Museum of Modern Art by 25 percent to help deal with San Francisco’s $325 million budget deficit.”
Ideas: Let Freedom Ring (Sort Of) (Maybe)
The cause of freedom gets thrown about rhetorically quite a bit these days as Anmericans debate the whys and wherefores of war and the balancing of freedoms and safety. These arguments are finding parallels in the arena of culture in the form of debate about intellectual property and copyright. As a “free” society, how much freedom do we want to allow to the products of creativity?
St. Paul Mayor: Let’s Spend $25 Million On Arts
The mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota has released a report that says that the city should commit to a $25 million annual investment in the arts. Why? The report says “the city’s arts, culture and entertainment sector — a broad category that includes everything from concerts at Xcel Energy Center and exhibitions at the Minnesota Children’s Museum to scrappy, itinerant theaters staging edgy work in makeshift Lowertown performing spaces — draws more than 5.6 million people to St. Paul each year. Those visitors, about 90 percent of whom come from outside the city, add more than $600 million to St. Paul’s economy.”
Protesters Disrupt Bolshoi Performance
Protesters stormed the stage of the Bolshoi Ballet protesting president Vladimir Putin’s inauguration. “Seventeen protestors were arrested after invading the stage in the capital’s most famous artistic landmark hours after Putin’s investiture, for a second four-year term, in the nearby Kremlin. Five were jailed for up to a week, and more were due in court later on Saturday. The group struck during the interval of an evening opera performance, handcuffing themselves to chairs while throwing leaflets and chanting “down with Putin with monarch”.
When Cell Phone Text Beats Newspapers Et Al
“International editors and publishers warned Friday that nontraditional communications — such as cell phone text messages — are rapidly outflanking radio, television, and print media because of their immediacy and proximity to the public.”
The Video Classical Concert Companion
The New York Philharmonic is testing a a new handheld device that concert-goers could hold at performances and get real-time narration of the music. “The device will provide a play-by-play analysis of the music as the concertgoer listens. No pictures (so far), only words: the text changes every 15 to 20 seconds. Think sports patter, only highbrow, musical and blessedly mute.”