“It was during his thrilling siguiriya at the recently concluded New World Flamenco Festival, that Spain’s Andrés Peña did something I’d never seen at a flamenco concert before: Peña took off his suit jacket and tied it around his waist. … Turns out that Peña had split his pants while dancing,” Laura Bleiberg writes. “He tied the jacket around his waist to hide the rip, I found out a few days after the show. After laughing at the whole thing, I was reminded once again how careful a critic must be about what he or she sees onstage.”
Tag: 08.27.06
A Company “Owns” Basic Educational Software?
“In a move that has shaken up the e-learning community, [a company named] Blackboard has been awarded a patent establishing its claims to some of the basic features of the software that powers online education.”
The Reading Crisis (But Why?)
“The ability and desire to read are really functions of a society that values them for their own sake, not as an afterthought in the selling of books and advertising. Yet, even though there’s no end to America’s literacy groups and the soliciting of donations, the concern persists that reading skills nationwide are getting worse. Perhaps what’s needed is the acknowledgment that reading and the writing of good books needs to be encouraged after the literacy program ends.”
When Opera Debuted In San Francisco
Who came out to San Francisco Opera’s first opera ever, back in 1923? There were 6000-7000 “opera addicts.” “By taking a poll of the addicts, it was easy to see their ranks included gentle blood and unlicked cubs, gentlemen and gaberlunzies, kitchen mechanics and knights of the kid glove, overlords and underlings, big bugs and plain bugs, rajahs from Russian Hill and garlicked gents from Broadway, the bosses and the bossed, the squirarchy from St. Francis Wood and the waldgraves from Westwood Park, the sahibs from Sea Cliff and the bluebloods from Burlingame, the bobbed-haired brigade from Telegraph Hill and…”
24, Office, Win At Emmys
“HBO emerged with the most Emmys — 26, including the awards given out at last week’s creative arts ceremony for technical and other achievements. NBC, struggling in the ratings, got a shot in the arm with its cumulative 14 awards, the most for any broadcast network.”
Fidel And The Cuban Artists
“Castro’s passing will certainly mean the end of an era, and may touch off a wave of nostalgia for Hemingway’s ‘Islands in the Stream’ Cuba. But it isn’t likely to release a wave of Cuban artists coming to this country, or have much impact on the dominant contemporary trends — at least in part because so many Cuban artists are already here.”
And Now, The International Ballet Festival of Miami
“Instead of inviting a few companies to perform full programs, this year’s 10th annual festival, which runs Friday-Sept. 10, culls principal dancers from a dizzying number of U.S., European and Latin American companies and features them in a near-marathon of bravura solos and pas de deux from Don Quixote to Swan Lake.”
Today’s Media – Consumer Control, Marketers’ Sophistication
“Where the old-media system was one-way, today’s new media technologies allow consumers to talk back — and tune out. On Internet message boards and blogs, people can slam products they don’t like, celebrate certain brands over others, and help shoppers find the cheapest prices. New technologies do give consumers unprecedented leverage over the marketplace. It’s crucial, however, to realize that marketers are using these same technologies to undermine that leverage, making it harder than ever for audiences to escape, and resist, their advances.”
Thriller – Jacko Next For Juke
The latest jukebox musical to try to hit? The songs of Michael Jackson, about to take to London’s West End. “Thriller Live features more than 80 performers including a gospel choir, children’s ballet and West End singers and dancers to reinterpret the singer’s most memorable songs. Producer Adrian Grant has hailed the show a ‘musical celebration’ and says it will help to revive Jackson’s status as the King of Pop.”
Do The Stuckists Know Anything About Good Art?
The Stuckists are sharp critics of what has been the main stream of contemporary art. “Opposed to conceptual art, anti-art and postmodernism, they also deride what they see as a cosy relationship between the elite of the art world, using their own works to launch satirical attacks on people who they believe to perpetuate the status quo. But is it art?”