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Get Four
|  | DECEMBER 17, 2004
By Thane Peterson Lifting a Glass to 2004 It's time to hail the year's heroes, mark triumphs like see-through cement and "podcasting," and mourn the greats we've lost Trying to distill all of this year's major cultural events and trends into a short list isn't sensible. But who said I was sensible? My list is a somewhat subjective, even eccentric, take. Others may have a different approach, but here goes: LEON FLEISHER. He's the great classical pianist who 40 years ago lost the use of his right hand to an obscure neurological disease. For decades he battled despair while teaching music and playing one-handed -- but never gave up the dream of one day playing the two-handed repertoire again. Medical advances have allowed Fleisher to regain use of his hand. This year, the pianist, now 76, triumphantly recorded a CD of music by Bach, Scarlatti, Chopin, Debussy, and Schubert -- appropriately titled Two Hands. Bravo! PODCASTING. This is the technology that allows owners of audio players such as Apple's (AAPL ) iPod to download radio broadcasts. Minnesota Public Radio and Air America, among others, have already started podcasting, as have many individuals. My prediction: Podcasting will democratize radio (and video broadcasting, for that matter, as technology progresses) by making it possible for just about anyone to broadcast audio content -- much as blogging did for written commentary. 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT. Politics largely dominated the nonfiction best-seller list this year, but the nonfiction publishing event of the year wasn't Bill Clinton's windy memoir or the popular political screeds by Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, et al. Rather, it was the 9/11 Commission Report, which has been a best seller since it came out 20 weeks ago. This is a sign of hope for two reasons. It's a rare bipartisan effort by prominent politicians to force the government to do the right thing for national security policy. And this report, at least the long narrative introduction, is remarkably well-written. "I was astonished that a government report could make such compelling reading," says James Carey, the Columbia University communications theorist. "It's very good in a literary sense -- and very good at simply explaining what happened." FCC's BONO DECISION. Or was it the bonehead decision? After rock singer Bono uttered the F-word on prime-time TV, the Federal Communications Commission banned the expletive's use in prime time entirely. The result, predictably, was confusion among broadcasters, some of whom erred on the side of caution by refusing to air Saving Private Ryan, one of the greatest war movies ever, on Veterans Day (Nov. 11). A good New Year's resolution for the FCC would be to go back to more sensible obscenity rules that make allowances for extenuating circumstances, historic context, and artistic merit. NEW MOMA. A lot has been written about the architectural qualities of Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi's $425 million expansion and redesign of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. But to me only one statistic matters: The exhibition space has more than doubled to 630,000 square feet. The new museum, unveiled in November, is airier and far more open than the old digs, even while the number of works on display has vastly increased. "It's absolutely beautiful, a really wonderful space for showing art," says Victoria Miro, the prominent London art gallerist who attended the opening. Several rooms are now devoted to the museum's marvelous photo collection, and new acquisitions get a lot more space. There are also some wonderful, spacious rooms chock full of Cezannes, Matisses, and van Goghs, which previously were displayed in more cramped quarters. On the top floor, two sunlit near-football-field-size exhibition spaces are dominated by two enormous paintings, the most spectacular of which is James Rosenquist's 86-foot-long F-111, painted in 1964 and 1965. Good show!
BW MALL
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