Monster Mash: Christie’s auction breaks record; ‘Spider-Man’ suit
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Auction turnaround: Christie’s sold 82 works of art for $247.59 million on Tuesday, including a world auction record of $43.2 million for Pop Art by Roy Lichtenstein. (New York Times)
Turn on the lawyers: Director Julie Taymor, who was fired as the creative leader of ‘Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark,’ has sued the show’s producers. (Los Angeles Times)
Mother’s pain: The mother of Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has accused officials of hounding her son, describing their approach as ‘creepy, crooked, evil.’ (Guardian)
Saving the day: Grants for the Arts -- a program funded by a small surcharge on every hotel bill -- is keeping San Francisco culture afloat. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Taking a stand: The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art did something unusual: It effectively came out in favor of marriage equality. (Modern Art Notes)
New festival: The Segerstrom Center for the Arts is announcing its first ‘Off Center Festival’ with minimalism and eclecticism among the creative approaches. (Los Angeles Times)
Musically minded: Conductor Mark Wigglesworth on what makes some works more popular than others. (Gramophone)
Cheers: Who are the most influential people in London theater, dance, and art and design? (London Evening Standard)
Up and comers: Annaleigh Ashford and MJ Rodriguez of ‘Rent,’ Jennifer Damiano of ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’ and Josh Grisetti of ‘Enter Laughing’ are finalists for the Clive Barnes Award. (Playbill)
New world: Four ways that YouTube has changed Broadway. (Mashable)
Also in the L.A. Times: A review of ‘Hope: Part II of a Mexican Trilogy’ at Los Angeles Theater Center, and catching up with computer music pioneer Carl Stone.
-- Sherry Stern
Fifty years ago this fall, San Francisco leaders got a novel idea to put a small surcharge on every hotel bill to fund city arts programs. Grants for the Arts