Art Dealer Salander Auctions Belongings To Pay Creditors

“The nearly 250-lot auction at Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York, was the first sale of Salander property since the art dealer pleaded guilty on March 18 to grand larceny and fraud in New York State Supreme Court. Salander, 60, was ordered to pay restitution of $120 million.” The sale “of the contents of Salander’s Upper East Side townhouse” netted $472,067.

TV Theme Songs, R.I.P.

“TV theme songs, once a vibrant piece of pop culture, have been on the wane for years as networks experimented with ways to keep viewers from switching channels.Their mission? Get into and out of shows as quickly as possible and create a seamless blend of programming. (Oh, and cram as many commercials in there while you’re at it).”

Is There Such A Thing As Universal Music?

“When we listen to music from another culture, it’s easy to get it badly wrong… We are likely to miss most of the nuances and allusions, think it all sounds the same or even dismiss it as a racket. Most 20th-century ethnomusicologists who compared the music of different cultures argued that this was because the way we make music and respond to it is learned, and therefore culture-specific. Yet there does seem to be something universal about music.”