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They said the Fleet would never sail...

Meanwhile, also in the Globe, is this ghastly news. No more Bank of America funding for the Celebrity Series. Both sides make nice with quotes about how important it is for givers and getters to diversify and blah blah. But basically this is the now out-of-town bank yanking major support from an arts series that has been a mainstay. I suppose it's possible that BOA will find some other, equally worthy way to demonstrate its support for the arts here. Let's hope it's not by sponsoring some higher-profile crowd-pleaser from out of town, like, say, the Rockettes. Happy holidays, Boston! ... Although, there was some long-term good news today, too.

Hello, strangers

In addition to my job at Top 10 Media I've been working on a pretty neat feature for tomorrow's Globe North section, about Newburyport painter Alan Bull. I'll get links up in the morning; there's also going to be a narrated slide show on Boston.com if everything comes together. ... Today's must-read? Geoff's interview with XTC-er Andy Partridge, in which he has this to say about the Cars: "I always thought the Cars were frighteningly bland. I thought they were like the food that people serve in old people's retirement homes, the stuff where there's somebody behind the screen chewing up the food before they serve it."

I don't want to hear the word 'cantilever' today, OK?

Even I'm sick of the ICA at this point, so I'm skipping the two pieces in the Globe and the five more you can find via the Exhibitionist. There is one must-read today, though, and that's Jeremy Eichler on the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's final recording, which is "Neruda Songs," due out Dec. 19. The work was written by her husband, Peter Lieberson, co-commissioned by the BSO, and recorded at Symphony Hall with the orchestra conducted by James Levine. Apparently it's pretty good.

Morning reads: "Tanglewood Storm"

Sounds like a cheesy mystery where the killer is a devious bassoonist, but it's something that actually happened, damaging the facilities, and Geoff has the news and pix here. ... The NYT has a rave review of the new ICA here, calling it "a milestone for Elizabeth Diller and Richard Scofidio, a duo who have dwelled largely on the fringes of the architecture profession" and "architecture of empathy, welcome therapy for a self-involved age." ... Providence noise-rockers Lightning Bolt play MassArt tomorrow, and are explicated here.  ... More trauma at Symphony Hall. ... Cate McQuade takes a look at that big Maine prints exhibit. ...

Rockin' the Agganis

Just got to the Herald and there are a couple of local music items of note: The Dropkick Murphys are adding a Saturday-afternoon matinee at Agganis Arena to their weeklong St. Patrick's stand at Avalon in 2007. Tix go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. ... And Chris Treacy reports on Bay State up-and-comers Ben Taylor and Sonya Kitchell teaming up at the Paradise this weekend.

Mo' ICA, mo' ICA, mo' ICA

Want to see the new museum on video? Jared Bowen tours the ICA tonight on "Greater Boston," at 7pm on WGBH (Ch. 2). ... The Globe has a whole special section of prose and pix here (and presumably in hard copy, though I haven't left the house yet). Lots of info and some dazzling pix. ... Geoff also notes that the opening has allowed World Music/Crash Arts to finish its schedule. ... The one complaint I continue to hear from everyone is that the south face (street side) of the Diller Scofidio + Renfro building is kind of ugly compared to the rest of it. ... And finally, for those of you who actually want to go to the thing, this coming Sunday the ICA will be open for all, for free, from 9am-9pm, with performances by the Alloy Orchestra, Either/Orchestra, Snappy Dance and more.

Guster blowing in

The boys from Tufts will be playing three intimate gigs around town on Friday to promote "Satellite," the single from their "Ganging Up On The Sun" CD. They'll be at the grand opening of the Borders Back Bay at 12:30 for a performance and signing; check the FNX web site for deets. Then later in the afternoon they'll be playing for WBOS at the - this is cool - Hayden Planetarium. ("Satellite," get it?)  Listen to BOS or hit their site. Then the band will play the First Act Guitar Studio at 7 - bring an unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots to get in (and get there early). Details: the River.

ICA built it, we will come

Elizabeth Diller and Ric Scofidio started out as artists, and it's easy to tell when you listen to Diller talk about how the new ICA designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro came together. She talks about how the public spaces are built from the ground up, literally a layer of tropical wood planks that starts at the harborwalk and curls up into the museum, eventually becoming part of the ceiling. You can see the line in this picture (left). But the art spaces in the museum, the actual galleries, which are mostly on the fourth floor, were designed from the sky down, with a layer of skylights and blackout curtains that give infinite possibilities of natural light.

This was a difficult project, with the intricacies of designing for a museum compounded by the waterfront site, the relatively small footprint and the architects' own ambitions. What they've come up with is an enormous 80 foot cantilever stretching out over the harborwalk, extending the fourth floor galleries. According to the museum side, anyway, they had a relatively easy time convincing the city to give up what amount to air rights on the site in exchange for a much larger public plaza in front of the museum - which they say they would have built anyway.

(The tour hits the harborwalk, above. The pod top center is the Mediatheque.)

At one point in our tour, Diller straddled a groove in the floor of a gallery - part of an elaborate system that allows walls, sprinklers, lighting at more to be shifted to accommodate the art. She noted that her right foot was solidly supported, while her left was out on the cantilever - a looooong way from the front of the gallery. This is a grand and daring design.

Listening to Diller talk about each aspect of the building is the kind of privilege usually only afforded to those of us in the media. In fact, the architects will speak Jan. 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the museum. (Patti Smith and Mark Morris are lined up for subsequent talks.) But courtesy of HubArts, if I can make this all work, you can hear some samples of Diller (below left, with curator Nicholas Baume) on the tour.

Download: Diller on the harborwalk.m4a

Download: Diller  in_the main gallery.m4a

Download: Diller  in the founders gallery.m4a

Download: Diller in the mediatheque.m4a

More from the ICA

OK, I'm home where the posting is easy. Maybe that's because there's not 300 tons of structural steel to screw with my wireless signal, although they'd better get their wifi act together down there if they want to attract hordes of high-schoolers and college kids, as they keep saying. The only other downside is that, like the neighboring Moakley courthouse, the ICA turns its dullest face to the street.

Anyway, please enjoy some art.

Artists include Jack Goldstein (top) and Josiah McElheny (bottom). I'm the ghost in the machine in that last one.

ICA IV

I'm going to try one more time to upload some pix, before I bag this live-blog schtick and drive home. That's your irony for you. State of the art building that won't quit, but one of the things that seems to be not quite finished - along with the wooden walkway on the west side and a few other details - is the wireless network. I'm walking around the lobby like a dork with a $2000 Lenovo divining rod, trying to find someplace with a signal over 50 percent so I can upload. The building is amazing, though. More later.