Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:58:26 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Arts+ :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us NELL GLUCKMAN http://www.nysun.com/arts/produce-public-art-at-port-authority/82138/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Tattfoo Tan's mural "Remember to Take Your Daily Dose of Color," a temporary installation sponsored by the Times Square Alliance and the Fashion Center Business Improvement District, was unveiled yesterday at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The artwork, which will remain on display through October, is a checkerboard of hundreds of brightly colored squares — each about 1 square foot, stretching 10 squares high — illuminating the façade of the infamously drab bus terminal. Mr. Tan used Photoshop... RYAN NAKASHIMA http://www.nysun.com/arts/midnight-stampede-to-the-dark-knight-sets-record/82206/ Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:02:55 EST Nothing dark about Batman's first night at the box office. "The Dark Knight" lit up cash registers during its midnight debut, stealing away with a record $18.5 million from 3,040 theaters, distributor Warner Bros. said Friday. That bested the 2005 performance of "Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith," which took in $16.9 million during its midnight debut in 2,915 venues. "The Dark Knight" figure did not include any of its 3 a.m. or 6 a.m. showings. And while Batman only strikes at... EDWARD GLAESER http://www.nysun.com/arts/its-our-earth-now-what-do-we-do-with-it/82183/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Political movements are often built on literary foundations. Abolitionism owed much to "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Progressivism had Upton Sinclair and Ida Tarbell. Books, fiction or not, have the power to convince us impressionable readers that we face dire threats, such as unclean meat or pesticides. Political entrepreneurs, promising to protect us from those threats, can then work on the fertile ground of our fears. The environmental movement has been very successful at making America afraid... ANDREW NEWBERG http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-world-inside-our-heads-human-by-michael/82128/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Have you ever wondered why you are different from other animals? Why do people form strong social bonds and organize themselves into large groups? How have we developed ways to understand what somebody else is actually thinking? Why do we have art and morality? What is it, exactly, that makes us human? This last is the complex question that neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga addresses in "Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique" (Ecco, 447 pages, $27.50). The book is an intellectual romp... CHRISTINE KENNEALLY http://www.nysun.com/arts/man-eaters-carole-travis-henikoffs-dinner-with/82129/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST It's not like pork. That misunderstanding about the taste of human flesh is attributable to one of those linguistic mix-ups between explorers and locals: Apparently Pacific Islanders called human meat "long pig" because wild pig was the only other large animal whose meat they ate. According to Carole Travis-Henikoff's "Dinner With a Cannibal: The Complete History of Mankind's Oldest Taboo" (Santa Monica Press, 333 pages, $24.95), humans taste more like beef, only better. At least for some... S. JAMES SNYDER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-human-condition-in-10-hours/82130/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The human condition, as captured in Masaki Kobayashi's 10-hour meditation on war and pain, is one of profound and unshakable inequity. In this summer's most inspired bit of repertory programming, Film Forum has resurrected Kobayashi's opus — a film that is spectacularly difficult for American audiences to find on VHS or DVD. The venue has programmed two marathon screenings of "The Human Condition" in its entirety on July 27 and August 3; the individual films will be presented between Friday and... MARTIN TSAI http://www.nysun.com/arts/movies-in-brief-felon/82134/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Jailhouse dramas inevitably invite comparisons to Tom Fontana's groundbreaking HBO prison soap opera "Oz." Problem is, that television show has set the bar so high that few ever manage to withstand the comparison. Boasting a solid cast that includes Stephen Dorff, Val Kilmer, and Sam Shepard, writer-director Ric Roman Waugh's "Felon" would have been noteworthy had we not seen it all before. Mr. Dorff plays Wade Porter, who chases a fleeing unarmed home invader, beats him to death, and then... MARTIN TSAI http://www.nysun.com/arts/movies-in-brief-transsiberian/82135/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Director Brad Anderson's "Transsiberian" is a throwback to railroad thrillers that were a staple of Hollywood's Golden Age. Even the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, made a number of such films. But the concept ran out of steam in the second half of the 20th century, when interstate highways and air travel became more popular than the rails. Given that the notion of a fast-paced thriller based on Amtrak is absurd, the genre needs something such as the treacherous network of railways... STEVE DOLLAR