Blog

Carreras On A Mission

It’s been 16 years since tenor Jose Carreras almost died of leukemia. “His survival spurred him to work for the rest of his days for a cause – his concerts now raise money for the José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation. This raises funds for research, including scholarships for young scientists; helps establish bone marrow transplantation centres; and supports round-the-clock information services for patients.”

Key West: The Part-Time Pro Orchestra

The Key West Symphony is unlike any other. “The symphony draws talented musicians from other orchestras, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic. They fly in three times a year for a week of rehearsals, fun in the sun and performances that draw accolades from residents and visitors. Conductor Sebrina Maria Alfonso, a Key West native, returned to the island in 1997 after working and studying internationally to bring to life her dream: a world-class symphony in a town with a permanent population of less than 30,000 residents.”

Downloading Program Tops 2003 Internet Searches

The information most searched for on the internet this year? It was info about Kazaa, the downloading program, says the annual Yahoo! list of most-searched terms. “Kazaa, which has more than 17 million registered users in Europe and the US, attracted attention in 2003 after the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) took action to stop web users sharing music through such file-swapping software.”

The Electric Guitar Going Digital

Gibson is setting out to introduce the first major innovation to the electric guitar in 70 years. “An audio converter inside the instrument’s body translates string vibrations into a digital signal that can travel over a standard Cat-5 Ethernet cable. The company will continue to sell traditional Les Pauls, but CEO Henry Juszkiewicz thinks it won’t be long before all guitarists go digital.”

Liverpool At The Top (Culturally Speaking)

Excuse me, all you scoffers who snickered when Liverpool was named European Capital of Culture. “A spectacular waterfront, museums without parallel outside London, an elegant Georgian quarter, two imposing 20th-century cathedrals, the neo-classical masterpiece of St George’s Hall – where can those be matched? Past glories make every Scouse heart swell: imperial trade, cup-winning football, the Beatles.”

So Bad Language Doesn’t Matter?

Bad language is everywhere in the media. I there anything that shocks us anymore? And yet, we make gestures at protesting. “We obsess over the encroachment of vulgar words into public spaces on pain of a stark inconsistency, one that will appear even more ridiculous to future generations than some Victorians calling trousers “nether garments” does to us. At least the Victorians’ vocabulary taboos reflected mores that permeated society. Theirs was a world in which an author of a slang dictionary would have had trouble finding a publisher, people sequestered themselves under reams of fabric, illegitimate birth was a scandal, and sex was never spoken of in polite society.”

The Nature OF Nurture (Or The Other Way Around)

“Fifty years after the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA, we are for the first time in a position to understand directly DNA’s contribution to the mind. And the story is vastly different from—and vastly more interesting than—anything we had anticipated. The emerging picture of nature’s role in the formation of the mind is at odds with a conventional view.”

2003 On Broadway – Revenue Up, Ticket Sales Down

2003 Broadway grosses are “projected to be $730 million, up roughly 3.2% from the $707 million for 2002 and nearly 10% from the $664 million for 2001, when that year’s final quarter saw the aftereffects of the Sept. 11 attacks. In terms of ticket holders, however, the league is projecting figures of 11.2 million in attendance during 2003, down from the 11.4 million in 2002 and down nearly one million from the record 12.1 million achieved in 2000.”