Tag: 06.19.07

High On Music

An Italian cellist accompanied by what must have been the world’s most devoted audience climbed 4,500 vertical feet to the summit of Japan’s Mount Fuji last weekend (with his cello,) and then played a recital of solo Bach on the mountaintop.

Philly Academy Of Music Gets French Aid In Restoration

“It’s nearly summer, and the great chandelier that has hung in the Academy of Music for a century and a half is going on a nice, long trip – a cure, really – to the south of France.” The point of its restoration “is to get the chandelier as close as possible to its original appearance without reinstalling the 240 gas jets that were its original source of light. It is part of a larger, $1.2 million project to relight the Academy’s ornate architectural details, such as the Mozart medallion over the stage and the mural in the dome.”

Smithsonian Deputy Secretary And COO Resigns

“Sheila P. Burke offered her resignation as deputy secretary and chief operating officer, after working for the Smithsonian for seven years while earning more than $1.2 million in six years for outside duties, a Washington Post review showed. … Burke’s resignation came on the eve of an independent report that sources said would criticize her extensive outside activities, including highly compensated corporate board seats, academic appointments, a federal commission that oversees Medicare, and numerous nonprofit organizations.”

Artists Worry: Chelsea Hotel No Longer A Refuge?

“For six decades the Bard family has managed the Hotel Chelsea, overseeing a bohemian enclave that has been a long-term home for writers, artists and musicians including Mark Twain, O. Henry, Tennessee Williams, Dylan Thomas, Andy Warhol, and Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. The Bard era came to an end yesterday” with the hotel board installing new management, and “the Bards were busy filling boxes in the lobby with help from residents who expressed concern about what the management change portends for one of New York’s more quirky cultural institutions.”

Planned Destruction Of Breuer Tower Sparks Outcry

“Marcel Breuer, one of the fathers of modern architecture, built only one skyscraper, the 29-story Cleveland Trust Tower, which today stands abandoned on a forlorn block downtown. But a plan to demolish the tower, and replace it with a midrise government office building, has caused an outcry among architectural preservationists, who call the building an overlooked landmark. … Some people, though, just call Breuer’s building ugly.”

A Tap-Dance Deity Keeps His Distance From Tap Fests

Savion Glover’s mentor, Gregory Hines, “was famous for his inclusive, galvanizing efforts on behalf of the tap world. Mr. Glover, in contrast, has withdrawn from it, largely because of his distaste for the festival circuit. Other tap dancers have expressed reservations about festivals, but none have been as vehement as Mr. Glover. And none have had his pulpit. He describes festivals as increasingly impersonal and business-oriented, adding that they do little to develop the artistry and intellect of aspiring tap dancers.”

As The Nile Rises, Ancient Kush Is Revealed

“To archaeologists, knowing that a virtually unexplored land of mystery is soon to be flooded has the same effect as Samuel Johnson ascribed to one facing the gallows in the morning. It concentrates the mind. Over the last few years, archaeological teams from Britain, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Sudan and the United States have raced to dig at sites that will soon be underwater. The teams were surprised to find hundreds of settlement ruins, cemeteries and examples of rock art that had never been studied.”