A British member of parliament has instigated a bill to ban muzak from public places. “‘Piped music, muzak, or canned music is increasingly despised. All music is devalued if it is treated as acoustic wallpaper.'” – Chicago Tribune (Reuters)
Tag: 03.23.00
MASUR TO FRANCE
After much speculation, outgoing New York Philharmonic conductor Kurt Masur has been named music director of the Orchestre National de France. – San Francisco Chronicle
BRAND “X”
The Zefiro Ensemble is part of a growing trend among “authentic” performers of Baroque music: unlike the traditional chamber orchestra model of a “group of musicians that rehearses in a particular city on a regular basis and sets out from there to give concerts,” Zefiro’s players reside in countries throughout Europe and consider themselves “as operating under a brand name.” Sounds awfully 21st century for a group whose mission is to recreate the sounds of the 17th-century masters. – Ha’aretz (Israel)
PRETERNATURALLY YOUNG
Philadelphia-based recording engineer Ward Marston has made it his life’s work to recreate the magic of opera’s “golden age” of vocals. Enthralled by turn-of-the-century singers like Adelina Patti and Enrico Caruso, “the first generation of performers to be able to record their voice, or their art, for history,” Marston has transferred more than 400 historic recordings, including 23 on his own label, from their original wax cylinders and 78s to CD. – The Age (Melbourne)
STUMBLING ONTO GOLD
The 61-year-old man who found the case of stolen Oscar statuettes and returned them to the police was awarded a $50,000 reward for his good deed. In addition to securing an invitation to the Academy Awards ceremony, he hopes to get a book contract or a movie made about his life. – Washington Post (AP) 03/23/00
- OSCARS are said to contribute some $61 million into the Los Angeles economy. – Variety 03/24/00
MINNESOTA COMES TO TOWN
It took an outsider in the form of Minnesota Public Radio to take over a Los Angeles public radio station and give the city its first local morning public affairs program. Is this public radio of the future? – LA Weekly 03/23/00
THINK AGAIN
Last year Alice Goldfarb Marquis embarked on a project to come up with a list of the 100 most significant independent scholars of the 20th Century. What fun, she thought, as she set about gathering her names. And then she started circulating her suggestions… – The Idler
THE GROUND BENEATH OUR FEET
Over three decades, the unconventional Boyle family of artists has developed a growing reputation for sculpting ravishing facsimile wall reliefs, “ranging from the surface of a road to a beach or snow” of random sites around the globe. “Most projects involve six-week field trips as far afield as the Australian desert or to the Vesteralen Islands in the Arctic Ocean. Destinations are determined by sending out invitations with a dart enclosed; at the ensuing party blindfolded guests throw darts at a map.” – London Evening Standard
NOVEL EXPERIENCE
Margaret Atwood found life on the film set to be very different than her solitary life as a writer; the group dynamics, the realization that the director has Alzheimer’s and the lead actress, whose breasts were becoming increasingly larger, was pregnant. “‘You don’t have those problems when you’re a novelist. If the person’s breasts in the novel get bigger and bigger, it’s because you’ve made that happen.”” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
THE NEGOTIATOR
The Mayor of Boston has stepped in to help resolve a development dispute over the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End. The proposal for the new $69 million complex, which will include two new theaters and artists’ studios, was being held up because the BCA’s neighbors objected to the placement of a loading dock. – Boston Globe