Two historians who lost their case charging Dan Brown with plagiarizing “The Da Vinci Code” have decided to appeal. “Random House, which won the copyright case earlier this year at the High Court in London, expressed disappointment at the decision by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh to appeal.”
Tag: 07.10.06
Rattle Takes On The Aix “Ring”
Simon Rattle conducts a dreary first installment of Wagner’s “Ring” at the Aix Festival. “Rattle has been taking some flak in the Berlin press — mostly for not being the late Herbert von Karajan, which you might think would be something of a blessing — but he sounded in danger of “Karajanising” his Wagner here, luxuriating in the wondrous sounds he coaxes from the Berliners and almost loving the music to death. There were exceptional moments — the rasp of the lower brass heralding the giants’ entrance suggested terrifying menace — but the overall effect was soporific.”
Voigt To (Finally) Sing Covent Garden Again
Soprano Deborah Voigt has been hired to sing at London’s Royal Opera House. Voigt was famously fired from singing in Ariadne Auf Naxos in 2004, reportedl for being too fat. Subsequently she had surgery and lost 150 pounds.
Chicago Jazz Station Takes The Jazz Out
Chicago public radio station WBEZ is dropping its current jazz format and turning to news and information. It’s a trend that has swept the public radio world. But jazz fans in Chicago are angry…
Requiem For The Video Store
“The demise of the independent bookstore has been augured for nearly a generation now, the inevitable casualty of behemoths like Borders and Barnes & Noble, online booksellers like Amazon, and ultimately, so we’re told, of the universal, digital library imagined by Google and various techno-visionaries. The more imminent demise of the video store, meanwhile, has merited only occasional notice, mostly in the business pages. Yet something important is being lost here, something that isn’t going to be replaced by rent-by-mail outfits like Netflix, video-on-demand services, or newfangled delivery systems like the Disney-backed MovieBeam.”
Getty Makes Deal To Return Greek Art
The Getty Museum has agreed to return two artifacts to Greece. “The compromise accord, which was initially hammered out in May at a meeting in Athens between the museum’s director, Michael Brand, and the Greek culture minister, Georgios A. Voulgarakis, provides for the return to Greece of a large stele, or grave marker, acquired by the museum in 1993 and an archaic votive relief bought by the museum’s founder, the oil magnate J. Paul Getty, in 1955. It also includes a provision for heightened collaboration between the museum and the Greek government.”
“Pirates” Has A Record Weekend
“Pirates of the Caribbean” shatters single-day and weekend box office records, taking in $132 million. “Playing at 4,133 theaters — the widest opening in Disney’s history — the film averaged $31,945 per venue. The weekend’s second-biggest movie, ‘Superman Returns,’ averaged $5,375 per location for a total of $21.9 million.”