Ravi Shankar is one of the world’s gret musicians. He always assumed his children would be involved with music. And they are. But he never figured on having a jazz star for a daughter. And Norah Jones has become one of the hottest stars of jazz. “Shankar lost contact with Norah for eight years after her mother decided she did not want to see him. Those lost years are a source of regret for him.”
Tag: 05.15.03
CAUTION: Artist Puts Up Sign
The artist who painting a big yellow “CAUTION: Low flying planes” on the side of a building in Lower Manhattan says he didn’t mean to offend his neighbors who are now complaining. “His 10-by-14-foot painting, he says, is about the terrorist threat. ‘It’s still out there. . . . [The painting is] a statement saying it’s not over’.” One resident is surprised by the negative reaction: “If that was a Tommy Hilfiger ad, nobody would be complaining. . . . If it was a 12-year-old with too much lipstick on, that would have been all right. But this is not?”
Security Level Red At Movieplexes
Metal detectors, pat down searches… your latest trip to the airport? Nope – movie studios are so anxious about piracy of this summer’s blockbuster hits that early screenings of the movies feature “heightened” security. That even includes guards wearing night vision goggles scanning crowds during the movie to see if anyone’s videotaping the screen…
English 101 – Lacking In School
It appears that English isn’t taught very well in American schools, says a new study. “Nearly half the freshmen who entered California State University last fall ended up on the remedial English bench. Many were stunned to find themselves there. They had always made good grades in English.”
New Opera – This Is A Test
How do you test out a new opera? (they’re too big and expensive to take many chances on lesser-known composers). New York City Opera staged a showcase of operas in progress, presenting scenes from operas in progress with the hope of generating interest in them. “These were only workshop tryouts, of course, and not ready for full critical assessments. Still, several of the works (I heard 6 out of 10) left strong initial impressions, good and not so good.”
Missouri Orchestra Benches Conductor
The Springfield (Missouri) Symphony has pulled its conductor from a concert this week after patrons expressed worries over SARS. “Apo Hsu, who has no symptoms of the disease, was asked to forgo her appearance at Saturday’s concert by the symphony’s board of directors. The board voted to ask principal violist Amy Muchnick to conduct instead after about 30 patrons called the symphony office about Hsu’s lengthy stay in Taiwan. Hsu returned May 10 to the United States after spending a month in Taipei.”
Shake, Rattle And Ruhr
Arts festivals, like flashy new museum buildings, can be tourist attractions for communities wanting to reinvent themselves. The Ruhr region in Germany, headquarters for coal, steel and heavy industry, has a new festival and a star to run it. But how do you get people to come? “It will take a long time to convince people to come to the Ruhr, And they won’t come for the Vienna Philharmonic.” So Gerard Mortier, who transformed the Salzburg Festival with new offerings, has put together a season of “23 productions with 129 performances in 15 spaces, along with additional concerts, a fringe festival and what promises to be an astonishing installation of a Bill Viola video spectacle.”
Doing The Math – Money Questions Don’t Add Up In Miami
Plenty of blame to go around in the collapse of the Florida Philharmonic. There are many questions about the size of the orchestra’s money woes, the way the orchestra revealed its problems, and its strategy for dealing with them. Then there’s the way the orchestra alienated people with money who had offered to help over the years…
Australia Bumps Up Arts Funding
The Australian government has increased its spending on the arts. “Responding to the 2002 Myer inquiry into the contemporary visual arts and craft sector, the Government promised the industry an extra $19.5 million over the next four years. This is the first new funding the sector has received in more than a decade. It will be phased in gradually, rising from $3 million next financial year to $6 million in 2005-06.”
New York Arts Orgs Warn Of Cuts If City Budget Passes
New York cultural groups detail the cuts they will have to make if the city’s proposed budget goes through with arts funding cuts. Closed galleries at city museums, new admission fees… “The report warns in particular that as many as 1,000 staff members would have to be dismissed under the mayor’s budget plan, adding to the 450 jobs already eliminated in the 2002-3 fiscal year.”