News
World Trade Center
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News
ARCHIVED AFGHANI
ART: The Taliban have systematically destroyed the art and
culture of Afghanistan over the past seven years. The Art Newspaper
chronicled the destruction in a series of articles, now archived
online. The Art Newspaper 10/16/01
WAGGING
THE WARTIME DOG: "American intelligence specialists are
reported to have "secretly" sought advice on handling terrorist
attacks from Hollywood film-makers. According to the trade paper
Variety, a discussion group between movie and military representatives
was held at the University of Southern California last week."
BBC 10/08/01
STRIKE
TWO FOR EMMYS: "Originally scheduled for Sept. 16, less
than a week after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, the Emmys were postponed to Oct. 7 and redesigned as
a simulcast from New York to accommodate actors who were reluctant
to board a plane for an awards show. In this atmosphere, the Emmys
- compromised and chastened but emboldened to continue nevertheless
- were pitched by academy leaders as nothing less than a retort
to the terrorists." That's why Sunday's second cancellation
caught many off guard. Los Angeles
Times 10/08/01
HOLLYWOOD'S
DISASTER SCENARIO: The US government is consulting with real
experts in terrorist scenarios - Hollywood action movie makers.
"An ad hoc working group convened at the University of Southern
California just last week at the behest of the U.S. Army. The
goal was to brainstorm about possible terrorist targets and schemes
in America and to offer solutions to those threats, in light of
the aerial assaults on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center."
Washington Post (Variety) 10/08/01
MUSEUM
ATTENDANCE WORRIES: Museum attendance in the US is down after
September 11, in some cases dramatically down. "Some museums
are beginning to rebound, but many smaller ones in lower Manhattan
near the World Trade Center site had to close their doors for
several weeks and may need years to recover, administrators say.
Museums also expect that donors will divert contributions from
cultural institutions to relief efforts. And as they survey the
damage the museums are struggling to come up with ways to recoup."
The New York Times 10/08/01
(one-time registration required
for access)
ART
MARKET CHALLENGE: Recession, war - is this the double whammy
on the art business? "There is no evidence to suggest that
the art market is about to collapse. Most dealers say that business
may not be booming but could be worse, and the old adage that
it is one of the last sectors to be affected by recession (but
also one of the last to recover) seems to be holding true. This
is not, however, to suggest that all is well." The
Telegraph (UK) 10/08/01
ITALIAN
TOWN HELPS REBUILD NEW YORK CHURCH: One of the smallest architectural
victims of September 11 was St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church,
which stood across the street from ground zero. Parishioners are
raising money to rebuild, and already have a half-million dollar
head start - a surprise donation from the town of Bari, Italy.
St. Nicholas was the patron saint of Bari. NPR [audio file] 01/10/01
THEY
ALREADY BAILED OUT THE AIRLINES... A bill has been proposed
in the US Congress to help promote New York. The new law "would
allow individuals to deduct $500, and joint filers $1000, from
their federal income taxes for the cost of meals, lodging or entertainment
in New York City through Dec. 31, 2002. Taxpayers would be eligible
for the deduction whether or not they itemized their taxes."
Theatre.com 10/01/01
BROADWAY
REBOUND: It was easy, when Broadway attendance plummeted in
the days after September 11, to fear for the future of theatre
in New York. But a week later the theaters were packed with people,
and it was clear that people came out to the shows for a sense
of community. And isn't that one of the things theatre does best?
Hartford Courant 09/30/01
THREAT
OF SLOWDOWN: Generally, the New York terrorist attacks won't
have a big impact on the art and antiques business. "The
big problem will be the economic slowdown. Some dealers are already
doing less business, and finding it harder to extract payment
on antiques sold. Fairs will also suffer. The first victim was
this week's new 20th-century art fair organised by the indefatigable
London dealers Brian and Anna Haughton in New York." Financial
Times 09/28/01
IF
YOU AUCTION IT, WILL THEY BUY? Buyers, sellers, auction houses,
show organizers - everyone is worried about the Fall art season.
It's a half-billion dollar occasion, or it was projected to be
one. Now with postponements of shows, disruption of travel and
shipping plans, market jitters, and financial uncertainties, no
one is sure what to expect. The New York Times o9/27/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
TO
POSTPONE OR NOT TO POSTPONE: The Canadian Museum of Civilization
scheduled an exhibition featuring the work of 25 Arab-Canadian
artists, then decided to postpone it. One of the artists complained
that the museum had "missed an opportunity to promote understanding
of Arab culture at a time Arabs need it most." In
Parliament, an opposition MP and the Prime Minister both agreed.
The next move is up to the museum, which has so far been reluctant
to comment. CBC 09/27/01
FILMING
RESUMES IN MANHATTAN: For the first time since September 11,
New York City is issuing permits for filming in Manhattan; filming
in the outer boroughs began last week. Several commercials and
at least five feature films are lined up, along with the 13 TV
series which film there regularly. New York Post 09/27/01
ART(ISTS)
IN THE WTC: Few people knew that there were artists working
in the World Trade Center. "For the last few years the Lower
Manhattan Cultural Council had rented out floors to artists a
few months at a time. There was always the occasional empty space
in the towers because they were normally leased for 10 years at
a time rather then piecemeal." At least one artist is thought
to have died in the tower attack. The
Art Newspaper 09/24/01
FOR
THE MOST PART, ART KEEPS ON COMING TO NEW YORK:
"As the days since Sept. 11 creep by, the number of cancellations
by arts groups and performers traveling to New York is beginning
to dwindle [although] some groups are still backing out of the
fall season lineup, either because of lingering worries about
safety, changes in airline schedules or a sense that now is not
the best time to engage a skittish audience."
The
New York Times 09/26/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
WTC
ART LOSSES: Estimates of losses of art (only in the destroyed
World Trade Towers, not in surrounding buildings) are estimated
at $100 million by AXA Nordstern Art Insurance, the world's largest
art insurer. The Art Newspaper 09/24/01
POWELL
PULLS OUT: Actress Linda Powell, daughter of the US Secretary
of State, has pulled out of a role in London's National Theatre.
"She was due to arrive here in October, but has withdrawn from
the show for obvious security reasons."
BBC 09/25/01
BROADWAY
BACK UP: Audiences returned to Broadway theatres this past
weekend. "A number of Broadway shows played to standing-room-only
crowds on Saturday and Sunday, though tickets to all but the most
popular productions were heavily discounted. Yesterday, many producers
said 25 percent to 50 percent of their business this past weekend
came from the half-price TKTS booth in Times Square." New
York Post 09/25/01
CHICAGO
ARTS DOWN: Broadway isn't the only arts sector hit with sagging
box office. Arts ticket sales are down in cities like Chicago
too. "Although the Lyric Opera is mostly pre-sold, the symphony
is having problems and the theaters are way down. So is movie
attendance. And although subscriptions have been up at the Joffrey,
the company depends heavily on box-office sales during the weeks
and days before a season." Chicago
Sun-Times 09/25/01
CHANGING
HOLLYWOOD: "Everywhere you look in Hollywood since that
tragic day, the entertainment landscape has been transformed,
as if ripped asunder by a massive earthquake. People have come
to work feeling like jittery sleepwalkers, especially after the
studios received FBI warnings late last week that they could be
possible targets for terrorism. Nearly every studio has been postponing
films, giving them face lifts or tossing scripts out the window."
