“An alcohol-free strip club in New York believes lap dances and private room acts are tantamount to live theatrical and choreographed art performances and should be tax-exempt. Unfortunately, the Fourth Appellate Court disagreed.”
Tag: 06.13.11
Ho Hum – Another Story About Boredom
“Peter Toohey has written a short book defending drudgery. Dismissed in the past because it is not a big, passionate emotion like love or hate, boredom, he argues, should be respected and cherished rather than feared and reviled.”
Drawing Dance: Scenes From The Merce Cunningham Legacy Tour
“The Brooklyn-based artist Kenneth E. Parris III is on tour with members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, documenting their two-year Legacy Tour through a series of drawings and paintings.”
James Franco’s Latest Project: ‘Museum of Non-Visible Art’
From the artist statement for the project: “Composed entirely of ideas, the Non-Visible Museum redefines the concept of what is real. Although the artworks themselves are not visible, the descriptions open our eyes to a parallel world built of images and words. This world is not visible, but it is real, perhaps more real than the world of matter, and it is also for sale.”
Spider-Man Team Defends Julie Taymor
Many members of the “Spider-Man” team have lately come to Taymor’s defense, including Bono, who called Taymor a “card-carrying genius,” and T.V. Carpio, who plays Arachne and says, “The foundation of what makes the show amazing and magical is what came out of Julie’s head.”
Tonys Confirm: Broadway’s Biggest Year Ever
“Broadway had its biggest year ever, setting a box office record that was attributable not just to the usual uptick in ungodly ticket prices but also to a spike in attendance. The Great White Way, once a poor corner of showbiz, is now solidly a billion-dollar business.”
Assembling A New Set Of ‘Brandenburg Concertos’
“Bruce Haynes and Susie Napper of the Montreal Baroque Festival have come up with an audacious offering for the ninth edition of the festival: six ‘new’ Brandenburg concertos. … These so-called Brandenburgs are actually instrumentalized groupings of Bach cantata movements.”
Tentatively, Saudis Try Their Hands At Comedy
“Stand-up comedy in Saudi Arabia remains a somewhat clandestine affair, emerging from the raw local performers hired as warm-up acts for the mostly Arab-Americans who began touring the Middle East a few years ago. But Saudi comics are now coming into their own” – mostly on the Web, where there is less worry about the kingdom’s morals enforcers.
2011 Tony Awards: Another Triumph For Britain’s Subsidised Theatres
Michael Billington: “Where would Broadway be without the British taxpayer? I ask because it always strikes me as faintly ironic that the most flagrantly commercial theatre district on earth depends heavily on imports from the British subsidised sector.”
Claudio Bravo, Chilean Hyper-Realist Painter, Dead At 74
“His paintings, depicting crumpled paper, paper bags and paper-wrapped packages tied with string, put technical virtuosity at the service of an imagination shaped by old master painting, especially the work of 17th-century Spanish artists like Zurbaran, Cotan and Velazquez.”