NATIONAL ART NEWS:

The Observer Picks the World's Ten Greatest Dancers

Luke Jennings's list includes the expected (Astaire, Pavlova, Nijinsky), the current (Acosta, Cojocaru), and the surprising (Josephine Baker, Michael Clark). Among the missing: Baryshnikov, Nureyev, Savion Glover, Ginger Rogers, and pretty much the entire world of modern dance. Let the arguing begin … The Observer (UK) 08/01/10

On The Trail Of Art Thieves

Art crime is on the rise, "easily outpacing efforts to police it," Wittman writes. "The $6 billion a year figure is probably low because it includes statistics supplied by only a third of the 192 member countries of the United Nations. Art and antiquities theft ranks fourth in transnational crime, after drugs, money laundering, and illegal arms shipments." ARTnews 07/10

Ravinia Offers Tickets But No Apology For Truncated Concert

"The show, a tribute to Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, lasted about an hour and lacked an encore. After fielding complaints all day Monday, Ravinia responded by offering attendees a two-for-the-price-of-one ticket deal to an upcoming show." Chicago Sun-Times 08/03/10

Anish Kapoor: Arts Funding Cuts Are Shortsighted

"It seems short-sighted to me for the government to do such damage to the British cultural sector, which has made such a valuable contribution to the perception of Britain abroad." BBC 08/03/10

Jonathan Miller: "Why I Never Go To The Theatre"

Speaking to The Independent, Miller, aged 76, confessed he had no idea about the state of contemporary theatre because he preferred to give it all a miss. "I don't bother," he said. "I'm not interested in theatre, I never was. I don't want to go to the West End; I hate travelling, I prefer to be at home with my grandchildren, and just go to Marks & Spencer." The Independent (UK) 08/03/10

Why TV Critics Still Matter

"There's a perception that newspapers no longer employ TV critics, which is wrong," Young says. "A shift has been happening, but it's slighter than you would think. Four years before the big consolidations and layoffs, (writers from) daily newspapers were only about 50%-55% of our membership. Now they represent about 45%-50%." Yahoo! (Hollywood Reporter) 08/03/10

Resistance Building To 3D Movies

"While Hollywood rushes dozens of 3-D movies to the screen -- nearly 60 are planned in the next two years, including "Saw VII" and "Mars Needs Moms!" -- a rebellion among some filmmakers and viewers has been complicating the industry's jump into the third dimension." The New York Times 08/03/10

Iran: Music "Not Compatible" With Islam

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said today that music is "not compatible" with the values of the Islamic republic, and should not be practised or taught in the country. The Guardian (UK) 08/03/10

Influential Pop Music Conference Leaves Seattle For LA

"The annual Experience Music Project Pop Conference, which gathers critics, journalists and academics for a weekend of presentations on the vast diaspora of music, is relocating from its longtime home at the Experience Music Project in Seattle to the UCLA campus." Los Angeles Times 08/03/10

More Coffee Shops Ban E-Readers. Really?

"I wonder if people went through the same thing in the mid-1400s as they sat in coffee shops with their pesky paper books? And how long will it take before e-books are accepted as equals with their paper counterparts?" The New York Times 08/03/10

Is The Web Endangered?

In "more tightly controlled corners of the internet, especially iPad and iPhone apps, are gradually supplanting the open Web as means of publishing and online networking." Gawker 08/02/10

Movies That Matter - It's Not All Acclaim

"In today's media-saturated culture, a film that polarizes its audience is often a film on its way to hitdom. When people argue vociferously about a new movie, the talk alone is the best possible promotion. If you haven't seen the movie, you're on the outside, wanting to get in on the action." Los Angeles Times 08/03/10

Planning How A City Should Sound

"With the internal combustion engine on its way out, though, the acoustic fog created by cars, buses and trucks will finally lift and other sounds of the city will emerge. Will we like what we hear?" New Scientist 08/02/10

Shakespeare Folio Smuggler Sentenced to Eight Years

Raymond Scott, an unemployed 53-year-old with a lavish lifestyle and a lot of debt, took a copy of the First Folio "which was stolen from Durham University in 1988 to the renowned Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC where he asked to have it verified and valued, claiming he had found it in Cuba." The Independent (UK) 08/03/10

The Observer Picks the World's Ten Greatest Dancers

Luke Jennings's list includes the expected (Astaire, Pavlova, Nijinsky), the current (Acosta, Cojocaru), and the surprising (Josephine Baker, Michael Clark). Among the missing: Baryshnikov, Nureyev, Savion Glover, Ginger Rogers, and pretty much the entire world of modern dance. Let the arguing begin … The Observer (UK) 08/01/10