http://www.nysun.com/arts/movies-in-brief-take/82136/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST If you thought the vehicular homicide and obsessive revenge plotline of "Reservation Road" was a hoot, you'll absolutely adore "Take." This heap of heavy-handed misery serves as a platform for actress Minnie Driver to give one of those histrionic Lifetime channel meltdown performances, playing a working-class mom whose learning-disabled son gets snuffed in a robbery attempt gone badly wrong. Written and directed by Charles Oliver, "Take" has a purposefully "indie" veneer: desaturated color, a... GRADY HENDRIX http://www.nysun.com/arts/a-happy-sing-along-mamma-mia/82131/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Is it possible to imagine the world before musicals? The feeling of being filled up with the goodness of life until not only do you burst into song, but the world around you starts dancing, too, is such an essential component of human existence that it's no surprise it was invented by the Greeks, who also gave us democracy and Plato and now provide the sun-kissed locations for "Mamma Mia!" the movie version of the blockbuster Broadway musical based on the ABBA songbook. On a glossy Greek isle... ANDREW STUTTAFORD http://www.nysun.com/arts/space-chimps-on-a-wild-ride-through-outer-space/82133/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST When Alan Shepard returned safely to Earth late in the Gagarin spring of 1961, a relieved, ecstatic nation treated him to ticker tape, meet-the-president, and, subsequently, a trip to the moon. The previous astronaut sent by NASA into space hadn't fared quite so well. Emerging snarling and indignant from an edge-of-disaster suborbital shambles that was a comedy of human error and simian savoir faire, Ham had to make do with an apple, a pat on the head, and a speedy return to the desert... NICOLAS RAPOLD http://www.nysun.com/arts/love-in-a-tsunamis-aftermath-assarats-wonderful/82145/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST 'Wonderful Town," directed by Thai filmmaker Aditya Assarat, takes place in a seaside town in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. Though tourism has tanked, some rebuilding is in progress, and yet a certain malaise seems to have settled after the storm. This potent setting and mood is the backdrop for a fragile love story, but the stillness and vaguely drawn characters doom the movie to off-putting inertia. Mr. Assarat's film, which begins a weeklong run Friday at Anthology Film Archives, won a... STEVE DOLLAR http://www.nysun.com/arts/englands-answer-to-tony-soprano-a-very-british/82140/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST An engaging, BBC-style documentary about Manchester, England's answer to Tony Soprano, "A Very British Gangster" is a must-view for casting agents. There haven't been this many slack-jawed mugs with crew cuts and bad teeth on-screen since "Trainspotting." Indeed, one nattily attired teenage aspirant to the working-class mob that the film anatomizes allows that he's already winning small roles in movie productions. His buddy, who looks as if he might be fronting an early-1980s ska outfit, smirks... BRUCE BENNETT http://www.nysun.com/arts/julian-schnabel-revisits-lou-reeds-berlin/82143/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST By his own accounting, the artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel spent three and a half decades under the spell of "Berlin," the third solo album by Lou Reed, the Brooklyn-born singer, songwriter, guitar player, and Velvet Underground founder. In his new film "Lou Reed's Berlin," Mr. Schnabel has erected a cinematic monument to Mr. Reed's 1973 musical story of amour fou between two fictional junkies clinging to life, love, sanity, and each other. In the film Mr. Reed performs his songs, shot... TOM TEODORCZUK http://www.nysun.com/arts/waughs-brideshead-adapted-for-the-big-screen/82146/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST With characteristic British self-deprecation, Evelyn Waugh wrote that he didn't believe that more than two Americans would enjoy his 1945 novel "Brideshead Revisited." That notion was scotched when the book became a best seller and was rendered even more absurd by the wildly popular reception that greeted the 11-hour Granada television adaptation of "Brideshead," which aired on PBS in 1982 — replete with eloquent introductions from the late William F. Buckley Jr. Waugh's saga, chronicling the... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/pressler-plays/82141/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The Beaux Arts Trio was formed in 1955, and is calling it quits this summer. Throughout these decades, the ensemble has had one pianist, Menahem Pressler, born in 1923. He played a concert at Mannes College on Wednesday night. This was part of the International Keyboard Institute & Festival. Introducing the concert, Joseph Patrych remarked that, with the Beaux Arts Trio no more, we could look forward to a long solo career from Mr. Pressler. He was not quite solo on this occasion — for his first... ERIC GRODE http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-mega-meta-micro-musical/82144/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST If you see only one mega-meta-micro-musical this year, make it "[title of show]." A defiantly insider and yet sneakily inclusive musical about two guys who write a musical about two guys who write a musical, "[tos]," as it's known, lovingly demolishes Broadway's most durable art form. In its place is a sweet, raunchy, and just about irresistible portrait of how and why we tell stories. Hunter Bell (the book writer) and Jeff Bowen (the composer/lyricist) gave themselves three weeks to put... