“What novelist with a big record collection wouldn’t be excited at the prospect of writing about rock’n’roll life: the internal politics, the heartbreak, the potential for myth-making? Nonetheless, the rock-novel genre contains some of history’s most misguided books. Bad fake music journalism disguised as fiction for people who don’t read fiction? Literary slumming from writers who really should know better? Overexcited fan-boy ramblings? It’s all here.”
Tag: 06.25.07
It’s Not Just The Pops Crowds Who Are Getting Rough
“You think it’s tough out there on the streets? Try going to the theatre. That was my first reaction upon reading of a homophobic incident the other evening at the West End musical Spamalot. … This particular musical has developed – both on Broadway and, evidently, here as well – a reputation for recognisably blokeish audiences at odds with the women and gay men who make up musical theatre’s traditional constituency. But verbal abuse? That’s a new one on me.”
Milwaukee Loses Its Classical Music Radio Station
Last week was the end of classical music on WFMR-FM, wich has switched over to a soft jazz format. “We gave it a 10-year run,” says Tom Joerres of the classical music format, a rarity for commercial stations. “The average audience on ‘FMR is 60-plus.”
London Art Sales Punch Up A Level
“If money is any indication, the London sales have momentum. Christie’s reported a nearly 20% rise between the February sales and June sales. The total for the Impressionist, Modern, and Postwar Contemporary sales rose to $470 million from $392 million. Sotheby’s sold $408 million worth of art, their highest London total ever. Overall, the London auctions showed that the steady trends of the last two years are still in train.”
Dana Gioia Crusades For The NEA
The chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts advocates for his vision of the arts across America. “Condemning artists for becoming ‘wonderfully expert in talking to one another’ but not to the wider world — and the media for turning American culture into ‘one vast infomercial’ — Gioia told his audience ‘almost everything in our national culture, even the news, has been reduced to entertainment’.”
Germany Bans Tom Cruise Movie Shoot
“Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist, the Defence Ministry said on Monday. Cruise, also one of the film’s producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognize as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject.”
AMA Debates Video Game Addiction
Sunday’s debate at the American Medical Association “centered on whether enough science was available to classify excessive video game playing as an addiction and whether the organization should advocate an outright classification as an addiction or push for limits on game playing such as one to two hours of total daily screen time.”
Protests Over Planned Pasadena Orchestra Merger
Musicians of the Pasadena Symphony are protesting plans by the orchestra to merge with the Pasadena Pops Orchestra. The musicians union charges of unfair labor practices and grievances.
Entrepreneurial Filmmakers Make Bucks On YouTube
“Indie filmmakers seeking success on YouTube are no longer content to bask in the validation of a few thousand viewers. Instead, these auteur-entrepreneurs are using software, crowd sourcing and “virtual studio” sites to broaden exposure for their work and make a few bucks while they’re at it.”
Stephen Greco To Head Dance Theatre Workshop
Greco, 56, has worked as a marketing and branding consultant for corporations and arts institutions, and is a journalist. He is editor at large of Trace, an arts and culture magazine, and has written for The New Yorker, The Advocate and Dance Magazine, among others.