“Big Idea books have been around for a long time; see The Communist Manifesto. But the Big Idea Book Club is a recent phenomenon. Its accidental founder and president in apparent perpetuity is Malcolm Gladwell. Its membership, like the membership of most powerful groups, is largely male.”
Tag: 03.20.11
A New Score For MacMillan’s Manon
One problem with the ballet “has remained constantly noticed – a sense that its orchestral score, a medley of Massenet arranged by Leighton Lucas, could do better justice to the story. Last weekend a new version of the score was premiered at the Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki … And MacMillan’s widow has declared that from now on this will be the standard orchestral score.”
Eli Broad And The Artists He’s Known
“There’s the time that Jean-Michel Basquiat visited [the billionaire arts patron’s] house and stole away to smoke pot in the bathroom. There’s the time that President Clinton was guest of honor for a fundraising dinner and recognized a lounging female figure sculpted by George Segal as a woman he used to date in Arkansas.”
Spanish Police Publish List Of Recovered Stolen Treasures
“Spanish police have published a catalogue of recovered stolen art and precious objects in the hope of reuniting them with their rightful owners. Among the items retrieved during raids are six Picasso pieces from 1933 titled Cardinal Sins, each in its own silver frame.”
Why Are The Last Chapters Of Social And Political Books So Bad?
“Practically every example of that genre, no matter how shrewd or rich its survey of the question at hand, finishes with an obligatory prescription that is utopian, banal, unhelpful or out of tune with the rest of the book. When it comes to social criticism, no one, it seems, has an exit strategy.”
The New New York Composers
“Three recent, overlapping festivals offered a portrait of a new New York School, high on amped-up minimalism, percussion-heavy beats, shimmering textures, loops, drones, and washes of electronic color. These composers in their thirties worry less about categories, narrative, and originality than about atmosphere, energy, and sound.”
John Zorn – Uptown Composer?
“An artist can’t remain “downtown” forever; downtown culture continually reinvents itself. If you had to locate it now, it would probably be centered somewhere closer to Brooklyn than to the East Village. At a certain point a downtown artist either enters the canon — goes uptown — or enters obscurity.”
Is The Design World Getting More Diverse?
Women have long complained that design has been a “man’s world,” but white man’s world would be more accurate. “There are more black designers coming up now. But it is disappointing that there aren’t more of us.”
2000 Bands And A Whole Lot Of People Goin’ On
“This year’s SXSW included live performances, official and peripheral, by at least 2,000 acts, and visitors from Taiwan, Australia, Colombia, Sweden and France. Bands work hard at SXSW, playing for all the audiences they can.”
Eli Broad On Collecting Art
“Collecting for me isn’t just about buying objects. It’s an educational process, and I think it’s made me a better person. I’d be bored to death if I spent all my time with other businesspeople, bankers and lawyers.”