“Who had the idea that there should be a soundtrack at all? Perhaps surprisingly, given that select late-19th-century audiences in Europe had actually received live opera broadcasts via telephone, the idea of hold music doesn’t seem to appear until fairly late in the 20th century.”
Tag: 09.08.14
Soprano Magda Olivero, 104
“Olivero never had a glitzy recording career, but she did have something her contemporaries didn’t: longevity. She sang in public for more than seven decades.” (includes audio clips)
Gay Culture Is Dying, Thank Goddess
Vanessa Vitiello Urquhart (who says she’s “dancing on the grave of gay culture”): “As our culture evolves toward a more humane, accepting attitude toward gay people and their relationships, it makes sense to ask: Is there any place for a gay culture in this bright new future? … Should the wider LGBTQ community really be spending time, energy, and emotional bandwidth on pleas to preserve gay spaces?”
Gay Culture Is Most Certainly Not Dying, Thank Goddess
June Thomas: “It’s perfectly possible, normal even, to treat queer culture like a drop-in center: read a gay novel now and then; go out on a jaunt with a lesbian bird-watching group occasionally; take in a drag show once every decade. Those things will continue to exist and thrive if enough people are interested in them. Otherwise, they’ll disappear, only to be memorialized in queer studies monographs; collected in lesbian herstory archives; and remembered with fondness by the folks who enjoyed them in their heyday.”
World Ballet Day: Behind The Scenes With Five Major Companies In One Day
“Starting at the beginning of the dancers’ day, each of the five ballet companies – Australian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada and San Francisco Ballet – will take the lead for a four-hour period streaming live from their headquarters starting with the Australian Ballet in Melbourne. The live link then passes across time zones and cultures from Melbourne to Moscow to London to Toronto to San Francisco.”
A Woman’s Epilepsy Medication Turned Her Into A Compulsive Poet
“Introducing what appears to be the exact opposite of writer’s block: After starting a new medication for epilepsy, a 76-year-old woman was suddenly stricken with an unstoppable urge to write poetry, according to a [new] case study.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.08.14
Local arts funding and urban design: responses
AJBlog: For What it’s Worth | Published 2014-09-09
Back-To-School Time: A Test
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-09-08
And Now: The Answers To Who Said That
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-09-09
Gerald Wilson, 1918-2014
AJBlog: RiffTides | Published 2014-09-09
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How – And Why – One World Trade Center Has Betrayed New York
“When Ground Zero was finally cleared after the fall of the twin towers, New Yorkers trusted that thoughtful, ambitious urban design could make the city whole again. Why have they been so badly let down?”
It’s OK To Feel Guilty About Watching, Reading, Or Listening To Crap
“There are dozens of better options out there, but this one is cheap, easy, and we know what we’re getting. It doesn’t challenge, inspire, or ask anything of us at all beyond our fleeting attention span. We know there are better things out there.”
Lots Of Fun But No Clear Standouts At First Weekend Of Toronto Film Fest
This could be because big-name films like Reese Witherspoon’s “Wild” opened at Telluride – and were thus banned from the first four days at Toronto.