UK recording executives are angry at the BBC for offering free downloads of Beethoven symphonies last summer. The music was downloaded 1.4 million times. “Critics say the corporation is failing to take into account the market impact of its online and digital expansion, in spite of the new service licences introduced by the BBC chairman, Michael Grade, which were supposed to address this issue.”
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Is Charlotte Church Lost?
“Listen closely to the singing and to her guileless comments and what you hear is a soul adrift, a craft without oars of growth or self-defence heading into an abyss. It is a familiar phenomenon: the sweet child torn from schoolbooks to stardom, doomed to a lifetime of letdowns. It is the story of Judy Garland and Michael Jackson, of Yehudi Menuhin and Evgeny Kissin, of Mozart, Nadia Comaneci and any chess master you care to name. Ignore the achievements, mighty as they might be. Rare is the child who overcomes a great gift to enjoy its fulfilment in maturity.”
Sun-Times Theatre Critic Gets Snubbed
Chicago critic Hedy Weiss was barred at Broadway producer David Stone’s press event announcing the Chicago arrival of his latest show, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. “According to the Sun-Times, public relations executive Margie Korshak called Weiss to tell her she wasn’t welcome at the event. Weiss showed up anyway and was refused entrance. The paper also reported that, at the press preview-which was attended by reporters from the Chicago Tribune – Stone called out Weiss’ name and then said, ‘She can’t be here because she’s in detention’.”
This year’s National Book Awards Finalists
Here’s the list
A Half-Billion Dollars Of Art?
It’s been a good fall for art sales. “Contemporary fairs and auctions in 2005’s fall and winter that might rake in 375 million euros ($455 million) or more from collectors by yearend, according to published figures and estimates by fair organizers.”
Smithsonian Snares Huge Cash Donation
“The Smithsonian Institution plans to announce today that it is receiving a $45 million donation for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, making the donor — the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation — the second-largest benefactor to the museum in the past dozen years.”
Never Put Your Show’s Fate In The Hands Of Critics
“When a group of New York producers announced they were bringing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Woman in White to Broadway, there was plenty of head-scratching around Shubert Alley. The $8 million show, which opened last year in London, had three strikes against it: West End critics gave it mixed reviews; reporters and critics for the [New York] Post and the New York Times who attended the opening night performance registered their reservations; and the box office never took off (an investor in the London production says it’s nowhere close to paying back).” Still, tweaks have been made, and the producers are assuring everyone within earshot that the show is much better now. Unfortunately, they tried to prove it by inviting the critics back…
CBC: Glad To Be Back, But Hurt Feelings Linger
The CBC is finally back up and running at something approaching normal speed, following a nearly two-month lockout by the corporation’s management, which was seeking more flexible hiring practices. And though most of the returning staff are just happy to be back at work, “there [is] a sense that the decisions of upper management will now be watched much more closely by staff. Guild officials have also said that they will police the new agreement, while also saying that political pressure will continue to be put on Ottawa to hold management accountable for the lockout and to conduct an audit to find out how money was spent.”
Colorado Ballet Director Director Sacked
An ugly fight has broken out at the Denver-based Colorado Ballet, with artistic director Martin Fredmann being ousted by a board he says is “trying to destroy the company.” The surprise firing is only the latest crisis for the company, which earlier this year had to cancel a major premiere after failing to raise the needed money to pay for it. The co-chair of the ballet’s board bizarrely described Fredmann’s ouster as being “part of the board’s long-term strategic planning.”
The People’s Choice Awards (Minus The People)
“J.K. Rowling, Jon Stewart, and Stephen King were among the winners last night of the first annual Quills Awards, people’s choice book prizes better known so far to the industry than to the public. Rowling, author of the multimillion-selling Harry Potter books, won for book of the year and best children’s chapter book for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince… But the Quills can hardly claim a broad mandate with readers. According to comScore Networks Inc., which tracks the Internet, the Quills site attracted so little Web traffic during the voting period, fewer than the threshold of 25,000 unique visits a week, that it can’t even offer an exact number.”