“Italy’s culture minister warned on Wednesday that his government would not budge from its demand that the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles return all of the ancient artifacts in its collection that Italy contends were illegally separated from their heritage… The Italian government was not satisfied with a proposal made by the Getty on Nov. 21 to return 26 of 46 contested objects to Italy.”
Tag: 12.21.06
Going Where The Censors Can’t Reach You
Last weekend, NBC censors drew the line on a bawdy Saturday Night Live sketch, repeatedly bleeping a certain word as it went out over the air. It was hardly the first time SNL has gone up against the censors, but this time, the show’s creators had a Plan B. The sketch was immediately posted, sans bleeps, on NBC’s website, and on YouTube.com. “In the process, Saturday Night Live appears to have become the first scripted comedy on a broadcast network to use the Web to make an end-run around the prying eyes of both its internal censors and those of the Federal Communications Commission, whose jurisdiction over “Saturday Night Live” effectively ends at the Web frontier.”
Squeaky Clean Or Look-Away Smutty? Both, Natch.
“You could be forgiven for thinking that the world of pop music is smuttier than ever. “But look again… For all those who bemoan the coarsening of popular music (not to mention the dear, perverse souls who celebrate the same), this year’s sales figures complicate the story. Is it possible that our favorite records are getting dirtier and cleaner at the same time?”
Teaching Us To See The Spaces Around Us
Architecture may be the one art form that everyone in the world can’t help but encounter and interact with on a daily basis, and yet, most people understand as much about architecture as they do about a Brahms symphony. Boston architect Stephen Chung is hoping to change that, with a new television show that “decodes contemporary public-space architecture” for a general audience.
The Old “It’s Our Ball, You Go Home” Argument
“A group of US record labels has started legal action against Russian music download site Allofmp3.com… The record labels say the sites are selling songs without permission. But Allofmp3.com argues it is paying royalties to a Russian licensing body. The music industry says that the Russian licensing group does not have the authority to collect and distribute royalties.”
Against All Odds, Music Plays On In Israel
The Israel Philharmonic turns 70 this week, and longevity alone would be quite an accomplishment for an orchestra that lives and works in what frequently amounts to a war zone. But the IPO hasn’t just survived. “The orchestra is one of the hardest-working in the world, supplying the demands of 26,000 subscribers, repeating programmes across Israel up to six times and spending around 50 days a year touring abroad.”
The Gavrilov Collapse
Pianist Andrei Gavrilov won the Tchaikovsky Competition at age 18. By age 30, he was a bona fide superstar with a dazzling array of career options. “It’s been all downhill since – a story of abandoned concerts, loss of confidence, the end of the [record] deal, a broken marriage. It was a personal and artistic implosion, though which fed which is hard to say.” Now Gavrilov is attempting a comeback. But will the music world give him a chance?
Atlanta Mulling Civil Rights Museum
Civic leaders in Atlanta are backing a proposal for a $100 million civil rights museum in the city’s Olympic Park neighborhood. “The center would showcase the papers of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which Atlanta acquired last summer, and would recognize contributions of Atlantans and other Georgians to the civil rights movement.”