Elm Street, a Canadian magazine aimed at women and featuring an impressive roster of writers and a broad cultural focus, has folded after seven years of publication. The failure of yet another high-quality Canadian periodical ought to be setting off warning bells, says Andrew Cohen. “We don’t have the depth, consistency or quality of periodicals that a country of our size should, especially in critical areas such as foreign affairs. Then again, when you’re paying writers the same rate as 20 years ago, you won’t attract the best.”
Tag: 01.14.04
Marley Quits Denver Center
“Donovan Marley, who as artistic director transformed the fledgling Denver Center Theatre Company into the largest regional theater between Chicago and the West Coast, announced Tuesday that he plans to resign before the end of his contract, citing his frustration over continuing budget cutbacks. In the past two decades, perhaps no individual has had more influence on the development of Colorado’s cultural scene. His exit not only is expected to trigger an upheaval that will be felt throughout the company’s 130-person staff, but is further evidence of the continuing demise of the American regional theater movement.”
Is Sundance Too Big?
Robert Redford’s little independent film festival isn’t remotely little anymore, and with the major Hollywood studios clamoring for ever more inclusion, “the question of whether Sundance has become too big and too co-opted seems ever more on point… And yet. There are more foreign films on hand this year than ever before, and despite premieres of such mainstream studio fare as The Butterfly Effect” – featuring Ashton Kutcher playing hopscotch with his past – Sundance continues to be mostly about the singular vision of the lone filmmaker.”
In Defense Of Cell Phones
Musicians are becoming increasingly agitated by the plague of ringing cell phones and beeping watches in the concert hall, but composer Gavin Bryars takes a more zen-like view of the uninvited chirps, beeps, and squawks. Having once endured the humiliation of having his own phone ring (with a tone he himself had composed) during a performance of his own music, Bryars has come to accept the unscheduled interruptions as nothing more than spontaneous extensions of the concertgoing experience, and sometimes, as legitimate musical enhancements.
Osama, Saddam, and The Humor Columnist
Before the 9/11 attacks, James Lileks was just a lightweight humor columnist for a Minneapolis daily. Before the Iraq war, he was best known nationally for his quirky retro web site cataloguing the myriad horrors of food, pop culture, and interior design that the America of his youth was forced to endure. But these days, Lileks is making a name for himself as a “war blogger,” one of an increasing number of angry right-wing freelancers giving over their personal bandwidth to cheering American forces and brutally shredding anyone who dares oppose the Bush administration’s policies. Bloggers can write what they like, of course, but Dennis Perrin is concerned that Lileks and other war bloggers like him seem to consider truth secondary to bluster, and reasoned analysis inferior to blind machismo.
Monkey See, Monkey Do
With the campaign by the American recording industry to eradicate online music piracy through lawsuits against the pirates having a demonstrable chilling effect on sites which enable illegal file-trading, the British Phonographic Industry is saying it will soon begin a similar campaign of its own. As industry-backed download sites such as Apple’s iTunes begin to gain market share, the record companies have more interest than ever before in wiping out the myriad no-pay alternatives, or at least steering the bulk of music consumers away from them.
Taboo Closing
“Taboo” is closing on Broadway after less than three months. Taboo was “the first Broadway show produced by Rosie O’Donnell, who financed it with $10 million of the fortune she had made on her television talk show, which ran from 1996 to 2002. Beyond that original outlay, the production has been losing money week to week.” The show is expected to have lost $10 million by the time it closes.
Dario Fo Being Sued For Latest Play
Italian actor/playwright Dario Fo is being sued for his latest work. “A member of Silvio Berlusconi’s party, Forza Italia, is suing Dario Fo, the literature Nobel prizewinner, for defamation in his new play. Marcello Dell’Utri, a Forza Italia senator, is demanding €1m (£700,000) for damages caused by ‘unfounded, personal attacks’ made by Mr Fo in his satirical play The Two-headed Anomaly.”
Dali Rights Dispute
Salvator Dali’s biographer claims that he owns the rights to Dali’s commercial work. But the Dali Foundation disputes the claim, and the row hangs like a cloud over celebrations of the surrealist’s 100th birthday. “Dalí has turned out to be as much of a cash generator since his death as he was during his money-obsessed career. The foundation, which runs a museum in his birthplace, Figueres in north-east Spain, expects to earn more than €1m a year.”