January 2012
1 post
3 tags
Should New York Say "Cut" To Expensive Film...
by Sara Morrison
CBS’s new show, The 2-2, blocks off street parking in Washington Heights for a recent location shoot. Generous incentives from both the state and city are bringing more productions to the city than ever.
For a week last May, Marcelo Duek, owner of Boca Grande, an interior design and furnishings store, stared out of his two-story-high storefront windows at the...
December 2011
2 posts
2 tags
Got Props?
Got Props, co-owned by Nicole Stiegelbauer, is going through a period of restructuring after the cancellations of the New York City-based soap operas that were its main clients.
Now in its new location at the Brooklyn Navy Yards and with so many new TV series and movies shooting in the city, Got Props should be just fine.
4 tags
Will Broadway's Priscilla Queen of the Desert Drag...
by Sara Morrison
Priscilla Queen of the Desert’s Palace Theatre Broadway home. The show’s use of pre-recorded music alongside a live orchestra has drawn musicians union Local 802’s ire. (photo: Sara Morrison)
“The only real art is in the lip synch.”
So says Bernadette, one of three main characters in the sequin-encrusted, feather-coated Broadway musical...
November 2011
8 posts
3 tags
Nine Months Later, The Book of Mormon is...
The Book of Mormon’s cast celebrates another milestone for the smash Broadway hit. (photo: Joan Marcus/Book of Mormon)
The idea of putting money into a Broadway musical about Mormon missionaries written by the creators of South Park may have seemed insane to some, but a few brave investors will now reap the rewards, as The Book of Mormon Twitter-announced today that it has earned back its...
6 tags
Kickstarter Projects Update
Back in September, this blog reported on the crowdfunding sensation that is Kickstarter. Two of the projects profiled in that article recently checked in with updates:
Amanda Wilder’s campaign to fund the completion of her documentary, Approaching the Elephant, has begun. Watch her five minute pitch video above and click the link to find out more about how to back her project, which...
6 tags
Roller Derby's Niche Businesses Keep on Rolling
by Sara Morrison
Nicole “Bonnie Thunders” Williams and Danielle “OMG WTF” Flowers work behind the counter at Five Stride Skate Shop, the Brooklyn store they co-own. (photo: Sara Morrison)
Six days a week, Nicole Williams, 28, and Danielle Flowers, 32, ride their bikes from the apartment they share to Brooklyn’s Five Stride Skate Shop, the business they co-own. ...
5 tags
Despite Labor Woes, Sotheby's Art Auction Far...
1949-A-No. 1 by Clyfford Still sold for nearly $62 million at Sotheby’s recent contemporary art auction. (Source: Sotheby’s)
Neither economic nor union woes seemed to have an effect on Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction last week, where nearly $316 million worth of art pieces were sold. Those results are the best for a contemporary art evening auction at...
3 tags
Features of the Freelance Economy →
On the heels of last week’s article here about one NYC freelancer in the art world comes this article by Martha Retallick at Freelance Switch about the growing freelance economy:
But when it comes to the world’s economic recovery, [freelancers are] anything but a sideshow. If anything, we’re a major part of the solution. To the point, we’re building a new economy.
A pretty dramatic...
2 tags
NYFA's Artist Fellowship Program: Less Money, But...
by Sara Morrison
The way the New York Foundation for the Arts distributes its Artist Fellowship grants changed this year due to a combination of changing discipline categories and funding cuts. In the past, NYFA awarded $7,000 grants to artists in sixteen disciplines over a two-year span, eight each year. Now the organization will award grants to five disciplines a year over the course of...
4 tags
Brooklyn Freelancer Curates Art -- and Her Career
by Sara Morrison
Risa Shoup peers out from behind “Rapture Romance #5,” created by two artists who go by the moniker “Ghost of a Dream” and use discarded lottery tickets and romance novel covers in their work. The pair was recently signed to Davidson Contemporary, a division of the “blue chip” Maxwell Davidson Gallery, and Shoup bought the piece in the hopes...
6 tags
Last Chance To See Museum of Sex's "Lovers from...
“Lovers Kiss” by Jean-Marc Laroche. This is the only photo from the press release that was appropriate to publish; you’ll have to see the rest of the exhibit for yourself.
Never say that Manhattan’s Museum of Sex doesn’t know how to properly celebrate a holiday. “Lovers from the Hereafter” will end its Halloween-themed month-long run on Friday,...
October 2011
13 posts
8 tags
Art for Any Economy
Clockwise from top left: Jizzy Canal’s Commencement Speech © 2011 The Republican Company. All rights reserved. Used with permission; Utopia Is Gay, by Jonah Emerson Bell; Felicia and Dolce, Ft. Lauderdale Beach, by Danny Ghitis; America’s Pastime, by Christopher Gideon.
The recession is no excuse not to buy and enjoy art — not when organizations like New York-based Recession...
1 tag
Netflix Customers Streaming Away
Photo: Ross Catrow/Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.
Netflix released its third quarter earnings report yesterday, and it looks like the company that once helped take down Blockbuster is on its way to taking itself down next. Since July, the company has been struggling to deal with the backlash following its announcement that it would split into separate mail-order and internet...
4 tags
WatchThe new season of Portlandia doesn’t premiere on New York-based cable channel IFC until January, but the above clip should make the wait a little easier to bear.
