“[Canada’s] affection for the McMichael Canadian Collection, I suspect, will survive long after the founder’s follies have been forgotten. The latter were, unfortunately, many and famous. For much of the last 25 years of his life, you could never be quite sure what he would do next.”
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No Solutions Yet In Houston
Only a few months after a crippling strike in which the musicians of the Houston Symphony Orchestra called for the resignation of their orchestra president and much of the board, the HSO has announced that it ran a whopping $3.56 million deficit for the 2002-03 season. Slumping ticket sales and decreasing donations have a lot to do with the fiscal problem, but the HSO has also had to contend with the costs of severe flood damage to its concert hall in recent years. The orchestra acknowledges that the deficit is as large as it’s ever been, but says that its long-range plan calls for surpluses by the 2005-06 season.
Giving The People What They Want
“Record labels have long been accused of stealing musicians’ copyrights as soon as the ink is dry on the contract. Now, one small independent label in Great Britain is doing the opposite: It’s giving the rights to the artists — and anyone else who wants to use the music, too. Loca Records wants to foster experimentation and freedom in music by building a stable of free music which can be shared, remixed and manipulated by anyone… The music is available for free in MP3 format, but the company sells its CDs and vinyl in retail stores throughout Europe.”
Hazzard Wins, King Fumes at Nat’l Book Awards
Shirley Hazzard took the top fiction prize at the National Book Awards last night, winning for The Great Fire, her first novel in nearly a quarter-century. Cuban memoirist Carlos Eire took the non-fiction prize, and C.K. Williams won the poetry award. In the strangest moment of the evening, bestselling horror writer Stephen King accepted a medal of honor, and then lashed out at the literary world during his acceptance speech, explicitly criticising those authors “who make a point of pride in saying they have never read anything by John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Mary Higgins Clark or any other popular writer.”
The Formula For Selling Opera
So promoter Raymond Gubbay is going to present opera in London’s West End, and many are skeptical. But Gubbay has a formula, and the formula is a winner. “Hire a prestigious hall, get together a band of highly experienced musicians, give them music to play that they and the rest of the civilised world all know backwards, allot on that basis minimal rehearsal time, engage young, inexpensive soloists eager for the experience or desperate for the work, ditto conductor, dress the whole thing up with a fancy title (preferably printed in rampant italics to give it that classy look), and sit back and wait for Mr and Mrs Average from the Home Counties or suburban Averageville to buy their tickets in their droves. One can easily sneer at all of this, of course, but it works as far as the balance-sheet is concerned. Gubbay will not promote anything if he risks losing so much as a shirt-button. He’s a businessman, not an altruist.”
Could Pew Control The Barnes Collection’s Move?
“If the Barnes Foundation wins court permission to move its famed art collection to Center City, the Pew Charitable Trusts, not the Barnes itself, could take charge of administering the $150 million needed to build a new Barnes museum and endow it.”
Stephen King To Book Awards Group: Read More!
Terry Teachout attends the National Book Awards banquet as a judge. Stephen King’s speech was “interesting. He was clearly moved by the honor—he choked up. He was funny and unpretentious when paying tribute to his wife and talking about the “vulnerability” to self-doubt of poor, struggling authors (such as himself when young). I suspect he was the first National Book Award laureate ever to say “Oh, shit!” in his acceptance speech (he was describing the way an honest author might portray a terrified character in extreme circumstances). And he was simultaneously a bit defensive and more than a little bit aggressive when he informed the crowd that they’d be making a mistake if they treated their decision to give him the prize as an act of ‘tokenism’.”
Buying Art – The Fog Of War
“I’ve been covering the art market for a decade now, but I usually don’t bother to attend the sales. Every time I do, I’m reminded how mysterious, confusing, and surreal art auctions are. Historians talk about “the fog of war,” which makes it virtually impossible for even commanding generals to know what’s really happening during a battle. Well, when it comes to generating fog, war doesn’t have anything on an art auction.”
Video Games Helping To Sell Music
“Video games are proving to be a good partner for a struggling industry eager to find new ways to appeal to young people who would rather pirate music off the Internet than pay for it. Million-selling games are boosting sales, launching musical careers, and persuading skittish record executives that not all technology is bad for business.”
Clear Channel To Offer Instant Recordings Of Live Concerts
Clear Channel Communications, America’s largest concert presenter is getting set to sell recordings of live concerts to the fans who just paid to see the concert as soon as the show is finished. “It is almost an impulse buy. You walk home with a memento of the concert. You had a great feeling coming out of it and, for $20, you can put it on again anytime you want.”