Wikio - Arts Columnists

CD review: Tùma, Partite, Sonate e Sinfone (San Fransisco Chronicle)

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

RATING: (POLITE APPLAUSE) Born in Prague in 1704, Frantisek Tùma is one of those composers who seem to straddle several eras and styles. In this selection of string partitas, sonatas and sinfonias, shades of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart filter through the...

Source : San Fransisco Chronicle (subscribe)

Explore : Prague

Mitzi Gaynor to present 'South Pacific' (San Fransisco Chronicle)

rstein@sfchronicle.com (Ruthe Stein) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

The acclaimed Broadway revival of "South Pacific" has benefited Mitzi Gaynor along with the current cast, including Kelli O'Hara, who reprises Gaynor's role of Navy WAVE Nellie Forbush. Sales of the CDs from the film recording - spotlighting Gaynor's romantic...

Source : San Fransisco Chronicle (subscribe)

"WALL-E" Slams Every Corporation but One (ArtsJournal)

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:40:06 GMT

"More troublesome is the film's complicity in the commodified culture it ostensibly critiques. This isn't about Disney, whose external merchandise and marketing are extraneous to the film's artistic vision. Within the movie itself, 'WALL-E' betrays its true corporate overlord, and it isn't Mickey. It's Apple."...

Source : ArtsJournal (subscribe)

Challenging The Longtail Theory (ArtsJournal)

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:20:35 GMT

"In 2007, 24 percent of the nearly 4 million digital songs available for sale through stores like iTunes sold only one copy each, and 91 percent of available tracks sold fewer than 100 copies each. The story is the same for the movie business, where, between 2000 and 2005, the number of titles that were purchased only a few times "almost quadrupled." The Internet offers us a buffet of everything--and...

Source : ArtsJournal (subscribe)

Explore : iTunes

More public art for Bartle Hall (KansasCity.com)

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:22:00 GMT

There's more art on the way for Bartle Hall, joining the R.M. Fisher Sky Stations atop the pylons and Omaha artist Jun Kaneko's Water Plaza on the south side of the ballroom. The newest project, an animated mesh tapestry designed by New York artist Suikang Zhao, is part of Crawford Architects' improvements to the convention center's north dock.

Source : KansasCity.com (subscribe)

Explore : Cities and Towns, New York, New York City

CD review: Grainger, 'Transcriptions for Winds' (San Fransisco Chronicle)

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

RATING: (ALERT VIEWER) This oddball disc is devoted to Percy Grainger's wildly ambitious wind orchestra transcriptions. The selections span the centuries, from an anonymous 13th century Angelus to Josquin des Prez, Bach, Liszt, Franck, Fauré and a 1935...

Source : San Fransisco Chronicle (subscribe)

Is The "LongTail" Really A Viable Strategy? (ArtsJournal)

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:34:50 GMT

"Today we live in a world of ubiquitous information and communication technology, where retailers have virtually infinite shelf space and consumers can search through innumerable options. When books, movies, and music are digitized and therefore cheap to replicate, the question arises: Is a blockbuster strategy still effective?"...

Source : ArtsJournal (subscribe)

The Limits Of "Free" Speech On The Internet (ArtsJournal)

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:43:36 GMT

"Rant all you want in a public park. A police officer generally won't eject you for your remarks alone, however unpopular or provocative. Say it on the Internet, and you'll find that free speech and other constitutional rights are anything but guaranteed."...

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Explore : Freedom of Speech, Internet, Technology

Women in art: 'Impressionists,' 'Kahlo' (San Fransisco Chronicle)

swinn@sfchronicle.com (Steven Winn) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

It was supposed to be an epochal Year of the Woman. With Hillary Clinton cruising toward the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, 2008 would represent a historic breakthrough, a triumph of gender equality and opportunity. Now, in the wake of Clinton's...

