HARD NEWS

Here's the latest news from the art and media world:

Lead Story: Arguing that representations of the human form were un-Islamic,Taliban, an extremist Muslim faction in Afghanistan that is now controlling the government, has ordered the destruction of countless art relics, most of which date from the pre-Islamic period when Afghistan was a center of Buddhist culture about 2000 years ago. Chief among them were the 2 largest-in-the-world statues of Buddha, hewn out of sandstone cliffs - one 175 feet tall, the other 120. This move has rightly infuriated Buddhists world wide as well as many (Musea included) that feel these works of art are a part of the heritage of the world. A delegation of scholars from the world's largest Islamic organization, Organization of Islamic Conference, went to Afhanistan for talks with Taliban authorities to save the art, but failed to save the statues. Also the director general of the UN cultural agency UNESCO, demanded new international laws to punish cultural vandalism. Koichiro Matsuura said, "We did everything possible to prevent this happening but we have failed miserably." (Yahoo News)

Media: The pro-drug company slant of the media is playing havoc with the truth about the aids epidemic and the major drug companies. Hopefully we can help give a fuller picture of the situation. The countries with the largest populations of people infected with HIV are first South Africa, then India. 39 drug companies are suing South Africa to stop the country from implementing laws that would enable them to produce cheap generic versions of patented drugs or buy them from foreign sources (suit adjourned till April 18). "Our legislation seeks to allow the government to be able to fulfill a constitutional obligation to provide medical care for a whole range of diseases (malaria etc) says the South African Ambassador to the US. The drug companies at first refused to compromise. Now, through reports like the one you're reading and protests from activist groups, they have been shamed into doing something. Bristo-Myers has joined 2 other companies in lowering 2 of their AIDS drugs from the US price of $16 a day to $1 a day per patient. (Sounds like the US patients may be paying a large markup!).

One reason the drug companies may be reducing their costs is that 'pirate' drug companies like Cipla in Bombay, can offer comparable drugs for $350 a year versus the $10,000-15,000 price in the West. (Maybe the only soul searching the US drug companies are doing is 'how many sales they're loosing to the pirates.) Yet there's more. It seems that you and I hold some of these patents that are being denied the 3rd world. The US gov. has the right to billions of dollars of research and can give the WHO (World Heath Assoc. /UN) the right to use those patents anywhere in the world and much of the research is carried out at taxpayer expense by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. Activists (Musea included) say the US and the lawsuing Drug Companies should offer 'patent relief' instead of meagre drug discounts. (USA Today)

Architecture: Frank Gehry has been asked to design the Dallas Museum of Natural History for downtown Dallas.. Gehry is notable for 2 recent buildings: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, which Musea loved and gave high marks for being beautiful and futuristic, and the Experience Music Project in Seattle, which looks like a collapse of a convention center made of aluminum siding. The question arises, does Dallas get the Dr. Jerkyll or Hyde architect?

Lit.: Of the 100 top-selling books between 1986-96, 63 are by the same 6 (tired moldy) authors: Tom Clancy, Stephen King, Danielle Steel, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, and - Michael Crichton who has just signed a 2 book deal with Harper-Collins for 7 figures. Do you know how many titles of quality a good zine publisher could do with that much cash?

Radio: For mostly male listeners, and I admit I'm one, Howard Stern has brought fun back to morning radio. But it sure isn't fun to sit through TWENTY MINUTE BLOCKS OF COMMERCIALS. His station like way too many in Dallas is owned by Infinity. I timed one break from 9:00AM to 9:19AM. I encourage all listeners to tune out when it comes to ads - or better yet refuse to buy anything they promote until they reduce ad time or end radio monopolies like Infinity.

More radio: Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Mikey Powell, son of Colin and prime example of nepotism , has approved 32 radio mergers. "Further delay is neither warranted, nor just." These 32 had been held up "pending competitive analysis". Well why mess with that when companies are involved, hey Mikey? Two things are for sure concerning the FCC. micro broadcasting (which Musea is all for) is dead in the water, and Mikey is our Chump of the Month #1 for his never ending support for corporate control of all radio in the U.S. (AP).

Video: You may be a video star and not know it and not like it either. Did you know that this year in Tampa, police secretly videotaped the face of every individual attending the Super Bowl and identified each person through computer - assisted driver's license programs? (DMN) /// In other privacy news: with all the fuss about Napster stealing files, did you ever wonder how anyone knows what songs are on the private computers that are listed on Napster? A website called Aimster thinks that recent monitoring of file names on the Napster database is a serious invasion of people's privacy. Musea agrees. (DMN) Film: Philip Anschutz, 6th richest man in the U.S. (mostly from oil) may own your favorite theater. The billionaire investor/raider has bought these 3 chains: United Artists Theater, 1,604 screens, Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc, 708 screens, and Regal Cinemas, the nation's largest chain with 4,361 screens. Is this a case of a man who loves every aspect of the cinema? "Anschutz's financial advisers tell Newsweek that he is buying theaters merely as an investment." And I was worried he'd be a heartless corporate overlord! (Newsweek)

Painting:Probably the most famous painting of the 20th century is Picasso's black and white, mural sized Guernica named after the Basque town bombed by Nazi's at the request of Franco. Today two regions are fighting over the anti-war painting. It is presently at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, the Madrid museum, that refuses to loan it to the Basque museum, the Guggenhiem Museum in Bilbao (see story on Gehry) The Basque museum director says he believes the refusal to loan the painting is politically motivated, based on an irrational fear that it would never return to Madrid. The Spanish museum claims their refusal is just about protection of the painting though they have loaned it out to 35 cities across the world. (Boston Globe)

Ads: Our 2nd Chump of The Month is the US Postal Service who has begun to sell advertising space on mail trucks, mail collection boxes, in post office lobbies, and on the Postal Service's Web site. In our opinion every ad shows clear as day who is buying influence in the government. Museum Pork Congress, in their business as usual mode is adding pork to their bills. Musea says museum pork is no better than any other. Recent cash flows include: $500,000 for a Seattle Art Museum (that already had a $60 million surplus), and $925,000 for a Philadelphia Please Touch Museum. Neither was sound or necessary spending. (Newsweek)

Pooh on You: Disney has bought the rights to A.A. Milne's, Winnie th Pooh for 25 years for $350 million. It is the largest publishing deal ever. Musea asks, what about public domain. Will anything Disney owns (or any Corporate Art work) ever go into the public domain? We think it's about time they do! (And speaking of Disney, these biz geniuses just shut down their GO.com portal for a cash loss of about $250 million. Bonuses all around for those net-execs. (Musea is looking for VC for our website but we'll make this promise - we won't waste any $250 million before figuring out it isn't working!)

Burn Baby Burn: If you watch the hot CBS TV show Survivor you know that barely surviving contestant Michael Skupin, was badly burned by a fire. The executive producer of the show Mark Burnett was asked, "What if a cameraman had stopped filming to come to Skupin's aid? He responded, "The cameraman is there for one reason, to keep the camera rolling. If he had dropped his camera and tried to help, I would have fired him on the spot." And I continually categorize these Corp. Art types as heartless! (DMN)

Ender: And we close this lengthy installment of Hard News with our Camp Champ award. It goes to the sound engineers at the British Library who saved Nelson Mandela's "I will die for principle" speech at his 1964 trial in South Africa, from an antiquated dictaphone. Most thought the speech, which propelled the anti-apartheid movement, was gone for good. We salute! (DMN)

News reports gathered by Alden Scott Crow and Musea.

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