Mark Morris Dance Group celebrates its 20th anniversary next year. Still as flamboyant and opinionated as ever, Morris is one of the most sought after choreographers in the business and continues to churn out dazzling new dances. “Over the years his choreography has changed along with his taste in music. In the beginning it was provocative but playful, howling with a homosexual humour and sticking two fingers up at the more ascetic work of his contemporaries. Later, that sense of fun was allied to [his] talent for making jubilantly musical dance that could be as profound as it was frisky.” – The Sunday Times (London)
Tag: 06.19.00
TALENT CRUNCH
Public radio is facing a talent crisis, some say. “With many stations doing well financially, some are expanding and adding production capabilities, new shows and local news teams, he said. But competition in the overheated job market leaves a shrunken pool of applicants. That has many pubcasters worried about the future.” – Current 06/19/00
BOLLYWOOD v. HOLLYWOOD
As exported Indian movies get increasingly sophisticated (no longer just those epic musical romances), they are becoming big draws in Britain and are giving Hollywood a run for its money at the box office. Three Bollywood productions recently entered the UK’s top-10 list, and cinema chains showing Indian flicks are opening up all over Britain. – The Age (Melbourne) 06/19/00
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AND RICHARD WAGNER
So where did multi-media come from? A new website charts the evolution of the discipline through “the aspirations of artists, scientists, writers, musicians, and cultural renegades. The website presents a historical timeline, an overview of themes, and a comprehensive list of multimedia pioneers.” – Wired 06/19/00
WHAT’S THE 411?
Everyone talks about the overload of information, the swamp of media overload we find ourselves in the middle of as we enter the 21st Century. “I would like to dispute this view, to argue that every age was an age of information, each in its own way, and that communication systems have always shaped events.” – New York Review of Books 06/29/00
LEARNING THE HARD WAY
How can Broadway shows possibly satisfy the tastes of the crowds lining up to see “Footloose” and “Saturday Night Fever” as well as those looking for avant-garde productions and the many critics sore that the Great White Way has “become just another aisle in the great Disney store”? The Public Theater is learning the hard way – its “Wild Party” just closed at a loss of more than $5 million (just two years after its “On the Town” lost them $7 mil). “The Public’s multimillion losses might be admirable for an online pet-food start-up, but not for a nonprofit organization with just over 30 million dollars left in the bank. And all because a director of extraordinary but erratic ability – George C. Wolfe, the man responsible for Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America” and “Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk” – wanted to single-handedly reinvigorate Broadway. What a dumb idea.” – Feed
ACTRESS NANCY MARCHAND DIES —
— in Stratford, Connecticut at age 71. Broadway veteran and four-time Emmy Award winner for her role on “Lou Grant,” Marchand was famous most recently as Livia Soprano on “The Sopranos.” – New York Times
ACTRESS NANCY MARCHAND DIES —
— in Stratford, Connecticut at age 71. Broadway veteran and four-time Emmy Award winner for her role on “Lou Grant,” Marchand was famous most recently as Livia Soprano on “The Sopranos.” – New York Times
THE LINE KING
Al Hirschfeld turns 97 on Wednesday, and he’s still going strong, regularly caricaturing the worlds of stage, dance, music, and film. “I’m enchanted with line, what makes it work, how it communicates recognition to the viewer,” roars the man they dubbed The Line King. “That sounds like a ridiculous, insane kind of thing to devote your life to, but that’s what I’ve done. I find it fascinating, and I’m closer to a definition of it than when I started.” – MSNBC
OLD THINKING IN NEW CLOTHES
Retro glue attaches old thinking, old values, and old habits to new technologies. Retro glue can be a comfort, allowing the best elements of the old to adhere to the new so that we can see how similar the new thing is to our old standbys. It’s what drove Model T’s to look like buggies, what prompted early movies to be staged like theater. The e-book devices all strive to present a page of text exactly like a familiar printed page, and the button that turns each “page” doesn’t even require you to consult a user’s manual. But retro glue can also attach things that don’t belong. And the retro glue dripping off the e-book may, I fear, attach the worst of the last century’s paradigm of intellectual property to the new century’s publishing models. – Chronicle of Higher Education