Tag: 03.17.07

Sontag Argues For The Novel

In a previouly unpublished article, Susan Sontag writes in defense of fiction in a world of fast-food media. “A great writer of fiction both creates – through acts of imagination, through language that feels inevitable, through vivid forms – a new world, a world that is unique, individual; and responds to a world, the world the writer shares with other people but is unknown or mis-known by still more people, confined in their worlds: call that history, society, what you will.”

Deborah’s Choice

When soprano Deborah Voigt told officials at the Metropolitan Opera that she had long dreamed of singing the lead in Richard Strauss’s little-known 1928 opera, “Die Ägyptische Helena,” the company leaped at the opportunity. But was all the effort worth it to stage an opera that might be neglected for good reason?

Provocative, Yes. Inaccurate…?

“A Tallahassee museum on Friday rejected a request by the local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to remove an exhibit the group considers disrespectful of the Confederate flag. The group, which has 56 members locally and about 1,500 statewide, asked the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science to remove ‘The Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag’ by John Sims. The work depicts a Confederate battle flag being lynched from a 13-foot-high wooden gallows.”

Rednecks Urged To Rise Up Against Cincy Pops

When the Cincinnati Pops scrapped tentative plans for a concert with a Dukes of Hazzard tie-in, fearing that the series’ heavy use of the Confederate flag could offend the city’s black community, they figured they were playing it safe. But one of the former stars of the TV show, ex-Congressman Ben “Cooter” Jones, was infuriated when told the reason for the cancellation, and is doing everything he can to provoke a backlash in Cincinnati.

Zagreb, City Of Contradiction

Zagreb, Croatia is the type of city that you wouldn’t expect to have a chance to make much of itself, located as it is “in a location that always seems too near the edge of some bigger place that wants to gobble it up. [But] Zagreb has been an example of many styles of architecture and many theories of city planning.” The result is a city that provides a fascinating architectural look at the conflicts and resolutions of 19th- and 20th-century political struggle.

Wendy Reves, 90

“Wendy Reves, who donated more than 1,400 works she and her husband collected to the Dallas Museum of Art, died on Tuesday in Menton, France. She was 90 and lived in Switzerland… The collection, which includes works by Rodin, Cézanne, van Gogh, Monet and Degas, among others, is in a wing of the museum that recreates five rooms from the home she and her husband, Emery Reves, shared in the South of France.”

Using SXSW As A Springboard To The World

The annual indie music orgy that is Austin’s South by Southwest festival is underway, with an unexpected twist. “Performers from countries like Australia and Norway have long added an international flair to this tastemaking festival, which is regarded as a supermarket for talent scouts to shop for new acts aiming to break through in America. But in a twist, the growing number of international players… at the festival have reversed some of the traffic — many artists from North America now visit Austin to pursue overseas opportunities, like releasing their music in Germany or booking a show in Japan.”

Pessimism Behind The Scenes At SXSW

South by Southwest may be a big music industry party, but it can’t obscure the fact that the record business remains in serious trouble. “Major labels have slashed employee and artist rosters. Perhaps most critically, the big record companies have largely failed to embrace the digital revolution, putting severe restrictions on their artists’ catalogs. In the process they alienated customers and drove away business.” But the indies who flock to SXSW may provide an example for the big boys to follow out of the digital wilderness.