“Google appears to be throwing down the gauntlet in the e-book market. In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program … that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google. The move would pit Google against Amazon.com….”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Geoff Nuttall Is Spoleto’s New Chamber-Music Director
“The Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston has announced that Geoff Nuttall is the new director of chamber music, succeeding Charles Wadsworth. Festival General Manager Nigel Redden said Sunday night that Nuttall, the festival’s current associate artistic director for chamber music, will become director next season.”
Charles Ives’ Long Journey To Find His Musical Voice
“There’s a tendency for classical music aficionados to assume that composers are always and only themselves: Beethoven always Beethoven, Brahms always Brahms, Ives always Ives. The reality is that those composers, like all worthwhile artists, have gone through a more or less extended journey to escape from their models and to find a voice, to discover who they are.” Until he made that discovery, Ives did not sound like Ives.
EU May Probe Google Book Search On Copyright Concerns
“EU ministers are today … expected to call for an investigation into whether Google has breached EU law. The German government has said that Google has ‘stolen a march’ on rival digital library projects with its Google Book Search.”
1,000 Pages, 2 Volumes, And Murakami Fans Want It Badly
“Everything is secret, except the author and title. But the first novel in five years by Japan’s Haruki Murakami has become a hit even before its arrival in stores Friday.” The 1,000-page, two-volume work will have a first printing of 480,000, “up from 380,000 after orders flooded in.”
Wheelchair Users, Celebs To Pair Up On BBC Dance Show
“BBC3 is to broadcast a Strictly Come Dancing-style show featuring wheelchair users, called Dancing on Wheels. Each of the series’ six wheelchair users will be paired with a celebrity, including singer Heather Small and actress Michelle Gayle, to learn the art of Wheelchair Dance Sport, a popular international sport where at least one dancer is in a wheelchair.”
After Season Of Discord And Drama, An Orchestra Adapts
“The Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2008-2009 season has been marked by canceled concerts, a drop in donations and internal strife between management and musicians. At one point, players, donors and other supporters wondered if one of the Eastside’s key arts groups might fail under the weight of its debt and management problems.” But lately, things seem to be looking up.
For Makers Of Waco, No Film Incentives From Texas
Texas’ film commissioner has denied “as much as 17% in film incentives” to the makers of a movie about the Branch Davidian compound standoff, basing “his veto on a little-known provision in Texas’ film-incentive legislation known as the content clause, which states that anything that portrays the state in a negative or embarrassing light can be denied a government grant.” The filmmakers say the rejection “amounts to censorship and a snuffing of artistic freedom.”
N.J. Attorney General Sues Ticket Resellers, Alleging Fraud
“New Jersey’s attorney general is suing three ticket resellers for offering marked-up tickets to Bruce Springsteen concerts that have not yet gone on sale to the public. Because tickets to the Giants Stadium shows will not be available for purchase officially until Monday, Attorney General Anne Milgram charged that the brokers could not have the items they offered on Tuesday.”
With Demise Of The Musical Amateur, Some Fun Was Lost
“Where once the audience bought piano arrangements and played chamber music at home, fans now are simply listeners, whether in the concert hall or at home on CD. And the term amateur has changed correspondingly. Now, it tends to imply a lack of seriousness. And music has become a very serious business.”