Award-winning blues musician Jessie Mae Hemphill, whose professional career didn’t begin until the 1980s, died Saturday in Memphis.
Tag: 07.24.06
Selective Praise (Not)
London theatres are playing loose with critics’ quotes to hawk their shows. “More than one third of West End theatres have been found to use highly selective quotations, from the optimistic to the downright misleading. One of the most blatant offenders is Sinatra, a musical mixing footage of the late singer performing alongside a live band.”
Cork After Culture
Cork, Ireland, was the European Capital of Culture in 2005. So what was the lasting impact? “As you travel through the city barely six months after the cultural year ended, there is little sign that Cork is the new Milan, or even Cologne, for that matter. Two of the main arts venues are promoting reruns; the only cinema in the city centre has been sold for apartments; and an independent art gallery on the city’s north side has been forced to close its doors due to lack of business. It seems Cork is suffering from something of a cultural hangover.”
Why Wikipedia Rules
“As was the Encyclopédie, Wikipedia is a combination of manifesto and reference work. Peer review, the mainstream media, and government agencies have landed us in a ditch. Not only are we impatient with the authorities but we are in a mood to talk back. Wikipedia offers endless opportunities for self-expression. It is the love child of reading groups and chat rooms, a second home for anyone who has written an Amazon review.”
Smarter TV?
“Can it be? Programmers have heard the clamor for smarter, more literate television, and they have responded. (Disclaimer: Nobody is saying all these shows will hold up past the pilots, but a significant number of pilots are better than ever.)”
Survey: Many American Museums Haven’t Checked Provenance Of Nazi Era Art
“Of the 332 museums that were sent questionnaires by the conference in February, 214 responded before a deadline of July 10. Of those, approximately 114, or slightly more than half, said that they were actively conducting provenance work. The remaining 100 museums either said they were not doing such work or did not provide enough information for the Claims Conference to be able to make a determination.”
Oboist John Mack, 78
“He served as principal oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1965 until his reluctant retirement, due to an eye condition, in 2001. During those 36 years, a record in the post, he played under three music directors — George Szell, Lorin Maazel and Christoph von Dohnanyi — and the conductor who would become music director in 2002, Franz Welser-MÖst. Along with his legacy of performances and recordings, Mack taught oboists who hold positions in orchestras throughout the United States and abroad.”
Scuplture Comes Undone, Kills Two
Two women were killed and 13 people injured when an inflatable sculpture in the UK was blown 70 feet into the air by a gust of wind. “The Dreamspace installation was designed by Maurice Agis, 74, a renowned abstract artist who was at the scene yesterday. The structure is made from thin PVC sheets forming 115 multi-coloured inflated rooms and is about half the size of a football pitch. Visitors pay £5 to enter and wear a cape.”
Pavarotti: I’ll Be Singing Again
Luciano Pavarotti recently had to stop his farewell tour to have an operation for pancreatic cancer. But he says he’ll return. “I have every intention of returning to singing. I want to finish my tour. I can’t give precise dates because I’ll have to discuss it with the doctors, but I think I’ll start again next year.”
Comics 101
Comics are increasingly attracting scholarly interest. “There’s now an academic journal and a scholar’s discussion list for those who study comics. While they didn’t have exact numbers, scholars at Comic-Con estimated that hundreds of academics in the U.S. are specializing in comics.”