“Booksellers around the country say they’re experiencing ‘Christmas’ levels of demand post-lockdown, as many readers have sworn off shopping offshore following the Covid-19 crisis, which claimed 21 lives in New Zealand.” – The Guardian
Frantisek Uhliř’s Welcome New Album
Some time ago, I wrote on Rifftides, “The Czech Frantisek Uhliř is one of the greatest bassists in the world.” Leading his septet on his new release, Story of my life, he is as powerful as when I first heard him in Prague in 1993. – Doug Ramsey
Is It Time To Change The Academy Awards To Recognize Streaming-Only Films?
Not just for this year, when the change makes sense due to the coronavirus, but forever? Well, says one critic, “I believe there’s something sacred in the moviegoing experience that I can’t re-create at home. And relaxing Oscar rules risks chipping away at the institution you and I hold dear: going to see movies in the dark, on the big screen, among crowds, where they hold our undivided attention — as opposed to competing with incoming emails, phone calls and other distractions. But the truth is … the Academy risks irrelevance when it stands in the way.” – Variety
What’s Next For The Arts In Britain?
The director of the National Theatre and the Tate convened (by screen, natch) to figure it out. “At the beginning, it was shocking but people thought the crisis would last three weeks. Possibly six. Now we’re at a moment where we have to think about more than the recovery of individual institutions and our sectors. We’ve got to start thinking: how do we shape the world for the new normal? The pressures we’re under – financial, practical and emotional – mean we’ll not be the same on the other side.” – The Observer (UK)
John Macurdy, American Bass Who Sang More Than 1000 Performances At The Met, Has Died At 91
Macurdy’s rich voice and stage presence won him accolades over his 38-year career at the Met. “Though he achieved success in key roles like Gurnemanz in Wagner’s Parsifal, King Marke in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Mr. Macurdy proved essential to the house for his standout performances of supporting roles, including the Commendatore in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, which he sang 75 times at the Met; Daland in Wagner’s Der Fliegender Holländer; the King of Egypt in Verdi’s Aida; and many more.” – The New York Times
English Landscapes And Landmarks Inspired Important Spots In Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Ring
Perhaps that’s obvious, but a new book “will argue that many assumptions previously made about the origins of scenes from the sagas are wrong.” – The Observer (UK)
The Future Of Filmmaking
Some things may change until there’s a vaccine – constant testing, small pods of workers instead of a huge crew, no craft services table – but others, like board meetings by Zoom, are here to stay. Director/producer Frank Marshall; “I know there’s a future, I know we will get through this, but the big question is when.” – Los Angeles Times
Turmoil And Rancor Strike The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, With Calls For The Board And Managing Director To Resign
The musicians asked to take a 50 percent pay cut. Instead, while two-thirds of the administrative staff stayed on with a 20 percent pay cut, “the board opted to temporarily stand down its musicians and put them on the federal government’s JobKeeper program in response to the financial impact of COVID-19.” The musicians are not fond of this plan. – Sydney Morning Herald
Who Has The Rights To The Omegaverse?
You might (or might not) consider wolf erotica a niche market. It’s a bigger niche that is now walking through a minefield of copyright questions, with larger implications for genre writing. “As the genre commercializes, authors aggressively defend their livelihoods, sometimes using a 1998 law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, to get online retailers to remove competitors’ books. When making a claim, a creator must have a ‘good faith belief’ that her ownership of the work in question has been infringed. But what does that mean when the ultimate source material is a crowdsourced collective?” – The New York Times
Against Hype, A Few Films Actually Are Different From Anything That Came Before Them
Take Daughters of the Dust, for instance. ” Julie Dash’s astonishing debut is a portrait of a multigenerational South Carolina Gullah family as they prepare to migrate north in 1902.” (But truly, you could get a decent film education watching most of these movies as lockdown continues, or staying at home seems the safest move.) – The Atlantic