Source : San Fransisco Chronicle (subscribe)

'Vertigo's' San Francisco locations (San Fransisco Chronicle)

rstein@sfchronicle.com (Ruthe Stein) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

"Vertigo" turns 50 this year but has hardly aged at all. Besides making what is generally acknowledged to be one of the 10 best movies ever, Alfred Hitchcock also captured San Francisco circa 1958. Some of the locations no longer exist, or are under new...

Source : San Fransisco Chronicle (subscribe)

Explore : Alfred Hitchcock, Cinema, Directors

Cave Paintings Hold Clues To Modern Theatres, Concert Halls (ArtsJournal)

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:03:59 GMT

The first cathedrals, theaters and concert halls, researchers now theorize, may have been inspired by musical performances held in caves....

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Lessons Buckminster Fuller Taught Me (ArtsJournal)

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:07:50 GMT

"There was nothing mad, however, about Fuller's objectives: He just wanted to invent devices that would help humankind and protect the planet (which he dubbed, no kidding, "Spaceship Earth")."...

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CD review: Schubert/Mozart, Labèque sisters (San Fransisco Chronicle)

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT

RATING: (ALERT VIEWER) The piano-playing Labèque sisters, Katia and Marielle, have built an eclectic and accomplished discography over the years. Bach, Brahms, Gershwin, Stravinksy and the Beatles are all represented. In this latest venture, recorded on...

Source : San Fransisco Chronicle (subscribe)

Explore : Rock and Pop, The Beatles

Steven Winn's YouTube picks (San Fransisco Chronicle)

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Last year, we received an overwhelmingly favorable response to our first list of must-see online videos. So here we go again, with the second annual roundup of Chronicle critics' and writers' YouTube favorites. Whether you enjoy art, music, history or...

Source : San Fransisco Chronicle (subscribe)

Explore : YouTube

A Representation Of Everything (ArtsJournal)

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:57:52 GMT

"Language is one of the best data-compression mechanisms we have. The information contained in literature, or even email, encodes our identity as human beings. The entire literary canon may be smaller than what comes out of particle accelerators or models of the human brain, but the meaning coded into words can't be measured in bytes. It's deeply compressed. Twelve words from Voltaire can hold a lifetime...

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Nelson nets nearly half a million visitors (KansasCity.com)

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:08:00 GMT

Almost half a million people visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art since the opening of the new Bloch Building a year ago. But the museum's attendance figures465,000 visitors between June 1, 2007 and June 1, 2008falls 185,000 short of its goal of 650,000 visitors.

Source : KansasCity.com (subscribe)

Explore : Fine Arts, Museums, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art

What Does It Mean To "Watch TV" Anymore? (ArtsJournal)

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:10:36 GMT

" 'Watching television' is a term full of assumptions that, after a half-century, are increasingly suspect. For one thing, just what does 'television' mean now? The 'watching' part is also open to debate."...

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CD review: Shostakovich/Franck (San Fransisco Chronicle)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT

RATING: (WILD APPLAUSE) In a disc of contrasting works, Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan and his sister, pianist Lusine Khachatryan, turn in two striking and assured performances. Franck's warmly expressive Violin Sonata in A-Major. From the opening...

Source : San Fransisco Chronicle (subscribe)

DANCE THEATER REVIEW / Joe Goode's 'Wonderboy' - joy as dance, puppetry (San Fransisco Chronicle)

swinn@sfchronicle.com (Steven Winn) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Expect no crime-stopping stunts or feats of super-human strength from "Wonderboy." Played by a puppet, and a particularly inert one at that, the title character of Joe Goode's achingly tender new dance theater piece at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is...

Source : San Fransisco Chronicle (subscribe)

DVD review: 'The Lovers' (San Fransisco Chronicle)

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT

RATING: (POLITE APPLAUSE) Louis Malle's 1958 drama was the "Last Tango in Paris" of its day. It became known for eroticism because of a long scene in which Jeanne Moreau, left, as a bored, wealthy Dijon housewife, makes love to a carefree young...

Source : San Fransisco Chronicle (subscribe)

Explore : Actors and Actresses, Cinema, Directors, Jeanne Moreau, Louis Malle