“The show, Non Abbiate Paura, takes its name from the rallying cry ‘Don’t be Afraid’ oft employed by John Paul during his time in St Peter’s, and attempts to chart the 84 years of his life in two short hours.”
Tag: 07.02.10
Chicago Library Commissioner Answers Fox News Report
“I am astounded at the lack of understanding of public libraries that your Monday evening story, Are Libraries Necessary, or a Waste of Tax Money? revealed. … Your ‘undercover cameras” shots were taken in a series of stacks devoted to bound periodicals used for reference. Next time, try looking at the circulating collections throughout the building.”
Are We Slaves To Our Unconscious Perceptions?
“Studies have found that upon entering an office, people behave more competitively when they see a sharp leather briefcase on the desk, they talk more softly when there is a picture of a library on the wall, and they keep their desk tidier when there is a vague scent of cleaning agent in the air. But none of them are consciously aware of the influence of their environment.”
Could Mozart Have Helped Terry Schiavo?
“Classical music pulls at the heartstrings of people in a vegetative state as well as those of healthy listeners. If you play music to vegetative patients, their heart rate changes in the same way as that of healthy controls, suggesting that music can affect the neural systems of emotion even when conscious thought is impossible.”
New Orleans, Where You Can Get Arrested For Playing Music
“There’s a rich history of musicians being arrested while making music in New Orleans. When I first began interviewing musicians, I was shocked to learn that just as surely as the horn players I spoke with had soaked up musical tradition from authoritative sources like Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen, a beloved musician and bandleader who died in 2004, so too had they been introduced to this other legacy–arrest while playing–by badge-wearing authorities.”
In Defense Of The Music Labels
“Sure, they have released mountains of Top 40 schlock. But it paid the bills and enabled them to put out less-profitable music with real cultural value, like jazz, opera and all sorts of esoteric rock ‘n’ roll.”
LA Opera “Ring” Loses $6 Million, Sells 80 Percent Of Seats. And The Good News?
“If the “Ring” had been a slam-dunk sellout, the three cycles would have played to just 9,189 privileged people. Instead, they became more democratic. The result, Rountree said, was “a younger, more diverse group of people” experiencing the “Ring” and being introduced to the company.”
Novelist Beryl Bainbridge, 75
Liverpool-born Dame Beryl was nominated five times for the Booker Prize and won the Whitbread novel award twice.
Robert Christgau Wraps Up His Influential Consumer Guide
“It’s a momentous day for many music writers — truly worthy of that hackneyed phrase, the end of an era. Generations of fans have crafted their music collections with Bob’s blurbs clutched in their hands (or, later, downloaded on their iPhones.) Countless writers honed their craft with his voice in their ears: emulating his endlessly deep, intricate, referential but always fun-to-read prose, or reacting against it.”
The ‘Big Brother’ Of Kung-Fu Film
“Respect is paid when Sammo Hung lumbers down the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui, the [Hong Kong] neighborhood where he first learned martial arts as a boy. … The famously hefty actor did not go the Hollywood route that [Jackie] Chan has pursued, but stayed mainly in Asia, where he has directed, produced, choreographed or acted in about 200 movies.”