Allan Kozinn: “I just don’t get the music toy thing. I play an actual guitar, and when I’ve wanted to play a Beatles song I either learned it by listening carefully to the record or, in recent years, I’ve consulted The Beatles Scores … The idea of picking up a plastic guitar-shaped thing … and pressing buttons while a bunch of colored dots scroll down against the backdrop of cartoon Beatles, just doesn’t do it for me.”
Tag: 08.12.09
Appeals Panel Reduces Dreamspace Artist’s Fine
“The creator of an inflatable artwork which blew away, killing two women, won an appeal today against the £10,000 fine imposed on him for breaching health and safety regulations. Artist Maurice Agis, 77, who was convicted at Newcastle crown court of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to ensure the safety of members of the public, had the penalty reduced to £2,500 by three judges at the court of appeal in London.”
Screenwriting Outreach To Muslims Lands Union In Dispute
“An open invitation to a seminar for Muslim college students and recent graduates interested in Hollywood writing careers has placed the Writers Guild of America, West, at odds with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which was planning to hold the session on Tuesday.” One point of disagreement: whether the guild was helping the council to set up the program.
Film Series Devotees Get A Meeting With LACMA Director
“[T]he founders of Save Film at LACMA are planning a ‘popcorn summit’ with Los Angeles County Museum of Art Director Michael Govan, who recently made the controversial decision to cancel the institution’s 40-year-old weekend film series. … LACMA officials have said that the film program has lost about $1 million over the last decade and that attendance at screenings has been declining.”
Charge: ‘Pure Greed’ Driving Exorbitant Fringe Venue Fees
“The director of a leading independent Fringe venue accused Edinburgh City Council yesterday of ‘pure greed’ in crippling small Festival operators with a huge rise in theatre licence fees. Julian Caddy, co-director of Sweet Entertainments, a rising player on the Fringe, said fees had risen a staggering 800 per cent in the past three years. His broadside against the ‘madness’ of the charges was backed by several other venue operators….”
LA Re-Creates Berlin Wall To Mark Anniversary Of Its Fall
“The Wall Project, painted by professional and amateur artists, will close Sunday afternoon traffic on one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares for three hours” this November, on the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall. “In a reenactment of the actual events, invited dignitaries will break down selected portions of the Wilshire wall, which will be placed directly in front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.”
Even Fans Of Google Books Want Privacy Safeguards
“Novelist Jonathan Lethem says Google should be ‘congratulated’ for its effort. Lethem adds, ‘This is the moment to take a look and say, “why isn’t it as private as the world we’re being asked to leave behind, the world of physical books?”‘ … Lethem is one of several authors — including Michael Chabon and Cory Doctorow — who have signed on to a campaign to pressure Google Books to offer greater privacy guarantees for its readers.”
Audio From The Oval Office: Nixon On Leonard Bernstein
“Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Mass’ had its première on September 8, 1971, at the Kennedy Center Opera House. The Kennedy Center opened the same night, promising a new era of culture on the Potomac. … In the weeks before and after the premiere, Nixon repeatedly discussed ‘Mass’ and related events with H. R. Haldeman, his chief of staff, and on one occasion with the movie star Ginger Rogers.”
British Museum May Appeal Rejection Of New Wing
“The British Museum, whose design for a building extension was rejected by a local authority, said it’s deciding whether to appeal the decision or produce a new design.” The Camden Council nixed the plan just days after the museum “said it had raised two-thirds of the money for the new wing and, planning permission allowing, could start building at the end of the year.”
Let’s Fund The NEA With A Public-Private Alliance
“Not every artist will be Isaac Stern or Meryl Streep or Jennifer Bartlett, but for each one who makes it into the mainstream, a hundred more are struggling to move the form forward, creating a cultural identity. The payoff for encouraging them will rarely be measurable in economic terms. So here’s a different strategy for the arts endowment. … Create a public- private alliance to fund the NEA so it can really begin making the arts central to the lives of all Americans.”