The reviews are in for the Minnesota Orchestra’s Monday night Carnegie Hall performance. Violist Sam Bergman writes of concerts and place-kickers (yes, there’s a connection) in his blog RoadTrip before getting on a plane Tuesday afternoon for the orchestra’s European tour.
Blog
Lord of the Rings – Biggest Movie Of All Time
The Lord of the Rings movie will soon become the highest box-office grossing movie of all time. “Peter Jackson’s epic has now made $942.7m (£517.9m) worldwide, and is expected to pass the $1bn mark after it is released in Japan on 14 February. Only Titanic from 1997 and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, released in 2001, have taken more money.”
Legal Download Sales Rising To The Top
Sales of downloaded music in the UK are rivaling sales of singles-format CD’s. “More than 150,000 downloads were sold last month, exceeding sales of 12-inch, seven-inch and DVD singles, the Official Charts Company reported. This included a record 50,000 downloads in the week after the 19 January launch of online music service MyCokeMusic. CD singles remain the most popular singles format, however, with 341,461 sold during that week.”
Walker Center Attendance Declines 30 Percent
Attendance at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center was down 30 percent lasty year. Officials attribute the decline “primarily to a tourism fall-off after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a natural decline after a 2001 blockbuster season that included popular shows of home design and art by Yoko Ono. Attendance at the Walker fell from an all-time high of 636,000 in 2001 to 439,000 in the 2003 fiscal year, which ended last June 30.”
Blockbuster On The Block
Blockbuster Video is being sold by Viacom, and at a greatly reduced price. “Blockbuster’s business has been under pressure from cheap sales of DVDs through major retailers as well as emerging video technologies like video on demand and personal video recorders.”
Newly Restored Baltimore Theatre Makes A Bid For The Big Time
The 1914 Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore is reopening after a $62 million makeover. Organizers of the project are “declaring their intention of making Baltimore once again a force in the world of live theater. The center’s operators envision the new venue becoming an arts stadium of sorts, a live entertainment hub.”
Doyle: Ulysses Could Have Used A Good Edit
Roddy Doyle, Ireland’s best-known modern writer has “put literary Dublin in a tizz by confessing that he too can’t be bothered with James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses.”
A First Look At (What Would Be) London’s Tallest Building…
Plans have been unveiled for a new 700-foot high skyscraper in London. “The skyscraper, the creation of the architects responsible for the Lloyds building and the Millennium Dome, would be at least 100ft (30 metres) taller than any other structure in the City.”
Shutting Off Art From Cuba
Until recently, licensed collectors were able to travel to Cuba and bring some art back to the United States. But “the Bush administration has canceled most licenses for culture-related Cuban travel, and the Treasury Department recently stepped up prosecution. Americans who are caught taking unlicensed trips to Cuba from, say, Canada or the Caribbean now face hefty fines, reportedly up to $10,000. The Cuban government allows some artists to leave the country to sell their work, and Cuban artists may mail works to the United States. But some Cuban artists at the Havana Biennial were worried they might have trouble obtaining U.S. visas to attend gallery shows here.”
Cuban Musicians Denied Vist To US For Grammys
The US government is continuing to make it difficult for foreign artists to perform in the United States. Last week, visas were denied for Cuban musicians invited to the Grammy awards. And other musicians hired to perform in the US are finding they can’t get their visas sorted out in time. (second and third items – scroll down)