Listening to Prozac? Classical Music Can Help Treat Depression

"[A] growing body of research suggests music can play an important role in certain aspects of health care, including pain management. A newly published study from Mexico reports repeated listening to certain classical works - including one by Mozart - helps ease the debilitating symptoms of clinical depression." Miller-McCune 08/02/10

Mitch Miller, 99, '50s Pop Maestro and Grandaddy of Karaoke

After beginning his career as a symphonic oboist, he became the most influential record producer of the 1940s and '50s, working with everyone from Sinatra to Johnny Mathis to Doris Day to Mahalia Jackson. In 1961 he became a star in his own right with the TV program (old-fashioned even in its day) Sing Along With Mitch. Los Angeles Times 08/03/10

At Edinburgh's Fringe, Cabaret and Burlesque Move In on Standup Comedy's Turf

"The downbeat look is out; sequins and red lipstick are very much in. For while it may be true that standup comedy is still king of the fringe, sophisticated cabaret and its brash theatrical sister, variety, will be giving comics a run for their money this month." The Guardian (UK) 08/01/10

The Night Edinburgh Made My Show a Hit

"Every act at the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe dreams of making it big, and a special few succeed. As performers gather for the 2010 event, illustrious predecessors tell Arifa Akbar and Harry Morgan about the Scottish nights when their careers took off." The Independent (UK) 08/02/10

Women Prefer Men Who Wear Red

A team of researchers "'found that women view men in red as higher in status, more likely to make money and more likely to climb the social ladder. And it's this high-status judgment that leads to the attraction.' Red appears to signal rank in virtually all cultures." Discovery News 08/02/10

"The National Assn. of Theatre Owners reported Tuesday that the average ticket price in the first quarter was $7.95, up 8% from $7.35 in the same period last year. That's the largest year-over-year increase since the association started tracking quarterly ticket price data in 2001."

