Hadid, Foster on list to renovate Mecca: Mecca, aka Islam’s holiest city is seeking a face lift, and authorities are considering hot-right-now architects Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster for the job. They are among 16 contenders to create a new structure surrounding the Al Haram mosque, taking its capacity from 900,000 to 3 million, which would make it the highest capacity building in the world. Hadid has also been asked for input on upgrading “the whole area of the central district” of the city. [The National]
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Mortier goes to Spain: Gerard Mortier — the former director of the New York City Opera — has confirmed his new gig: he will become the artistic director of the Teatro Real opera house in Madrid. He’ll start this job in 2010, after this quite worldly director finishes his final year running the Paris National Opera. He quit NYCO because of economic problems, but isn’t Europe getting hit by this crisis too? [NYT]
L.A. Film Fest director resigns over Prop 8: Richard Raddon, director of the Los Angeles Film Festival, is being skewered by the California public for supporting gay-marriage-banning Proposition 8 and contributing money to its campaign. As a result, he was forced to resign this week as director of the festival. Whoops. [Variety]
Jackman locked in for Houdini act: There’s rumors that Hugh Jackman (aka People’s sexiest man alive) might play escape artist Harry Houdini in the upcoming Broadway musical Houdini. Jackman is allegedly “already at work on the magic routines” necessary for the production. Jackman singing while trapped in locked boxes and tied up with ropes? This could get kinky. [Playbill]
Hey Mama: When Kanye’s mother died last year, everyone assumed it was post-op complications, but now police are potentially reneging on that idea and the situation is getting dramatic. Kanye’s nephew Stephan Scoggins, a registered nurse who was caring for Donda West after her operation, is being investigated for his “role in her death.” [People]
At least bad sex is rewarded somewhere: Novelist Rachel Johnson has won the prestigious annual honor of the Bad Sex in Fiction award for her novel Shire Hell. Joining previous A-list writers like Tom Wolfe, Sebastian Faulks and last year’s honoree Norman Mailer, Johnson shows she’s got what it takes to de-sanctify the deed. The judges particularly hated on her metaphors, “especially animal metaphors” with specific mentions of cats and moths. John Updike also received a lifetime achievement award after being shortlisted four times in a row. We’ll leave you with an excerpt: “She said nothing then, her lovely mouth otherwise engaged, until he came, all over her face. She had gagged, and moved him outside her lips, rubbing his spurting glans across her cheeks and chin.” Definitely prize-worthy. [Guardian]
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Barack and roll: Now that speculation about Barack Obama’s cabinet is pretty much over, people have begun mulling over the next best thing: his inauguration concert. And the rumored line-up is pretty sweet, including Leona Lewis, Beyonce and Jay-Z. We say hip-hop (or maybe “hip-hope”?) at the White House bodes for a good four years. [NME]
Jay-Z to tour with Coldplay: And speaking of Jay-Z, he’s set to join Coldplay on a tour in the UK next year, after years of sporadic collaborations. Despite some rumors about Coldplay breaking up, their new EP, Prospekt’s March, came out yesterday and includes a Jay-Z-enhanced version of “Lost.” [Pitchfork]
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Brown wins everything at AMAs: Chris Brown swept the American Music Awards yesterday, winning three prizes including Artist of the Year, which he claims should have gone to Coldplay. (Incidentally, Coldplay went home empty-handed, which might explain why they’re breaking up.) Rihanna — Brown’s girlfriend and everybody’s obsession — was named favorite female artist for both R&B and pop/rock. We’re imagining they went home and talked about how cool they are. [Reuters]
No Doubt back in action: After Gwen Stefani did a little solo stint and had a baby, No Doubt is back. The band will allegedly be recording and touring in 2009. After a long hiatus will they have lost their charm? We doubt it. [Stereogum]
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Curtain falls on high-profile arts critic: Influential critic Clive Barnes died last night at the age of 81. In his 60-plus-year career, he held top-notch posts at the Times of London, the New York Times and the New York Post, reviewing theatre, opera and dance performances. Barnes made it his personal mission to bring dance out of the “cultural ghetto,” and championed dancers and choreographers like Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and George Balanchine. [Washington Post]