Portlandia also had a panel at New York Comic Con last weekend:
nycgreennews:
(video: IFC.com | reblogged from greenangst)
Portlandia pokes fun at recycling in this teaser clip from their upcoming second season. One of New...
4 tags
New York Comic Con Brings People in Batman...
Fun for the whole strange family! (photo: Randsom/Flickr. Used with permission)
According to NYCGo.com, last weekend’s New York Comic Con was worth having to see a few less-than-fit men dressed up in skintight suits — $50 million worth!
nycedc:
“More than 100,000 people [were] expected to attend the New York Comic Con at the Javits Center from October 13 -16, and more than 3,600...
5 tags
Priscilla, Queen of the Pre-Recorded Orchestra,...
L-R: Tony Sheldon, Will Swenson, and Nick Adams perform in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. There are many things in this picture, but a live strings section is not one of them. (photo: Joan Marcus/priscillaonbroadway.com)
When Priscilla Queen of the Desert opened on Broadway last March, it did so with just eight musicians in the pit (18 is Local 802 of the American Federation of...
7 tags
For Two Clubs, Comedy is Serious Business
by Sara Morrison
Stand Up NY, left, and Broadway Comedy Club, right, are two similar comedy clubs with very different owners: Stand Ups’ use their youth and desire to innovate while Broadway’s relies on his experience. (photo: Sara Morrison)
A turf war is brewing on the corner of 44th and Broadway. Two rival comedy club promoters pace the sidewalk, equally aware of each other and...
5 tags
Metropolitan Opera's Operating Expenses Now...
The Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center. All $289.8 million of it. (photo: Sara Morrison)
In a year where most cultural institutions were forced to reduce their operating budgets, the Metropolitan Opera was able to increase theirs — and now boasts the highest operating expenses in the city at $289.8 million, according to Rebecca Olles’ article on Crain’s New York. ...
6 tags
Occupy Wall Street Gets Artsy
Occupy Wall Street is putting down cultural roots. Not only does it have its own library, but on Saturday, organizers in the movement’s “art and culture committee” held a 24-hour art show called “No Comment” in the vacant former JP Morgan headquarters across the street from the New York Stock Exchange. Exhibits included an American flag made out of dollar bills, a...
4 tags
Next Time You Go to a Museum, Bring an Appetite
Village Voice’s Lauren Shockey ranks the 10 best NYC museum restaurants:
villagevoice:
Our 10 Best Museum Restaurants
5 tags
Kickstarter Kickstarts a Crowd-Funding Patent War
Kickstarter may not be, as its tagline states, such a “new way to fund and follow creativity” after all. On the heels of last week’s article about the site comes news that it’s involved in a patent dispute with another site with a similar crowd-funding model.
ArtistShare (tagline: “where the fans make it happen”) has been around since 2000 — nine years...
6 tags
Spider-Man: Caught in a Web of Arbitration
Julie Taymor is still credited as the director on signage outside Foxwoods Theatre, where “Spider-Man” is currently playing. (photo: Sara Morrison)
A hero’s work is never done. “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” is preparing for yet another epic battle this week as the show’s producers face off against former show director Julie Taymor (who also co-created the...
September 2011
9 posts
4 tags
Kickstarter: Making Money by Making Money
by Sara Morrison
Documentary filmmaker Amanda Rose Wilder makes a rare trip in front of the camera for the Kickstarter campaign for her film “Approaching the Elephant.” She hopes to raise enough money to finish the film and submit it to festivals. (photo: Sara Morrison)
In the living room of her Brooklyn apartment, Amanda Rose Wilder carefully adjusts the focus on her...
3 tags
Andy Rooney Finally Retires
John P. Filo/CBS Broadcasting, Inc.
After 33 years and 1,097 shows, 60 Minutes’ crankiest contributor has run out of things to complain about. The 92-year-old New Yorker’s last essay will end this Sunday’s episode, according to the show’s website.
5 tags
NYC's Four New TV Series: The Ratings and Reviews...
Photos (L to R): Barbara Nitke/CBS Broadcasting Inc., Framegrab/Warner Bros. Television, Heather Wines/CBS Broadcasting Inc., Patrick Harbron/ABC
The 2011-2012 TV season premiere week just finished with a record number of series filmed in NYC on the slate. Four of them made their broadcast network debuts: CBS’s A Gifted Man, Person of Interest, and Unforgettable, and ABC’s...
2 tags
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a new website. →
When websites imitate life imitating art:
paddyjohnson:
veken:
Not as sexy and dynamic as MOMA’s, but it’s simple, straightforward and worth checking out.
And since I can’t ever find what I need on MoMA, that’s a good thing.
3 tags
4 tags
Hoping for the Next Big Show, TV Ups the Ante →
New York Times’ Brian Stelter reports on how TV networks are using summer blockbuster movie-style campaign strategies (and spending summer blockbuster movie-style dollars) to promote their new series:
“Splashy premieres, extravagant budgets, yearlong advertising campaigns and mind-blowing special effects: the summer movie season may be over but Hollywood’s all-or-nothing mentality...
7 tags
St. Mark's Bookshop in Trouble →
(Recession x declining book sales)
+ East Village rent increases
= Bad times for historic bookstore:
“Sales at the store, opened in 1977 by co-owners Terry McCoy and Bob Contant, have dropped 35% since the financial crisis that hit in 2008.”
Read more at Crain’s.
2 tags