Los Angeles Times 09/25/01
KEEPING
KATE ALIVE: "Kiss Me Kate posted its closing notice
last week on Broadway after business bombed. But on Sunday, the
show's cast and crew decided not only to take a 25 percent pay
cut to keep ths show open, but also to spend 25 percent of their
salaries on buying tickets to the show, which they'll then donate.
Sunday "the play began with an actor walking on stage, sweeping
off the closing notice and singing the first few words of the
first song in the Cole Porter musical, Another Op'nin', Another
Show. The audience cheered." Nando
Times (AP) 09/24/01
MAJOR
COLLECTION DESTROYED: "The global securities firm Cantor
Fitzgerald, whose New York headquarters was destroyed with the
loss of hundreds of staff, was founded by B Gerald Cantor, the
greatest private collector of works by Rodin in the world."
The firm's corporate collection on the 105th floor continued Cantor's
art tradition and lost hundreds of pieces of art. The
Guardian (UK) 09/22/01
ART
FAIR CANCELED: "The third annual International Art and
Design Fair, 1900-2001, scheduled to open at the armory on Sept.
29, was canceled this week. The fates of dozens of other fairs
are now in question, too, including the International Fine Art
and Antique Dealers Show and others like it, which have been part
of the New York social calendar for decades." The
New York Times 09/21/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
WHEN
THE TOURISTS STAY HOME: It's grim on Broadway. Shows are going
bankrupt and five are closing. Six others, including several long-running
productions, are on the verge of shutting down. "A show like
Rent, for example, needs to bring in about $40,000 a day
to meet its costs. Its sales since the attacks have ranged from
$1,800 (on Sept. 11) to $14,000 (on Wednesday)." The
New York Times 09/21/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- PAY
CUTS INSTEAD OF LAYOFFS: To keep big Broadway shows from
closing, theatre unions make deal with producers - "a 25
percent across-the-board pay cuts for cast and crew at five
shows - Chicago, Rent, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables
and The Full Monty. The cuts will be in place for
four weeks beginning next week. If business does not improve,
they can be renegotiated." New
York Post 09/21/01
- PRODUCERS
PIN HOPES ON THE ROAD: With business so bad on Broadway,
producers are hoping that touring road shows will be their "lifeline."
Meanwhile, some touring productions have abandoned air travel
for the ground. Chicago Tribune
09/21/01
- THEATRE
DISASTER: Broadway's "total income fell more than 60
percent from the previous week." Theatre.com
09/20/01
AIDA
CANCELED: The annual Egyptian performances of Aida
at the pyramids have been cancelled after tour groups called off
their trips. Ironically, last year's performances also were cancelled,
because "organisers said they wanted to focus resources on
this year's shows, which would have coincided with the centenary
of Verdi's death." BBC 09/20/01
NO
TIME FOR FUN RIGHT NOW: The host of a Canadian TV show which
pokes fun at the differences between Canada and the United States
has withdrawn his nomination for a Gemini award, saying "this
is a time to offer unconditional support to Americans."
CBC 09/20/01
A
DIFFICULT ACT: "Broadway is one of the worlds of New
York reeling hardest from the events of last week. People don't
seem to feel right enjoying themselves, being entertained. So
yesterday was not a typical matinee day. The restaurants around
Times Square were not full. The sidewalks were not crowded. Tour
buses were in short supply. And tickets were available (except
for The Producers, which sold out). Producers, theater
owners and unions are all talking about how to keep business on
Broadway alive over the next few weeks, when tourists are expected
to stay home." The New York Times
09/20/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
MUSIC
BANNED IN AFGHANISTAN: "Music is the latest activity
to be banned by the Taliban, the movement that rules most of Afghanistan
with a religious zeal that has led it to declare that dancing,
singing and television are also anti-Islamic." Baltimore
Sun (from the Chicago Tribune) 09/18/01
38
MUSEUMS AFFECTED IN LOWER MANHATTAN: The American Association
of Museums sets up a website to provide information on museums
and staff in the affected area of lower Manhattan. There are 38
museums within the zone. American
Association of Museums
BROADWAY'S
TOURIST PROBLEM: Broadway shows are suffering as tourists
stay home. "Among those hardest hit are some of Broadway's
best known titles, including long-running shows like Phantom
of the Opera, Les Misérables and Rent, productions
that rely heavily on tourists, which are in short supply as a
steady stream of frightening images spread across the country
and the world. Also hurting were a handful of well-received revivals,
including The Music Man, Chicago and Kiss Me, Kate."
The New York Times 09/19/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
PHILLY
TOUR IS ON: "Following a meeting with the musicians between
rehearsals yesterday, Philadelphia Orchestra president Joseph
H. Kluger announced that the [domestic] tour would go on with
heightened security, contingent on any airport closings. In addition,
the orchestra will travel with a former member of the White House
Secret Service who will be in touch with the FBI daily."
Philadelphia Inquirer 09/18/01
- Previously: CANCELING
THE MUSIC? The Philadelphia Orchestra considers canceling
its upcoming tour because of terrorism concerns. "Historically
one of the world's most well-traveled orchestras, the Philadelphia
has been scheduled to begin a three-week tour Sept. 21 and go
to Dallas, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Kalamazoo, Mich., and eight
other cities." Philadelphia
Inquirer 09/13/01
$10
MILLION IN PUBLIC ART LOST IN ATTACK: "Experts familiar
with the public art displayed in and around the World Trade Center
estimated its value alone at more than $10 million. Among the
prized works were a bright-red 25-foot Alexander Calder sculpture
on the Vesey Street overpass at Seven World Trade Center, a painted
wood relief by Louise Nevelson that hung in the mezzanine of One
World Trade Center, a painting by Roy Lichtenstein from his famous
"Entablature" series from the 1970s in the lobby of
Seven World Trade Center, and Joan Miro's "World Trade Center"
tapestry from 1974." San Francisco
Chronicle 09/18/01
NY
W/O TV: The World Trade Center disaster knocked 10 New York
TV stations off over-the-air broadcast, because the stations'
transmitters were located on the towers. "At least four will
resume transmissions from the relatively remote - and shorter
- Armstrong radio tower on the Palisades at Alpine, N.J. Two other
stations are installing transmitters and antennas atop the already-crowded
Empire State Building - the original home of New York's TV stations
until the taller World Trade Center was completed in the early
'70s." New York Post 09/17/01
RESCHEDULING
THE GRAMMYS (MAYBE): The Latin Grammys were cancelled last
week. They had already generated lots of controversy and had been
moved from Miami to Los Angeles. "Although salvaging a full-blown
Latin Grammy production would be a long shot, organizers said
they are hoping for a possible new date of Nov. 30." Los
Angeles Times 09/17/01
ART
LOSSES AT THE WTC: "From the displacement of experimental
theater and film companies to the likely obliteration of more
than $10 million worth of art in and around the World Trade Center
— including works by Alexander Calder, Nevelson, Miró and Lichtenstein
— arts groups are surveying the wreckage, trying to measure the
extent of their losses and to determine how to begin to recoup."
