Philadelphia has Rocky. Milwaukee has the Fonz, a.k.a. Richie Cunningham’s cool pal from “Happy Days.” In Milwaukee, just as in Philly, there may now be a public sculpture to commemorate the connection. “So far, Visit Milwaukee has raised $45,000, and the group is confident it will meet its timetable of unveiling a bronze Fonz in 2008….”
Tag: 09.25.07
American Public Media Buys Miami Station, Will Turn It Classical
“Miami is the largest city in the country that doesn’t have a classical music service. It’s also a larger city than most, and since we are one of the major classical music and arts producers in the world, and the largest in the United States, making sure we can get our programming out to people is key, and this was an opportunity to enhance our ability to send our programming to the major cities.”
Writing? That Isn’t All That Defines New Theatre
Critics whinge about declines in writing in British theatre. But they’re missing the mark, writes Lyn Gardner. “What these articles about new writing also fail to mention are the high levels of activity that are taking place in British theatre in areas other than new writing. That makes me wonder whether new writing theatres are thinking as creatively as perhaps they should and whether they are still using outdated models of what a play is and should be. Over the last few years, the enegy in theatre has moved elsewhere.”
Learning To Love Opera
Movie director Sally Potter didn’t like opera. Then she was asked to direct one by the English National Opera. “I used to think the best opera production of all time was the Marx brothers film, A Night at the Opera. When I was first asked by the boss of another major opera house what opera I would like to direct, I named it – not entirely in jest – as the one (I was of course met with disbelief).”
Who Owns Unfinished Art?
So if artwork is unfinished it’s not really by the artist? “A visit to any gallery will throw up plenty of examples of unfinished art. Last year’s Velázquez exhibition at the National Gallery featured several pictures that the painter had not completed; they had great lacunae or only one level of paint. There is also a roaring interest in sketches, which are by definition not the finished work; the queues at the Victoria and Albert museum for the Da Vinci exhibition bore this out.”
Is There Such A Thing As A New Yorker Poem?
And if there is, “what will a New Yorker poem be when Paul Muldoon is in charge? David Remmick has said that the appointment does not mark “some sort of radical aesthetic or theoretical shift … It’s not as if we went from a structuralist to a post-structuralist or a Beat to a conservative.”
Creationists Versus Atheists – A Copyright Fight
“A dispute between an atheist group and a creationist group over some postings on YouTube has critics of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act crying foul. They say it’s a new and inappropriate use of DMCA, which is becoming a frequent weapon in nasty political and cultural battles.”
Italy Drops Charges Against Getty Curator
Civil charges concerning looted art have been dropped against Marion True. But “the more serious criminal trial against True, 58, will continue. The announcement came after a subdued ceremony in Rome’s Ministry of Culture, where Getty officials confirmed their August pledge to return 40 of the 46 ancient artworks that Italy has claimed were looted and smuggled out of the country before being purchased by the Getty.”
Police Seize Nan Goldin Photo From Elton John
A photo in Elton John’s collection has been seized by police because it might “break Britain’s child pornography laws.” “The image, which featured two young girls one of whom was sitting down with her legs wide apart, was taken by the renowned photographer Nan Goldin.”
Absent From The Stage: Plays On Climate Change
“No one could accuse the theatre in this country of being politically shy. In recent years, a whole range of work has been sparked by issues like Iraq, the war on terror, and the genocide in Rwanda. But the massive global threat posed by polar icecaps melting and sea levels rising has, until now, remained almost completely absent from the listings pages.” Nonetheless, “a few writers do seem to be taking note.”