“Today’s physicists rarely debate what time is and why we experience it the way we do, remembering the past but never the future. Instead, researchers build ever-more accurate clocks. The current record-holder, at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics in Colorado, measures the vibration of strontium atoms; it is accurate to 1 second in 15 billion years, roughly the entire age of the known universe. Impressive, but it does not answer ‘What is time?’”
Hello – Your Broadway Ticket Doesn’t Entitle You To Meet-And-Greet With The Actors
“We as fans have to learn how to rein in our “love” for these artists and realize they are human – extraordinary humans – but still humans. They get tired. They get sick. They get exhausted. And that $175 you pay for your ticket (you better not be showing out like this behind a rush ticket!) is not worth the risk of them doing permanent damage to their instrument (voice/body).”
Boston’s Master Bow-Maker
“It is a strange fate to be a master of an art at once so essential and hidden from view. The public often hears of Stradivarius instruments; bows, by comparison, are rarely discussed. If you are not a string player or married to one, chances are you cannot name a single bow maker, living or legendary.”
The Choreographer, In Her 8th Decade, Still Has Questions
“Part of Ms. Hay’s mandate as a choreographer is to change learned behavior in dancers — to challenge them to relinquish their habits by posing questions that shift the tone and texture of a performance.”
Is The Lucas Museum, In The End, Going To Elude Chicago?
“Mr. Emanuel is pitching a new plan that would include demolishing a much derided but spacious older section of the city’s lakefront convention center to make room for the museum and a new park. New convention space would be added under the plan as well.”
An Extreme Shakespearean Indulgence, With Dame Judi Dench, David Tennant, Prince Charles And A Lot More
Oh, what the heck: Start your week watching British acting royalty, and British royalty, getting into the Bard in these clips from this weekend’s Royal Shakespeare Company extravaganza.
Hamlet’s Two-Year, 197-Country Odyssey Comes To An End
“Naeem Hayat, who played Hamlet for the final show at the Globe, described being in Elsinore as ‘probably the most surreal experience’ of his life.”
Is There A Political Point To This New Arts Super PAC?
“Mr. Smith, for example, who has taken over the super PAC’s Instagram arm, has made a series of photographs of gun owners extolling their favorite weapons. The artist Will Steacy, who describes himself as a ‘former union laborer,’ makes collages that reveal a stance closer to Libertarianism.”
Facebook? It’s Morphing Into Something Far, Far Away From A Social Network
“What has the Facebook app and site become, if not a social network? The answer is rather obvious when you watch how people use it. It has become a personalized portal to the online world.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs For 04.24.16
Where Have You Gone, Jackie Robinson?
Pianist Kathleen Supové is to perform “Achilles Dreams Of Ebbets Field” by Dylan Mattingly in a world premiere at the Di Menna Center for Classical Music in New York. The Brooklyn Dodgers will be… … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2016-04-24
Back to Reality: Torma on Michelangelo’s Art
“Colossal as his works were, he saw them still too much as garlands and sought some immoderation wherewith to botch them. He was so successful that he left everything unfinished. Never push things.” … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2016-04-24
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2016-04-24
Marching Forward, Sometimes on Tiptoe
The Martha Graham Dance Company performs at City Center Martha Graham’s Cave of the Heart. L to R: Leslie Ann Willliams, Ben Schultz embracing Charlotte Landreau, and Peiju Chien-Pott. Photo: Brigid Pierce Erick Hawkins once… … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-04-23
The Martha Graham Dance Company performs at City Center Martha Graham’s Cave of the Heart. L to R: Leslie Ann Willliams, Ben Schultz embracing Charlotte Landreau, and Peiju Chien-Pott. Photo: Brigid Pierce Erick Hawkins once… … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-04-23
An Experiment in Reading
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft is one of George Gissing’s novels. Click to turn the pages. No need to login. I know how to enlarge the type for legibility by adjusting the view size… … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2016-04-22
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft is one of George Gissing’s novels. Click to turn the pages. No need to login. I know how to enlarge the type for legibility by adjusting the view size… … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2016-04-22
The greatest musician
So surprising that he’s gone. Or maybe not a surprise — he was so otherworldly. Don’t think I’ve ever known of another musician with such prodigious gifts. Wrote unforgettable hits, and also album tracks… … read more
AJBlog: SandowPublished 2016-04-22
So surprising that he’s gone. Or maybe not a surprise — he was so otherworldly. Don’t think I’ve ever known of another musician with such prodigious gifts. Wrote unforgettable hits, and also album tracks… … read more
AJBlog: SandowPublished 2016-04-22
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This Week in Audience 04.24.16
Our roundup of stories chronicling evolution of thinking about the relationships between artists and audiences. Stories on why donors stop giving to the arts, how the physical world gets in the way of audiences used to the ease of clicks, and some skepticism about “diversity and democratization” in the arts.
Money, Diversity And Power: This Week’s Top AJ Stories
This week: Do the Met Museum’s financial woes say anything about today’s museum business? Who wants to see art in mobbed museums anyway? Prince’s career as a control freak. A realignment of power in cities. And diversity as fetish object.
Congolese Music Star Papa Wemba Collapses And Dies While Performing
“In a career spanning almost half a century, Wemba became known as the ‘the king of Congolese rumba.’ He was also a style icon, popularising the cult movement known as the Sapeurs.”
A German Orchestra Goes Up Against Turkey In Row Over A Term For Genocide
“Turkey’s delegation to the European Union demanded the European Commission withdraw 200,000 euros ($224,500) in funding for the concert. The commission ultimately maintained its financial support, but asked the orchestra to not mention genocide and has removed any mention of the event from its website.”
Harvard’s American Repertory Theatre Is Always Incubating The Next Hot Broadway Show
“The A.R.T. currently has 10 productions—including the likes of Once, Pippin, Finding Neverland, and Sleep No More—in or about to hit theaters around the world. It has sent eight productions to Broadway.”
Why Katy Pyle Created A Queer ‘Ballez’ Company
“I just don’t believe in neutral. I want to use this form to show that people are still carrying these subconscious judgments and ideas about how we should behave in relation to each other, how we should look and move, and what’s possible and what’s allowed.”