Tag: 04.14.00

MINNESOTA TAKES ON L.A.

Minnesota Public Radio has bought “Marketplace” from KUSC. The northlanders previously assumed control of a Los Angeles public radio station and the MPR president says “I want the doors to be open to the creative community.” The new venture should be “a hothouse to incubate new ideas based on Los Angeles talent, cultural resources, ideas.” The production company’s name might evolve into something like Los Angeles Public Radio Productions. – Los Angeles Times 04/14/00

ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY

A German court has has ruled that America Online must take ultimate responsibility for music piracy on its websites. The judgment by the Bavarian state court in Munich, published yesterday, opens the way for the music industry to sue companies that provide a gateway to the internet. AOL was sued after discovery that digital music files belonging to the complainant were being swapped on some of AOL’s music forums. – The Independent (UK) 04/14/00

WHO YA GONNA BLAME?

“Blame Canada,” the scurrilous little ditty in the Oscar telecast featuring Robin Williams sashaying across the stage sandwiched between high-kicking Mountie chorus girls, gave Canada the highest visibility it has had in years south of the border. New York cabbies are cursing midtown traffic and insisting their passengers “Blame Canada.” Talk-show hosts and newspaper columnists are throwing up their hands at the various ills besetting the world, insisting people “Blame Canada.” And just in time, a festival of Canadian cinema opens tonight in New York with the best brand name going: Blame Canada.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada) 04/14/00

AD-BUSTERS

  • The new generation of video recorders has advertisers worried. The machines can automatically skip ahead of commercials or zap them altogether. When the devices first came out, ads trumpeted the ad-busting features, but now they’re not mentioned so prominently. Without the ads, who’d pay for the programming? – Chicago Tribune 04/14/00 

NO DAMES ALLOWED

Dame Edna – aka Aussie Barry Humphries – has been snubbed by this year’s Tony committee. The decision not to allow “Dame Edna: the Royal Tour” to compete in the two main categories – the season’s best musical or best play – comes as a blow to a show that has been hailed as one of Broadway’s more innovative offerings. It is also something of a slap to Dame Edna, and her real-life alter ego, whose unexpected success has been credited with breathing life into a sometimes lackluster season on the Great White Way. – The Age (Melbourne)

SMARTING UP

A new serious magazine about music has debuted. The International Record Review has “an impressive list of contributors and includes many authoritative names familiar from The Gramophone and even its long-lamented American counterpart High Fidelity. In fact the new magazine looks a lot like an issue of The Gramophone from 20 years ago and clearly represents disaffection with the direction that venerable magazine has taken in the last two years.” – Boston Globe

A REASON TO DIE

The New England Journal of Medicine is reporting that new research shows that playwright Eugene O’Neill “died from complications of a rare neurological disease that consumed the last 12 years of his life yet left his brilliance intact – and not, as has often been speculated, from a combination of Parkinson’s disease and chronic alcoholism.” – Boston Globe

RUSSIAN RETURN

  • Police have recovered 16 paintings stolen from St. Petersburg’s Academy of Arts last year, and two suspects have been detained. Last December thieves broke into the second floor of the museum and took the paintings, most of which dated from the 19th century. “One of the burglars pretended to be an art historian and obtained false documents allowing him to visit the academy’s library for [a period of] nearly two months. He repeatedly cut the alarm system in several places, so that people got used to it sounding constantly and became less attentive, making it easier to steal the paintings.” – St. Petersburg Times (Russia)