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August 2010 online edition

"America's Got Talent" coming to Des Moines “America’s Got Talent” is holding a private audition (NOT a cattle call) in Des Moines Sunday, August 22nd.  We are looking for: Acrobats, Dancers, Magicians, Singers (individuals and groups) and basically any type of unique talent! All ages too! Please have your performers to contact me directly to set up an audition time. Please send info ASAP to: Audra.AGTCasting@gmail.com I need the following information for consideration: * Name of Act and Contact name * Video Link of performance (youtube or vimeo, etc) * Contact number * Interesting biographical info on act. * Preferred audition time (between 9am & 6pm) *We will do our best to give you the time you have requested. Faulconer Gallery Young Pioneers: Lithographs from the Johnson-Horrigan Collection April 28, 2010 - December 12, 2010 | John Chrystal Center Gallery By bringing together lithographs from the Johnson-Horrigan Collection, this small exhibition examines the role of children in works produced by members of the Soviet Artists Union in the early and mid 1970s. The exhibition investigates the varied means in which political ideology was infused in art, specifically in images of children engaged in various pursuits. By concentrating less on the Socialist Realism employed in the posters and more on how compulsory monotonous techniques were imbued with a political agenda, the interrelatedness of the Artist Union, the Communist Party, and the importance of children to the Soviet state can give the works in Young Pioneers a new bearing. Curated by Faulconer Gallery Intern Caitlin Deutsch ‘12. Harry Shearer: The Silent Echo Chamber June 18, 2010 - September 5, 2010 | Faulconer Gallery In this multi-screen video installation, Harry Shearer, the veteran comedic actor of "Saturday Night Live," "This is Spinal Tap," and "The Simpsons," assembles a who's who of American politics and punditry in a cacophony of... silence? See President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senator John McCain, cable news anchormen and other "talking heads" in the moments before they go "live" on television. Presented in conjunction with Susan Inglett Gallery, New York. Michael Van den Besselaar: Unconscious Optics June 18, 2010 - September 5, 2010 | Faulconer Gallery Although born in the Netherlands and currently based in Paris, Michael Van den Besselaar's work is firmly rooted in American culture and celebrates the manner in which that culture has been projected around the world: television. His paintings, resemblng the 13" Zeniths and RCAs we were all raised on, freeze those fleeting images once beamed into our collective consciousness and memory via the TV in the living room, now ever-present on screens of all sizes in every niche of our lives. Mark Wagner: Face Value June 18, 2010 - September 5, 2010 | Faulconer Gallery Mark Wagner's medium is the prime American icon, the dollar bill. Through the painstaking process of collage, Wagner reimagines iconic portraits and makes new ones with a new sense of currency, giving new meaning to the term "face value" and archly appraising the status and intersection of money and fame without devaluing either. His art exemplifies the principle (and the principal) of value added. Bryan Drury: Feas tJune 18, 2010 - September 5, 2010 | Faulconer Gallery The first solo museum exhibition for Bryan Drury, recipient of an MFA in 2007 from the Graduate School of Figurative Painting, New York Academy of Art, will focus on a single painting, Feast, presented to the public for the first time at PULSE New York in March of this year by DEAN PROJECT, New York. The Fairfield Arts & Convention Center Big River: Presented by Way Off Broadway Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts Fri, Aug 13 | 7:30 PM Sat, Aug 14 | 7:30 PM Sun, Aug 15 | 2:00 PM Thu, Aug 19 | 7:30 PM Fri, Aug 20 | 7:30 PM Sat, Aug 21 | 7:30 PM Sun, Aug 22 | 2:00 PM Big River is the musical adaption of Mark Twain’s classic novel Huckleberry Finn, with a score by Roger Miller. This production has also won the Tony for Best Musical. Twain's timeless classic sweeps us down the mighty Mississippi as the irrepressible Huck Finn helps his friend Jim, a slave, escape to freedom at the mouth of the Ohio River. Their adventures along the way are hilarious, suspenseful, and heartwarming. WOB favorites Ryan Gaffney and Evan Martin are cast as Huck and Jim. Adam Cates is Director and Choreographer, Paul Praither is Producer, and Mark Hanson is the Musical Director. Reserved Seating Center Orchestra, Rear Orchestra, Rear Right and Left Orchestra $38 Side Orchestras, Balcony and Mezzanines $28 Students (the entire House) $18 August 19, Everybody’s Thursday all seats $18 www.fairfieldacc.com MOBERG GALLERY PRESENTS NEW WORK BY RICHARD KELLEY   On the Wild Side “Call my new work dream-like, playful, humorous or you may call these paintings weird or troublesome, either way, it was my intention to delight both the eye and the mind.” - Richard Kelley “New developments in housing, color and human obsessions from the unique world of Des Moines’ master painter.” - Jim Duncan, art critic.   Opening Reception Friday, August 6, 5-8pm Exhibit through 09/18/10 Moberg Gallery 2921 Ingersoll Avenue Des Moines, Iowa 50312 515.279.9191 www.moberggallery.com The Old Creamery Theatre Company Come to The Main Event at The Old Creamery Theatre! Amana – Want to be the first to hear The Old Creamery Theatre’s announcement of their 40th anniversary season in 2011? Then join us for an evening with so much entertainment and excitement it must be The Main Event!  The fun starts at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 8 at The Old Creamery Theatre, 39 38th Ave., Amana. The evening includes great music by Funk Stop, wine tasting with Fireside Winery, Marengo; wonderful food from Phat Daddies, also from Marengo; a last chance to bid on outstanding silent auction items currently on display in the theatre lobby; a raffle drawing for fabulous prizes (which includes 2 complete season tickets, and more!); and our official announcement of The Old Creamery’s 40th season. Admission for The Main Event is $15. Call the box office at 800-35-AMANA. Tickets for The Main Event will also be available at the door.  The Old Creamery Theatre Company is a not-for-profit professional theatre founded in 1971 in Garrison, Iowa. Voted #1 Theatre Group on the 2010 KCRG A-List, the company is celebrating 39 years of bringing live, professional theatre to the people of Iowa and the Midwest. Herbert Hoover Library Exercise Your Mind at Hooverfest! Hoover Museum Offers a Broad Range of Indoor Activities on August 7 Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum, West Branch, IA - Hooverfest is well known for food, fun and fireworks. And this year, on Saturday August 7, Hooverfest will feature more than a hundred different exhibitors with a wide range of activities outside on the grounds of the Hoover National Historic Site. Everyone is sure to have a good time. Inside the Hoover Museum, where the air is cool and the ideas are hot, there will be a host of free programs to stimulate the mind. The stage of the Hoover Museum auditorium will be filled with raptors at 1:30 pm. This program will allow visitors of all ages to learn about Iowa’s birds of prey. Following the raptors -- at 2:30 pm -- will be a menagerie of animals from the Niabi Zoo in Rock Island. Visitors can learn about some of the more exotic animals that populate climates and locations outside of Iowa. In addition to the birds and animals, there also will be three different book talks taking place inside the museum. Zachary Michael Jack will talk about his love affair with Iowa. He will speak in the Olberg Room across from the Museum gift shop at 1:30 pm. Jack will be followed by noted CNN political commentator, John Avlon (also in the Olberg Room of the Museum) at 2:30 pm. He will talk about his new book Wingnuts, - his take on the people on fringes of American politics. At 3:30 pm, C. Edward Spann, a retired professor from Dallas Baptist University, will speak in the auditorium on his book Presidential Praise: Our Presidents and Their Hymns – a program that is sure to please anyone who enjoys religious music. Books by all three authors will be available for sale and signing. Finally, visitors will be given an opportunity to share their views on “The Energy Problem: Choices for an Uncertain Future” – a program sponsored by the National Issues Forum Institute. The first session will begin at 2 pm in the Museum’s conference room and will be repeated at 3 pm and 4 pm. At each session, citizens watch a brief video, discuss the choices presented, and complete a short questionnaire. The information gathered will be sent to the NIF Institute to be shared with elected representatives and the media. Those individuals who participate in a forum session will receive a coupon good for a ten percent discount on their purchases that day in the Hoover museum store. So you are invited to come in to the Hoover Museum and exercise your mind during Hooverfest. While you are here be sure to tour the Museum’s current temporary exhibit, Exploring Hoover’s Attic: Treasures, Keepsakes, Surprises as well as the permanent galleries that tell the story of the 31st president all for no charge. Admission to the Museum and all of these activities is free on Saturday, August 7th. The Hoover Museum is located on the grounds of the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in historic West Branch, Iowa. For more information please check the website: www.hoover.archives.gov

