“‘It’s nice and weird at the same time,’ she said of the attention the day after her movie’s first press screening. While here, she racked up 30 hours of interviews with 60 journalists from more than 15 countries.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs For 05.22.15
Dancing with Music
The Mark Morris Dance Group performs in its own Brooklyn space. Sam Black and the Mark Morris Dance Group in Morris’s The. Photo: Mat Hayward Music often takes Mark Morris in directions I couldn’t have… … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-05-21
Weekend Extra: Fathead Newman’s “Hard Times”
When he was a member of the Ray Charles band in the 1950s, saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman was frequently the featured soloist on Paul Mitchell’s and George V. Johnson’s “Hard Times.” It became a musical… … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2016-05-21
Things I do not understand about the ticket-resale debate
The Guardian reports that next week Professor Michael Waterson will release a UK government commissioned report on the regulation of ticket resale. I’m glad to hear it, because it might shed some light on an… … read more
AJBlog: For What it’s WorthPublished 2016-05-21
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Is Fear Of Death Behind All Of Our Accomplishments?
“The terror of death has guided the development of art, religion, language, economics, and science. It raised the pyramids in Egypt and razed the Twin Towers in Manhattan. It contributes to conflicts around the globe. At a more personal level, recognition of our mortality leads us to love fancy cars, tan ourselves to an unhealthy crisp, max out our credit cards, drive like lunatics, itch for a fight with a perceived enemy, and crave fame, however ephemeral, even if we have to drink yak urine on Survivor to get it.”
What Robert DeNiro Told Graduating Arts Students At NYU
“You made it … and you’re fucked.”
An Alternative (To NPR And The NYT) Summer Reading List
“While there is nothing wrong with the books they have chosen, it seems they would have you believe that only white people are writing books worthy of summer reading.” (You can also find alternative summer reading lists for kids here.)
So, *Are* College Students Customers Of Higher Education?
Nope. “That analogy needs to die. It needs to be drowned in the world’s largest bathtub. It needs a George R.R. Martin–esque bloodbath of a demise.”
Artists Need To Be Able To Take Risks, But How Can That Work Without A Welfare State?
“There’s not much point hanging a big welcome sign above the box office if the stage door is clearly barred to anyone without a financial safety net.”
Can The Germans Fix Opera In New York?
“Accustomed to hearing opera at the Met, where the average attendee is more likely than not on Medicare, I was bewildered at the number of kids—high schoolers barely over Platée’s recommended minimum age of 14—crowding the auditorium.”
The English National Ballet Prepares To Move To Its New Home In East London
“The aim is to ‘create a new space that allows us to produce and rehearse amazing work,’ said the ENB’s artistic director, Tamara Rojo, adding that the facilities could also be used by other organisations. She said: ‘I want the space to echo to the sound of creative Britain.'”
Why Jhumpa Lahiri Quit The U.S. For Italy – And Wrote A Book In Italian
“After a lifetime of feeling that she never quite fitted into either India or the US, Lahiri feels a casa (‘at home’) in Rome. She recently wrote about her Italian metamorphosis in a ‘linguistic autobiography’, titled In Altre Parole (‘In Other Words’), which hit Italian bookstores in January.”
Illumination Artists Sue NYPD Over Arrests In Museum Protest
“They were charged with unlawful posting of advertisements for projecting images critical of Koch and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Even someone who’s not a lawyer can tell that there are two problems with that charge. The statute defines ‘posting’ as sticking to something. Images and projections don’t stick, and no advertisements were involved.”
Palmyra’s Antiquities Have Been In Danger Long Before ISIS Showed Up
UNESCO warnings about Palmyra go back as far as 2013, predating the rise of ISIS. Historian Eleanor Robson said that throughout the four-year Syrian civil war, the city’s antiquities have been imperiled by “members of the Assad regime, rebels, criminals, and opportunists.” She added, “It’s been chaos for years.”
Has Toronto’s Luminato Failed To Make An Impact As An International Festival?
“When Toronto was at a particular low point in the 2000s, Luminato was conceived by business leaders as the kind of high-level, multiarts smorgasbord that would attract international cultural tourists while also providing enough free, fun and family events to entertain the city. It was planned without sufficient consultation with Canadian arts groups and has often felt like a top-down exercise, a perception that repeatedly hiring Europeans will only reinforce.”
Perhaps The Most Audacious (And Ridiculous) Art Heist Ever (And How It Shook The British Government)
“The resulting image shows the young Irish art student, the belt of his tweed overcoat flapping as he moves at speed, grappling with the heavy gilt frame containing Berthe Morisot’s Jour d’Eté and two large pieces of card attempting to cover the image of two French ladies on a boating lake. After jumping into a taxi, Mr Hogan realised he had no idea where to take his loot and instructed the driver to head to the only place he could think of – Piccadilly Circus.”
Chicago Theaters Want Your Help When You Die
“The subject is sensitive, awkward and uncomfortable but also, a growing priority for even the most established theater companies in Chicago, many of which are still relatively new at what museums and universities have been doing for decades: discretely shimmying up to cherished, aging supporters and gently wondering if they might leave the theater a little something in their wills some day. But there is an art to the ask.
Why Doesn’t Hollywood Cater More To Older Audiences? (They’re Growing)
“According to a 2014 study of theatrical market statistics by the Motion Picture Association of America, the number of “frequent moviegoers” in the 60-plus demographic (that is, those who attend the cinema at least once a month) jumped almost 30 percent last year from 2013, to 5.3 million viewers. That is the highest level for the 60-plus demographic since 2010. Over the same period, attendance by frequent moviegoers ages 18 to 24 and 25 to 39 — still the dominant age groups, with annual attendance about 7 million each — continued to slide. But the pickings are sometimes slim for mature audiences looking for characters their age appearing in quality fare.”
Tom Stoppard: Here’s Where Science’s Explanations Of How The World Works Stop
When I said: “could you relate cultural evolution to biological evolution”, that’s where I think there’s a fudge or a missing rung. I don’t understand what you mean, because your starting point is that there is no you and me outside our brains.”
Have Big Book Festivals Become Too Big To Actually Appreciate Books?
This year’s Hay festival, which kicked off on Thursday night, calls itself “a party that is first and foremost a party”. Twenty-seven years old now and with stars including Jude Law appearing alongside many excellent writers, Hay sits at the showbiz end of the spectrum.
Who Owns What? Artist Takes Instagram Pix, Hangs Them In Gallery And Sells Them For A Fortune
Right now, at the Gagosian Gallery in New York, you can purchase someone’s Instagram photo for around $100,000. The money won’t go to the photographer, however, it will go to “artist” Richard Prince, who has blown up and made prints of other people’s Instagram photos for his exhibit, “New Portraits.”
Why UNESCO Is Freaking Out About The Safety Of Palmyra Treasures As ISIS Invades
The city contains the ruins of what, according to UNESCO, “was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world” — an important Silk Road hub where East met West more 2,000 years ago. A World Heritage Site, Palmyra is heralded by experts as having some of the finest Roman-era ruins in existence.