The New York Times 09/17/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
SHOWS
GO ON: "At the urging of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and
Schuyler G. Chapin, the commissioner of cultural affairs, many
of the city's premier museums opened their doors yesterday, after
closing in the wake of the attacks. Meanwhile, producers vowed
that all 23 Broadway productions would be performed last night
after a moment of silence and a dimming of the marquee lights
in recognition of the victims." The
New York Times 09/14/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- POLITICS
OF POST-TERRORISM: Deciding whether or not to cancel performances
after terrorism involves a number of factors - is the performance
appropriate? Are performers stranded in other cities with the
airport shutdowns? "Along with performance cancellations,
some have found themselves axing glittery opening galas, directing
ticket proceeds to relief efforts or adding special onstage
tributes for victims." Los
Angeles Times 09/13/01
KILLING
NY THEATRE: Broadway producers are worrying that the World
Trade Center attacks may help kill the good times Broadway has
enjoyed for the past decade. New York theatre depends heavily
on the tourist trade - that was already down this summer from
last year's record levels, and is "likely to dry up now that
New York City 'has a big bull's-eye painted on its face'."
New York Post 09/14/01
CANCELLATIONS
AFTER TERRORISM: Latin Grammys, Emmys, canceled in wake of
terrorist attacks. Broadway closes up. Nando
Times (AP) 09/11/01
HOLSTERING
THE FLAGS: The last night of the Proms in London are usually
a grandly patriotic affair with patriotic music and plenty of
flag waving. In the wake of the terrorism in New York, the Prom
last night will go on, but absent the patriotic displays. "We're
not going to actively ban flags, but it's clearly inappropriate.
There's no sense of joviality or celebration that the flag waving
has become a part of." The Guardian
(UK) 09/13/01
REEL
DECISION: The Toronto Film Festival weighs whether to finish
up the festival or cancel. "Movies reflect the world around
them, and so do film festivals - even when that world is plunged
for a time into chaos and the dark. Was it right to continue an
event that celebrates art and entertainment, in the midst of real-life
madness and death?" Chicago Tribune
09/15/01
World
Trade Center/Tall Buildings
A
CALL FOR CAREFUL CONSIDERATION: It seems like everyone has
a vision for the future of the World Trade Center space in New
York. Memorials, new skyscrapers, and a massive public park have
all been proposed. "This rush to design is worth thinking
about. It will be months and years before the cultural meaning
of the World Trade Center catastrophe comes into approximate focus.
But the collective projection of architectural fantasies bears
scrutiny as it is happening." The
New York Times 09/30/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- TOWERING
LIGHTS: "A team of artists and architects is planning
to erect a massive light sculpture to simulate the outline of
the 110-storey World Trade Center. Beams of xenon light stabbing
skyward would coalesce into a kind of apparition of the fallen
twin towers." Toronto Star
(first item) 09/29/01
POLITICS
OF REBUILDING: There is still a mountain of rubble where the
World Trade Center once stood, but already there are politicians
and fund-raisers and businesspeople and historians and cultural
critics and architects and Heaven-knows-how-many-others trying
to decide just what ought to be built in its place. If anything.
Washington Post 09/26/01
THE
FUTURE OF SKYSCRAPERS: "Until September 11, the skyscraper
enthusiasts felt that everything was going their way. In this
country [England], they were confident of winning next month's
public inquiry into the proposed Heron Tower at Bishopsgate in
the City of London and of pushing through Renzo Piano's much higher
tower intended for London Bridge. Now they are nervous, as can
be seen in a statement Norman Foster put out on Tuesday this week,
stressing the risks to all buildings with high concentrations
of people, not just towers, and calling for a period of calm reflection
and careful analysis." The Telegraph
(UK) 09/22/01
REBUILD, YES. BUT WHAT?
"The urge to make buildings higher and higher has been fading
for the last few years, for purely practical reasons. Constructing
towers of a hundred stories or more isn't much of a challenge
technologically today, but it is not particularly economical,
either. It never was." In fact, "smaller
buildings on the World Trade Center site might be necessary.
After all, what businesses or residents will want to occupy the
upper floors of replica towers, and what companies would want
to insure them?" The New Yorker & ABCNews 09/24/01
REBUILDING
THE TOWERS - A COMPLEX ISSUE: The towers of the World Trade
Center now are such a powerful image that there's already much
discussion about re-building them. But is that a good idea? The
record shows that, from the time they were proposed, many critics
thought they were ugly, and worse. Another factor is our fascination
with ruins. "Can a way of life that has been so fractured
ever truly be put back together?" Boston
Globe & The New Republic 09/20/01
THE
MODERN REACH FOR THE SKY: The great modernist skyscrapers
weren't built just to be big. They were meant as a statement repudiating
decoration and clutter. "A building should not derive meaning
and character from the historical motifs that cluttered its skin,
but from the direct, logical expression of its purpose and materials.
This was the edict of functionalism, that—as Louis Sullivan put
it—'form follows function'.” The New
Criterion 09/01
DEATH
OF THE SKYSCRAPER? "George W. Bush told the world last
week that terrorism will not stand. Neither will the kind of architectural
arrogance applauded in the 1970s when the World Trade Center was
constructed." Architects will likely spend the next several
years fleshing out the next generation of urban American office
space. The Globe & Mail (Toronto)
09/18/01
THE
BIGGEST BUILDING JOB EVER: When it was planned, and for many
years after it was built, the World Trade Center was the biggest
architectural project on earth. A New Yorker archive profile
details what went into the construction of that symbol whose destruction
is now a major image in American history and culture. The
New Yorker 09/13/01
WHY
ARCHITECTURE MATTERS : "[D]estroying architecture for
political reasons is nothing new. The more important and powerful
its symbolism, the higher a building is likely to rank on the
target list of a bitter foe. The reasons are always the same.
Architecture is evidence - often extraordinarily moving evidence
- of the past. Buildings - their shapes, materials, textures and
spaces - represent culture in its most persuasive physical form.
Destroy the buildings, and you rob a culture of its memory, of
its legitimacy, of its right to exist." Washington
Post 09/13/01
Artist
Response
ART
AFTER WAR: "In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 catastrophes
and the subsequent anthrax attacks, some Americans have responded
by making art. Much of it is impromptu and transitory, driven
by an impulse to eulogize the missing, the murdered and the heroic.
