Buzz
When crossover goes haywireThursday, 20 January 2011No one's saying that the mezzo of the moment, glamorous Latvian Elina Garanca, isn't a very class act indeed when it comes to high-quality opera, song and even zarzuela. But she didn't revert to the Age of Aquarius too successfully in this ill-... Read more... |
RIP Music Mogul Don KirshnerWednesday, 19 January 2011
The death of Don Kirshner on 17 January at age 76 is a reminder that although the age of the New York-based song factory seems to be long gone, pop is still about the backroom. Where would Lady Gaga be without a producer/songwriter like Red One?... Read more... |
Tom Waits's poem for the homelessTuesday, 18 January 2011
Tom Waits is releasing his poem, Seeds on Hard Ground, in a limited-edition "chap book" format (a chap book being a pocket-sized booklet popular in the 17th and 18th centuries). It will be available exclusively through his website in a collaboration... Read more... |
Gang of Four return - exclusive video contentMonday, 17 January 2011
A freezing winter of discontent, a Labour party hell-bent on making itself unelectable, controversial warmongering and record levels of inequality. It may sound like yesterday’s papers but these themes were also addressed by iconoclastic post-punk... Read more... |
Fourth Plinth winners announcedFriday, 14 January 2011
The title may suggest it’s a difficult conceptual work, but Powerless Structures, Fig 101, by Nordic duo Elmgreen & Dragset, had appeared to win the popular vote for the Fourth Plinth from the outset. And rather than being difficult, it is, in... Read more... |
Sky Atlantic seeks TV's higher groundFriday, 14 January 2011
Sky hasn't generally been synonymous with top TV drama, but its new channel, Sky Atlantic HD, is aiming to change that. Launching on 1 February, the channel has been built around Sky's deal with the American HBO network, which means viewers will get... Read more... |
Brainstorm on books in EuropeTuesday, 11 January 2011A European Literature Brainstorming meeting is being held on 25 January in London involving publishers, editors and critics from the UK books industry who took part in the EU trip to Brussels I reported on earlier this month, to take forward the... Read more... |
BBC Sound Of 2011 Poll: Winner announcedFriday, 07 January 2011Jessie J from Essex has won the BBC Sound Of 2011 Poll, voted by 160 artists, DJs and other tastemakers approved by the BBC. From its launch in 2003 when 50 Cent topped the poll, it has had a remarkable knack of predicting and being a catalyst for... Read more... |
Specialist Dance Books shop finally closesThursday, 06 January 2011The specialist book supplier Dance Books is finally closing up, due to the ill health of its longtime proprietor. David Leonard’s little shop long embellished Cecil Court, one of the alleys of literature off Charing Cross Road, London, until 10... Read more... |
On the fifth day of Mozart...Wednesday, 05 January 2011
...your true love might do worse than bung over a brace of concertos. Which is what BBC Radio 3 is doing on "piano day" as it nears the halfway mark of its 12-day Mozart marathon. Is it a good idea? Does any composer, even Bach, stand up to the... Read more... |
Pete Postlethwaite, 1946-2011Monday, 03 January 2011
Pete Postlethwaite, who has died from cancer at the age of 64, was an extremely amicable man whom Hollywood had down as a lugubrious baddie. It happened in Aliens 3, in The Usual Suspects, in The Lost World: Jurassic Park.You could see Hollywood'... Read more... |
Lip Service commissioned for second seriesWednesday, 29 December 2010Fans of BBC Three’s Lip Service have been given an extra seasonal gift in the form of confirmation by the BBC that a second series has been commissioned. The Glasgow-based drama about a group of twentysomething lesbians and their intertwined lives... Read more... |
