Never again will we think of music, or eventually any cultural creation, as produced by a label, network or imprint, packaged, purchased and sitting on a shelf in our homes. The pie is the same size, but it's being cut into smaller slices. Accompanists are the music world s unsung artists. The former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities has been an arch foe of the agency she formerly headed, and she's being touted for a cabinet position if Bush wins. It is the result of a bloodless and slow-developing social revolution conducted over 40 years as a small society grew larger and immeasurably more complex, shook off its sense of derivative Englishness and its fear of American domination, and learned to trust its own talents.
Most American poets reach wider audiences at readings than through publishing.
In the days before poetry readings became so ubiquitious, however, some of our best poets recorded their work. The London Philharmonic held a day-long celebration to welcome Kurt Masur, the orchestra's new principal conductor. But the performance roster was a multi-cultural stew that had virtually nothing to do with Masur's esthetic. Even in London's current artboom, plans for redoing Southbank's galleries and concert halls have hit yet another snag. One famous architect after another has boldly set out to civilise its streaked concrete walkways and make sense of its flawed galleries and concert halls, only to see their schemes vanish without leaving so much as an oil slick on the Thames.