David Patrick Stearns: “[Lang Lang’s] hair and clothes have made him look like a rock star for years … [His] Curtis classmate, Yuja Wang, made jaws drop with a microdress she wore onstage at the Hollywood Bowl last week with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.” And then there’s the frequently bare-chested barihunk Nathan Gunn …
Tag: 08.11.11
The Multifarious Magic Of Stage Kisses
“Whether bestowed on the lips, the cheek, the hand or any other part of the anatomy, the simple application of the lips to someone else’s body can illuminate all sorts of different, and often contradictory, feelings.” Ben Brantley unpacks three memorable moments of onstage osculation from this summer.
Sesame Street Answers The Question: Bert And Ernie Are Not Gay
The Sesame Workshop said in a statement: “Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets™ do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”
London’s Southwark Playhouse Threatened In Subway Expansion
“The theatre, which is housed in the vaults beneath the station, will have to vacate the premises in December 2012. The building project will allow London Bridge station to cope with increased capacity and the Thameslink line.”
How About A Spotify For Culture?
“Developing successful, revenue-generating subscription models for the digital content of arts organisations has to be explored. Just as Spotify and Last.fm are in different ways exploring subscription or ad-based models for streaming music, so a ‘cultural’ subscription model needs to be explored, providing access to multiple platforms across different devices.”
SPOILER ALERT: You’ll Enjoy This More
“A new study suggests that spoilers can actually increase our enjoyment of literature. Although we’ve long assumed that the suspense makes the story — we keep on reading because we don’t know what happens next — this new research suggests that the tension actually detracts from our enjoyment.”
Australian Government Links Arts And Broadband Internet Policy
“As the government drafts the nation’s first cultural policy in 20 years, Arts Minister Simon Crean said he wanted to encourage the use of new technologies to develop and distribute fresh creative talent.”
Ai Weiwei Interrogated 50 Times During Detention
“Even on the day of his release, officers reminded Ai he could still face 10 years in jail for inciting subversion to state power – a vaguely-worded charge often used against dissidents – the source said. He had to agree to conditions including no media interviews, no meetings with foreigners, no use of the internet and no interaction with human rights advocates for one year from his return home.”
Does Pop Music Need Philanthropic Support?
“Classical music has long embraced musical patronage, and now it’s happening in pop, too. Meet the new mentors.”
Meet Phillip Levine, America’s Next Poet Laureate
“He’s traditionally been one of the humanitarian voices, the voice of social and political justice in American poetry.”