For years, the Tony Awards, which honor the best of Broadway, have been the awards show nobody wanted. CBS has aired the show for a quarter-century, but only the last two hours of it, allowing PBS to air the first hour for the last five years or so. In fact, earlier this year, there were rumbles that CBS might drop the telecast altogether. But now, CBS has picked up its option to air all three hours of the Tonys, shutting a stunend PBS out of the process entirely. So what suddenly made the Tonys a desirable commodity? Couldn’t have anything to do with this year’s unexpected blockbuster of a Grammy Awards show, could it? Nah…
Tag: 03.06.03
Houston Symphony Continues Sniping
The musicians and management of the Houston Symphony continue to take swipes at each other in a bitter contract dispute. A recent editorial in the Houston Chronicle called for management to withdraw its deadline for musicians to accept its ‘last, best’ contract offer, and continue to negotiate, but symphony management insists that the orchestra could run out of money by May if it continues to bargain indefinitely. Meanwhile, the musicians are convinced that the orchestra’s problems are due to gross mismanagement, and charge that the current executive team is determined “to destroy or, at the very least, downsize the orchestra to something they can financially handle but which would not by any definition be a world-class orchestra.”
Just Blow The Damn Thing Up
“The cumulative force of years of negative posturing, while successful in increasing musicians’ pay scales, in my opinion has weakened the Symphony’s prospects and credibility.” So speaks Roy Nolen, a former Houston Symphony board member who says that the orchestra’s problems do not stem from a lack of management competence, but from the inability of the musicians to accept the reality that the residents of the nation’s fourth-largest city simply do not care about orchestral music. “It may be time for the Houston Symphony Society to consider whether a single-city symphony orchestra of high quality is viable in Houston.”
Arts Policy Coming To Calgary?
Calgary is a beautiful city, but these days, it is hardly thought of as an artistic and cultural beacon. In the last year, the city’s orchestra nearly folded, and the city council nearly refused to assist in its rescue. But a new proposal would see the Cowboy City adopt an official ‘arts policy’ which would commit Calgary to supporting, i real and substantive ways, its own cultural future. “If council approves the recommendation, it will develop a new civic arts policy by April 2004 that will include setting aside a portion of city infrastructure spending specifically for the arts.”
Music & Murder: The Life and Death of a Canadian Composer
Twenty years ago this week, French-Canadian composer Claude Vivier was murdered in Paris by a teenage prostitute. “His grisly demise was the mirror opposite of his music, which often sparkles with a delicate and loving grandeur. And it endures. Most of his 48 completed pieces have been recorded… His output heightened Canada’s international stature more than any other composer’s. Dangerous living fuelled his inspiration, helping polish salacious experience into a diamond in sound. Yet it also proved his undoing.”
An American in London
The British people have spoken, and they have declared that the author who best exemplifies an understanding of and love for the U.K. is none other than travel author and novelist Bill Bryson. Bryson’s Notes From A Small Island was chosen as the ‘book that best represents England’ in a poll organized for World Book Day, and it beat out Orwell’s 1984, among other classic British books. Of course, Bryson is from Des Moines, Iowa…
Will US Supreme Court Allow Library Internet Porn Filters?
The US Supreme Court hears arguments on whether public libraries should be required to filter porn sites on their computers. “The case pits free speech rights against the government’s ability to protect the public from the seamy side of the Internet. Solicitor General Theodore Olson argued that libraries don’t have X-rated movies and magazines on their shelves and shouldn’t have to offer access to pornography on their computers. Librarians and civil liberties groups contend that filters are censorship and that they block a vast amount of valuable information along with the pornography. Some of the justices seemed skeptical of the challenge to the Children’s Internet Protection Act.”
US Prosecutors Crack Down On Art Buyers Trying To Avoid Taxes
US prosecutors are going after art buyers who have made deals with galleries to avoid sales taxes. So far, “34 Manhattan families had coughed up $6 million in back taxes on art purchases since June, when former Tyco International CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski was indicted on charges he evaded sales taxes on $13 million in art in a widely publicized case. Art dealers say they believe the government is looking for quick ways to collect revenue in a weak economy.”
Did Fire Alarm Cover Jail Art Theft?
Did security guards at Riker’s Island jail stage a fake fire drill las weekend to cover the theft of a Dali painting? “The rare middle-of-the-night drill was held Friday, hours before two officers noticed that the painting, last appraised at $175,000, had been replaced with a fake.”
Bacon Heir’s Death Leads To Speculation About The Artist’s Paintings
What will happen to a number of important paintings by Francis Bacon now that the painter’s primary heir has died? “John Edwards, who died in Thailand on Wednesday aged 53, was Bacon’s friend and muse for many years. He inherited the artist’s £11m estate when Bacon died in 1992.”