The networks have conceded there aren’t enough minority roles in their programming – they’re writing some in. New York Times
PREVIOUSLY: Threat of a network boycott by a coalition of Latino groups has broadcasters scrambling to compile lists of their Hispanic talent. Okay, they’re using short pieces of paper, but “we’re trying” they say.
Dallas Morning News 9/12/99
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TRIVIALIZATION OF ART
At the end of the 20th Century we’ve made the word meaningless complains Roger Kimball, editor of The New Criterion.
A Soweto Dance Company Is Taking Traditional Dance Big-Time
Gumboots does for the dance of turn-of-the-century South African miners what Riverdance did for the Irish jig or the Chippendales did for baby oil and bow ties. – The Times (UK)
A conversation with Jasper Johns –
– as his first big show since the 1996 MOMA retrospective opens in San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle
WHEN HE DIED, PHILADELPHIA DEVELOPER JOHN MERRIAM –
– left a Tiffany mosaic installed at the Curtis Center as part of his $119 million estate. No one will pay what the estate is demanding, so his estate wants to remove and sell it, setting off the biggest Philadelphia preservation crisis in years. – Philadelphia Inquirer
The Glenn Gould Cult
Canadians have made a fetish out of the late great pianist. This week a five-day international Gould conference of Trekkie proportions will open in Toronto. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Elton John turns movie critic
Trashes Benigni’s “Life is Beautiful.” Elton’s new movie (he produced) was a hit at this year’s Toronto Film Festival.
Toronto Globe and Mail
THE GENIUS ECLIPSED
The revolution that was Michel Fokine – and then eclipsed. “Before Fokine, choreographer, set designer, costumer and composer each worked in isolation on a dance; Fokine set about bringing these arts together.” The onset of Nijinsky helped prematurely end Fokine’s career at age 34. – New Statesman
The art of producing
Everyone remembers the Beatles. Anyone remember their producer? Producers are blamed when they flop, forgotten when they score. A new Encyclopedia of Record Producers reveals the producer’s life. – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Elliott Carter’s first opera (about an auto wreck)
It premiered in Berlin this week and the audience went wild. Unfortunately, that would not be the reaction back home, says the Washington Post critic. – The Washington Post