“Plagued by deep financial difficulties, the Philadelphia Orchestra is hurtling toward bankruptcy; its Board of Directors is set to make a decision as soon as this Saturday. … Sources say if the board votes yes, the musicians might begin a six month work stoppage.”
Tag: 04.12.11
Irish Authors Dominate Shortlist For World’s Richest Book Prize
“Some of the biggest names in Irish literature are set to go head to head for the richest literary prize in the world, with Colm Toibin, Colum McCann and William Trevor all making the shortlist for the 100,000 euro Impac Dublin literary award.”
Banks Forgive $10.8 Million Debt Owed By Milwaukee Public Museum
“The Milwaukee Public Museum has received a big financial boost in the form of forgiveness of $10.8 million in debt, museum President Jay Williams said Tuesday. The museum cut a deal in which two-thirds of its $13.5million in bank debt that would have come due in 2017 was written off.”
An Awfully Bad Case Of Synaesthesia
It happened to a 30-year-old crystal meth user in Iran: “He developed odd behaviors such as boiling animal statues. He was hearing the voices of colors, which were in the carpet. Colors moved around and talked to each other about the patient.”
Honolulu Symphony May Be Revived Under New Agreement
“A group called the Symphony Exploratory Committee, recently bought all the assets from the [defunct] Honolulu Symphony, and announced Tuesday that it’s reached a three year agreement with the musicians’ union.” The revived orchestra could give its first performances next fall.
Stephen King On Story Ideas
“In the old days, it would seem like ideas were crammed in like people in an elevator. And my head was sometimes a very noisy place to be. The other thing that happens with that is, say you’re working on something and it’s going along pretty well, and two or three ideas occur, and they’re all yelling ‘You should write this! You should write this!’ It’s almost like being married and all of a sudden your life is full of beautiful women.”
Where Self-Control Comes From
Dan Ariely: “If you think about the environment we live in [today], you will notice how it is essentially designed to challenge every grain of our self-control. … It is in this very environment that it’s particularly important to understand what’s going on behind the mysterious force of self-control.”
Recreating The Ballet Russes For Russia
Former Bolshoi star Andris Liepa and the Kremlin Ballet of Moscow have been using photographs, notes, paintings, set and costume designs, and other sources to reconstruct seven of Diaghilev’s most storied ballets, including L’Après-midi d’un faune, Firebird, Le Dieu bleu and Nijinska’s original Boléro. In addition to performances in the West (they open in London this week), Liepa and his company bring these works to provincial Russia, where they had never been seen.
Documents In Walt Whitman’s Hand Found In US National Archives
“The writings are essentially letters authored by various government officials that Whitman copied into record books when he was a clerk in the U.S. attorney general’s office in the 1860s. … [The] discovery illuminates Whitman’s day-to-day life as a Washingtonian and dedicated federal worker.”
Russia’s Art Terrorists (And Prizewinners)
“Since starting their political street art three years ago, Voina have kept strictly under the radar. No mobile phones, no bank accounts, no permanent address, and ad hoc gatherings where they hope not to attract the authorities’ attention. This has become progressively harder as their activity has become more acclaimed” – the giant phallus they painted on a St. Petersburg bridge just won a major award.