It’s been played more than 70 million times, and Franklin saw exactly none of the royalties because it was written by Otis Redding. “Every time the song is played on the radio, Mr. Redding’s estate — he died in a 1967 plane crash — has been paid.” That’s a rallying cry to make copyright law work both for writers and for artists.
Tag: 08.17.18
There’s A Lot More Going On Between The Minnesota Orchestra And South African Musicians Than A ‘Tour’
A member of the Minnesota Chorale notes that the important parts involve an exchange, and that the Orchestra and Chorale are working with “750-800 local musicians and 20 music ensembles. At least 11 South African composers will have their works performed.”
A German Gallery Cuts Ties With One Of Its Artists Over His Views On Immigration
Artist Axel Klause expressed some quite conservative views on Facebook – and his gallery of 13 years said that it couldn’t continue the relationship. One of the Leipzig gallery’s partners: “I’m not a public institution or an institution of public interest. I have a commercial gallery where I organize and sell exhibitions, and I don’t have to represent every viewpoint that exists in society.”
Bernstein at Brevard — Take Two: The Artist and Politics
The backlash against Bernstein’s politics was huge – and “his activities became an insane obsession of J. Edgar Hoover.”
Remember The Members
The Metropolitan Museum’s new director writes a letter to members – and appears to want an exchange of ideas, so here are a few.
In A Europe Disturbed By Anti-Muslim Sentiment, This Exhibit Makes A Statement
The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, is acknowledging the way the Italian Renaissance depended on – and exchanged ideas and goods with – Muslim countries. The exhibit is a “scholarly riposte” to a world in which, “today, Italians have little exposure to the Islamic world beyond the Muslims living in their midst — many of them recent immigrants — and media reports of Mideast wars and Islamist-inspired terrorism. That tense context has led some to associate Islam with violence and spawned anti-Muslim sentiments.”
Why Don’t More Boys – And Girls, For That Matter – Read ‘Little Women’ In School?
Teaching Huck Finn is near universal, but Little Women? What if the boys don’t like it? “As far as I can tell, no one is concerned about whether 12-year-old girls are engaged by Tom Sawyer. But their reaction is not what concerns educators. It’s the boys’ responses they are worried about.”
Do Actors With Southern Accents Get A Fair Shake In Hollywood?
Does anyone in charge in Hollywood even know what “a Southern accent” is? “I’ve had people ask, ‘Can you teach me a Southern accent?’ I’m like, ‘O.K. What state? What part of the state? What culture?'”
The Virgin Mary, Says One Artist, Is Getting Evicted By Gentrification
The artist, Nico Avina, is trying to alert Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights to what it’s losing as rising rents drive out its Latinx population – people, murals, and especially paintings of la Virgen de Guadalupe. That’s why he brings a foldable, 7-1/2-foot tall Virgin Mary with him all over the neighborhood.
In Praise Of Aretha Franklin’s Album ‘Amazing Grace’
Wesley Morris breaks the album down, and says it was made for a time when albums meant something. This album still does. “Her going for the max maxes you out. This is what virtuosity should do — leave you knock-kneed, perform the unthinkable.”