“The problem for people in the arts using populism as a reason to diminish the value of arts criticism is that their own arguments can just as easily be used against themselves.”
Tag: 12.11.13
Robert Fairchild’s Ballet Workout
The New York City Ballet principal walks us through his daily exercise and strength training regimen (and throws in a quick tribute to colleague and fiancée Tiler Peck).
Australia’s Classical Music Magazine Won’t Die After All
Limelight, affiliated with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and published by Haymarket Media, was going to close by the end of this week, following Haymarket’s decision to end its Australian operations. But a new publisher has been found.
Look What Turned Up In The Trash! Lost Peter Sellers Movies!
Two early short films starring Sellers, and co-written by Mordecail Richler – “are to be shown in public for the first time in more than 50 years.” Yes, they were literally salvaged from a dumpster outside a film company’s offices.
John Cage, Filmmaker (They’ve Found The Evidence)
“Ask John Cage in 1956, as the sculptor Richard Lippold did, to make a film and you take your chances.” (Pun intended.)
Court Allows California To Resume Suit For Nazi-Looted Pissarro Painting
“A Jewish family from San Diego that has been seeking to recover a painting by Camille Pissarro that a relative sold during the Holocaust has received a legal victory from a panel of judges who ruled this week that the family can pursue the case, reversing an earlier court decision that had favored the painting’s present owner.”
The Last Great Vaudevillian (He’s Only Just Now Retiring)
John Lahr: “[Barry] Humphries’s retirement marks the end of the vaudeville tradition, whose singing, dancing, and low-comic folderol he almost single-handedly carried into the twenty-first century.” (Yes, that’s Dame Edna.)
Much-Needed Good News From The Motor City: Detroit Symphony Turns A Financial Corner
“The city of Detroit may be in bankruptcy, but the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is back in the black. … The newly released figures suggested that the orchestra is recovering from a corrosive six-month strike that ended in 2011.”
You Know Who Started The War On Christmas? The Pilgrims, That’s Who
“The real American crisis over the holiday happened centuries ago. Back then, the attackers were the Puritans – they hated Christmas, especially the fun parts. And they were experts at fighting it. “
12 Years a Slave Leads Screen Actors Guild Nominations
In an unusually good year for African-descended actors, 12 Years, “based on the real-life story of Solomon Northup, garnered nominations in four of SAG’s five film categories, including the organization’s top award, best ensemble cast.” Lee Daniels’ The Butler earned a further three nods.