“A publishing deal for [Irish author Bree O’Mara’s] second novel, Nigel Watson Superhero … would have been her most significant career break. It should have been signed last month, but she missed the London Book Fair because of the flight ban after the volcanic ash cloud hit, and had to postpone her trip.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Fund-Raising For Barnes’ Philly Move Is Full Speed Ahead
“The move is riding on a $200 million fund-raising campaign – $150 million for construction and $50 million for endowment. The foundation has raised about $160 million so far,” of which “between $130 million and $140 million is in hand.”
David Cromer Is Having His Moment
“The Chicago director did honest, steady, truthful work around Chicago for many years,” and his “career toddled quietly along.” Then, suddenly, you “couldn’t pick up a newspaper without reading a Cromer profile. … So it goes in the theater. Either nobody wants you or everybody wants you everywhere at once.”
At Instrument Storage Facility, Nashville Flood Devastates
Nashville’s Soundcheck is, in part, “a so-called cartage company that delivers gear to the professional studio musicians when they arrive at recording sessions. That means a significant percentage of the great guitars in Music City were stored in the same place. And last week, that place was underwater.”
Norton Simon Museum Makes Way For Goslings
“[T]he geese were first spotted crossing Colorado Boulevard during a harrowing rush-hour escapade Thursday morning. … But once safely across the busy boulevard, attempts to gently herd them around the building to the pond didn’t work. So a mad dash across the lobby, past the Ellsworth Kelly painting and the Henry Moore bronze, was the only solution.”
Objection! No. Cal. Critic Tars Dudamel As ‘Short,’ ‘Chunky’
Reviewing the Los Angeles Philharmonic in San Francisco, “Bay Area critics dutifully remarked on Dudamel’s celebrity status and his infectious energy. But they did not give the conductor a free pass when it came to his interpretations of the Mahler — or even his physical appearance.”
Price Of A Proper Cannes Premiere, After-Party? $5 Million
“In addition to top talent insisting on private jets (do you really think [Russell] Crowe flies commercial?), travel costs include 24/7 drivers (at hundreds of Euros an hour), budget-busting hotel rooms (on top of exorbitant daily tariffs, most local hotels insist on 10-day minimum bookings…) and a retinue of hair and makeup artists, many of whom aren’t based in Europe.”
David Koch: Naming Rights Should Be Renewable Resource
“Naming rights have factored into many of Mr. Koch’s charitable gifts, and the industrialist has recently embarked on a campaign to ensure others will have similar naming opportunities available. Mr. Koch has imposed a legally binding expiration date on the naming rights attached to one of his biggest gifts, so that the rights eventually can be resold, he said.”
NY Museums’ Most-Wanted List: 10 Sought After By Boards
“Until someone has made the cut, expect an organization to turn on the charm. Or scramble the jets. ‘The best bonding situation…is the private jet trip to an art fair,’ said David A. Ross, a former director of both the Whitney Museum of American Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.”
When A Jazz Legend Dies, What’s A Widow’s Musical Duty?
“[M]ost spouses of deceased jazz greats fail to leverage their husbands’ legacies. … To be fair, many older jazz widows do not have the energy, expertise or entrepreneurial skills to take on such a venture. ‘Others don’t have the financial means or help from family members,’ says [Sue] Mingus. ‘Or they may have better things to do with their time.'”