HubArts.com

Turnpike from Boston to Stockbridge, instead

Tix for James Taylor's Aug. 24 gig at Tanglewood go on sale this Sunday, Feb. 4, at 9 a.m. via SymphonyCharge at 617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200.  Tickets may also be purchased online through the BSO website at www.tanglewood.org. Tix for the rest of the summer performances go on sale Feb. 11.

Splattered

If one were to attempt a flow chart or other graphic representation of the various claims and counterclaims over those disputed Jackson Pollock paintings, it would look a lot like...a Jackson Pollock painting. The Harvard study suggests they're not authentic, but, the whole matter still seems a great big mess. Geoff has a story in the Globe here, and some helpful links here. ... The Globe also has advance word on the Williamstown summer season - my email must have blown off the digital porch - complete with Nicholas Martin directing Kate Burton and her son in "The Corn is Green."

Urban renewal in Worcester

More exciting than it sounds! At least if you're a country music fan. Recently rehabbed country superstar Keith Urban will bring his summer tour to the DCU Center in Worcester on Aug. 11, and tix go on sale to the public Feb. 3 at 10 a.m. via the DCU box office, Ticketmaster and livenation.com. Members of Urban's online community will have first shot at tix beginning Monday via keithurban.net.

Afternoon reading

Theater fans in Boston will want to consume all of the Globe's arts front package today. Geoff has the lowdown on the ART and Robert Woodruff's departure, and it was pretty much what everyone guessed a few weeks ago, when it was announced - his avant garde approach was bad for the bottom line. Plus, Louise Kennedy mulls the fallout from Woodruff's exit and that of Nicholas Martin from the Huntington. Big risks, big opportunities.

378 words, all of them gems

I went to see James McMurtry and Dave Alvin at the Paradise Thursday night, and here's a link to my Globe review.

"George Wein Sells Company That Produces Music Festivals"

That NY Times headline caused a deep gulp when I dialed it up on the web just now. But the story is more hopeful for all those who love the Newport Jazz and Folk fests. The 81-year-old Wein still stay involved, and the new guy is a New Englander with ties to Festival Productions.

What is it, Jackson Pollock day?

A few hours after the Harvard announcement, I got the following from the ICA:

The Institute of Contemporary Art presents the Boston premiere of Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollack (2006), a documentary about the 15-year war with the art world waged by 73-year-old former truck driver Teri Horton.  Written and directed by Harry Moses.  Produced by Steven Hewitt and Harry Moses.  74 minutes. 35mm. Rated PG-13 for language.  Screening Feb. 4 and 11, 2007 at 2 p.m.  Tickets are $9 general admission; $7 members, students, and seniors, and can be purchased at icaboston.org, from the ICA box office, by phone at (617) 478-3103 during regular museum hours, or at the box office one hour before program.

When Teri Horton, a 73-year-old former long-haul truck driver with an eighth grade education, bought a painting in a thrift shop for five dollars, she didn't know that it would pit her against the highest and mightiest people in the art world and change forever the way art is authenticated.

Working with a forensic scientist, Teri learned that a fingerprint on the back of her canvas matched a fingerprint found on a can of paint in the studio of Jackson Pollock. More research showed that paint on the floor of Pollock's studio matched paint on Teri's canvas. Because Teri knew that a Pollock painting the size of hers was worth upwards of $50 million, she thought she had won the lottery. "Not so fast," said the art establishment, which looked down its collective nose at Teri and proclaimed her painting worthless.

"Who the $#%& is Jackson Pollock?" is a rollicking adventure story that documents Teri's 15-year war with the art world, lifts the veil on how art is bought and sold in America, and introduces audiences to the funny, profane, and thoroughly unforgettable Teri Horton.

Whitey wants his cut of the Oscars

Boston-set and (partly) Boston-shot "The Departed" - a shotgun marriage of the Whitey Bulger saga and a Hong Kong action flick - got nods for best picture, best director (Martin Scorsese), best adapted screenplay (the North Shore's William Monahan), best supporting actor (Dot rat Mark Wahlberg, beating out Jack!) and best editing. Leo DiCaprio's best-actor nod, however, was for "Blood Diamond." Belmont's Tom Perrotta shared a best adapted screenplay nomination for the film of his novel "Little Children," which also scored a best actress nod for Kate Winslet. Let's try to get some chat going over here.

Pollock, or not Pollock

This just in from the Harvard University Art Museums. Something about the firmness of the release time info makes me wonder what they've found:

HARVARD UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUMS TO RELEASE TECHNICAL
ANALYSIS OF PAINTINGS ATTRIBUTED TO JACKSON POLLOCK

CAMBRIDGE, MA (January 22, 2007)—On Monday, January 29, 2007 at 5:00 p.m., the
Harvard University Art Museums will release a report regarding the institution’s technical
analysis of three of the thirty-two recently discovered works attributed to artist Jackson
Pollock. As part of their ongoing research, the Art Museums conducted an independent, pro-bono
analysis of the three paintings between September 2005 and November 2006. The
research conducted was limited to the scientific analysis of materials, specifically paint
pigments and binding media (the vehicle in which pigment particles are suspended to make
paint).

The report will be released to the media via the Harvard University Art Museums’
website and will not be available to any media outlet before the release time.
Spokespersons for the Art Museums will not be available for comment or interviews
until Tuesday, January 30, 2007.

Mourning in America

My coffee shop pal Will tells me it's 24 days till pitchers and catchers.