New York City is the epicenter of this effusion, as it should
be." Philadelphia Inquirer 10/21/01
HIGH
ART OFTEN SPEECHLESS IN A CRISIS: "Although the artistic
fruits of the recent national crisis and the current war have
only begun to appear, the fine arts have not been particularly
responsive to the major crises of American history." The
enduring images of such times tend to be produced by non-artists
whose work takes on artistic meaning after the fact. The
New York Times 10/14/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
LEBRECHT
HAMMERS FEARFUL MUSICIANS: In the wake of the September 11
attacks, countless performers have had to decide whether to carry
on with scheduled international tours. In general, orchestras
that were already close to their departure dates have pressed
on, while those with tours farther on in an uncertain future have
begun to cancel in the face of government travel warnings. Few
have faulted them for their caution, but critic Norman Lebrecht
finds such cancellations cowardly. The
Daily Telegraph (UK) 10/10/01
THE
ART OF DOCUMENTED HORROR: "Photojournalists, professionally
intimate with tragedy and its aftermath, have brought extraordinary
images back from the hell downtown. Thoughtful, tough, full of
feeling, and startlingly beautiful, their pictures have both fixed
and shaped our experience of an event that even those who lived
through it can't quite comprehend." Village
Voice 10/09/01
WE
WON'T GO: "Citing concerns about international travel,
the Minnesota Orchestra has postponed its November tour to Japan."
The announcement marks the first tour cancellation by a major
American orchestra in the wake of the September 11 attacks. St.
Paul Pioneer Press 10/06/01
FUNNY
AGAIN... What leaders and commentators are saying to comedians
is, "The country needs you to go back to being funny."
But can they really go back? "This may be the event which
historians look back to as the beginning of a new era of sensitivity,
introspection and growth. It could produce new styles, new textures
and new subjects." Nando
Times 10/01/01
SINGING
PROTEST: The protest song has a long honorable history. But
"it is hard to imagine anyone in the grief-torn United States
writing a direct riposte at this stage to Celine Dion's rendition
of God Bless America a week ago or by extension to the war cry
of the government. With more than 6500 dead, the grief is too
raw. Does this mean the protest song is dead? Will it be cast
forever in the shadows of the initial tragic event? There are
murmurings of student protest if a war goes beyond what is deemed
legitimate retribution. But will songs grow from these seeds?"
The Age (Melbourne) 10/01/01
SAY
IT THROUGH ART: Woody Allen says that the September 11th attacks
are "fair game" for any artist who has something to
say about them. "It is not likely that I would do something
like that but I do think that it's fair game for any artist who
has the inspiration or insight into that terrible event." The
Guardian 09/30/01
POWER
OF POETRY: Many have chosen poetry as a way to express their
feelings after September 11. "Almost immediately after the
event, improvised memorials often conceived around poems sprang
up all over the city, in store windows, at bus stops, in Washington
Square Park, Brooklyn Heights and elsewhere. And poems flew through
cyberspace across the country in e-mails from friend to friend."
The New York Times 10/01/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
THE
WORLD HAS CHANGED: How has September 11th affected British
arts and artists? Cancellations, reduced business, and some redefinition
of what is possible in art. The Guardian's critics take a survey.
The Guardian (UK) 09/29/01
DOING
WHAT THEY CAN: The desire to help the victims of the attack
in one's own way has been ultimately visible in the multifaceted
artistic community of America's largest city. "In New York,
impromptu memorials to those lost Sept. 11 are going up, created
not only by artists but also by mourners and passers-by and children."
Baltimore Sun 09/30/01
TOUGH
TIMES FOR CULTURAL JOURNALISTS: As the world's attention focused
on the disaster in New York, arts journalists have had to think
hard about their roles. "Interviewers and interviewees would
agree they felt distracted, that today's topic seemed unimportant
in comparison, and then trot through the usual questions and answers
about the forthcoming book or the venerable dance troupe. Editors
and producers were left scratching their heads as they tried to
decide whether they would seem more insensitive by running unrelated
stories ("Orchestra looking for new conductor") or by running
related ones ("Whither the disaster movie?")" Globe
& Mail (Canada) 09/27/01
RUMORS
OF OUR DEATH... So irony is dead now, at least according to
numerous U.S. pundits. So are beauty, truth, innocence, and trust.
"The concept of a deadly terrorist attack fuelling an international
debate on what was once just a literary term seems a bit odd.
However, the temptation for commentators to sound the death knell
is nothing new." National Post
09/28/01
- FIGHTING
BACK TEARS WITH BELLY LAUGHS: Ever since the attacks of
September 11, comedians of all stripes have been walking on
eggshells. Some offer deadly serious messages of condolence,
some skirt the subject entirely, but no one has tried to make
comedic hay from the tragedy. Then, this week, the latest issue
of the satirical newspaper The Onion hit newsstands,
with content devoted entirely to the fallout from the attacks.
Daring? Yes. In poor taste? Perhaps. But very, very funny. Wired
09/27/01
WHY
ART: Robert Brustein ponders the role of art in dark times.
"It is necessary to look past the waved flags, and the silent
moments of prayer, and the choruses of God Bless America,
and try to keep the arts in focus. By lighting up the dark corridors
of human nature, literature, drama, music, and painting can help
temper our righteous demand for vengeance with a humanizing restraint.
The American theater presently stands, like Estragon and Vladimir,
under that leafless tree in Beckett's blasted plain. The show
can't go on. It must go on. There can be no time when it's no
time for comedy." The New Republic 09/27/01
ART
IN A TIME OF FEAR: "Art can appear so insignificant when
the world gets crazy. But the world has always been crazy, even
if it hasn't been as horrifying. Art's been around a long time.
It knows how to handle good times and bad. And it's never really
been insignificant. Most art is superficial. However, the aesthetic
experience (the term always rings tinny), the enigmatic interior
place we go when we make or look at art, is still what it's always
been: complex, rich, rewarding, meaningful, and moving. It is
a place we will always return to. A place, presumably, we all
come from. A place, moreover, that tells us things we didn't know
we needed to know until we knew them."
Village Voice 09/25/01
SIMPLE
SHRINES AND STREET-CORNER ALTARS: In the wake of sudden and
violent and public death, we are more and more finding simple
shrines. "They are personal. They are peaceful. They are
human. And they seem to be part of an increasingly common way
of publicly mourning the dead in this country, in New York, in
Oklahoma City, in Colorado, and in Chicago." Chicago Tribune 09/25/01
POWER
OF IMAGE: Looking at photographs of the World Trade Center
destruction "I know that I am not the only person who is
uneasy about the magnetic pull of these photographs, about the
hold they have on us, about the need we seem to have to keep looking
at them. What, I ask after a while, is the point of looking at
such pictures, at least the point of looking at them so much?
Perhaps some insight can be gained by thinking about the need
that the English had to make a visual record of the calamities
raining down on them, of the urge they had to record the weird
horrific beauty of the Blitz." The
New Republic 09/18/01
HOW
THE ARTS MAY CHANGE: "If the consensus is correct, the
arts may change dramatically. No one can know what those changes
will look like. In Western society, the response of art to a change
in social conditions is never uniform and rarely obvious. And
there is no guarantee whatsoever that art will rise to the occasion.
