Dennis B-K offered Russell Smith's excellent appraisal in Thursday's Globe &
Mail:
----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Bathory-Kitsz
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: John Cage's first national TV appearance (1960)
(snip)........
How pop has taken over the arts
RUSSELL SMITH
May 24, 2007
The word "culture" in media now means what was once called mass or popular
culture; the word "art" - when it is used at all - means what we once called
entertainment. Examples of this are everywhere: Almost no North American
newspaper has a section called "Arts" any more because it would be
dishonest.....(snip)
And Les adds:
A personally-noted example of this sort of shift Smith writes about occurred
a few years ago. There was a time when the 'Arts and Entertainment'
television network actually provided a considerable amount of that which
might be described as Fine Arts programming. Gradually, there was less
and less of the arts and more and more nebulously-titled entertainment.
This transmogrification finally hit at what was (for me) the last stand:
A&E's Sunday Morning broadcast called "Breakfast With the Arts" - which used
to be a great program (hosted by Elliott Forrest), and in fact one of the
last shows on the air with emphasis on the fine arts. It underwent a
major revamp, however, and - as now - focuses on pop-ish culture. And did
away with Elliott. I called an exec at the network and asked, "what the
hell's going on??!" There was a defensive ratings-oriented response
without much other logic. I pressed on: "And so do you plan to change the
name of the show to 'Breakfast with the Popular Arts'?" And of course the
exec's response was glib. I then questioned the entire name of the
network itself: Arts & Entertainment. But that was dealt with as well: I
was told that the network, which had been stressing the acronym of A&E for
some time, was now known by that name, period. And that it no longer
stood for Arts & Entertainment. I (of course) had to offer my friend the
opinion that A&E didn't appear to stand for anything.....and yeah, he's
still my friend though - not longer thereafter, he did leave A&E.....
Best,
Les
Les Marsden
Founding Music Director and Conductor,
The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra
Music and Mariposa? Ahhhhh, Paradise!!!
http://arts-mariposa.org/symphony.html
http://www.geocities.com/~jbenz/lesbio.html
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