Obscenity has always been a tricky subject for American courts, as they try to balance First Amendment rights against the right of communities to reject things that violate their collective values. A 2001 lawsuit, filed by an artist whose website includes images of sadomasochism and bondage, was intended to force yet another official answer to the seemingly insoluble problem by challenging the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which bans the distribution of obscene content on the Internet. The case has made its way to Federal District Court, where this week, a panel of judges ruled against the artist. But there is little question that the case will eventually land before the Supreme Court.
Tag: 07.28.05
Payola Aside, The Airwaves Belong To The Rich
New York’s attorney general can take his fight against newfangled forms of payola as far as he wants, but it won’t change the fact that the pop music business is now the purview of a handful of gigantic media companies that want nothing to do with the old method of letting a song rise to the top by virtue of its quality. “the major labels simply have more money and manpower to wheedle programmers into adding their music to broadcast play lists. The big players, far more so than their independent rivals, also have the wherewithal to build demand for their acts by subsidizing their tours and record-store advertising, producing music videos and landing them on television shows. This imbalance in resources accounts, in part, for the disparity between sales and airplay in the music business.”
Broadway On A Record Pace
“Maybe it’s the air-conditioning or the advertising or even – imagine this – the entertainment, but Broadway is sizzling. Eight weeks into the 2005-6 season and despite an oppressive blanket of heat flopped over the city, box-office sales are up by 9 percent over last summer, with a 5 percent increase in attendance, making for the industry’s fastest start ever… The attendance and box-office figures, which include sales through Sunday, put Broadway on track to set records for both attendance and gross sales, good news for an industry that saw negligible growth last season. Bullish Broadway executives say much of the summertime boom is the result of a current crush of tourism, including many overseas travelers drawn to the United States by the weak dollar.”
Another Grave Threat To Copyright Stamped Out
The Olympic Hopefuls are a highly successful Minneapolis-based band believed by many to be on the verge of breaking out nationally. But if that breakout occurs, the band will be missing half its name. In a strange case of copyright enforcement that recalls the recent dust-up between the U.S. Postal Service and the band known as Postal Service, the U.S. Olympic Committee has firmly pointed out to the Olympic Hopefuls that the word “olympic” was copyrighted by an act of Congress in 1950. In the case of USPS vs. Postal Service, things worked out fine, with the band keeping its name in exchange for a free performance and some promotional work. But the Olympic Hopefuls are now just The Hopefuls, hoping that their fans will still recognize them.
Safe At Home (But At What Cost?)
Keeping important works of art in their country of origin is a dicey business, partly because collectors frequently have other ideas, and also because the general public often gulps at the cost of outbidding such collectors. In 2004, the UK government managed to use a combination of parliamentary maneuver and serious cash to keep the Macclesfield Psalter, a supposedly critical part of British art history, in country. But how truly important is the book, and was it really worth £1.7m just to keep it out of California?
The London Aftermath
New York’s cultural marketplace was devastated after the 9/11 attacks, and in London, fears that a similar fate could befall the city’s arts purveyors has been intense since the subway and bus bombings of July 7. It’s too early for much more than anecdotal evidence, but early research indicates that theatres were hit hardest, with most galleries and museums returning quickly to normal patron levels. At the BBC Proms, walk-up sales are down, but overall, concerts are more full than at the same point last summer. Of course, no one yet knows whether the attacks will be an isolated event, or the beginning of a new campaign of terror in England’s capital city, and that, more than anything, will likely determine the long-term implications of the July 7 bombings.
Louvre Gets $20 Million For Islamic Wing
A member of the Saudi royal family has donated $20 million to the Louvre, with the money earmarked for the construction of a new wing to house the French museum’s collection of Islamic art. The gift is the largest ever received by the Louvre. “The design for the new wing, unveiled at the ceremony, would involve covering much of the Louvre’s Cour Visconti, a neo-Classical courtyard, with a contemporary sail-like roof made up of small glass disks. Officials put the total cost of the wing, by the architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti, at $67 million and predicted it would open in 2009.”
No Dumb Soprano Jokes Here
Russian mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina has developed quite a reputation as one of her generation’s most opinionated divas. Two years ago, she walked out on conductor Antonio Pappano and the UK’s Royal Opera House in a dispute over director Robert Wilson’s approach to Aida, and just recently, she quit a La Scala production of Carmen when she discovered that the recitatives were to be spoken rather than sung. But her temperament seems to stem not from ego, but from a deep belief that there is a right way and a wrong way to approach music, and that she, as an artist, should not be asked to compromise her musical values.
Stirling Shortlist Announced
Six finalists have been announced for the “£20,000 Stirling prize, awarded for the building that ‘has made the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past year’.” The new Scottish Parliament made the list, as did the Jubilee library in Brighton. The oddsmakers are already cranking, of course, but predicting the Stirling winner has historically been quite difficult. The award will be announced on October 15.
Stonehenge ‘Improvement’ Plans Slapped Down
British plans to reroute traffic around Stonehenge and to erect a visitors’ center near the site have been crushed by a local council. Local residents had opposed the plans from the beginning, as had a vocal contingent of Britons with long memories of the last disastrous time the government tried such a scheme.