Miami’s new Performing Arts Center is in trouble. The $255 million project is late and over-budget. “With construction costs threatening to spiral ‘out of control,’ the Performing Arts Center’s completion date has been pushed back about another six months to the summer of 2006. Change orders from the builders requesting more money are pouring into Miami-Dade County at the rate of $1 million a week. County officials fear cost overruns could reach close to $100 million.”
Tag: 03.13.04
Post Mortem On Creativity – What’re The Rules?
What should become of an artist’s unplubished work after they’re dead? “One school of thought says if a composer, writer or painter does not wish certain works to be seen or heard they should destroy them; that, indeed, leaving them in existence is a tacit acceptance that they will see the light of day eventually.” And yet, seeing (or listening to) this work often leads to insight on the “official ouevre.
Pop Goes The (Damn) Musical
What’s with all these musicals based on pop songs? “What’s baffling about musicals about music is their tautologous nature – it’s like baking a pie pie. Worse, however, is that everything that might have been good about original rock/pop subject matter – its fleeting, perfectly glistening moments – is obliterated in these mercenary productions, these Trocaderofications of rock, in which the glorious past becomes the cheap and waxen perma-present. What’s sad is how many artists, from Suggs to Rod Stewart, are prepared to collaborate in the ruin of their own often already dubious reputations.”
Will That Be Tunes With Your Latte?
Starbucks is unveiling a new instore music service. The ubiquitous coffee chain plans to offer 250,000 songs for sale in its stores. Customers can then order tracks they like, have them burnt on to a CD and buy it when they leave.
How Woody Allen Fired Me
Last year actress Annabelle Gurwitch was hired by Woody Allen for his new play. She was thrilled. But quickly after rehearsals began, he changed his mind. “I just couldn’t believe Woody Allen was ruining my Woody Allen experience!” she cried. Less than two weeks after rehearsals began, she was replaced – fired – and she slunk back to L.A., “like a small-time crook.” Now she’s taken the experience, and in true show biz fashion…
Ottawa Tax Revolt Threatens Arts Funding
Taxpayers in Ottawa are revolting over plans to hike taxes. “The tax-freeze movement finds itself pitted against members of the arts community who are banding together to fight council over proposed cuts. The proposed budget would wipe out funding for 28 major festivals, fairs and events. Critics of any cuts charge that arts spending in Ottawa is among the lowest for a municipality in Canada, at $3.89 per capita. A report by Toronto’s culture division last year found that Vancouver spends $17.71 per capita; Montreal tops the list at $26.62; Toronto spends $14.64.”
Buy Canadian? How Hard A Sell Is That?
“Ask a literary agent about the prospect of selling Canadian fiction at an international book fair, and what would you expect? A gleam in the eye as they talk about the chance to hustle in the big leagues? An adrenalin-fuelled soliloquy as they praise new discoveries? A dazzling grin as they recall the Champagne downed to celebrate the deals they’ve brokered? Try suicide metaphors.”
The Growing Divide: Europe And The US
International politics over the past few years have magnified the cultural differences between Europe and the United States. “These growing divisions — over war, peace, religion, sex, life and death — amount to a philosophical dispute about the common origins of European and American civilization. Both children of the Enlightenment, the United States and Europe clearly differ about the nature of this inheritance and about who is its better custodian.”
Preaching To The Choir?
Politiucal books are hot. But who reads them, and do they change anyone’s political opinions? A researcher tracked buyers and discovered there is little overlapping of political ideologies among readers. In other words, conservatives buy conservative books and liberals buy liberal books…
Face Off – Learning To Love Portaits
“The arts editor had a brilliant idea. He thought. A weekly series on portraits? I wasn’t so sure. The National Portrait Gallery is my idea of hell. Hard-faced Tudors and luxuriantly eccentric Victorians are great. But the 20th-century galleries make your flesh crawl with their bad paintings, trite photographs, and affirmation that the interest of a portrait lies in its subject rather than creator. The NPG classifies portraits by the person, with the artist’s name second. This is why portraits can seem the opposite of serious art.” And yet…