Seattle radio station KEXP has a puny transmitter. But the station is becoming a force in the indie music world through its popularity on the web. “In spring 2004, about 26,000 people listened to KEXP online every week — more than any other radio station in the country, according to Arbitron’s now-defunct Internet broadcasting service. This year, that number has jumped to 50,000, with large clusters of listeners in New York, where KEXP broadcasts live twice a year; Chicago; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C. Listeners are giving the non-profit station a projected $1.7 million this year, nearly $1 million more than they gave in 2003.”
Tag: 10.22.05
Appreciating Art – Righteous Rebellion
“Over the past hundred years or so a very particular revolutionary sensibility has influenced the value system used in making and appreciating visual art. It feels to me that the art world today has its own visual dialect, a kind of educated mischievous slang that is learnt from making, looking at and talking about art for a long time and a love of being challenged or surprised. From outside, the art world must seem like a self-regarding mafia, but it relishes an assault on its values.”
Life After Hunter
Although Hunter S. Thompson is gone, his widow “is still surrounded by him, weighed down not only by his papers, which entirely fill the basement, and by his fans, who still turn up from time to time, but also by his stuff, which covers every surface, and which she will never be able to throw away.”
Blurring Lines Between Fact And Fiction Lead To: Censorship!
The commodification of all forms of culture breeds “a growing concern that the victims of crime and their relatives be protected from distress, the emergent movement against criticism of religion and attempts to proscribe the ‘glorification’ of certain acts. The famous proscription against falsely shouting ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theatre is no longer just a matter of preventing a stampede: now, shouting ‘fire’ can be censured for infringing the rights of the firemen, distressing the relatives of people killed in other fires, offending religions for whom fire is a sacred object, and glorifying or celebrating arson.”
The Man Steering The British Museum
Neil MacGregor’s story is “of the rise of the public man at a time when that character’s obituary had been prematurely written. As a public servant, he has revivified the British Museum, making it appreciated anew as what he calls, in Ben Okri’s words, the “memory of mankind”. He has made a museum stuffed with artifacts plundered from less rapacious cultures (Benin, in particular, would like its bronzes back) feel good in our post-imperial age, which is no mean feat. Like the fictional occupant of another west wing, he has given the British Museum a renewed sense of principled mission.”
Quills – Not Enough Glitz, And Yet…
The Quill Awards were created to add some glitz to literary awards. “In its first year, the Quills didn’t come close to the Oscars in the glamour department. There were no A-list celebrities in attendance; viewers will have to settle for actors like Cattrall and Matthew Modine, who both have their own books to promote. But supporters believe that the ceremony made some progress in jazzing up publishing’s staid reputation. But it remains to be seen whether viewers will tune in — and, more broadly, what kind of influence the Quills will have on sales and the image of the book publishing industry.”
Broadway Shows Top the $100 Mark
“Three of New York’s most popular musicals boosted their top everyday ticket price 10% this month — exceeding the $100 ceiling that had held steady for more than four years. The increase was the first since “The Producers” spurred a wave of $100 tickets in April 2001. The latest move comes at a time of rising production costs for ever-more-elaborate shows. It helps that attendance is finally back to pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels. Twenty weeks into the season, overall box-office receipts are up 11% from last year, and attendance has increased 6.6% in the same period.”
Bloomberg: WTC Developer Needs To Go
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the troubled rebuilding of the World Trade Center Site project would be better off if developer Larry Silverstein was booted out. “Abandoning his usually bland statements of support, the mayor said for the first time that New York would be better off if Silverstein were booted from the site. ‘It would be in the city’s interest to get Silverstein out, [but] nobody can figure out how to do it yet. And can you imagine the stink if you gave him half a billion dollars or a billion dollars in profit to get him out’?”