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Bankrupt?
The MFA loses all its Monet in Vegas, plus the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival and more

Show us the Monet?

Even as the Museum of Fine Arts opens its "Gauguin Tahiti" exhibit, controversy continues to swirl around the MFA’s loan of 21 Monet canvases to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, a private institution located in the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The Monet show opened January 30 and will run through September 13, which means MFA patrons will be unable to see those paintings for seven and a half months.

Lending is, of course, a regular part of museum operation, but loans are usually made to other museums, with the understanding that they’ll be repaid in kind. The MFA sent its Gauguin masterpiece D’où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous? ("Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?") to Paris back in September for the first leg of "Gauguin Tahiti"; in return, Paris is contributing the diary Noa Noa to the Boston edition of the show. The Bellagio has no permanent collection and thus no art to send in return. It’s been reported (by Newsweek, among others) that the MFA is instead receiving a consideration of around $1 million.

But money doesn’t put Monet on the walls, so it’s fair to ask what local museumgoers will be getting as compensation for not seeing those paintings. MFA director Malcolm Rogers didn’t set a helpful tone for the discussion when he told the Boston Globe’s Geoff Edgers that "This is a win-win situation. I think people are extraordinarily priggish and narrow-minded if they don’t understand this."

What exactly did the MFA send to Las Vegas? The list includes Camille Monet and a Child in the Artist’s Garden in Argenteuil, Cap d’Antibes, Mistral, Cap Martin, near Menton, Fisherman’s Cottage on the Cliffs at Varengeville, The Water Lily Pond and the 1905 Water Lilies, Grainstack (Sunset), and both of the museum’s Rouen Cathedral paintings. What’s left includes Field of Poppies near Giverny, Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny, Poplars at Giverny, Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil, in Winter, Grainstack (Snow Effect), both versions of Morning on the Seine, near Giverny, the 1907 Water Lilies, Grand Canal, Venice, Charing Cross Bridge, and La Japonaise.

The Bellagio would appear to have the better group. Still, under normal circumstances, as the MFA is at pains to point out, a maximum of 12 Monets hang in the Impressionist galleries. Which means that at least some of the paintings you’d like to see are in storage if they’re not out on loan. Twelve were up when I visited last week; that included all the above-mentioned pieces with the exception of La Japonaise. Eleven of them were in the room that abuts the Gund Gallery gift shop, accompanied by Renoir’s Dance at Bougival and Degas’s The Duchess of Montejasi and Her Daughters, Elena and Camilla, the museum’s celebrated purchase from last summer. I missed Camille Monet and the Rouen Cathedrals, but if they were up all the time, we’d never see the rest of the MFA’s Monets. And the $15 admission is cheap for a museum that has so much on offer, a Vermeer on loan from the Metropolitan Museum in New York can go almost unnoticed. I was able to stand alone in front of Young Woman with a Water Pitcher for a good three minutes. That makes up for some missing Monets.

— Jeffrey Gantz

Metal mania

The fortunes of the annual New England Metal and Hardcore Festival have risen in each of the event’s previous five years, mirroring the rise in popularity that both of its tributary genres have undergone as metalcore hybrids, thrash revivals, and screamo death cults have supplanted new metal and pop punk as the sound of an angrier young America. (Last year, MTV’s Headbangers Ball sent Rob Zombie to cover the fest for a special; and a three-hours-plus DVD culled from those performances is due out next month.) Maybe the most telling sign about this year’s sixth annual event — scheduled for April 30 and May 1 at the Palladium in Worcester — is that the Friday-night headliners will be Killswitch Engage, who’ve risen in a few short years from ambitious unknowns to high-profile slots on OzzFest’s second stage and a co-headlining slot on MTV’s Headbangers Ball Tour. Killswitch’s Mike D has had a long association with the New England festival: in addition to playing it, he’s also designed the official logo each year. By the time Killswitch get around to headlining the fest, they’ll have their third, as-yet-untitled disc in stores; a recent post on the band’s Web site promised "more metal" than 2002’s Alive or Just Breathing (Roadrunner).

The fest’s line-up is still gathering momentum, but among those already confirmed are Iced Earth, Arch Enemy, Machinehead, Children of Bodom, Every Time I Die, Zao, Bleeding Through, Throwdown, Terror, Soilent Green, Daughters, Full Blown Chaos, Red Chord, As I Lay Dying, Cannae, and Walls of Jericho. Tickets go on sale this Friday, February 27, at 10 a.m.; call (800) 477-6849.

