Category: today’s top story

One of the world’s top Hopper scholars has alleged that the late Rev. Arthayer Sanborn acquired his trove of Hopper paintings, drawings and artifacts (all now at the Hopper House Museum) by taking them from the artist’s house after he and his wife died.

“The new Billboard puts song purchases and mere listens on equal footing, and it stirred up considerable ire from the music industry. But the decision felt like a long overdue response to a new consumer culture in which fans are as likely to listen to a song on Spotify on replay as buy the single.”

“Dozens of online sellers complain that Amazon arbitrarily withholds their payments for as long as three months, jeopardizing their ability to replenish inventories and stay in business, according to a Seattle Times review of state records.”

“Nearby was an iPhone he had bought recently. ‘Why?’ he said. ‘Because I’m free. Every morning I study a chapter in ‘iPhone for Dummies,’ and now I’m proficient. I haven’t read a word for two months. I pull this thing out and play with it.'”

“It has the ring of a modern Cuban fairy tale: A handsome ballet star returns to his native land and discovers an abandoned dance school, which he vows to restore to life. Yet Carlos Acosta’s dream of founding a dance center in one of Cuba’s most storied but neglected revolution-era buildings has touched off a bitter squabble.”

“Beating out an unusually competitive field, Louise Erdrich won the National Book Award for fiction on Wednesday night for The Round House, a novel about a teenage boy’s effort to investigate an attack on his mother on a North Dakota reservation.” The nonfiction prize went to Katherine Boo for Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity.

“Rich in world-class offerings of Abstract Expressionist and Pop Art, Sotheby’s contemporary evening roared to the tune of $375,205,000, the highest total for any evening sale in its long history. It eclipsed the mark set in May 2008’s $362-million contemporary art sale.”

“What we’re doing now isn’t sustainable. So why should new things have to prove they can do something our current system cannot provide? … I’m not in favor of abandoning ideas because we can’t figure out how to put them to a test that the status quo has already failed. Miserably.”

“The dispute between musicians and the board of the Minnesota Orchestra deepened Thursday as the orchestra canceled all concerts through the end of the year. The 21 canceled shows include holiday and pops concerts that routinely draw large crowds and produce sizable revenues.”