“When I tell people that I make shows for babies, and that the youngest audience member for Replay’s work was just four days old, they often look incredulous. The look is swiftly followed by a lot of questions: ‘How does that work?’ ‘What’s the point?’ And, most of all, ‘But they’re not going to remember!’ Here’s the thing. They are.”
Annotation Nation – More And More We Feel The Need To Explain (In The Margins)
“In recent years, more and more of us are reading annotated editions of our favorite books—The Annotated Wuthering Heights, The Annotated Lolita, The Annotated Anne of Green Gables—as well as posting on sites like Genius.com, which claims to host more than a million annotated texts, and sharing notes and highlights on Kindle. Never before has there been so much activity in the margins of culture.”
What’s Wrong With The Music Business: 178 Million Streams For “All About The Bass” Earned What???
“That was the real issue for us, like 1 million streams equals $90. For a song like ‘All About That Bass,’ that I wrote, which had 178 million streams. I mean $5,679? That’s my share. That’s as big a song as a songwriter can have in their career and No. 1 in 78 countries. But you’re making $5,600. How do you feed your family?”
How Does Creativity Spread? Networks, Connections, Influence
The truth is life is not fair. For creative work to spread, you need more than talent. You have to get exposure to the right networks. And as unfair as that may seem, it’s the way the world has always worked.
Should A Monkey Own Copyright For A Selfie It Took? PETA Says Yes, And Sues On The Monkey’s Behalf
“The suit was filed Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. It seeks a court order allowing PETA to administer all proceeds from the photos for the benefit of the monkey, which it identified as 6-year-old Naruto, and other crested macaques living in a reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.”
‘Wouldn’t It Be Incredible To Meet Someone Who Experienced Having Quentin Tarantino As A Clerk?’ In Praise Of The (Vanishing) Video Store:
“Brooklyn-based journalist Tom Roston did not want the video store to die unmourned. He spoke to filmmakers – Darren Aronofsky, Allison Anders, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Nicole Holofcener – and others about what mattered about these places. Some of these directors spent years working behind the counter.”
France Tries To Enforce ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ On Google Worldwide, Not Just Google.fr
“On Monday France’s data-privacy agency ordered Google to delist certain links (that is, remove them from search results) everywhere it operates and in every service it offers” whenever anyone asks for them to be removed under French law. “It’s unlikely that even Louis XIV thought French regulatory authority should stretch so far.”
French Ideas And Philosophy Once Enthralled The Western World. No More. What Happened?
Sudhir Hazareesingh suggests that some of the French habits of thought that made its great minds so influential from the Enlightenment through the 1960s contained the seeds of their own decline.
Rare 1915 Films Show Rodin, Monet, Renoir, and Degas in Their Twilight Years
“In 1915, with the newly innovated film camera, a young Russian-born, French actor named Sacha Guitry captured some of France’s greatest artists and authors. His footage of Auguste Rodin, Claude Monet, Edgar Dégas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and other luminaries in their twilight years appeared in his first cinematic work, a 22-minute silent film called Ceux de Chez Nous (Those of Our Land).”
Leadership Through The Lens Of Dance
The Women in Dance Leadership Conference will feature speakers with varied backgrounds, including dance but also business, medicine, higher education and technology. “It’s using dance as a vehicle because of my profession, but I also wanted to touch base (in other fields) and how that aspect and those professions are being impacted.” Many observers tend to think of dance as a female-centric profession, Parks said, but those in leadership positions are about 70 percent male.
TSA Carelessly Allows Rare Double Bass To Be Damaged
Milton Masciadri has reported that “after I checked the instrument it went to TSA [Transportation Security Administration] for inspection but when it arrived in Arkansas they had failed to put back on the security belts that the trunk has inside. The airline had no reason to open the trunk so its obvious that TSA was the one [responsible].”
McDonald’s UK To Give Away Free Roald Dahl Book With Every Happy Meal
“Eight titles have been put together for the [six-week] promotion, each showcasing extracts from two Dahl books, including Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Families, with tasters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr Fox, and Roald Dahl’s Magical Mischief, extracting George’s Marvellous Medicine and Matilda.”
Musée d’Orsay’s New Show On Prostitution Shut Down Due To Strike
“[The Paris museum] was unable to open on Tuesday for the first day of its much-discussed exhibition, Splendour and Misery: Images of Prostitution 1850-1910 … The institution’s labour union voted to strike this morning at a general meeting, in protest against a plan to keep the Orsay open to the public seven days a week, starting in November.”
Babies Need The Arts (Yes, Really) – So We Make Art For Babies
“The evidence about the importance of children’s early experiences is pouring out of scientific labs. … If those three years are so fundamental to shaping who we are, then shouldn’t they be filled with experiences which are beautiful, challenging, imaginative, soothing, musical, creative, exciting and calming? We reckon so. And that’s why we’ve been making shows for babies for the last four years.”
A $100,000 Prize For Theatre Designers – The Shortlist Is Out
Canada’s annual Siminovitch Prize is awarded to directors, playwrights and designers on a three-year cycle. This year’s finalists include Trevor Schwellnus of Toronto’s Aluna Theatre, Bretta Gerecke of Edmonton’s Catalyst Theatre, and Montreal-based designers Nancy Tobin and Anick La Bissonnière.
Michael ‘Lord Of The Dance’ Flatley To Retire From Stage After Four Decades
“Michael Flatley’s starring role in Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games will mark more than one milestone for the 57-year-old who founded two major Irish dance franchises. It will be his Broadway debut – and his farewell.”
Play Directed By Cynthia Nixon Gets Called Off At Last Minute
“Citing serious financial trouble, the Culture Project on Tuesday abruptly canceled the premiere of a new play, backed by Rosie O’Donnell and directed by Cynthia Nixon, that was to have begun performances on Thursday.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.22.15
Memories of Marlon Brando
It doesn’t happen often because it can’t. The taste of the madeleine that unleashes a torrent of memories and associations, the thing that makes you stop what you’re doing and plunges you into unexpected reverie. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2015-09-22
Monday Recommendation: Gabriel Alegría Sextet
Trumpeter Gabriel Alegría’s resourceful band of Peruvians and New Yorkers (Newyoruvians?) continue to meld Latin and North American traditions. Their stimulating fifth album alternates between the continents and blends musics … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-09-21
Lookback: on applauding between movements
From 2003: I continue to see obviously excited concertgoers shamefacedly sitting on their hands at the very moment when they ought to be raising a ruckus. What’s more, the concert halls of New York are full of spine-starched prigs who delight in … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-09-22
[ssba_hide]
San Francisco Opera Names A New General Director
Matthew Shilvock, “educated at Oxford (music) and Amherst (arts administration), came from Houston Grand Opera with Gockley in 2005, and has acted as a senior executive in all aspects of company operations, production, financial stability, and strategic development. He has had a prominent role in labor relations, negotiating with AFM and AGMA unions, with responsibility for contract maintenance.”
Studies: We Have A Bias That Links Masculinity With Creativity
“The propensity to think creatively tends to be associated with independence and self-direction—qualities generally ascribed to men,” Duke University researchers led by Devon Proudfoot argue in the journal Psychological Science. As a result, they write, “men are often perceived to be more creative than women.”
Tate Modern’s $400 Million Expansion To Open Next June
The new building by architects Herzog & de Meuron — linked to the existing structure by the vast Turbine Hall — will add 60 percent more display space for the gallery’s collection of modern and contemporary art.