Another creative moment borne from boredom during the pandemic: "Dan Tepfer plays the first of Bach's "Goldberg" Variations. The piano is a Disklavier, which can record and play back. When he finishes, Tepfer taps a button on his iPad, triggering the piano to play back what he's just recorded with the notes inverted, as if the score were turned upside...
The National Black Theater is trading up - and up. It will replace its current building with a 21-story high-rise, where the theatre can have three floors while retail and housing occupy the rest. "National Black Theater leaders see the $185 million project, and the partnership they are entering with developers, as a new chapter with the financial and...
Olivia Rodrigo has figured out something that few have before her. There's" a shift within the Disney sphere, which has apparently evolved enough to allow its stars to curse while still holding down jobs on PG-rated television." - Washington Post
And that's historic for more than her art; it's also unusual for Los Angeles to honor women artists in this way. Kent adapted silkscreen printing to the era of Pop. "In the wake of the Second Vatican Council in 1962, which called for a liberalization and modernization of the Catholic liturgy to the realities of 20th century life, she...
Actor Simu Liu plays Jung Kim in the show, whose fifth and final season is dropping on Netflix Canada. It's a critically lauded show with a lot of comedy buzz. But, says Liu, the producers (who were "overwhelmingly white") discounted input from Asian cast members; the actor also said that the actors were paid at an "absolute horsepoop rate."...
In Perth, Australia, the multi-arts Fringe World loses its decade-long sponsor, the decidedly non-edgy mining company Woodside, after three years of protests by festival artists. - The Guardian (UK)
The government review of the planned Discovery-Warner Bros merger could take more than a year, and subscribers are abandoning Discovery's cable channels (and cable in general) in droves. Then there's the huge debt - and the companies' culture clashes. - Los Angeles Times
See: Bartlett Sher's Oslo and his Elisir."It’s rare that history colors a human experience without applying a layer—even a thin layer—to the whole surface." - Van Magazine
Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara "is the leader of the San Isidro protest movement (MSI) of artists and intellectuals pressing for free speech and other rights" in Cuba. He spent nearly a month in hospital after an 8-day hunger strike, without his phone or any means of communication. - Yahoo News (AFP)
In the U.S., people like nonfiction, especially self-help - and cookbooks, and sex advice. The books in the best-seller canon "are not books so much as appliances. They are not read; they are used. And probably many of them have been bought by people who do not otherwise buy many books." - The New Yorker
You don't have to wait for news reports; just watch livestreams from protests, lectures, concerts, and more. "With endless images and videos at our constant disposal, people are entirely able to form their own understanding of events—and of the narrative choices involved in crafting newspaper articles and cable network broadcasts." This is great, and terrible, for journalism and the...
Admirers and critics alike may say, "At last!" This is a strong about-face. "He proudly played Bach on modern pianos; referred to fortepianists with an interest in Schubert as mere 'specialists'; and told a New York Times interviewer in 1983, 'I’ve heard some ghastly things done in the name of authenticity.' Time and experience, though, have brought about a wholesale change in...
Universal, Hipgnosis, Primary Wave, and others have paid multiple hundreds of millions for music catalogs ranging from Bob Dylan's to that of Stevie Nicks. But "music publishing and related intellectual-property management and exploitation is not a business one enters lightly. Famously called 'a business of pennies,' it requires attentive nurturing and development in order to maximize the value. ......
If you want to be healthier and happier, that is. "Can’t we stop succeeding for just one moment? Cease trying to be exceptional at something? The answer is yes, but to do so you must embrace your inner amateur." - Psyche