Poetry More or Less Two legs are fine, But what if I had more or less? With one leg, Could I still dance the two-step? With three legs, Would I have two right feet and one left? Or two lefts and a right? Or a neutral middle foot? With one arm, I’d prefer a center mount. So I could rest on either side Without my arm falling asleep. With three arms, One in the back would be grand To tend to other business Unbeknownst to others. With two tongues, I’d have one silver and one forked To vary my speech Given my mood that day. One chin is desired, But most folks have two. Three or four would preclude you From the cover of GQ or Cosmopolitan. And two heads? Then people would think I’m crazy For talking to myself. But then again with one, They may believe I already am. By Mike Corum FireFlies Slowly Rising out of the Fields Sparks  Scatter  across  the  Horizon Frogs Sing Stars By Kathy Kapitan Nature of Death Death looms in the shadows of the night. Or does death glisten in the beams of the sun? Restricted, death is not. Indeed is its possession of a nature that seems vindictive If one were to unlock the secrets of death, would its true nature be revealed? Perhaps it is true that pain is death. No, death can be painless. Death does not attain its mystique from turmoil, but from life instead. Death may be gleaming in the rays and lurking in the shadows. Death then, is ever-present. Rob life from the living death does not. A ubiquitous force in life is death. Hand and hand is the relationship of life and death. For if not for death, life would not retain significance. And be not the existence of death if not for life. By CR. Meyer The Hidden Truth I thought I was free from the darkness that captured me, But what I found was I held all the tears down. I attempt to comprehend the motivation of my foolishness. Why would I allow myself to endure torture, And not attempt alleviation? Stories roll from their tongues, Words meant to cause pain. I deliberate over the facts and artificial exploits of these senseless machines And let none know the reality of the situation. I keep the truth tucked within the corners of my mind An experience played over and over that shames But still, the rats nibble at my feet eagerly waiting for the word. Choking on their anticipation They crave to spread the poisonous tongue. Truth has no relevance, even when the situation has gone so terribly wrong. The puppet master hears my torment And the gun is shot by him once more. His round of bullets is not yet through. By him the pain was first initiated and now continued. I watch him. He whispers in their ears and glares into my face A searing pain that burns to my soul They play a game of telephone, mocking the childhood memory of playground fancy Irony laughing in the face of the grown. By Ivory Becker All a Matter of Perspective (Or, Maybe the Hamster’s Just Right) What is success? What is failure? It’s all a matter of perspective. If you succeed as a hamster, Perhaps that means You’ve made a few more Rounds on the wheel than the day before. In you succeed as a human being, Perhaps that meansYou’ve made a few less Rounds on the wheel than the day before. It’s all a matter of perspective. Or, maybe the hamster’s just right. By Mike Corum Ledge State Park A drive through the park dipped through streamlets in sight of cliff climbers, roadside delights when I took the time to stop. Summer rested before college’s first year, on my wide-eyed journey to learn what the countryside offered. By Mike Bayles

