The multiple-genre BlackCreek Summer Music Festival, launched in June in an outdoor tennis stadium, has developed some cash-flow problems due to lower-than-expected ticket sales. A soul concert and a classical performance wth Denyce Graves and Lorin Maazel have been called off; an August opera concert featuring Roberto Alagna is on hold.
Tag: 07.26.11
In Defense Of The “Um, Uh” Pause
“In the history of oratory and public speaking, the notion that good speaking requires umlessness is actually a fairly recent, and very American, invention. It didn’t emerge as a cultural standard until the early 20th century, when the phonograph and radio suddenly held up to speakers’ ears all the quirks and warbles that, before then, had flitted by.”
Singer Susana Baca Named Peru’s Minister Of Culture
Remember when Brazilian president Lula Da Silva appointed superstar Gilberto Gil minister of culture? Peru’s new leader, Ollanta Humala, has followed suit, selecting Latin Grammy-winner Susana Baca for that nation’s culture ministry. Baca will be Peru’s first-ever black cabinet member.
Deconstructing Pre-Schoolers’ Television, Part XVI: Thomas The Reactionary Tank Engine
“Yet the conservatism of Thomas and Friends is not the conservatism of America. … The Thomas series glories instead in true ‘white man’s burden’ style British imperialism. Our hero, Thomas, and his friends jockey for positions just below that of the bullying aristocrat Sir Topham Hatt but never seek to rise to his level.”
‘America’s Presidential Historian’ Charged With Major Document Theft
“As the self-styled ‘America’s Presidential Historian,’ Barry H. Landau was a regular network guest” and media figure. “That carefully crafted public image came crashing down this month when [he] was charged with stealing historic documents from the Maryland Historical Society that prosecutors value at $6 million.”
Nazis As Movie Villains: The Evolution Of A Cliché
“Films use Nazis as bad guys for good reason: They were bad guys. But all too often, genocidal Germans act as cartoon crutches for storytellers looking to pit good against incontrovertible evil … [as] cover for gratuitous violence, or as shortcuts to creating a sense of persecution among the movie’s protagonists.”
People Really Do Have Physical Responses To Art
“Art exhibits are not generally thought of as opportunities to get our pulses racing and skin tingling. But newly published research suggests aesthetic appreciation is, in fact, a full-body experience.”
Study: Northern People Have Bigger Brains
“People who live in high latitude regions have bigger eyeballs and brains than other individuals, according to new research. The increase in brain and eye size allows people to see better in places that receive less light than areas closer to the equator.”
Arts Council England Withholds Funding Payment For Poetry Society
“The society, founded in 1909 to promote British poetry, has been troubled by divisions which have seen its president, director and others resign. Arts Council England said the upheaval at the society meant it did not comply with its funding agreement.”
Placido Domingo To Represent Recording Companies Against Digital Piracy
The 70-year-old Spanish tenor will chair the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents recording companies worldwide.