“Copia, the ambitious food, wine and art museum in Napa, Calif., today filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. In addition to the bankruptcy filing, Copia announced that it had secured a $2 million line of credit to fund its day-to-day operations while it looks for other ways out of a financial crisis that had been mounting for years.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Now Playing Everywhere: YouTube Symphony Orchestra
“Traditionally, auditioning for an orchestra means appearing alone onstage in a nerve-jangling performance before grizzled veteran musicians. In the Google way, it means posting on the company’s video-sharing site, YouTube, for online judging by the professionals and then, ultimately, the YouTube universe.” Winners of Google’s YouTube Symphony Orchestra project, announced Monday, will play at Carnegie Hall.
Foreign Exchange Program: Hollywood & The Middle East
The recently announced Qatar branch of the Tribeca Film Festival makes sense “when you consider that [Robert] De Niro created the original festival to bring business back downtown after the attacks of September 11. But it makes even more sense if you consider what’s happening with Qatar’s next door neighbor, the United Arab Emirates,” which is pouring money into TV and Hollywood films.
The Plane’s Late, But You’re In Luck: The Concert’s Starting
“It was an odd sight, to be sure: a rock show amid a tempest of luggage carts, weary airline crews and rushed passengers.” It was part of You Are Hear, a curated series of concerts at San Francisco International Airport, intended “to give travelers and the 30,000 employees at the airport a bit of entertainment during the hectic holiday season, and maybe make the whole travel routine a little less stressful for everyone involved.”
And Where Is The Inigo Montoya Action Figure?
“Who would have thought, 20 years after the movie first hit the screens, now the merchandising kicks in. The Princess Bride had everything: Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles” — but, it’s now clear, insufficient product tie-ins. Enter the Dread Pirate Roberts action figure. Seriously.
A New Routine: Obama A Game-Changer For Black Comics
“If the 2008 election signals a sea change in American racial and class attitudes, the first signs are likely to come from African-American comedians. At comedy venues all over Los Angeles, they’re trying out new material about Obama – his nearly angelic politeness, his youth, vigor, good looks, and model family.”
Chicago Library Raises The Stakes For Tardy Borrowers
“One measure of the nation’s economic woes may be in billions and billions of bailout money, but another is in dimes. Starting Jan. 1, the city of Chicago will charge 20 cents a day for overdue library books instead of a dime.” It’s still a bargain compared to New York and Los Angeles.
Was Economy The Culprit In Guare Play’s Cancellation?
“How handy it is these days for producers to blame ‘the economy’ whenever a show falls apart. And how easily the media accept it. The latest example: The cancellation, on the eve of rehearsals, of John Guare’s new play, ‘A Free Man of Color,’ at The Public Theater.”
Small Donors Can Help In Arts As Well As Politics
“In tough times like these, the arts should be a source of inspiration, but they can hardly lift our spirits if they’re struggling as well. To paraphrase a recent political aphorism, philanthropy can trickle up from the bottom, too. … [I]sn’t it just possible that, when it comes to the arts, we can be the ones we’ve been waiting for?”
When Playwrights Can’t Let Go Of The Script
“Eugene O’Neill rewrote compulsively; Bertolt Brecht published three alarmingly different versions of Galileo; and Leonard Bernstein’s musical Candide burned through three book writers and lyricists (Dorothy Parker and James Agee among them). … Instead of inventing an entirely new work, playwrights instead reduce, reuse and recycle. But is this really good for the theatrical environment?”