Marshall McLuhan was seen as a visionary in his time, but soon after he died, his pronouncements were regarded as quaint and outdated. But now he’s been adopted as an icon of the new digital age. “Everyone thought that McLuhan was talking about TV, but what he was really talking about was the Internet — two decades before it appeared.” – New York Times
Tag: 10.14.00
RAGE AGAINST THE DUMBING DOWN
For years, British composer Harrison Birtwistle lived as a recluse on a remote French hillside. Now, at 66, he’s moved back to Britain, with some strong ideas about English culture. “I believe we have in this country the best musicians in the world, but we don’t have the best orchestras because we don’t give them the money to rehearse. It’s spread too thin. So second-rate becomes good enough, and we don’t know the difference any more.” – The Telegraph (UK)
CLAP TRAP
Audiences are clapping more and more in the London Theatre. “It is common in the West End for audiences to applaud the first entrance of major stars, as if grateful that they bothered to show up at all. Elderly actors always get a particularly big hand. This has nothing to do with their acting ability and everything to do with their longevity. This applause does not mean ‘You’re marvellous’ but ‘Isn’t it amazing that you aren’t gaga and in a bathchair’?” – The Guardian
LITERARY DETECTIVE
John Sutherland is a detective of literature. He examines, “with forensic precision, neglected details and apparent anomalies in classic novels and plays,” wondering – was Heathcliff a murderer? Or, posing a full evidentiary hearing about whether or not Shakespeare’s Henry V, was a war criminal? His books have become best sellers. – The Age (Melbourne)
IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING…
“On behalf of the classical music world, I’d like to say sorry to anyone who plays, listens to or cares about jazz. For the past 20 years you have been subjected to attitudes from this high-brow side of the fence that range from the patronising to the exploitative to something akin to a hostile take-over.” – The Telegraph (UK)
RAGE AGAINST THE DUMBING DOWN
For years, British composer Harrison Birtwistle lived as a recluse on a remote French hillside. Now, at 66, he’s moved back to Britain, with some strong ideas about English culture. “I believe we have in this country the best musicians in the world, but we don’t have the best orchestras because we don’t give them the money to rehearse. It’s spread too thin. So second-rate becomes good enough, and we don’t know the difference any more.” – The Telegraph (UK)
BOYS CLUB
Women divas dominate the Australian pop charts. But the power in pop music is still male. “For a business that sells itself as hip, liberal and progressive, key aspects of the music industry remain as much of a boys’ club as they were when Elvis Presley moseyed into Memphis and signed up with Sun Records. It begs the question: if 50 per cent of all record producers since Rock Around The Clock had been women, how different might the catalogue of western pop sound? Would we have landed elsewhere musically in 2000?” – Sydney Morning Herald