“I watched slack-jawed in horror as they threw one of the 20th century’s most iconic fictional heroes, Atticus Finch, under the bus.” (audio with transcript)
Tag: 10.12.15
Someone Plants An Ax In The Forehead Of A Christopher Columbus Bust In Detroit
The statue, located at Jefferson and Randolph right next to city hall, was splashed with fake blood, and a hatchet was taped to his forehead as if it had just been struck.
Making Vegetable Soup Becomes Theatre
“During a performance that begins as a monologue, and which slowly and organically develops into a conversation, we all make a vegetarian soup together: cutting vegetables and garlic – lots and lots of garlic – and gradually turning up the heat so that the smells fill the room like memory itself.”
What’s Really Killing Music In Our Culture
“Those who care about the future of the music business ought to spend less time complaining about digital disruptions and expend more energy lifting up the public’s awareness of serious music, because we truly do devalue music when we reduce our most impactful art form to an artifact of celebrity and a lifestyle choice. Complex instrumental music has become marginalized to within an inch of its very existence, and that has a lot to do with industry folk defining “value” in only the way that affects their mailbox money.”
Carnegie Hall’s Internal Struggles Come Out In A Bad Week
“Carnegie Hall cannot exist without large private donations, gratefully received. But it is primarily a nonprofit institution and a public trust, not a billionaire’s plaything, and preferences on programming can only be discussed between board and staff in the most general of conversations.”
The Man Who Sells Books From His NY Apartment
Michael Seidenberg’s approach to business is mostly as a transaction between bibliophiles. Some books he will only sell if he detects true enthusiasm from the buyer. “I’m a slow bookseller,” said Seidenberg. “I have a huge relationship to my stock.”
Hating Renoir Is Just A Phase
Peter Schjeldahl: “On the merits of the case, I would have identified with the R.S.A.P. people at a time – a long time; decades – when I had left the first class of people who like Renoir and had yet to join the second. … In the second class of people who like Renoir are those who have stopped fortifying their self-esteem with pride in their sophistication.”
Houston’s Alley Theatre Just Got A Makeover – How’d It Come Out?
“In fact, some at the opening commented that, except for the new red carpet, the 46-year-old building looks much like it did before the makeover, which, in a city where nearly everything is torn down, is a positive thing.”
How Does a Casting Director Work?
“Bernie Telsey has been casting hit musicals, films, and TV shows for more than 20 years. [Here he] talks about what he’s looking for in an audition, how diversity has changed on the stage and screen during his time in the business, and how finding talent isn’t necessarily the hardest part of the job.” (audio)
Scans Can Now Link Brain Activity To Intelligence
“Now that neuroscientists have used maps of people’s brains to accurately predict intelligence, reality creeps ever so much closer to fiction.”