“There is no shortage of people who can, with a little encouragement, write. There are lots of skilled craftspeople. Even more say they want to write, and many of those find their way into university courses, adult education or privately run seminars on the novel, genre, short story and importance of plot. But desire and training don’t equal genius or that je ne sais quoi that allows a writer to connect, to slip refractive glasses over a reader’s eyes, to say, ‘see this’.”
Tag: 01.27.07
Salonen: Orchestras Need To Respond To Culture
Esa-Pekka Salonen is about to take over London’s Philharmonia orchestra, where he had a career-changing experience in the 1980s. “The greatest risk to classical music is not to respond to the culture until one day it just stops. There are some differences in the artistic structures and traditions of LA and London, but the approach that worked in LA was not to dumb down, but to do the opposite, to challenge the audience. And people responded.”
Is This A Park Or A Museum?
The Seattle Art Museum is chasing touchers. Many of the 40,000 who have come to the museum’s new sculpture park have an inclination to touch the sculptures. The museum says no. “We want to be friendly and positive but we’re encouraging people to think before they touch, as touching art has consequences.”
Marketing American Democracy
It’s hard to imagine now, with the U.S. bogged down in Iraq and resented in countries around the world, but there was a time not so many decades ago that America actually succeeded in exporting its own values. In the post-World War II years, a series of propaganda films and economic incentives sought to convince Europe that democracy was the best path for everyone, and the plan worked. Today, “Washington is awash in people muttering about the urgent need for better public diplomacy, but the current administration’s attempts to reinvent it have met, mostly, with distress and sometimes mockery.”
The Weird And Wonderful World Of Sundance
The Sundance Festival hands out its awards this weekend, and Geoff Pevere has a few of his own to add to the mix. How about “Most Overhyped” for the Dakota Fanning rape movie? Or the “Mouthy Git Award” for a documentary featuring the late frontman of punk band The Clash? Or the “Make Him Squirm Award” for Teeth, a fanciful romp about a teenage girl who has a full set of chompers located somewhere south of the usual location.
Why Can’t Anyone Criticize Israel?
Accusations of anti-Semitism have been flying with shocking regularity in the last few years, and while some of those accused clearly do hate Jews as a race, many others appear to have committed only the sin of having criticized the policies of the state of Israel. But the deliberate equating of the policies of Israel with the security of Jews around the world seems to be “alienating Jews critical of Israeli policies, who say the label silences legitimate, nonviolent opposition to Israel and that Jews should target hatred and discrimination.”
Small Publishers Hit Hard By Bankruptcy
“More than 130 independent publishers across the country were hurled into financial crisis on Dec. 29 with the bankruptcy of the parent company of Publishers Group West, the Berkeley firm that distributes books from much of the small press world… The bankruptcy hit these small presses at the worst possible time — when Publishers Group West was holding onto its sales revenues from the three months before Christmas, its most profitable time of the year.”
The Art Of Sex In Art: Credit The French
“No one is claiming that the French actually invented erotic art. It existed in Egyptian, Roman, pre-Columbian, Indian and African cultures. There is no shortage of sexual charge in paintings by, say, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Rubens or Velázquez. Even religious art was frequently sensual as well as solemn. The case for 18th-century France is that the death of Louis XIV in 1715 set in motion a social revolution marked initially by licentiousness and then by intellectual liberation and philosophical inquiry. And it was in this context that love — and, yes, sex — came to be closely re-examined in art and literature.”
Once More, With Feeling
“Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, the original – and the best – Leo and Max in The Producers, have been asked to reprise their roles one last time before the show ends its seven-year run in June… They haven’t accepted the offer yet.”
Everyone Loves The New Digs In Orange County
The Southern California-based Pacific Symphony has been doing awfully well since it moved into its fancy new concert hall. “Subscriptions are up 10%, and the orchestra is expecting a 20% revenue boost for its first season in the 2,000-seat Cesar Pelli-designed hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.” Most importantly, the orchestra’s concerts have been playing to a 92%-capacity house.