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/taking-operetta-seriously-again/82148/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST In the late '30s, while the younger generation was jitterbugging to swing bands, their parents (and their parents) were still flocking to old-fashioned, turn-of-the-century operettas, as produced both by Broadway and by Hollywood. Some of the more enterprising jazz stars of the era wisely exploited the incongruity when they began swinging numbers like Artie Shaw's high-octane "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise." One extreme example is a jive-talk version of "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" recorded... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/basic-cable-breaks-into-emmy-noms/82118/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST "Mad Men," AMC's sleek drama set in the advertising world circa 1960, and FX's legal thriller "Damages" made Emmy nominations history Thursday as the first basic cable programs to gain best-series nods. The HBO historical drama "John Adams" was the overall front-runner with 23 bids, including a lead-actor nomination for Paul Giamatti's turn as one of America's Founding Fathers. "30 Rock," last year's best-comedy Emmy winner, was the top nominee among sitcoms with 17 bids. "Mad Men" was the... Bloomberg News http://www.nysun.com/arts/numbers-up-at-christies-in-first-half-of-year/82119/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Christie's International said auction and private sales increased by 10% worldwide in the first half of 2008, driven by new buyers from the Middle East, Russia, and Asia. Christie's sold $3.6 billion of art and collectibles over the six months, compared with $3.2 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to an e-mailed statement today. Auction sales include London-based Christie's fees. Auctions held by Christie's and its rival Sotheby's have been boosted by demand from billionaires... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/china-bans-bjork-other-entertainers/82120/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST China will not allow into the country any foreign entertainers whom it deems a threat to its own national sovereignty, defined as a likelihood to "whip up ethnic hatred," "violate religious policy or cultural norms," or "advocate obscenity or feudalism and superstition," Reuters reported Thursday. The decision was announced in response to a politically provocative act by the Icelandic singer Björk, who shouted, "Tibet, Tibet," to crowds at a concert in Shanghai. China has a history of... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/beatrix-potter-watercolor-sets-record/82121/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Beatrix Potter's original watercolor illustration from the final scene in her children's book "The Rabbit's Christmas Party" sold for $578,000 at Sotheby's in London Thursday. The illustration surpassed its estimate (between $80,000 and $120,000) by a factor of almost five, and is now the most expensive book illustration ever to be sold at auction... NICOLAS RAPOLD http://www.nysun.com/arts/deceptive-civility-in-before-i-forget/82132/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST It's rare for a film about getting old to be as intimate as "Before I Forget" while still keeping a level head and retaining emotional nuance. Written and directed by Jacques Nolot, this partly autobiographical drama follows a middle-aged former gigolo through the paces of his daily life. In the film, which opens Friday at IFC Center, pleasure for the older man has become a practical matter, a worry like so much else, bringing full circle his days as a hustler years earlier. Pierre, played by... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/christies-names-head-of-its-asian-operations/82137/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Christie's International has appointed the chief operating officer of Christie's Americas and director of operations for Christie's International, Andrew Foster, to the newly created role of president, Asia. Mr. Foster is charged with managing the development and growth of Christie's programs in Asia and strengthening relationships with top clients in that region. He also has direct responsibility for the auction house's Asian offices. Mr. Foster, who joined Christie's in 1999, adds the new job... FRED KIRSHNIT http://www.nysun.com/arts/new-york-grand-operas-traviata-in-the-park/82142/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Summer in the city can be a difficult time for music lovers: The surging river of New York culture dries up to a mere trickle in a dry bed due to the mass exodus of the finest musicians to the comfort of the country and its wealth of interesting festivals. One of the few bright spots of the season is New York Grand Opera, which mounts fully staged productions of the Italian repertoire under the stars at the Naumburg Bandshell in our own verdant escape from urbanity, Frederick Law Olmsted's... ADAM KIRSCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/kay-ryan-a-laureate-worth-lauding/82147/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Yesterday's announcement from the Library of Congress that Kay Ryan will be the country's next poet laureate is a cause for celebration. In part, this is because Ms. Ryan is an excellent poet, and in poetry it is rarer than it should be for merit and recognition to find one another. But it is also because Ms. Ryan has advanced to the top rank of American poets while keeping a principled distance from the institutions of the poetry world. In 2005, she filed a hilariously skeptical report, for... