“The repatriation is latest step in recovering about 15,000 priceless artifacts that were smuggled out of the country by looters during the chaos following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and have been turning up at art auctions around the world. Many were taken from the national museum in Baghdad, and thousands more were looted from archeolgoical sites.”
Tag: 06.23.08
Indie Bands Cancel, Cut Tours As Gas Price Soars
“If they’re not canceling their tours, small acts are banding together, stuffing themselves into smaller vehicles or cutting short their tours. The tough choices being made at the bottom of the music industry food chain are just one more hit to the business already reeling from declining album sales because of digital music.”
In Uganda – Familiar Story Of Radio Payola
“Radio stations are extorting money from artistes to play their music on radio – artistes have confessed. Whereas artistes seem comfortable with the system, they have no choice but to pay some money to get air play on radio. Usually the money is paid to the music schedulers and the DJs so that they speak well of an artiste while playing his or her songs.”
London Dome Is A Surprise Hit
The Millennium Dome was a huge bust for the purpose it was built. But “since then the former Millennium Dome has become the most popular music venue in the world, with the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Spice Girls selling out its 20,000-seat arena.”
SF Opera Outdoor Simulcast Draws A Big Crowd
San Francisco Opera’s free Friday night simulcast of Gaetano Donizetti’s tragic warhorse “Lucia di Lammermoor” drew about 23,000 people to AT&T Park, according to Opera estimates.
Reinventing Beijing
“Mao Zedong tried to change Beijing into an industrial and governmental center, putting up factories and ponderous administrative buildings. But now Mao’s Beijing is nearly as much a part of the past as the Forbidden City. The factories are being pushed to the outskirts, and in their place the city has developed a skyline.”
First Take: 3D Movies Seem To Be Good For Movie Biz
“Theaters that exhibited the November 2007 release “Beowulf” in 3-D saw a 65% sales increase in total boxoffice over comparable theaters that exhibited it in 2-D, according to a new study from the Nielsen Co.’s Nielsen PreView.”
How Take Me Out To The Ballgame Became A Baseball Icon
“The story of how the song first captured the public’s attention, later became a part of the game and then became an enduring hit, is as fascinating as a knuckleball is frustrating.”
Movie Weinsteins Jump Big Time Into Broadway
The Weinstein Co. — a minority co-producer on the season’s Tony-winning play and play revival, “August: Osage County” and “Boeing-Boeing,” respectively — has developed an ambitious slate of stage projects, likely to kick off with the upcoming tuner version of “Finding Neverland” in 2010, followed by a stage incarnation of Pink Floyd album “The Wall.”
Two Big NY Galleries Open In China
“PaceWildenstein will unveil its 22,000 sq. ft gallery in Beijing in August, while James Cohan Gallery opens a 3,000 sq. ft space in Shanghai in July. Both galleries are counting on the rise of the Asian art market and the proliferation of regional collectors.”