Olympic Park to host rock concerts
LONDON » London’s Olympic Park will partly reopen to the public this year for a series of summer rock concerts, officials announced Tuesday.
The London Legacy Development Corp. said the East London park will host the Hard Rock Calling and Wireless festivals in July under a deal with events promoter Live Nation Entertainment.
Headliners for the festivals have not yet been announced.
Live Nation also will hold other concerts in the park’s Olympic Stadium during the summer after gaining exclusive rights to the venue.
The 560-acre site of the 2012 Summer Games is due to reopen to the public in stages between July and early 2014.
Live Nation is leaving its previous venue in London’s Hyde Park after friction over noise and timing restrictions. Last summer, fans were angered when officials pulled the plug on a Bruce Springsteen-Paul McCartney duet in midsong.
Albany’s Civil War tours resume
ALBANY, N.Y. » A popular Civil War tour at the state Capitol in downtown Albany is continuing in the new year.
The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Office of General Services say the free hourlong tours are being offered on the first Thursday of the month beginning Feb. 7 and continuing through June.
The tours were begun in September. Led by guides dressed in Civil War-era clothing, the tours highlight the Civil War imagery in the Capitol’s ornate carvings and feature a special tour of the building’s latest battle flag exhibition, titled "1862: Red, White and Battered." The exhibit includes nine conserved flags from New York state that were carried into battle in 1862.
Reservations for the tour can be made online at www.ogs.ny.gov or by calling 518-473-7582.
Cleveland museum goes high tech
CLEVELAND» The Cleveland Museum of Art has opened a high-tech gallery meant to electronically connect art fans and the museum’s renowned collection.
It’s called Gallery One and opened Monday.
Gallery One has a 40-foot multiple touch screen that displays images of more than 3,500 items from the collection.
It will allow visitors to match their faces to works of art or strike a pose from a Rodin sculpture.
Visitors can download tours or create their own on iPads. And a new iPad application will allow visitors to learn how works of art were created and where.
