“Bad Frankenhausen is proud of its church tower, which slants more than the Tower of Pisa. But the church seems destined to be torn down because it is no longer in use. Now the local mayor has launched a desperate campaign to save the building, which has had an unenviably turbulent history.”
Tag: 02.08.11
Why Are So Few Theatres Making Good Use of Twitter?
“Why is it left to a few individuals and a poker website to explore this new medium’s creative possibilities, when an art form that spends its time commissioning writers, generating stories and creating characters to tell them, is instead using it to tell us when we can catch the open dress rehearsal?”
Powell’s Books Lays Off 31 Staffers
“Citing ‘the unprecedented, rapidly changing nature of the book industry’,” the revered Portland bookstore “announced today it will lay off 31 employees.”
Texas Governor Calls for Defunding Arts and Historical Commissions
“Gov. Rick Perry argued in his State of the State speech Tuesday that lawmakers should suspend funding for two state agencies – the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Texas Historical Commission – because they don’t provide ‘mission-critical’ services.”
Tolkien Estate Wary of Russian Reworking of Lord of the Rings
“The Last Ring-Bearer, by palaeontologist Kirill Yeskov, retells Tolkien’s epic story from the perspective of the region of Mordor, from where Sauron, the Dark Lord, waged war.” An English translation of Ring-Bearer, now available for free online, has drawn a warning from the UK’s Society of Authors.
BBC Radio to Slash Children’s Programming
“The BBC is to axe more than 1,000 hours of children’s radio programmes on digital station Radio 7 after it emerged that the average age of their listeners is 48. Programmes will be dropped from Radio 7, which is being rebranded as a BBC Radio 4 spin-off station, Radio 4 Extra.”
Muti to Miss Rest of His Chicago Symphony Winter Residency
“Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti will miss the final week of his February residency as he recovers from surgery to repair multiple face and jaw fractures suffered in a fall during rehearsal last week.”
Alan Bennett: I’ve Lost My Mojo
Says the author and playwright, now 76, of his series of television monologues, “They just came to me and I could do them. I can’t do them now. I think, ‘Oh, crikey, I’ll never be able to do that again.’ People think your life’s work is like a cushion and you can recline on it as you get older. It’s not like that.”
Beryl Bainbridge Never Won a Booker Prize, So They’ve Made One Just for Her
“The acclaimed author was shortlisted a record five times, but the prize eluded her. She died in July last year, aged 75, without tasting Booker success. Belatedly, the award organisers are to remedy the situation by creating a special award … the Man Booker Best of Beryl prize, decided by public vote.”
Ben Heppner Withdraws From Met’s Ring Cycle
“The Metropolitan Opera in New York has lost its Siegfried for its costly new production of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle. … Ben Heppner has withdrawn from the production because the singer ‘has retired the role from his repertory’.”