Tracey Emin On The Importance Of Louise Bourgeois

“The thing I really loved about Louise Bourgeois was that she wasn’t afraid of her emotions; she wasn’t afraid of being totally female and releasing those kind of emotions into the world through her art as a lot of men have done through history…. [Women] are actually much better at this kind of thing than men, and Bourgeois wasn’t the Queen of this, she was the King.”

Chinese Writer, Critic Liu Xiaobo Moved To Remote Prison

“On Christmas Day last year, Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his part in creating Charter 08, a document calling for greater freedoms and democratic reforms in China. On Tuesday … PEN announced that it has learned that Liu Xiaobo has been moved from a detention center in Beijing to Jinzhou Prison in Liaoning.”

Woody Allen’s Jazz Ministry

“The word ‘pleasurable’ comes up often in jazz talk with Woody Allen, a telling trait given his famously skittish personality. But he’s increasingly alone in this adulation: Today, few performers specialize in traditional jazz, and even fewer listeners seek it out, which makes his loyalty all the more notable.”

Ashton Kutcher, ‘Pirate’ (A.K.A. Studio-Approved Marketer)

The actor “has announced that he plans to ‘pirate’ part of his upcoming film, ‘Killers,’ and put it online sometime this week. As he put it in Tweet-speak, he’ll be ‘going live 2 the web & pirating the 1st 10 min of Killers from the premiere.’ He later told Ellen DeGeneres that he plans to ‘pirate the first 13 minutes of the movie.'”

Saudi Youths Face Criminal Charges For Appearing On MTV Reality Show

“Aired last month, MTV’s True Life – Resist the Power, Saudi Arabia followed how three Saudi youths and a heavy metal band cope with the strictures they encounter in their daily life in Jeddah, seen as the kingdom’s most liberal city.” Now the country’s sharia court system has launched a case against the three. The crime: “openly declaring sin.”

It’s Not Just In L.A. That New Music Sells Symphony Tickets

For nearly a decade, Atlanta Symphony music director Robert Spano has been championing a group of composers often referred to as the “Atlanta School” – Jennifer Higdon, Michael Gandolfi, Osvaldo Golijov and Christopher Theofanidis. “In a reversal of usual box-office patterns, [ASO] concerts with music by Atlanta School composers typically sell at about 84% of capacity, … versus an average of 78% for other classical events.”