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/heidi-fleiss-dreams-of-a-brothel/82139/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST From "b----es to birds" — that would be the crude but accurate summation of Heidi Fleiss's journey from being Hollywood's "Madam to the Stars" to a reclusive collector of macaws, African gray parrots, cockatoos, and other brilliantly plumed creatures in the arid scrubland of Nevada. Furthermore, the words are her own. If Nick Broomfield's 1995 BBC documentary, "Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam," memorably exposed Hollywood's putrid underbelly, then the new HBO documentary "Heidi Fleiss: The... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/screenwriter-revises-passion-lawsuit/82016/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST A screenwriter's lawsuit seeking higher payments from Mel Gibson and others for "The Passion of the Christ" has just completed its first edit. The suit was originally filed in February. A judge ordered attorneys for screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald to rewrite the complaint last month, saying it lacked specificity and seemed to take a "chain letter" approach. Mr. Fitzgerald's lawyers filed their rewrite Monday against Mr. Gibson, Icon Productions, Marquis Films, and others over payments for the... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/boy-band-svengali-ordered-to-pay-300m/82017/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Former boy-band promoter Lou Pearlman will have to repay victims of his decades-long investment fraud at least $300 million in restitution. A federal judge on Wednesday asked lawyers to draw up the order for his approval. It's unclear whether the creator of the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync will be able to raise those funds while behind bars. He's serving a 25-year sentence on federal fraud charges. Prosecutors also wanted U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp to tack on interest, making the... LYNN ELBER http://www.nysun.com/arts/mad-men-damages-get-emmys-best-series-nod/82107/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:05:44 EST LOS ANGELES — Basic cable TV looked more like a pop-culture bargain today as AMC's "Mad Men" and FX's "Damages" snared historic best-series Emmy nominations, while stars from cable's less glamorous channels also made a splash in major acting categories. Meanwhile, premium channel HBO and broadcast networks saw their share of awards glory erode. RELATED: The Complete List of 2008 Primetime Emmy Award Nominees. In the lead drama actor category, four of the six nominees were stars of cable shows... LANCE ESPLUND http://www.nysun.com/arts/an-apocalyptic-state-of-mind/82094/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The apocalypse and its aftermath have been a recurring theme in art for thousands of years. There is something satisfyingly narcissistic, hopeful even, in believing that our time has been chosen for the End of Days. And the New Museum's pseudo-apocalyptic exhibition "After Nature," which opens to the public today on its third floor, puts a contemporary twist on an old theme. You will not see any Last Judgment tympana, accounts of the Deluge, or Dürer's "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" in this... JAMES GARDNER http://www.nysun.com/arts/an-architecture-show-thats-better-than-the-book/82046/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Most architectural exhibitions are not worth seeing. In general, they consist of little more than panels whose text and illustrations are already available in book form or on the Web. Which is also to say that they are typically text-heavy. And because text is best consumed by a reader sitting with a book in hand, there is often something laborious, even backbreaking, about having to consume an abstruse argument while standing for an hour or more in front of walls of diagrams, renderings, and... PAULA DEITZ http://www.nysun.com/arts/home-delivery-playing-house-at-moma/82035/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST This Sunday, after months of construction and crane deliveries visible from the street, the gates in a chain-link fence will swing open on the unusual residential village that's risen on the block-through lot just west of the Museum of Modern Art. No fancy landscaping, just five contemporary houses shoehorned onto neutral blacktop as the life-size, outdoor section of MoMA's innovative show, "Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling." Selected from submissions from 500 architects and... