Yup—Four Things Today.

1. The online art auction world gets a major merger.
2. Bucket drummers and breakdancers square off against Boston city officials about free expression at Faneuil Hall.
3. Cellists: nothing but rowdy, sultry rebels.
4. Whoops! Antiques Roadshow mistakenly values high school art project at $50K.

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Here it is—Four Things Today.

1. Seattle’s comics-only newspaper will shut down.
2. Boston creates its first cultural master plan.
3. Artist Emma Fick is creating an illustrated guide to NOLA, one neighborhood at a time.
4. A white woman’s discrimination suit against Los Angeles’ Getty Foundation could have far-reaching consequences.

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Again with the something new (or old, because we’ve done it once already): Three Things Today. Three things we think might interest you. We hope you’ll tell us if you agree. Or disagree.

1. In the battle to revive New York City Opera, one faction woos (and wins) the backing of creditors.
2. A lesser-known casualty of the South Carolina floods—Columbia Classical Ballet Company.
3. Apparently, our personal lives are doomed. Doomed!

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Aaaaand, a year later, we’re back. In a sense.

Something new: Three Things Today. Three things we think might interest you. Or not. Let us know either way.

1. Bernie Sanders says he’ll actually support the arts as president.
2. NY Times critics debate blackface (or lack thereof) at the Met and other casting kerfuffles.
3. Playwright to LA audiences: “Don’t go see my show. Really, don’t.”

What caught our eye this week…

VISUAL
In their efforts to combat graffiti’s role in the city’s urban blight, Detroit’s police officers are being forced to confront the question – what is art?

Christie’s and Sotheby’s disagree over whether to treat the sale of two paintings by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele as looted Nazi art (Christie’s does, Sotherby’s doesn’t)…

MUSIC (Law & Order Edition)
Musician Andrew Kalleen of the duo Lawrence & Leigh is assaulted and arrested for performing on a NYC subway platform, even after the arresting officer admits he hasn’t broken any laws according to the MTA’s own rules of conduct:

Continuing on this theme, New Orleans is considering restricting “non-amplified live music” to certain areas of the city, putting some venues and restaurants at a potential disadvantage…

OPERA
Acclaimed mezzo-soprano (and Kansas City native) Joyce DiDonato has discovered the limits of social media. The singer has received the most votes in a social media poll asking who should sing the national anthem at each game of the World Series. To date, she has still not been chosen. In the meantime, fans have been content to voice their opinion of those who were chosen to sing:

I'll bet Joyce DiDonato knows ALL the words! #letJoyceSing #MLB #WorldSeries http://t.co/CiVMHvvf71

— Kami Jowers Brady (@kamibradyphotog) October 27, 2014

After all that we've been through with the #letjoycesing movement, that was insulting, @MLB.

— R. Douglas Helvering (@helvering) October 22, 2014

That sucked . #letjoycesing

— Rachel Gonzalez (@RachelRGonzalez) October 22, 2014

POP MUSIC
Two things we didn’t know: (1) Kenny G is huge in China, (2) Kenny G stopped by the Hong Kong protests and ticked off the rulers of the country in which he is huge…

THEATRE
A DC-area actress tackles what it’s like to shed it all for the stage…

FUNDING
The turmoil at Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and recent closure of Georgia Shakespeare spark an outcry from local advocates for renewed investment in a state that ranks last in per capita arts funding…

CROWD
From Kickstarter: A husband and wife team want to give Burlington, VT‘s burgeoning stand-up scene its first actual comedy club:

From Indiegogo: A group of Orlando artists want help turning a moving truck into a mobile art gallery…

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What caught our eye this week…

CLASSICAL
Things certainly have been hopping over at locked-out Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as they cancel the first 8 concerts of the season (including shows with Lang Lang and Jason Alexander), the music director calls the lockout a “deafening silence,” the board chair of the orchestra’s parent company intimates its musicians may be “a bunch of crazy people,” 14 of America’s preeminent contemporary composers call it a “slow, remorseless downgrading,” the city’s mayor offers to mediate as an actual mediator steps in, the president/CEO quits, and a resolution seems nowhere in sight…

