01.04.00 – ArtsJournal Wayback

SOMBER AND MOROSE

Is that any way to party for the new millennium? As international TV coverage of New Year’s parties from world capitals rolled on, Canada’s capital was absent. Now complaints about the New Year’s Eve show on Parliament Hill have been pouring in from people who found the spectacle “pathetic” and an “embarrassment.” “Accustomed to the usual $2-million Canada Day spectacular, they got a half-price special.” – Ottawa Citizen

Eyewitness account. – Ottawa Citizen
You got what you wanted (or what the polls said you wanted). – CBC

ARTISTIC DICTATES

Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk Lenin Museum wasn’t exactly a cutting-edge institution under the previous regime. But its reincarnation into a modern art museum has been full of imagination. In 1998, the Council of Europe even designated it the best museum in all of Europe. – New York Times

FRANCE OPENS ITS MUSEUMS —

— free to the public the first Sunday of every month. – The Art Newspaper

URBAN RENEWAL

Think drug cartel and you probably think Colombia. Probably think Medellin, Colombia. Now Fernando Botero, Latin America’s most celebrated living artist, is putting the full force of his renown behind a wide-ranging effort to overhaul the city’s reputation and skyline, installing 79 of his paintings, drawings and sculptures he just donated to the Museo de Antioquia. – New York Times

GRAMMY NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

Santana gets 10 nominations, Pierre Boulez nominated for six. – 42nd Grammies Official Site

Classical Grammys handicapped – Los Angeles Times 01/05/00
Votes following money again – Los Angeles Times 01/05/00
New York Times account 01/05/00
Boston Globe account 01/05/00
Washington Post account 01/00/05
San Francisco Examiner 01/05/00
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette analysis 01/05/00
Dallas Morning News 01/05/00
Cleveland Plain Dealer complains 01/06/00

AMERICAN CONDUCTORS aren’t the only ones –

– to have difficulty making their careers at home. One of Scotland’s best and brightest young conductors is likely to find most of his jobs out-of-country. – The Scotsman

A PAIN IN THE …

He stabbed Christa Ludwig, slugged Roberta Knie and flung Carol Vaness across the stage. Jon Vickers was a great tenor, but truly “one of the most obnoxious characters in the annals of 20th-century opera” claims a new biography. – National Post (Canada)

SURVIVAL GUIDE

Orchestra stand-mate giving you grief? Practicing a drag? New survival guide for the young musician attempts to soothe the way. – Baltimore Sun

TIME, SOLITUDE, AND…

Time to write on somebody else’s nickel sounds great, but as a practical matter…. One writer’s travails on a fellowship at the MacDowell Colony. – Salon

UNPLEASANTNESS IN PROSPERITY

It was a record year at the box office for the movie business. And yet an uncomfortable truth is settling in on Hollywood – technology and a changing economy are causing widespread layoffs throughout the California movie industry. – Variety 01/04/00

CAN’T GET HOLLYWOOD INTERESTED in that new film? Independent filmmakers turn to the web where the distribution’s easy – and cheap. New websites offer an alternative distribution outlet for indies, and the idea’s taking off. – New York Times 01/04/00
TOO MANY BAD MOVIES: “We make too many films in Britain,” says Alan Parker, director and chair of the British Film Council. “It’s an odd business in which people call themselves film producers without ever having produced anything.” His solution? Don’t make so many movies in the first place. – The Telegraph (UK) 01/04/00
OVER (A)-TROPHIED? Never one to shy away from self congratulation, the movie industry racked up a record number of awards shows in 1999. The movie-meisters handed out 3,182 trophies to themselves at 332 ceremonies. That’s almost one awards show for every day of the year. – Variety 01/04/00