What could be better than a brand spanking new concert hall with the latest in acoustical technology, built to host a chamber music festival previously housed in a high school gym? Well, how about that same concert hall, but with a hockey museum attached? “A centre in Parry Sound, Ontario, containing both the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame and an impressive concert hall for playing classical music is the latest in a list of strange compromises in Canadian culture.”
Tag: 07.22.03
NY Phil Makes Its Colorado Debut
“To call the first in a series of New York Philharmonic summer residencies at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival a milestone in Colorado’s classical music history does not overstate the magnitude of the event.” The Phil has come to Colorado under a new agreement which, the festival hopes, will see it performing in Vail for decades to come. Kyle MacMillan reports that, despite some lackluster playing in the opening concert and the familiar acoustical problems associated with outdoor amphitheatres, New York’s legendary band is a stunning addition to the state’s cultural scene.
The Eggers Plan For World Domination Continues
“Nestled in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, The McSweeney’s Store is a secretive enclave of extremely strange, random products. After the success of author Dave Eggers’ book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, the Forest Lake native launched his own publishing company, and with it, an eccentric flagship store. With items ranging from sanitary dental trays to magnetic powder dispensers, the store fascinates with the vast array of seemingly useless goods. And then, of course, there are the books.”
Is Hip-Hop Culture Destroying African-American Youth?
A new book accuses the hip-hop culture which is so dominant among African-Americans of “doing a better job of demeaning black people than the Ku Klux Klan ever did… [The author’s] main point is that by glorifying ‘gangsta’ and ‘playa’ lifestyles, most major label rap releases are stereotyping black Americans as sex-crazed simpletons prone to violence.” The book doesn’t argue against rap music in general, only against the “thug” image which drives the form in today’s corporate-dominated music industry. The book is winning slow and cautious support from some on the fringes of the hip-hop world, who claim that the form has been co-opted by gun-wielding thugs and pretend ‘pimps.’
When The Money Isn’t There
In Austin, arts supporters have been upset over the way the city allocates the funds it receives from the municipal hotel tax, which is earmarked for cultural activities. But the city insists that this year’s 30% cut in funding was necessary because of the slumping tourism industry. The city’s arts leaders are currently working on a series of economic impact studies, which they hope will convince civic officials that the arts are the type of investment that returns more money to the community than it takes out. But such studies tend to be difficult to quantify.
Portland Bucks The Trend
Nearly all of Portland’s major arts groups ran in the black in the fiscal year just concluded, despite the nationwide economic malaise which has seen so many orchestras, museums, and theatres in other cities struggle to stay above water. The Oregon Symphony is right on its budget target, Portland Opera outdid its own fundraising expectations, and several smaller performing arts groups also met or exceeded their budget goals. The key to Portland’s success seems to be agressive fundraising and sound management practices.
Censorship, Fear, And The ‘Comics Code’
It wasn’t too terribly long ago that a German psychologist penned a best-selling book which announced as absolute fact that the comic books being devoured by America’s youth were turning our kids into a generation of delinquents, homosexuals, and worse. Such claims seem absurd and even quaint today, but in the 1950s, Dr. Fredric Wertham’s tome was taken very seriously, and the comic book industry fell all over itself to reassure the public that comics were wholesome. The unfortunate result of such obsequiousness was the Comics Code, with which the industry “castrated itself with a code that sent it into the dark ages for 10 years.”
Going Beyond TiVo
“A Colorado startup, Interact-TV, has released a hacker-friendly digital entertainment center that plays, records and archives TV shows, DVDs, music and even digital photo albums. The Telly MC1000 Digital Entertainment Center, available now from the company’s website for $900, can also surf the Web and act as a home media server… Unlike TiVo or ReplayTV, the Telly is designed to be easily upgraded and expanded by the consumer and third-party software developers. Most other set-top boxes are expressly designed not to be hacked, and their warranties are voided if the owner opens them up to tinker. By contrast, the Telly is expandable like a PC.”
Mercury Shortlist Released
The shortlist for this year’s prestigious Mercury Music Prize is out, and it includes pop music acts from Radiohead and Coldplay to soul duo Floetry and club mixer Dizzee Rascal. Although most Americans are unaware of its existence, the Mercury Prize, which is judged by a panel of music industry experts, is often a springboard to mainstream success in both Europe and the U.S.
Oscars Are Only Worth A Dollar?
“A standoff over one of the most illustrious artifacts of American film, the Oscar won by Orson Welles in 1942 as the co-writer of Citizen Kane, ended yesterday when Christie’s withdrew it from sale. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Hollywood trade group that sponsors the Oscars, had objected to its sale, claiming the right to buy back the statue for $1.”