The top radio station in LA in December? KOST-FM. Why? For the holidays it played wall-to-wall Christmas music. “It was the fifth consecutive year that the Clear Channel station had switched to an all Christmas music format in the weeks preceding the holiday, but this was the first time the station had so dominated the ratings.”
Blog
Scientists Warn Michelangelo Church In Danger
Scientists are concerned that quarry blasting will damage a church Michelangelo worked on. “A large crack has already ripped through the marble pavement, ancient tombs, altar and baptismal font of the Romanesque Pieve della Cappella in Fabiana, near Lucca. The church nestles midway up the Altissimo hill, at the foot of which Michelangelo Buonarroti arrived in 1517 in search of the area’s distinctive marble that he intended to use for the façade of the church of San Lorenzo in Florence.”
Why The Oscars Need A Facelift
It’s taken as a given that the big movie awards shows are a big deal. But will they stay a big deal? “With the supply of awards shows now outpacing the demand, viewership for the really big ones — the Golden Globes, the Emmys, the Grammys — has been declining for some years, and let’s not forget that fewer and fewer people feel strongly enough about movies to pay to see them in theatres.”
Chicago Lyric Freezes Ticket Prices (Sort Of)
Chicago Lyrica Opera used to sell out most performances. Now it sells 90 percent of its seats. Still good. But. “To help stop any further erosion and, at the same time, reward its longtime subscribers, the Lyric is coupling its announcement of repertory and casts for its 2006-07 season with the news that it also is freezing subscription prices next season. That’s the good news. The bad news, for single-ticket buyers, is that the company (which has an operating budget of $58.2 million) is raising single ticket prices by about 3 percent.”
Mozart And The Case Of The Boring Tenor
Tenor Ian Bostridge loves Mozart, yes he does. “But there is a problem with Mozart, one I readdress every time I sing in one of his operas. It has been said – often – that Mozart tenor roles are boring. This is an opinion that I am anxious, for obvious reasons, to rebut. However, the evidence to support it is easy to find.”
Do We Need All Those Galleries? Those Museums?
“Do galleries have to run or look the way they do? How inevitable is the repeating cycle of solo and group exhibitions and the steady movement of artworks from galleries to museums, auction houses and collectors’ homes? How can you slow, expose or disrupt the delivery mechanism – maybe even avoid it altogether occasionally – to reassert art as a process and a mind-set rather than a product?”
Oprah Backs Frey, Random House Denies Refund Story
Oprah Winfrey says she still supports James’ Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces”, even if not all he events depicted are true. “I am disappointed by the controversy surrounding ‘A Million Little Pieces,’ because I rely on the publishers to define the category that a book falls within.” In other news of the Frey, publisher Random House denies it is offering refunds on the book.
A Flood Of Classical DVDs
“While classical recordings dwindle, or self-feed on repackaged reissues, the flood of video operas continues unabated and, for the most part, rewarding. I can remember when experiencing just the sounds of Wagner’s Ring at home meant piecing together several albums of excerpts with varied casts and agonizing omissions. Now my shelves bend under the weight of five complete videos of the cycle.”
Baker’s Dozen For Beck’s Prize
Artists for this year’s Beck’s Futures prize have been chosen. The thirteen artists up for the £20,000 award include sculptors, film-makers and illustrators working in the UK.
In LA – Immersed In Images
“Los Angeles has recently been home to several large-scale immersive image environments. A cynical perspective would suggest this is due to museums’ waning importance and the subsequent need to attract viewers with big, sparkling, cinematic images. Further, the easy mixing of disparate cultures and histories in massive mash-ups of artists and image-based technology suggests a utopian global village and a narrative of unity and harmony wrought by digital tools.” On the other hand, maybe not…