“The company – and its home the Bristol Theatre Royal – went dark in August 2007, after the controversial and sudden decision to close the venue for a multimillion-pound refurbishment. The debacle saw the organisation lose both its artistic director Simon Reade and a large portion of its board, including the then-chairman Rupert Rhymes.”
Tag: 07.24.08
Columbus Symphony Cancels Fall Season
“With contract talks with musicians going nowhere, Columbus Symphony management said yesterday that the 2008-09 classical concert season won’t begin as usual in October, and that at least 10 performances through early December have been canceled.”
Les Paul At 93
Like his close collaborator, Leo Fender, Les Paul is best known for the electric guitar he created. If the Fender Stratocaster is the edgy workhorse of the rock industry, the Gibson Les Paul was and remains its elegant rival, its richly varnished mahogany body and oyster-shell fingerboard adding a touch of class to a rough-hewn affair. But there’s much more to Paul than a lump of wood with a cherry-burst finish: he’s also a consummate musician
Down Under – A Push For Restrictions On Images Of Children
The New South Wales Government is pushing for a national review of restrictions controlling images of children in art, following the furore over work by Australian artist Bill Henson.
At The Movies – End Of An Era
“This week, Roeper and Roger Ebert both left the show, whose format has survived since its beginning on public television in 1975 to its latest incarnation through Disney-ABC Domestic Television, with Roeper hosting with a rotating partner in Ebert’s health-related absence.”
SF Proposes Law To Prohibit Artists’ Cruelty To Animals
A committee in San Francisco’s city government has introduced a bill that would allow misdemeanour or felony criminal charges to be brought against any artist or financial backer who causes “the death, abuse or suffering of an animal” when making a work of art.
Just What Is The Point Of A Poet Laureate?
“The poet laureate is charged with bringing poetry to the forefront of the American consciousness, as well as playing consultant to the Library of Congress — which includes giving a reading at the beginning of the term and a lecture or reading at end of term, organizing monthly readings and overseeing the Library’s poetry fellowships and prizes. And, of course, he or she should continue to write poems. Sounds simple enough. Still, many laureates have found the demands of the position overwhelming.”
France’s First Lady Releases Album – It Zooms To Top Of The Charts
“The album has generated massive interest because it is the first by the Italian-born former model turned pop star since her whirlwind romance with President Nicolas Sarkozy, whom she married in February less than three months after they met.”
The Getty’s Garden-As-Art, Ten Years Later
“After walking this landscape once a month for a decade, watching it change, noting every plant and responding with his artist’s eye, Robert Irwin quietly retired this year, ending his role as shepherd of what he has long called ‘sculpture in the form of a garden.’ It’s a milestone for a garden long marked by controversy. Initially, many asked: Why choose an artist without garden experience? Why combine plants so unconventionally?”
Extended By Popular Demand: Little House On The Prairie Musical
“A new musical version of Little House on the Prairie was extended two weeks because of demand, the Guthrie Theater said. It stars Melissa Gilbert as the mother of the character she played on the TV series.”