NYC Opera seeks help, attempts moving forward: After Gerard Mortier peaced out as director of the New York City Opera, the institution is acknowledging a crisis. The Opera’s board talked with “turnaround specialist” Michael Kaiser to evaluate the situation and come up with a plan for salvation. Kaiser proposes creating a more feasible budget and hiring a director that would “play on their strength” and create interesting programming. Is this a direct jab at Mortier? [NYT]
McIntyre all jazzed up: Rising star choreographer Trey McIntyre has been busy in New Orleans lately, and his Ma Maison gets its world premiere there tonight. Commissioned by the New Orleans Ballet Association and set to live jazz, the piece is a “dream project” for McIntyre, reflecting the spirit of the city. The dance will be included in McIntyre’s company’s upcoming international tour. [Times-Picayune]
Robbins remembered: A dancing tribute to Jerome Robbins will be presented December 1st. Jacques D’amboise, Terrence Mann and West Side Story‘s Russ Tamblyn will reminisce and reflect on Robbins’ life as they sing, dance and show new footage of the late chorepgrapher’s life. [Broadway World]
Matthieson, Gordon-Reed win NBAs: National Book Awards were announced last night, and the honorees are Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter Matthiessen. Gordon-Reed won in the nonfiction category for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, a biography of Thomas Jefferson’s slaves (including Sally, his rumored scandalous lover). Matthiesson is a second-time NBA winner (in 1979 he won for The Snow Leopard), bringing in the fiction prize for Shadow Country, based on the life of a 19th-century farmer-cum-serial killer.
There was controversy over whether it should be elligible to compete as it’s a one-volume compilation of three novels that Matthiessen previously published. [NYT]
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Hirst discovers that art is expensive: It’s no secret that Damien Hirst is worth a lot of money. Well, worth the most of any living artist, actually, at $364 million. But then his Beautiful Artemis Thor Neptune Odin Delusional Sapphic Inspirational Hypnosis Painting (what?), estimated at $3 million, refused to sell at Sotheby’s last week. Now Hirst is making a brave call: he’s declaring the art market too expensive and considering lowering his prices. That’s noble, but here’s a suggestion: maybe if people could remember the name of the painting they’re buying they’d be more willing to bid. [Independent]
Koh’s new art good enough to eat: Terence Koh’s new exhibit opened last week in New York (in Sarkozy’s brother’s gallery aka Richard Avedon’s former studio). The canvases look like little squares of wall, but they’re made from corn syrup and sugar. We hear things got a little messy at the opening, with people accidentally knocking into the paintings ending up covered in the sweet powdery substance — wonder what that’s a metaphor for… [Cool Hunting]
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Finn draws on Radiohead, Wilco for new jams: New Zealand rocker Neil Finn has assembled a sweet group for his forthcoming charity album, a sequel to 2002’s Seven Worlds Collide. He will collaborate with musicians from Radiohead, Wilco, Modest Mouse and Soul Coughing, and all the proceeds will go toward Oxfam, an international organization that fights poverty and injustice. We love good music for good causes! [Stereogum]
After arrest, Kanye smears the paps: After a paparazzi frenzy on Friday, Kanye was arrested and released without charges in England. Later this weekend, he went off on the paparazzi, claiming that there should be a law preventing photographers from selling pictures without permission. “Let us not forget the paps killed Princess Diana,” he said, maintaining that “the paps” shouldn’t have the right to exploit his image. Fair enough. [MTV]
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Del Toro to take on Pinocchio: Guillermo del Toro has taken on yet another project — a stop-motion version of Pinocchio. He’s signed to work with the Jim Henson Co., Gris Grimly and Adam Parrish King. Though the lying wooden doll seems more innocuous than some of the director’s upcoming protagonists (Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), he claims that he will make this version “darker” than what we’re used to from the children’s book. [Variety]
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