Meanwhile, both OzzFest and the Headbangers Ball Tour are readying new editions for the spring and summer. Despite a nasty cycling accident and his persistent promise/threat to retire, Ozzy himself is again at the top of a bill that includes a re-Halford-ized Judas Priest, Slayer, Dimmu Borgir, and Superjoint Ritual on the main stage. (Metal gossips will note that Rob Halford and Phil Anselmo will be sharing a stage: let the sexual tension begin to simmer.) Announced second-stage acts include New England faves Hatebreed and Unearth as well as Lamb of God, Atreyu, Bleeding Through, and Every Time I Die.

The tour kicks off in Hartford on July 10 and hits the Tweeter Center in Mansfield on July 12; stay tuned for on-sale dates. Both Hatebreed and Unearth will warm up for the second stage by touring with the new leg of the Headbangers Ball Tour, which also features Damageplan and Drowning Pool. Tickets are on sale now for the tour’s April 2 stop at Tsongas Arena in Lowell; call (617) 931-2000.

— Carly Carioli

Under Cover

We’d been looking forward to Cover Girls, the "inspirational musical stage play" adaptation of the work of the mega-evangelist-turned-best-selling-romance-novelist Bishop T.D. Jakes, for several reasons, not the least of which was that it was being produced by Beyoncé’s dad and manager, Matthew Knowles, and was slated to star both Facts of Life’s Kim Fields and Beyoncé’s Fighting Temptations Grammy-winning gospel-singing co-star, Ann Nesby. However, the national touring production, which was to have settled into the Wilbur Theatre March 23 through 28, has now been "postponed indefinitely due to scheduling conflicts." There’s no word on the specific conflict, but we couldn’t help noticing that the cancellation comes a mere week after the announcement of Beyoncé’s national tour, itself on the heels of her blockbuster night at the Grammys. Cover Girls ticket holders are not, alas, entitled to trade in their Broadway in Boston stub for a seat at Beyoncé’s concert at the FleetCenter on what might have been Cover Girls’ press night, March 24. But Broadway in Boston does assure ticket holders of a full refund at the point of purchase: through Ticketmaster (617-931-2787) or directly at the Colonial Theatre box office, 106 Boylston Street in the Theater District. (The Wilbur Theatre is currently closed.) And there are still seats left for Beyoncé’s FleetCenter gig, which also includes sets by Alicia Keys, Missy Elliott, and Tamia; call (617) 931-2000.

Contests

Someone somewhere said that artists don’t need money so much as they need an audience. But money always helps. WGBH Local Productions is offering a little bit of each. Its "6:55 Contest" is soliciting proposals for "video stories or pilots for new programs" from "area filmmakers, artists, and other creative types — including those with no TV experience." Applicants whose proposals are accepted will be commissioned to produce a "program or program segment" for WGBH Local Productions. The target duration of the segment is, that’s right, six minutes and 55 seconds. According to the WGBH Web site, "The finished pieces may be broadcast as part of a half-hour local television special, exhibited as shorts, or premiered on our Web site. Promising pilot concepts may also be considered for further development as new series or programs."

What’s more, each selected project will receive a "$1000 honorarium and production and post-production support of up to $2500." Entry is open to "emerging filmmakers, seasoned producers, and innovators from related industries. Priority is given to applicants from the New England area."

WGBH executive in charge of local productions Denise Dilanni explains, "We hope the 6:55 Contest ignites curiosity and becomes a magnet for innovative and original ideas for local broadcast. Our goal is to open our doors more widely to the many talented filmmakers and innovative thinkers in our region." Deadline for submissions is April 16. For more details, go to www.wgbh.org/producingfortv or e-mail Local_Productions@wgbh.org.

Meanwhile, the Brattle and Coolidge Corner theaters are soliciting entries for this June’s New England Animation Bash, which will feature animation from around the world. According to the Bash press release, "All styles of animated work are acceptable, including traditional cell animation, computer animation, experimental, stop-motion, and even good ol’ cartoons." The entry fee is $10 per film, and submissions should be less than 30 minutes. The deadline is April 23; for more information, e-mail neab@brattlefilm.org, or visit www.brattlefilm.org/neab.

Also at the Brattle, on April 6 and 7, you’ll be able to view the fruits of the "48 Hour Film Project." As the 48 Hour people explain it, filmmaking teams will be asked "to make a movie from scratch — to write, shoot, edit, and score original music — all in just 48 hours. On Friday night [April 2], teams draw their genre from a hat, and receive a character, prop, and line of dialogue that must appear in the film. On Sunday night [April 4], they race to the drop-off location with a finished film. The project is open to pros and amateurs alike." Entry instructions can be found at www.48hourfilm.com


Issue Date: February 27 - March 4, 2004
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