Larry Harvey’s Burning Man Festival attracted 30,000 to the Nevada desert earlier this month. ” ‘This will be Rome to the colonies. The problem with utopias is that they are based on some theory of human nature,’ he says, as he is joined on his couch by a topless woman, a punk called Chicken John and a transvestite glam rock star named Adrian Roberts.” – Time Magazine 09/18/00
Tag: 09.18.00
GOOD TIMES FOR BOOKS
New study says good times are ahead for the publishing industry. “The study projects that by ’04 electronic books (defined as e-books, print on-demand titles and materials downloaded from the Internet) will comprise 26% of all unit sales, and that consumer spending will hit $5.4 billion, up from a projected $367 million in spending in 2000.” – Publishers Weekly
RESOLUTELY OLD-WORLD
Why don’t The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Talk magazines have their stories on the web? “In an age when people are becoming more and more tech-savvy, these publications are placing their bets that readers will be content to go to their local bodega for their latest literary or high-society gossip fix.” – Wired
THE SOUND OF POETRY
“Poetry readings are now a major part of our literary landscape. Most American poets reach wider audiences at readings than through publishing. In the days before poetry readings became so ubiquitous, however, some of our best poets recorded their work.” – Public Arts
ATTACK OF THE KILLER MOLD!
China’s famed 2,200-year-old terracotta army, one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century, is eroding due to an attack of virulent mold. Reports blame raised temperatures and humidity in the museum which houses the soldiers. – China Times
THAT OLD ALLURE
The Biennale of Paris opens. “With such a very French emphasis on style and with the opening night a cornerstone of the social calendar, the Biennale hardly suffers from a low profile. But this year the Syndicat has decided that in today’s increasingly global art market it is no longer enough to be the most important fair in France; it must have a more international flavour.” – The Telegraph (UK)
SELLING HISTORY
Publications are selling original photos from their archives. In a digital age, they say, retaining electronic copies of the images is sufficient. “But to critics of such sales, what is at stake is history itself. Newspapers and magazines can make any number of prints from their negatives, they say, but a new print, however well made, will lack the palimpsest of the past.” – New York Times
TROUBLED MUSEUM
Los Angeles’s two-year-old Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture is in deep financial trouble. Documents obtained by the LA Times claim that “the institution’s management has mishandled its financial affairs and squandered numerous fund-raising opportunities to keep the museum afloat.” – Los Angeles Times
STAR STRUCK
London theatre is being overrun by Hollywood actors anxious to earn a little stage credit. And the theatres are glad to have them too, knowing that a plump box office is sure to follow. But is the star search wrecking the West End? – The Independent (UK)
ANOTHER LOOK AT BERLIOZ
Berlioz’s excellent memoir is a model of the genre, as entertaining and eventful as any novel. Now a new biography attempts to fill in some of the holes. – The New Republic