“A ‘time traveller’s phrasebook’ that could allow basic communication between modern English speakers and Stone Age cavemen is being compiled by scientists studying the evolution of language. Research has identified a handful of modern words that have changed so little in tens of thousands of years that ancient hunter-gatherers would probably have been able to understand them.”
Tag: 02.26.09
Cincinnati Symphony And Pops’ Recording Future May Be In Doubt
The orchestra “announced last month that it was suspending recordings as part of cost-cutting measures.” With the orchestras’ longtime label, Telarc, no longer producing records, “if the orchestra ever hopes to record again, it will have to explore new options, such as self-producing or recording for Internet download only, which other orchestras have tried.”
Sign Up For Your Chance To Be Monumental Statuary!
“The time has come for anyone who considers themself a real work of art to apply for much more than 15 minutes of fame: one whole hour of monumental grandeur, alone on top of the empty granite plinth in the corner of Trafalgar Square.”
Annie Leibovitz Mortgages Her Life’s Work To Pay Inheritance Tax Bills
When Leibovitz’s longtime partner Susan Sontag died in 2004, she “bequeathed several properties to Leibovitz, who was forced to pony up half of their value to keep them.”
Osmo And His Minnesotans Conquer London
Ivan Hewitt sums up the critical consensus on Tuesday night’s sold-out Minnesota Orchestra concert at the Barbican: “And what a marvellous sound the orchestra makes! […] Vänskä and the Minnesotans built a cumulative tension through every twist and turn, right up to the final explosion of joy at the end.”
A Kudelka Premiere Buoys Ballet B.C.
“After the seven-week hiatus of Ballet B.C.’s shutdown due to financial crisis, these performers have been thrown into the fire. And yet you get the distinct feeling they’re rising from the ashes.” Said fire is this weekend’s world premiere of James Kudelka’s The Goldberg Variations – Side 2: Adam & Eve & Steve.
Chicago’s Newberry Library Cuts Loose Newberry Consort
Facing a financial squeeze, the Library will cease funding Chicago’s flagship early music ensemble after this season. But the now-autonomous Consort is landing on its feet, with a new performance-and-teaching arrangement that, says director David Douglass, “in many ways… offers us a healthier arena in which to work.”
‘Can You Credit All Of The Fuss That Was Made Of A Cripple?’
That’s the opening line of the autobiography of Christy Nolan, the prize-winning writer with cerebral palsy who died this week at 43. Francis X. Clines pays tribute, and remembers how Nolan described a book tour: “Breasting along gold limousines, tinted glass creating able access to mighty loot.”
Or Worse, CBC May Have To Air (Shudder) More U.S. Programming
“Mr. Lacroix said a number of options were on the table which ‘would substantially change the very nature of our service to Canadians.’ The first is more American programming, which would make the CBC more similar to private Canadian broadcasters who rely heavily on U.S. shows.”
Supposed Stolen Strad Surfaces At Seashore
“A violin believed to be a stolen Stradivarius has been found by Romanian police in the city of Constanta on the Black Sea coast.”