NATIONAL ART NEWS:

Bollywood's Bin Laden Satire Is a Hit

"Tere Bin Laden ('Without You Laden') has grossed more than $2m in India, despite having a first-time director and initially only being shown on 344 screens. … The film recouped its budget in India alone and has made a further £200,000 in the UK, Middle East and Australia, despite limited releases." The Guardian (UK) 08/01/10

Please Text Five Dollars to the L.A. Phil

"Anyone who has attended the Hollywood Bowl this summer has probably noticed the Los Angeles Philharmonic's jumbo-screen advertisements encouraging people to donate to the orchestra via text message. … The service, which is hosted by mGive, adds the donation amount to your monthly wireless bill." Los Angeles Times 08/02/10

Blogosphere Responds to Choreographers-Should-Stop-Blogging Post

Wendy Perron: "My last outburst touched off a firestorm of responses. … What I appreciate most is that my cranky complaint has triggered a series of blogs that really take a look at this trend (of step-by-step blogging about what happened in the studio that day) and try to figure out the most effective ways for choreographers to go public with their musings." Dance Magazine 08/02/10

Can We Please Just Start High School Half an Hour Later, OK? The Scientists Say So

"A pilot study at a small private high school in Providence, R.I., has confirmed the well-documented benefits of a half-hour delay in the school start time for teens, an easy fix for the chronic and rampantly ignored sleepiness of adolescents." Miller-McCune 08/01/10

Dude, Where's Your Car? Hollywood's Contempt for We Who Don't Drive

Ben Stiller's character in Greenberg is "a needy and casually abusive schmuck, a socially awkward and obsessive crank. And if you need any more clues to the extent of his pathological loserdom, here's one: He doesn't drive. … Once we all buy into the idea that the car is freedom, not having a car reads as a form of clingy, needy dependency." Slate 07/30/10

Salzburg Director to Peter Gelb and the Met: Hire Me!

"Jürgen Flimm, the noted German director of opera and theater and the outgoing artistic director of the Salzburg Festival, has a message for Peter Gelb: he's available." New York Times 08/02/10

Ailing Seiji Ozawa Ready for Comeback

"Acclaimed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa plans a comeback concert next month, declaring he has started his 'second life' after surgery for esophagus cancer and seven months of treatment." Agence France-Presse (via Yahoo) 08/02/10

Grumping About the Pre-Theatre Dinner

"I can only see a place for these if you're very fat or six years old. Sitting down for dinner while Countdown is on feels deeply weird, and nothing is less conducive to appetite or pleasure than checking your watch every three minutes, or drinking the wine quicker than you'd like because you don't want to waste it." The Guardian (UK) 08/02/10

Edinburgh Fringe Open Sources With Giant Meeting

"Of course it should be a membership organisation of some description. Of course membership should, in some way, be tied to taking part in the Fringe. Of course there should be a board and of course they should in some way be related to the membership." The Stage 07/30/10

Reading Privacy. And This Is A Bad Thing?

"As the Kindle and Nook march on, people's reading choices will increasingly be hidden from view. We'll go into people's houses or squeeze next to them on the subway, and we'll no longer be able to know them, or judge them, or love them, or reject them, based on the books they carry." Slate 07/30/10

Fifth Time Around, Restoration Of Eakins Masterpiece Gets It Right

"The fifth such intervention, just completed, not only restored the masterpiece to something close to how it looked when it left the artist's studio, it also proved that Weil's aphorism isn't absolute. History might have been compromised years ago, but to a large extent it has been revived in one of America's greatest paintings." Philadelphia Inquirer 08/01/10

Wanted: A Better (More Meaningful) Way To Search The Web

Recent "moves by Facebook and Twitter could change the very nature of how we interact with the web. Software writers will be able to build applications that search for bars and restaurants your Facebook friends have enjoyed, or movies and books your Twitter contacts say were over-hyped." New Scientist 08/02/10

Big Change: You Can't Tell A TV Show By The Age Of Its Audience

 "Today, the median age of viewers of all networks except the CW is over 45. Not surprisingly, young people are more likely to go online or rely on the DVR to watch their favorite shows, the report notes. But, the report says, two other developments might be more significant." New York Post 08/02/10

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