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-philharmonics-all-star-game/82036/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The New York Philharmonic played a big venue on Tuesday night, and played to a big crowd: This was a concert in Central Park. Apparently, there were 60,000 people there — more, as was pointed out from the stage, than those at Yankee Stadium for the All-Star Game. The two events took place at the same time. (The game lasted a lot longer.) Before the concert, there were many preliminaries — including speeches of the "New York's the greatest city in the world" type. Several people took credit for... DAVID COHEN http://www.nysun.com/arts/smears-scribbles-and-scratches-twombly-at/82044/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The magnificent retrospective of veteran American artist Cy Twombly at London's Tate Modern is a reminder that, above all else, painting is smearing and drawing is scribble. In his handling, with its extremes of slightness and scatter, informality can border on the infantile. This show, which is curated by the Tate's director, Sir Nicholas Serota, travels to the Bilbao Guggenheim in the fall, and then to Rome's National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, and is the first major survey since... FRANCIS MORRONE http://www.nysun.com/arts/lewis-mumfords-brooklyn/82033/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST In the last two years we've heard unceasingly about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, figures who, as the Bloomberg administration has rezoned and promoted redevelopment of vast swaths of the city, seem as relevant today as they did when they butted heads over the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway in the 1960s. Moses and Jacobs had clearly differing visions of how urban development should occur. So, too, did Moses and the architecture critic, cultural commentator, and social critic Lewis Mumford... WILLIAM MEYERS http://www.nysun.com/arts/looking-at-home-from-out-of-town-photography/82037/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST One reason to live in New York City is so that you can get out of town in the summer. I went to New Haven on the Metro-North Railroad — nearly a two-hour trip — to see two exhibitions at the Yale University Art Gallery, "From Any Angle: Photographs from the Collection of Doris Bry" and "Everyday Monuments: The Photographs of Jerome Liebling." Both exhibitions had wonderful photographs of New York City, so relief was available before homesickness set in. As a young woman living in Cambridge... KATE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/arts/lang-lang-to-auction-red-piano/82038/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Starting today, you can bid on the red Steinway piano that Lang Lang played in his concert with the New York Philharmonic on Tuesday evening. The net proceeds of the auction will benefit the American Red Cross China Earthquake Relief fund. The opening bid is $165,000. The auction will end July 31. Lang Lang, who was in China at the time of the May 12 earthquake, has already participated in several benefit concerts, which have raised the equivalent of $3.3 million, he said in an interview. He... Bloomberg News http://www.nysun.com/arts/christies-will-sell-ysls-art-collection/82018/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Christie's International said it will be selling the art collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé in Paris in February 2009. The auction will be held in association with Pierre Bergé & Associates, the Paris auction house owned by the fashion designer's former business partner, Christie's said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement. The specific date and contents of the sale have yet to be announced, London-based Christie's said. Saint Laurent died last month, aged 71. He and Mr. Bergé, who... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/armory-show-names-ewan-gibbs-commissioned-artist/82019/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The Armory Show has named the British artist Ewan Gibbs, best known for his drawings of urban landscapes, the commissioned artist of its 2009 fair, the organization announced Wednesday. In that role, he will help create a visual identity for fair, and his work will be the face of the show, featured both at the fair sites and on all marketing and publicity materials, including the fair's catalog. Next year's fair will inaugurate the Armory Show - Modern on Pier 92, a new space on the Hudson... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/mara-manus-to-lead-film-society-of-lincoln-center/82020/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The executive director of the Public Theater, Mara Manus, will move uptown to become the executive director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center after she steps down from the Public next month, the Film Society's board president, Daniel H. Stern, said Wednesday. Ms. Manus, who announced in April that she would leave the Public when her contract is up at the end of the fiscal year, will join the Film Society in mid-September, succeeding current director Claudia Bonn. Ms. Manus has worked in the... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/second-stage-buys-a-broadway-theater/82026/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The nonprofit Second Stage Theatre plans to buy and renovate the 499-seat Helen Hayes Theater on West 44th Street, the New York Times reported Wednesday. The company's artistic director, Carole Rothman, told the Times that Second Stage will raise $35 million to purchase and renovate the theater, which will probably be renamed. Second Stage, which has transferred hit productions, such as "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" and "The Little Dog Laughed," to Broadway, will also continue to... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/kay-ryan-to-be-named-poet-laureate/82045/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Kay Ryan will be named the nation's next poet laureate today by the librarian of Congress, James Billington, the New York Times reported tonight. A Californian, Ms. Ryan, 62, is known for her short, playful poems, for which she has won the 2004 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a 2004 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2001 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and three Pushcart Prizes. Her work regularly appears in periodicals such as the New Yorker and the Atlantic, and four times her poems have... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/guns-n-roses-releases-song-through-video-game/81927/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The first track to be made public from "Chinese Democracy," the much-delayed, much-maligned Guns N' Roses album, will be released through a video game, the BBC reported Tuesday. The song, "Shackler's Revenge," will appear as a selection in Rock Band 2, a game in which users play along to songs with hand-held controllers. The game is slated to be released in September by Harmonix, Electronic Arts, and MTV Games. The release date for the album itself, the follow-up to Guns N' Roses' "The... BRUCE BENNETT http://www.nysun.com/arts/malice-and-mayhem-in-gotham-city/81949/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The summer of the superhero continues unabated with the arrival of "The Dark Knight," the second installment in director Christopher Nolan's highly praised reboot of the Warner Bros. and DC Comics Batman franchise. As in "Batman Begins," Christian Bale returns as both Gotham City's masked avenger and his daytime alter ego, "millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne," as the character was designated on the 1960s campy TV serial version. The film energetically picks up where its predecessor left... ADAM KIRSCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-ruined-city-of-smyrna-giles-miltons-paradise/81963/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST It is a measure of the sheer darkness of history in the last century that one of its darkest episodes — the 1922 destruction of the Ottoman city of Smyrna, in present-day Turkey — is practically forgotten. Forgotten by American readers, that is, even though American missionaries and sailors played a heroic role in the catastrophe. But to the Greeks and Armenians who were driven from the city, and to the Turks who conquered it with fire and sword, the name of Smyrna still raises fierce passions... FRED KIRSHNIT http://www.nysun.com/arts/rare-jewels-from-the-jupiter-symphony-chamber/81961/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST If you Google the composer Vincenzo Gambaro, the search engine attempts to redirect you to Vincenzo Gambino, a Milanese doctor who has apparently discovered a miraculous cure for baldness. This gambit is understandable, as there is considerable doubt about the existence of Gambaro. His chimerical qualities, however, have not deterred the intrepid explorers of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, who presented his Quatuor Concertant for Four Winds as part of an excellent concert at the Church... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/peter-martins-inducted-into-dance-hall-of-fame/81926/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Peter Martins, ballet master in chief of the New York City Ballet, is the newest member of the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame. The 51-year-old native of Denmark was inducted Monday night at the museum in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where the ballet company stages its annual summer residency at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Mr. Martins, a former principal dancer with the company, joins nearly 40 other members of the Dance Hall of Fame, including George Balanchine, his mentor and a... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/mellencamp-brings-farm-aid-to-northeast/81928/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Farm Aid, the long-running benefit concert, will be held this year in New England for the first time. John Mellencamp is scheduled to hold a news conference in Boston on Tuesday to announce that the show will be held September 20 at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass. The Boston Globe reports that Mr. Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews will headline the concert, and more performers will be announced. Farm Aid executive director Carolyn Mugar says organizers have long... Bloomberg News http://www.nysun.com/arts/james-brown-auction-will-go-forward/81929/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The estate of James Brown, the late "Godfather of Soul," can proceed with a sale of photographs, awards, and musical instruments on July 17, according to auction house Christie's International in New York. The South Carolina Court of Appeals ruled today that the auction of property from Brown's estate can go ahead, Christie's spokeswoman Sara Fox said in an e-mail. The sale of Brown's possessions, originally ordered by a judge in February to pay legal bills and estate taxes, has been tied up by...