The Montreal Jazz Festival has become a monster. “More than 500 concerts featuring 2,000 musicians on 20 stages attracting 1.7 million visitors for 10 days and nights of the biggest and best jazz festival on the planet. As it approaches its 25th anniversary (next year), the Montreal International Jazz Festival – which ends Sunday – has become the model toward which all other world-class jazz soirees aspire, or ought to.”
Tag: 07.06.03
Painting Turns Up After 300 Years
An Italian Baroque painting lost 300+ years ago, has turned up. “The picture, The Montalto Madonna, has been copied many times by artists in Rome, both in painted and engraved form. It was last mentioned officially in 1672 by the biographer Gian Pietro Bellori but thereafter vanished without trace and has been considered lost ever since. When a client took a small copper panel bearing the familiar composition of The Montalto Madonna into Sotheby’s head office, the instinctive reaction was that it was not the real thing – or rather that it could not possibly be the genuine article after a lapse of more than three centuries. However…”
The Voice-Over A-List
All sorts of A-list actors are showing up as voices in new animated features. What’s the attraction? Animators get to cash in on the big names. As for the actors, it’s easy work. “No hair and make-up necessary, not a personal trainer in sight and a four-hour work day: these are just a few of the enticements luring A-list actors, including Jim Carrey, Will Smith and Robin Williams, to headline animated features.”
Naked Theatre
“You could see a lot of actors stripping this past season, especially if you were one of the many people who took opera glasses to the theater. This bumper crop of flesh, both subtly achieved and blatantly revealed, offered audiences a chance to study in depth how nudity actually functions onstage. One thing was clear in almost all of last season’s strips: it was the moment of first removal (rather than the eventual full monty) that brought the biggest gasps.”
Patriotism In Creativity
Patriotism isn’t just about jingoism and flag-waving, writes Frank Rich. “Patriotism needn’t make us so weary. Look around our culture, and it isn’t hard to find a faith in America that is not defined by government-commissioned flag-waving, political demagoguery or cable news’s jingoism-as-marketing-strategy. The most telling American fables don’t come in the blacks and whites of our current strident political and cultural discourse, which so often divides Americans into either flag-draped heroes or abject traitors. The great American stories, from Huckleberry Finn’s to the Dixie Chicks’, have always been nuanced; they can have poetry and they can have dark shadows. They can combine a love of country with an implicit criticism of it.”
Play It Again Sam
“This summer, more than ever, the creative and marketing logic behind the movie sequel has reversed. With the exception of the odd original picture – ‘Finding Nemo’ or a comic-book franchise like ‘The Hulk’ – sequels have become the movie industry’s core product. They are bigger, more expensive, more heavily hyped and – arguably – sometimes superior to their progenitors.”
Knockoff Harrys Outsell Original In Pakistan
Knockoff editions of the new Harry Potter are outselling the authentic version in Pakistan. “One bookseller said at least five different versions of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix were on the market. Priced at between 295-495 rupees (£3-5, $5-8.50), they are proving hugely popular in competition with the $29.99 (£18) official version. Pakistan is ranked as one of the world’s largest producers of pirated goods, including CDs, films and computer software.”
Musicians Protest Licensing
UK musicians are protesting a new musician licencing law passed in parliament last week. “It means that venues catering for audiences of 200 or fewer will have to obtain a licence to stage concerts – with the exception of unamplified ensembles such as string quartets. The government says public safety is at risk from unlicensed events, citing more than 1,500 fires in pubs and clubs in England and Wales in 2001. But the Musicians’ Union says its artists are being singled out – while performers such as stand-up comics and novelty acts are exempt.”
Your Concert Buddy
Would it be nice to have someone with you at a symphony concert explaining what’s happening with this music? “Still in the testing stages, the Concert Companion provides written cues to guide listeners through a concert hall performance, moment by moment, as it’s happening – in real time, as they say. Conceived by a former Kansas City Symphony executive and designed in conjunction with two Silicon Valley software firms and a UCLA musicologist, the Concert Companion is creating a buzz in the symphonic world.”
Seen The Movie, Now Come To The Play, Er, Movie…Er…
Used to be that theatre productions used to depend on stars to attract audiences. But lately, movies have been the draw. “Miramax, the studio that created ‘Chicago,’ has secured the rights to film at least three more Broadway musicals. Two of them — ‘Guys and Dolls’ and ‘Damn Yankees’ — have been given the Hollywood treatment before. And industry publications have said in recent weeks that uber-producer/director Steven Spielberg is interested in creating a film version of Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 masterpiece, ‘Sweeney Todd.’ If these projects do make it to movie theaters, it will represent a turnaround from Broadway’s recent history.”