Frivolous, decadent periods can produce brilliant art; serious
times can produce pious bunk. If there is to be a profound change
in art, however, its early harbinger will be impatience - even
disgust - with the broad worldview that has sustained art during
the past 40 years." New York
Magazine 09/24/01
CONTEXT
CHANGES ART: Art is changed by the context it is in. And that
can change with events. "With the destruction of the World
Trade Center this dynamic went into play. American culture was
on instant high alert, scrambling both to accommodate what was
happening and to avoid giving offense. Television shows were rescripted;
films were pulled from release; Broadway plays discreetly dropped
bits that might seem insensitive. By contrast, gallery shows opened
pretty much as planned. Most art isn't amenable to last-minute
editing. And the art world resists self-censorship, for good reason."
The New York Times 09/25/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
AN
ARTISTIC RESPONSE: The New York Times asks nine creative artists
to "share their thoughts on the future of their different
fields" after September 11. "Artists, especially, whom
we presume to be particularly sensitive to our dilemmas and our
dreams, are peering apprehensively into the abyss of the future.
What do they, and we who love the arts and believe they are important,
see there? What is the role of the arts in the present crisis,
and how will the arts change in response to the new circumstances
in which we live? To judge from the nine creative artists we have
asked in this issue to share their thoughts on the future of their
different fields, a common feeling is one of helplessness, in
that what we love and what they do seems so marginal to the crisis."
The New York Times 09/23/01 (one-time
reegistration required for access)
ART
IN A TIME OF TROUBLE: A critic goes out to consume art and
ask how others are using art as a way of dealing with terrorism.
"It has been interesting, in this and other surveys, how
many artists mention the role of classical music, ranging from
Bach to Mahler, in helping them absorb these events. Very few
cite either pop or modern classical music." Boston
Globe 09/23/01
THEATRE
IN A TIME OF TERROR: "My feeling is that at no time in
our lives have we needed the theater more, and my hope is that
the suffering theater community itself will take heart knowing
how close it is to our own hearts. Can any of us imagine a world
without theater? Only one of darkness. When the theaters went
dark for two days last week, there was no choice. But the traumatized
city seemed darker still. Theater has always been our eternal
refuge, embrace, hope, solace and home." New
York Observer 09/20/01
THEATRE
OF TERROR: "How a new generation of theater artists will
respond to the shattering events of that day remains to be seen.
Because of the long process involved in getting a work from the
page to the stage, the playwrights' response will not be immediately
evident. However, artistic directors are already looking at their
own programming - at shows that they had already announced, as
well as plays from the repertoire of world drama - for work that
will give refuge, illumination and inspiration to their audiences."
Hartford Courant 09/23/01
THE
DUTY OF THE WRITER IN TIME OF CRISIS: Is
it irrelevant, in a time of tragedy and horror, to try to write
a novel? Many writers - John Updike, Rosellen Brown, Tim O'Brien,
Joan Didion, Ward Just, Robert Stone, and Joyce Carol Oates -
have been asking themselves that question. "While many temporarily
questioned their work, they ended up affirming to themselves the
value and purpose of what they do." The
New York Times 09/20/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
SAYING
THE WRONG THING: Composer Karlheinz Stockhausen said in a
German radio interview Monday that last week's attacks on the
World Trade Center were "the greatest work of art imaginable for
the whole cosmos. Minds achieving something in an act that we
couldn't even dream of in music, people rehearsing like mad for
10 years, preparing fanatically for a concert, and then dying,
just imagine what happened there." The comments didn't play
well; four concerts of his music that were to have formed the
thematic focus of the Hamburg Music Festival this weekend were
promptly canceled. Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung 09/19/01
SORRY
FOR COMMENTS: Composer Karlheinz Stockhausen has apologized
for comments he made comparing last week's attack on the World
Trade Center to a work of art. The City of Hamburg canceled four
concerts of his music this week. "Stockhausen told Hamburg
officials he meant to compare the attacks to a production of the
devil, Lucifer's work of art." Nando
Times (AP) 09/19/01
THE
DIFFICULT MR. STOCKHAUSEN: Did composer Karlheinz Stockhausen
really tell a journalist that the attack on the World Trade Center
towers was "the greatest work of art imaginable for the whole
cosmos"? He says not and that he was misquoted. "Stockhausen
the composer, and indeed the man, has always generated both horror
and adulation. His total dedication to his work is admired and
feared, his criticisms of almost every other musical genre (other
than his own) are legendary, his demands that we throw away our
attachments to 'the music of the past' seem like the strictures
of a feared schoolmaster, and his grandiose spiritual pronouncements
are often greeted with derision. And yet he is universally regarded,
even by his opponents, as one of the key figures in contemporary
music, and he is revered by a new generation of electronic pop
and dance acts as a mentor." The
Telegraph (UK) 09/29/01
- DID
HE MISS THE POINT, OR DID WE? "Stockhausen, in focusing
on the formal and visual elements of the terrorist deathwork,
forgot the idea that (as Bach indicated in all of his manuscripts)
all art should be created for the greater glory of God — unless,
of course, you have some perverted notion of what God is."
Andante 09/30/01
- HELP
CREATE OR DESTROY IT? "Karlheinz Stockhausen is one
of the great figures in modern composition, a revolutionary
whose shadow stretches across contemporary music in all its
incarnations. Along with such avant garde goliaths as Pierre
Boulez and John Cage, he embodies the iconoclastic spirit that
has torn away old certainties such as melody and fixed time-signatures,
and recast the fundamentals of music in the 20th century."
The Guardian (UK) 09/29/01
HOW
TO PERFORM? "On stages across New York and in concert
halls around the world over the last week it came down again and
again to the same delicate question: under what circumstance was
it appropriate for actors to act, dancers to dance and singers
to sing? 'We tried to get through a rehearsal, which was next
to impossible. You'd finish an entrance and run back to the television
to watch what was happening'." The
New York Times 09/20/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
RESPONDING
TO TERRORISM: Why haven't artists responded with more eloquence
after last week's terrorism? "What we sorely needed was to
hear from a composer, a poet, an artist who could, in an instant,
release pent-up sentiments and illuminate the stricken landscape.
Art, however, has lost the facility for rapid reaction or even
considered response. What Picasso achieved in Guernica
and Brecht in Mother Courage is no longer acceptable, or
perhaps available, to painters and playwrights of the postmodern
age." The
Telegraph (UK) 09/19/01
FINDING
YOUR OWN WAY: With all the special programs being put on by
the world's musicians in remembrance of the victims of terrorism,
we might well start to wonder what it is about music that soothes
or inflames the soul. "Grief arises from external events
that conspire to rob you of things profound and internal... With
the exact nature and extent of the loss acknowledged, the process
then becomes one of growing around that inner void, which can
entail a slow but significant change of identity... How music
works as a catalyst in this process is a highly personal matter."
Andante 09/19/01
NEW
YORK'S OUTSIDE(R) ART: Last week's World Trade Center tragedy
"has already created, virtually overnight, a new category
of outsider art: the astounding impromptu shrines and individual
artworks that have proliferated along New York's streets and in
its parks and squares. Alternating missing-person posters with
candles, flowers, flags, drawings and messages of all kinds, these
accumulations bring home the enormity of the tragedy in tangles
of personal detail." The New
York Times 09/19/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
HOW
ART SHOULD RESPOND: America's arts directors spent last week
figuring out how to respond to the World Trade Center tragedy.
