Tag: 08.09.00

GHOST OF A CHANCE

In the 1960s, hippy artists from Britain were invited to revive a ghost hill town in Italy. They restored its houses and rebuilt the water and sewage system and made the town a going concern. “But a promise that they could make their homes was never put in writing.” Now the Italian government wants the town back … – BBC 08/09/00

CULTURAL CRUSADER

On Tuesday US VP-candidate Joe Lieberman, “a culture warrior considered one of the moral voices of the Senate, promised supporters that the Democratic Gore/Lieberman ticket would help parents ‘raise PG kids in an X-rated society.’ He praised Vice President Gore’s wife, Tipper, for having had the courage to speak out against certain music lyrics, a move for which she was widely blasted in the 1980s.” – Washington Post 08/09/00

  • A TV CRITIC: “Lieberman, like a lot of us who actually watch the TV we rip, wants content changes. But when the government threatens to get involved in that sort of thing, it smacks of demagoguery. No matter. TV critic Lieberman is always good for an opinion.” – Chicago Sun-Times 08/09/00

  • THE LIEBERMAN FACTOR: US VP-candidate Joe Lieberman has been tough on the entertainment industry. How tough?  “He told Daily Variety last year that shows like ‘Friends’ should be relegated to late night because of their raciness. – Variety 08/08/00

SOUL SURVIVOR

Europe’s big cultural festivals are big business. “Salzburg, the most prestigious, sold its soul a long while back. Nowhere on the tourist itinerary of Europe are you more likely to find over-priced hotels and mediocre restaurants. The old town has become little more than a shopping mall for the exceedingly wealthy. How could Mozart’s birthplace have come to this?” All the more to sympathize with Gerard Mortier’s struggle for artistic integrity. – Financial Times 08/09/00

MR. MODERN

Nicholas Serota is smiling. And why not? Serota, director of the Tate Museum, is “one of the handful of culture gurus who have persuaded conservative Britons to cast aside their instinctual suspicion of modern art. Serota has, with Tate Modern, simultaneously catapulted Britain to the forefront of the international contemporary art world, up there with New York’s MOMA and the Pompidou in Paris.” – Los Angeles Times

ON JERRY HALL’S NUDE SCENE

“Without my stopwatch on the night, I had to resort to the trusted old method of counting seconds, muttering “One elephant . . . two elephants . . . three elephants,” and so on. By the time I reached the fifth elephant, my neighbours in the stalls were pushing me under my seat and sitting on my head to shut me up, because they thought my comments would upset Mick Jagger, who was in the audience.” – Sydney Morning Herald

CELEBRITY TURNS

“Jerry Hall made her official debut on the London stage. “On Tuesday night the critics’ knives were out – and sharpened – as 44-year-old Hall still failed to make anything more than just an adequate impression.” – BBC

ON JERRY HALL’S NUDE SCENE

“Without my stopwatch on the night, I had to resort to the trusted old method of counting seconds, muttering “One elephant . . . two elephants . . . three elephants,” and so on. By the time I reached the fifth elephant, my neighbours in the stalls were pushing me under my seat and sitting on my head to shut me up, because they thought my comments would upset Mick Jagger, who was in the audience.” – Sydney Morning Herald

MR. MODERN

Nicholas Serota is smiling. And why not? Serota, director of the Tate Museum, is “one of the handful of culture gurus who have persuaded conservative Britons to cast aside their instinctual suspicion of modern art. Serota has, with Tate Modern, simultaneously catapulted Britain to the forefront of the international contemporary art world, up there with New York’s MOMA and the Pompidou in Paris.” – Los Angeles Times