Protests over the killing of Michael Brown made their way into the concert hall as a flash mob interrupted a St. Louis Symphony performance of Brahms’ “Requiem” with “Requiem for Mike Brown”:

OPERA
Metropolitan Opera may face a downgrade of its credit rating…

VISUAL
Delaware Art Museum succumbs, Detroit Museum of Art resists, and Corcoran Gallery finesses. How three museums navigate the “third rail” of selling art to pay bills…

Speaking of the Corcoran, former staffers hold a funeral at the now-shuttered museum followed by a procession (complete with bagpipes) to a nearby cemetery where mourners gather at the Corcoran family mausoleum. Meanwhile, GW‘s student-run gallery hopes to be a welcoming space for former Corcoran students and the university adds the DC Textile Museum to its arts war chest…

CITY AND STATE
North Carolina shows us why it’s a great place to own a car…

THEATRE
Apparently Fantasy Football is alive, well, and living amongst dramaturgs:

@artsinamerica @_Mona_Rose It’s our dramaturg league! Though there’s a DC Theatre league as well. #thedramaoffootball

— elissa goetschius (@egoetschius) October 1, 2014

POP MUSIC
A tweep puts Prince‘s resurgence into perspective:

This week in decay: Jeter disappears, Brady rots, Prince puts out good new records because he is unaffected because he's an immortal wizard.

— John Moe (@johnmoe) September 30, 2014

CROWD
From Kickstarter: An aerial dance studio wants to take over, and fly through, their own warehouse:

From Indiegogo: A Portland, Oregon theatre wants to help high schools attend its annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare:

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What caught our eye this week…

INTERNATIONAL
While Scotland decided its fate this week, two related and unusual arts stories popped up. Apparently ukeleles are trumping the traditional recorder as the instrument of choice for Scottish school children… And a small city in Pakistan supplies much of the world’s bagpipies…

FILM
After years of decidedly mixed financial results, many states are saying “Cut! That’s a wrap!” to once revered film tax credits. Except California, which is doubling down after seeing one of its key industries fly to other states…

JAZZ
One of our singer tweeps gets a little TMI when describing her next album:

Last week a man took me into his garage and showed me his throbbing organ. It was a religious experience! Real #HammondB3 on my next record! — Alexa Weber Morales (@AlexaMorales) September 15, 2014

OPERA
In an expected move to satisfy its shiny new labor contracts, the Metropolitan Opera eliminates 22 nonunion positions, largely through layoffs. The cuts are expected to save the company as much as $90M over four years. Meanwhile, the new season gets underway with as many as 1,500 workers at once making it happen: DANCE
This from the Washington School of Ballet‘s adorable “Decorate a Pointe Shoe” contest…

VISUAL
Attendance at the Corcoran Museum of Art has quadrupled since a judge approved the museum’s merger that will end its independence and shrink its collection.  Former Corcoran staffers will hold a funeral for the museum, complete with obituary and cemetery walk…

One defiant creditor still wants to sell the Detroit Institute of Art‘s collection, swimming upstream against every remaining creditor that has settled with the city. If the bankruptcy plan is not approved, the museum is prepared to sue to protect its collection…

And a tweep gives us the shivers:

Woke up from a nightmare about being in a four-hour-long exam on Minimalism. I wore a purple faux-fur coat. — Corinna Kirsch (@corinnakirsch) September 13, 2014

CLASSICAL
Further fallout from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra labor dispute—the group’s youth orchestra auditions have been indefinitely postponed by request of the American Federation of Musicians. The season would have marked the youth ensemble’s 40th anniversary…

CROWD
From Kickstarter: Boston-area singers want help archiving renowned local singer Mary Pratt‘s work, threatened due to the onset of her Alzheimer’s:

From Indiegogo: The only performing arts conservatory in the state of South Carolina wants your help to open their doors…

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