"Many said in interviews that they had resumed normal schedules
after closing their doors for just one night. They said theater,
dance and music performances have suddenly taken on new importance,
not just because of their content but also because they draw people
to common experiences at a time when the nation's sense of community
seems to have been savagely attacked." The
New York Times 09/18/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- CANCEL
OR NOT? "Indeed, while many cancellations were made
out of respect for victims and the rescue effort, more mundane
concerns were also snagging plans, including the difficulty
some performers faced obtaining visas because of closed consulates
in foreign countries. Discussions of safety and sensitivity
to depictions of violence have been going on in administrative
offices of arts groups all over the city." The
New York Times 09/18/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
THAT
BURNING IMAGE: What images will come to symbolize last week's
World Trade Center disaster? There were too many pictures all
at once. "Typically, words precede the creation of iconic
images. A story is told, then a picture forms. What is an icon,
after all, but art's equivalent of the word made flesh. But the
word comes first. Icons illustrate existing faith and doctrine,
which is often inchoate until the picture comes along and suddenly
sorts out the disarray. Then, a gathering critical mass of people
sees the image and collectively knows, 'That's it!' " Los
Angeles Times 09/17/01
Arts
Business
SMITHSONIAN
HIT HARD: The world's most-visited musuem complex has been
crippled by the September 11 events. "Some days Smithsonian-wide
attendance has dropped almost three-quarters from the same day
last year. For example, last Sunday only 22,000 people visited
the Smithsonian's museums on the Mall, compared with 75,000 on
the same Sunday a year ago." Washington
Post 09/28/01
RETHINKING
AFTER TERRORISM: What's a play, movie, book or recording to
do after September 11's terrorism? "The self-scrutiny is
unprecedented in scale, sweeping aside hundreds of millions of
dollars in projects that may no longer seem appropriate. Like
the calls to curb violence in popular entertainment after the
1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, the reaction
may be helpful in the short term. But creators and producers are
just beginning to grapple with more difficult, long-range questions
of what the public will want once the initial shock from the terrorist
attacks wears off." The New York
Times 09/24/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
WEST
END WORRIES: As Broadway ticket sales tank, London's West
End worries it too will find business dissolving. "In an
average year, Americans and Canadians buy between 7 and 10 per
cent of all West End seats, and overseas visitors account for
about a third of the total. The concern in and around Shatfesbury
Avenue is that, unlike during the Gulf War, when there was only
a significant drop in the number of North American tourists, the
West End’s continental and Australasian customers will also dwindle,
as thousands cancel international flights." The
Times (UK) 09/24/01
RETURNING
TO ART: New York's museums were crowded late last week while
the US was caught up in the WTC aftermath. "People are drifting
back to museums, first because other people are there. We might
still feel guilty about distracting ourselves, but we need to
catch our breath sometimes and do what feels good, at least briefly,
for the sake of sanity. Being in a museum together can feel safe
and normal." The New York Times
09/17/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
BOOK-BOUND:
Fall is usually packed in the publishing business. But this fall
will be different as publishers postpone releases. "Not just
personally but professionally, everyone in the business has felt
repercussions from Tuesday's mayhem. Nobody would dare complain
at a time like this, but sales will probably suffer as readers
focus on other things for a while - among them reading's old nemesis,
television. Where people are finding time to buy and read books,
nonfiction is predominating, as people struggle to learn more
about how this could have happened." San
Francisco Chronicle 09/17/01
THE
POWER OF IMAGES: "As several columnists have noted, these
attacks stem in part from a disgust with the modern world, with
the huge and potentially crippling cultural impact our music,
our mores and, inevitably, our movies are having on the traditional
ways of life these people are committed to preserve at all costs.
They see our films as infecting their world, changing their children's
attitudes, in ways they find abhorrent. Given all that, what can
be said for film in these terrible days?" Los
Angeles Times 09/17/01
IN
TIMES OF CRISIS: First we look to political leaders. Then
to spiritual leaders. Eventually though, we turn to artists to
"tell the stories of our collective experience". "We
don't know how to save lives like a doctor would, or rescue people
like a fireman would, but we do know how to reinvigorate the human
spirit. That's our job." Hartford
Courant 09/16/01
- ARTISTS
TALK ABOUT ART AND TERRORISM: Robert Brustein: "This
is a time when art is most important because it complicates
our thinking and prevents us from falling into melodramatic
actions such as those we're about to take. But this is the time
when art is made tongue-tied by authority and when it's a very
small voice among hawkish screams. ... The greatest thing that
art can do in a time of crisis is to make us aware, not to turn
us into our enemies." Boston
Globe 09/15/01
POWER OF ART: The arts aren't just events
to be gone ahead with or cancelled after a tragedy. One of the
powers of great art is to try to make sense of difficult things.
Globe & Mail critics look at the power of artforms - Dance,
Music,
Visual
art, Literature,
Theatre
- to help people cope with tragedy. Globe
& Mail (Canada) 09/14/01
THE
POWER OF ART TO COPE WITH GRIEF:
"From
Homer's tales of Troy to Picasso's Guernica, from Tchaikovksy's
Pathétique to Bill T. Jones's Still/Here, from the
bloody dramas of Sophocles and Shakespeare to Maya Lin's Vietnam
Memorial, artists have always combated grave tragedy with grave
beauty. Critics of The New York Times reflect on how art
in all its forms has girded us to go on grieving and living."
The
New York Times 09/13/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
THE
APPROPRIATE MOMENT: There are many books about the World Trade
Center or terrorism. "The question, with books that might
be applicable to the recent situation, is whether you pull them
forward. Which books should you delay, and which books might have
an opportunity because of what happened. It's a question of finding
the right and appropriate moment." Inside.com
09/13/01
Popular
Culture
YES,
VERY ROMANTIC. VERY COMEDIC. VERY APPROPRIATE: Pity poor CBS
president Les Moonves. People are jumping all over him just because
he said "his network is mulling a romantic comedy about two
people who meet after their spouses are killed in the WTC destruction."
That's not exploitive, he insists, adding, "You want relevance
when appropriate." Boston
Globe 10/16/01
WORKING
TITLE - MURDER, SHE CHUCKLED: "The CBS network is considering
a sitcom arising from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed
more than 5,000 people. Leslie Moonves, the president of CBS Television,
told the Los Angeles Times that the proposed series was drawn
up before the attacks on New York and Washington, and in the aftermath
of the bombings, the writer suggested that they 'heighten the
stakes.'" National Post (Canada) 10/15/01
IRONY
ALIVE AND KICKING: It took approximately 6.2 hours after the
September 11 attacks for the first TV talking head to declare
irony, satire, and humor to be dead forevermore. That the U.S.
pundit corps would make such an outrageous assertion is not surprising
- that so many people believed it is. But in the weeks since the
attack, America's purveyors of laughter have shown themselves
to be more valuable than ever. The
New York Times 10/09/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
"REALITY"
NO MATCH FOR REALITY: Television's numbing parade of "reality
programming" seems to be slowing. Ratings for most such shows
are down. "In the face of such immense real-life loss and
destruction, viewers may no longer be as interested in the petty
bickering that’s become the hallmark of the genre."
MSNBC 10/01/01
HELPING
OR EXPLOITING? "Do movies distort our views of past events?
Or do they do a service by arousing our curiosity to find out
what really happened? At the moment, it's hard to imagine Hollywood
making a movie based on the events of Sept. 11. But the industry
track record shows it is merely a matter of time." The
Christian Science Monitor 09/28/01
WHAT
MOVIES DO: Do violent movies reflect society or influence
it? A long-pondered question. "Apart from their profitability
for producers, simplified treatments of disturbing topics give
audiences a feeling of togetherness in a world that's sometimes
too scattered and confusing for comfort. This can have a calming
effect, but it can also promote negative attitudes of prejudice
and xenophobia." Christian Science
Monitor 09/26/01
NOT
SO FUNNY:
Comedians want to go on with their shows, but "find themselves
having to strike a delicate balance between sympathy and satire,
unfamiliar territory for both mainstream comics and for alternative
comedians. Now, in dealing with an event far darker than any comic
can recall, both camps are facing a whole new array of challenges,
including many audiences with little patience for anything anti-American."
The New York Times 09/26/01
(one-time registration required for access)
MEANING
ON THE SCREEN: Director Wim Wenders on reality and fiction
on the screen: "Of course cinema and reality are two different
things. But the insight that what we saw was real does not change
the phenomenology of the situation: We sit in front of the television
and watch. To begin with, they are both just images. And for many
people, the real dimensions became clear only after several days.
At the beginning, the division between fiction and reality was
extremely blurred." Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung 09/24/01
FOR
THE LONG HAUL: What are the longer-term themes and impacts
on the arts and entertainment world after September 11? "It's
about the long haul: taste rather than appetite, reflection not
reflex, 'before' and 'later' as well as 'now.' Even popular culture
- that buzzing, blooming confusion that so beguilingly piles ephemera
atop ephemera - has an inevitably cumulative existence."
Boston Globe 09/23/01
TELLING
THE TERROR STORY: "The story that has emerged is modelled,
almost scene by scene, on a disaster movie. There's the clearly
witnessed long shot of the attack, the confusion below, people
fleeing toward the camera. Archetypal heroes (Mayor Rudolph Giuliani,
the firemen) emerged, as well as a foreign villain (Osama bin
Laden). The scene was set for the next act, the battle between
good and evil, an apocalyptic yet redemptive process. How this
cultural narrative has been chosen is worth examining."
The Globe & Mail (Canada)
09/22/01
WHEN
REALITY OVERTAKES FANTASY: "Overnight, the substance
of threat and heroism is as altered as the New York skyline. Our
willful confusion of fantasy with reality for purposes of our
own entertainment abruptly shattered when American Airlines Flight
11 powered into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Our
formula happy ending didn't come, and the ramifications in terms
of our popular culture are complete." Hartford
Courant 09/23/01
COMFORT(?)
IN NOSTRADAMUS? "Within hours of the suicide missions
that toppled the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York
on Sept. 11, there was a rush in Toronto's libraries on a single
book - not on the Qur'an, not on the Bible, not on any historical
study of the ancient struggle between followers of Islam and Christ.
The book everyone wanted contains the prophetic quatrains of 16th-century
visionary Nostradamus, who, according to rumours burning up the
Internet, had predicted the tragedy with stunning accuracy. The
prediction was later disproved." Toronto
Star 09/22/01
THE
GREAT PREDICTER? "Nostradamus" was the top search
word on the internet in the past week "Net surfers scoured
the Web for information on the 16th-century soothsayer after a
widely circulated e-mail hoax suggested he had predicted the tragedy.
Top-ranked Nostradamus and other terms related to the terrorist
attacks have been the most requested search items on the Web indexes
Google, Lycos and Yahoo! over the past eight days." National
Post (Daily News) 09/21/01
REALITY
INTRUDES: "Now, as life begins to return to something
approaching normal, Hollywood has a dilemma: Does it return to
its traditional offerings of blood-and-guts movies while the country
is still hurting? And another question: Will TV shows featuring
terrorists and bomb threats still play? Complicating all this
is the fact that business plain stinks for just about everyone
in media these days." Businessweek 09/21/01
COMING OF AGE: One
Hollywood producer suggests "This could be a coming of age
for our nation. It depends on which way we go. I'd like to see
us start looking at the process of recovery, and if entertainment
has any job, it's to put this suffering in a kind of context and
prepare people for what's next." Christian
Science Monitor 09/21/01
HARD TARGET:
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation notified the major film
studios in Los Angeles yesterday that one of them could be the
target of a terrorist bombing if the United States attacked Afghan
targets." The New York Times 09/21/01
WHEN
REALITY INTRUDES ON LAFF TRACKS: How will characters in tv
sitcoms deal with the World Trade Center tragedy? "One option
is to continue with a simulation of a New York City that no longer
exists. The other is to move into some television version of the
new New York City. Last week's tragedy seems too big, too powerful,
too overwhelming for anyone – even TV characters – to escape."
Dallas Morning News 09/20/01
COMFORT
IN POP CULTURE: "It used to be the Bible that got quoted
in moments of enormity—and to some extent it still is, as all
the prayer vigils held last week attest. But these days even the
Almighty bows before pop culture's clout. In an unfathomable event,
we turn to entertainment, and from the inventory of its words
and images, we assemble meaning. So it's understandable that the
first response to what happened last week was to seek the shelter
of a show. Many people who went through this trauma felt like
they were in a movie, and those who saw it from a safe distance
could imagine they were having the ultimate IMAX experience."
Village Voice 09/19/01
HOW
RADIO REACTS TO TRAGEDY: There are simply some common songs
that aren't appropriate after something like the World Trade Center
disaster. One of the most difficult things is to try and remember
what the lyrics to songs are. The titles are fairly obvious, but
it's knowing the sentiments too. You play something and halfway
through it might tie in with particular things that have happened.
They're a bit of a horror for us, lyrics." The
Guardian (UK) 09/20/01
- NO
MUSIC BANS: Contrary to previous reports, says Clear Channel
Communications — which operates 1,213 radio stations in the
US — the company "never issued any directive about what
stations could or should play. Instead, the list was developed
from suggestions about potentially offensive songs that depicted
graphic violence; referenced falling, explosions, or plane crashes;
or seemed too celebratory of New York." USAToday
09/19/01
VIOLENCE
SELLS: Are American movie-makers too good at producing violence
on the screen? "We have to face the question of violence
as our country's cultural touchstone. If it's not our native tongue
heard in the movies that we send around the globe, then it's the
language we speak most ardently. The graphic image of the White
House exploding in Independence Day has a frightening quality,
and in hindsight, since the Bush administration has said the White
House was a target of the terrorists, perhaps suggested the way
to unlock the door to our national nightmares — a horror-movie
symbolism that shows the power of a grand gesture." The
New York Times 09/18/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
CUES
FROM AMERICAN CULTURE: "Those who carried out the attacks
on New York and the Pentagon were right up to date, not only in
technical terms. Inspired by the pictorial logic of Western symbolism,
they staged the massacre as a media spectacle, adhering in minute
detail to scenarios from disaster movies. Such an intimate understanding
of American civilization hardly testifies to an anachronistic
mentality." Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung 09/18/01
SANITIZING
THE CRISIS: Clear Channel Communications, one of the world's
largest media companies, has circulated a memo to its radio stations
across the U.S. "suggesting" the removal of some 150
songs from station playlists in the wake of last week's attack.
Program directors have been left to wonder what could possibly
be objectionable about the Beatles' "Obla-Di Obla-Da"
or Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World." St.
Paul Pioneer Press 09/18/01
TORONTO
FILM FESTIVAL PRIZE: The film Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie
Poulain, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet wins top prize at
the Toronto Film Festival. "The final press conference -
usually a sit-down brunch with much applause and laughter - was
a conventional press conference, attended mostly by Canadians
and a few stranded travellers, and felt less like a celebration
than a funeral reception." The
Globe & Mail (Canada) 09/17/01
- TORONTO
TROUBLE: Last week's terrorism deflated the Toronto Film
Festival. With transportation down, "the result was massive
trouble for the festival's guest office and for major hotels.
Some festival guests couldn't get to Toronto; certain films
had to be cancelled because prints did not arrive; and many
festival guests who were already here found themselves unable
to leave town." Toronto Star
09/17/01
AUDIENCES
RETURN TO MOVIES: "Cinemas were relatively empty on Friday
as many Americans watched events on television news, but on Saturday
cinema audiences returned." BBC
09/17/01
THE
UNCERTAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ART AND LIFE: For the past three
days, the script for reality came out of a Hollywood cataclysm
movie. But, "The world is a more complex place, more like
a John le Carre novel with shifting truths than a Hollywood movie
of good guys and bad guys." And the
people who anticipated reality with special effects are finding
that their make-believe world too is changed forever. Boston
Globe & BBC 09/13/01
LET
THE BAD TIMES ROLL: The terrorist attacks have provoked some
changes and delays in plans for violent movies and TV shows. But
how long will that last? "Few producers, actors, or outside
observers expect Hollywood to holler 'Cut!' In fact, some believe
cinematic treatments of violent episodes such as terrorist attacks
may actually increase." It needn't be that way, of course;
it's possible
to hope for "something that travels thoughtfully beyond
the panoramic rubble, and obvious individual and collective pain,
to greater universal truths that define us as a society."
Boston Globe & Los Angeles Times
09/14/01
NETWORK
DELAYS SEASON: NBC TV delays next week's scheduled debut of
its fall TV season. Inside.com 09/12/01
- TERRORISM
SUDDENLY ISN'T SO ENTERTAINING: Hollywood wonders about
postponing release of action movies and TV shows that feature
terrorist stories. "Sony Pictures removed a trailer from
theaters and the Internet for the adventure Spider-Man
because of a scene in which a helicopter carrying fleeing robbers
gets trapped in a giant spider web strung between the two towers
of the World Trade Center." Nando
Times (AP) 09/12/01
POINTS
OF REFERENCE HARD TO COME BY AFTER ATTACK: Over and over on
Tuesday, reporters and witnesses were forced to describe the chaos
in New York following a horrific terrorist attack as being "like
something out of a movie." CNN interviewed author Tom Clancy,
and more than one witness cited the 1998 movie The Siege
to describe what they were seeing. "The power of pop culture
never seemed so real – or so terrifying." Dallas
Morning News 09/12/01
SQUARING
A TERRIFYING REALITY WITH THE TV NATION: "And what will
TV and the movies do now with their storytelling? To take the
most trivial example -- and yet so much of creative life will
seem trivial for a long time to come -- how will the producers
of Sex and the City or Law & Order create a
fictive New York that in any way corresponds to the world that
has just been overturned?" The
Globe & Mail (Toronto) 09/12/01
Benefits
ART
BENEFIT: New York artists plan a big benefit for victims of
September 11. "So far, plans call for a joint live auction
held by Sotheby's, Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg, Doyle New York,
Guernsey's, Swann and Leland that will take place in the afternoon
at the premises of one of the auction houses in New York. In the
evening, there will be a New York Thanks You concert at
Carnegie Hall for the mayor and all the rescue workers involved
in the post-attack effort." Forbes.com
09/26/01
BIGTIME
DONATING: Friday night's Hollywood telethon broadcast on some
40 channels to raise money for disaster relief raised $150 million,
organizers say. "The money will be distributed through the
United Way with no administrative costs deducted, organizers said
on Monday." Nando Times (AP)
09/25/01
ARTIST
BENEFIT: Artists, auction houses, show promoters, galleries,
dealers and museums throughout the country are being asked to
become part of Art for America, a national day of fund-raising
this fall. Art for America will culminate in a joint live auction
in November. Proceeds of the event will benefit the Twin Towers
Fund, the charity set up by Mayor Giuliani for the families of
uniformed heroes missing in the blast. The fund already has received
pledges of $72 million." New
York Post 09/23/01
WILLING
TO HELP: American celebrities are volunteering to help. "Not
since World War II has the entertainment industry responded so
swiftly, so vocally and so unanimously to a crisis, volunteering
to raise money for families of the thousands who died on Sept.
11 or being willing to entertain troops to lift morale."
The New York Times 09/24/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
TELETHON
BIGGER THAN SUPERBOWL: "An estimated 89 million viewers
tuned in at some point to Friday night's America: A Tribute
to Heroes. That is 7 million more than tuned in to Bush's
address the night before and nearly 5 million more than watched
the 2001 Super Bowl." Preliminary estimates of the money
raised indicate $110 million was raised for disaster relief. Organizers
got 300,000 calls in the show's first 15 minutes.
Los Angeles Times 09/23/01
MUSIC-AID:
Musicians are out raising money for disaster relief. "Michael
Jackson, for example, hopes to rustle up more than $50-million
for victims of the disaster through sales of What More Can
I Give, a song he wrote six months ago for his album Invincible
but didn't use. He wants to record the song with a Live-Aid-like
supergroup to include Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys and Mya
from Destiny's Child, among others. Whitney Houston's label is
rereleasing her Superbowl recording of The Star-Spangled Banner
as a CD, with royalties to firefighters and police in New York."
The Globe & Mail (Canada) 09/21/01
STAR
CLUSTER: Tonight's two-hour A-list celebrity telethon to benefit
the rebuilding and victims in New York is involving cooperation
in the entertainment industry on an unprecedented scale. Dozens
of stars are involved and "more than 31 cable channels, including
FX, TNT, Discovery and BET, will air the program." Organizers
hope to raise $30 million. Los Angeles
Times 09/21/01
- FROM
A SECRET LOCATION: "We're not even disclosing where
the show is going to be done. There will be no audience, no
commercials, and no press. ... It's a very special thing, dedicated
for a very special reason, and not to be commercialized." San
Francisco Chronicle 09/21/01
Background
